12 24 2014

December 18 - 24, 2014

VOL. 63, No. 50

www.tsdmemphis.com

75 Cents

Haslam makes Candice McQueen new education commissioner

Students weigh impact of session with U.S. Atty.

Gen. Holder

by Lucas L. Johnson II

by Brittney Gathen

NASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Haslam on Wednesday named a top education official at Lipscomb University to be the next Education Department commissioner.

The Republican governor announced Wednesday that Candice McQueen will replace Kevin Huffman, who was heavily criticized during an overhaul of the state’s education system. He announced last month that he was leaving for the private sector.

Haslam had said he wanted the new commissioner to already be familiar with Tennessee.

“I want somebody who believes that every child can learn, and someone who understands that what we do in K-12 education ... is critical to the future of Tennessee; to making sure that we’re preparing students and giving them every opportunity to compete in Candice a very difficult McQueen international economy,” Haslam said.

McQueen, who has taught in elementary and middle school, was appointed senior vice president of Lipscomb’s College of Education in January. She was credited with overseeing the rise of one of the nation’s top education programs. She also serves as dean.

McQueen was recently elected to the board of directors for the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Preparations, to the executive council for the American Association of Independent and Liberal Arts Colleges of Teacher Education, and is frequently asked to speak on teacher preparation issues, according to Lipscomb’s website.

She is also seen as having a strong grasp of Common Core academic standards, which have been phased into Tennessee’s classrooms over the past four years.

House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh said in a statement that McQueen’s “most important asset is the time she spent in the classroom.”

“While we may disagree with Dr. McQueen on occasion, we look forward to finding common ground on community schools, increasing parental involvement and fulfilling the governor’s promise to make Tennessee teachers’ salaries the fastest improving in the nation,” Fitzhugh said.

Huffman’s departure comes amid heavy criticism from Democrats, teachers and other education groups who were upset with the implementation of Common Core standards and changes to teacher tenure rules.

A petition signed by nearly half of the state’s superintendents last year said Huffman had “no interest in a dialogue” with local school leaders as he made policy changes.

The Tennessee Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, said in a news release that it hopes McQueen’s leadership style will be different.

“We hope she will listen to veteran educators in the state when making important policy decisions,” said TEA president Barbara Gray. “The people who work with children in the classroom every day are the real experts and should have a significant voice in decision-making at the state level.”

of what emerged is praise for Police Director Toney Armstrong’s C.O.P. initiative.

The Afro American Police Association’s (AAPA) executive team – President Christopher Price, Grandberry and Business Manager Tyrone Currie – gives strong credit

With recent events such as the lack of indictments of the police officers responsible for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, imagine being a college student able to participate Drinkard in a round table Timms IV discussion with the attorney general of the United States.

For Drinkard Timms IV, president of the Student Government Association at The LeMoyneOwen College, and Corbin Carpenter, Corbin president of the Carpenter University of Memphis chapter of the Black Law Students Association, there was no need for imagination.

Timms and Carpenter, along with the student body president of Hollis F. Price Middle College High School, were young voices in the room when Atty. Gen. Eric Holder came to Memphis last week for a summit connected with the Memphis version of the White House’s My Brother’s Keeper intitiave. They were included among the Memphis-area change agents in on the closed-door session held at the National Civil Rights Museum.

“I was extremely humbled to even be in the room. I think there’s never even been a notion that I would be in the same room having an open dialogue with the U.S. attorney general,” Timms said. “It was a major experience in my input about issues in South Memphis.”

Timms said he showed up prepared to discuss issues dealing with Ferguson, Mo., the scene of considerable unrest preceding and following no indictment of Darren Wilson, the officer who killed teenager Michael Brown. However, the major discussion topics were police relationships with different communities and how police relationships are handled in different parts of the city, he said.

Holder posed questions to different people in the room. The question that Timms zeroed in on concerned how police deal with youth in the city. His input was based on his experience in South Memphis representing The LeMoyne-Owen College, which is the only HBCU (Historically Black College or University) in Memphis.

“The only time we really see police officers is (when) there’s a crime.

Police are to protect and serve. Part of their serving is just coming around to see how the school’s doing, not just if there’s a crime,” he said.

“My concern was (that) if there’s

SEE C.O.P. ON PAGE 2

SEE STUDENTS ON PAGE 3

Associated Press

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

Catch me, if you can…

Memphis’ should-be-an-All-Star guard Mike Conley triggers Golden State’s All-Star guard Stephen Curry into a full hustle trying to interrupt a fast-break opportunity for the Grizzlies, who ended the Warriors 16-game winning streak at the FedExForum on Tuesday night. On Wednesday night, the Grizzlies knocked off the defending champion Spurs in San Antonio in triple OT. (Related story, photos in Sports, page14). (Photo: Warren Roseborough)

Amid uneasiness, C.O.P. effort earns thumbs up feedback Officers see merit in Police Director Armstrong’s community outreach thrust

by Tony Jones

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

J o h n G r a n d b e r r y, vice president of the Afro American Police Association, was in line at a convenience store when he ran into fresh anger from a Memphis-area resident who had John Grandberry just returned from Ferguson, Mo. “This guy came in saying he had just gotten back home from Ferguson and he tried his best to get a rise out of me.

He reached in one pocket and said, ‘What’re you going to do if I pull a knife out, huh?’”

Reaching down to his ankle, the man continued his taunting, recalled Grandberry, a patrolman with 16 years experience. “‘Suppose I pull out something,’ he said. ‘What you gonna do?’ I didn’t even react.”

All over Memphis, other officers have been confronted in a similar manner, said Grandberry.

“But because of the cultural sensitivity training and other measures that we get through the C.O.P. (community outreach program) program, we’ve learned to just let it blow by. I didn’t even give

At the headquarters of the Afro American Police Association, President Christopher Price displays plaques chronicling the organization’s inception. One salutes Art Gilliam of Gilliam Communications (1340 WLOK) for his assistance in establishing the association. (Tony Jones, Ink!) him the satisfaction of noticing him.”

With many Americans, particularly African Americans, still very much on edge over killings by police in Ferguson and Staten Island, N.Y. and the lack of grand jury indictments, The New Tri-State Defender recently moved to probe the thoughts and feelings of some of Memphis’ African-American policemen. Part

The Obamas reveal their struggle with America’s racial prejudices

by Breanna Edwards The Root

SEE MCQUEEN ON PAGE 2

MEMPHIS WEEKEND

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President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama sort toys and gifts donated by Executive Office of the President staff to the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling on Dec. 10, 2014, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In case you thought otherwise, the Obamas aren’t immune to the ugliness of American racial prejudices and biases, the first couple confirmed in a sit-down interview with People Magazine on Dec. 10.

The issue hits newsstands Friday.

“I think people forget that we’ve lived in the White House for six years,” first lady Michelle Obama explained to the magazine. “Before that, Barack Obama was a black man that lived on the South Side of Chicago, who had his share of troubles catching cabs.”

The first lady pointed to one of her favorite anecdotes, a trip to Target, where people were completely uninterested in her, until one lady asked her for help.

“I tell this story – I mean, even as the first lady – during that wonderfully publicized trip I took to Target, not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf.

Because she didn’t see me as the first

lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn’t anything new,” Michelle Obama told People.

The president also spoke about his own run-ins with casual racism.

“There’s no black male my age, who’s a professional, who hasn’t come out of a restaurant and is waiting for their car and somebody didn’t hand them their car keys,” President Obama said.

The first lady told People about one incident when her husband was wearing a tuxedo to a black-tie event and one individual, assuming that he was a waiter, asked him to get coffee.

The president admitted to People that although race relations have gotten much better over the years, more work is still to be done.

“The small irritations or indignities that we experience are nothing compared to what a previous generation experienced,” he said.

“It’s one thing for me to be mistaken for a waiter at a gala. It’s another thing for my son to be mistaken for a robber and to be handcuffed, or worse, if he happens to be walking down the street and is dressed the way teenagers dress.”

Page 2

African American twice elected president, AfricanCONTINUED FROM FRONT American city executives and African-Americans in patrol to the program for Memphis cars day and night, does the not being plagued by the type city still need an association of police culture that led to specifically representing the the high-profile killings by interests of officers of color? police of Michael Brown Jr. “Without question,” said in Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Price, also a patrolman with Garner in Staten Island, N.Y. 16 years experience. “As a Michael Williams, an matter of fact, things we have African-American officer who fought for in the past are still is president of the Memphis on the front porch, such as Police Union, also voiced promotions, departmental praised for the program, which perks and benefits some get exposes officers to and are kept from ongoing cross-cultural others.

Believe education. me, there’s still a “The way both strong good ol’ boy situations were handled network alive in the were insensitive and police department, without concern for as you do in any the public. That’s the corporate company. real problem,” said We’re in the Grandberry. “We have spotlight more, but to be held accountable it’s no different.” when we’re wrong, too.”

C u r r i e Asked if could Mike said the Afro comprehend the anger Williams American Police some citizens feel, A s s o c i a t i o n ’s Currie, a lieutenant founding in with 23 years on the 1978 has led to force, responded significant changes.

“Absolutely!”

“Without the “In my opinion that AAPA you would cop in New York should not have a force have been indicted. First that is so reflective of all, if you do not have a of the community, department with a strong and that’s why we community culture don’t have the same you are going to have level of problems those type of incidents,” as before (here) and Tyrone said Currie. “We don’t that too many other Currie have it here because of cities still have,” he Armstrong. The D.A. said.

Amy Weirich would not have “We have a federal lawsuit tolerated it here. Not here. I think we are fighting now to ensure Memphis has the highest level of that we have adequate Africancommunity cooperation in the American representation in nation. The nation needs to learn the future. Armstrong may from what we are doing.” not be here in the future and The outreach is working, if we do not make sure the said Currie. community is represented on “Our problem is that when the force, it could go back other police departments to negative forces impacting do these things it impacts our community. The AAPA the work we are doing in keeps things like that from the community. It hurts the happening and it’s better for inroads and positive things everybody in this city.” we work on everyday. Go to Whitehaven, Westwood, ‘Comply’ Frayser. Ask those citizens what they think about the When Price goes to speak police department as a whole to community groups and and you will get a positive everyday citizens, his talks response,” he said. have been known to include “You are always going to how to act when engaged by have isolated incidents, but an officer. go to the churches, go to the “First of all, always neighborhood watch meetings, comply,” he said. “If they ask those citizens that are (police officers) are wrong, involved in their communities the department has measures what they think.” to address it. On the side of the road is not the time to debate Is the AAPA with an officer.” relevant today?

Admitting that he can “get heavy with my foot” in his own In today’s era with an personal car, Price said, “I’ve

G.O.P.

December 18 - 24, 2014

NEWS

been pulled over many times.

I’m just a citizen when I’m off duty. I cut on my interior lights to let them see what I’m doing.

I roll down my windows and I put my hands on the steering wheel so they can see what my hands are doing.”

Officers ticketing other cops?

“I’m not saying we get ticketed all of the time, but we do get tickets from other cops.

We’re not perfect. We have drinking infractions and things of other natures.”

Police do police each other, Currie said.

“There’s a report line in Internal Affairs where we report if an officer is not addressing the community properly or stepping out of line in other ways. The director is not going to have it. If we have knowledge, we report it. Not gossip. Evidence.

Knowledge.”

‘I tell my sons’ Currie lives in the county outside of Memphis.

“I tell my sons when they’re coming to visit me, go down Sycamore View; stay in Memphis. Not that I’m trying to cast a negative light on Bartlett, but they’ve been stopped. I’ve been stopped too many times at night in Bartlett,” he said.

“I’m not saying they’re racist, or targeting black people, but they don’t have the sensitivity training toward black people we have here in Memphis. I don’t fear for my children’s life in Memphis if they’re stopped by the police.

I do in Bartlett,” he said.

“And it’s Armstrong that has created it. Give credit where credit is due. C.O.P. makes this whole city safer, no matter what color you are.

It’s taught us that every part of the department is part of a whole and it all has to work together.”

‘Law and order is all of our responsibility’ Williams said the C.O.P. in-house training has proven its worth amid enflaming incidents.

“First as a law enforcement professional I wait for all of the information before I allow myself to respond,” he said. “Here in Memphis we have more similarities than disagreements. Number one, I’m a black man. Number two, I’m a police officer; three, a citizen. Four, I have a son and I don’t want anyone racially

Holiday music…

A holiday music program at Rozelle Elementary School recently was presented by Rozelle Creative and Performing Arts Class Piano and included chime and handbell players. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)

MCQUEEN

CONTINUED FROM FRONT McQueen said she plans to listen to teachers and other education advocates. She made it clear that she supports higher academic standards, and that the public review process the governor created to get feedback on the standards is utilized.

“I’m in favor of high standards,” she said. “I look forward to the challenge of making sure our standards’ review process is ... well done so we can be very confident that at the end of it, we have high standards that are going to move us forward.”

profiling him, or myself, because I’m black.

“But I have to say this: law and order is all of our responsibility, not just police officers. We have to adhere to what law enforcement tells us to do because without law and order there is chaos,” said Williams.

“If an officer tells you to put your hands up, put your

The New Tri-State Defender

hands up. If you want to contest a police action, there are structures to allow you to do so. We, black people, have got to take more responsibility for some of the things that are going on. We are perpetrating a lot of the crime on ourselves,” he said.

“You have people talking about ‘hands down,’ ‘hands up,’ and all these other

remarks. What it does is that it causes many policemen to be hesitant on their jobs. I caution officers that I know you have these reactions and emotions driving things right now but be careful, be confident in what you are doing.

“We face guns, there are a lot of guns out there. We have to be careful for the public and ourselves.”

The New Tri-State Defender

STUDENTS

CONTINUED FROM FRONT to be a better relationship between (police) and impoverished communities of Memphis, South Memphis is one of them, the only time we see police shouldn’t be if there’s a crime. Make your presence known outside of taking someone to jail, pulling someone over for a speeding ticket. There should be more community involvement with police in Memphis, South Memphis specifically.”

Timms said that one thing he took away from the session was the importance of AfricanAmericans being involved in decision making.

“In order for the AfricanAmerican community to move forward, we have to be involved in decision-making,” Timms said. “We have to be proactive in our thoughts and what we believe in and not just when there’s an issue

talk about it, but talk about it all the time, putting it in the forefront of people’s minds so we can keep people talking about what’s going on in the community that we can make better.”

On the same day as the Holder visit, Timms also participated in the protest of police brutality march from The LeMoyne-Owen College to Union Avenue.

“It was a humbling experience just to know that I’m a part of something that’s bigger than me (and) that my school’s a part of something that’s bigger than itself,” Timms said. “We’re standing with millions of people who are fighting for the same cause.”

Timms noted a connection between Holder’s visit and the march.

“I feel like they’re two steps in the right direction of what we’re doing at LeMoyne.

We’re trying to be a part of the

December 18 - 24, 2014

Page 3

NEWS

community and make positive community impacts.”

Carpenter said participating in the session was a “phenomenal experience.”

“I was ecstatic to be a participant in this historic event,” said Carpenter.

“President Obama, the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney (for the Western District of Tennessee Edward) Stanton (III) understand there are serious problems plaguing AfricanAmerican communities. To host outreach initiatives such as these with political and community leaders, seeking answers to these problems, shows a genuine effort to understand the needs of the community as they involve law enforcement.”

Carpenter received a personal invitation from Stanton, who moderated the forum. Holder, he said, posed an open question: “How are the police perceived nowadays

in the country and our community?”

Holder asked Carpenter for his thoughts.

“I said there are a lot of good policemen who are here to genuinely protect and serve, and there are a few not so good cops who may have a different agenda. In Memphis the perception of the police is a two-fold one,” Carpenter said.

“In the less urban neighborhoods in Memphis e.g.

(Germantown or Collierville), you have the friendly police officer. Whereas, in the inner city neighborhoods in Memphis e.g. (South or North Memphis), you have the ‘I’m here to regulate you’ police officer.

Living in South Memphis I have seen this first-hand.”

According to Carpenter, “The overwhelming majority of African-American citizens who live in inner city neighborhoods like mine aren’t bad people and they shouldn’t be presumed to

be based on how they look or carry themselves. As a society, we have to get out of this stereotypical way of thinking. There is already little to no trust in the police from a huge segment of people at the local and national level, and the recent events with Eric Gardner, Michael Brown and other recent killings at the hands of police don’t help.”

Carpenter said that his takeaway was positive.

“These issues that our nation currently faces cannot be fixed solely by Attorney General Holder or the U.S. Justice Department or government in general,” Carpenter said.

“The best remedy for these problems is a comprehensive one, which should start with the black community within our homes with parents, churches, schools and the community in general.”

Carpenter said that community involvement can be key to building trust

between the public and the police.

“Many citizens see the local police forces as militant authority figures rather than your friendly officer who is there to protect and serve you,” Carpenter said. “This can be remedied by additional training for our police officers and more community involvement for the officers to get to know the members of the community.”

Carpenter said that he hopes Holder’s visit will serve as a catalyst for future discussions.

“This was historic for Memphis to have such an influential, prominent figure to come here to voice his concerns and to hear our concerns,” he said.

“I hope that this is just the beginning and his visit will jump start more discussions at all levels that will lead to real solutions for the many problems facing the Memphis community.”

A helping hand for Toys for Tots Terrence Tiller, general manager of Durham School Services, joined other Durham team members recently to unload a school bus full of toys that Durham donated to the U.S. Marine’s Toys for Tots holiday program.

The busload of toys will help Toys for Tots fill requests this holiday season for more than 20,000 toys to make Christmas brighter for children in need throughout the Memphis area.

“Getting students to school safely, on time and ready to learn is what we are about as a business,” said Carina Noble, Durham’s vice president of communications and marketing, who was on hand to help unload the toy-filled bus.

“Helping to bring holiday happiness to some of the children our bus drivers see every day makes our job at Durham so much more meaningful.”

Durham School Services provides school bus transportation for Shelby County Schools and the municipalities of Arlington, Millington, Bartlett, Lakeland, Collierville and Germantown.

Durham School Services team members, including General Manager Terrence Tiller (center), lend a holiday hand to the U.S. Marine’s Toys for Tots holiday effort.

(Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht)

December 18 - 24, 2014

Page 4

The New Tri-State Defender

OPINION

In remembrance of ‘Old Joe’

John H. Sengstacke Publisher (1951-1997)

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

Benjamin Crump speaks: Trayvon Martin to Michael Brown to Tamir Rice

Attorney Benjamin Crump (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)

by Kam Williams

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

Through his legal prowess and advocacy in the Trayvon Martin case, the Martin Lee Anderson Boot Camp case, and the Robbie Tolan Supreme Court Case, attorney Benjamin Crump has already secured a significant legacy founded in Constitutional law.

Here, he reacts to the “Black Lives Matter!” movement sweeping the nation in the wake of the failure of grand juries to indict police officers in the deaths of Michael Brown Jr. and Eric Garner.

Kam Williams: Children’s book author Irene Smalls says: “You have agreed to represent the family of Tamir Rice, the 12 year-old shot by a cop in Cleveland, despite the failure of the grand juries even to indict in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. What fuels your continuing passion and search for justice, in the face of a criminal justice system that seems broken to many of us?”

Benjamin Crump: I was just talking to some folks who said, “Ben, you take these cases, and you make a big issue of holding police officers and the killers of our children accountable in the criminal courts, and of making them to go to jail, when you know the history is that police offers don’t get put in jail when they kill little black and brown boys. You win these multimillion dollar victories in the civil courts, but because the officers don’t go to jail, people think you lost the case. Why do you keep insisting on trying to have the police officers put behind bars?”

The way I answered them was, “I just can’t bring myself to sell out as if it’s just about money. I know we’re going to win the civil suit in all these cases. But that’s not full justice. Why is everybody else entitled to full justice except our people and our children?

Full justice means you discourage the police from ever doing this again because people will know that if you kill our children, you’ll have to do the perp walk and go to jail. It shouldn’t be that if you kill a black person, there’s a good chance you won’t, but if you kill a white person, everybody knows you’re going to prison. We say our lives are just as valuable. So, the one thing I always know, Kam, is we can’t sell our community out. I don’t worry about whether everybody understands that.

Sure, it would be easier to do like most lawyers and only talk about how much money I got for my clients in the civil courts, but to me, that’s not victory….

KW: Editor Lisa Loving says: “Many people in black communities across this country feel that the legal system simply doesn’t work for them. In fact, we see that racial profiling takes place at every point – on the streets where officers patrol, in the jailhouse, in the courtroom, even in the parole system. On top of that, many people with an arrest record are legally barred from voting. Mr. Crump, what do you tell people when they say they feel like the system is weighted against them?”

BC: What I tell them is that it’s still the best system in the world, and that we have to fight to make America be America for all of us. We have to fight to make the words in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence mean something. If they just apply the Constitution, that means we are getting due process under the law and in legal proceedings. It’s not right that we have to fight to make it fair, but we the people have the power to do so. That’s what I love about what’s going on in Ferguson and after the Eric Garner case, and about what I’m sure will now happen with the Tamir Rice case.

KW: Editor/Legist Patricia Turnier asks: “Why isn’t the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause applied uniformly? Is there a systemic flaw?”

BC: I think there is a flaw in the system. The flaw in the system is that we continue to exonerate the police for killing little black and brown people while holding them accountable in other communities.

I once wrote a paper titled, “Police Don’t Shoot White Men in the Back.” You just never heard about police accidentally shooting a white man who’s retreating. What that says is that a flaw in the system allows police officers to be immune for killing colored people.

If you think about the grand jury system, that’s exactly what happens.

You have local prosecutors who have a symbiotic relationship with the local police officers, and they have no relationship with and many times no regard for the black person dead on the ground. If we keep doing things the same way and expect a different result, that’s the definition of insanity. So, we need special prosecutors with no relationship to the police departments, if we really want to have independent investigations and trials….

KW: Attorney Bernadette Beekman asks: “What do you think can bring peace to the nation in the wake of the failure of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner grand juries to indict?”

BC: Swift action by the Federal Department of Justice. Other than that, the people are really feeling that the system isn’t fair and that folks in their community can’t get equal justice.

KW: Do you think the Department of Justice is really interested in pursuing civil rights cases in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases? Or do they just say that each time a cop gets off in order to calm people down and to give them a false sense of hope that justice will eventually be served?

BC: I want to believe that Attorney General (Eric) Holder and the Justice Department are going to do everything in their power to follow through on their words and give some sense of justice to these families….

KW: How would you assess the state of race relations in America?

Are things getting better or worse?

BC: Well, with Ferguson decision and then the Eric Garner decision within seven days after that, I think things are tenuous, at best. This could be a defining point for the entire United States of America, because we all need to be better than we’ve been previously.

KW: John Hartmann asks: “Have you been surprised by the die-ins and other mass demonstrations we’ve seen lately in cities all over the country?”

BC: I think we have tough times because some of the frustration from Trayvon flowed over to Michael Brown. Now the Michael Brown frustration is flowing over to Eric Garner, and I think the Eric Garner frustration is going to flow over to Tamir Rice. People are still trying to come to grips with these decisions that don’t seem rational and are certainly not reflective of equal justice….

KW: I admire that your spirit hasn’t been broken by the legal system’s color-coded dispensation of criminal justice.

BC: It is heartbreaking, but you just have to keep fighting the fight, and remember that the moral arc of the universe bends towards justice. Part of what keeps me going is when I see the enthusiasm of the young people….

KW: Alan Dershowitz in his book, “The Best Defense,” said that one of the things they never teach you in law school is that a policeman’s word is gospel in the courtroom. How do we fight that unwritten law?

BC: With the proposed Mike Brown legislation for video body cameras, because our eyes aren’t lying to us.

KW: Do you think all the attacks on people of color by police are symptomatic of a racist society or of a class society where people of color have no value or voice?

BC: I think it’s a little of both. I think they devalue our lives. We have to turn the slogan “Black lives matter!” into a reality because our lives do matter.

What’s next after the marches?

We’ve seen it before: The injustice, the reactions, the non-stop talking and tweeting after yet another headline grabbing tragedy. We’ve seen the hours of commentary, the “think pieces,” Lauren the marches, the Burke online petitions and the panels.

But what exactly should people be doing? Where should the energy go and what should be pushed for?

We’ve heard the generalities: The need for “better education” for example, but let’s talk specifics on what would get results on the issue of the moment: Police brutality.

Single issue. Single push. What do the best advocacy organizations do? How do they win? Does the NRA focus on 20 issues at the same time? No. The winning actors on the political stage win because they focus on one or two issues and push until they win.

In the case of police brutality, a push for independent counsels has come up as a solution to deal with police that get away with murder.

It didn’t get that way by accident.

The strength and focus of the police unions brought us to the point we’re at now.

Several officials have pointed out that activists need to put pressure on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to appoint an independent prosecutor in the case of NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s killing of Eric Garner. In many states the governor can appoint one. In other states the legislature must change state law.

Votes and money The two languages people in power understand are money and votes. If an advocacy group begins to show they are a threat to power, they will win the attention of elected officials.

What’s needed is a PAC on police brutality; one that has a grassroots fundraising strategy like we’ve recently seen with MAYDAY PAC. In Ferguson, voter registration and voting has been pointed out as obvious points of focus. Just as the Tea Party successfully elected their candidates who are now in Congress, voting and money were joined to win those elections. On the other side, Police unions have leveraged power over politicians for years.

“Organize, Organize. Organize.”

The best and most effective political advocacy organizations strategize and organize. Ever notice that the NRA doesn’t have marches? What they do have is very targeted focus.

“The success of the civil rights movement has taught us when tragedy occurs, don’t agonize, organize,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told The Root. “What we have seen spontaneously is that young people across the country have begun to organize in protest to the epidemic of police brutality. We need to take that organization and translate it into legislative action.”

But what legislative action?

Jeffries pointed out that funding for community policing programs have been cut. On Dec. 1, President Obama called for Congress to appropriate

$253 million for police training and body cameras.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) is pushing the Transparency in Policing Act that would provide federal funding for body cameras. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) has a bill that would put the reigns on Pentagon program 1033, which allows the Department of Defense to give civilian police surplus war gear for free, including armored vehicles, drones and grenade launchers. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) sponsored legislation that requires police to report deaths in police custody to the Department of Justice.

It will be signed into law this week after finding new energy during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

There could also be pressure on federal officials to stop voting for legislation that gives funding to police departments with police brutality issues.

Legislation is altered by specific and targeted political pressure and advocacy. In the case of an often gridlocked Congress, it requires leverage to attach legislative language onto larger spending bills that are required to pass.

Letters It may not be sexy but even in the age of Twitter and Facebook, simple letter writing is still effective in political advocacy. Though Twitter is immediate, politicians still pay attention to letters addressed to them on specific issues. Why? Because a letter from a constituent is likely a letter from a voter.

“We have to stop trying to organize and strategize after a crisis,” said IMPACT co-founder Angela Rye during CBC Week in September. “At some point we have to really stop and strategize to discuss what we have to do to prevent the next Trayvon… to prevent the next Michael Brown.”

Ryealso pointed out that pushing template legislation and targeted letter writing campaigns work.

Marching Marching for the sake of marching – with no demands – has come under much criticism as being ineffective.

But there is no denying that recent marches and demonstrations, after the non-indictments of police officers Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo, have put international attention on the issue of police brutality.

“It wouldn’t be an issue without the marches and the protests. The idea of marching and protest is not to solve problems, it’s to raise the attention and raise the notice of a problem,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton Friday on his radio show, “Keepin’ It Real.”

Notice, however, that the most effective groups at getting their way in politics never march. They would appear to be too busy raising money, strategizing and applying pressure to people in power. It’s time for us to march to a different strategy.

(Lauren Victoria Burke is a freelance writer and creator of the blog Crewof42.com, which covers African-American members of Congress. She appears regularly on “NewsOneNow with Roland Martin” and on WHUR FM, 900 AM WURD. She can be reached via laurenvictoriaburke.com, or Twitter @Crewof42 or by e-mail at LBurke007@gmail.com.)

The negative issue of race in this country has become all too common nowadays. Some say that relations between various ethnic groups have changed for the better but I would have to Rev. Rodney disagree.

Beard Growing up during the Jim Crow era was a pretty difficult ordeal for people of color and the obvious level of racial hate set the tone in my Louisiana community for tension, fear and distrust. Many of us lived with the distinct possibility of being assaulted by racist white citizens, who could basically attack any minority person with no repercussions for murder, and the police as well.

I remember being a child sitting on the porch with my grandmother as she warned me about how it is that my demeanor when in the presence of “Mr. Charlie” could lead to awful circumstances. One such story was more disturbing than most others.

One day she sat in her rocking chair, stared through her screened-in porch and told me about a young man who lived up the street. She said that she could remember distinctly the day he was hung. It seems that “Old Joe” was downtown just walking around and suddenly was accosted by some good “ole boys” who accused him of looking at a white woman. I will never forget the look on her face as she recounted the horror of seeing a man killed before her very eyes.

Grandma said that “Old Joe” wasn’t even the kind of fellow who would have taken a chance like that.

He knew that it was customary in those days (late 1930’s) to look down or at least away when approaching a white woman. She told us that they beat him until he was almost dead and dragged his bloody and near lifeless body down the street right in front of her house, then hung him for all the “Negroes” to see. Of course, the authorities reported that the killers were not from the area and had absconded back to wherever they came from.

No one ever cut that tree down.

They wanted to honor “Old Joe” because he was a good and gentle soul who was brutally murdered by racists. I thought that was morbid, and we all hated that old tree. I had to walk by it every day on my way to and from school and think about the murderous hate and disrespect that some have for others only because of their color, choices, and ethnicity without any compunction or a shred of justice being served.

Racists who perpetrated these unmitigated crimes chose many different methods to victimize African Americans – from degradation, marginalization and humiliation to murder for hundreds of years. Killing innocent people of color is not new to people like that, but the methods have become more sophisticated, which I don’t think is the right word here.

Now, you don’t have to look at someone the wrong way, or fail to refer to them as “Mr.” or “Miss” or even read a book.

Now, a hate monger will kill you if you are walking home from the corner store with some skittles and iced tea in your pocket that you didn’t steal.

They now feel entitled to follow you home from a legitimate job and beat you to death in front of your home and family because they accused you of driving erratically.

You could be murdered on video for sitting outside a bodega after breaking up a fight, choked to death by a posse of racist “peace officers,” or just walking around in a store with an air rifle you are about to purchase.

Nowadays, you could be a 12-yearold child sitting in a swing with a toy gun and be murdered in 1.5 seconds, or a mentally challenged kid who had not committed any crime and be shot in the back three times by a cop.

You know the stories.

I never forgot “Old Joe.” Nor can we forget Trayvon, Mike, John, Ezell, Omar, Eric or anyone else because one day, it may be us.

Let’s keep up the fight. The outrage we see across this nation needs to continue, the outcries heard loudly, and never stop. There must be liberty and justice for all.

“No Justice…No Peace.”

Enough is enough…Tell me what you think.

(The Rev. Rodney Beard is pastor of The Living Word Community Church in Nashville and president of The National Action Network for Greater Nashville. Contact him at pastorbeard@comcast.net.)

The New Tri-State Defender

December 18 - 24, 2014

Page 5

NATIONAL

5 things you should know about the US-Cuba breakthrough

by Charles D. Ellison The Root

In a stunning display of mic-dropping, post-midterm comeback, days before the holiday recess set in, President Barack Obama announced the first massive thaw in tensions between the United States and Cuba in more than half a century.

The implications of the move are, no doubt, enormous and far-reaching. Not only did the embattled POTUS completely trash, then burn, premature political obituaries written last month, but he also put in motion a geopolitical boom for the ages.

Normalizing ties between the two hemispheric rivals, separated by only 90 miles of idyllic blue water, will certainly trigger earth-quaking ripples.

Understand that it doesn’t mean a full lifting of that infamous 54-year-old embargo, yet.

Two Republican-dominated chambers of Congress will have to wrestle with that unpleasant task next year. However, it will mean a reopened U.S. Embassy in Havana, along with relaxed trade, travel and banking. Not only will you be able to catch a direct flight to the massive island nation of 11 million, but you’ll also be able to use your debit and credit cards.

The Root can’t exactly say, “We told you so” – but we did smell something on the horizon back in July. And as a dumbfounded national crowd absorbs what just happened, here are five quick things you should know: In the immortal words of LL Cool J: “Don’t call it a comeback.” If there’s any loose, hip-hop lexicon appropriate for the moment, you can wager that Obama rocked this hit classic moments before the announcement. Wouldn’t you?

In one move, the president just sliced through the Republican midterm-winners club and blasted the lame-duck narrative.

Not only will Obama still be relevant, but moves like this show that he’s still president – and he can still be impactful. Big question: Can he maintain that same momentum heading into next year? It’s uncertain. Still ...

The ball is in Republicans’ court ... can they hit it? Since Republicans wanted both the House and Senate so bad, they can have it – along with an uncomfortable vote on

With a stunning geopolitical move, the president puts Republicans on their for the right move at the right contributor to The Root. He is also Washington correspondent for the heels and gives Democrats a firmer position with a growing Latino voting bloc. time.

(Charles D. Ellison is a veteran political strategist and regular

A bike-taxi and a vintage American car are seen in front of a building decorated with a large Cuban flag on Dec. 31, 2013, in Havana. (Photo: Adalberto Roque/AFP/ Getty Images) lifting sanctions against Cuba.

That severely complicates the political calculus for the GOP heading into 2016, especially for likely Republican presidential contenders such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.). Conventional wisdom rather stupidly assumes that this puts Rubio in a good position – just because he’s Cuban and – oh look, Ma – Cuba is in the headlines. But his opposition to lifting sanctions puts him at odds with a much younger Cuban-American electorate in Florida. Polls show that many Cubans stateside are tired of listening to their elderly uncles gripe about Castro over angry domino games in the Miami heat all day. They see Jay Z and Beyoncé making trips to Havana and they want in, too.

Florida won’t be an easy pickup for Republicans despite Gov. Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) thin re-election win last month, and that decisive Cuban-American electorate is leaning blue.

Combine this announcement with the president’s gamble on immigration reform, and you can see Caribbean Latinos and other voting, black-Diaspora migrants coming out strong for Democrats in the next cycle.

Yes, haters: He can still master the geopolitical chessboard. Don’t count out Obama when it comes to diplomacy and the extremely complicated game of foreign policy. It’s the type of

slow-moving, deliberative environment he prefers.

Dominoes are falling all around this. Conservatives are recklessly clowning the prisoner swap of two Americans for three Cubans as amateur hour, but don’t look now: Not only did the U.S. just get a new friend in its backyard, but it just grabbed a longtime BFF from Russia, Iran, North Korea and a neighboring Venezuela on the brink of a coup and political collapse. All four are smarting from sanctions and cleverly designed fast-dropping oil prices, making it too pricey for enemies to cozy up with Cuba as a thorn in America’s geographic backside.

Vladimir Putin gets pimpslapped (for a change). This move just proves that you don’t need military firepower or nuclear brinkmanship to reach an objective. Nowadays you just unleash banking warfare and set your enemy’s economy into monetary free fall. Just ask Iran. Since the Soviet Union, Cuba has long been a reliable Russian friend and was expected to remain that way as Moscow reopened a spy base south of Havana and forgave nearly $30 billion in Soviet-era debt. But this move could take that chip off the table for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who—let’s keep it real—is being forced to cut quiet deals with President Obama over Ukraine, contrary to popular opinion on the

subject.

POTUS just got a partner in the fight against Ebola–and a possible solid for U.S. interests in Africa. Cuba has had assets in sub-Saharan since the 1960s because Fidel Castro successfully played on rising Pan-Africanism as a way to maintain support from the island’s massive AfroCuban population. It was Cuba, after all, that was fighting South Africa’s army in Angola while training anti-apartheidists against Pretoria. So it’s no surprise that Cuba sent nearly 200 highly trained doctors to fight Ebola alongside U.S. troops and aid workers.

It’s not as if any Western nations – or even China, Russia or India – are stepping up like Cuba, a country long admired for its advanced medical training and free health care. As Ebola turns longtime enemies into virus-ending frenemies, the U.S. will surely see if it can leverage a lucrative channel into African economies and a relationship that helps stop the spread of Islamic militants throughout the continent. All the pieces are there

Philadelphia Tribune and chief political correspondent for Uptown magazine. Follow him on Twitter.)

Page 6

December 18 - 24, 2014

NATIONAL

U.S. to restore relations with Cuba after 50-year embargo

by Stephen A. Crockett Jr. The Root

In a historic move, rife with Republican controversy, the president announced on Wednesday that he is looking to ease up on sanctions – including economic and travel restrictions – with Cuba, effectively ending a 50-year freeze with the communist nation, according to CBS News.

“I believe we can do more to support the Cuban people and our values through engagement,” President Obama said from the White House. “These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked. It’s time for a new approach.”

The breakthrough came Tuesday after a phone call between Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, which, according to CBS News, was “the first engagement at the presidential level between Cuba and the United States since the Cuban revolution.”

According to the news site, the two leaders discussed brokering a deal that released three Cuban intelligence officers from American custody for the release of American prisoners Alan Gross and another man described only as a “U.S. intelligence asset.”

On Wednesday it was announced that both leaders had agreed to the deal and that the supposed good-faith negotiations of releasing the prisoners would be the first step in “potential cooperation between the two nations,” CBS News reports.

“We intend to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas,” the president said.

According to the news site, “The U.S. and Cuba will immediately begin discussions to re-establish diplomatic relations, including plans to establish an embassy in Havana.”

The president acknowledged that the U.S. has a “complicated history” with the communist nation but added, “Neither the American nor Cuban people are well served by a rigid policy that’s rooted in events that took place before most of us were born.”

Republicans were quick to criticize the president’s actions. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) cautioned that the exchange of “...

Mr. Gross for three convicted criminals sets an extremely dangerous precedent.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that Barack Obama “is the single worst negotiator we have had in the White House in my lifetime.”

CBS News notes that while Wednesday’s announcement is historic, the two nations have worked together in the past, most recently during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where Cuba was one of the first countries to send doctors to help fight the spread of the deadly virus.

“Todos somos americanos,” Obama said during his speech. “Today America chooses to cut loose the shackles of the past so as to reach for a better future for the Cuban people, for the American people, for our entire hemisphere and for the world.”

(President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raúl Castro during the official memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium Dec. 10, 2013, in Johannesburg.)

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images)

Camille Cosby: ‘He is the man you thought you knew’ C(theGrio) – Camille Cosby has finally broken her silence on her husband Bill’s rape allegations.

In a statement released to “CBS Evening News” and other news outlets, Camille compares the coverage of her husband’s allegations to the recent Rolling Stone story of an alleged campus gang rape.

Camille says a “different man” has been portrayed in the media the last two months, and it is a “portrait of a man” she “does not know.”

She continues: “There appears to be no vetting of my husband’s accusers before stories are published or aired. An accusation is published and immediately goes viral.”

Camille met Cosby in 1963, and the two were married a year later. Here is her full statement: “I met my husband, Bill Cosby, in 1963, and we were married in 1964. The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work. He is Comedian Bill Cosby and wife Camille O. Cosby walk backstage during the 38th annual NAACP Image Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium on March 2, 2007, in Los Angeles, California.

(Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images for NAACP)

The New Tri-State Defender

a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend. He is the man you thought you knew.

“A different man has been portrayed in the media over the last two months. It is the portrait of a man I do not know. It is also a portrait painted by individuals and organizations whom many in the media have given a pass. There appears to be no vetting of my husband’s accusers before stories are published or aired.

An accusation is published, and immediately goes viral.

“We all followed the story of the article in the “Rolling Stone” concerning allegations of rape at the University of Virginia. The story was heart-breaking, but ultimately appears to be proved to be untrue. Many in the media were quick to link that story to stories about my husband - until that story unwound.

“None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim. But the question should be asked - who is the victim?”

COMMENTARY

Co-owners of Miss Jessie’s, and sisters, Miko and Titi Branch attend the 2011 Diva Lounge celebration at the Tracy Reese Boutique on May 18, 2011, in New York. (Photo: Joe Corrigan/ Getty Images)

Let’s get rid of the myth that success conquers depression The apparent suicide of natural-hair entrepreneur Titi Branch is another reminder that outward success can often mask inner turmoil.

by Janelle Harris The Root

When I told a friend I was writing a story on depression, he asked, “What about it?”

I elaborated. “People can look outwardly successful and still struggle internally with chronic feelings of despair and unworthiness.”

To that, he balled up his face in skepticism.

“How often does that really happen? What do they even have to be sad about?”

That right there is the articulation of a compounded issue.

For accomplished people, the already weighty symptoms of depression are exacerbated by the imposition of other folks’ perceptions, similar to the one vocalized by said friend. It’s as if people have a right to their feelings, so long as they’re not celebrities, public figures, folks with really good jobs, millionaires, definitely not billionaires, beautiful people or anyone else who should seemingly be too busy enjoying the accoutrements of achievement to become melancholy.

We’ve seen the proof in tragic news stories, most recently the apparent suicide of Titi Branch, co-founder of the Miss Jessie’s natural-hair product empire. She was an eyeful of lovely, a serial entrepreneur driven by intelligence and supply-and-demand savvy. The joy we thought she should have been feeling – maybe even the joy she thought she should have been feeling – apparently didn’t exist, and so she made a final decision to find peace.

Conversations about high achievers and mental health, usually sparked by some kind of unfortunate event, are peppered with offhand statements like, “If I had that much money/If I looked like that/If I had that kind of job, you’d never catch me having a bad day.” But boxing in somebody else’s emotions with qualifiers is almost always dangerous –at the absolute least, it’s reductive and annoying – and can play out in mentally unhealthy ways. Not the least of which are these: 1. It can create pressure to stifle authentic feelings in favor of maintaining a facade.

2. It can force people already in emotional and mental turmoil to justify their depression, which can push them to seek solace in the self-medication of their choice.

3. It often minimizes the emotions that we all experience, and that ultimately connect

us.

Making good money, shaping an impressive career and capitalizing on the benefits of higher education don’t disentitle anyone from experiencing the spectrum of human emotion; nor do they preclude anyone from clinical disorders.

In a 2012 interview with NPR, Dr. William Lawson, chair of the department of psychiatry at Howard University College of Medicine, said, “Many African Americans ... may not be aware of the symptoms of many mental disorders, or they may believe that to be mentally ill is a sign of weakness or a sign of a character fault.”

Such belief is a danger to mental health. Forty percent of us are in denial about our depression. Thirty-eight percent of us are embarrassed or ashamed to be treated for it. And 31 percent don’t want or refuse help because, despite sometimes incapacitating misery and crippling hopelessness, we think we’ve got this. Particularly those of us who are used to checking items off our lists of personal and professional aspirations. If you’re accustomed to zeroing in on a goal and driving it into actualization, recovering from depression may seem like one more thing you can do yourself.

That’s not how mental-health care works, particularly since most major depressive cases need professional treatment.

By now, from the sharing of so many painful exemplifications, we’ve learned that no one is exempt from the burden of faltering mental health. But we have a hard time giving everyone that space when some of the everyones are people who seem as if they have every reason to be brimming over with glee. Beyond the enchantment of their best Instagram-ready smiles and seemingly fabulous lives is the vulnerability to experience emptiness, inferiority and anguish.

Folks will still make choices to control their own lives in ways that we may not be able to understand. Real healing as a community happens when all people feel comfortable taking off the masks of their own making and feeling that they can be real – first with themselves, then with the people around them – about what they’re experiencing emotionally.

(Writer and editor Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.)

The New Tri-State Defender

SC teen George Stinney Jr. exonerated 70 years after execution

by Breanna Edwards The Root

It’s been 70 years since George Stinney Jr., a 14-yearold South Carolina boy, faced the electric chair for the 1944 murders of two young white girls in Alcolu, but his name has finally been cleared after a circuit court judge tossed his murder conviction, NBC News reports.

George was so small, weighing just 95 pounds at the time of his death, that he had

December 18 - 24, 2014

NATIONAL

Page 7

to sit on top of a phone book in the electric chair.

Civil rights advocates and George’s lawyers have been trying to get George’s case tossed for years, believing that his confession was coerced.

The boy’s trial only lasted three hours, and it only took his jury, consisting of all white men, 10 minutes to find him guilty, NBC notes. There were no appeals made.

George is often said to be the youngest person executed in the U.S. in the past century, NBC notes.

National Justice For All March

Rev. Al Sharpton (at the podium) with the parents of Michael Brown, Leslie McSpadden (left) and Michael Brown, Sr. (right) addresses thousands of participants gathered for the National Justice for All March in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Roy Lewis/NNPA) Jachin JohnsonBey, 12, a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America, Inc. from Baltimore, Md., joined thousands of people that marched from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol on Saturday morning, December 12, 2014 in the National “Justice For All” March.

(Photo: Milbert O. Brown, Jr./NNPA)

(Photo: Milbert O. Brown, Jr./NNPA)

(Photo: Milbert O. Brown, Jr./ NNPA)

December 18 - 24, 2014

Page 8

The New Tri-State Defender

BUSINESS

ON OUR WAY TO WEALTHY

Paul Thomas’ Haute Couture Visual Textile Art A business by definition is an organization or enterprising entity that is engaged in a commercial, industrial or professional activity.

The very nature of business is creating a product that is wanted or needed by others to the point that they are willing to pay for the privilege of obtaining the product or service.

Paul Thomas, a noted fashion and interior designer with a focus on recycling, is passionate about his art and has the talent that rewards him with the opportunity to turn a hobby into a bona fide business. Art and fashion are as subjective as any object can be. That’s why “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Thomas is in demand for costuming and art. He is requested from the stage to Presidential libraries. This week, he takes us on a journey of Haute Couture Visual Textile Art. Carlee McCullough: Thank you for taking the time to share with our readers your experience and knowledge. Tell us about Paul Thomas. Tell us about yourself.

Paul Thomas: I’m from Memphis, Tennessee. I am a fashion and interior designer that has a zest for life that is lived out through fashion. My fashion philosophy is based on my belief in historical preservation. I believe in saving the earth one rag at a time. My family instilled in me the ability to follow my life long dream of being an artist.

C.M.: Tell us about your business?

P.T.: Art in the Dark is my passion for recycling rags into couture art.

I design hats, jewelry, rag shawls, scarfs, and gowns to complete my look for my couture fashion shows.

My style is described as Haute Couture Visual Textile Art.

C.M.: Of all the things that you could be doing, when and how did you stumble upon this concept?

Carlee McCullough, Esq.

Paul Thomas

P.T.: This concept is a culmination of everything that I have learned about fashion from the beginning as a child. Life has a way of directing your path.

I only follow what positive energy directs.

I have always been involved in fashion, art, theater and p h o t o g r a p h y, and I created Art in the Dark as a way to utilize my gifts. I learned to take what you have and make it work!

business line?

P.T.: I am always working on new things. Currently I am working on an opportunity to have my own reality show. I am also developing a documentary on Paul Thomas, Art in the Dark, for Indie Film Festival.

C.M.: Tell us about your competitions and shows involving your work?

P.T.: I was in a competition in 2012 for Memphis City Beautiful Curb Couture Trashion Show. With notice of the show only a week before, my model made front page of The Commercial Appeal newspaper. In 2014, I was chosen to be on the board of directors of the Memphis City Beautiful Trashion Show, where I help make decisions in the developmental stages and format for the show. I was crowned best in show 1st winner in 2014. I was also recently featured in an Arkansas version held at Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock.

C.M.: What challenges do you face in your business?

P.T.: Building the right support team that understands the process of art and business and the steps to bring the vision of the artist into reality is my biggest challenge in this business.

C.M.: How did you turn this

into a business?

P.T.: Over the years I have participated in national pageants, local filming, and costuming for dance troupes using recycled everything, of course. Over time, I developed a concept step-by-step, which allowed me to follow my passion to build a business. I turned my passion into a business by surrounding myself with icons that know the fashion business to help guide my career.

CM: How do you balance family and business?

P.T.: I balance family and business “One Day at a Time”!

C.M.: What inspired you to get into this business?

P.T.: I was drawn to art and fashion as a child. I cannot remember not

C.M.: What is your ultimate goal in business?

P.T.: To Wear. To Show. To Treasure. To educate and elevate green living to a higher standard.

C.M.: Any closing remarks?

P.T.: If a man can create Art in the Dark, imagine what he can do in the light.

Paul Thomas’ pink ribbon dress, a Best in Show winner in the Memphis Curb Couture Trashion Show in September. (Photo: Andrew Olinger having an interest in fashion. It was just born in me, like breathing air.

C.M.: What is next for your

(Contact Carlee McCullough, Esq., at jstce4all@aol.)

(Paul Thomas can be contacted at 901-406-5487 or by email at Pvtdesign1@gmail.com)

MONEY MATTERS

When must taxes be paid on IRA and Employer-Sponsored Retirement Funds?

Traditional IRAs and most employer-sponsored retirement plans are tax-deferred accounts, which mean they are typically funded with pre-tax or tax-deductible dollars. As a result, taxes are not payable until funds are withdrawn, generally in retirement.

Withdrawals from tax-deferred accounts are subject to income tax at your current tax rate. In addition, withdrawals taken prior to age 59½ may be subject to a 10 percent federal income tax penalty.

If you made nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA, you have what is called a “cost

basis” in the IRA. Your cost basis is the total of the nondeductible contributions to the IRA minus any previous withdrawals or distributions of nondeductible contributions.

Charles Sims The recovery of this basis is not Jr., CMFC, seen as taxable LUTCF income.

Exceptions are the Roth IRA and the Roth 401(k)

and Roth 403(b). Roth accounts are funded with after-tax dollars; thus, qualified distributions (after age 59½ and the five-year holding requirement have been met) are free of federal income tax.

Traditional IRAs, most employer-sponsored retirement plans, and Roth 401(k) and 403(b) plans are subject to annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) that must begin after the account owner reaches age 70½. (The first RMD must be taken no later than April 1 of the year after the year in which the owner reaches age 70½.)

Failure to take an RMD triggers

a 50 percent federal income tax penalty on the amount that should have been withdrawn. Roth IRA owners never have to take RMDs; however, the designated beneficiaries of IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans do have to take RMDs. When you begin taking distributions from your retirement accounts, make sure to pay attention to any required beginning dates and the appropriate distribution amount in order to avoid unnecessary penalties.

The information in this article is not intended to be tax or legal advice,

and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek tax or legal advice from an independent professional advisor.

The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security.

(Charles Sims Jr., CMFC, LUTCF, is President/CEO of The Sims Financial Group. Contact him at 901-682-2410 or visit www.

SimsFinancialGroup.com.)

The New Tri-State Defender

December 18 - 24, 2014

RELIGION

Page 9

Check presentation...

Red Carpet salute...

Janet Anderson (right) of Brooks Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ in Oakland, Tenn., presented a $500 check to Richard Settles Jr. and Nikki Settles of the DeWitt Coalition in Rossville, Tenn., on behalf of the headquarters jurisdiction Church of God in Christ First Ladies Association. Dr. Mary POrtis Hall is president of the association and Dr. David A. Hall Sr. is the jurisdictional bishop of Tennessee Headquarters Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ. (Courtesy photo)

“From Memphis to Malaysia” is the title of a short film that was screened at the Malco Studio On The Square on Dec. 10 during a special Red Carpet presentation featuring “World Championship of Public Speaking” finalist Eric Ovid Donaldson.

The film was produced and directed by George W. Tillman Jr. and Donaldson (center), who was surrounded by a girls group called “It’s A Girls World.” (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)

RELIGION BRIEFS Castalia Baptist Church to host Christmas Pageant on Sunday, Dec. 21 Castalia Baptist Church, 1540 Castalia Rd., is the worship center for a Christmas Pageant on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 10 a.m. The pageant is the precursor to an early Christmas morning worship at 8 a.m. on Dec. 25 – Christmas Day. The public is invited. Dr. Randolph Meade Walker is the host pastor.

Prayer House Church slates youth empowerment event The members at Prayer House Church, located at 224 Reno Ave., feel it is important to invest in the youth of Memphis by providing them with support and resources, and to encourage them to be more confident during the 2015 school year.

The church will host a youth empowerment event on Saturday, Jan. 3, to help bridge the gap between the youth, parents, schools, churches and leadership in the community. Several agencies and ministries will be there to let the youth know that they are cared for while they’re on the road to becoming productive citizens.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Bickford Community Center, 233 Henry Ave. The event will include a panel discussion on topics impacting youth, school supply giveaway, FAFSA enrollment, 1040EZ preparation assistance, dental screenings, and a number of vendors.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information about Soar In Faith 2015, or for more information about Prayer House Church, contact Vanessa Sweet at 901-409-4706.

‘O Come, All Ye Faithful...’

St. John Baptist Church, 640 Vance Ave., presented its 25th Annual Cantata, “A Christmas Festival,” on Sunday, Dec. 14. The St. John Community Chorale (above), directed by Rosetta H. Peterson, performed a medley of Christmas spirituals. (Photos: Tyrone P. Easley)

The Christmas festival brought smiles to the faces of St. John Baptist Church’s pastor, the Rev. Henry L. Key (left); Rosetta Petterson, director; and Stan A. Bell, a radio personality at WDIA and longtime church member.

New pastor...

ABOVE: The Rev. Dr. James Netters, senior pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church-Westwood, and other clergy, prayed for the Rev. Wade C. Bryant, who was installed as the pastor of Monumental Baptist Church during installation services Sunday, Dec. 14. Dr. Edward Parker Jr. was the morning speaker. Dr. L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr., pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church, followed with a sermon during the evening service.

RIGHT: The Rev. Bryant speaks to the congregants. (Photos: Tyrone P. Easley)

LITERATURE The New Tri-State Defender, December 18 - 24, 2014, Page 10

BOOK REVIEW

Black Authors B-A-M-M!

The first Black Authors B-A-M-M! is coming to The New Olivet Baptist Church, opening the door for local African-American authors to expand their reach.

On Monday, Feb. 2, the church will transform its gym located at 3084 Southern Avenue into a “bookstore” where each participating author will have the opportunity to reach new readers and sell their products to the 200-300 supporters that will be directed to the event over the course of the day.

The initiative is a partnership between The New Olivet Baptist Church and the What’s Happening Myron Book Club. It’s a twist on the church’s ongoing Bust-A-MoveMonday! (B-A-M-M!) effort.

B-A-M-M! was created by the Rev. Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum Jr., The New Olivet’s pastor. It’s a ministry that selects a blackowned business in the Memphis area on the first Monday of each month and directs

their members and patrons to spend their dollars in that business for the day. The idea is to empower the businesses and customers “to have a direct financial impact, creating wealth and building wealth in the black community.”

There is no cost to participate for the authors.

“This is really gonna bless those authors who participate,” said Myron Mays of the What’s Happening Myron Book Club.

“They’re gonna reach new readers, move some units and be enriched all at the same time. And the most wonderful thing about it is, it’s not costing them anything but time and talent. You can’t beat this opportunity.”

Authors will be provided with space, table, chairs and sign-in sheets and can adorn their tables as they desire. Each participant will be asked to follow a few guidelines, which include filming a two-minute video interview with Myron Mays that will run continuously during the event.

If you’re a Memphis-area local author and would like to participate or get more information, email Myron Mays at Myron@ whatshappeningmyron.com.

The Ten Best Black Books of 2014 ‘Justice While Black’ – a handbook for African-American families

by Kam Williams

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

“The August 9th fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri has focused global attention on the precarious safety of young AfricanAmerican men... Brown is only the most recent addition to the tragic list of shootings of young, AfricanAmerican men that have ignited media attention in recent years.

“But the fact is that our young Nick Chiles black men have always lived under threat from the armed (Photo guardians of the white social © Denene order. Black males and police Millner) forces have been at odds since the nation’s founding, when wealthy planters hired slave patrols to keep the white community safe from ‘dangerous’ escaped slaves.

“The tactics have been modernized, and the impact – as we’ve seen at Ferguson – remains devastating… The criminal justice system is not so much a necessary service to society as it is a business that seeks to profit from the arrest Robbin Shipp, and imprisonment of U.S. citizens. “‘Justice While Black’ is a Esq. (Photo handbook for African-American © Erik Voss) families that is full of practical, brass-tacks advice… on how to avoid being ensnared in the criminal justice system.”

– Excerpted from a Note from the Publisher, Doug Seibold Unless you’ve been living under a rock in recent months, you know that the incredibly antagonistic and too often deadly relationship between the police and black males is finally garnering the national attention it has so long deserved. Something’s gotta give, when it’s degenerated to the point where you have cops shooting to death a 12 year old playing with a toy gun in a park and an unarmed 28 year old merely escorting his girlfriend down the dark stairwell of his apartment building.

Yes, President Obama has weighed-in on the wake of the grand juries’ failures to indict the officers responsible for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. He’s ostensibly attempting to quell racial unrest by hinting that U.S. Atty. Gen. Holder might still file federal civil rights charges against the cops.

But meanwhile, the question remains: how should the parent of a black boy prepare him for a possible encounter with police, since they’re prone to misread the most innocent of behaviors as somehow menacing? After all, it’s been said that if a cop sees a black man sitting, he’s shiftless; if he’s standing, he’s loitering; if he’s walking, he’s prowling; and if he’s running, he’s escaping.

I’m not sure whether there’s been a more timely tome than “Justice While Black,” a how-to book written by a concerned sister who is both a lawyer and a mother. With 20-plus years experience as a criminal defense attorney under her belt, Robbin Shipp (with the help of Pulitzer Prize-winner Nick Chiles) shares a wealth of advice for young brothers about not only dealing with police on the street, but with navigating one’s way through the court and correctional systems, should you unfortunately be arrested and/or convicted.

Not one to mince words, the author from Chapter One, “Officer Friendly Isn’t Your Friend,” makes it clear that any black man’s encounter with a police officer could easily lead to a close brush with death.

Therefore, she relates step-by-step instructions about what to do in situations ranging from being stopped while driving (“If the officer asks for your license and registration, get his permission to reach for them.”) to being placed under arrest (“Resist the urge to explain to them everything that happened.”), and so forth.

A mandatory, must-read that just might save the life or liberty of someone you love.

“Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System”

by Robbin Shipp, Esq. and Nick Chiles Agate Bolden Paperback, $9.99 160 pages ISBN: 978-1-932841-90-9 (To order a copy of Justice While Black, visit: http:// www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932841903/ ref%3dnosim/thslfofire-20.)

by Kam Williams

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

1. “Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System”

by Robbin Shipp, Esq. and Nick Chiles 2. “An Obama’s Journey: My Odyssey of Self-Discovery across Three Cultures”

by Mark Obama Ndesandjo

by Darryl and Tracy Strawberry “Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story… and Why It Matters Today”

by Edouard Kayihura and Kerry Zukus “Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and

“The Myth of Race, The Reality of Racism”

by Mahmoud El-Kati “Our Ancestors, Our Stories”

by Harris Bailey, Jr., Bernice Alexander Bennett, Ellen LeVonne Butler, Ethel Dailey, Vincent Sheppard and Dr. Orville Vernon Burton

5. “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina”

by Misty Copeland 6. “One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future”

by Dr. Ben Carson and Candy Carson

“Things I Should Have Told My Daughter: Lies, Lessons and Love Affairs”

by Pearl Cleage

7. “Finding Your Roots”

by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

“Yoga, Meditation and Spiritual Growth for the AfricanAmerican Community”

by Daya Devi-Doolin

8.

“What the Word Be: Why Black English Is the King’s (James) English”

by Diane Proctor Reeder

“How the Poor Can Save Capitalism: Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class”

by John Hope Bryant Foreword by Ambassador Andrew Young

9. “Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Final Year”

by Tavis Smiley with David Ritz

“The Justice Imperative: How Hyper-Incarceration Has Hijacked the American Dream”

by Brian E. Moran, Esq.

10. “Culture Worrier: Reflections on Race, Politics and Social Change”

by Clarence Page

“Not for Everyday Use: A Memoir”

by Elizabeth Nunez “This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible”

by Charles E. Cobb, Jr.

Honorable Mention “Why Vegan is the New Black”

by Deborrah Cooper

“Stokely: A Life”

by Peniel E. Joseph “Brown Girl Dreaming”

by Jacqueline Woodson “The Light of Truth: Writings of an AntiLynching Crusader”

by Ida B. Wells Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Mia Bay General Editor: Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. “The Rise Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery”

by Sarah Lewis “Success through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple”

by Russell Simmons “The Imperfect Marriage Help for Those Who Think It’s Over”

“Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou”

by Maya Angelou

“A Black Gambler’s World of Liquor, Vice and Presidential Politics: William Thomas Scott of Illinois, 1839-1917”

by Bruce L. Mouser Foreword by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

4. “Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black”

by Congressman James E. Clyburn (D-SC) Foreword by Alfre Woodard

“Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption”

by Bryan Stevenson

“Nine Lives of a Black Panther: A Story of Survival”

by Wayne Pharr

“Cosby: His Life and Times”

by Mark Whitaker

3. “Who We Be: The Colorization of America”

by Jeff Chang

“The Lawyer as Leader: How to Plant People and Grow Justice”

by Dr. Artika R. Tyner

by Edward Lewis with Audrey Edwards Foreword by Camille O. Cosby

“America’s Music: Jazz in Newark”

by Barbara Kukla My Crazy Mother, and Still Came out Smiling (with Great Hair)”

by Rosie Perez

“240 Ways to Close the Achievement Gap: Teachers Only Workbook (Vol. 2)”

by M. Donnell Tenner, Joy Gay and Dr. Marti Dryk

“The Global Obama: Crossroads of Leadership in the 21st Century” Edited by Dinesh Sharma and Uwe P. Gielen

“Misdiagnosed: The Search for Dr. House”

by Nika C. Beamon

“Black and White: The Way I See It”

by Richard Williams “Transforming Pain to Power: Unlock Your Unlimited Potential”

by Daniel Beaty “Story/Time: The Life of an Idea”

by Bill T. Jones “Place, Not Race: A New Vision of Opportunity in America”

by Sheryll Cashin “Old School Adventures from Englewood--South Side of Chicago”

by Elaine Hegwood Bowen “The Man from Essence”

“Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights”

by Robin Bernstein “Guiou: The Other Blacks – The Afro-Jamaican Presence in Guatemala”

by Gloria J. Arnold “Dollar Democracy: With Liberty and Justice for Some

by Peter Mathews “Pageants, Parlors & Pretty Women: Race and Beauty in the 20th Century South”

by Blain Roberts “Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir”

by Toni Braxton “Thirty-Three Days of Praise: Seeing the Good in Cancer”

by Karrie Marchbanks

The New Tri-State Defender

December 18 - 24, 2014

ENTERTAINMENT

Page 11

Buju Banton seeks early release from U.S. prison “Tears from my eyes could not hold anymore “Cry like a child who has lost his way home “Longing to go to that place that I am from “They got I in bondage “(so much bondage woah)” – “Bondage” from “Before the Dawn”

Grammy winning reggae artist Buju Banton, who was convicted on cocaine trafficking charges in 2011, has filed a motion in court in an attempt to secure an earlier release date.

The Tampa Bay Tribune reports that Buju, whose given name is Mark Myrie, filed his own motion from prison asking to be released early based on a recent change in federal drug sentencing guidelines.

This would mean an earlier release date and deportation to Jamaica.

Buju is currently serving a mandatory tenyear sentence for his conviction on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

He is scheduled to be released in 2019.

However, the amendments do not apply to those serving minimum mandatory sentences under the law.

This would only be possible where the convicts cooperate with investigators or gives a full confession to their crimes.

According to the newspaper, this is unlikely to happen, as Buju has maintained his innocence since being arrested.

Buju was convicted in February 2011, days after he won a Grammy award for his album, “Before the Dawn.”

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhané Wallis shines as the film’s titular heroine, stuck in a New York City orphanage run by the evil Miss Hannigan (played by Cameron Diaz).

Jamie Foxx stars as wealthy politician Benjamin Stacks (the remake of Daddy Warbucks), who strikes up a public friendship with Annie in the name of good publicity. (Courtesy photo)

by Kam Williams

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

For movies opening December 19, 2014 BIG BUDGET FILMS “Annie” (PG for mild epithets and rude humor) Quvenzhane Wallis portrays Little Orphan Annie in this contemporary update of the classic musical inspired by the Broadway play based on the 1920s comic strip character.

Cast includes Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (PG-13 for intense violence and frightening images) Director Peter Jackson brings down the curtain on the Tolkien fantasy franchise with this fitting finale featuring Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and friends in an epic showdown with Smaug the Dragon (Benedict Cumberbatch). With Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellan, Lee Pace, Luke Evans and Hugo Weaving.

“Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” (PG for mild action, rude humor and brief epithets) Third installment in the fantasy franchise inspired by Milan Trenc’s illustrated children’s book sends the feckless protagonist (Ben Stiller) on a globe-spanning quest to save

the magic before it is gone forever. Supporting cast includes Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Steve Coogan, Dick Van Dyke and the late Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams.

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS “Ask Me Anything” (Unrated) Bittersweet bildungsroman about a high school grad (Britt Robertson) who chronicles all of her adventures in an anonymous blog, when she takes a year off to find herself before starting college. With Justing Long, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater and Robert Patrick.

“Farewell, Herr Schwarz” (Unrated) Post World War II documentary follows a 30 yearold Jewish woman’s attempt to learn why her Holocaust survivor grandfather abandoned her mother for a new flame following his liberation by the Allies. (In Hebrew, German and English with subtitles) “Goodbye to All That” (Unrated) Midlife crisis comedy revolving around a clueless family man (Paul Schneider) who embarks on a string of one-night stands after being blindsided by his miserably-married wife’s (Melanie Lynskey) demand for a divorce.

With Heather Graham, Amy Sedaris, Heather Lawless and Anna Camp.

“Inside the Mind of Leonardo” (Unrated) Reverential biopic about Leonardo Da Vinci

(Peter Capaldi) based on the 6,000 pages of handwritten notes and drawings contained in the Italian Renaissance artist’s private journals.

(Special to the NNPA from the New York Carib News.)

“Life of an Actress: The Musical” (Unrated) Broadway producer Paul Chau wrote and directed this musical revolving around the trials and tribulations of three aspiring actress (Allison Case, Taylor Louderman and Orfeh) working as waitresses at a diner while waiting for their big break. Ensemble includes Jason Babinsky, Amelie McKendry and Mandy Fisher.

“Mr. Turner” (R for sexuality) Timothy Spall plays the title role in this historical biopic chronicling the last quarter-century in the life of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), the eccentric English artist primarily known for painting landscapes. With Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson and Marion Bailey.

“A Small Section of the World” (Unrated) Tale of female empowerment about a group of women who sparked a coffee-growing revolution in Costa Rica.

“Song of the Sea” (PG for peril, pipe smoking and mild profanity) Animated fantasy about the last of the selkies, seals that transform themselves into women in accordance with Irish and Scottish legend. Voice cast includes Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan and Pat Shortt.

Buju Banton

December 18 - 24, 2014

Page 12

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MEMPHIS’ PREMIER UPSCALE URBAN SOCIAL DIGEST

December 18 - 24, 2014

The New Tri-State Defender

BRIEFS & THINGS

Page 13

COMMUNITY

‘Celebrating his spirit’

Juneteenth Urban Music Festival’s Xmas concert to help two families The Juneteenth Urban Music Festival, in partnership with the Family Safety Center of Memphis and Shelby County, intends to spread a little joy this holiday season with a concert featuring Kevin Davidson and other noted artists on Saturday (Dec. 20) from noon to 3 p.m., at That’s Love II Banquet Hall, 2988 Old Austin Peay, Hwy. Entitled “A Christmas Celebration of Love,” the concert will benefit two families: one with two girls, ages 12 months and 2 years old; and another with four girls, ages 5, 8, 11 and 15 years old.

Organizers are encouraging attendees to bring a new toy or non-perishable food items for the two families. The items can be dropped off through Dec. 19 at Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken, 3633 Millbranch Rd.; The Candle Bakery, 2838 Hickory Hill Extended, Suite 11, or at That’s Love II Banquet Hall.

A complete wish list is posted on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ memphisjuneteenth.

Monetary donations also are accepted online at h t t p : / / w w w. g o f u n d m e . com/Acelebrationoflove or donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 280891, Memphis, TN 38168.

“It is our wish that these families enjoy the food items and gifts as a small token of our love and appreciation,” said Telisa Franklin, executive producer, Juneteenth Urban Music Festival. “We’re doing our part to put smiles on children’s faces this holiday season and we thank the community for joining us in making it happen.”

MCA, Memphis Fashion Week partner on courses Memphis Fashion Week has partnered with Memphis College of Art to offer fall and spring on-campus fashion design courses as part of the school’s continuing education program.

Enrollment is now open for Fashion Design I and II, hosted by local designers to give emerging artists an opportunity to create their own pieces during the monthlong classes. The courses are supported by the Memphis Fashion Fund, which was established by Memphis Fashion week to support and cultivate local designers and artists in the fashion industry.

The Memphis Fashion fund is responsible for the Emerging Designer Project, a program to assist selected up-and-coming designers with funds, mentoring and an opportunity to showcase pieces in Memphis Fashion Week. The 2015 Memphis Fashion Week will be held March 24th-28th and feature a VIP Preview Party, an Emerging Designer Runway Show and the culminating show on March 28.

Fashion Design I will teach the basics of sketching, sewing and construction, while the more advanced class covers the business portion of compiling a collection and presenting a brand.

Local artists interested in design can visit MCA.edu to register by Jan. 13.

BRIEFLY: The Hard Rock Café Memphis, 126 Beale St., will host the 7th annual Hard Rock Guitar Drop on New Year’s Eve, featuring a headline performance by The Bar-Kays. A 10-foot guitar will “drop” from 100 feet over Beale Street at midnight. The event is set for 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., with $20 for general admission and $100 for a VIP pass.

For more information: call 901-529-0007. Visit https:// www.freshtix.com/events/ hardrockguitardrop#sthash.

WbhrGvhY.dpuf.

The memorial tribute to the late activist and politician Marion S. Barry Jr. included this family memorial tribute by Lougenia Nesbitt and Kimberley Carter Byrd. Barry attended elementary and high schools in Memphis and graduated from The LeMoyne-Owen College.

Former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr., who was born in Itta Bena, Miss. in 1936 and who died in the nation’s capitol on Nov. 23, was remembered during a special service held at Metropolitan Baptist Church last Saturday (Dec. 13). Pictured (right to left): The Rev. L. LaSimba Gray; the Rev. Reginald Porter, host pastor; Dr. Willie W. Herenton, memorial speaker; and the Rev. John Glaze.

(Photos: George Tillman Jr.) Tri-State Defender photographer Glen A. Yaun befriended many people in the community, including the former mayor of Memphis, Dr. Willie W. Herenton, and the current mayor, A C Wharton Jr. (Courtesy photo)

LEGACY: Glen A. Yaun, longtime TSD photographer

by Wiley Henry

whenry@tsdmemphis.com

He took his camera to some of Memphis’ most celebrated events. Those who were subjects of Glen A. Yaun’s photographs knew he represented the Tri-State Defender and eagerly waited to see themselves in print.

“He loved photography, loved meeting people, and loved you all at the Tri- Glen A. Yaun State Defender,” Brenda G. Yaun reflected on her husband of 42 years. “He’d been ill for five years and would cry because he could not pick up a camera.”

Yaun, who worked 33 years with the City of Memphis in General Services, spent nearly 20 of those years with the TSD snapping pictures.

He died at his home in Bartlett on Dec. 13 from complications of a stroke. He was 64.

After hearing of Yaun’s death, former City Council chairman Jack Sammon reflected on their friendship in an online guest book: “Glen was a wonderful human being, a fabulous photographer and an authentic Memphian.”

“He was my favorite son-in-law and I’m going to miss him,” said Kathyrn Vineyard, who helped with Yaun’s care throughout his illness. “If everybody was as good as he was, we would all be happy.”

Brenda Yaun underscored her mother’s sentiments and understood the role her husband played as a bona fide photographer.

“He talked about the people he met and the people he learned from,” said Yaun, the mother of their two children, Juston Allen Yaun and Melanie Ann Yaun, and the grandmother of four.

Aside from his duties as a TSD photographer, Yaun’s name became synonymous in the community with kind-heartedness and a “brotherly” handshake. He’d rap easily with people, befriending whomever he came in

contact with.

“A lot of ministers knew him,” his wife noted.

Some of Yaun’s photo assignments took him to the church. He accepted them gladly, just as much as he enjoyed the fellowship of parishioners and the friendship of ministers.

He himself was a longtime member of Bellevue Baptist Church.

Marzie Thomas, TSD’s former publisher and editor, handed out many of those assignments and plaudits after hearing of Yaun’s death.

“He made a great contribution to the paper,” said Thomas, the district director of Ninth District Cong. Steve Cohen’s Memphis office.

“He was very loyal to the community and dedicated to his craft,” she said. “He was very aware of events in the community and was very judicious in covering them for the newspaper.”

Thomas said Yaun would call her just about every month and would also leave messages.

The last one, she said, was a month ago.

Gale Jones Carson first met Yaun when she worked a short while for the TSD and then as a longtime freelance journalist for the newspaper.

“He was always kind and helpful and knew a lot of history about what was going on in the city, ” said Carson, director of corporate communications for Memphis Light Gas and Water Division.

He shared a lot of that knowledge, said Carson, adding, “A lot of people knew him.

He’s been around forever. We’ve lost another good photographer in this city.”

Fellow TSD photographer Tyrone P. Easley reflected on Yaun’s prowess as a photographer.

“He was a real go-getter,” said Easley. “He was very persistent and loyal to ‘the paper’ and his customers. He also was very dependable and was the epitome of a photojournalist.”

The visitation was Wednesday at Family Funeral Care of Memphis, 4925 Summer Ave. The funeral was set for Thursday, Dec. 18, at 2 p.m., with burial in Big Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Millington, Tenn., where his parents, Samuel Leon and Mildred Goldsby Yaun, are buried.

Memphis Branch NAACP crowns Teen of the Year A Metropolitan Baptist Church teen is the winner of the Memphis Branch NAACP 2014 Teenager of the Year contest.

JoElle Thompson, daughter of Jerry and Patrice Thompson, was crowned NAACP Teenager of the Year at the annual ceremony at First Baptist Church-Broad.

Thompson submitted the largest number of NAACP memberships collected from her church, family and friends.

A junior at White Station High School, Thompson is an honor student, a member of the student council, varsity football trainer and a member of Bridge Builders. She received a $1,000 Scholarship from the NAACP, along with a laptop computer and an assortment of prizes donated by area businesses.

Her pastor, Dr. Reginald Porter, was on hand to congratulate her and her family.

The first runner-up was Jonathan Jones Jr., who represented St. Augustine Catholic Church where Father Tony Clark is the pastor. He is the son of Jonathan and Devona Jones. Jonathan is a senior at Overton High School who plans to become a software engineer.

He and his sponsor, Celestine Evans, received a number of prizes from their efforts.

The second runner-up was Brandon L. Taylor, a junior at White Station High School, who represented Greater Middle Baptist Church. His parents, Steve and Joyce Taylor and his sponsor, Barbara Alston, supported his membership campaign.

The third runner-up was Essence Davis, daughter of Brenda Davis and a sophomore at St. George’s Catholic SchoolCollierville. She represented Brown Missionary Baptist Church, where Dr. Bartholomew Orr is the pastor.

Other contest winners were: Alyssa Crowe, Olivet Fellowship Baptist Church; Taymon Lester, Mt. Olive CME Church; EraniQua’ Powell, Greenwood CME Church; Autumn Thomas, Castalia Baptist Church; Christa Knight, First Baptist Church Broad; Michaela Thomas, St. Andrew AME Church; Kennedy Peete, First Baptist Church Lauderdale; Angel WalkerLee, Greater White Stone Missionary Baptist Church; Jeremy Vaulx, Trinity CME Church; Roosevelt Jackson, Mt. Nebo Baptist Church; Undrea Porter, Parkway Gardens United Presbyterian Church; Danielle Gipson, Mississippi Blvd. Christian Church.

The Memphis Branch NAACP crowns the 2014 Teenager of the Year. Pictured (l-r): Madeleine Taylor, executive director of the Memphis Branch NAACP; Brandon Taylor, 2nd runner up, Greater Middle Baptist Church; Jonathan Jones Jr. 1st runner up, St. Augustine Catholic Church; JoElle Thompson, 2014 Teenager of the Year, Metropolitan Baptist Church; and Essence Davis, 3rd runner up, Brown Missionary Baptist Church.

SPIRIT OF GOODWILL

The mass distribution for the One Memphis Operation Christmas Basket effort began at 8 a.m. at the Cook Convention Center. The City of Memphis, Team MAX along with Kroger, Walmart, General Mills, International Paper and Coca-Cola led a cast of sponsors and supporters.

More than 5,500 pre-approved families received food baskets filled with products donated by corporate and community sponsors during the 2014 One Memphis Operation Christmas Basket in Downtown Memphis last Saturday (Dec. 13).

(Photos: George Tillman Jr.)

‘Round Mound’ sounds like a clown

SPORTS

The New Tri-State Defender, December 18 - 24, 2014, Page 14

by Howard Robertson and Larry Robinson There is arguably nobody in NBA history, with the possible exception of Muggsy Bogues, who did more with their physical stature and played basketball bigger than Charles Barkley. Though officially listed while playing at 6’6’’ and 252 pounds, knowledgeable Howard sources reveal that Sir Robertson Charles was shorter (6’4” to 6’5” max) and heavier (270 pounds plus), which earned him the memorable moniker of “The Round Mound of Rebound”.

Charles Barkley is an 11x NBA All-Star and NBA Hall of Famer who has become a highly acclaimed, Emmy Awardwinning broadcaster. We Larry admire and appreciate Robinson Charles’ past work on the basketball court and his current work behind the mic as it regards basketball. Beyond that however, he needs to stay and shut. That is, stay in his lane and shut his mouth.

In media training, we advise clients to say what they’re prepared to say and then shut up. Put a period Charles on it, zip it, shut your trap Barkley and just stop talking. Just because the microphone is still on doesn’t mean you should continue because that’s when you get into trouble.

Charles got too full of himself, his “bully pulpit” and said things like, “The only people who distrust cops are crooks. Cops are not out there just harassing innocent people. Maybe sometimes they do. But there’s no inherent situation where the cops are just deliberately out there harassing people.”

Regarding the death of Eric Garner he said, “I don’t think it was a homicide. I think the cops were trying to arrest him and it got a little aggressive.”

What?

By the way, Charles is also on record in solid support of George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the Trayvon Martin case.

Does Charles Barkley have a right to his own opinion? Of course. Is he obligated to share the same views as a majority of African Americans across this country? Absolutely not. African Americans are not just one monolithic blob of the same thoughts, experiences and actions.

But consider that Charles Barkley is who, what and where he is because he is a big, tall, wide black man with basketball experiences, not the life experiences of other big, tall, wide black men in urban America. So when it comes time to speak about a general black experience or reality for black men in America, it is at that monumental moment that Charles Barkley should recuse himself and shut the hell up.

Consider Charles’ background. He was born in Leeds, Ala., with a population of nearly 12,000 of which the black population was about 15 percent (1800 people tops). Charles’ family, most particularly his grandmother, was already well known in the small town. Then he and his brother became high school sports stars and took their celebrity to a whole new level.

Everybody knew them. Everybody knew him at Auburn too and soon he was drafted into the NBA by the Philadelphia 76ers.

It’s not a major conclusion jump to suspect that Sir Charles had few (if any) police-driven engagements where he was not recognized as Charles Barkley the basketball player and treated with the respect his basketball celebrity afforded him…especially back in Alabama. So who is he to pontificate on a cops’ frame of mind or the experience any brother (especially one his size) may have with the police?

Barkley’s “ace boon coon” Kenny Smith even had to check him in an open. You see, Kenny grew up as a much heralded basketball player too. But Kenny grew up in Jamaica Queens, N.Y. Any encounter as a young man that Kenny may have had with New York’s finest was likely as just another brother.

Kenny can relate.

There’s a reality for African American men that Charles Barkley needs to realize and maybe someday acknowledge. For far too many white men, the fear of black men is still very real, very pervasive and very dangerous. In corporate environments it can get you canned or constricted. On the streets it can get you killed.

So Charles, we ain’t mad at you and look forward to future basketball insight and observations. Beyond that, remember if you didn’t walk it, don’t talk it. (“A Little R&R on Sports” (randronsports. com) is a nationally syndicated radio show available on hundreds of radio stations and digital platforms. In Memphis, tune to AM 990 KWAM, 10 a.m. on Saturdays, stream R&R live Saturdays 10 a.m. CDT on sportsbyline. com or get our podcasts by downloading or mobile app from the website above.)

Vince Carter of the Grizzlies, who had a big night with Marc Gasol (left) and Tony Allen of the Grizzlies show Golden State’s 16 points off the bench, drives to the basket and scores Marreese Speights what tight defense feels like. around Stephen Curry of the Warriors.

Grizzlies ‘Smash’ defense splatters Golden State’s streak

contribution from the Memphis bench “They changed the rhythm for us defensively,” Gasol said of the Grizzlies second unit. “Jon (Leuer) made a couple of good shots.

I thought they just did a great job. I thought defensively they did an “Smash” – aka the Memphis Grizzlies – relied upon a consistent amazing job. Vince (Carter) made some tough shots.” weapon to turn back “Splash” – the Golden State Warriors – at the Carter, who finished with 16 points in 22 minutes, called it a fun game FedExForum on Tuesday night. to play.

“We struggled at times to get in the paint but our defense held firm,” “It had that up-tempo, pick-up game said Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger. feel. The last couple minutes of the With a sell-out crowd cheering like game were back to NBA basketball,” mad and a national-television audience said Carter. “I think we did a great job tuned in for a match up of the teams of just buckling down and defending.” with the two best records in the NBA, As for his offensive outburst, Carter Memphis emerged with a 105-98 said, “One went in and I kind of found victory. Golden State left the court with my rhythm. I just want to come out its 16-game winning streak a thing of with energy. It was a big game. It was the past. important for us to put points up on the “ S m a s h ” board and defend. I think we did a great represented the job just moving the ball.”

Grizzlies hardZach Randolph notched his 15th hitting defense down double-double, with 17 points and 10 low. “Splash” is rebounds for the Grizzlies, who also the moniker given benefitted from Mike Conley’s 17 points to Golden State’s and five assists. dynamic offense led Draymond Green, who had the

by Stephen Curry and challenge of battling Randolph in the Klay Thompson, the paint, said the Warriors never lost “Splash Brothers.” confidence.

To combat Kelley D. “They were up 14 in the second Thompson, Joerger Evans quarter. Coming into their house, they’re chose two guys to a great team,” said Green. “We never got take on the task. to a point where we felt like we couldn’t “We gave a little bit of a different win the game.” look between Tony Allen and Tayshaun Describing himself as “a pretty good Prince to Klay Thompson,” Joerger said. defender,” Green said, “He (Randolph) “One is a guy who plays in your space is obviously a very good offensive and bodies you up and other one plays player. There are certain times where away from you and uses his length, I get the best of him, and there are which I thought was good for us. I was certain times when he gets the best of just trying to make things hard for him.” me. At the end of the day, he battled, I Thompson led the Warriors with 22 battled.” points. Curry finished with 19 points and Curry said it seemed as though the seven assists.

Grizzlies were very hyped by the game.

The Memphis victory reflected 12 “The fans were into it. It’s nothing we lead changes and four ties. The Grizz haven’t seen before. It was fun. It’s what scored the first 20 points of the second you play for, a big time challenge,” he period, marking the third longest said. consecutive point streak in franchise “We stepped up and really fought hard history. The run, which led to a 44-30 all game. I enjoyed that atmosphere even advantage with 7:22 left in the first though we didn’t win.” half, was highlighted by Vince Carter’s At 12 and 1, Memphis has the best Marc Gasol shoot and scores over Shaun Livingston three straight treys and six assists from home-court record in the league so far of Golden State. (Photo: Warren Roseborough) Beno Udrih. this year.

“We just tried to play with a lot of energy and try not to create long NOTE: All back-to-back stretches are serious challenges, and closeouts,” Joerger said. “Good win as far as holding an offensive team the Grizzlies had a tough one this week, taking on the defending like that ... to 98. … I thought we chased them, I thought we were champion Spurs in San Antonio Wednesday night. aggressive. I thought we were up and really got after them. Ii was a little bit of a frenetic third quarter.”

(Follow Kelley D. Evans on Twitter @KelleySthrnGrl.) Grizz center Marc Gasol, who led all scorers with 24 points, noted the

by Kelley D. Evans

kdevans@tsdmemphis.com

TRACKING THE TIGERS

Austin Nichols of the Tigers blocks the shot of Michael Michael Cobbins of Oklahoma State soars on the way to a monsterous Buchanan of USC Upstate. The Tigers came out on top dunk over Trahson Burrell of the Memphis Tigers. (Photos: Warren (83-73) at the FedExForum on Wednesday night.

Roseborough)