3 12 2014

VOL. 63, No. 10

www.tsdmemphis.com

March 6 - 12, 2014

Government Procurement Vendor Fair

Mayor embraces White House grant to address rape kit backlogs $35 million proposed to help communities

March 12th event at The LeMoyne-Owen College Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Kirstin Cheers

In 2011, President Barack Obama launched StartUp America, a White House initiative targeted to increase entrepreneurship throughout the nation. Since its debut, Memphis government and Alandas business leaders Dobbins have focused and dedicated resources and energy to augment entrepreneurship education and support.

To continue such efforts, the city of Memphis has partnered with the Memphis Office of Resources and Enterprise (MORE) to host the Government Procurement Vendor Fair on March 12th at The Lemoyne-Owen College. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Business owners will have the opportunities to network with local and federal government agencies as well as learn how to obtain resources available to improve their business internally and externally.

“We want to target minority-owned and women-owned business, primarily,” Alandas Dobbins, director of MORE, said. “We also want to open our doors for big businesses as well.”

Dobbins said this year’s fair has been a major focus for the city. Last year, MORE was not a major partner with the city in hosting the fair. As an official partner, her office’s vision is to boost entrepreneurial knowledge and debunk stereotypes and negative images of Memphis.

“Memphis has been known as the bankruptcy capital of the nation and we want to be the solution to the problem,” said Dobbins.

In past years, Memphis’s reputation has reflected images of poverty and challenges associated with education and crime – none of which have dramatically motivated business owners to readily move to the Bluff City, Dobbins said. Alongside the City of Memphis and Strong Cities, Strong Communities, MORE wants to promote Memphis as a capital city where financial wealth and growth can happen.

“We want to make Memphis the true city of choice it can be,” she said.

While Memphis has a broad history of entrepreneurship, Dobbins believes the lack of education from one generation to the next has caused the African American community to become disconnected

Locked-out Kelloggʼs workers include (l-r) Horace Wiggins, Derek Hamby and Brian Olden. (Photo: Kevin Bradshaw, president BCTGM Local 252g)

Families suffer real hardship as Kellogg’s ‘lockout’ drags on Company sends ʻillegalʼ letter to employees, union says Special to the New Tri-State Defender

by Dr. Sybil C. Mitchell “Four months! Four long months it’s been since we were locked out of our jobs and forced onto this picket line every day, and we still have little hope that Kellogg’s will ever come back to the table to bargain with good faith,” said one locked out employee Wednesday afternoon.

“This so-called contract will be the end of us veteran employees, if we sign. There is no ‘good faith’ on their side.”

His sign read: “Hey Kellogg’s, Where Does Greed Fit Into Your ‘K’ Values?”

On Oct. 22, 226 Kellogg’s em-

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REGIONAL TEMPS LITTLE ROCK NASHVILLE JACKSON, MS

Friday H-53 L-38 H-59 L-35 H-63 L-38

Saturday H-64 L-39 H-65 L-34 H-70 L-44

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Representatives from the Kellogg Company have not made themselves available for questions from The New Tri-State Defender despite calls to get the company’s viewpoint about the protracted labor dispute with members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union, Local 252G. In a letter to employees dated Feb. 28th, Marty Carroll, senior vice president of KNA Supply Chain, and Chris Rook, MemSEE CASE ON PAGE 7

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Wiley Henry

SUNDAY

H- 5 1o - L - 3 4o Partl y Cl o udy

SEE LOCKOUT ON PAGE 7

Kellogg’s makes it case

SEE BACKLOGS ON PAGE 2

Former TSD sports editor played in Negro Baseball League

MEMPHIS WEEKEND SATURDAY

ployees in the Memphis plant were refused entrance into the facility to perform their job duties. Many, including a 54-year Kellogg’s veteran, had been fulfilling those duties well over 20 years. All are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union, Local 252G. Like a nightmare that they can’t wake up from, the lockout drags on with no end in sight. Except that growing pressure from other unions and organizations from various parts of the country has Kellogg’s “feeling the heat.”

A news release from the BCTGM

President Obama’s FY15 budget includes $35 million to aid local efforts to address rape kit backlogs, with Mayor A C Wharton Jr. labeling it the most significant federal support yet.

“I applaud the Obama administration for recognizing the urgency of addressing the backlog of untested sexual assault kits across the country, and their willingness to provide $35 million in funds to help local communities with the many aspects of work necessary to navigate this issue,” said Wharton.

Memphis has over 12,000 untested rape kits – a “systematic failure” that represents “justice denied” Wharton said last month, announcing plans for a cross-functional team with representatives from law enforcement and legal and victim advocate groups to address the rape kit-testing debacle.

The sexual assault kit cross functional team held its first meeting last week, with Wharton saying it is laser focused on eliminating the backlog, following leads generated from testing, keeping survivors and the public informed and developing policies and procedures to prevent another backlog.

“While we have a comprehensive plan in place, and a team focused on this effort, we also need funding,” he said.

President Obama’s budget proposal dedicates funding for the first time to end the nationwide rape kit backlog at local law enforcement agencies. A new Department of Justice grant would provide local communities resources to: Test backlogged kits in their police storage facilities; Create multi-disciplinary teams to investigate and prosecute cases connected to the backlog; Address the need for victim notification and re-engagement with the criminal justice system.

LEGACY: WILLIAM OTIS ‘BILL’ LITTLE

SEE PROCUREMENT ON PAGE 2 FRIDAY

75 Cents

William O. “Bill” Little

A former batboy in the Negro Baseball League, William O. “Bill” Little Sr. (kneeling, third from right) would eventually play with the Memphis Red Sox as a catcher.

(Photo: Copyright Dr. Ernest C. Withers Sr. courtesy of The Withers Family Trust)

The type of people that William Otis “Bill” Little knew and befriended could easily become the topic of conversation around the water cooler, perhaps because many of them were reputed for their achievements in sports

and education.

But those who knew Little would consider him to have been just as accomplished in both fields as his distinguished friends.

Little was the sports editor for the Tri-State Defender for more than 50 years, an educator, basketball coach and sports official. He also played in the Negro Baseball League for the Memphis Red Sox and the Kansas City Monarchs as a catcher from 1952 to 1957.

On Feb. 26, Little died at St. Francis Hospital following a sustained illness. He was 79.

“We were batboys at the same time when we were about 12 or 13 years

old,” said Reginald Howard, who scurried across the field with baseball bats for the visiting teams from the Negro Baseball League when they played in South Bend, Ind. Mean-

while, Little was carrying baseball bats and equipment for the Memphis Red Sox. SEE LITTLE ON PAGE 3

NEWS

Page 2 PROCUREMENT

BACKLOGS

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

from its entrepreneurial roots.

“I don’t disagree with her,” said Roby S. Williams, president of the Black Business Association.

“Fewer than 1 percent of people in America will be a successful entrepreneur. It’s not for everybody.”

Williams, serving his 12th term as president of the BBA, sais that owning a business takes acquired skills and committed dedication. From accounting to marketing to customer service, minority-owned businesses need to invest in the education of entrepreneurship before embarking on such a tremendous task.

“The most successful and well-equipped entrepreneurs have clear visions, solid strategies, practical processes and consistent executions,” said Williams. ”Education is the conduit to acquire these skills.”

Women-owned businesses, another focus for the fair, have steadily sparked interest within the past 10 years. According to the 2013 State of WomenOwned Businesses Report, Tennessee ranked No. 14 in the U.S. for growth of womenowned businesses, generating more than 70 percent of revenue in a 16-year study period.

Dobbins said she wants businesses owners to walk away from the Government Procurement Vendor Fair with a wealth of knowledge in operating their businesses and that it is designed to provide people with what they need to be successful.

Williams wants minority businesses to take advantage of the resources available to them and the bidding process during the fair.

“I’ve never known anyone to win a contract when they did not submit a bid. I’m hopeful all in attendancewillunderstandtheprocess and get in the game,” he said.

“If you do not try, you have already lost.”

The fair is free and open to the public.

(For a list of vendors and fair agenda, visit http://www.memphistn.gov/Government/FinanceDivision/ProcurementVen dorFair.aspx)

Tri-State Defender

March 6 - 12, 2014

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

Fire and ice...

The extreme weather presented some challenges for firefighters from the Shelby County Fire Department and the Millington Fire Department who responded to a large home fire on Watkins Road just north of the Northaven community Monday night March 3rd. (Courtesy photo)

“We are doing our part by investing local resources for testing, investigation, prosecution and victim support,” Wharton said.

“It is my great hope that a portion of the President’s proposed $35 million program will be available to complement our investment and allow us to successfully address our 12,000-kit backlog and complete this vital work.”

The Joyful Heart Foundation is partnering with the City of Memphis to address the backlog.

“President Obama’s budget allocation will provide cities across the country with the vital resources they need to put an end to the rape kit backlog and provide greater access to justice and healing for survivors,” said Sarah Tofte, the Foundation’s vice president of Policy and Advocacy “In our work with mayors, police and prosecutors around the nation, we find public officials committed to this work yet struggling to find the resources to enact

the comprehensive reform they want and need. This funding provides the way forward they have been searching for.”

Wharton plans to work with local and state representatives to coordinate efforts to support the administration in getting the funds approved, and to develop a comprehensive grant proposal to ensure that Memphis gets its fair share of the funds.

Congressman Steve Cohen said he is glad that President Obama recognized the urgency of the problem and has moved to provide significant funding.

“Cutting these backlogs down is the right thing to do for the victims of these terrible crimes and is an important step in keeping our communities safe from predators,” said Cohen.

“Memphis needs more assistance from the federal government in addressing our own backlog and, if Congress passes the President’s FY2015 budget, I will work with Mayor Wharton and do everything I can to help our city receives the funding it deserves.”

NEWS

Tri-State Defender

Page 3

March 6 - 12, 2014

“He was an outstanding young man and very popular. He was very smart and had lots of friends.”

LITTLE

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

“When Bill came in with the Memphis Red Sox, I had to take a back seat,” said Howard, who would go on to play an infield position for the Indianapolis Clowns.

A native of South Bend, Howard moved to Memphis in 1979 and rekindled his relationship with Little. “We always stayed in touch with each other and celebrated our birthdays together (both in December),” he said. “I was seeing him twice a week up to the end.”

Ollie Brantley, who pitched for the Sox from 1951-53, also kept in contact with Little.

“We were friends. I admired him,” said Brantley, a resident of Marion, Ark. “He was an outstanding young man and very popular. He was very

smart and had lots of friends.”

Little knew all the players in the League and its history, said Brantley, recalling the immense crowds that would gather for weekend games at Martin Stadium – home to the Sox – when it was located at Wellington and Crump.

“The Negro League was big… and everybody liked Bill,” he said.

Although Little made an impression on the field as a player, he also left his mark in the classroom as a teacher and coach in the former Memphis City Schools. He coached high school basketball and baseball for 28 years and officiated basketball and football games in the Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC) for more than 30 years.

Little’s accomplishments included winning two city basketball titles and three baseball crowns on the high school

Where’s the rest of Memphis?

— Ollie Brantley, who once pitched for the Memphis Red Sox

level, He was voted baseball and basketball “Coach of the Year” and was elected to the Vanguard Club’s Coaches Hall of Fame in 1998.

When Little was a student in grade school, Dr. William Herman Sweet was finishing Booker T. Washington High School. Their paths would converge in later years when the two began officiating for SWAC, after joining the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and during Dr. Sweet’s tenure as a teacher, principal and area superintendent for MCS. “He was a nice guy and hung around the athletes,” Dr. Sweet recalls. “He took a great interest in the kids and was dedicated to the athletes.

He was a good mentor for the kids as well. Though he was small in statue, he held their respect.”

So much of Little’s professional life was tied to sports,

A blanket of fog awaited Memphians Wednesday morning, blotting out part of the Downtown view. It was one more element in a week chock full of weather events that disrupted the routine for area residents. (Photo: Karanja A. Ajanaku)

but then he was able to multitask as the sports columnist for the TSD. His dedication to sports was evident in the columns he’d write each week for the newspaper.

“Bill was a dedicated sports editor, not only for the TriState Defender, but for the whole community,” said Audrey McGhee, former TSD publisher. “He was well respected by his peers in the sports media.”

He also earned his place in history, she said.

The aforementioned friends all agreed that Little was well mannered and was such a nice guy. Jacqueline Hall concurred, but added that her father was “pretty easy going and really quiet around the house.”

“There would be little interaction unless it was about sports,” said Hall, an executive assistant at FedEx. “There were very short con-

versations, but he was very observant. That was the kind of person he was.”

In the early 1970’s, Hall had come to realize the extent of her father’s connections when country music legend Charlie Pride came to the Little household for dinner. Pride pitched for the Sox in the Negro League and became good friends with Little.

“I was so excited. That was the highlight of the day,” said Hall, adding, “My dad would play country music and I started liking country music because Charlie Pride came to the house.”

Hall said she noticed a change within her father after her mother, Geraldine “Gerri” Anderson Little, died and after her brother, William O. Little II, was left disabled in a car accident.

“They were his focus,” she said.

Little earned a B.S. degree from The LeMoyne Owens College and a M.Ed. degree from the former Memphis State University. He was a communicant of St. Augustine Catholic Church and a member of the church’s illustrious Men’s Club. He also was a member of The Loafers, Inc., a men’s social group.

He is survived by a son, William O. Little II; another daughter, Lillian Martin; and one sister, Louise Little Jones, all of Memphis; four grandsons, seven great-grandchildren, and myriad nieces, nephews, colleagues, friends and extended family.

The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11 a.m. March 15 at St. Augustine Catholic Church, with burial in New Park Cemetery on Horn Lake Rd. Wolfe Funeral Home in West Memphis, Ark., has charge.

Page 4

OPINION

Tri-State Defender

March 6 - 12, 2014

John H. Sengstacke Publisher (1951 - 1997)

The Mid-Southʼs Best Alternative Newspaper

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

Lupita Nyongʼo

In the battle to end ‘the seduction of inadequacy,’ I’m with Lupita Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Lucy Shaw

For me, nothing could eclipse my happiness for Lupita Nyong’o when she won her Oscar as Best Supporting Actress a few nights ago. I was not only thrilled for her but for the profound, timely and necessary message brought to the world by the movie, “12 Years a Slave.” This young woman has taken Hollywood and the movie-viewing world with her extraordinary poise and humility wrapped around her awesome talent.

What may not be widely known is that just a few days before her Oscar win, Lupita received an award at the seventh annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon hosted by Essence Magazine. Her award was for Best Breakthrough Performance. On this occasion she delivered the speech below.

I concur with most who heard it that it is (sadly in 2014) a speech about beauty and self-image that every young brown, black, red or yellow girl should get to hear. It was first posted online by Time Magazine. I found a video and transcript at upworthy.com.

I was one of the skinny, fairskinned girls growing up and viciously picked on in my neighborhood by darker-skinned girls. We were all programmed to feel that, fair or dark, we were simply “not good enough.” In later years I came to understand this as our DNA implants from slavery. That knowledge was late in arriving for me and my peers.

There is a campaign afoot to get the movie into all of the Tennessee schools. I pray that this will be successful. I also pray that many will read Lupita’s remarks. The ultimate healing of self-hatred is an inside job, yet we all need the daily blessings of sweet and endearing words and acts of kindness that validate one another’s self worth.

After reading this, please tell yourself and one other how beautiful she is and in Lupita’s words help end “the seduction of inadequacy.”

Lupita’s Speech

“I received a letter from a girl and I’d like to share just a small part of it with you: “Dear Lupita,” it reads, “I think you’re really lucky to be this Black but yet this successful in Hollywood overnight. I was just about to buy Dencia’s Whitenicious cream to lighten my skin when you appeared on the world map and saved me.”

My heart bled a little when I read those words. I could never have guessed that my first job out of school would be so powerful in and of itself and that it would propel me to be such an image of hope in the same way that the women of “The Color Purple” were to me.

I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. I put on the TV and only saw pale skin, I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first. And

Tri-State Defender Platform

1. Racial prejudice worldwide must be destroyed.

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

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

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

5. Complete cessation of all school segregation.

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

every day I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I had been the day before. I tried to negotiate with God: I told him I would stop stealing sugar cubes at night if he gave me Lucy what I wanted; I Shaw would listen to my mother’s every word and never lose my school sweater again if he just made me a little lighter. But I guess God was unimpressed with my bargaining chips because He never listened.

And when I was a teenager my self-hate grew worse, as you can imagine happens with adolescence.

My mother reminded me often that she thought that I was beautiful but that was no consolation: She’s my mother, of course she’s supposed to think I am beautiful.

And then Alek Wek came on the international scene. A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was. Even Oprah called her beautiful and that made it a fact. I couldn’t believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me as beautiful.

My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome and all of a sudden, Oprah was telling me it wasn’t. It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn’t help but bloom inside of me.

When I saw Alek I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now, I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far away gatekeepers of beauty, but around me the preference for light skin prevailed. To the beholders that I thought mattered, I was still unbeautiful. And my mother again would say to me, “You can’t eat beauty. It doesn’t feed you.”

And these words plagued and bothered me; I didn’t really understand them until finally I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be.

And what my mother meant when she said you can’t eat beauty was that you can’t rely on how you look to sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul. It is what got Patsey in so much trouble with her master, but it is also what has kept her story alive to this day. We remember the beauty of her spirit even after the beauty of her body has faded away.

And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade to that beauty.”

(TSD columnist Lucy Shaw can be reached at lucy@heartworks4u.com.)

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A mixed Obama legacy

Flashback: 2005

Redefining truth has consequences

In all organized sports, there are clearly defined rules that must be adhered to. In all universities, there are clearly stated guidelines for admittance. In all religions, there are shared beliefs that all members must adhere to. Without these clearly defined rules of engagement (ROEs), there can be no order within groups; and without order there is nothing left but chaos.

Groups and organizations, by definition are all predicated upon certain agreed upon principles and values.

These agreed upon principles and values are the raison d’etre of these entities.

You join the Boy Scouts, for example, because you are a boy and you join the Girl Scouts because you are a girl. You are a male because you are born with a penis and you are a girl because you are born with a vagina. These things used to be unquestioned statements of fact.

Now some parents are filing law suits because their daughters want the legal right to join the Boy Scouts.

Some males, on the other hand, want the right to join a sorority while some females want the right to join a fraternity. To call this a ball of confusion is an understatement.

Sadly, sexuality is no longer determined at birth and is no longer absolute. You now can legally (in California) “self-identify” your sex. You can be born a male and simply wake up and say you “self-identify” as a girl and legally you can play on your high school’s girls softball team; you must be allowed to use the girls bathroom; and you must be allowed to wear a dress to class.

Now, right is wrong; up is down, black is white; and there are no rules.

Rules are created in order to maintain order and control. No matter where you go throughout the world, the rules for basketball, American football, and baseball are the same.

Conversely, when you have no clearly defined rules, you have chaos instead of order. This is exactly what is happening in America in particular and the world in general. Rules are the glue that keeps a society together. Rules make the family into a functioning unit. Rules create the framework for dispute resolution.

In America, as in most countries, murder is deemed wrong and society universally punishes the perpetrators.

Killing can be justified (self-defense), but murder (the taking of an innocent life) can never be justified.

Honoring one’s mother and father is just simply expected in our society.

These rules are necessary to create a society where there is structure and order. Rules also create a sense of security and freedom for the people.

How can you have a functioning country when you can no longer define the family unit? For time immemorial, the family has been moth-

er, father, and children; and in some cases grandparents, uncles, or aunts, also known as the extended family.

Now, agreement on the definition of the family unit has become mired in controRaynard versy.

Some Jackson want Johnny to have two dads or Jenny to have two moms. Some want Rahim to have one father, but three mothers (all legally married to the one father). Some simply want mother and child.

Study after study has shown that the family unit is the most stabilizing force in a society and that children who are reared with a mother and father are best positioned to be successful in life.

You can’t prevent or resolve disputes unless you have rules that have been agreed upon by society that are compatible with the values of a country. Most Americans don’t commit crimes because we have been instilled with a sense of what is right and wrong; also because we know crimes will be met with certain punishment.

When there are disputes, you have courts, Congress, and government to turn to for redress. Today, you have judges ignoring case law and the will of the people and injecting their personal feelings into cases such as homosexual “marriage.” Congress is incapable of passing bipartisan legislation that is truly in the best interest of America. Government is totally incapable of solving conflict because there is no consensus as to what the rules of engagement are.

I am a huge proponent of individual freedom, but freedom can’t exist without some agreed upon rules of engagement. You can’t have children born as one sex and then be allowed to simply “self-identify” as to something totally different. You can’t – or shouldn’t – seek to become a member of, say, a Pentecostal church and then refuse to comport yourself in a manner consistent with their rules (including a prohibition against homosexuality), and then call them a bigot if they refuse you membership.

This altering of what it means to be an American will lead to our demise as a global leader. Even freedom has its orderly limitations.

(NNPA columnist Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/government affairs firm. He can be reached through his Web site, www.raynardjackson.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at raynard1223.)

FACEBOOK FAN OF THE WEEK Name: Nadolyn Banks

Nadolyn Banks is this weekʼs TSD Facebook Fan of the Week! She is a native of Memphis, who graduated from Hamilton High School. She received her degree from LeMoyne-Owen College.

A retired schoolteacher for Memphis City Schools, Nadolyn is now an independent beauty consultant with Mary Kay. Thanks Nadolyn Banks for excelling in Memphis and for being a part of the TSD Facebook family!

President Barack Obama has announced “My Brother’s Keeper” as an initiative to help young black and brown men succeed. Many present in White House described announceJulianne the ment as “an emoMalveaux tional moment” for the president and many others there.

Several of the African-American men later took to the airwaves, talking about how it felt to be in a room where the nation’s first black president talked about his own background and his identification with troubled young black men. The parents of slain teens Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis were there, reinforcing a statement the president made a year or so ago when he said that if he had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon Martin.

While President Obama says he will ask government agencies to work together to create more possibilities for young black men, he emphasized that the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative is not a new government program. Indeed, early funding will come from private foundations. Few specifics have been released, but preliminary activity will include a review of existing programs to determine what works and what doesn’t. Still, the president has used the power of his pen, the phone and his pulpit to raise awareness about the many economic challenges African-American men face.

Using the term “no excuses” President Obama told young men that they had to take responsibility for their own success. That comment gave CNN anchor Don Lemon the opportunity to mouth off at Obama critics, to chide his own critics, and to demonstrate why he might be a more effective opinionator than journalist. Lemon was one of many to describe “My Brother’s Keeper” as part of the Obama legacy. Many said they expect the president to continue be involved in the empowerment of black and brown boys and men.

While I think “My Brother’s Keeper” has tremendous potential, given the socioeconomic status of African-American men, there is not yet enough meat on the bones to judge. President Obama has three years left in office. Is this as good as it gets?

For all the good he will do with the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, the president may leave a different kind of legacy with his recent set of nominees to the Georgia district court. With six vacant seats, he has chosen to appoint four Republicans, including two social conservatives. In a state that is 31 percent African American, there is only one black nominee. These judges are appointed for life.

President Obama has been vocal about people’s right to vote, and disdainful of voter suppression tactics from long lines to voter ID. Attorney General Eric Holder has brought suit against counties and states engaged in various gerrymandering and voter suppression tactics. Why, then, would President Obama nominate Mark Cohen, who successfully defended Georgia’s voter ID law in court? Despite opposition from the Rev. Joseph Lowery, as well as by civil rights veteran and Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.), the president has refused to rescind the Cohen nomination. The young men he lifted up in his “My Brother’s KeepSEE LEGACY ON PAGE 5

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OPINION

Tri-State Defender

Page 5

March 6 - 12, 2014

It’s time to reduce tensions and create possibility The escalating crisis in the Ukraine has set off unseemly missile-rattling and muscle flexing in this country.

Prominent neo-con Charles Krauthammer sees this as a Cold War faceoff, calling for the U.S. to ante up $15 billion for the Ukrainian rebels and send a fleet to the Black Sea. Sunday’s Washington Post headlined that the crisis “tests Obama’s focus on diplomacy over force,” quoting Andrew C. Kuchins of the Center for Strategic and International Studies decrying Obama for “taking the stick option off the table.” The right has been even more bellicose.

The Obama administration has responded to the crisis by flexing its own rhetorical muscles. When Putin ignored Obama’s warning that a “price would be paid” if he sent troops into the Crimea, Secretary of State John Kerry denounced the “brazen act of aggression,” vowing that “Russia is going to lose, the Russian people are going to lose,” suggesting “asset freezes, isolation with respect to trade, investment…” the rubble going down…economic isolation of Russia” while promising economic assistance of a “major sort” for whatever government emerges in Kiev.

OK, folks, take a deep breath.

Shelve the Cold War textbooks. Let’s take a sober look before we commit treasure and prestige to an unknown and still unsettled coup in a country on Russia’s border, harbor to its fleet, that has had a fragile independent existence for barely 20 years.

Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was an unpopular, corrupt, compromised, but democratically elected leader of Ukraine. He was leading the country toward membership in the European Union, when under enormous pressure from Putin, he reversed course. That led to street demonstrations, clearly spurred on by the United States, and eventually to the coup that sent him packing.

The nature of the new government is far from clear. The country itself is deeply divided. As David C. Speedie, director of U.S. Global Engagement at the Carnegie Council of Ethics in

Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

International Affairs says, “In simple terms, half of the people in Ukraine look to Russia and the other half look to the West.” The new leaders in Kiev include ultra-nationalists who have already banned the use of Russian language in some areas. Not surprisingly, the coup is very unpopular in semi-autonomous Crimea, populated largely by Russian speaking people.

Yanukovych’s decision to postpone consideration of joining the European Union wasn’t irrational. The EU was forcing Yanukovych to decide between Russia and the EU, flatly rejecting Putin’s offer of a tripartite arrangement that would allow Ukraine to sustain its ties with Russia.

In December, Putin then offered to rescue the bankrupt Ukraine.

The Ukraine is totally dependent on Russia economically. The EU and the U.S. are not about to replace that with Western aid and trade. Americans will be less than supportive of sending billions to Kiev on the other side of the world, while we are starving investment in education, Head Start and other vital investments here at home.

The EU, dominated by Germany, has inflicted a brutal austerity on members like Greece, Spain and Portugal.

The Ukraine might get promises of

aid in the crisis, but any sober government would be worried about how much support would be sustained over the next years.

Putin, of course, is the villain in the piece. The Ukraine only went independent when the Soviet Union imploded, but it remains central to Russian security. The Russian fear is far less about economic relations with the EU (Russia itself is a major source of energy for the Europeans), than the further extension of NATO to its borders. A hostile Ukraine might displace Russian bases in the Black Sea, harbor the American fleet, and provide a home to NATO bases. This isn’t an irrational fear.

Despite U.S. promises by George Bush not to extend NATO when Germany was united, the reality is that nine former Warsaw Pact nations and three former Soviet Republics have been incorporated into NATO, with the U.S.-NATO even setting up a military outpost in Georgia. And the European pact, advertised as offering access to free trade and a free access, in fact called for integrating Ukraine into the EU defense structure, including cooperation on “civilian and military crisis management operations” and “relevant exercises” concerning them.

No one should be surprised that Putin reacted negatively to that prospect. No U.S. administration would put up with Putin cutting a deal with Mexico to join a military alliance with Russia.

Some minimal hold on reality is needed. Obama hasn’t “taken the stick off the table,” for there is no “stick” in relation to the Ukraine. Americans have no desire and no reason to go to war with Russia over what happens in Crimea. The EU and the U.S. are not going to supplant Russia’s economic influence in the Ukraine. We’re not going to provide the aid, the trade or the subsidized energy — and the EU austerity regime doesn’t offer an expansive growing region to join.

The new Ukrainian government is neither elected nor legitimate nor settled. An unpopular leader has been unseated. But before this new, fragile and bitterly divided country breaks

apart, the international community should be pushing hard for new elections and compromise.

The neo-cons like Krauthammer, the frustrated cold warriors filling armchairs in the outdated “strategic” think tanks that litter Washington will continue to howl at the moon. But American policy should be run by the sober and the adult.

The president would be well advised to probe now whether the EU, Russia and the U.S. can join together to preserve the Ukraine’s territorial unity, to support new and free elections, agreeing to allow the Ukraine to be part of both the EU and the Russian customs union, while reaffirming the pledge that NATO will not extend itself into the Ukraine. It is time to reduce tensions and create possibility, not draw lines, flex rhetorical muscles and fan the flames of folly.

“He’s going to lose on the international stage,” Kerry said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to Putin. “Russia is going to lose, the Russian people are going to lose, and he’s going to lose all of the glow that came out of the Olympics, his $60 billion extravaganza.”

Economic sanctions and travel restrictions on individual Russians are one possibility, as is a U.S. and European boycott of planning meetings this week for the upcoming summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations in Russia.

The United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia are members of the G-8.

“There are visa bans, asset freezes, isolation with respect to trade, investment,” Kerry said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “American businesses may well want to start thinking twice about whether they want to do business with a country that behaves like this. These are serious implications.”

Kerry also said that the administration was ready to provide economic assistance “of a major sort” to Ukraine.

(NNPA columnist Jesse Jackson Sr. is founder and president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition.)

LEGACY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

er” initiative may be the same ones denied the right to vote through voter suppression.

Cohen, in his late 50s, may serve as many as two. What kind of anti-civil rights rulings might he make?

Lowery and Lewis are among those also opposing former state legislator Michael Boggs because of his conservative legislative record, which includes opposition to marriage equality, his vote to keep the confederate insignia on the Georgia flag, and his efforts to restrict access to abortion. Through his votes, Boggs has indicated his opposition to the African American community, to women, and to the LGBT community. What kind of votes might we expect from Boggs, who is in his early 50s, in the decades to come?

And why won’t President Obama listen to those African-American stalwarts who strongly object to this nomination?

Georgia Rep. David Scott told TVOne’s Roland Martin that these nominations are disrespectful to the nation and to the African-American community. The national civil rights organizations have, unfortunately, been silent. Are they too frightened of losing the president’s goodwill to speak up?

Ten years from now, will we write that the status of African American and Latino boys and men has improved?

That Judges Cohen and Boggs have made rulings that have further eroded civil and human rights? A collective black voice muted by the fact that a community can’t excoriate a white president after giving a black one a pass?

Which is the Obama legacy?

(NNPA columnist Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer.)

NATIONAL NEWS

Page 6

Tri-State Defender

March 6 - 12, 2014

From NNPA to NAACP to Silicon Valley (TriceEdneyWire.com)

by Hazel Trice Edney

Benjamin Todd Jealous, the former NAACP president, who has weaved a career through politics, the Black press and civil rights, has now announced his next course of action in pursuit of racial equality and economic justice in America.

Jealous and the Oakland, Calif.-based Kapor Center for Social Impact, located in the billionaire-Silicon Valley, announced this week that he has joined the Center as its first venture partner. The center’s co-founders and co-chairs, Mitchell Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein, are bringing Jealous on to find tech-savvy entrepreneurs and inventors with ideas for using technology for social impact, mainly to fill racial and economic gaps in America.

Jealous will help find the entrepreneurs, help them shape their tech visions; plus establish the selection criteria for possible seed money. He will help lead the center’s effort to make investments in non-profit organizations that are about closing social gaps. He also will join the board of the Kapor Center-funded Level Playing Field Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending racial barriers in science, tech-

Ben Jealous still pushing technology for equality

Former NAACP President Ben Jealous, seen here leading a protest, is now fighting for racial justice in a new way. nology, engineering and math.

“I’ve always been interested in technology. I’ve always been interested in (deepening) the social impact. And I’ve always been very curious about ways to use technology to advance the social impact,” Jealous said in an interview this week.

“When Mitch and Frieda came forth and offered me the opportunity to join the Kapor Center for Social Impact and

start trying new things every day...while still staying focused on achieving my life’s mission of and leveling the playing field and closing gaps to access and opportunity in our community and the country as a whole, I leapt at it because it had been a long time since I’d tried something new that had the potential to level the playing field for hundreds of thousands and millions of people.”

Jealous says one of his first

stops will be a learning tour of Silicon Valley, the South Bay portion of San Francisco, which leads the nation in cutting edge technology. The Kapor Center has a program for underrepresented college students to get paid internships in Silicon Valley companies.

Jealous, who dates his keen interest in technology back to a fourth and fifth grade computer science program, served as president/CEO of the NAACP for five years until his resignation late last year.

There, his leadership in technology grew NAACP’s mobile messaging base from 5,000 activists to 423,000 and from 175,000 email activists to 1.3 million.

Jealous’ technological skills also harken back to when he started as executive director of the 200-member National Newspaper Publishers Association in 2000 with a vision of bringing the Black Press on line with websites and a fullservice news service for its members. Before his departure almost half of NNPA’s newspapers were on line and the wire service continues to thrive.

Jealous record of using technology to fight for racial justice is what established the

mutual attraction between him and the Kapor Center.

“Ben has spent his career working to end racial and economic gaps in society, from the criminal justice system to education to health care,” said cofounder Freada Kapor Klein in a statement. “We are tremendously pleased that he will bring his vast experience, strategy and energy to the tech sector as the next frontier in his life’s work for justice and inclusion.”

Jealous’ civil rights career is just as important as his tech interest said co-founder Mitchell Kapor, one of the first Silicon Valley billionaires.

“As an entrepreneur and an investor, I’ve built my career on seeing the possibilities of good ideas and the right team, and then bringing that vision to life. By bringing Ben to the Kapor team, we are making a bet that someone who has succeeded in changing the broader world in so many ways will do the same in our world.”

When Jealous left the NAACP last year, he said he would spend more time with his growing family and would also work to start a political action committee (PAC) for transformative Democratic and Republican candidates. He said

this week that he will continue to do it all.

“I will reserve a portion of my time continuing my work in politics. This will be 80 percent of my time and 20 percent will be continuing to build the PAC,” he said. “It’ll be separate and ongoing work.”

As for his family, Jealous says he will remain bi-coastal, primarily living in Maryland with his family even as he travels for the Kapor Center.

The Center has already made major strides in its quest for social justice. Jealous ticked off a list of ideas, aps and inventions as examples that have already received funding. They include technology that lowers the astronomical cost of telephone calls from inmates to their families; a blue tooth hearing aid that costs only $75 instead of the normal $3,000$5,000; technology that helps parents and children with bilingual education; a way to send money home to another country without paying a 30 percent remittance fee; and a way to make college education available for the cost of a Pell grant.

“So, that’s what we’re talking about here...Very similar to my work at the NAACP. We’re working on multiple gaps simultaneously,” Jealous said.

“It’s impossible not to be excited.”

Who killed the mayor?

Chokwe Lumumba, the late Jackson, Miss. mayor, was assassinated, says Hinds County supervisor ing. He was in good spirits and within a few hours, he was dead. I understand that they’re guarding his body and I was so happy to learn that they are getting an independent pathologist because medical examiners…we can’t trust them when our babies are

Chokwe Lumumba, Mayor of Jackson, Miss.

NewOne

by Kirsten West Savali

Hinds County, Miss. supervisor Kenny Stokes believes that late Jackson mayor Chokwe Lumumba was assassinated and he wants an autopsy performed to rule out foul play, reports the ClarionLedger.

Lumumba, a legendary human rights activist and attorney who was elected mayor of Jackson last June, died of alleged natural causes on February 25.

Speculation has been rampant that he was killed because of his platform of self-determination for the black community and his refusal to tap-dance around issues of white supremacy and systemic racism in the Deep South.

Hinds County coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart insists that Lumumba, who previously battled cancer, died of natural causes, but valid suspicions can’t be soothed with words. Lumumba’s supporters want proof.

“We gonna ask a question: Who killed the mayor? We’d feel a lot better if there was an autopsy,” Stokes said at the beginning of his speech. “First they say it’s not a heart attack and not a stroke, then what was it? You don’t just die like that and you’re healthy.”

“So many of us feel, throughout the city of Jackson, that the mayor was murdered,” Stokes told a WAPT reporter after his speech. “I’m not going to sugar coat it. I’m not going to try to say it in a way where the people feel, you know, that we should have said it in another way.”

“I believe that someone killed him. Now I can’t prove it, but I’m going to say it,” Stokes said. “That’s how I feel in my heart, and a lot of other people feel he was killed.”

As previously reported by NewsOne, Lumumba served four years on the Jackson City Council before running for mayor. He was elected on June 4, 2013, winning the general election with 86 percent of the vote.

“I’m just delighted. I feel wonderfully well about the people and their vote. Our slogan has been the people must decide and the people gave us an outstanding mandate today for positive change in the city of Jackson,” Lumumba said after the results were announced. “We intend to work diligently and put all our hearts and efforts into that and we’re going to be calling upon the people to work with us. We’re not working by ourselves.”

Lumumba spent part of the ’70s and ’80s as vice-president of the Republic of New Afrika, an organization which advocated for “an independent predominantly black government” in the southeastern United States and reparations for slavery.

“The provisional government of Republic of New Afrika was always a group that believed in human rights for human beings,” Lumumba told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “I think it has been miscast in many ways. It has never been any kind of racist group or ‘hate white’ group in any way…. It was a group which was fighting for human rights for black people in this country and at the same

time supporting the human rights around the globe.”

As an attorney, Lumumba represented legendary activist, poet, actor and hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur in several cases, and his godmother, Assata Shakur, whom Lumumba called a “Black Panther heroine.”

Lumumba was also founder of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and his platform called for a move towards black self-determination in the Deep South.

Lumumba referred to himself as a “Fannie Lou Hamer Democrat,” a nod to the fearless civil rights leader who organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the White supremacist Dixiecrats that ruled the Land of Jim Crow at the time.

The National Conference of Black Lawyers is coordinating fundraising for the costs of an independent autopsy.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan announced during his recent Saviour’s Day Address that fundraising would not be necessary because he would pay for the autopsy: Chokwe, I’ve known him for nearly 40 years. He passed away about a week ago. His funeral will be on the 8th of this month. And he died under circumstances that we don’t know what it was. He became the mayor of Jackson, MS. And any of you who know Mississippi and know Jackson…a Black man being mayor and trying to do right by all the people is not a mayor that those people want.

He was in the hospital. He was on the phone doing mayoral business. He was laugh-

dead and they make it seem as if it were under ‘natural circumstances.’

They lie to protect the government. We have to have our own independent pathologists and whatnot to look after us, so I understand they’re trying to raise the money. I told them

don’t even waste time, call me.

I will give you whatever it takes to get our own forensic specialist to go in and make sure that our brother died under the right circumstances.

A special election to replace Mayor Lumumba has been scheduled for April 8.

NEWS

Tri-State Defender

Page 7

March 6 - 12, 2014

George Hunt unveils ‘Club Handy’ 2014 Beale Street Music Festival original artwork

BCTGM LOCAL 252G President Kevin Bradshaw, with his wife, Buffy, and their son and daughter.

(Photo: Kevin Bradshaw)

LOCKOUT

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

office out of Kensington, Md. announced that the latest outcry comes from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in a letter dated February 27th to Kellogg’s CEO John Bryant: “Many of the affected workers are second and third generation employees from predominately minority communities, averaging more than 20 years of service to Kellogg. Locking employees out, cutting off their health insurance, denying them payment of earned vacation, and subjecting them to months without income are not actions CBC believes are reflective of the Kellogg Company’s vision and purpose…”

Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (DOhio), the CBC chairperson, who wrote the missive on behalf of the group, called for Kellogg’s to “immediately end the lockout that is inflicting pain on your workforce, their families, and the entire Memphis community.”

Although continued attempts to reach someone for comment went unanswered at both the local plant as well as the customer service number, Kellogg’s is feeling the heat.

Local 252G President Kevin Bradshaw said members of the Local 252G received a letter from Kellogg’s that “disregarded the union and is, therefore, illegal.”

“I received my letter one day before everyone else,”

CASE

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

phis plant manager, acknowledged the workers’ frustration and disappointment and called it understandable.

“We are frustrated, too. It is deeply concerning to Kellogg that employees who have given so many years of quality service to this Company are not currently on the jobs in which you have served us so well. We want nothing more than a resolution to these negotiations so we can all get back to the important work of moving this plant forward, together. You have a choice in this matter, and we hope you choose to return to work.”

Local 252G President Kevin Bradshaw said the letter from Kellogg’s “disregarded the union and is, therefore, illegal … because Kellogg’s is attempting to contact the workers outside of the union’s bounds, which is illegal.”

Carroll and Rook devoted a section of the letter to explaining the “difficult business conditions” in Memphis and throughout the cereal network and why they believe the company’s bargaining proposals represent the best way to overcome the challenges. They also set out to “clear up multiple mischaracterizations.”

Here are key points made in the letter:

Market challenges

The Ready to Eat Cereal market is challenged. Consumers are engaged in an unconscious migration away from cereal toward other breakfast options.

Pounds are down, costs are up, with more manufacturing capacity than is neces-

said Bradshaw. “It is illegal because Kellogg’s is attempting to contact the workers outside of the union’s bounds, which is illegal. Essentially, the letter asks members to urge union officials to put the contract to a vote. Illegal, illegal, illegal.”

Gerald Richardson, a Kellogg’s employee for 10 years, said the contract put forth by the company was not negotiated in good faith.

“We just need the Labor Board to go ahead and make a ruling. Whether it be for us or against us, either way, we go back to work,” said Richardson.

“But this contract, if we sign, would give Kellogg’s the right to maintain new employees working alongside us at a lower wage, and we would be laid off within the year and replaced by them. That’s what happened to the Rossville, Tennessee plant. They signed that contract, and just about everyone has been laid off.”

Bradshaw said the support shown Local 252G members and “has meant everything.”

“People continue to stop and give words of encouragement, honk the horn when they pass our picket line, and even assure us that they will continue to refuse purchase of Kellogg’s products until this lockout ends,” said Bradshaw. “But the stress of trying to care for their families with no income coming in is taking its toll on everybody.”

Tyrone Redden is a second-generation Kellogg’s employee.

“My father worked at Kellogg’s, and I have been here 23 years,” said Redden.

“We’re just doing what we can to survive and take care of our savings. Some of us are working little jobs, some are depleting their savings; family and friends help out.

It’s been a long, hard road.

We’re just doing everything we can to keep things together.”

Even in the snow and ice, some employees have been on the line, maintaining a presence, a constant reminder that “workers are suffering real hardship.”

“One of our guys fell on the ice this week, and his teeth went clean through his lip,” said Redden.

“We were trying to get him to go to the doctor, but he wouldn’t because Kellogg’s cut off our medical benefits the same day we were locked out. So we are not covered, and our families are not covered. His wife finally got him to go get his mouth stitched up. She was able to work it out on her insurance at work. Otherwise, he was not going because they just couldn’t afford it.”

Bradshaw said some families are experiencing greater hardship than others. Anyone who would like to help can go to any First Tennessee Bank location and contribute to the “Local 252G Hardship Fund.”

“We are getting through with prayer and the support of friends and strangers. We always get up in the morning believing that this will be over soon. We have the faith.

We have hope.”

sary to meet the needs of customers. “This is especially true in Memphis, where these very conditions required us to lay off employees last spring.”

Even after the layoffs, the Memphis plant is not positioned for long-term, sustainable success, in terms of cost structure and operational flexibility.

phis supplemental contract for years. The wage rate that casuals would be paid is already in the existing RTEC Master Agreement.

Doing nothing is not an option

Kellogg Company does not intend to abandon cereal.

We can work to improve the RTEC business through continued brand building, innovation, and smarter, more effective use of supply chain resources. The Memphis plant could play an important part in that future success.

Continuing down the same path will not make the challenges go away. Proposed changes to the existing contract would address the plant’s cost structure and flexibility issues, while protecting outstanding wages and benefits.

The Union rejected the proposals and did not make any meaningful suggestions or ideas, walking away from the bargaining table days before the expiration of the contract. Walking away doesn’t solve challenges.

Proposals address challenges

The Company’s proposed contract is fair and competitive. It protects current wages and benefits and seeks only to pay new employees, who would be hired into an expanded casual classification, $6 per hour less than contractual job rates.

Some form of casual concept has existed in the Mem-

Multiple inaccuracies about proposals

It is not true that the Company is somehow seeking to replace you with part-time, low wage labor.

It is not true that the Company is insisting that casuals go without benefits.

It is not true that the Company’s proposals will diminish your seniority.

The Company’s proposals – and all of its conduct during these negotiations – are entirely lawful.

‘You have a choice’

You have a choice – and a voice – in this matter. You can choose to work with and through your Union, to work with us, to position the Memphis plant for future success, while enjoying your current wages and benefits,” write Carroll and Rook. “Or you can choose working with and through your Union to insist that the status quo is OK and continue to forgo any pay and benefits while the lockout continues.”

Saying they hope employees choose the first option, Carroll and Rook write, “We hope that your Union provides you a chance to vote on the proposed contract – or at the least that your Union returns to the bargaining table with written proposals of its own, so we can continue to negotiate toward an agreement. If neither of these things happen, nothing can change.”

(For more of the company’s view, visit www.kelloggnegotiations.com.)

G e o rg e Hunt has done it again.

T h e Memphis artist unveiled his original artwork for the Memphis in George May Beale Hunt S t r e e t Music Festival following the announcement of the festival line-up last week.

Hunt, once again, used his combination of local influence and unique use of vibrant colors to create the Beale Street Music Festival commemorative art. Each year, his highly anticipated creations for Beale Street Music Festival become sought-after collectibles. Hunt describes his inspiration for this year’s creation, “Club Handy.”

In 2014, the Memphis in May International Festival is saluting Panama as the honored country in its 38th annual month-long celebration.

Beale Street Music Festival tickets are now on sale at Ticke t M a s t e r (www.ticketmaster.com). A full artist line-up is listed at: www.memphisinmay.org.

Family reunion at sea Special to The New Tri-State Defender

BUSAN, Republic of Korea – Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Aleasha Gatewood, assigned to the U.S. 7th Fleet Staff embarked on the flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), had a rare opportunity to spend time with her aunt Lt.j.g. Aricka Faulkner while underway in support of the ongoing Key Resolve 2014 exercise.

A Memphis native, Gatewood is a 2010 graduate of Bolton High School and has been serving her country for 3 years. This is the second visit the two have had on board Blue Ridge in the last 7 months as Faulkner participated in the joint U.S.-ROK exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August 2013.

“It was fantastic to see her and I am so proud of what she has accomplished since she has arrived on board as an E-2 three years ago and is now a second class petty officer,” Faulkner said about Gatewood.

“I have only heard positive reactions from the people she works for.”

Faulkner is a Navy reserve officer assigned to the Navy Reserve Component Command for 7th Fleet based out of Ft. Worth, Texas. When taking a break from her fulltime career as a flight operations manager for FedEx, she fulfills her naval commitments by spending four weeks a year participating in 7th Fleet exercises, which is convenient for Gatewood as

Lt.j.g. Aricka Faulkner (left), a reserve officer assigned to the 7th Fleet Navy Reserve Component Command out of Ft. Worth, Texas, and her niece, Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Aleasha Gatewood, assigned to Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet embarked on the flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19). (Photo: U.S. Navy/ Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Toni Burton) she is permanently assigned to the 7th Fleet team working in the Flag mess since 2011.

“It was great to see her during this exercise as we live so far away,” Gatewood said of Faulkner. “She gives me advice about my naval career.”

Faulkner of Kansas City, Mo. and Gatewood are from a proud family of female veterans, with another aunt as well as Gatewood’s own mother all serving in the Navy.

“As the junior ranking member of my family serving

in the Navy, I only wish to be as great as my mother and aunts who have accomplished so much in their careers,” Gatewood added.

Throughout their busy schedules, the two managed to spend quality time together catching up when they could on board and Faulkner plans on treating Gatewood and her friends to a nice meal while on liberty in the next port visit.

Source: From U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs

RELIGION

Tri-State Defender

RELIGION BRIEFS

Tougaloo College Choir in concert at Greater Imani

The internationally acclaimed Tougaloo College Concert Choir, under the direction of Dr. Kathy Castilla, will perform on Tuesday, March 11, at 6:30 p.m. at The Greater Imani Church, 3034 Austin Peay Hwy. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call The Greater Imani Church at 901-274-6711.

‘That’s alright’ energy bolsters attorney Crump Trayvon Martinʼs family attorney keynotes Conference on Family

Musical, Women’s Day and Associate Ministers Conference on tap at Castalia Baptist

An evening of songs in praise and thanksgiving will be held at Castalia Baptist Church at 1540 Castalia St. on Friday, March 7th.

The musical lineup features Minister Jerrian Moody Harris and friends Linda Herring, Sandra Cohn Jones, Marsha DeMire Johnson and others.

Four members of the Castalia Sanctuary Choir – Gladys Shannon, Jimmie Ruth Pugh, Vera Jeffries and Shirley Easley – will be recognized for their many years of service to the music ministry.

Annual Women’s Day

On Sunday, March 9th, Castalia will celebrate its Annual Women’s day with guest speakers at two morning services.

At 8 a.m., the guest speaker will be Evangelist Shelby Lynn Tate, a member of St. Mark Baptist Church Collierville.

The Rev. Brenda Mills of New Sardis Baptist Church will featured during the 11 a.m. service.

Ministers’ Conference

The 8th Annual Associate Ministers’ Conference will be held on March 15 at Castalia Baptist Church from 8 a.m. to noon.

The presenters will be Dr. Stan Wood, Dr. Andre Johnson of Memphis Theological Seminary, and Dr. Lynn Dandridge, pastor of Central Baptist Church.

For more information, contact the church office at 901-276-7295 or 901490-1803. The Rev. Randolph Meade Walker, Ph.D., is the host pastor.

Men’s Month speakers at The New Olivet Baptist

The New Olivet Baptist Church and its pastor, Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum Jr., are presenting the annual Men’s Month celebration to raise money for the King Solomon Scholarship Fund for young African American male college freshmen.

The month-long celebration features a series of speakers and began last Sunday, March 2nd, with Kenneth Whalum III. Here is the list of the upcoming speakers: March 9th, 11 a.m., Roland S. Martin; March 16th, 11 a.m., Dr. Steve Perry; March 23rd, 11 a.m., Dr. Claud Anderson; March 30th, 11 a.m., the Rev. Michael Williams; March 30th, 6 p.m., Dr. Thomas L. Murray with ATOP Male Chorus The New Olivet Baptist Church is located at 3084 Southern Ave. For more details regarding Men’s Month and the King Solomon Scholarship Fund, call 901-454-7777.

Fred L. Davis (center), the first African American to serve as chairman of the Memphis City Council, had the exchanged with attorney Benjamin Crump and Bishop David Hall, pastor of Temple Church of God in Christ, which presented Davis with its Community Award. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley) Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Kirstin Cheers

Benjamin Crump leaned back onto the lectern, clutching the microphone – the moment punctuated by his lack of words and a silence that spoke to his deeply-rooted emotion.

A chorus of “That’s alright” sprang from the crowd. Crump, who represented the family of Trayvon Martin in the 2013 case, State of Florida v George Zimmerman, lifted his microphone, head slightly bowed. This time he had the words.

“If we do not stand up for our children, nobody will,” Crump said.

On this Friday night (Feb. 28th) at Temple of Church of God in Christ bore a semblance to a night with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. During that period, the church had been a meeting place for African Americans to not only fellowship and worship God, but to hear activists deliver fervent messages delivered to mobilize and galvanize the masses to demand racial equality.

This time, it was Crump issuing the call to action.

“The question is, ‘Are we going to answer the bell?’,” Crump said. “When no one else is watching, will you be there to help our children?”

Temple COGIC, at 672 South Lauderdale St., kicked off its first “Conference on Family” with the keynote address from Crump, who is known for taking on cases with civil rights implications. None have been more high profile than the one involving the fatal shooting of the unarmed 17-year-old Travon Martin, who was walking back from a nearby convenient store when was killed by Zimmeran, a volunteer neighborhood watchman.

Zimmerman was acquitted.

Crump entitled his message “The measure of a man,” influenced by this quote from Dr. King: “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of

challenge and controversy.”

Candid and upfront, political correctness was not a hindrance to the Florida State University graduate. He asserted that Stand Your Ground Laws were not created to protect African Americans.

“Stand Your Ground was a solution looking for a problem,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with self-defense. However, Stand Your Ground says if you have an altercation with someone, just shoot them, and when you shoot them, make sure you they’re dead.”

Crump told the crowd that African-American children, especially boys, were being targeted as criminals and devalued in America.

His visit to Memphis follows just a few weeks after Michael Dunn avoided a murder conviction for the fatal shooting of 17-yearold Jordan Davis in Florida.

Davis was sitting in a vehicle with friends in a public parking lot when Dunn demanded the boys turn down their music. After refusing to do so, Dunn returned to his car, retrieved his pistol and – in self-defense he claimed – fired a barrage of shots into the vehicle, killing Davis. Prosecutors sought to charge Dunn with first-degree murder, but the jury could not reach a consensus – resulting in a mistrial on that charge. The jury did convict him of three counts of attempted murder “The message our country is sending out is causing our children to question whether they’re valued as an American citizen,” Crump said. “The greatest investment we can make is to invest in our children.”

Crump also took time to debunk the rhetoric of black-on-black crime as a tactic to excuse racial acts of violence.

“Do you think it hurts any less to a mother or father if the trigger was pulled by someone who was black or white? It doesn’t matter,” he said.

Crump’s call to action was for African Americans to set the example for their children and get involved in civic engagement.

“Take your child to register to vote when they turn 18,” he said. “We have to show our children that we love them by our actions.

From jury duty to attending rallies, we have to show our children how to get involved.”

Tequila Stephens, mother of two, said she was more than motivated by Crump’s words.

She is ready to mobilize and act for her children.

“To constantly see our black children dying, I am tired of it,” she said. “I am ready to fight for mine and defend our own children.”

Tarik Sugarmon, a candidate for Juvenile Court Judge, said the message from Crump was one he hopes to carry to the Juvenile Court courtroom.

“We have too many of our young people taken out of our communities and out of our families, and they are not getting a fair chance by the justice system,” Sugarmon said. “I want to give our children a shot when they come to me.”

As the place where Dr. King left his legacy, Crump believes that Memphis plays a specific role in the political and social security of African-American children.

“I think being here is huge for a multitude of reasons,” he said. “Dr. King left fighting for the Poor People’s Campaign, and that was significant because he left us showing that we needed to fight for ‘the least of ye’ and not just provide lip service.”

PRAISE CONNECT -A WEEKLY DIRECTORY OF MINISTERS & CHURCHES-

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

767 Walker Avenue Memphis, TN 38126

ASSOCIATE MINISTERS

901-946-4095 fax 948-8311

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

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

WEDNESDAY Bible Study .........................10:30 am Mid-Day Prayer Meeting .....12 noon Evening Prayer Meeting........7:00pm

FRIDAY Cable Channel 17 ............... 8:00pm

Page 9

March 6 - 12, 2014

Dr. & Rev. Mrs. Reginald Porter

“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

– Psalm 55:22

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

—Matthew 7: 1-2

LIVING THE LIFE I LOVE

I forgive but I can’t forget. Now what?

Lucy Shaw

Dear Lucy: I have been ill for some time. I read your articles and you have said that the most important part of healing is forgiveness. I have tried to forgive those who have hurt me so much but I cannot forget what they did to me. My pastor says that when we forgive it is not complete until we forget.

How do you forget?

– Still Sick

Dear Still Sick: Most of us have been told that forgetting and forgiving go hand in hand. I don’t agree.

Memories always live in us at some level, conscious or unconscious. There are many things I thought I had forgotten only to have them pop up one day under unexpected provocation.

It is not that we forgive and miraculously forget the slight or the hurt. What we must do is forgive and also let go of the sting, resentment, vengefulness and anger over the memory of the hurtful event.

In Isaiah 61: 1-6, the prophet talks about what we will give for our sorrow and pain. He speaks of beauty for ashes and a spirit of joy for heaviness.

One of the first keys to forgiveness is checking to see what emotions you have become attached to related to the event. Do you enjoy the self-pity, the righteous anger, or imagining the ways that you could get even if you had the chance? Are you willing to give these feelings up? You cannot hold onto those and forgive at the same time.

I have heard people boast and say, “I forgave you, but I don’t intend to forget.” To me, to forget means letting go of the sting and replacing it with something better. Can you replace the resentment, humiliation and anger with mercy, understanding and the spirit of loving kindness? Your unforgiving spirit will keep you in bondage, not the other person.

If you believe in Jesus, can you imagine the person who hurt you in the loving arms of Jesus? Our ability to forgive includes the capacity to see the other person as blessed and prosperous as we want to be.

“Vengeance is mine saith The Lord.” When we have been humiliated we feel that we did not deserve what happened and cannot humble ourselves. We sometimes think that if we forgive that means the person gets to go free without paying for what was done to you. Actually, what happens to that person is none of your business. That’s between them and their God. You should have sense enough to stay out of harm’s way in the future.

A great question to ask when faced with illness is, “Do I really want to be made whole?” What are you willing to do to be whole? Forgiveness is always a part of healing and moving on. Unforgiveness keeps us locked in the past.

Throughout the day, whisper a prayer for the one who hurt you. It may simply be, “I forgive you and I release you and my hurt to God.” One day you will notice that when you remember that person or event, the sting and the emotion has simply disappeared. Then you will know that you have not only forgiven but you have also purified the memory. You have finally released your attachment to your own anger, resentment, humiliation or need for vengeance.

Be well.

Lucy (Check out Lucy Shaw’s website at http://www.heartworks4u.com. Send your questions to lucy@heartworks4u.com.)

(For help with the feelings that get in the way of prayer and peace of mind, get Lucy’s new book, “BE NOT ANXIOUS.” Order it directly from her at 901-907-0260 or go to her web site www.heartworks4u.com.)

Attend the Church of your choice

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

—Phillipians 4:13

ENTERTAINMENT Tri-State Defender, Thursday, March 6 - 12, 2014, Page 10

WHAT’S HAPPENING MYRON?

Diversity at the Oscars, ‘Friday Night Live,’ ‘Sundays Best’ & more!

Although I normally would have opted to catch highlights of this year’s Academy Awards on YouTube, I’m happy that I took the time to actually watch the entire program…all of it! And even though I really feel that “Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler’” Myron should’ve been nomiMays nated for and won a couple of awards, I did feel good about the big wins for “12 Years a Slave.”

This year’s broadcast not only featured African-American presenters but big winners as well. From presenters Will Smith, Kerry Washington, Jamie Foxx to Samuel L. Jackson and Tyler Perry, some of the biggest and brightest stars descended on Los Angeles to celebrate what is considered Hollywood’s “biggest” night. I’m thinking that this was probably the most diverse Academy Awards broadcast ever in terms of both nominees and presenters.

Just to think Jesse Jackson boycotted the telecast in 1996 and just less than 20 years later, there were more African Americans on the show than you can actually remember. And you thought those boycotts were fruitless…lol.

One of the biggest highlights of the night was the big win for Best Supporting Actress, which was given to actress Lupita Nyong’o for her role in “12 Years a Slave.” There was so much excitement surrounding the possibility of her winning that you’d think that was the only award given that night.

Also nominated was Barkhad Abdi for best supporting actor for his role in “Captain Phillips.” The award, however, went to Jared Leto for his role in the “Dallas Buyers Club.”

“12 Years a Slave” did very well, snapping up awards for Best Screenplay, Best Costume and Best Picture. Chiwetel Ejiofor was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Solomon in the film, but was beat out by Matthew McConnaughey for his role in the “Dallas Buyers Club.”

It was also good to see Sidney Poitier still around and looking well. I’m sure he was proud to see how things have progressed since 1963 when he won the Best Actor award for “Lillies of the Field” and to see those who are standing on his shoulders in 2014. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems as if the Oscars get just a little better and “fairer” each year.

Here’s What’s Happening…

Friday Night Live

RBS Entertainment presents Friday Night Live; Hype Life Edition on Friday, March 7th at the Blues Belt Event Center at 3468 Casino Way in Tunica, Miss.

Open mic and live music entertainment provided by Concrete Soul and Zero Gravity. Doors open at 8 p.m.

Sundays Best auditions

Do you have talent? Can you set the church on fire on Sunday mornings? Then you could be the next Gospel sensation.

Auditions for BET’s hit TV show “Sundays Best” will be this Saturday, March 8th, at Mississippi Blvd. Christian Church, located at 70 North Bellevue. Get there early! See the audition song list or get more information by visiting bet.com.

Game Show returns!

Game Show with Myron Mays returns with more games, more fun and a new location! This time there is something for everyone!

In addition to Mindless Trivia, show off your moves in the Old School Dance Contest, play the “High or Low” game, and for married couples, play our newest game, “Ball Chain!”

Game Show is this Saturday, March 8th, from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. at Perignon’s Restaurant and Lounge at 2818 Coleman Road. $5 Wing specials; $5 Martinis and free admission!

‘The Education Before the Education’ An evening with Louis Gossett Jr. “I think the devil is

working very strongly in Florida. Weʼve lost two upstanding young men.

What the devil is trying to do is to interrupt our wonderful progress in Florida.”

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Brittney Gathen

When Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. spoke Tuesday evening (Feb. 25th) at the University Center Theatre at the University of Memphis, he spoke from the topic, “The Education Before the Education.”

Co-sponsored by the Student Event Allocation, Gossett’s address covered such topics as progress and issues concerning race. He provided the audience with insight and wisdom, a characteristic of someone who’s learned from his experiences.

And Gossett has quite a bit of experience under his belt. For example, in 1953, when he was 16 years old, he landed his first major role in the Broadway play “Take A Giant Step.”

He beat out 400 other aspiring actors, which launched his career.

Gossett won the Best Supporting Oscar in 1982 for his role as a tough drill sergeant in “An Officer and a Gentleman.” He has since appeared on the big screen and television numerous times.

But most people may remember the actor as “Fiddler” in the landmark ABC miniseries “Roots,” which earned him an Emmy.

The purpose of addressing the audience, he said, was “to give you, for what it’s worth, an education before an education.”

“People my age tell stories, for what it’s worth, to you young folks. I’m paying attention to you because, here lately, I don’t think too many people are teaching you…” the actor said.

He emphasized the importance of understanding the responsibilities that individuals have to realize in order to make it in what he referred to as the “Promised Land.”

“Dr. King said, ‘We will get to the Promised Land,’ and his prediction is true today; we are in the Promised Land. But there are some questions that he didn’t say that he passed onto those of us who are still alive.”

He asked the audience, “What responsibilities do we have to bring with us so that we can behave like we are in the Promised Land? What’s to learn right now?” Then he answered his questions with a reference to his great grandmother.

“Something my great-grandmother said before you go out the door, ‘Your dress code, your attitude, the knowledge of your culture, your respect for the opposite sex, your spirituality, …and the admiration of the elders … pass it on.’”

Gossett also touched on religion, race, and progress.

“I think the devil is working very strongly in Florida. We’ve lost two upstanding young men. What the devil is trying to do is to interrupt our wonderful progress in Florida. I predict it’s going to happen again until we get angry enough and lose 100 years of our progress….”

There’s a bigger test than what’s happening in Florida, Gossett said. “It’s nothing but a test of you looking for your progress. The devil wants you to distract yourself from your wonderful progress, but this country can’t survive without your lessons.”

He urged the audience to be ready to contribute 100 percent without revenge and anger.

“We can’t be one nation under God, indivisible until we conquer racism,” he said. “Racism is not just the white men and the black men. It’s us against us. God

During a candid conversation at the University Center Theatre at the University of Memphis, Oscar winner Lou Gossett Jr. pointed out that itʼs 100 percent necessary for young people to know upon whose shoulders they stand. Here, he poses with young fans. (Photos: Tyrone P. Easley) is in charge of all of us — all of our colors. We no longer can survive on this planet without compassion for each and every race and every religion that exists.”

While discussing the negative impact of holding on to resentment, he mentioned his anger and frustration over the way some people treated him even though he’d won an Oscar, and that he’d had some trouble finding work at one point.

“Dr. Mandela and others said the worst resentment that I could have was the one that I could feel justified to keep. It used to put poison into my system,” he said. “I had high blood pressure. I had cancer. I pulled in negative thoughts and actions until I got rid of [resentment].”

Gossett also addressed the importance of recognizing roots, reconnecting generations, and understanding backgrounds.

“Today, it’s 100 percent necessary for you young people to know upon whose shoulders you stand,” he said. “Bring those messages here to these universities and apply your energies to reconnect the generations as much as possible.”

He encouraged students not leave their roots once they’ve made it in the world.

“You need to bring some of that back home and enjoy and share that with your people so that everybody wins…

“We have to learn to understand not just where we come from, but where somebody who’s not like us comes from,” he said.

The actor seemed satisfied with his visit and content with the impact he made at the University Center Theatre, saying, “Maybe I’ve found what I’m on this planet to do, and I do it today.”

LIGHTS, CAMERA...ACTION!

Nephew Tommy in Tunica!

Straight from the “Steve Harvey Morning Show,” it’s comedian Nephew Tommy live at the Fitz Casino Tunica on Saturday, March 8th, for shows at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Get ready to laugh until it hurts.

Tickets are available now. You can get yours at all Ticketmaster outlets and online at Ticketmaster.com.

Next week it’s “Hair Industry Night Out” (HINC) and the Book Club! I’ll have details on those and the upcoming Memphis Black Expo and more. Until then, that’s what’s happening!

(Got an event you’d like for me to cover or attend, be sure to email me at Myron@whatshappeningmyron.com)

Overton High Schoolʼs Daniel Isaiah-Robert Rose finished second during the 13th Annual Pat Gill Performing Arts Scholarship Showcase at Rhodes Collegeʼs Bryan Campus Life Center last Saturday (March 1st). The showcase was presented by the Phi Lambda Omega and Omicron Chi chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Taylor Nicole Barksdale of Soulsville Charter School flashes the look of a winner after coming out on top of the 13th Annual Pat Gill Performing Arts Scholarship Showcase.

Marcus Rogers of Whitehaven High School finished third, with Kameron LeʼShun Williams of Westwood High taking fourth place. (Photos: Tyron P. Easley)

ENTERTAINMENT

Tri-State Defender

Page 11

March 6 - 12, 2014

OPENING THIS WEEK

Kam’s Kapsules:

Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

Norton, Tom Wilkinson, Harvey Keitel, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman and Jeff Goldblum. (In English and French with subtitles)

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Kam Williams

For movies opening March 7, 2014

“Grand Piano” (R for profanity) Tale of redemption about a failed child prodigy (Elijah Wood) once crippled by stage fright whose attempted comeback is imperiled by an anonymous death threat if he plays even one wrong note during a performance.

With John Cusack, Dee Wallace and Kerry Bishe.

BIG BUDGET FILMS

“300: Rise of an Empire” (R for sexuality, nudity, profanity and pervasive violence) High body-count sequel, set in 480 BC, finds triumphant King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) now leading the Persian army against forces led by Greek General Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) in an epic naval showdown over Athens. With Eva Green, Lena Headey and Hans Matheson.

“Honey” (Unrated) Euthanasia drama about a self-appointed angel of mercy (Jasmine Trinca) who takes it upon herself to help gravely-ill patients commit suicide. Featuring Carlo Cecchi, Libero De Rienzo and Iaia Forte. (In Italian with subtitles)

“Mr. Peabody & Sherman” (PG for mild action and rude humor) Animated adventure about a brilliant beagle inventor (Ty Burrell) who makes his mark on iconic moments in history when he travels back in time via Wayback Machine with his pet boy (Max Charles). Voice cast includes Ariel Winter, Mel Brooks, Stephen Colbert, Dennis Haysbert, Leslie Mann, Allison Janney and Stanley Tucci.

“In Fear” (R for profanity, terror and disturbing violence) Primal horror flick about a young couple (Iain De Caestecker and Alice Englert) who gets spooked when they realize they’re not alone after getting lost while driving in the Irish countryside. With Allen Leech.

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

“Awful Nice” (R for profanity and sexuality) Tale of redemption about a popular college professor (James Pumphrey) who tries to mends fences with his deadbeat brother (Alex Rennie) as they drive crosscountry to their father’s funeral. Cast includes Todd Sklar, Yakov Smirnoff and Laura Ramsey.

“Bethlehem” (Unrated) Middle East drama about an Israeli Secret Service agent (Tsahi Halevi) who induces a Palestinian teenager (Shadi Mar’i) to snitch on his terrorist older brother (Tarik Kopty).

With Hitham Omari, Michal Shtamler and George Iskandar (In Hebrew and Arabic with subtitles)

“MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN” is directed by Rob Minkoff and features the voices of Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Stephen Colbert, Ellie Kemper, Ariel Winter, Allison Janney, Stephen Tobolowsky, Mel Brooks, Leslie Mann, Stanley Tucci, and Dennis Haysbert as “voice.”

“The Face of Love” (PG-13 for a drug reference) Romance drama about a widow (Annette Bening) who goes to great lengths to hide from her new boyfriend (Ed Harris) the fact that he’s the spitting image of the husband she lost five years earlier. With Robin Williams, Amy Brenneman and Jess Weixler.

“A Farewell to Fools” (PG-13 for brief profanity and a violent image) World War II farce, set in a simple Romanian village, highlighting Nazi occupiers’ search for the perpetrator after the body of a German soldier is discovered by a local boy (Bogdan Iancu).

Starring Gerard Depardieu, Harvey Keitel and Laura Morante.

“A Fragile Trust” (Unrated) Journalistic ethics expose about Jayson Blair, the AfricanAmerican reporter for the New York Times who was dismissed in disgrace after being caught plagiarizing many of his stories.

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (R for profanity, sexuality and violence) Droll dramedy, directed by Wes Anderson, chronicling an accommodating concierge’s (Ralph Fiennes) exploits at a legendary European hotel during its heyday in the Thirties prior to the outbreak of World War II. Ensemble includes Owen Wilson, F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Edward

“Interior. Leather Bar.” (Unrated) James Franco and Travis Matthews cowrote, co-directed by and play themselves in this sexually-explicit docudrama reimagining the 40 minutes of lost footage deleted from the homoerotic classic Cruising (1980). Supporting cast includes Val Lauren, Christian Patrick and Brenden Gregory.

“Journey to the West” (PG-13 for violence, sexuality, bloody images and partial nudity) comedy fantasy about a Buddhist monk (Zhang Wen) who develops feelings for the demon hunter (Qi Shu) helping him protect his village from a trio of evil spirits. With Bo Huang, Show Luo and Shing-Cheung Lee. (In Mandarin with subtitles) “Particle Fever” (Unrated) Big Bang documentary tracing six leading physicists’ search for the Higgs boson with the help of the Hadron collider in their attempt to unravel the mystery of the origin of the universe.

“Tasting Menu” (PG-13 for brief profanity) Romantic comedy about ex-lovers (Stephen Rea and Claudia Bassols) who reunite to keep a reservation made a year earlier at a restaurant billed as the best in the world. With Fionnula Flanagan, Jan Cornet and Togo Igawa. (In English and Catalan with subtitles)

HOROSCOPES

March 6-12, 2014

ARIES Beware of financial pitfalls that you’ve set for yourself. Strengthen all your relationships by understanding motivations of others. Spend time at home. Enjoy what you already have.

TAURUS Don’t expect to win every battle, especially with your lover. This week winning is losing.

Backing down is winning. Shyness produces a bold result. It’s easy to collect that long-standing debt.

GEMINI Possibilities of hearing good news about home are greatly expanded. Savor the news rather than thinking about other annoyances.

Travel is on the horizon. Plan the trip this week.

CANCER Feather the nest. Stock up on stuff for the long haul. Cement relationships. A friend needs your support. Enjoy giving it. You will receive good news about a pal.

LEO Be cautious and conservative with money.

You are extremely witty this week. Allow others to enjoy your good humor. Your leadership skills are very high, and others will follow.

VIRGO This is a good time for you to seek agreement on a plan that involves a relative. Take the time to remind your lover how much you care. Get a little sentimental if you have to.

Don’t be too critical of that softer side of your personality.

LIBRA You’ve made your point. Now wait. Wait for the feedback about the impact it had on the people around you. Be careful of those who don’t celebrate with you. They feel the impact and are resisting the positive effects.

SCORPIO Be sharp! All of your needs will be met in indirect ways. Gifts will come from unexpected sources. They will be carefully packaged to go unnoticed. Unwrap everything and look inside.

There will be empty boxes, but there will also be a prize in an unanticipated situation.

SAGITTARIUS Push. Now is a good time to push. Your energy is higher than ever. Someone might get offended, but you can’t please everyone. Hire a pro for something that you planned to do yourself, especially if an expertise is involved.

CAPRICORN Review your “to do” list again. You may need to slow down to discover something that you didn’t realize while you were in the flow of events. Your lover is going to be a little difficult to understand.

AQUARIUS Back off if an argument arises. You’re probably the one who is too busy. Forgiving yourself is often harder than getting someone else to forgive you. Go easy on yourself PISCES Make a special effort to spend all week with your lover, husband or wife. Your sense of the importance of relationships is keen and this is a good time to strengthen your passionate partnership. Take your lover to a party. Devote attention.

Source: NNPA News Service

COMMUNITY

Page 12

Tri-State Defender

March 6 - 12, 2014

BRIEFS & THINGS

Three chances to hear Dr. Umar Abdullah-Johnson

Local activists and scholars will gather to hear Dr. Umar Abdullah-Johnson offer his professional opinion on why black children represent the dominate population of public school special education programs on Saturday (March 8th) at 12:30 p.m. at Masjid Al-Mu’minun located at 4412 S. Third Street.

Abdullah-Johnson is a docDr. Umar tor of Clinical Psychology and Abdullaha Certified School PsycholoJohnson gist. He also is a child therapist and parent advocate, who works to assist parents in their fight to protect their children from “punitive and unjustifiable disciplinary procedures in America’s schools.”

Dr. Abdullah-Johnson, an educator, political scientist and pan-Africanist, has lectured extensively in Africa, Europe and the Caribbean and is widely sought after expert on special education and the impact on black children.

RSVP on Eventbrite or contact 901-759-1904 for more information. $15 Donation should be made online or at the door. Doors open at 11 a.m.

Seats are limited.

The Saturday presentation will come the day after he speaks at The Little Theatre at The LeMoyne-Owen College. Dubbed Unveiling the Truth: The Genius of Black Scholars, the event is presented by the Center for African and African American Studies and I.N.A.C. It begins at 5:30 p.m., with a discussion to follow.

Later that evening at 7:30 in the same venue, Dr. Abdullah-Johnson will lead a session called Friends with Benefits: A discussion of Black Male and Black Female Relationships.

Omicron Sigma Chapter to host Youth Symposium

The Omicron Sigma Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. will host its annual Youth Symposium – “Partners for Progress, Working Together to Build Bridges for Youth” – on Saturday (March 8th).

The free event for grades 6-12 will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rhodes College, Frazier Jelke. The focus will be on the importance of partnerships in the community coming together to support our youth.

The agenda includes speakers from the 164th Airlift Wing of the US Air Force; a career and resume workshop; money management seminar; etymology enrichment exercise; science talk; Zumba; and more. Lunch and a snack will be served.

Manasssas High plans Annual Unity Brunch

The Manassas High School Alumni Association’s 21st Annual Unity Brunch will be April 5, at the Holiday Inn-University of Memphis at 10 a.m. Proceeds provide scholarships to Manassas graduates who wish to pursue a post secondary education.

The event will be the culmination of all former classes at Manassas High School. The Class of 1964, which is celebrating its 50th reunion, will be honored as they are celebrating their 50th year class reunion.

The prestigious “Gold and Blue Award” is awarded each year to alumni for being an exemplary example and for providing outstanding service to both the school and community.

Manassas was the first black high school in Shelby County. The school is 110 years old.

BRIEFLY: A Health Insurance Marketplace Enrollment Event is set for Saturday, March 8, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Benjamin Hooks Library, 3030 Poplar Ave. Visit the Marketplace at www.healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596.

BRIEFLY: Memphis Kwanzaa International in connection with the University of Tennessee will host a Community Health Fair at the Memphis Kwanzaa Center, 1549 Elvis Presley Blvd., on March 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will include free blood pressure, bone density and diabetes screenings, along with HIV information.

For more information, call Dr. Kaia Naantaanbu at 901-210-1218; Regina Hughes 901- 239-4355.

BRIEFLY: Runners are invited to register for the 5th annual Kick It 5k event scheduled for 2 p.m., March 23rd at Shelby Farms Park. There also is a one-mile Family Fun Walk. Presented by Baptist Memorial Healthcare, the event also includes live entertainment and a silent auction and is a fundraiser for the Memphis-based Herb Kosten Pancreatic Cancer Research Charitable Fund. For more information, visit www.kickit5k.racesonline.com or to register a team, call 901-274-2202 or contact daniel@s2fevents.com. Donations without race registration may be made securely online on the “Donate” page at www.KostenFoundation.com.

Living history…

Robi4 Architecture and Planning, Inc. provides full architectural services to a public, private and corporate clientele in the state of Tennessee. This home is an example of the firmʼs work. (Courtesy photo)

Husband-wife team is a ‘couple’ of architects Michael & Carolyn Robinson build careers together

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

by Wiley Henry

The number of licensed African-American architects working in Tennessee – and across the United States for that matter – is a mere pittance compared to the overall percentage of architects working for themselves or for architectural firms.

Count the husband and wife team of Michael and Carolyn Robinson among those who are fortunate to work in a field that may indeed be considered by some as an exclusive membership club. This wasn’t a factor for the Robinsons when they launched Robi4 Design and Planning, Inc. in 1999.

Consider the numbers: There were 105,596 registered (licensed) architects in the U.S., according a 2012 survey of U.S. architectural registration boards by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Of that number, 1,558 (or 1.5 percent) were African American, according to Dennis Alan Mann’s Center for the Study of Practice at the University of Cincinnati.

Michael D. Robinson received his license in 2012, making him one of approximately 21 licensed African-American architects in Tennessee. He promptly changed the firm’s name to Robi4 Architecture and Planning, Inc. to reflect his legitimacy as an architect.

The inspiration to pursue a career in architecture welled up in Robinson in middle school in Fort Valley, Ga., in the mid1970s.

“I read a story about McKissack & McKissack in Black Enterprise magazine that my aunt used to subscribe to. She was a student at Fort Valley State University,” he recalls. “I would visit the library and noticed a bronze plaque on the ground floor while riding the elevator.”

The name McKissack & McKissack stood out on the plaque as the architects who designed the university’s Henry Alexander Hunt Memorial Library. When Robinson thought about the magazine article and read the inscription on the plaque, he knew then that he was destined to become an architect.

Carolyn D. Robinson also was smitten in the 1970s with the desire to become an architect. While walking past a con-

Southern Heritage Classic founder Fred Jones shared his story, including the 25-year journey of The Classic, during a talk to students at Wooddale Middle school last week (Feb. 27th). Principal Dr. Robert Gordon thanked him for the visit. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)

struction site on her way home from elementary school in South Memphis, she would observe an apartment building under construcCarolyn D. tion.

Robinson “I watched the construction from the ground up,” she said.

In middle school, Robinson won honorable mention in a competition after submitting two houses she’d built for a science fair project based solely on the apartment building she’d observed under construction.

One house was built using standard construction material; the other, with passive and solar design elements.

During the summer of 1980, Robinson landed an architectural job at Jones & Mah Architects just months before her freshman year in college. She said the principals, Walk Jones and Francis Mah, mentored her and inspired her to pursue a career in architecture.

“They personally introduced me to all the areas of architecture,” she said, seizing the opportunity to extract invaluable knowledge from the firm’s engineers, interior designers, architects and those in the marketing department.

Forging similar paths…

After receiving a scholarship, the former Carolyn Tribble would cross paths with her soon-to-be-husband at Tennessee State University in Nashville, while they were pursuing architectural engineering degrees. Their friendship was evident during study sessions, she said, and developed more after collaborating on several in-school projects and private projects as well.

“During our first year in college, Michael and I were asked to design a house for a couple.

It was the first real project – and we got paid for it,” she said.

In June of 1987, Carolyn and Michael were married. Two years later, Michael took an internship at McKissack & McKissack and Thompson Architects and Engineers in

Journey’s end…

Nashville, the same firm – with a new partner – that he’d drawn inspiration from in his youth.

The priceless experience at MM&T led Michael D. to an opporRobinson tunity to work on drawings to convert the Lorraine Motel into the National Civil Rights Museum. The opportunity would lure Michael and Carolyn to Memphis, where they began working at MM&T’s Memphis office.

“We did most of the drawings in Nashville,” Michael pointed out. “When we relocated to Memphis, they were doing construction administration, the construction part of the job.”

In 1999, the Robinsons stepped out on faith, trusting they’d succeed with divine intervention. They’d worked for various architectural firms and on myriad projects and decided to give self-employment a chance.

“We had given so much time and energy to other architectural firms,” said Carolyn. “We figured since we’d worked hard for others, we would work hard for ourselves.”

Robi4 Architecture and Planning, Inc. is a certified womenowned business. Carolyn is the majority owner and chief executive officer handling the day-today operation.

Michael is the firm’s architect. He is a proud member of The American Institute of Architects (AIA), a nationwide network of more than 81,000 architects.

The firm provides full architectural services to a public, private and corporate clientele in the state of Tennessee that includes, but not limited to, hospitals, hotels, national historic places, museums, elected officials and professional athletes.

Some of the services include the following: architecture, master planning, site planning, space planning, adaptive re-use, renovations, additions, project management, construction contract administration, cost estimation, scheduling, bidding support, quality control, owner representation, field observa-

tions, facility operation, and more.

“We want to be known for our good work and making a difference,” said Carolyn, who shares parenting responsibilities with Michael. They have two children in college, one studying in Paris on a fellowship.

Path to licensure…

Making a difference is what the Robinsons initially set out to do at the onset of their careers.

They are succeeding against the odds, but don’t find comfort in knowing that African Americans have not been able to close the gap as licensed architects.

“They can’t pass the state board. So they give up. That’s why the numbers are so low,” said Michael, calling the examination “intense” and “comprehensive.”

Applicants pursuing their license must pass a total of seven exams called the Architect Registration Examination. It is a competency test developed by The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, which focuses on those services that most affect the public health, safety, and welfare.

Michael had to pass a total of nine exams to get his license.

He passed one more because of a change in the exam, he said.

Carolyn is considering taking the exam.

According to NCARB, women are making strides in their pursuit of licensure. In 2012, 3,063 applications (39.9 percent of applicants) were by women, an increase of 1.6 percentage points from 2011.

“Each test took two to three hours to complete…to prove you’re worthy of being an architect,” Michael said. “It’s not about drawing pretty pictures, but protecting the public health, safety and welfare on a construction project.”

If the applicant fails any part of the exam, he or she can take it over in six months. “You have to pass the whole exam in five years,” he said. “If you can’t, then you’d have to start another application.”

The fee is $210 a test and computerized, he said.

Michael hopes more African Americans are able to fulfill their dreams of becoming architects. “You need the camaraderie…and it’s good to have colleagues,” he said. “That’s how I learned – from others.”

Shelby County Commissioner Henri Brooks (fourth from the right) was the keynote speaker during the Closing Ceremony of the University of Memphisʼ Black History Month 2014 observation last Friday. The month-long theme was “The Golden Jubilee of the Civil Rights Act: Whatʼs Important Now – The Movement.” (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)

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SPORTS Tri-State Defender, Thursday, March 6 - 12, 2014, Page 14 Nick King, Michael Dixon Jr. and Kuran Iverson of the Tigers celebrate after Memphis comes from behind to defeat Louisville 72-66 at the FedExForum on Saturday (March 1).

Geron Johnson (left) of the Memphis Tigers guarding Chris Jones (Melrose High School) of Louisville.

Michael Dixon Jr. of the Tigers shoots over Stephan Van Treese of Louisville.

Memphis Coach Josh Pastner hugs one of his assistant coache s after the win over Louisville.

(Photos: Warren Roseborough)

Memphis beat Louisville – enough said!

With the city and fans in mind, the Tigers deliver against Cardinals

The New Tri-State Defender staff

It’s just not something you normally associate with winning a basketball game, but then it wasn’t just a basketball game. It was Louisville, as in rival, as in defending national champions, as in national television, as in the team the University of Memphis needed to beat after laying an egg against Houston in the previous game on the road.

“Completing the regular season sweep over Louisville is huge for this team and the city,” said head coach Josh Pastner after the Tigers (22-7, 115) upset the No. 7 Cardinals 72-66 at the FedExForum on Saturday (March 1).

“Sweeping Louisville is huge for us, and means a lot for the city,” said guard Chris Crawford, whose sharp shooting included a dagger-like three-pointer with the game in the balance in the waning moments.

“This win was for the fans, and they are the reason why we won this game,” said Michael Dixon Jr., who came off the bench with an attitude that yielded a team-high 18 points and signaled to his teammates, Louisville and Memphis fans that when things get tough, the tough get, well, you know the rest.

Pastner, who tends to live in a positive bubble, had a lot to draw upon af-

ter the game played out in an NCAA Tournament-like atmosphere.

“I am so proud of our young men, what a great job they did today. Everyone contributed, including all the guys on the bench. This win was spectacular for our team and this city,” he said, throwing out plusses to his staff and the fans, who he credited for a big-time contribution down the stretch.

“We were down eight points with a little more than four minutes to go and I told my team, we are going to win,” said Pastner. “We have been down with less than four minutes to play multiple times this season, and found a way to win. It was six on five because the crowd will help us win this game.”

With a nod to Louisville (24-5, 13-3) and head coach Rick Pitino, Pastner said, “We made plays down the stretch and won the game. I am so proud of our guys and their resilience to win. …

This is a great day for Memphis Tiger basketball.”

The crowd – 18,375 – was the largest home crowd of the season. The game was the 14th time Memphis (No. 21) and Louisville had met when both were ranked. The Cardinals hold a 9-5 lead in those match-ups. Eleven of the 14 ranked encounters – including Saturday’s game – were decided by single

Richard Sherman: NFL’s proposed N-word ban ‘almost racist’ NewsOne

by D.L. Chandler The NFL Competition Committee has been engaged in talks since last Friday, discussing a variety of issues important to the league. One such matter is the proposed 15-yard penalty on players using the “N-word” on the field.

Seattle Seahawks player Richard Sherman is against banning the word, calling the potential rule “almost racist” in an interview.

According to Sports Illustrated’s MMBQ, there remains a chance that the N-word ban may not go into effect, but there could be a higher focus on language during games by officials. As it stands, the committee will weigh the option of referees giving players a warning before issuing any deeper penalties.

Sherman, the outspoken defensive player and All-Pro, feels such a ban is unneces-

sary. The Stanford graduate and Compton native shared his thoughts with MMBQ in his typical brash fashion.

“It’s an atrocious idea,” said Sherman. “It’s almost racist, to me. It’s weird they’re targeting one specific word.

Why wouldn’t all curse words be banned then?”

Sherman supported his argument by saying that the tone of the word and how it’s used determines the racist nature of the word. He argues that using the n-word with “er” is offensive versus ending it with “ga,” which is used often as a term of endearment among many African-Americans.

Sherman isn’t the only player who feels that n-word ban is too bold a step for the NFL. “It’s a common word in so many players’ everyday lives,” said Tennessee cornerback Jason McCourty.

“Among African-American players and people, it’s used among friends all the time. It seems like a bit much for the

NFL to try to get rid of it.”

Another player didn’t outright support the use of the word, but did add that officials already have to watch a series of actions on the field during the contests and now will have to monitor the mouths of players, too.

The Fritz Pollard Alliance, a group that has been at the forefront of promoting equality and diversity in the NFL, has led the charge in getting the N-word removed from the game. Alliance chairman John Wooten, a former NFL AllPro, and executive director Harry Carson, a NFL Hall Of Fame inductee, both endured racism, especially Carson, who was raised in South Carolina.

Carson and Wooten said they are taken aback that players have been resistant to their idea, and added that current African-American players dishonor themselves and others before them by using the term.

digits.

Pitino, whose Cardinals rode the backs of forward Montezl Harrek (25 points, 12 rebounds) and guard Russ Smith (19 points, 5 assists, 3 steals) was direct with his feelings.

“It was an extremely disappointing loss,” said Pitino. “Overall though you have to give Memphis a lot of credit for the comeback, they made free throws we missed free throws. Giving up a crucial three in a tie game was a bad thing for us.”

Acknowledging the hostile environment, Pitino looked it upon as preparation for the tournament games ahead, adding that the Cardinals would be OK. “We just have to give Memphis credit and move on and hopefully we can get them back in the conference tournament.”

While the Cardinals were able to cope with Memphis big man Shaq Godwin (5 points, 10 rebounds), he said Geron Johnson (15 points) and Dixon were much more difficult.

Dixon said he wanted to have the ball in his hands during the final couple of minutes of the game because, feeling he could get into the paint and either score or draw a foul.

“I could not be as aggressive as I would have liked with the four fouls but we did the best job we could as a

team,” said Dixon. “Geron Johnson played awesome defense today against (Louisville guard Russ Smith) down the stretch. He is one of the best defenders in the country and our whole team trusts him to make a play.”

Johnson said the Tigers are trying to learn from both wins and losses.

“We stayed poised and made some key shots down the stretch. The energy of our team played a big impact in the way we played. We were in desperation mode after losing to Houston. I am excited to get back to practicing and taking this energy into the final two games of the season,” said the senior guard.

Crawford said Louisville brought great energy, causing the Tigers to get into foul trouble early on in the game.

He talked of being satisfied with coming through for the team.

“I had not been shooting the ball well but today was different for me,” said Crawford, who scored 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point land.

“This rivalry is a big one, and beating Louisville twice boosts our confidence heading into the final two games of the regular season.”

NOTE: Memphis returns to action Thursday, March 6th against Cincinnati on the road. TV: ESPN, 6 p.m.

GRIZZ TRACK

Memphisʼ Tony Allen zeroes in on a loose ball as the Grizzlies battled the Cleveland Cavaliers last Saturday (March 1st) at the FedExForum, emerging with a 110-96 victory. The Grizzlies then hit the road, defeating the Washington Wizards on Monday and then falling to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. Next stop is Chicago, where the defensive-minded Bulls await on (Friday). (Photo: Warren Roseborough)