4 25 2012

VOL. 61, No. 17

www.tristatedefender.com

April 19 - 25, 2012

75 Cents

State to parents: Get on your job!

Special to the Tri-State Defender

by Tony Jones

Gov. Bill Haslam this week signed into law the first of two bills crafted to urge parents to get involved and stay engaged in their children’s school and education.

Dubbed the “Parental Contract,” the new law encourages school districts to create contracts. The terms include the parents assuring that they are committed to getting their children to school on time, making

New center pitched to grow AfricanAmerican businesses

certain homework is done, attending parent-teacher conferences regularly and generally guiding their children in what it takes to obtain a real education.

A second measure – “The Parental Report Card Bill” – is headed for legislative review. It would create a parental report card similar to a system used by many charter schools. The point is to link parents and their children in a mutually accountable process to further bolster family support for education.

The new law calls for a process that has

been in place in Michigan since 2001. It is designed to inspire parents – and not scare them.

Neither the new law nor the pending bill extends any right to state or local authorities to sanction, fine or penalize parents in any way, said the bill’s creator, Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-98).

“It’s simply to give the parents a basis to gauge their own behavior and realize what they need to do more of to help their kids do well in school,” said Parkinson. “It’s a voluntary effort, but I think it’s something

we need to create that ‘wraparound effect’ that too many kids are missing.”

Statistics show that students who wind up in the pipeline to penal institutions or human services divisions tend to come from schools where parents are not involved enough, said Parkinson. “This is just one measure aimed at reversing that as much as we can.”

If it becomes law, The Parental Report Card Bill would be for Frayser Elementary SEE PARENTS ON PAGE 8

“Trayvon is…saying, ‘Thank you’ ”

Rep. Antonio Parkinson

Special to the Tri-State Defender

by Tony Jones

Within the next two weeks, two people – one with the title of executive director and the other an administrative assistant – will begin walking in and out of a small-business incubator located downtown at 158 Madison.

That’s where a Minority Business Development Agency center will be located when it comes online, which is projected to be by the middle of June. It will be the first such center that the U.S. Department of Commerce has authorized in the state.

That future was shared with the public on Monday during a joint press conference structured by Congressman Steve Cohen and the locallybased Mid-South Minority Business Council Continuum (The MMBC Continuum), which operates the business incubator. Chosen to receive the Department of Commerce’s 2011 Advocate of the Year Award, MMBC will serve as a local clearinghouse, identifying potentially qualified businesses to access the federal process.

One million dollars dispensed over four years will be funneled into the SEE BUSINESS ON PAGE 8

- INSIDE -

• Minister offers a spiritually based fitness program. See Business, page 6.

• Aviation careers in sight for Wooddale’s ‘fly boys’ See Community, page 9.

• Saxophonist Andrew Love had a positive spirit. See Entertainment, page 12.

Tracy Martin (left) and Sybrina Fulton, the parents of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, address the media during the National Action Network Convention. (Photo by Freddie Allen)

‘Turn this moment into a movement’ NNPA Washington Correspondent

by Freddie Allen

WASHINGTON – It was a telephone call that Tracy Martin, father of the 17-year-old African American killed in Sanford, Fla. by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, worried that he would never receive.

Forty-five days after an unarmed Trayvon Martin had been killed while walking back to a home he was visit-

What a difference guns make. See page 3.

ing after purchasing a bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea, Special Prosecutor Angela Corey called to notify Trayvon’s parents that Zimmerman had finally been arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

“I was very emotional when I got the call from Ms. Corey,” Tracy Martin recounted. “I feel like Trayvon is looking down on us and saying,

‘Thank you, dad.’”

Martin reflected on that telephone call when he was interviewed earlier

by Al Sharpton. The civil rights leader played that videotape Saturday (April 14), the last day of his National Action Network convention in the nation’s capital.

Asked what she wants others to take away from the case, Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, replied, “I hope that they remember that he was SEE TRAVON ON PAGE 2

Trayvon Martin

Farrakhan 101

Nation of Islam head keynotes LOCʼs Diversity Leadership Conference Special to the New Tri-State Defender,

by Kelvin Cowans Andrew Love

MEMPHIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

H- 8 1o - L - 5 1o I so . T-St orms

H- 6 4o - L - 4 9o Sho wers

H- 6 9o - L - 4 9o Partl y Cl o udy

REGIONAL TEMPS LITTLE ROCK NASHVILLE JACKSON, MS

Friday H-77 L-48 H-80 L-55 H-81 L-55

Saturday H-66 L-49 H-71 L-50 H-66 L-53

Sunday H-74 L-51 H-69 L-43 H-69 L-50

Playoff form…

Defense-minded Tony Allen (9) and the Memphis Grizzlies rattled the New Orleans Hornets 103 to 91 at the FedExForum on Wednesday (April 18) night, clinching a return engagement with the NBA Playoffs. See Sports, page 15. (Photo by Warren Roseborough)

Wherever Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks, the setting itself offers lessons about differences in cultures and lifestyles.

And so it was last Saturday (April 14) when the head of the Nation of Islam delivered a keynote address at Brownlee Hall/ Johnson Gymnasium, more commonly the venue of basketball games and graduation ceremonies for The LeMoyne-Owen College.

His words bounced off the walls spilling out into the Memphis streets.

“This is the first time that I have been invited to an all-black college and not only the Student Government Association welcome me in, but the president of the college actually welcomed me in also,” said Farrakhan.

There was a line of at least ten Muslim men to pat you down upon entering the event. They asked that you hold all your valuables before

you as they searched for weapons.

Upon entering the gym I noticed many guards with ear microphones communicating with each other for the safety of the head of the Nation of Islam.

Minister Farrakhan has been to Memphis on numerous occasions.

Early on, he referred to one of those times, thanking former Mayor Dr. Willie W. Herenton for once giving him the key to the city of Memphis.

“Bro. Herenton told me that he was soon called to a meeting at The Peabody, where I’m staying with the other ducks, with some Jews of the Memphis community, who asked him to take the key back. Bro. Herenton told them no and I want you all to know that he is my friend and I will go to bat for him anywhere, including the jungles of East Asia to the ghettoes of America.”

The crowd rose in applause, including local dignitaries such as City Councilwoman Wanda Halbert, County Commissioner Justin Ford and State Rep. G.A. Hardaway (DSEE FARRAKHAN ON PAGE 2

NEWS

Page 2

Tri-State Defender

April 19 - 25, 2012

“We have too much immoral leadership going on today,” said Minister Louis Farrakhan, during the Diversity Leadership Conference keynote address at The LeMoyne-Owen College on Saturday (April 14). (Photos by Tyrone P. Easley)

FARRAKHAN

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

92).

With that, the tone was set for over an hour’s worth of literary fireworks at the culmination of the Diversity Leadership Conference spearheaded by the LOC Student Government Association. In advancing Farrakhan’s appearance, SGA President SimmieRay Dinkins had stressed that today’s students must compete with global-scale competition. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam are undeniable elements in the global community, he said.

Throughout the keynote address, ongoing supportive applause and bursts of agreement reverberated throughout the venue.

“If a Chinaman says that his name is Henry, and you know that don’t sound right, then how much more crazy is it that a black man accepts the name of his former slave owner’s?

Mr. Brown, Mr. Black and so on, those are not your names,” said Farrakhan.

The setting was punctuated with Nation of Islam men, who were well-groomed, sternfaced and dressed in power suit’s that fit to a point. They

TRAVON

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

an unarmed teen, he was a minor shot and killed by an adult, and that his parents fought to make sure justice was served,” Fulton said.

“I hope that this doesn’t happen to any other child or adult.

I hope that this brings people together.”

Although delegates at the

walked in straight lines and made 90-degree turns when they changed directions. The women’s heads were covered with fabric that intersected smartly with the rest of their garb. Discipline – down to daily dress – is a way of life in “The Nation.”

“They tell you to pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Ain’t nobody going to give you no bread,” spoke Minister Farrakhan. “What you want from God is a chance.

Then you can plant a wheat seed and when it grows then take that wheat and grind it into flower and make your own bread.”

Whenever the crowd was asked to stand, or when they stood to applause Minister Farakkan, security moved down the aisle quickly closer to the stage where he was standing. I’m not sure why that was necessary because at his foot stood at least 12 Muslims to each side of the stage.

To them, he was obviously precious cargo, even though others still see him as an enemy.

“We have too much immoral leadership going on today,” said Farrakhan. “People tomorrow, maybe in a few days, are going to kill their leaders who been selling them convention connected with Trayvon’s parents Saturday by videotape (they appeared in person earlier in the convention), two other women who lost relatives to violence were present at the session on Howard University’s campus.

Nicole Paultre Bell’s fiancée was gunned down in 2006 by plainclothes police officers in

Former Mayor Dr. Willie W. Herenton embraces Minister Farrakhan. Johnnie B. Watson (right) President of The LeMoyne-Owen College looks on.

Brownlee Hall/ Johnson Gymnasium, more commonly the venue of LOC basketball games and graduation ceremonies, transformed into a packed house for Minister Farrakhanʼs keynote address.

out. That’s why we in the shape that we’re in now. Because we had corrupt people,

New York City hours before they were supposed to take get married. The officers fired 50 times at Sean Bell and two of his friends who were injured. Three officers were charged with manslaughter but acquitted.

Also sharing the stage was Kadiatou Diallo, whose son was reaching for his wallet and ID when he was killed in a hail

or people who started off good and got corrupted.”

Tapping into his memory,

of bullets. Four plainclothes New York police officers fired 41 bullets at the unarmed Guinean immigrant.

The deaths of Bell and Diallo received widespread publicity, largely because of the efforts of Sharpton. But there are dozens, if not hundreds, of Sean Bells and Amadou Diallos who remain unknown to

Farrakhan recalled his days at college in Winston Salem.

“The black professors would sleep with the young girls and give them good grades. So they ended up with a degree not in sociology or psychology but screwology,” he said. “ I know it’s wrong but (expletive) the way yall live is wrong. So there is no real leadership. We’ve had a nation of people trying to teach people that they’re not qualified to teach.”

Another eruption of approval echoed throughout the packed gym.

“My teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, taught me that honor is not given until the work is done; the work of freedom, justice and equality for our people.”

On Wednesday Dinkins, reflected on the job done getting

Farrakhan to LOC, noting that 1,400-plus people attended.

“Yes, I would actually (do it again),” Dinkins said of Farrakhan’s visit. “It was not an experience you get very often on LeMoyne’s campus.

I don’t think there is anything I would replace with the experience.”

Surprised by Anything? Yes, said Dinkins, noting Farrakhan’s observation that he had not been welcomed previously to such a campus by the college president.

“I am glad that we have a president (Johnnie B. Watson) who will support the endeavors of the student body,” said Dinkins. “I was very pleased with my president.”

the public.

On Saturday, many of their parents walked slowly to the microphone at the NAN convention to share their painful stories and grief.

“The only thing that give us strength is to know that people care and people continue to support our struggle,” said Diallo’s mother.

Melanie Campbell, the executive director and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Inc., had a sobering thought for the convention delegates.

Said Campbell: “It’s very critical that we don’t miss the moment and make sure we turn this moment into a movement.”

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

OPINION

Tri-State Defender

What a difference guns make

On April 16, 2007, our nation suffered its deadliest shooting incident ever by a single gunman when a student Marian Wright killed 32 Edleman people and wounded 25 others at Virginia Tech University before committing suicide. Five years later, have we learned anything about controlling our national gun and gun violence epidemic?

A look at just a few of the sad headlines across the country so far this year suggests we haven’t learned much, if anything at all.

In February of this year, a 17-year-old high school senior, who other students described as an outcast who’d been bullied, shot and killed three fellow students and injured two more at Chardon High School in suburban Cleveland, Ohio.

Would this have happened without a gun?

In Washington state, three children were victims of gun violence during a three-week period at the end of February and at the end of March. A three-year-old died after shooting himself in the head with a gun left under the front seat of the car while his family stopped for gas. The sevenyear-old daughter of a police officer was shot and killed by her younger brother after he found one of their father’s guns in the glove compartment of the family van. And an eight-year-old girl was critically wounded at school when her nine-year-old classmate brought in a gun he found at home that accidentally went off in his backpack.

Would this have happened without a gun?

There already has been a rash of shootings in Chicago this year, including the especially violent weekend in midMarch when 49 people were shot and 10 were killed.

Would this have happened without a gun?

And in Florida, unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin was shot and killed walking home from the store in February after being followed by self-appointed “neighborhood watch captain” George Zimmerman.

Would Trayvon’s death have happened without a gun?

As a nation we can’t afford to keep waiting for commonsense gun control laws that would protect our children and all of us from indefensible gun violence. It’s time to repeal senseless gun laws such as the “Stand Your Ground” laws enacted by 21 states. The laws have grabbed so much attention in Trayvon’s case and allow people in Florida to defend themselves with deadly force anytime and anywhere if they feel threatened. More than 2 million people have signed online petitions saying they want to repeal these laws.

It’s time to require consumer safety standards and childproof safety features for all guns and strengthen child access prevention laws that ensure guns are stored safely and securely to prevent unnecessary tragedies like those in Washington state. And in a political environment where the too secretive and powerful advocacy group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) pushed “Stand Your Ground” laws in other states along with other “model bills” that benefit some corporate bottom lines or special interests such as the NRA, it’s time for all of ALEC’s corporate sponsors to walk away from enabling or acquiescing destructive laws that protect guns, not children.

When will we finally get the courage to stand up as a nation and say enough to the deadly proliferation of guns and gun violence that endanger children’s and public safety?

(NNPA columnist Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund. For more information go to www.childrensdefense .org.)

Page 3

April 19 - 25, 2012

IN THE MAIL

‘Don’t shoot campaign’

The use of guns in Memphis is certainly not “News” to you. On most days your news is filled with those who have been victims of “gunshots.” Were the gun-shots a germ, this would be classified as an epidemic in Memphis.

Is it possible that you, along with the other branches and affiliates of media, could start a “DON’T SHOOT CAMPAIGN?” Just solicit the public to refrain from “shooting.”

Who knows, if we all get it in our heads to “don’t shoot,” we could hear more news about many good deeds that

Memphians perform and less about gun-shot victims. JUST A THOUGHT! Earline W. Duncan Memphis

Charter School Bill – a chance to flourish for Mississippi students

I am a single parent of three school age children, and I like so many parents in DeSoto County support the Mississippi Charter School Bill.

Each morning Monday-Friday I wake up at 5:30 a.m. to get dressed, eat and make the 17-mile drive-to school.

I, like so many parents in DeSoto County, cross the state line each morning to take my children to a school that best meets THEIR needs!

I made the decision to take the kids to a school outside my district and state after three years of frustrations with the lack of attention my son was receiving in the DeSoto County School System.

From kindergarten through the second grade he struggled like so many boys do. Reading was a huge challenge for him, so I did what any good parent would do-I hired a tutor, talked with his teacher and even the principal so that we could “make a plan”! I was told time after time by his teachers that they

had too many students in their classroom and couldn’t take the time out to give my son the help that he needed.

There are so many children throughout our state that are slipping through the cracks of the public school system.

Our classrooms are overflowing and our teachers are doing the best that they can in a system that is overwhelmed. I strongly believe that charter schools would give those children who are struggling in the traditional public school system a chance to flourish and learn in the environment that best meets their needs!

Carra Powell DeSoto County

Page 4

OPINION

John H. Sengstacke Publisher (1951 - 1997)

The Mid-Southʼs Best Alternative Newspaper

A Real Times Newspaper

Tri-State Defender

April 19 - 25, 2012

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

Fidel Castro helped to liberate Africa

No Don, the n-word is a no-go, always

Between the drama surrounding the arrest of George Zimmerman for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., and the white terrorists who killed two AfricanAmericans and injured five others in Tulsa, you may have missed the news about CNN Anchor Don Lemon, an African-American, defending journalists who use the n-word while reporting on hate crimes.

In case you missed it, let me bring you up to date. The discussion about use of the n-word grew out of reporting on a racial killing spree in Oklahoma. On Good Friday, Alvin L. Watts, 32, who is white, and Jacob C. England, who is 19 and describes himself as white, though he is a Native American, went on a random shooting spree, killing three innocent African Americans and wounding two others.

The day before, England posted on his Facebook page, “Today is two years that my dad has been gone, shot by a f—— n—–.” Of course, England did not mention that authorities determined that the black man who shot his father was acting in self-defense.

In discussing the case on CNN, Lemon argued that when used in proper context – such as referring to England’s rant – the actual n-word should be used in direct quotations.

To substitute “n-word,” he contends, lessens the impact of the slur.

“I think it takes the value out of what that word really means, especially when we are reporting it,” Lemon said. “And I don’t care what color the reporter is, I think someone should say, ‘That person calls someone nigger’ instead of saying the n-word because I think it sanitizes it.”

CNN correspondent Susan Candiotti did not sanitize the word the next day. After saying, “Please excuse the language, it’s very sensitive,” she quoted the Facebook post about England claiming that his father had been killed by “a f—— n—–.”

Anchorwoman Fredricka Whitfield said, “We apologize to our viewers for the profanities used.” It wasn’t just the vulgarity that merited an apology. And this wasn’t the first time a CNN correspondent had used the n-word. Last month, CNN reporter Drew Griffin used it while reporting on Deryl Dedmon, a white Mississippian convicted of running down a Black man with his truck and killing him.

Griffin said, “To be absolutely factual, at the end of this, Deryl Dedmond is laughing with his friends and actually called on his cell phone and, pardon my language, but there is no other way to say this, and said, ‘I just ran over that f—— n—–.’” Griffin used the actual words.

Let’s indeed be absolutely factual.

The n-word, according to Merria m - We b s t e r , “ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English.”

When we hear someone refer to the n-word, we understand exactGeorge E. ly what they Curry mean and don’t need to hear the full word to realize the depth of the insult.

Contrast Lemon’s argument for uttering the n-word with the controversy that surrounded New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, who is of Taiwanese descent. The nation has been mesmerized by the exploits of Lin, who blossomed from benchwarmer to star for the Knicks.

After the Knicks lost to the New Orleans Hornets 89-85 amid “Linsanity,” a writer for ESPN.com posted the headline, “Chink in the Armor.” The post was removed within 35 minutes and the offending journalist was fired. Also, ESPN anchor Max Bretos was given a 30-day suspension after asking, “Is there a chink in the armor, where can Lin improve his game?”

ESPN did the right thing in disciplining insensitive journalists. Just as it was wrong to use a slur in connection with Lin, it is equally obnoxious to rationalize the use of the n-word.

There is no “context” that warrants its use.

Once you go there, the floodgates are open for every derogatory word used to insult women, gays, Jews and Polish immigrants, to name a few. In one comment on CNN.com, a viewer applauded Lemon’s position on the n-word and urged him to start using the f-word – he said the actual word – to describe homosexuals.

In discussing the n-word, Lemon said, “I hate it in music. I hate those kinds of things. I hate it when it’s misogynistic and rap and all of that.

But what I’m saying is in the reporting of a story, you should say the word not to sanitize it.”

I don’t know of anyone other than Don Lemon who considers the nword – even when not spelled out – sanitized. Instead of standing for Cable News Network, CNN should stand for Can Not (use) N—–.

(George E. Curry is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and editorial director of Heart & Soul magazine. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.)

FACEBOOK FAN OF THE WEEK Frank Gilbert

Frank Gilbert is a 1987 graduate of Whitehaven High School, who went on to the University of Memphis, where he also played football and attended graduate school.

Today, Gilbert works for Clear Channel Radio as the Promotions Director. Affectionately known as “Big Frank,” Gilbert is the man for the various radio stationsʼ promotional activities and community outreach. He was integral in helping put together the partnership between WDIA (“Bobby OʼJay Morning Show”) and The New Tri-State Defender.

Gilbert says he hates when people only call him for free tickets! Heʼs a family man, married with children and next to TSD Publisher, Bernal E. Smith II, is one of the biggest Pittsburgh Steelers fans in the City of Memphis!

Thanks Big Frank for all you do in the community and for being a part of the TSD Facebook Family!

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

DISTRIBUTION: Tri-State Defender is available at newsstands, street sales, store vendors, mail subscription and honor boxes throughout the Greater Memphis area. No person may, without prior written permission of the Tri-State Defender, reprint any part of or duplicate by electronic device any portion without written permission. Copyright 2012 by Tri-State Defender Publishing, Inc. Permission to Publisher, Tri-State Defender, 203 Beale Street, Suite 200, Memphis, TN. 38103. Back copies can be obtained by calling the Tri-State Defender at (901) 523-1818, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Questions for presidential candidates

Now that former Sen. Rick Santorum has withdrawn from the Republican race for president, it is a foregone conclusion that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. To be sure, he still has to deal with the nuisance factor of Newt Gingrich, whose lack of money has not only torpedoed his campaign, but also one of his “think” tanks. Maybe Gingrich can find work, as he suggested that inner city youth do, by taking on some janitorial tasks.

So it’s down to Romney and President Obama as opponents in November. The entertainment is over. Let’s get down to business.

Those who are undecided about the political path they’d like to take ought to look at several areas of contrast, and consider what either candidate might do in three areas:

Jobs

The unemployment rate ticked down just a tiny bit last month, from 8.3 to 8.2 percent, but only 120,000 new jobs were created. We need to create at least 300,000 jobs a month for the next year or so to just begin to catch up with all the jobs that were lost. Black unemployment, at 14 percent, is at the Great Depression level of 25 percent when hidden unemployment is considered. Unemployment is trending down, if slowly, and the Obama administration has been quick to share these facts. Further, if President Obama had been able to pass job creation legislation at the end of 2011, the rate might have dropped even faster.

My question to Mitt Romney would be how he plans to accelerate the pace of job creation and lower unemployment. I’d also ask him about high black unemployment rates, and targeting. Finally, I’d ask him whether he still enjoys firing people and what message he thinks that sends to the least and the left out.

I’d ask President Obama at least two of those three questions. I’d certainly ask what he would do to change the pace of job creation, what kind of legislation he thinks is needed for him to implement his plan, and whether he thinks he can pull a political consensus together to pass such legislation. I’d also ask him about black unemployment and targeting, not to put him on the spot or to play the race card, but because this is an important question.

Finally, I’d ask about a focus on youth unemployment, given the fact that young people who graduate from college and cannot find jobs have lifetime effects from or two years worth of joblessness.

Taxes

Former Republican candidate Herman Cain, he of the 9-9-9 plan that just didn’t add up, the foreign policy ignorance, and the fiery, if in-

ept, blather said that Romney was being “picked apart” by the tax issue. But Romney pays a lower proportion of his income on taxes than the average – not upper income, just average – working Julianne person does, Malveaux mostly because investment income is taxed at a lower rate than earnings. Romney has also called for an extension of the Bush tax cuts, while President Obama would eliminate them.

I’d ask Mitt Romney why he thinks it is fair for the rich to pay proportionately less in taxes than middle-income people. I’d ask him bluntly whether he thinks he favors the rich and if so, why. I’d ask him to detail his objections to the Buffett plan, and to offer an alternative plan for tax fairness.

I’d ask President Obama (who not only pays his fair share in taxes, but also contributes generously to charitable causes (including the United Negro College Fund) to offer, beyond the Buffett plan, other keys to tax fairness. I’d ask him whether investment income should be taxed at an equal or higher rate than earnings.

And I’d ask him what kind of coalition is needed to turn the Buffett plan into public policy.

Students – While President Obama has vigorously defended Pell grants, Romney would not only eliminate these grants but many other social programs. Furthermore, students pay more than six percent interest on federal loans, while some of the bailout banks paid less than one percent interest on their loans. If we believe that children are our future, why aren’t our future workers, students, more highly considered in the budget process?

I’d ask Mitt Romney what his horizon is for U.S. prosperity and what role today’s students play in that prosperity. I’d ask him why he is opposed to Pell grants, and what he thinks of the interest differential between the way students are treated and bailout banks are treated.

Before I ask President Obama anything on education, I’d thank him for his fight to protect HBCUs and other colleges. Then I’d ask about the interest differential, and about his progress on his pledge to restore the U.S. to world leadership in educational attainment.

Now that we don’t have the distraction of debate about peripheral issues, maybe we can get down to business to compare and contrast the candidates.

(Julianne Malveaux is president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.)

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African Americans, especially those who are conscious of how the world has changed during the past 50 years in terms of the progress for African liberation and self-determination, Benjamin F. should be more Chavis Jr. than willing to express gratitude to Fidel Castro because of his outstanding historic and contemporary contributions to the advancement of the interests of African people throughout the world.

I am profoundly aware that my writing about this leader will make some of my brothers and sisters feel a little uncomfortable given the continuing controversies surrounding how the powerful status quo of how America views Castro. But, I think this is the right moment to at least issue a public statement of appreciation to a dedicated comrade in our struggle for freedom, justice and equality while he is still alive.

After I was released from being a political prisoner in my home state of North Carolina in 1979 as a member of the Wilmington 10, I remember what noted author James Baldwin said to me, “When someone is your comrade, you don’t just pretend that he or she is simply not there to be affirmed. After all else, black people should speak boldly without the mask of apology about who our real allies are in the context of our long struggle for freedom.” Baldwin’s admonition is still true today.

Look at what just happened to Ozzie Guillen, the manager of the Miami Marlins baseball team, who was made to issue a public apology for daring to utter favorable expressions about Castro. It is a glaring example of how some ethnic groups in America flex the strength of their cultural, economic and political muscle to ensure that their worldview and interests are respected by others. Guillen is a native of Venezuela and told Time magazine that “I respect Fidel Castro.”

As a result of the outcry from the Cuban-American community in south Florida , the Miami Marlins suspended Guillen for five games.

Subsequently, Guillen held a press conference to express remorse for his comment.

Why are some people so passionate about their dislike for Fidel in 2012? This is a question of history, ideology, geopolitics and economics.

But the answer to this question is also an answer involving African and African-American history, culture and the global struggle of African people for equal justice and freedom.

During the black power movement of the 1960s and the “Pan African Movement” of the 1970s and 1980s, Fidel Castro was a major source of support and solidarity for the liberation of Africa from centuries of colonialism, imperialism and neo-colonialism.

Decades ago, Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Augostinho Neto in Angola, Sam Nujoma in Namibia, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Michael Manley in Jamaica, and W.E.B. Dubois and Malcolm X in America were all in solidarity with Fidel Castro and others about supporting the growing liberation movements in Africa.

Where is our memory today concerning this period of our history as a people? Are we too quick to forget? Do we have historical amnesia?

We need to tell our children the truth about our struggle here in America, the Caribbean and in Africa. African liberation required a revolution and a protracted struggle. The Cuban Revolution contributed concretely to the revolution and transformation of Africa.

I witnessed first-hand in Angola how Cuban soldiers valiantly and heroically shed their blood and gave their lives along with Angolans, Namibians, South Africans and others to prevent the brutal apartheid regime from taking over all of southern Africa while the administration of President Ronald Reagan orchestrated the avarice game of “constructive engagement” with the minorityruled white South Africa. The geopolitical structure of Africa was changed irreversibly by the formidable forces of unity between our African and Cuban freedom fighters.

That is why I have no reluctance today whatsoever to say “Thank you” to Fidel Adejandro Castro Ruz for your leadership, sacrifice, and contributions to help Africa. You continue to be a beacon of light and inspiration for generations to come who demand freedom and liberation from oppression and imperialism.

Long live the spirit and memory of Fidel Castro.

(Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. can be reached at drbenjamin.chavis @gmail.com)

NATION

Tri-State Defender

George Curry returns as NNPA editor

WASHINGTON – Awardwinning journalist George E. Curry has been named editorin-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service, a position he held from 2001 to 2007.

“We are pleased that George Curry, a nationally-known journalist, has agreed to return to the NNPA family,” said Karl B. Rodney, chairman of the NNPA Foundation, which oversees the wire service, and publisher of the New York Carib News.

“Because he has George E. served in Curry the position before and knows Washington, D.C. so well, all of our newspapers will immediately benefit from George’s experience and contacts. I look forward to working with him again.”

Cloves Campbell Jr., chairman of the NNPA, said Curry never really left the NNPA. “He moderated many of our panels at our national conventions and has always been there when we needed him.”

Curry was named Journalist of the Year in 2003 by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) for overhauling the NNPA News Service. The University of Missouri School of Journalism presented him with its Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, an honor it had earlier bestowed on such luminaries as Joseph Pulitzer, Walter Cronkite, John H. Johnson and Winston Churchill.

Curry is the former editor of Emerge magazine. Under his leadership, Emerge won more than 40 national journalism awards. He launched a 4-year campaign that led to President Bill Clinton pardoning Kemba Smith, a 22-year-old woman who was given a mandatory 24 ½ year prison sentence for her minor role in a drug ring, Curry was elected president of the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), the first African-American to hold the organization’s top post.

Prior to running the NNPA News Service, Curry was also a reporter for Sports Illustrated, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and served as a Washington correspondent and New York bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune.

“This is a crucial time for the Black Press and I am happy to be part of reinvigorating a wire service that serves more than 200 African-American newspapers,” said Curry.

In addition to supervising the NNPA News Service, Curry will also be responsible for content posted on BlackPressUSA.com, the publishers’ public Web site.

Curry has selected two journalists to serve as Washington correspondents for the NNPA News Service. One of them, Akeya Dickson, worked as a reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press and as a metropolitan reporter and a social media manager for the Washington Post. She interned for Reuters News Service, Black Entertainment Television (BET) and participated in the New York Times Summer Institute.

Like Dickson, Freddie Allen is a graduate of Howard University, where he was a staff writer, photo editor and general manager of the District Chronicles. He also served as editorin-chief of Ledge, a magazine devoted to healthy lifestyles and HIV/AIDS awareness among young people of color.

In addition, Kyle S. Yeldell will continue to serve as Program Activities Coordinator, a position he has held since last fall. Yeldell is a graduate of Morehouse College, where he served as sports editor and editor-in-chief of the Maroon Tiger, the student newspaper.

After college, Yeldell wrote for TransWorldNews and Rowdy Films, the film company owned

by Grammy Award-winning producer Dallas Austin.

“Kyle, who has expertise and an interest in digital technology, will also serve as our digital manager,” Curry said.

“We plan to expand our digital footprint and have a more active presence in social media.”

Page 5

April 19 - 25, 2012

Tulsa shootings evoke ‘Black Wall Street’ memories NNPA News Service

by Lee A. Daniels The burials were completed Tuesday, April 17.

Bobby Clark, 54, Dannaer Fields, 49, and William Allen, 31, – all victims of the murderous, racially-driven rampage that terrorized the Tulsa, Okla.

African-American community on Good Friday – had all been laid to rest.

And two wounded victims continued their recovery.

I wrote “racially-driven” deliberately. Tulsa law enforcement officials have refused yet to define what drove 32-year-old Alvin L. Watts and 19-year-old Jacob C. England, who have been arrested and have confessed to the crime, to do it.

The two defendants were charged on Friday (April 13) with three counts of first-degree murder, each charge carrying a maximum life sentence or the death penalty; two counts of shooting with intent to kill, which carries a maximum life sentence, and five count of malicious intimidation of harassment (hate crimes), each carrying a sentence of one year and a $1,00 fine.

Authorities are being properly cautious because their in-

vestigation isn’t complete.

But, for me, given that the five victims – none of whom Watts or England knew – are black; that Watts is white; that England is a Native American who is said to have described himself as white; and that England used racial invective on his Facebook page to refer to the black man he said killed his father two years ago, I’m willing to make that assertion.

One ironic facet of this tragedy is that Oklahoma authorities did not charge the man alleged to have killed England’s father because they determined that according to Oklahoma law he was justified in using deadly force to defend himself.

What has caught my attention in equal measure as the victims’ personal tragedies of this crime is the stunning historical event it recalls that 90 years ago destroyed the heart of Tulsa’s black community and from which it has never recovered: the Greenwood race riot of 1921.

Over a day and a half at the cusp of May and June that year, white Tulsans used the pretext of a black man being accused of the attempted rape of a white woman to lay waste to Greenwood. Some 10,000 whites, abetted by

Tulsa’s police force, shot, looted and burned their way through the 35-block district widely regarded as the “Black Wall Street.”

Indeed, Tulsa’s Negro Quarter, whose population comprised about 10 percent of the city as a whole, exemplified the zeal with which African Americans had rushed down all the pathways to success they could find in the decades after what many of them called The War for Negro Freedom. Its residents – which included the family of attorney B.C. Franklin, father of the famed historian John Hope Franklin – had shown themselves to be shrewd and resourceful in building a place that bustled with restaurants, hotels and shops of all sorts.

It was just that, however – success writ large and small – which provoked a venomous reaction. “The black prosperity caused resentment among poorer whites,” wrote Jonathan Z. Larsen in the February 1997 issue of Civilization, “and the city elders worried that it was bad for the city’s image.”

In the turn-of-the-century America, in a city where, as Larsen noted, the Ku Klux Klan “had somewhat of a stranglehold” on the city

power structure, a prosperous black community was not going to be long tolerated.

That May 31 to June 1, Greenwood’s prosperity, its life as the symbol and reality of Black Americans’ postCivil War potential fulfilled, was extinguished: As many as 300 black residents were killed (two whites died; one from a heart attack watching the riot); 1,256 homes and virtually every other building in Greenwood were destroyed.

Many of those who survived the riot moved away, never to return, according to the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, which in 2001 produced an exhaustive report.

Not all whites behaved abominably. The American Red Cross aid to the riot’s victim was “a model of human behavior at its best,” the commission report said, and some white Tulsans and those from surrounding towns aided in providing for the thousands of black Tulsans who had been left homeless.

Much of white Tulsa refused to acknowledge the Greenwood riot for decades.

Indeed, city and state authorities had initially refused to provide any funds to rebuild the area. It was not mentioned

in the schools’ history curriculum. Even into the late 1980s many white Tulsa residents had never heard of it. That changed due to the agitation of blacks and whites committed to bringing the story to light. State officials created the Tulsa race riot commission and recommended a $12 million reparations fund be established to disburse payments to the direct survivors of the riot – who then numbered 80 – and fund development projects throughout the Tulsa Black community.

Last year the city commemorated the 90th anniversary of the riot. A newspaper report noted that some righting of the historical wrong has occurred.

The Greenwood riot will be taught in the city’s public schools beginning this year.

Various civic monuments and plaques around the city mark the history of the Greenwood Black community.

But the article also pointed out that all legislative and legal attempts advocating reparations have failed.

Isn’t that – the continuing injustice – the most powerful legacy of the Greenwood race riot?

(Special to the NNPA from TheDefendersOnline)

Page 6

BUSINESS

Tri-State Defender

April 19 - 25, 2012

Focus: Sports related businesses

ON OUR WAY TO WEALTHY

Cadence Bank and Cintas team for community shred days

Minister through training If you have ever met Leonard Pegues, then you know that modeling was the perfect profession for him. He has appeared in the “Young and the Restless,” the “Maury Povich Show,” commercials and movies. His print images have also been featured in GQ Magazine.

Along the way, Pegues, whose LP Fitness firm was born out of Reflections Modeling and Talent Agency, found a power higher than Hollywood to serve, GOD. Now a minister, he has developed a fitness program that is spiritually based and highly effective.

Carlee McCullough, Esq.: Tell us a about yourself.

Leonard Pegues: I am from Batesville, Miss., and I’m the 23rd out of 24 children. My company is called LP Fitness, which promotes a fitness program that educates and encourages people to take their training seriously.

I teach people how to go the distance through burning calories and fat, cardiovascular training, sports strength training, meal plans, when to work out and when not to work out. Some people think they are too old to work out. But now is the time to be deliberate in your program. It is never too late.

C.M.: What’s the most rewarding part of owning this type of business?

L.P.: The most rewarding part is when people come to me sick and they leave healed. Those suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes can benefit from training. But with proper medical care, diet plan, and exercise, those ailments can be controlled and minimized. The body has chronic diseases that lie dormant in our systems until they find a warm place to live and are fed over the years. Some of these diseases are a result of what we eat. Food that we ate a year ago sits within our colon.

When we go back to Genesis, which teaches us to eat from the herbs and the roots, we can better understand the purpose of food. We teach which foods are good to eat such as spinach, oatmeal, almonds and sweet potatoes, just to name a few. Our purpose is to make sure our clients reach their maximum result. Even the Daniel diet in Daniel 1:15-16 was based on the king putting Daniel and his three friends on a special diet of all vegetables. As it turned out they were stronger than those that were fed directly from the king’s table.

C.M.: Looking back, what would you say is most responsible for your success?

L.P.: The favor of God. God has

provided me with a health ministry and allowed me to meet people that were looking for training by placing them in my path. I have never marketed LP Fitness. My business has grown simply by word of mouth Carlee McCullough and referrals. God has provided me with a health ministry. Every day I am teaching and preaching about fitness and training. I provide biblical scriptures to my clients to inspire them spiritually and physically. I do not have to be in the pulpit to minister the gospel. I can minister through training. Training gives me an opportunity to educate, empower, and enrich the lives of others so that they can be healed and set free.

C.M.: Compared to other trainers, what is most unique about LP Fitness?

L.P.: First, I have been training for over 25 years. Traditional trainers will tell you what to do but most will not work out with you. I work out with my clients and run marathons. I do it all. I run for Diabetes, Le Bonheur Hospital, St. Jude, and Down Syndrome. I do this because everything that I do has to have a purpose behind it. My program is spiritual, mental, and physical. I truly believe that one hour in the gym, prevents one day in the hospital. My program has three components: exercise, dieting, and proper supplements. Our philosophy is different. Your health is your wealth. Most people spend all of their time making money and abuse their health in the process. Then they have to spend all of their wealth in order to restore or recover their health. That is why I believe your health is your wealth.

I do a male boot camp every Monday night at Cummings Street Church at 8800 Winchester from 7 to 8 p.m. and a Saturday boot camp from 4 to 5 p.m. for women, men and children.

These are free sessions open to anybody in the community that wants to participate.

C.M.: Who were your biggest inspirations?

L.P.: My pastor, Rev. Faulkner. As one of the ministers at Cummings Street, I’ve watched my pastor mature mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Exercising has become so therapeutic for him that it has become a lifestyle change. I started training Rev. Faulkner a while back. Now he looks like a bodybuilder. He has gone from 145

Leonard Pegues

pounds to 180 pounds of lean muscle.

I am training the trainer. Now he trains others in the health ministry.

C.M.: Tell me about the fitness products you represent?

L.P.: We use a supplement called Advocare, which has so many products available. Now we are focusing on a 24-day challenge now in the church and for my clients. Advocare includes a 10-day “detox” program, which cleanses the body and a 14-day program of putting all of the right supplements back into your system. It gives you all of the energy that you need and the body muscle toning.

C.M: What has been your greatest achievement in this area to date?

L.P.: I would have to say my son, Leonard Storm Pegues II. This is my testimony. I tell people all the time that you have to invest in your own children.

My son wanted to play on the team for Olive Branch but he was sitting on the sideline as sophomore in high school. The coach wouldn’t put him in the game. I started to train him that

summer. He hated it because I wouldn’t let him slide. But after a while he grew to love it.

A year later, my son had 100 tackles and this year he had over 185. They just received their championship rings with Olive Branch High School, which is now ranked number 17 in the nation. The team went 15-0 and he is the number one linebacker in the state of Mississippi. He learned that he could become the best by training hard. Now he has the speed, explosiveness, and strength to overcome as a warrior and gladiator. He just received a full scholarship to the University of Memphis.

Carlee: Do you have any closing words that you would like to share with us?

L.P.: Thank you to the Tri-State Defender.Remember, if you want a summer body, you must have a winter workout!

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

In an effort to combat the growing problem of identity theft and fraud while helping to preserve the environment, Cadence Bank and Cintas® Document Management will sponsor the sixth-annual Community Shred Days.

Memphis residents and businesses are invited to bring old and unwanted documents to Cadence Bank locations on April 20th, 25th and 27th.

“Identity theft continues to be a problem that affects people and businesses across our community in many different ways,” said Tom Martin, president of Cadence Bank in Memphis. “One way Cadence Bank can help thwart identity theft is to give people and businesses an easy and effective way to destroy personal and confidential material. All they have to do is bring the material to a Cadence Bank branch on a designated Shred Day and it will be destroyed free of charge.”

Individuals and businesses are encouraged to bring up to five boxes of unwanted paper material, such as old credit card statements, utility bills, payroll records, outdated bank and brokerage statements and trash-worthy tax documents.

All material will be shredded on site by Cintas®.

It is not necessary to remove paper clips, staples, or bindings. However, the following materials cannot be shredded: CDs, floppy disks, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, magazines, newspapers and cardboard containers.

“Shredding unwanted documents not only helps curb identity theft, but also protects landfills from unnecessary usage and saves trees”, said Jose Madera, general manager, Cintas Document Management. “We turn 100 percent of shredded paper into recycled material for re-use and all shredded paper is processed back into paper pulp.”

When? Where?

• Friday, April 20: Germantown Branch – 7878 Farmington Blvd., 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

• Wednesday, April 25: Union Branch – 1516 Union Ave., 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

• Friday, April 27: Folk’s Folly Branch – 591 South Mendenhall, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Tri-State Defender

BUSINESS

April 19 - 25, 2012

MONEY MATTERS

What is an IRA rollover?

If you leave a job or retire, you might want to transfer the money you’ve invested in one or more employer-sponsored retirement plans to an individual retirement account (IRA). An IRA rollover is an effective way to keep your money accumulating tax deferred.

Using an IRA rollover, you transfer your retirement savings to an account at a private institution of your choice, and you choose how you will invest the funds. To preserve the taxdeferred status of retirement savings, the funds must be deposited in the IRA within 60 days of withdrawal from an employer’s plan. To avoid potential penalties and a 20 percent federal income tax withholding from your former employer, you should arrange for a direct, institution-to-institution transfer.

You are able to roll over funds from an employer-sponsored plan to a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. Everyone is eligible for a Roth IRA rollover as there are no income limits (although income limits still apply to contributions to a Roth IRA). Keep in mind that ordinary income taxes are owed on all amounts rolled over to a Roth IRA. An IRA can be tailored to your particular needs and goals and can incorporate a variety of investment vehicles, as opposed to the limited number of options available in many employer-sponsored retirement plans. In addition, tax-deferred retirement savings from multiple employers can later be consolidated.

Over time, IRA rollovers may make it easier to manage your retirement savings by consolidating your holdings in one place. This can help cut down on paperwork and give you greater control over the management of your retirement assets.

Distributions from traditional IRAs are taxed as ordinary income and may be subject to an additional 10 percent federal income tax penalty if taken prior to reaching age 59½. Just as with employer-sponsored retirement plans, you must begin taking required minimum distributions from a traditional IRA each year Charles after you turn age 70½.

Sims Jr. Qualified distributions from a Roth IRA are free of federal income tax (under current tax laws) but may be subject to state, local, and alternative minimum taxes. To qualify for a tax-free and penalty-free withdrawal of earnings, a Roth IRA must meet the five-year holding requirement, and the distribution must take place after age 59½ or due to death, disability, or a firsttime home purchase ($10,000 lifetime maximum). The mandatory distribution rules that apply to traditional IRAs do not apply to original Roth IRA owners; however, Roth IRA beneficiaries must take mandatory distributions.

(Charles Sims Jr., CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, is President/ CEO of The Sims Financial Group. Contact him at 901682-2410 or visit www.SimsFinancialGroup .com. The information in this article is not intended to be tax or legal advice, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek tax or legal advice from an independent professional advisor.)

Bleu to go ‘Rat Pack’ cool

The Bleu Restaurant and Lounge in downtown Memphis has crafted a “Rat Pack themed affair” for the launch of its new new patio.

The unveiling is set for 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday (April 19), with the rain date set for April 26. The Bleu Restaurant and Lounge is located at 221 South Third St., across from the FedExForum.

Patrons should expect complimentary vintage cocktails (redeemable with your swizzle sticks), swingin’ sound provided by Memphian Jeremy Shrader and his band, footage of Rat Pack movies, an Ocean’s Eleven-esque mystery and the debut of Bleu’s signature patio drink – the “Bleu Velvet.” All of that and samples from the summer menu.

The restaurant reopened in October and Chef Robert Nam Cirillo said, “I am just ecstatic.

The restaurant has been very successful. It is fulfilling to see that our hard work and diligence has paid off. It is the highest of compliments when we can please people who know food.”

Managing partner Glenn Malone detailed the Rat Pack theme. “The 60’s was a good time. It’s an era that stirs up fond memories whether you were there or not. The Rat Pack epitomizes this decade. Naturally we want people to think of our restaurant as ‘swingin’ but also to have that same good feeling when they think of us.”

(For more information about the restaurant or reservations visit www.downtownbleu.com.

Follow bleu @downtownbleu and check www.facebook.com/downtownbleu.)

Page 7

NEWS

Page 8

PARENTS

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

Luke Yancy III, president and CEO of MidSouth Minority Business Council Continuum, and Congressman Steve Cohen both see the forthcoming Minority Business Development Agency center as a much-needed tool to help grow businesses owned

by African Americans.

(Courtesy photo)

BUSINESS

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

center in an effort to help qualified African-Americanowned businesses gain access to major level financing and contracts.

In his written statement announcing the office, Cohen said he has been working for years to get the Commerce Department here. “(The) MBDA is the only federal agency created specifically to foster the establishment and growth of minority-owned businesses in America,” Cohen said, “focusing on securing large public and/or private contracts and financing transactions, stimulating job creation and retention, and facilitating entry to global markets for eligible minorityowned businesses.”

The key word here is large.

If the model is successful, the

BTW town hall session with D.C. education rep

U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter will host a town hall at Booker T. Washington High School on Thursday (April 19).

The session is part of a series of conversations the Department of Education is having with students and families on college affordability. The forum will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will be held in the library at the high school.

Kanter will discuss the department’s available aid and grant funds, affordable student loan repayment options, and initiatives underway to hold down college costs.

BTW is located at 715 S. Lauderdale St.

Tri-State Defender

April 19 - 25, 2012

and Corning Elementary schools, which are both under the Achievement Schools District operating plan because of subpar performance, said Parkinson.

“The schools will publish their expectations of what they need from the parents. The parents will receive a blank report card, which they can grade themselves in certain areas to see what they can improve on,” he said. “What we want that to do is to give the parents clear guidelines for better performance by increasing better communication.”

The pending measure reflects bi-partisanship in that the idea originated with Germantown Sen. Brian Kelsey (R31), Parkinson said.

“We had been tossing around ideas for more than year that could help address some of the stresses parents have in today’s world. We wanted to come up with something that would help all kids shore up their educational support system in today’s fast paced world.” federal office would help crack the laser-beamed portal to financing and contracts that African-American businesses largely have not been able access, whether the cause is racism, lack of growth financing or vision.

So, if you feel you may have the next Facebook in your hand, the expanded access of the federal office would be there to take you to the funding you would need to make it actually happen.

The need is well documented.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, while 20 percent of the businesses here are owned

by African Americans, less than one percent of the dollars generated here find their way into businesses owned by African Americans. For the MMBC Continuum’s Luke Yancy III, changing that situation is a passion and a workable mission.

While some are skeptical and even grumble about a $1 million commitment they view as peanuts, Yancy, president and CEO of the Continuum, certainly sounds optimistic.

“Tremendous,” he said of the commitment in place.

“They are the door openers we need to help businesses grow into industries. For example, say you have a company that can manufacture 1,000 widgets a day, but you can only get enough orders to sell 300. That means you are operating below capacity.

The challenge then is to find access to the businesses that can give you the orders and the access to the capital needed to bring your facility to full capacity. Minority firms find it hard to get that access. This will help.”

The new center’s funding is tethered to concentrating on ethnic-minority businesses.

Think three-legged stool

Parkinson said envisioning a three-legged stool helps bring the objective behind the measures into focus. “(We) aimed it at Pre-K to third grade. After they leave those foundation years, a lot of kids start to fall behind because of the lack of a well-rounded support system. We know that when that pattern begins it too often leads them into the penal system or being taken care of by state or federal government sources.”

A second benefit could be the improvement of overall school performance, he said.

“Tenure for teachers is based on what is called Value Added Growth. Let’s say a child comes in reading on a first grade level but leaves on a third grade reading level.

That’s an improvement for the child, the teacher and the school. And on the flip side, with the report card, if you have a parent that is not coop-

erating, it reflects on the teacher’s tenure. This provides a third level of support that will assist everyone,” Parkinson said.

“Children must be taught early that their education is their number one priority. It’s very difficult to reclaim them after their formative years. Parents being diligent to assist their kids and having a way to measure the level and commitment of their assistance will help many more of them shore up their children’s educations.”

Ground-level view

Over at Booker T. Washington High School on Wednesday, Principal Alisha Kiner and crew were gearing up for Thursday’s (April 19) visit by U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter, who will host a town hall as part of a series of conversations the Department of Education is having with students and families on college affordability.

(The forum will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will be held in the library at the high school.)

“I have to study it in detail,” Principal Alisha Kiner said of the new law. “I’m concerned if there is any punitive structure involved. But overall, anything that will help us do our jobs to prepare these kids is great.

“Here, we operate with the ‘it takes a village’ strategy and constantly reach out to keep the lines of communication open with our parents. And we don’t automatically assume that those who do not make it in are deadbeats, they’re probably working just like us,” said Kiner.

“I have a teenager and I’ve missed a couple of parentteacher conferences because I have to work, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care about her education. We’re just going to continue to reach out to our parents.”

BTW, still beaming from winning last year’s Presidential Race To The Top competition, has a Parents Center that is open daily to parents. It helps parents with various support from basic computer skills to job training and searching.

Manned by the teachers, Kiner

says there is a goal of how many parents “we want to get involved each month.”

Of course, she said, “ It’s easier during basketball and football seasons...but what’s wrong with parents supporting sports. Another thing we do that is very successful is have parents in for such things as Literacy Night, where we have fun and good food. Whatever it takes to make the village work.”

Kiner introduced Tymika White, 35, described by Kiner as one of the schools “star parents.” White is the mother of three kids in the city schools.

“We have an 11th grader here, whom I have no problems with,” said White.

“Wherever I have to go and wherever my child needs me, I’m there. I go to games, work concession stands, do whatever I’m called upon, and I’ve been doing it since she was in kindergarten, and I do it with all my kids.”

White said the new law is definitely needed.

“And I think that DHS (Department of Human Services) needs to be involved. They can require parents to volunteer in the classrooms or other things like that.”

Kriner said the job of educating kids is tough, regardless.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s an inner city school or not. Every parent has a tough job because everybody has issues,” she said.

“It’s not about location because I think that kids are kids are kids. I tell my staff, the parents send us the best kids they have. We just have to take up the gauntlet.”

Half a block away from BTW at the Martin Luther King student transition academy, a school for kids needing a bit more corrective behavior, the staff was getting some sun after supervising the student body’s exit for the day. They could not comment for this story, but a permanent billboard above them carries a daily reminder from the book of Proverbs of what can happen when parents are not on their job.

The message: Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it.

COMMUNITY

Tri-State Defender

Page 9

April 19 - 25, 2012

Aviation careers in sight for Wooddale’s ‘fly boys’ Special to the Tri-State Defender

by Dena L. Owens Dreaming about making six figures in an aviation job is just a dream for many, but is close to reality for Wooddale High School seniors Darius Hooker and Wesley Carter.

Hooker and Carter graduate on May 13, and at the same time, each will earn his pilot license.

The two “fly boys” – a as they are called – are members of the Wooddale Rocket Team, a group of students in the school’s aviation program, which introduces them to aerospace careers. Students learn how to design, build and launch rockets, which teaches them science, technology, creative strategy and engineering. They also spend numerous hours in simulated airplanes at the school to teach them aircraft piloting skills.

“I’ve always been interested in planes – how they are designed and how they are built, said Hooker. “When

Wesley and I met, we became like a tag team to support each other’s success in aviation training.”

Hooker and Carter met in 2008 at an aviation camp.

Since then, they are as close as brothers and their families are intertwined in supporting the students as they move toward aviation careers.

“When we started this, some students called us nerds and didn’t understand why we couldn’t always hang out,” said Carter. “This is a blessing for us and our futures, and we’ll help those following us.”

The “fly boys” are advised

by Jeff Holms – school instructor, pilot, and director of Wooddale’s aviation program – and supported by experts in the community – Gary Cole, a retired CPA who leads the Rocket Society at Shelby Farms, and Bill Wood, a retired executive and activist for aviation careers. The program and its supporters have led Hooker and Carter to solid ca-

reer paths that will help them earn high salaries by their early twenties.

After graduation from Wooddale, Hooker will attend Mid-South Community College to complete coursework for an aircraft frame and power plant license. He will then begin a paid internship at FedEx as an aircraft mechanic while completing his degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in aeronautic engineering.

Once Carter receives his diploma, he will attend Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro to earn a bachelor’s degree in air traffic control through the Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative.

Starting with his freshman year, Carter will work in a paid internship as an air traffic controller.

Wooddale’s aviation program is in its third year of existence, and hard work by members of the current team has paid off. The team has been invited to compete as a

finalist in the 2012 Team America Rocketry Challenge in Washington D.C. on May 12. Only100 teams were selected for the national competition among 678 teams nationwide. The contest involves launching a student-designed rocket carrying two eggs (without breaking them) for a flight lasting between 43 and 47 seconds. The team’s rocket scored a “2” – with “0” being a perfect – to earn a finalist spot.

Following the May 12 contest, the top 10 teams will receive scholarships toward their college educations and $60,000 for their school’s aerospace program. The teams will also travel to the White House and meet the President of the United States.

“We know there’s stiff competition out there and that’s a little intimidating,” said Hooker. “But we also know there are teams with not as much knowledge as we have, Wesley Carter (left) is the vice president of the Woodand we’re ready for this chal- dale Rocket Team and Darius Hooker (right) is the lenge.” teamʼs president. (Courtesy photo)

BRIEFS & THINGS Chicago Rep. Davis to help spotlight re-entry

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago’s 7th Congressional District will be the keynote speaker on Sunday (April 22) when SCLC Memphis and Annesdale Cherokee Baptist Church hosts a program that focuses on re-entry programs.

Davis sponsored the original second chance legislation during the administration of former President George W. Bush. The day’s event will examine the importance of having an effective re-entry program that allows formerly incarcerated persons who truly desire to go in the right direction the opportunity to participate in a re-entry program regardless of how many misdemeanors or felonies they may have.

The program begins at 5 p.m. at Annesdale Cherokee Baptist Church, which is located 2960 Kimball Avenue. Other participants will include Congressman Steve Cohen, Mayor AC Wharton, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, County Commissioner Henri Brooks and Councilwoman Wanda Halbert.

SCLC Memphis is proposing that formerly incarcerated persons with various skills such as landscaping, car detailing, carpentry and other skills be allowed to attend classes to further develop their skills. They would be taught money management skills, conflict resolution and other subjects to help them successfully re-enter work society.

SCLC Memphis also proposes that participants be paid a stipend during the training period. Equipment and supplies could be purchased and provided for the trainees without charge. The program would assist them in getting employment contracts.

For more information, contact Dr. Dwight Montgomery, president of SCLC Memphis at 901-488-4798.

LOC tribute to feature Gospel artist Kathy Taylor

LeMoyne-Owen College students, along with the Baptist Ministerial Association Male Chorus and gospel artist Kathy Taylor, will pay tribute to local faith-based organizations for their unwavering support this Sunday, April 22, at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts beginning at 3 p.m.

Along with Taylor,

LeMoyne-Owen College students will showcase their talents in music, art, poetry and dance.

This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are available on the campus of LeMoyne-Owen College, 807 Walker Ave., in the Office of Institutional Advancement between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. through Friday.

For more information, call 901-435-1527.

Lunch & learn series to target bullying

The Koko & Friends Foundation is setting sail to lead the fight against bullying with a real talk “Reality Check” series. The goal is to move to action the topics of bullying, gun violence and know your rights-dealing with police.

“Our objective is to shine a light on the truth and create the means to explore it, expose it, and liberate all children to become more powerful in their choices,” said Dr. Clara Denise West, president of the Koko & Friends Foundation.

The “Reality Check on Bullying” two-part lunch & learn series will kick off May 2nd and conclude on May 4th at the Church Health Center Wellness, 1115 Union Avenue, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Free registration is open to parents, Memphis social service providers, youth leadership ambassadors, mentors, and Memphis residents by going to: http://realitycheck onbullying.eventbrite.com.

The Koko and Friends Foundation, Inc., is based in Huntsville, Ala.

BRIEFLY: The G. W. Carver Class of 1962 will hold its 50th High School Reunion beginning at 6:30 p.m. on June 8 at the Central Station Boardroom. No registration fee. For more information: call Willie Lemon at 901-486-3262 or Barbara Morris Hunter 901289-6888.

BRIEFLY: The Memphis Branch NAACP will meet at 4 p.m. on Sunday (April 22) at Mt. Olive CME Cathedral Church at 538 Linden at Lauderdale.

BRIEFLY: The Live Talent Showcase will feature some of the best Mid-South singers and rappers on Thursday, April 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (and every Thursday thereafter) at The Center for Southern Folklore, 119 South Main.

Food and drinks available! For more info, contact Carolyn Yancy at 901-274-5502.

Be it resolved…

Lanier Middle School eighth-graders Almenia Thorton (left) and Keona Ingram received memberships into the NAACP Youth Council from Memphis Branch Executive Director Madeleine C. Taylor during a special program called “Will This Never End” last Friday (April 13). Thorton and Ingram spearheaded support at the school for Trayvon Martin, whose killing in Florida sparked widespread outrage. The principal is Dr. Nickalous Manning. (Photo by Tyrone P. Easley)

Look out New York, here comes Kelsea with Shakespeare Special to the Tri-State Defender

by Christian Ross

For many high school students – and adults – the name William Shakespeare brings back memories of late nights and hours spent studying, but for Kelsea Tate, Ridgeway High School senior, Shakespeare has opened many doors.

“I love all of Shakespeare’s plays,” Tate said as she navigated through the 38 plays the author penned during his life, before naming “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” and “Romeo & Juliet” as her favorites.

Under the guidance of Julie Watson, Ridgeway High School theatre instructor, Tate entered the 2012 EnglishSpeaking Union Shakespeare Competition. The ESU competitions consist of students

performing and analyzing monologues. Tate performed and showcased her comprehension of the literature, which helped her win awards at the school and regionallevels before advancing to the national competition.

“I think I blacked out for about two minutes,” said Tate.

“I was so certain they were going to call this other girl’s name, but when they called my name I was just lost!”

Nearly 16,000 students participated in nationwide competitions this semester leading up to the 2012 ESU National Shakespeare Competition April 22-24 in New York City. Being one of 50 students expected to participate in the national event, Tate described her selection as very humbling.

“It could have easily been anyone else on that stage, but they voted for me to not only

represent this district, but to represent Memphis entirely,” she said.

Tate added that this wasn’t her first attempt at the ESU competition. In her sophomore year of high school she tried her hand at the schoolwide competition, but failed to advance. Despite her past setback, her dedication and passion for the stage has never wavered. In fact, as early as she can remember, she was always drawn to the stage and the spotlight.

“When I was really young, like kindergarten age, my best friend and I would put on skits for our parents,” she said. “We would write out scenes and little musical numbers on our own.”

Between her childhood and senior year of high school, Kelsea said she has participated in so many plays and musicals that she has lost

Africa in April set to bring Mali to Memphis

What would the Republic of Mali in Africa look like from an international perspective?

That question will be answered during the 26th Anniversary of the Africa In April Cultural Awareness Festival.

The Festival, which kicked of

Wednesday with an International Entrepreneur’s Day focus at the Memphis Marriott, runs through Sunday (April 22) on Beale Street and in Robert R. Church Park.

The showcase of Mali from an international perspective will involved

using mediums – education, economics, culture, fashions, arts/crafts, music, history, and cuisines.

Participants will be from Memphis City Schools, Shelby County Schools, parochial schools, area colleges and universities, community organizations, and other institutions.

Africa in April schedule:

Thursday, April 19 – International Vendor’s Marketplace Set-Up, Robert R. Church Park, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, April 20 – Children & Senior Citizens Day, Beale Street and Robert R. Church Park, 8 a.m. to 8

count, but one thing is for certain; she knows it’s Kelsea “a lot.”

Tate Since learning of her upcoming trip to New York, she has spent the last few weeks preparing and revising her monologue based on the judges’ feedback she received at the regional competition. Even with a month to prepare, she still can’t help but feel nervous.

When she arrives at nationals, she will draw inspiration from these words from her mother: “Kelsea, don’t listen to what anyone else tells you. I don’t care what name is on the front of this building, you are the star here. Everyone in that audience is here to see you. This is your stage.”

p.m.; International Diversity Parade, 10:30 a.m. to noon.

Saturday, April 21 – Family Health/Wellness Community Day & Blues Showcase, Beale Street & Robert R. Church Park, 9 a.m. to midnight.

Sunday, April 22 – International African American Music Day, Beale Street & Robert R. Church Park, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., jazz, gospel, reggae, spoken word, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

RELIGION

Page 10

Tri-State Defender

April 19 - 25, 2012

LIVING THE LIFE I LOVE

Embrace the ‘now’ to let go of future misery

Dear Lucy: Recently, my sister was diagnosed with a chronic condition that will cause her to go through a lot of changes that we must all watch. It is something that will gradually and painfully cause her to deteriorate right before our eyes. Our family is devastated and sad over what we will all go through. Do you have any words of encouragement?

– TL Dear TL: I am so sorry to hear this. You did not name the condition.

But, I think that when we are given the opportunity as friends and family to share in and support another in their physical challenges these become opportunities for profound introspection and spiritual and emotional growth.

While it is necessary to progress through the stages of grief defined long ago by Helen Kubler-Ross (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance), we each progress through these stages at our own speed.

It does help to understand each stage and it’s signs. So first, you may want

to get a book on this or do a quick Google search on the subject. This will help you to understand some of what everyone is feeling.

While many diagnoses can be scary, it is still important to get a Lucy grip and rememShaw ber the joy and power of being alive in the present moment. In your letter, you have placed yourself and your sister somewhere in the future with all of the doom and gloom that you expect to endure. Certainly, there are plans to be made, doctors to see, changes in lifestyle. But what about NOW? How can you enrich, appreciate and suck as much life as possible out of the NOW. What a wonderful opportunity and wake-up call.

I have a friend who has diabetes and has been going blind for the past

few years. While he isn’t all that happy about the condition, he lives his life with conscious intention and purpose. His intention is to keep his business going and to support his family and friends as he always has. He has an incredible sense of humor about his condition and creates ways for others to laugh with him as he meets the challenges it presents. He is fascinated by the marvelous ways his other senses have developed and picked up the slack of his failing vision and is committed to living life out loud!

My grandchildren’s maternal greatgrandmother, GG, has severe crippling rheumatoid arthritis and has lost a large portion of her hearing. Her family has endured watching her painful physical changes and deformities and the effects of many experimental drug treatments over the years. She has herself outlived and buried several of her own children.

Her daughter, Renee, cooks dinner every Saturday, takes GG to church and has a house full of family members spanning three generations over.

GG is right in the center of happy, celebratory activity. We tease her as she goes in and out of naps, forces us all to talk at a hundred decibels so she can hear us and then she throws in her wry humor every now and then to entertain us. This woman has a relationship with the Gaston Library and has probably read every book they have and devours any good reading material in sight. In a pinch, she still baby-sits a rambunctious seven year old and an 11 year old.

She is very much alive and even if she wanted to escape the NOW, her pain nor the love and attention of her family would allow it.

I should add that none of what this family, especially Renee, does requires that they have a lot of money.

It is simply a commitment to creating joyful, life-affirming memories for the entire family.

So, what do I suggest? Make a list of the 10 things you would do if you learned today that you only had six weeks to live. Then, act as if it is true and stop postponing life, laughter,

joy, giving, loving, learning, growing and all of the opportunities staring you in the eye right now! No matter what happens, commit to staying in the present moment, expressing every bit of life, joy, serving, gratitude and praising God that you can.

As for me, I’m looking forward to dinner at Renee’s on Saturday and all of the cool stuff I can do between now and then!

Blessings, Lucy

(Check out Lucy Shaw’s website at http://www.heartworks4u.com. You may send your questions to her by U.S. mail to: Heartworks4U, LLC; 4646 Poplar Ave. Ste 201, Memphis, TN 38117 or by e-mail to lucy@heartworks4u.com.)

(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.)

Memphis pastor gains a Dr. King legacy honor at Morehouse Special to the Tri-State Defender

by Robert Jackson

Dr. Eugene L. Gibson Jr., senior pastor of the Olivet Fellowship Baptist Church (OFBC) on Knight Arnold Road in Memphis, was recently inducted into the prestigious Board of Preachers at the 27th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. College of Ministers and Laity at the MLK International Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Dr. Gibson was one of 36 people in the U.S. inducted this year into the MLK International Chapel’s Board of Preachers. Each year, The Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers recognizes pastors and other ordained clergy engaged in ministry as their primary professional vocation and who have distinguished themselves as exemplary spiritual leaders in the ethical tradition of Dr. King.

Founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, Lawrence Carter, created the Board of Preachers 27 years ago to honor King’s legacy. Citizens in the public or private sectors and academicians are also recognized, and more than 800 people have been inducted into the College of Ministers and Laity since its founding.

The mission of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College is to teach, encourage, inspire and support the development of “everyone we touch as ambassadors of the Beloved World Community.” The vi-

Rolling, rolling, rolling…

Pastor Gibson receives his induction citation (from a Morehouse student representative). (Courtesy photo) sion is that the Chapel will be a beacon for students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as others from around the world, who seek a meaningful connection with Dr. King’s World House values of ethics, nonviolence, service and unity.

Dr. Gibson has served in full time ministry in several capacities. He was the Minister of Music for both the Mission of Faith and New Faith Baptist Churches under the leadership of his late father, Pastor Eugene Gibson Sr. and Dr. Frank A. Thomas. Upon graduation from Trinity Evangelical Di-

vinity School, he was recruited by the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church as Associate Pastor to the Men, before being named senior pastor of OFBC in 2003.

Dr. Gibson received his Bachelor of Theology from Christian Bible College. He received his Master of Arts in Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and he obtained his Doctorate of Ministry from United Theological Seminary. He is married to Nicole Gibson, and they have two daughters, Trinity Essence and Taylor Imani.

HER Faith Ministries, whose executive director is Minister Elaine Sanford, held its first Bowl-a-Thon benefiting homeless women and children on April 14. Taking top honors were (l-r) Dennis Hart, Lewis Harris, Jerry Harris and Reginald Tipton. (Courtesy photo)

COGIC creates new jurisdiction and appoints new bishop The General Board of the Church of God in Christ, Inc. has appointed Pastor William S. Wright of Memphis as a Bishop-Designee of the newly created Tennessee Southwest Jurisdiction in the Church of God in Christ. The appointment was approved by COGIC’S General Assembly during the April Call Annual Business Meeting.

The Tennessee Southwest Jurisdiction headquarters is in Memphis and will consist of churches throughout the state of Tennessee.

Bishop-designee Wright is a third genera-

PRAISE CONNECT -A WEEKLY DIRECTORY OF MINISTERS & CHURCHES-

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

Clarence Kelby Heath Wednesday Pastor

Noon - 1 p.m.

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

767 Walker Avenue Memphis, TN 38126

9 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

901-946-4095 fax 948-8311

(901) 948-3441

Early Morning..........7:45 AM Church School..........9:45 AM Morning Worship......11:00 AM

Rev. Davena Young Porter Rev. Linda A Paige Rev. Luecretia Matthews

Bible Study For Youth and Adults Tuesday - 7:00 PM “Spirit, Soul, and Body!”

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

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

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

Dr. & Rev. Mrs. Reginald Porter

TEMPLE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST

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

Sunday Sunday School 9:00 a.m.

Morning Worship 10:30 a.m.

Night YPWW 5:00 p.m.

Night Service 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday Night Prayer 6:00 p.m.

Bible Study 7:15 p.m.

Wednesday Choir Rehearsal 7:00 p.m.

Friday Morning Prayer 9:00 a.m.

Night Service 7:30 p.m.

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

No Telecast Service

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

Dr. Reginald L. Porter Sr., Pastor

ASSOCIATE MINISTERS

Worship Services

Sunday Sunday School Worship Service

METROPOLITAN BAPTIST CHURCH

tion COGIC member. He has served as pastor of the Liberty Church of God in Christ since July 13, 1990. Liberty COGIC has two locations in the Memphis area.

Pastor William A 1973 graduate of S. Wright Hamilton High School, Bishop-designee Wright is married to Debrah S. Wright, and is the father of a daughter, Kenitra Wright, and a son, William S. Wright Jr., now deceased.

Dr. David Allen Hall Pastor

“The Founder’s Church”

First Pastor: Senior Bishop C.H. Mason

THE BLVD Ea s t 6745 Wol f Ri v e r B oule v a r d @ Ki r by Pa r k wa y ( i n t he Cl a rk Ope r a Me mphi s Ce nte r ) Me mp h i s T N 3 8 1 2 0

Dr. Frank A. Thomas Senior Servant

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

“Ministering to Memphis-Spirit, Soul and Body”

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

— Proverbs 1:7

Tri-State Defender

RELIGION

April 19 - 25, 2012

Ready for the next step...

Bishop David Allen Hall Sr. shares a pre-inaugural celebration banquet moment with COGIC Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr. at the Holiday Inn – University last Thursday (April 12). (Photo by Tyrone P. Easley.)

I came here to say…

“All Taped Up” was the title of “The Spoken Word” delivered by First Lady Valarie Orr of Brown Missionary Baptist Church during the 10 a.m. service at Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ last Sunday (April 15). (Photo by Tyrone P. Easley)

Page 11

ENTERTAINMENT Tri-State Defender, Thursday, April 19 - 25, 2012, Page 12

WHAT’S HAPPENING MYRON?

Whitney, Rihanna Cissy, Mystikal Halle & more!

Cissy says no way to Rihanna

No one knows who will get the coveted gig of portraying Whitney Houston in an upcoming movie. However, we know who doesn’t want Rihanna to have it.

That would Cissy Houston, you know, Whitney’s mother.

Her documented words were.

Myron “Over my dead body.”

Mays People usually mean it when they say that.

Here’s what’s crazy: I think Rihanna just might be the one to pull this off.

But then, who listens to me?

Mystikal…really?

Remember this guy? “Shake it Fast...Watch yourself”? Of course you do. That’s Mystikal, real name Michael Tyler.

After having a successful rap career, he was sentenced to six years for sexual battery in the height of his popularity. Only after being out about a year or so, Tyler was arrested for domestic battery, which violates his parole.

First of all, he’s 41. That’s an age where most people start to make better decisions. Hopefully once he gets home, he will stay there and try to revive what career he has left.

I think he still has at least one hit left in him…as along as he doesn’t blow it.

Halle Berry says ‘yes’

Yep, you read correctly. Halle Berry is engaged. You can take it from her. The other half is French actor Oliver Martinez. The two met in 2010 during the filming of “Dark Tide.”

Berry was once married to baseball’s David Justice and to singer Eric Benet. (I’m convinced his hit song, “Sometimes I Cry,” was inspired by her. LOL) Hopefully Martinez is the one for her. I mean, Halle’s relationships seem to have the lifespan of a housefly. That’s not long by the way.

Soul Train gets a cruise

This is kinda cool. Even though the “Soul Train” brand suffered a slight set back earlier this year when we lost its creator, the brand pushes ahead in a new direction…a cruise that sets sail from Ft. Lauderdale on Feb. 17, 2013.

Yeah, it’s a while away, but can you imagine how much fun this cruise is gonna be?

Performances will include some of R&B’s pioneers such as Patti LaBelle, The O’Jays, Kool and the Gang, Jeffrey Osborne, War, The Spinners, Jody Watley, Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes and many more.

Go to www.soultraincruise.com for more details.

Jae Henderson book release Mixer

Join Jae Henderson on April 30 from 4:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. as she celebrates the release of her second inspirational romance novel, “Someday, Too”. Enjoy light refreshments and see a live taping of a book chat with television talk show host Loretta McNary at the McNary Television Studio at the Hickory Ridge Mall. Books will be on sale for $15.

Isley Brothers, Kem and Fantasia at the Landers

Fathers Day (June 16) is gonna be a great day in the Mid-South as The Isley Brothers return the Landers Center, along with Kem and Fantasia. Of course you can get MY tickets…oh, I mean your tickets at all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and the Landers Center Box Office. I’m sure there is a deserving Dad out there somewhere right.

DL Hughley at the Bartlett Comedy Spot

The Bartlett Comedy Spot is celebrating its official grand opening this weekend (April 2022) and couldn’t have picked a better way, with a visit from D.L. Hughley, one of the Original Kings of Comedy. Get your tickets now and get up close and personal with the actor, comedian and political commentator. The Bartlett Comedy Spot is located at 5709 Raleigh Lagrange.

Call 901-590-3620 for more details!

Hey Angela, happy birthday!

Happy birthday to my good friend and colleague, Angela Jackson! On my birthday she shouted me out on the radio and now I’m returning the favor here.

And as for that big ole kiss you gave me on the air…here’s one back at you girl! Now go have fun and forget what you did!

Parting shot

As always, join me on Thursday nights at Cotton Bowl Lanes in Southaven for Bowling and Karaoke, 9091 Highway 51 at Stateline Road. It starts at 8 p.m. Until then, that’s what’s happening.

(Got an event you’d like for me to cover or attend?

Email me at Myron@ whatshappeningmyron.com)

The horn lines of Andrew Love and Wayne Jackson helped Stax transform from a mom-and-pop label into a multimillion-dollar company. (Courtesy photos)

‘A positive spirit’

Andrew Love: Nov. 21, 1941 - April 12, 2012

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

Packed venues and multiple expressions of appreciation were not unfamiliar to saxophonist extraordinaire Andrew Maurice Love. They were accent marks in a storied musical career.

This week, Mr. Love once again is the object of such expressions and the reason so many will visit Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist Church at 555 Vance Avenue. The Stax Records and Memphis Horns saxophonist died on the evening of April 12 at his home in Memphis. His death was associated with complications from Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 70.

On Friday (April 20) at 6 p.m., a memorial service for Mr. Love will get underway at Mt. Nebo, with visitation beforehand, beginning at 3 p.m. At 11 a.m. on Saturday, funeral services will be held at the church, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery.

Mr. Love is best known for his work at Stax Records and later with trumpeter Wayne Jackson as The Memphis Horns. The two were awarded the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in February. They were only the second instrumental sidemen group in history to garner the honor, after Motown’s the Funk Brothers.

“Stax Records may never have enjoyed the success it achieved without Andrew and Wayne because it was their horn lines that helped create what has become known as the Memphis Sound,” said Stax Museum spokesman Tim Sampson.

“He was a kind, talented man who lived a fascinating and very important life and made a difference in the world in many ways,” said Sampson. “Our thoughts are with his wife Willie and his entire family, as well as with Wayne and Amy Jackson and Andrew’s millions of fans.”

Jackson and Love met at Stax Records in 1962. Jackson had grown up across the river in West Memphis and had been playing all over the country with the Mar-Keys, Stax Records’ first house band that gave the label its first million-selling record, “Last Night.” Love had grown up playing in his father’s church band in Memphis, and was already working regularly at Willie Mitchell’s Hi Records. The pairing of Jackson and Love as part of the Stax house Mar-Key Horns started not only a love affair between the sounds of their brass, but it also began friendship closer than most brothers ever experience. (They were born just three days apart in Memphis).

From the beginning, Jackson and Love played on almost every Stax record that included horns, which was almost every Stax record. They helped build the mom-and-pop label into the multimillion-dollar company it became by adding their unique sound, which was very important because Stax usually used horns instead of backup singers.

Hand in hand with house band Booker T. & the MGs, Jackson and Love backed the likes of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, and almost every other artist who walked through the doors. They were an integral part of the band that traveled on the famed 1967 Stax/Volt European Tour and helped back Otis Redding with Booker T. & the MGs at the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, the first rock and roll festival ever held.

When the company began to expand in 1969, the two incorporated as The Memphis Horns and went out on their own. And when they did, the musical world became their oyster. They became what many critics have described as the greatest horn section in music history.

The list of artists with whom they performed and recorded reads like the most prestigious list of who’s who in the music business: Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, The Doobie Brothers, Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, Peter Gabriel, U2, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Billy Joel, Steve Winwood, Robert Cray, Joan Baez, Neil Diamond, James Taylor, and dozens of others who called on the men with the magic horns to add a little Memphis soul to a wide variety of projects that helped shape rock-and-roll as we know it. To date, the two have performed on 52 Number One records, 116 Top Ten records, 83 Gold & Platinum records and 15 Grammy winners.

“Andrew Love lived and continues to live in those of us who worked with him and knew him as a positive spirit,” said former Stax Records owner Al Bell. “Andrew Love was one of the architects of the Memphis music sound. For it was and is the uniquely passionate and melodic Memphis horned lines and sounds that make Memphis music unique.

“It became even sweeter for us at Stax when the Memphis horns through Andrew and others became the part of building the Stax sound,” said Bell. “Despite his long illness, that free positive spirit that was in him remained constant. He continued to uplift and attract all of us to him throughout the time he endured illness. That spirit is what you hear in his music. We will always remember Andrew Love, his artistic works will never let us forget him.”

Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & the MGs said, “Something

like a quiet big brother to me at Porter Junior High, Booker T. Washington High, and Stax, Andrew’s death marks the true end of a tenor sax dynasty. I will miss his smile.”

Mr. Love retired in 2000.

He was preceded in death by one sister, Francis Green and one brother, Eugene Love. He leaves his loving wife, Willie Love; two sons, Vincent Thompson and Andre’ Love; two daughters, Terry Lawrence (Gregory) and Angela Love Parker; eight grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, host of nieces, nephews, one sister-in-law, five brothers-in-law, cousins and friends.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or Methodist Hospice Foundation.

Joe Ford Funeral Home has charge.

ENTERTAINMENT

Tri-State Defender

Page 13

April 19 - 25, 2012

OPENING THIS WEEK

Kam’s Kapsules:

Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

Special to the Tri-State Defender

by Kam Williams

For movies opening April 20, 2012

BIG BUDGET FILMS

“Chimpanzee” (G) Tim Allen narrates this Disney documentary about a 3 year-old chimp named Oscar who finds himself adopted by an adult male from another clan after being separated from his own family in the wilds of the Ivory Coast’s jungle.

“The Lucky One” (PG-13 for violence and sexuality) Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling costar in this screen adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ best-seller about a Marine sergeant’s search for the woman whose photo he credited with saving his life while serving in Iraq.

With Blythe Danner, Riley Thomas Stewart and Jay R. Ferguson.

“Think Like a Man” (PG-13 for sexuality, crude humor and brief drug use) Battle-of-thesexes comedy revolving around four buddies who try to turn the tables on the objects of their affection after learning that the ladies are relying on relationship advice from Steve Harvey’s best-seller. Ensemble cast includes Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good, Gabrielle Union and Morris Chestnut, with cameos by Wendy Williams, Sherri Shepherd, Chris Brown and Ron Artest.

Meagan Good, Romany Malco, Regina Hall, Gary Owen, Terrence J, and Kevin Hart in the comedy “Think Like a Man.” (Photo by Alan Markfield/Sony Pictures Entertainment) plus present day reflections by friends and family, including his widow Rita, son Ziggy and contemporary Jimmy Cliff.

“The Moth Diaries” (R for sexuality, profanity, drug use and graphic images) Psychological thriller about the descent into insanity of a grieving student (Sarah Bolger) at an exclusive boarding school in the wake of the arrival of a mysterious new classmate (Lily Cole) she thinks is up to no good. Cast includes Scott Speedman, Sarah Gadon and Ann Day-Jones.

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

“Darling Companion” (PG-13 for profanity and sexuality) Midlife crisis comedy, set in the Rockies, about a neglected housewife (Diane Keaton) who enlists the assistance of a psychic gypsy (Ayelet Zurer) and the local sheriff (Sam Shepard) after her narcissistic husband (Kevin Kline) loses track of their dog during a walk while talking on his cell phone. With Dianne Wiest, Richard Jenkins and Mark Duplass.

“Downtown Express” (Unrated) Comingof-age drama about a Juilliard student (Philippe Quint) who’s torn between following in his overbearing father’s (Michael Cumpsty) footsteps and abandoning classical entirely to join his girlfriend’s (Nellie McKay) rock band.

Support cast includes Ashley Springer, Carolyn McCormick and Declan Bennett.

“Fightville” (Unrated) “I coulda’ be a contender” documentary following a stable of aspiring Southern Louisiana fighters’ as they attempt to move up the Mixed Martial Arts ranks.

“Inventing Our Life” (Unrated) Israeli documentary examining the rise and decline of the country’s 100 year-old Kibbutz Movement.

“Jean Gentil” (Unrated) Unemployment saga about a recently-fired, French professor

“My Way” (R for graphic violence) World War II drama about a young man (Dong-gun Jang) from occupied Korea who has to put his dream of running the marathon in the Olympics on hold when he is drafted into the Japanese army. With Jo Odagiri, Bingbing Fan and In-kwon Kim. (In Korean, Japanese and Russian with subtitles)

from Haiti (Jean Remy Gentil) whose faith is tested while he looks for another job in Santo Domingo. With Lys Ambroise, Nadal Walcott and Paul Henri Presume’. (In Spanish with subtitles)

“Marley” (PG-13 for violent images, mature themes and incessant cannabis consumption) Reverential biopic chronicling the musical career and spiritual philosophy of Bob Marley (1945-1981), the lead singer/songwriter/ guitarist of The Wailers, the legendary Rastafarian reggae group from the island of Jamaica. Featuring archival concert and interview footage,

“Snow on tha Bluff” (R for violence, brief nudity, alcohol abuse, pervasive profanity and incessant drug use) Bad boy biopic about notorious Atlanta crack dealer/armed robber Curtis Snow who shot this documentary with a camera he acquired in a holdup. With Cat Erickson, Adrienne Lockett and Frank Ringer.

“To the Arctic” (G) Meryl Streep narrates this 3-D documentary highlighting a mamma polar bear’s attempt to raise her two cubs while adjusting to the challenges posed by climate change.

“Whore’s Glory” (Unrated) Prostitution documentary exploring the world’s oldest profession as practiced at ports of call all over the world. (In German, French, English, Thai, Japanese, Spanish and Bengali with subtitles)

HOROSCOPES

April 19-25, 2012

ARIES This week make your spiritual interest pay off in cash. You’ve got bills to pay. People expect generosity from a big-hearted person like you. Ask them for something in return or they’ll drain you.

TAURUS Compromise to get what you want this week.

You’ll want to meet others half-way, and in the long run, you’ll get what you want anyway.

You can afford to be gracious and giving. Do it with all your heart and soul.

GEMINI Money matters may seem a little unstable this week; postpone a shopping trip. On the plus side, however, your friends are unusually supportive and wonderful. You’ll enjoy conversations and being with another, especially after dark!

CANCER Personal goals are important to you this week, and you’ll want to budget some time to spend on formulating plans for your brilliant future.

LEO Your straight-up attitude is going to come in handy this week. Plain talk is favored; keep it simple so others will understand where youre coming from. You’ll get a lot done if you stick to a plan this week.

VIRGO This is a good week to think about long-term plans. Your mind is clear and your vision of things to come will be lighted by your razorsharp instincts. All week long be careful not to sound too sarcastic when you tell people stuff that you know and they don’t.

LIBRA The clever way you think could expose you to an experience for you unlike any you’ve had recently. Move forward. Get into it. Don’t doubt your ability to handle it. Don’t let your mind get crowded with too much useless information. Love is simpler than you think.

SCORPIO If someone has told you that you are more mental than emotional, believe them. This week especially your mind will be working a mile a minute to make sure that what you feel is good for you to feel. Cover the mental processes with an emotional facade, but keep thinking about what is best.

SAGITTARIUS Usually you’re not much for gambling. This week you are lucky. Move on impulse. Pay close attention to the love needs of your mate this week. The needs of children call.

CAPRICORN You’ll face a formidable task but if you defeat it you’ll take big steps toward a goal. The task looks larger before you start than it will once you’ve put your shoulder into it. Compromise with a partner. This week will bring more love than usual. Look for it AQUARIUS Speak out. Take center stage. Any subject you choose is ripe for the “rap.” People listen.

Friends and associates will be impressed. Forgive a jealous soul who lingers nearby. Don’t neglect the home front.

PISCES Enjoy yourself. The need to do that will be very apparent this week. What will not be as apparent is the key to your enjoyment, which will depend on the attitude you take to someone who has been getting on your nerves. Don’t think about them. Whenever the picture of their face appears in your mind use your imagination to turn that picture into a cartoon. Laugh.

Source: NNPA News Service

Page 14

HEALTH

CHEF TIMOTHY

If you eat sweet treats every day, you could be a ‘sugarholic’

by Chef Timothy Moore Ph.D, N.M.D, C.N. Special to the Tri-State Defender

Are you a sugarholic? Do you find yourself craving sweets all the time and sneaking around to enjoy your favorite desserts, such as donuts, candy bars, ice cream, cakes and pies? Do you hide and eat them so that family and friends won’t label you a glutton?

The aforementioned sweet treats are loaded with sugar and often difficult to resist. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Americans consume 156 pounds of sugar each year. Just imagine – that’s 31 five-pound bags of sugar per person.

Much of the food that we eat today, and particularly the food that we crave, contains a boatload of sugar that tantalizes our taste buds and keeps our palate moist with anticipation. Soft drinks are syrupy sweet, for example. But candy, peanut butter, taffy, donuts, ketchup, alcohol, pasta sauces, salad dressings and bread are chock-full of sugar.

You might have heard, as I’ve learned over the years, that too much sugar is bad for your health – that it can cause the body to break down.

But is the consumption of sugar that addictive and hard to overcome? The frequent craving for sweet treats is the answer to that question.

I don’t know one person who doesn’t enjoy something sweet after a meal. Children, however, are naturally inclined to eat their dessert first before eating a full course meal that’s laid out before them. I’m just wondering: Are children susceptible to sweet treats before they leave their mother’s womb or shortly after their taste buds are able to discern the sweet substance?

You’d be surprised to learn that traces of sugar can be found in milk given to newborns. So by the time a child is able to feed himself/herself, an insatiable appetite for sugary food is well established. Hence, the general choice of something sweet rather than a plate of vitamin-enriched broccoli, for example.

The sweet goodness takes on many forms: refine sugar, sucrose, honey, fructose, glucose, dextrose, maltose, raw sugar, turbinado sugar, maple sugar, brown sugar, dextrine, barley malt, rice syrup, corn sweeteners and corn syrup. The consumption of these sweet substances can enter the blood stream very quickly and eventually wreak havoc on the body.

Some health issues include aller-

gies, itching eyes, a constant runny nose and a sore throat. These are warning signs that your body chemistry is unbalanced and that you’re traveling down a very dangerous road that’s littered with dietary potholes.

Are you listening to your Dr. Timothy body or waiting for a sign? Other Moore problems can arise too from consuming too much sugar, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, adult-onset diabetes, hypoglycemia, obesity and aging. If you’re eating processed food, you won’t be able to avoid the constant bombardment of sugar.

Remember, sugar is very pervasive in society and found in every type of processed meals that you can imagine. It is very addictive and latches onto your taste buds and won’t let go. You can’t escape its tenacious grip unless you make up your mind to completely let go.

If you’re craving sugar and trying to break free from it, do not eat anything with refined sugar in it. If you can’t do it, you’re one of many who haven’t been able to yield to temptation. Also, if you can’t go a day or two without consuming food with some form of sugar in it, you’re a sugarholic.

Here’s a tip: Since most food is prepared with sugar anyway, don’t add more sugar. It won’t hurt if you toss the sugar. Believe me, you won’t miss it. But for those who have children and add sugar to their meals, remember this: one in three children is obese and diabetic. So is it really worth giving them sugar?

If you think you can’t prepare a meal without sugar, I’m a living witness that you can. So don’t throw up your hands and quit before you begin. You still can prepare great tasting dishes that will whet your appetite and keep your taste buds craving for more.

And you’ll be much healthier for it!

(Dr. Timothy Moore teaches nutrition, heart disease and diabetes reversal through a plant-based lifestyle. He is a professional speaker, wellness coach and personal plant-based chef. He can be reached by email at cheftimothy@cheftimothymoore.com or visit him on the Web sites at www.cheftimothymoore.com or www.twitter.com/cheftimmoore.)

What will losing 35 pounds do for you? Ask Barbara Jackson Special to the Tri-State Defender

by Wiley Henry

Barbara Jackson has struggled with her weight for a very long time to the point where she had to do something about it or face the inevitable. She had no energy and the weight had weakened her knees. Thoughts that came to her in February after the death of her mother convinced her to choose living over just surviving.

“I’d been my mother’s caretaker since she suffered a stroke. So I wasn’t eating right. I had bad eating habits and a bad schedule. So when my mother passed, I went back to work,” said Jackson, who immediately joined a weight-loss challenge on her job at Memphis and Shelby County Juvenile Court called “The Biggest Losers.”

Then after hearing an advertisement on Hallelujah 95.7 FM promoting The Healthy Church Challenge 100-day weight-loss program, presented by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, she decided to give the church challenge her best shot.

“When I started with The Biggest Losers, I was 334 lbs. During my first weigh-in with The Healthy Church Challenge on March 10, I weighed 324 lbs.,” said Jackson, a member of One Way Church of God in Christ in the Frayser community.

“They had to get me a manual scale,” added Jackson, who felt bad that the digital scale wouldn’t support her weight. “I had the same problem at the second weigh-in on April 7. The scale said 307 lbs. I was so tickled. So this past Friday (April 13), the scale said 299 lbs.”

The 35-pound weight loss has motivated Jackson to continue an exercise regimen of brisk walking along the tree-lined, meandering walking trail at the Ed Rice Community Center in Frayser.

“This has been very motivating,” said Jackson, 52, the oldest of her parents’ 20 children. “I do two miles (one lap around the park) on most evenings.

I generally do four miles, about 10,000 recommended steps per day.”

Because of problems with her knees, Jackson has some difficulty walking the incline along the trail without losing her breath. “I’m fair-skinned,” she said. “If I have limitations in my breathing, I change colors. But I feel a whole lot better than I used to.”

The potential to lapse into ill health concerns Jackson, because her mother was obese. Her 31-year-old daughter has gained a significant amount of weight as well, due to the effects of rheumatoid arthritis.

“Her illness has caused her to gain weight. She wants to get her weight down too. But she told me to keep up the good work.”

Jackson has set a weight-loss goal for herself. “I don’t want to look skinny. I used to be a size 8. Then I was a size 24 and 26. My goal is to look good and healthy. I got a long way to go. But it’s a start in the right direction.”

Jackson is among hundreds of men and women working to shed those unwanted pounds. She is determined to stay the course and looks forward to The Obesity Summit on Saturday, June 16, 2012, at the Holiday Inn University of Memphis, 3700 Central Ave. The finale is June 17 at the Juneteenth Freedom and Heritage Festival in Douglass Park. Both events are free and open to the public.

Along with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the Challenge is sponsored by Baptist Memorial Health Care, News Channel 3, Hallelujah 95.7 FM, Tri-State Defender, and the Juneteenth Freedom and Heritage Festival.

(For more information, call 901278-0881 or visit Facebook.com/The Healthy Church Challenge.)

CLASSIFIEDS

Tri-State Defender

April 19 - 25, 2012

Visit the doctor and never leave home NNPA News Service

by Akeya Dickson

Sometimes you can’t make it to the doctor. You don’t have a way to get there, you’re bedridden, or you may have simply forgotten.

Cueing up a Skype session with your physician might be the most efficacious solution to getting immediate care, avoiding a missed appointment (and $40 co-pay), and to skipping the marathon waiting room sessions and flipping through outdated magazine issues.

A healthcare system anchored in technology could eventually become the norm if strict privacy regulations outlined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act shift are maintained, according some cutting-edge health experts. Some hospital administrators and physicians are eager to embrace new technology and new possibilities. But they have professional limits, restrictions on disseminating health records and the need to protect personal privacy.

The ideas and possibilities were batted around – and sometimes batted down – during the daylong symposium last week on U.S. Health Care at Howard University.

A technology session included a presentation and round-table discussion that posited new media solutions for assisting communities of color in managing their healthcare.

“The advantage that these communities have is the broad adoption of technology by minorities. It’s largely an untold story,” said Howard Wolley, senior vice president of Strategic Alliance and Wireless Policy for Verizon Communications. “We’re partnering with all of the key stakeholders to work through the regulatory framework and the cultural barriers.”

And there is no shortage of barriers, including the need to protect privacy.

Beyond privacy issues, the questions that the healthcare industry and patients alike grapple with are just how far should the engagement go? Does it stop at text message notifications reminding patients of upcoming appointments? Or is an in-depth conversation about an ailment yet-to-be-chartered terrain?

“If we start to communicate with people through these technologies it will create a dialogue,” said Maisha Walker, a technology columnist for Inc. magazine and founder and president of Message Medium. “A lot of people are not that involved in their healthcare.

This will start conversations, even if it’s from a point of irritation.”

Hospital administrators, policymakers, doctors and telecommunication companies are trying to figure out how they can integrate technology into healthcare to improve services. The difference between healthcare companies and most other companies is that unlike some companies that focus on pushing product to consumers, their ultimate success may depend on how well they can persuade patients to become more involved their healthcare.

Lisa Fitzpatrick, a professor at the Howard University College of Medicine, and Kerry-Ann Hamilton, director of Strategic Marketing and Communications at Howard University, offered a glimpse into how technology can be the conduit to providing the best care. They shared preliminary results from a pilot study in Kenya that evaluated cell phone intervention in healthcare.

“In the case of Africa where they are leaps ahead of the United States, we’re borrowing from successes there and looking at how they can help us,” Hamilton said.

Though the final results won’t be released until June, Fitzpatrick said that they are already seeing fewer missed appointments, adherence to medication and client acceptability since patients have integrated health care with their cell phones.

Initial reaction to exploiting technology for medical purposes has been enthusiastic.

“The practices that have implemented this type of care have reported positive results,” said Dr. Mark S. Johnson, dean of Howard University’s College of Medicine.

“Patients feel empowered and don’t have to leave their homes to go to the doctor’s office.”

Punctuated by easier coordination between healthcare providers, less paperwork and improved reports on quality of care, the number of physicians using health information technology has more than doubled from 17 percent to 34 percent since 2008, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

While some laud the benefits of a tech and healthcare mix, others urge caution.

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SPORTS Tri-State Defender, Thursday, April 19 - 25, 2012, Page 15

GRIZZ TRACK

It’s official: Grizz back in playoffs Special to the Tri-State Defender

by Kelley Evans

Call it a rematch at the FedExForum.

After last Saturday’s loss to the New Orleans Hornets in the Crescent City, the Memphis Grizzlies landed a victory on Wednesday (April 18) defeating the Hornets 103 to 91 in a home-turf victory that clinched a playoff berth.

And while the Grizzlies as a team are thrilled to be in the playoffs for the second straight season, Grizz star forward Rudy Gay is a first timer, missing last year’s playoffs with a season-ending injury.

“It feels good,” Gay said of the win. “Especially the fact that I had to sit back and watch it last year. After six years in the league, this is my first playoff experience.”

Gay finished with 26 points and Grizz guard Mike Conley pitched in 20. O.J. Mayo finished with 15 points followed

by Zach Randolph tipping in another 10.

Grizzlies Head Coach Lionel Hollins noted the difference that a year makes.

“We’re in a different position this year,” Hollins said.

“Last year we were at eight (in conference playoff position).

This year, we have chance to get to three. We didn’t want to be a one and done kind of group. We just wanted to make sure we got back.”

As for now, the Grizzlies are holding on to the fifth spot.

During this season, which is

Where did they get those moves?...

noted for its abbreviated nature (66 games instead of 82 because of the lockout), the Grizzlies have shown that regrouping is a necessary part of the recipe for success. They have: • Found rhythm when the beat was out of sync; • Learned new plays in a short amount of time; • Lost Darrell Arthur for a full season; • Played without Randolph for most of the season; • Gained an All-Star player in Gilbert Arenas to help down the stretch; • And missed their defensive superstar, Tony Allen, for four games after a facial laceration.

“At the beginning of the year when Zach got hurt, it was like we weren’t going to be here,” said Hollins. “The team rallied around itself, created a new identity, and achieved our goal we set out when we were fully healthy.

Opposing teams – and network commentators – know that the Grizzlies are a constant threat with a style branded grit-and-grind basketball.

It was the third quarter that sealed the deal and delivered the win against New Orleans.

The Grizzlies went on a 20-4 run early in the quarter and forced six turnovers, ending the Hornets’ four-game winning streak.

The Grizz have four more games remaining, ending with the regular season against the Orlando Magic.

Grizz forward Zach Forward scored 10 points in Memphisʼ playoff-clinching win over New Orleans. (Photo by Warren Roseborough)

GRIZZ GALA

Grizz star forward Rudy Gay hosted a “rookie dance off,” where the crowd was able to see dance moves from guards Josh Selby and Jeremy Pargo.

There was no official winner and Grizz vets were split on their opinions.

Support & appreciation…

Rebecca Rogers poses with Grizzlies Head Coach Lionel Hollins during the Third Annual Grizz Gala presented by Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica and First Tennessee Bank and hosted by Grizzlies Guard Mike Conley. Rogers is a former St. Jude patient and was a guest speaker at this yearʼs event. Cancer-free for 31 years, Rogers recalled visiting the hospital for treatment, traveling from Drew, Miss., and staying in a hotel. Of the Grizz Gala, Rogers said, “This event is important to the patients because it provides housing thatʼs necessary for them.” (Photo by Warren Roseborough)

MIDDLE SCHOOL

A push to the finish Special to the Tri-State Defender

by André Mitchell

The MIAA Track & Field preliminary meets are here!

Next week’s City Championships will feature some of the best middle school competitors that Memphis has to offer. South Side, Kirby, Cordova, Snowden, Ridgeway, Sherwood and Bellevue, just to name a few, are posed to bring home the gold medal in the girls and boys 100 & 200 meter dashes, 400 meter relays and more.

The preliminaries, which are underway this week, conclude on Thursday (April 14). Those who qualify will advance to next week’s City Championships. The prize for being tops in any specific competition will be a trip to the TMSAA Sectional Championships on May 3rd.

Over at the Fairground’s Stadium on Wednesday, runners from Kirby, Wooddale, Lanier, Geeter, Riverview, Havenview, A Maceo Walker, and Corry Middle all showed up to show out!

Wooddale takes first place in the 100 meter hurdles. (Photo by André Mitchell)

Page 16

April 19 - 25, 2012

Tri-State Defender