April 16 - 22, 2015
VOL. 64, No. 14
ANALYSIS
www.tsdmemphis.com
75 Cents
What leads African-American youth into a downward spiral of crime and violence? Fatal shootings of 2 young girls prompts a fresh consideration by Kirstin L. Cheers
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong on Monday appealed for the public’s help in finding the killer of two young girls in two separate shootings Friday (April 10). On Wednesday he announced two arrests in one of the fatal incidents. (Photo: Karanja A. Ajanaku)
On Sept. 4, 2014, Mayor A C Wharton Jr. hosted the “Youth Violence Prevention Forum” at the Benjamin L. Hooks Public Library after a summer of teen mob attacks, including one at Kroger in the Poplar Plaza shopping center. Among those attending were teens, parents, teachers, business leaders, pastors and community leaders. The meeting was said to be effective, discussing ideas to advance in areas of employment opportunities and job readiness, literacy and education, after school and athletic activities, and parenting and mentoring. It ended with promises of following up with leaders in hopes of discovering new ways to reduce and prevent youth violence and crime. Since the forum: Kirsten Williams, 7, was shot and
killed in a drive-by shooting as she tragedies, a mob of students from played in the spring warmth in front Northwest Prep attacked a man at a of her house on April 10. On Wednes- BP gas station on Poplar and Cleveday, Memphis Police Department Di- land in Crosstown. Orrden Williams rector Toney Armstrong held a press was escorting Mary Fuller, an older conference announcing the arrest of woman, to her car after she expressed Jordan Clayton, that she was afraid 21, and Branden “I think if we really want of the rowdy group Brookings, 19, for to see a change in this of teens. Williams first-degree mur- city it’s going to begin ordered the teens der. Both men have to quiet down and extensive criminal with changing the men- leave the parking tality towards our black lot. As he helped histories. Also, Cateria Fuller into her car, youth.” Stokes, 15, was the teens punched shot and killed and attacked him. – Maya McKenzie during a drive-by No charges have while sleeping in been filed. her home on April 10. No arrests “I feel like the youth violence in have been made, but authorities be- Memphis isn’t getting worse; it is lieve the shooting was gang related. just getting more exposure,” said TerCateria is preceded in death by her rance McClure. “Ever since I moved brother, who was also killed by gang to Memphis in 7th grade, I’ve been a violence. witness to it. Even being a victim of A week after these heartbreaking random violence myself in the 10th
Controversy over videotaping cops
by Tony Jones
Courts sharply divided on right to videotape on-duty officers in public spaces
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
SEE WHITEHAVEN ON PAGE 2
MEMPHIS WEEKEND
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
H-75o - L-57o
Thunderstorms
REGIONAL TEMPS LITTLE ROCK NASHVILLE JACKSON, MS
H-75o - L-58o
Partly Cloudy
SUNDAY
H-78o - L-60o
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Friday Saturday Sunday H-75 L-58 H-77 L-58 H-77 L-57 H-72 L-58 H-76 L-54 H-75 L-58 H-78 L-63 H-77 L-60 H-79 L-62
SEE VIOLENCE ON PAGE 3
COMMENTARY
Whitehaven hosts $30 million-plus scholarship party Whitehaven High School’s National Academic Signing Day held Wednesday was the type of school program the entire city needs to see. In an auditorium filled with their peers and many beaming parents and grandparents, Whitehaven’s top 30 scholars were saluted for each earning $1 million or more in scholarship funding offers from colleges throughout the nation. The scholars presented pennants chosen from their chosen schools during a morning assembly hosted by V101’s Stan Bell and keynoted by Whitehaven alum and Shelby County Schools Supt. Dorsey Hopson, with salutes by both mayors, the police director and many more. Beaming alone in a mid row, Dianne Black, an advanced placement English teacher, was about to burst. With “many stories and many chapters of success,” Black is retiring this year after 49 years at Whitehaven, first as a student and then a teacher. “Quite a few of the students up there are my students,” Black said. “People who think you can’t learn in an urban environment need to meet some of my students, past and present. I have students that have gone on to graduate from MIT, Emory, Vanderbilt; doctors and more.” Young mother and wife Donna Cooper-Dotson had a host of folks with her – four kids seated with her, including twin boys, and across the aisle cousin Beatrice Cooper and 6-month-old Brooklyn Malone. All were there to salute Gabrielle Cooper-Dotson, who had chosen Christian Brothers University from the $1 million scholarship pool she had earned. Trying to hold back her tears, Cooper-Dotson had all of her children there to show them what they can achieve if they work hard. “It was very hard, it was a strug-
grade.” McClure, 24, graduated from Central High School in 2009. He believes the root of youth violence may come from the lack of extracurricular activities and single parent homes, where children are not getting enough attention because the parent may have a heavy work schedule. “One thing I see a lot of is that older people are not really taking action. I hear ‘What’s happening to kids these days,’ and ‘Nobody teaching these kids right from wrong,’ but those people commenting are not adding anything positive to the situations,” said McClure. During the 2014 forum, Director Armstrong announced there had been 119 homicides. “One hundred and seven have involved African Americans. Of those 107, 79 have involved youth between
by George E. Curry NNPA News Service
City Council on March 3, 2015, and has yet to hear from this administration to finalize the approved allocation and disbursement process.” The $3.6 million in question comes from two John sources. FollowZeanah ing a bid process last year, Wharton announced that as one of four winning bids chosen from a pool of 58, Southbrook was to receive $2.1 million from a $14.5 million state grant to create a Green Communities Program. The so-called QECB funds are allocated for projects utilizing smart energy techniques. Three of the four winning bids for QECB funds were locally owned African-American firms: Southbrook,
Feidin Santana, the young Dominican immigrant who videotaped North Charleston, S.C. police officer Michael Slager firing his gun eight times, killing Walter Scott, an unarmed AfGeorge E. rican-American Curry man who was fleeing, was a hero. His quick decision to videotape the unfolding action on his telephone led to the arrest of Slager for murder. However, in some states, instead of being Feidin hailed as a hero, Santana Santana would be the one behind bars. Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts have used their wiretapping laws to prevent videotaping police in public places. Some other states are moving in that direction. But, as we can now see, videotape can be a game changer. This was vividly illustrated in 1991 with the brutal beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. More recently, the July 17 choking death of Eric Garner in New York City was captured on video as he pleaded, “I can’t breathe.” Thanks to a passerby, we also saw the July 1 video of a California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Andrew straddling Marlene Pinnock, a 51-year old African-American woman near a Santa Monica freeway and punching her 10-15 times. She reached an out-of-court settlement that required a $1.5 million payment and the resignation of Andrew. Although no one can creditably deny the value of citizens being able to videotape on-duty police officers operating in public spaces, courts are sharply divided on whether that’s protected under the First Amendment. In an article titled, “The Legal Right to Videotape Police Isn’t Actually All That Clear,” the Atlantic Citylab noted, “… The truth is that courts have not uniformly recognized that a right to record police actually exists. Though the U.S. Department of Justice has expressed its support
SEE SOUTHBROOK ON PAGE 3
SEE COPS ON PAGE 2
You can’t stop this… Grizz big man Zach Randolph shoots and scores over Ian Mahinmi of the Indiana Pacers during Memphis’ final regular season game of the year at the FedExForum on Wednesday night. The Grizzlies defeated the Pacers 95-83, earning the right to host the Portland Trailblazers on Sunday during the first round of the NBA Playoffs. (Photo: Warren Roseborough) (Related photos, Sports, page 16.)
Southbrook Mall team: City playing hide & seek with $3.6 million funding promise by Tony Jones
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
The management of Southbrook Properties, the non-profit group seeking to renovate Southbrook Mall, is planning a press conference on Monday (April 20) to publicly question why they have not received any of the $3.6 million they expected for start up work. The date was chosen to mark the day exterior infrastructure work was to begin on the parking lot. With none of the expected funding allocated by the City of Memphis, the group now says that it may be forced back to square one to find funding for the project. Southbrook Properties’ deadline pinch is tied to stipulations in the project funding package requiring that the group must use the first 10 percent of the allocated funding to demonstrate visible progress by May 14. In an exclusive interview with The New Tri State Defender, Southbrook Properties spokesperson Janice Banks
said Southbrook’s board members have become so frustrated with the process that they opted out of a meeting with city officials that was planned for April 13. A letter from Southbrook to Janice Mayor A C WharBanks ton Jr.’s administration points to the group’s frustration. “We are all aware that the Sears Crosstown Project received all of the $14,510,000 in Memphis Green Communities Program (MGCP) funding, eliminating the three black-owned projects from receiving their awarded amounts. Additionally, the Board has been unable to secure a contract and requisition number for the $1.5 million infrastructure improvements allocation passed by the Memphis
April 16 - 22, 2015
Page 2
NEWS
Stan Bell, SCS Supt. Dorsey Hopson, Peer Power Chairman Emeritus Charles McVean and his wife Kay, Whitehaven High Principal Dr. Vincent Hunter and Whitehaven community supporter Dell Gill show students what it’s all about. (Photo: Tony Jones, INK!)
Just two of the 30 proud Whitehaven High students saluted at the school’s National Academic Signing Day ceremony honoring students that had earned more than $1 million in scholarships by engaging with the Peer Power education foundation created by local entrepreneur Charles McVean. (Photo: Chris Henderson)
WHITEHAVEN
CONTINUED FROM FRONT gle, but I tell my children if it’s meant for you to go through, it’s meant for you to go through. And I must say she (Gabrielle) has been a trooper and I am so proud of her.” A graduate of LeMoyne, Cooper-Dotson says her family’s history “shows you what you can achieve if you’re willing. I was raised by a single parent who did a great job. So for my daughter to be next to
COPS
CONTINUED FROM FRONT for the right to record, only four federal appeals courts have ruled that such a right exists; others have either not ruled at all or narrowly rules that no right had been ‘clearly established.’” I am not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV. But the best available legal advice seems to be that generally speaking, it’s legal under the First Amendment to videotape on-duty police officers as long as it is on public property and you are not interfering with them performing their official duties. As noted above, some state laws ban such recordings. One legal site, findlaw.com, recommends that you: Tell police you are recording them; Comply with their requests to step back or identify yourself; Keep your camera out of the way (low and close to your body); and If need be, calmly remind them of your right to film them. Another site, reasons.com, lists seven rules for recording police, including knowing your state’s law and passcode protecting your cellphone. Given recent success, you can expect police unions around the nation to push for legislation that would bar cit-
go to college, I feel very honored.” Principal Dr. Vincent Hunter raised the roof when he introduced the school’s Fortune 500 Club, the students who had earned at least $100,000 in scholarships. The room zoomed as multiple dozens of students answered his call. “We want it known at Whitehaven High School that it’s cool to be smart,” said Hunter. William Sehnert (Saynerd),
executive director of the Peer Power foundation, shared a healing perspective. “We spend too much time not knowing that we’re all the same. If our community was as tight as this community,” he said, referring to Whitehaven High’s teachers, students and parents, “we wouldn’t have to spend $200 million a year on jails. That’s what we need here. We need to forget black and white and remember that we’re all God’s children. That’s (what’s) cool.”
izens from videotaping such incidents involving police. Even before the recent spree of police killing African Americans, there was strong resistance. A woman in Rochester, N.Y., for example, was arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration in 2011 after videotaping three white police officers interrogating an African-American man from her front yard. Charges were later dropped against the woman, Emily Good, 28. What would have happened to Officer Slager in South Carolina had there been no videotape? In a word - nothing. In fact, the officer had radioed, “Shots fired… Subject is down. He grabbed my Taser,” a charge not supported by the videotape. Instead, what we see in the video is Slager dropping the Taser near Scott’s motionless body. The cover-up was underway before Scott’s body could be moved to the morgue. The local newspaper reported the next day: “A statement released by North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said a man ran on foot from the traffic stop and an officer deployed his department-issued Taser in an attempt to stop him. “That did not work, police said, and an altercation ensued as the men struggled over
the device. Police allege that during the struggle the man gained control of the Taser and attempted to use it against the officer. “The officer then resorted to his service weapon and shot him, police alleged.” Of course, that was a lie. According to the Washington Post, Victoria Middleton, executive director for the ACLU of South Carolina, said: “…I think one of the concerns that immediately comes to mind is the discrepancy between the initial story, the kind of rush to judgment, the rush to say that procedures were followed and this was justified, and then when the video surfaced that quickly unraveled. That could raise concerns about other incidents in which we have been assured that nothing was out of order and the officer acted completely properly but there were no witnesses or video documentation to dispute that.” And that’s why we must resist all efforts to prevent citizens from freely videotaping police while they are supposedly acting in a lawful manner. (George E. Curry is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA) and BlackPressUSA.com. Follow him at www.twitter. com/currygeorge and George E. Curry Fan Page on Facebook.)
The New Tri-State Defender
The New Tri-State Defender
SOUTHBROOK
CONTINUED FROM FRONT the Universal Life Insurance Building and the Green Leaf Learning Farm at Knowledge Quest, a project to establish community gardens. On Tuesday, April 14, the Memphis City Council awarded $2 million to Self Tucker Properties, LLC, developers of the Universal Life Building project. John Zeanah, administrator for the Memphis-Shelby County Office of Sustainability, informed The TSD by email Wednesday that Sears Crosstown only received $8.15 million of the $14.5 million in QECB funds. According to Zeanah, Sears received funding first because of “its ability to raise all additional funds needed for the full building retrofit, a condition stipulated in the award of each of the four selected MGCP projects. However, bond resolutions were approved this morning (April 14) by Center City Revenue Finance Corporation (CCRFC) for the Universal Life and Knowledge Quest projects. These projects have a bond issuance deadline of May 2 from the State of Tennessee.” In his email, Zeanah said he informed Banks of the city’s position on April 7. “Though the Southbrook project was selected for funding on November 14, 2014, the bond issuance for each of the selected Memphis Green Communities Program (MGCP) projects is a separate matter and issuance for each project is based on the availability of funding for the full building retrofit project.” He added, “Based on information provided to date, additional funding is needed to complete the Southbrook building retrofit project in order to reach a point where QECB bonds can be issued. However, since Southbrook requires issuance through EDGE (because it is outside of the CCRFC footprint), the City must re-apply for the $2.1 million from the State of Tennessee, but full cooperation is needed from the Southbrook Properties team in order to move forward with due diligence on the application and bond issuance.” Banks, who was interviewed on Saturday before Zeanah’s explanation to The TSD, said
the Southbrook board wants to know why “they’re trying to push us into the EDGE (Economic Development Growth Engine) process.” And, she said, “We have a project that by the city’s own criteria is an award winning proposal yet we cannot receive one dollar to get started, and if we don’t get started the money can be pulled from us. How can we begin the project if they are withholding the money for us to begin?” Banks said Southbrook has kept council members Joe Brown (Super 8 District, Position 1), Harold Collins (District 3), Janice Fullilove (Super 8 District, Position 2) and Wanda Halbert (District 4) updated. “We have included them in all of the communications because at first the project was under Tourism and Economic Development Committee, headed by Brown and Fullilove. Now it has been turned over to the Housing and Community Development Committee, that’s Collins and Halbert. These individuals have been champions in trying to help this project get funded.” On Monday, April 12, Halbert forwarded an email outlining Southbrook’s questions to Wharton, the city’s CAO George Little, HCD Director Robert Lipscomb, and fellow council member Collins. “So many strange developments have been taking place with this grant process, hence I would like to understand what is happening here,” Halbert asked, including “why the Sears project had been funded months in advance of the other projects.”
April 16 - 22, 2015
Page 3
NEWS
VIOLENCE
CONTINUED FROM FRONT the ages of 18-24,” revealed Armstrong. It raised the question: what is the real cause that leads African-American youth on a downward spiral resulting in crime and violence? “I used to think that the kids were just bored,” said Kanesha Johnson, 23. “However, I think we live in a society that promotes the negative over the positive and our youth are attracted to that.” Johnson, a political science graduate from the University of Memphis, exposes her 16-year-old brother to pieces of the college life she experienced, such as fraternity and sorority events and step shows. She believes the exposure has allowed her brother to make better decisions while in school and with friends, causing him to think about consequences and how he could damage his future if he makes the wrong choices. “I think we need more people willing to change the culture, which would change the mindset of these young people,” said Johnson. “I’m not sure how we need to change that mindset, but this is bigger than Memphis. This is social and generational.” On April 11, Mayor Wharton released a statement regarding the shooting deaths of Williams and Stokes. After expressing sympathy and condolences, Wharton guaranteed the city and police department would collaborate with the District Attorney’s office to ensure “maximum sentences” for the perpetrators. “Usually at times like these we will hear a renewed cry for tougher gun laws. And while politically these pleas for gun control may be to no avail in the short term, in these horrible instances the collective call should actually be for thug control,” said Wharton.
Jordan Clayton, 21
Branden Brookings, 19
It concerns some Memphians, however, that “thug control” may be the call for more jail time for youth, which some say is not a good plan of action. “Everybody is being so adamant about throwing those children in jail as if jail is somehow going to turn them into model citizens,” said Maya McKenzie. “We all know the penal system isn’t designed to rehabilitate anyone.” According to Michelle Alexander’s
most recent book, “The New Jim Crow,” there are more African-American men incarcerated, on probation, or on parole than there were in slavery in 1850. According the 1850 U.S. Census, 872,924 black males over 15 were slaves. In 2013, 526,000 African-American men were in prison along with the 877,000 on probation and 280,000 on parole, around 1.7 million African-American men under correctional control in total. The criminal justice issue involving African Americans can also be credited back to income inequality. Studies have shown that more crime occurs in high, impoverished areas, consequently, large areas where African Americans reside. The fear is these teens could go into jail and still be tainted by the same behaviors that sent them into the system in the first place. So how do we keep African-American youth from ending up on the same path as Clayton and Brookings? “I think if we really want to see a change in this city it’s going to begin with changing the mentality towards our black youth,” said McKenzie, 24, a graduate of Memphis City Schools. “They are not expendable, they are not pests that need to be exterminated. They are minds that we as a community need to see as an investment. They are citizens that can contribute to our society with the proper guidance, forgiveness, and motivation.” Johnson says the change must also come from a collective group of Memphians willing to mentor youth to keep them off the streets. “It bothers me that people pick on Memphis. It also bothers me that people in Memphis do not stand up for Memphis,” said Johnson. “Mentor someone who you know is at-risk or advocate to the local and state legislators.”
April 16 - 22, 2015
Page 4
The New Tri-State Defender
OPINION
The ‘dumbing down’ of American education
John H. Sengstacke Publisher (1951-1997)
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SPECIAL REPORT
Funding for African-American male achievement increasing U.S. foundation funding in support of programs and organizations working to improve the life outcomes of African-American males totaled $64.6 million in 2012, up from $40.4 million in 2011, a report from Foundation Center and the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA) finds. According to the report, Quantifying Hope: Philanthropic Support for Black Men and Boys, both the number of grants and total grant dollars designated for African-American male achievement have trended steadily upward since 2003 – reaching a cumulative 1,791 grants and nearly $246 million over the 10-year period, with more than half the grant dollars distributed in the last three years. In 2012, the average grant amount increased to $174,216, from $136,087 in 2011, although the number of foundations awarding grants in this area fell from 114 to 98. In terms of issue area, the report found that while education historically receives the largest share (31 percent) of foundation funding, giving in areas such as human services (30 percent) and public affairs (29 percent) is growing. According to the report, the top 10 recipient organizations – which together received 47 percent of all funding designated for African-American men and boys – included national civic, policy, and advocacy organizations such as the NAACP and PolicyLink, alongside the educational institutions that have dominated the list in the past. The top funders in the field for 2012 were led by the Open Society Foundations, which earlier this year spun off CBMA as an independent organization, followed by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Heinz Endowments, and the California Community Foundation. The report, which follows up on baseline data presented in the 2012 study Where Do We Go From Here? Philanthropic Support for Black Men and Boys, also highlights select grants and their outcomes and describes recent initiatives in the field, including efforts to secure greater foundation, corporate, and public-sector support in alignment with the Obama administration’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative. “Momentum has been building on many fronts to address social and racial disparities in our nation, and the time is right to keep pushing forward to improve opportunities for black males of all ages,” said Shawn Dove, CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement. “The role of philanthropy in those efforts is critical, and this report highlights the organizations and programs that have made meaningful investments in the growing field of black male achievement,” said Dove. “I am encouraged by the progress we’ve made so far, and yet it’s really only the beginning. We still have a long way to go toward achieving our mission of helping organizations committed to this work build their capacity and strengthen their efforts to maximize the assets and potential of
America’s black men and boys.” What about women and girls of color? With attention focused on black men and boys, and boys and men of color more broadly, some observers have asked what foundations are doing to support women and girls of color, who face daunting challenges of their own. In 2012, foundations awarded $125 million for activities supporting women and girls of color. This is consistent with past funding trends, showing $102 million in 2010 and $123 million in 2011. While funding for women and girls of color has historically outpaced that of men and boys of color, in recent years the figures have become comparable to one another, given increases in funding for men and boys of color. Strikingly, both groups receive a small portion of the overall philanthropic pie, which totaled more than $52 billion in 2012. Of note, nearly three-quarters of funding for women and girls of color appears in Foundation Center’s database as benefiting women and girls of color generally, leaving us with little information about funding flows to specific ethnic/ racial groups. Foundation Center’s partnership with the Campaign for Black Male achievement has allowed us to conduct outreach with foundations to achieve more accurate information about specific beneficiary groups. A similar effort with grants focused on women and girls of color would allow for a better assessment of funding streams. Allison Brown, program officer for the racial justice portfolio at the Open Society Foundations, notes that Open Society aims to be inclusive in its racial justice strategy in recognition of the nuanced ways in which the intersection of gender and race affects disparities in arenas such as education, the criminal justice system, and the workforce. “Girls and women of color face significant barriers to opportunity, too, including in school discipline, health care, and accumulation of wealth,” Brown says. Ultimately, My Brother’s Keeper and related efforts focused on boys and men of color, says Brown, “kicked the door open for addressing racial justice in a gender-focused way.” Open Society is developing a grantmaking portfolio that supports women and girls of color in a “thoughtful and caring” manner, while continuing to support boys and men of color in explicit ways. Similarly, C. Nicole Mason, Phd, director of CR2Pi, a research and policy center at the New York Women’s Foundation, argues that there needs to be deep-level thinking and strategy about the significance of the impact of the intersections of race, class, and gender in the lives of both groups. “The fates of black men and boys and black women and girls are inextricably linked,” she comments. “In building more connected communities across the country, we need to identify gaps in services, examine the conditions that impede rather than support success, and leverage resources and opportunities for partnership and collaboration.”
Blacks are begging the Republican Party In the immortal words of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, “to every man there comes a time when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a great and mighty work; unique to him and fitted to his talents; what a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the moment that could be his finest hour.” The Republican Party is currently being tapped on the shoulder and being asked to do “a great and mighty work, unique to them and fitted to their talents.” They are being tapped on the shoulder by the black community who are begging the Republican Party to give them a reason to vote Republican in next year’s presidential election. The black community gave Obama 94 percent of its vote in 2008, not just because he was black; but because he said he was “change we could believe in.” Obama said he would get the U.S. out of all these “unnecessary” wars; indirectly giving blacks the impression that he would then redirect the money spent on war to dealing with the high black unemployment rate, the lack of access to capital for black entrepreneurs, shoring up the failing schools within the black community, both secondary and college. Six and a half years after Obama was “tapped on the shoulder;” he has indeed been found “unqualified and unprepared for the moment that could have been his (and America’s) finest hour.” By any and all objective measurements, the Obama presidency has been an abject failure for blacks: double digit unemployment, declining home ownership, shrinking net worth, decreasing college enrollment, especially at black colleges, and non-existent government contracting opportunities for black businesses just to name a few. Republicans still have time to show the black community that the party is prepared for this moment that could be its finest hour, but time is running out. They need to start with something very simple: tell the black community in no uncertain terms that they are wanted and welcomed in the Republican Party. Then the Congressional leadership must convene a series of private meetings with “the right” blacks in education, business, the clergy. This is not to be confused with them meeting with blacks that they are “comfortable” with. Republicans have a history of favoring blacks who will tell them what they want to hear, versus blacks who will tell them what they need to hear. Obama has done more to destroy Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) than any other person in this country’s history with the policies coming out of his Department of Education. What are Congressional Republicans prepared
to do by way of hearings and legislation to repair this damage? Government contracting opportunities for black entrepreneurs has all but dried up under Obama. Banks refuse to loan Raynard money to many Jackson small business owners. What are Republicans prepared to do by way of hearings and legislation to change this? The black church is furious with Obama over his aggressive push for homosexual entitlements and his refusal to protect their commitment to faith if they receive government funds for after school activities for their church member’s kids. What are Republicans prepared to do by way of hearings and legislation to protect a church’s right to freely practice their faith without government interference? Obama has intentionally done everything in his power to drive a wedge between blacks and his administration. There is no poll that can accurately measure the disappointment and frustration blacks have with Obama. They are literally begging the Republican Party to give them substantive reasons to vote for them. But they first must be made to feel welcomed in the party. The party must build relationships with the more than 200 black newspapers in the country and spend advertising dollars with them. The party must stop being afraid to challenge the NAACP and the National Urban League when they are advocating liberal policies that will continue to adversely affect the black community. They must establish a surrogate program of “credible black Republicans” that can represent the party on various radio and TV shows. The party has shown an extreme amount of incompetence and a total lack of understanding when it comes to branding the party within the black community. During presidential elections, Republicans average about nine percent of the black vote. That’s with doing nothing. Just imagine what can happen with a little effort. Realistically it is very doable to get between 15-20 percent of the black vote next year; but only if the party starts now with constructive engagement with the black community, black media, and black organizations. What a tragedy if this moment also finds the Republican Party “unprepared or unqualified for the moment that could be its finest hour.” (Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC is a political consulting, government affairs, and PR firm based in Washington, DC.)
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Early in 2001, when I was the chair of the education committee on the Council of the District of Columbia, I was talking with D.C. Public Schools Superintendent Paul Vance about the Kevin P. intense debate Chavous over standards. Federal lawmakers were debating whether to tie federal dollars that were earmarked to the states to having the state’s school age children academically proficient by 2014. Under this proposal, those states whose students failed to meet this standard would lose their expected federal education dollars. As the Supt. Vance and I went back and forth about how difficult it would be for states to measure up under the proposed law, he finally waved his hand and said to me, “Well, Councilman, the reality is that even if this law passes, the states will work around it. Very few states, if any, will meet these new requirements by 2014 so two things will happen: some states will lower their existing standards and the federal government will give many states waivers from the law’s mandates so they can still get their federal funds.” The law, which was passed in 2001, would ultimately be known as No Child Left Behind. And Vance was right. Now that we are in 2015, the U.S. Department of Education has given over 44 waivers to states that did not do what they promised to do –enhance the academic enrichment of their kids. That’s right. The federal government regularly socially promotes states that are failing our kids. During this same time period, some states aggressively questioned the need for rigorous standards, leaning on states’ rights arguments, even though the right to a quality education for all kids may be lacking in their state. What’s worse, however, is the evidence pouring out of the felony racketeering trial in Atlanta, where 11 teachers were convicted of conspiring to change their students’ test scores to make it look as though Atlanta schoolchildren were doing better on tests than they actually were. Twenty-one other teachers pled guilty to lesser charges in the scheme. In all, some 180 employees, including a mix of teachers, testing coordinators and 38 principals, had engaged in an organized and systemic cheating scheme in at least 44 Atlanta schools involving falsification of student learning data by inflating test scores to make the district look better. Adding insult to obvious injury, these teachers would brazenly have eraser parties following the testing period to celebrate their conspiratorial success at cheating. All of these factors point to one thing: we no longer have a learning culture in America. Indeed, we have dumbed down education and learning so much that the education of our children is embodied by meaningless platitudes, hollow promises and just plain dishonesty. Even among those responsible for providing or overseeing the delivery of K-12 educational services in America, a new culture of excuses and “reasons why” we can’t teach all kids exists. Sadly, the unspoken truth is that many do not believe that all kids can learn. The time has come for the American people to demand more and get more from those vested with the fiduciary responsibility to teach our kids. We should no longer accept the false promise of better schools tomorrow because our leaders point to selective, marginal and incremental improvements scattershot around the country today. Nor should we celebrate the mediocre expectations that have crept into the education policy discussion. Rather, as we look forward to the 2016 presidential elections, we need to categorically reject any candidate who doesn’t boldly stand for immediate change in the academic expectations we have for all kids. And we should reject any candidate who is unwilling or unable to hold every school and every school district accountable for teaching all kids. Frankly, it is time to end the dumbing down culture in American education. Our new national imperative should be to instill personal and national pride in learning. This new form of patriotism is more uplifting and beneficial to our country than the fear-based, patriotic war on terror. And, it is needed. When it comes to the education of our kids, the future is now. (Kevin P. Chavous is senior advisor and executive counsel for the American Federation for Children and co-founder of Democrats for Education Reform.)
The New Tri-State Defender
April 16 - 22, 2015
Page 5
NEWS
Anti-gay protest backfires at Howard University by Rachel Kersey NNPA News Service
On Wednesday, the Fight for $15 campaign stimulated 50-plus people to gather at the University of Memphis to support higher wages. (Photo: Twitter)
Fight for $15 protests expand for low-wage workers by Candice Choi Associated Press
NEW YORK– The Fight for $15 campaign to win higher pay and a union for fast-food workers is expanding to represent a variety of low-wage workers and become more of a social justice movement. In New York City on Wednesday, more than 100 chanting protesters gathered outside a McDonald’s around noon, prompting the store to lock its doors to prevent the crowd from streaming in. Demonstrators laid on the sidewalk outside to stage a “die-in,” which became popular during the “Black Lives Matter” protests after recent police shootings of black men. Several wore sweatshirts that said “I Can’t Breathe,” a nod to the last words of a black man in New York City who died after he was put in a police chokehold. Timothy Roach, a 21-yearold Wendy’s worker from Milwaukee, said the police brutality black men face is linked to the lack of economic opportunity they’re given. He said the protests were necessary to send a message to companies. “If they don’t see that it matters to us, then it won’t matter to them,” Roach said. Organizers said demonstrations were planned for more than 230 U.S. cities and college campuses, as well as dozens of cities overseas. Among those who joined the latest day of protests were airport workers, Walmart workers and adjunct professors. The campaign began in late 2012 and is being spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union, which represents low-wage workers
in areas such as home care, child care and building cleaning services. Mary Kay Henry, the SEIU’s president, said the push has already helped prompt local governments to consider higher minimum wages, nudged companies to announce pay hikes and made it easier for SEIU members to win better contracts. Those results are inspiring other groups of workers, she said. “It has defied a sense of hopelessness,” she said. In Jackson, Miss., around 30 people protested in a McDonald’s before being kicked out, with one of the demonstrators being arrested for trespassing. Protesters also gathered outside McDonald’s restaurants in cities including Denver, Los Angeles and Albany, New York. Even if fast-food workers and others never become union members, winning higher pay for them would benefit the SEIU by helping lift pay for its members, said Susan Schurman, dean of Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations. “By raising the wage floor, it really benefits everyone,” she said. Ann Hodges, a professor of labor employment law at the University of Richmond, said engaging different types of workers also broadens the appeal of the movement by increasing the chances people know someone who’s affected. And the push to make Fight for $15 more of a social justice movement makes those who might have negative perceptions about unions more likely to join, she said. “It becomes easier to organize workers if they view it as
something positive and socially desirable,” Hodges said. In the meantime, McDonald’s said this month it would raise its starting salary to $1 above the local minimum wage, and give workers the ability to accrue paid time off. It marked the company’s first national pay policy, and indicates McDonald’s wants to take control of its image as an employer. But the move only applies to workers at company-owned stores, which account for about 10 percent of more than 14,300 locations. McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s say they don’t control the employment decisions at franchised restaurants. The SEIU is working to upend that position and hold McDonald’s responsible for labor conditions at franchised restaurants in multiple ways, including lawsuits. In a statement, McDonald’s said it respects the right to “peacefully protest.” In the past, it said only about 10 to 15 McDonald’s workers out of about 800,000 in the U.S. have participated. In a recent column in The Chicago Tribune, McDonald’s Corp. CEO Steve Easterbrook described the company’s pay hike and other perks as “an initial step,” and said he wants to transform McDonald’s into a “modern, progressive burger company.” But that transformation will have to take place as labor organizers continue pressuring employers over wages. Ahead of the protests this week, a study funded by the SEIU found working families rely on $153 billion in public assistance a year as a result of their low wages.
WASHINGTON – Westboro Baptist Church, the infamous unaffiliated church known for its hateful, unorthodox protests, especially against homosexuality, brought its hate speech to Howard University – and the university’s students and staff fought back. Armed with picket signs, the organization, which has been denounced by the two largest Baptist denominations, on Friday, April 10, gathered on 6th Street on Howard’s campus to denounce OUTlaw, Howard University School of Law’s organization for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender and queer students. “AMERICA IS DOOMED,” “MOURN FOR YOUR SINS” and “GOD H8S FAG MARRIAGE,” the signs read. One sign featured a depiction of anal sex. Howard students met the signs with their own. Dressed in all-black or rainbow colors, the students held signs that read “HOWARD <3s OUR LGBTQ,” “ALL BLACK LOVE MATTERS” and “GOD LOVES EVERYONE.” Nearly 100 students gathered at the flagpole and marched to the corner of 6th Street and Howard Place, where they promptly turned their backs on Westboro. With fists raised in defiance,
the sea of students sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and more than one student shed a few tears. Only 20 minutes after starting, Westboro headed down the hill to the taunts of Howard students, who turned around to send them on their way. “I thought it was perfect,” said Nia Johnson, a junior economics major. “I definitely felt the love and I felt proud. I was actually happy it ended early. Our power showed them that it wasn’t worth it here.” Amber Mason, president of OUTlaw, agreed. “This sort of hate filled rhetoric is not condoned on our campus, and we want to show them that through a show of solidarity,” Mason said. “That’s now how we think here at Howard. We are inclusive, we’re accepting and their kind of speaking and behavior will not be condoned.” Lydia Durfler, the organizer of the student protest, said she did so because LGBT community at Howard is often slighted. “I don’t think it gets enough outright support from the Howard community, especially where the administration and faculty is concerned,” said Durfler, a senior political science major and an Amnesty International intern. “And if we had a group on campus saying derogatory things about black folk and we weren’t doing something to build ourselves up in the midst of that, that would seem pretty crazy. The same goes for the
LGBTQ community.” Joshua Narcisse, president of the Chapel Assistants, an interfaith organization with Howard’s Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel, said his organization stands against Westboro Baptist Church. “One of the dominant themes in Christianity is love,” Narcisse said. “So, at the end of the day, whether it be Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, this love or respect for humanity is at the center of the work that the chapel does. And this is really just a part of us affirming that.” Tyleah Hawkins, a senior broadcast journalism major, also objected to Westboro’s belief and its tactics. “I’m a Christian, but I’ve always been an advocate for gay rights,” Hawkins said. “I don’t agree with preaching hate. I am a proud Christian. I love Jesus . . . and I feel like Jesus would be out here protesting with me.” In the end, the protest – both sides – was one chapter of the rich social and political saga of the university, and there is undoubtedly more to follow,” said the Rev. Bernard Richardson, dean of the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel. “This is Howard University,” Richardson said. “Protests and all the other things are what happen here at Howard. It’s part of our legacy. It’s part of our history.”
(Special to NNPA from Howard University News Service)
April 16 - 22, 2015
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The New Tri-State Defender
NEWS
Memphis Black Expo 2015 – Be Inspired! The theme of the 2015 Memphis Black Expo was to “Be Inspired” and Memphians were just that – INSPIRED! This cultural celebration served to highlight entrepreneurship, promote cooperative economics and support the stability and growth of small and minority owned business. This photo montage is a mere glimpse of the five-day event. Thursday | Film Night & Panel Discussion
National hip-hop recording artist turned activist David Banner address the audience before the viewing of the film, “Hidden Colors 3”, a documentary about the real and untold story of people of color around the globe.
The discussion panel for the film was comprised of several vocal local activists: Dawn Kimble, Judge Joe Brown, David Banner, Bernal E. Smith II, the Rev. Earle Fisher, and Rachel Knox.
Raphael Strong and a group of men each await their turn for the opportunity to ask questions of the panel. (Photos: Mainstream Images)
Friday | “Welcome to Memphis” VIP Reception at Stax Museum honoring Kenny Lattimore
Local cake designer Brittany W. displays the cake she created especially for Lattimore’s birthday on April 10.
Kenny Lattimore and Queenie at the conclusion of the Stax Museum tour discussing how much they enjoyed that old Stax sound. Soulsville CEO Calvin Stovall and MBX founder Viara Boyd present R & B star Kenny Lattimore with the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award in Soulful Music at the kick-off reception. (Photos: George Tillman Jr.)
Saturday| Memphis Black Expo & Empowerment Conference Main Event at Agricenter International With more than 100 exhibitors at the Expo Dean of Fashion’s Glamtique display was on point (Photo: Mainstream Images)
WMCTV5’s Janeen Gordan and Kontji Anthony discuss current events with some of the ladies attending the Expo. (Photo: Nina Allen-Johnson)
A good old-fashion shoe shine stand sponsored by Vincent Guy and Magic Hands Shoeshine and Repair. (Photo: Mainstream Images)
Celebrity guest Darrin Henson, whose credits include “Stomp the Yard” and “Soul Food” (and is a wellknown choreographer), had no problem getting up close and personal with Expo attendees. (Photo: Mainstream Images)
Sunday | “Art of Fashion 6” Visual Art and Fashion Party at Minglewood Hall Guests were greeted by “living” mannequins upon entering the show. There were live models elevated on boxes that changed intermittently throughout the evening. (Photo: Nina Allen-Johnson) In addition to the fashions by designers such as Kocky Creations, Prep Curry, Living Bowties, just to name a few, the evening featured a live snake model and fire dancers. (Photo: Rodney Adams)
Celebrity guest, Memphis’ own Elise Neal, ripped the runway several times and was an absolute natural on the catwalk. (Photo: Rodney Adams)
Visual body art models DeJa Freeman and Jimmy Daugherty. (Photo: Rodney Adams) “Bash” rips the runway in an outfit by Nerdy Prep Clothing. (Photo: Rodney Adams)
April 16 - 22, 2015
The New Tri-State Defender
by Jay Reeves and Rebecca Santana Associated Press
From custodial worker to Philadelphia’s fire commissioner PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – When Fire Commissioner Derrick J.V. Sawyer was growing up in Philadelphia, he never imagined that his neighbors would one day look to him to keep their children safe from the ravages of fire. The man first hired by the city as a custodial worker at the Free Library is currently running the nation’s fifth largest fire department, with 2,200 employees and an extensive emergency medical service system. Sawyer’s deeply held convictions regarding fire safety, youth mentoring and education have become his calling card as he tours the eclectic cluster of neighborhoods, promoting the gospel of smoke detectors, home evacuation plans, mentoring and fire prevention. This fire commissioner is already at work on plans to make his hometown one of the safest places in the world. A culture of safety, as he likes to explain, enhances the business climate, enables families to live long and strong and accelerates the city’s arrival as a global destination. “Being in public safety is about reducing risks,” Sawyer says. “Risks come in different forms. In the fire department, our primary job is protecting citizens from fire and providing emergency medical services to keep them alive. Another important job, however, is to educate young people to help them reduce risks for crime, drugs, and gaps in their education so as to keep them from dropping out. We can reduce those risks by mentoring.” A father of five, Sawyer actively mentors local youth. He is celebrated as the local kid – educated in public schools and a graduate of Community College of Philadelphia – who climbed the career ladder and strolled confidently into the executive suite. People often refer to Commissioner Sawyer as an overnight success. He begs to differ. They don’t realize that, for years, he was one of those college students taking one credit course a semester because he lacked confidence in his abilities. “It takes a lifetime to become an overnight success,” says Sawyer. “Sometimes, you have to start small before you can grow big. Sometimes, people think your final destination is where you began. I started very humbly. People often are surprised.” In June 2014, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter appointed Sawyer as fire commissioner. In the intervening months, Sawyer has experienced great joy and endured unbearable sorrow. In December 2014, Joyce Craig, a decorated 11-year veteran of the department, died after being trapped fighting a blaze in the basement of a West Oak Lane home, making her the first women in the department to fall in the line of duty. On the whole, the numbers tell a story of steady progress. He led the award-winning Prevention Division in both the deputy and battalion chief capacity and as a result of his hands-on leadership style, assisted the department in reducing the number of fire fatalities in Philadelphia to its lowest rate in recorded history. The
NATION
Percy Sledge – ‘a gracious human being’ – dies at 74!
Derrick Sawyer: Thinking big Special to The New Tri-State Defender
Page 7
city had the lowest recorded fire fatality rate in 2013 with 24 fire fatalities. The department’s highly-acclaimed Freedom from Fire program, which began in 2008 under former Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, is also helping to reduce social and human devastation. The campaign was implemented to increase the quality of life of citizens and to make Philadelphia the most fire-safe city in the country. The initiatives identify residents in need and – with the assistance of private and nonprofit donations – supply cost-free smoke alarms to those without them. To date, the fire department has installed over 100,000 smoke alarms in the homes of Philadelphia residents. If Sawyer had to identify a period where he first realized that he was capable of leading in this city — and managing emergency medical and fire safety services — it would be the time spent at Community College of Philadelphia, the city’s only public institution of higher learning. Philadelphia Fire Department personnel who wish to advance and qualify for jobs as managers, supervisors and chiefs are strongly encouraged to earn college degrees, Sawyer says. “Running the fire department is like running a business. You have a budget. You have internal and external customers. You have to buy apparatus and equipment. You have to know how to determine the origin and cause of a fire and conduct an investigation. You have to have a degree just so you can understand how to run an organization,” says Sawyer. “Community College of Philadelphia is popular with our staff because it is one of the few local colleges to offer an associate’s degree in Fire Science. If you want to learn your craft as a firefighter, that is where you want to go. That is why we are glad we have the partnership with Community College of Philadelphia. It gives us the ability to sharpen our skills and craft.” College access is more convenient today for first responders with online classes and hands-on instructors, some of whom may work beside students either at the local fire stations or police departments, Sawyer says. As public safety issues devolve increasingly into complex issues of human behavior, courses in science, psychology, sociology and cultural awareness have emerged as part of the core learning essentials. “We want to create a learning community,” says Sawyer, who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Safety Administration from Holy Family University and is enrolled at Saint Joseph’s University where he is pursuing a Masters in Homeland Security. “We want to hire learners in the department. That’s one goal... If you are going to reduce the risk of fire, and my goal is to have zero fire fatalities, then, at some point, you have to educate the community so that people change their behavior. They are not going to change their behavior without the knowledge of what to do and why we want them to do it. So, in this way, we are public educators. The only way you reduce fires and effect change is through education.”
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – Percy Sledge, who soared from part-time singer and hospital orderly to lasting fame with his aching, forlorn performance on the classic “When a Man Loves a Woman,” died Tuesday in Louisiana. He was 74. His family said in a statement released through his manager, Mark Lyman, that he died “peacefully” at his home in Baton Rouge after a yearlong struggle with cancer. The cause of death was liver failure, Lyman said. A No. 1 hit in 1966, “When a Man Loves a Woman” was Sledge’s debut single, an almost unbearably heartfelt ballad with a resonance he never approached again. Few singers could have. Its mood set by a mournful organ and dirge-like tempo, “When a Man Loves a Woman” was for many the definitive soul ballad, a testament of blinding, all-consuming love haunted by fear and graced by overwhelming emotion. The song was a personal triumph for Sledge, who seemed on the verge of sobbing throughout the production, and a breakthrough for Southern soul. It was the first No. 1 hit from the burgeoning Muscle Shoals music scene in northern Alabama, where Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones among others would record, and the first gold record for Atlantic Records. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler later called the song “a transcendent moment” and “a holy love hymn.” Sledge’s hit became a standard that sustained his long touring career in the U.S., Europe and South Africa and led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. It was a favorite at weddings — Sledge himself did the honors at a ceremony for musician and actor Steve Van Zandt — and often turned up in movies, including “The Big Chill,” ‘’The Crying Game” and a 1994 Meg Ryan drama named for the song’s title. “When a Man Loves a Woman” was re-released after being featured in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War film “Platoon” in 1987 and reached No. 2 in Britain. Michael Bolton topped the charts in the 1990s with a cover version and Rolling Stone magazine later ranked it No. 53 on its list of the greatest songs of all time. On Twitter Bolton called Sledge an “inspiration” and a gracious human be-
“‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ was for many the definitive soul ballad, a testament of blinding, all-consuming love haunted by fear and graced by overwhelming emotion.” ing. Recognizable by his wide, gap-toothed smile, Sledge had a handful of other hits between 1966 and 1968, including “Warm and Tender Love,” ‘’It Tears Me Up,” ‘’Out of Left Field” and “Take Time to Know Her.” He returned to the charts in 1974 with “I’ll Be Your Everything.” David Hood, 71, one of the legendary “Swampers” studio musicians from Muscle Shoals, said he owed his career to Sledge and described him as the “nicest person you’d ever want to meet.” Before he became famous, Sledge worked in the cotton fields around his hometown of Leighton in northwest Alabama and took a job in a hospital in nearby Sheffield. He also spent weekends playing with a rhythm-and-blues band called the Esquires. A hospital patient heard him singing while working and recommended him to record producer Quin Ivy. In the 2013 documentary “Muscle Shoals,” Sledge recalled recording the song: “When I came into the studio, I was shaking like a leaf. I was scared.” He added that it was the “same melody that I sang when I was out in the fields. I just wailed out in the woods and let the echo come back to me.” Sledge said the song was inspired by a girlfriend who left him for a modeling career after he was laid off from a construction job in 1965. But in a decision that likely cost him a fortune, he gave the songwriting credits to two Esquires bandmates, bassist Calvin Lewis and organist
Andrew Wright, who helped him with it. While identified with Muscle Shoals, Sledge lived for most of his career in Baton Rouge. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2007. In April 1994, Sledge pleaded guilty in federal court to tax evasion involving income from concerts in the late 1980s. He was sentenced to six months in a halfway house, given five years of probation, and ordered to pay $96,000 in back taxes and fines. Sledge had surgery for liver cancer in January 2014 but soon resumed touring. Fellow musicians gathered in Florence, Ala., later that year for a concert to raise money for Sledge’s health care. The performance closed with Sledge joining in on his famous song. “He didn’t get to sing but one line,” recalled David Johnson, a producer on some of Sledge’s recordings and an organizer of the benefit. Johnson said another R&B star, Eddie Floyd, sang most of the song but handed the microphone to a frail Sledge. His family’s statement said he would have been 75 in November. He is survived by his wife and 12 children, Lyman said. (Santana reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Brian Slodysko in Baton Rouge, and Mesfin Fekadu and Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.)
Former U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (Photo: Getty Images)
Will black folks deliver for Hillary Clinton? by Charles D. Ellerson The Root
As Hillary Clinton kicks off her 2016 presidential bid (splashing with all the juggernauting brand force of an album drop) few doubt she’ll win the Democratic nomination. But even if she skates from now into Philly next year as the party standard bearer, there’s still no White House guarantee. A road to victory remains a foggy affair. And of the multiple pathways to a win that will bedevil her campaign, none may be as vexing as the black vote. She’s not her former president husband Bill Clinton and she’s certainly not her former 2008 Democratic primary archrival Barack Obama. While the question of the black vote in this round’s Democratic primary won’t torment her campaign the way it did in 2008 – as far as we can tell at the moment – it’s how she performs in the general election that could be rather problematic. Contrary to popular opinion, African American voter turnout was a little flat in 2014. Three reasons explain that: it was an off cycle, President Obama wasn’t on the ballot, and many jaded black families were dealing with double digit unemployment. With 2016 around the corner, every authority on the black vote I’ve spoken to is worried we won’t see the kind of motivated black voter turnout this election that we saw in the previous two – simply because, many say, President Obama won’t be running again. The question is keeping many a Democratic strategist up at night: When the time arrives, will black folks deliver? The Clinton camp probably has the best of a year and seven months to figure that out. Her greatest advantage could be a cleared Democratic field as the several other contenders barely register on the electoral Richter scale. Candidates like former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) are lucky if pundits even remember their name when rattling off prospects on talk shows. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-MD) just passed up on a better shot at an open U.S. Senate seat in favor of a quixotic quest for
presidential gold. In a recent Pew Research Center poll, an overwhelming 59 percent of Democratic voters gave Hillary Clinton a “good chance” at winning the party nod, compared to only 22 percent who see the same for Vice President Joe Biden. Others like Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) barely register 8 percent. Loathe to repeat the same mistakes from ’08, Clinton is poised to crush it in ’16 – the 2016 primary that is. An expected bloody mash up on the Republican side - a cannibalistic wrestling match of ten known candidates that will leave the eventual nominee exhausted - should make it easier for Clinton by the time the party nominees meet in the general. But this promises to be a difficult and potentially tight race for Clinton. Democrats embracing any Hillary inevitability narrative do so at their own political peril. Clinton’s biggest challenge could be the African-American vote. It stands to stump her at every turn if she’s not watching it with razor attention. She’ll need a solid 90 percent plus share of the black vote to win. President Obama received 95 percent of it in 2008, 93 percent in 2012. Her black support numbers are solid, according to the most recent polls. But they haven’t yet reached that 90 percent threshold. Her “very favorable/somewhat favorable” YouGov ratings among black voters is at a combined 77 percent, compared to Joe Biden at 73 percent. And there are Republicans like Scott Walker, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Chris Christie who – wait for it - command more than 25 percent combined favorable ratings from black voters. She looks a bit better in Public Policy Polling’s April sample of black voters, managing anywhere from 79 to 90 percent black voter share when matched up against GOP rivals. But she only hits 90 percent once: against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Interestingly enough, she only gets 79 percent when battling Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Some good news for Clinton is that she’s ahead by several points in black-heavy battleground states like Virginia when matched up against Republican hopefuls like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). But she’ll need strong black turnout in states with
massive and typically Democratic-leaning black voting populations in places like Florida and Pennsylvania. If #BlackLivesMatter leverages itself politically, it’s plausible she finds a burgeoning black youth voting bloc bubbling in key states like Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin and now, South Carolina. However, we’ve yet to see how she’ll do with the African American electorate’s most active segment: Black women voters. President Obama won 96 percent of the black female vote according to 2008 and 2009 exit polls. For Clinton, anecdotal talk and social media streams show little enthusiasm from sisters– and the perception among many black women of white feminist arrogance could prove problematic for a candidate viewed as the personification of white feminist success. With white women voters consistently voting more than 50 percent for Republican presidential candidates since Reagan, it could become an uphill battle for Clinton. Still, that’s an open question mark: we’ve never had a woman presidential nominee before. If candidates like Clinton really need black votes, policymakers should stop sticking their head in the sand on the issue of still-high recession-level black unemployment and underemployment, as well as rising economic inequality and an eviscerated black middle class. A focus on that could tip the black voter scales. Ultimately, how strong or how soft the black vote will be is up to Hillary Clinton as both person and candidate. The depth of the Clinton machine’s black political ties are still solid, relationships so deep they caused serious emotional bruising over then-candidate Obama’s presence in 2008. But a larger question looms over her signature cautiousness: we know she has a habit to over-calculate, but we wonder how much she’ll do that in 2016. If she pulls a 2014 – keeping President Obama at a distance so she won’t alienate skeptical white voters – then she might as well hang up her chances at black voter revival and those dreams of White House return.
(Charles D. Ellison is a veteran political strategist and regular contributor to The Root. Follow him on Twitter.)
April 16 - 22, 2015
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BUSINESS
The New Tri-State Defender
ON OUR WAY TO WEALTHY
Coaching children’s sports league is ‘satisfying’ job for Michael Ritter Sr. ‘I love what I do and it becomes even more satisfying for me after these kids leave me and continue to grow’
Success is often measured by the amount of money made or the size and number of trinkets acquired. But Carlee another of- McCullough, t e n - o v e rEsq. looked element of success is philanthropy. Giving back to others does not simply include writing a check and making a donation. Giving of your time is just as important as dollars donated. Michael Ritter shares his time, effort and energy with youth as a coach and mentor. He also shares his experience with us. Carlee McCullough: Tell us a little about yourself. Micheal Ritter Sr: I am Coach Mike and I coach with the Memphis Truth senior division. We are the Memphis youth organization attached to Deon Sanders and Truth Dallas. I have been coaching for almost 14 years. I have enjoyed some success with coaching football and also shot put and discus for a local track club. I love what I do and it becomes even more satisfying for me after these kids leave me and continue to grow. Teaching basic fundamentals is something that I truly enjoy. CM: How did you get into sports? MR: I began playing youth sports when moving to Memphis in the 70’s as a child. CM: You appear to be pretty fit. How do you maintain the physique? MR: I work out four days a week. You can imagine how difficult it becomes during football season, but I continue to chug along. CM: How did you become involved with kids? MR: When my children began playing football I noticed that I could help with some things. The following year I asked the head coach if the team could use some help and he said yes. Things just took off from there. I have been coaching now for almost 14 years, and at one time I was coaching two sports. CM: What is the name of
the league? How do parents get their children involved? MR: I coach with the Memphis Knights/Truth and we play within the Orange Mound Youth Association (OMYA) and our 13 – 14-year old division plays within the Shelby Youth Sports (SYS). If parents decide that they want to bring their children – ages
4-14, girls and boys – out to cheer, play basketball or football, they can check out our website, Memphis Knights. com or contact me at 901-8269060. Please leave a message if I am unable to answer. CM: Are there any fees involved? MR: Yes, the fees range
BBB launches customer reviews
Whether favorable or unfavorable, customers can post a review on BBB’s website about their experiences with local businesses. BBB serving the Mid-South has launched a new platform for customers to voice favorable or unfavorable experiences with local businesses. They can now post reviews on BBB’s website that will become part of the company’s BBB Business Review® report. “For many years, consumers have asked the BBB for a way to praise businesses for admirable practices and good service. Now BBB customer reviews give them that option,” said Randy Hutchinson, BBB president and CEO. “In the few months that we’ve been quietly gaining experience with customer reviews, 61 percent have complimented the business.” Consumers who simply want to share their experience with a company can file a review, which will not affect the company’s BBB rating and may cover a wider range of subject matter than a complaint. BBB simply posts the comments of the consumer and business if it responds. Consumers seeking a specific resolution to a problem can still file a complaint. Consumers who file a review are required to provide identifying information, which is redacted when the review is published, that both BBB and the business can use to verify that there was a marketplace transaction between the parties. The business is given the opportunity to respond before the review is published. “This is one more free BBB service that consumers can use to get a clear picture of a company’s track record in the marketplace, so it’s more
important than ever for them to check with the BBB before hiring a company,” said Hutchinson. The company’s BBB Business Review also shows its rating, its complaint experience and the text of complaints (if any), and whether the company has committed to BBB’s standards for operating an ethical business by becoming a BBB Accredited Business.
BBB serving the MidSouth serves 28 counties in West Tennessee, North Mississippi, and East Arkansas and has 3,500 BBB Accredited Business members. In 2014, BBB responded to over 1.4 million inquiries from consumers and businesses looking for trustworthy companies to deal with and seeking advice on how to avoid being victimized by consumer fraud.
from $150-$200 for football/ basketball/cheer. There are other things that are included in these fees to help cover the cost. CM: What does this league/ team mean to the kids? MR: There is only one true way to answer that and that is to ask one of the kids that have completely gone through
the program. Truth Memphis athletics is about more than just sports. This youth program also offers tutoring and a mentoring program that looks to help children stay engaged with positive people who care about them and give them something positive to do. CM: What put you on the
path to create this environment for children? MR: My career path chose the direction. My work environment brings me face-to-face on daily basis with children that choose not to make good decisions in their life; some have absolutely no control over their lives and look for some kind of escape that is positive. I coach, lend myself as a teacher and carry myself as a mentor so I can remind myself that not every child wants to be a product of their environment in which they live. CM: How do you balance family life and this interest? MR: I have a very endearing young lady in my life that helps me with this project completely. Trust me, it is a very delicate balancing act, but together we make it work. CM: You could be focused on making money rather than philanthropic endeavors. What fuels this as a passion for you? MR: I have done this a long time. To have some of these young people call after they leave and keep me up to date with what is going on in their lives puts a smile on my face to know that I may have had some kind of positive influence in their life. CM: Any advice to those interested in becoming involved? MR: I would love to be able to give you some kind of magic words that would be compelling to others that would make them want to do this. But as adults, we become selfish with our time and energy when it comes to helping others. All I can say to that type of thinking is, if you help one today – whether directly or indirectly – it may be that same person that affects YOU directly or indirectly. CM: How can people contact you? MR: They can call me, email me or just come out to Godwin Park to see what we are doing in our community.
(Michael Ritter can be reached at 901-826-9060 or by email at b3g8m7@yahoo. com. His website address is memphisknights.net)
(Contact Carlee M. McCullough, Esq. at 901-7950050; email – jstce4all@aol. com.)
April 16 - 22, 2015
The New Tri-State Defender
(Erica Campbell (Photo: Rick Diamond/ Getty Images for IEBA)
Page 9
RELIGION
COMMENTARY
Service...
Erica Campbell’s ‘I Luh God’ stirs ‘trap’ music controversy by Demetria Lucas D’Oyley The Root
I grew up on gospel music, listening to songs of the genre that would be considered classics. My grandmother was the choir director of a church in Detroit, where I spent every summer. My mother took me to Washington, D.C.’s Vermont Avenue nearly every Sunday morning, and on the occasional seventh day I wasn’t sitting in a pew, I was inundated all morning with the gospel selections of WHUR’s Jacquie Gales Webb until noon. I don’t attended church regularly anymore, but I can roll off the lyrics to “Order My Steps” (in heavy rotation on my iPhone), “It Is Well With My Soul” and “How Great Thou Art” with ease. I catch the spirit (and sing along) to Ledisi’s version of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” from the Selma soundtrack, Yolanda Adam’s “I Love the Lord” from the 2012 NAACP Awards and Fantasia’s chilling “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” from the recent Black Girls Rock! Awards. When it comes to gospel, my taste seems to lean toward that of a traditionalist. And still, I find no real issue with “I Luh God,” the controversial new single from Erica Campbell, one half of the Mary Mary gospel duo. Campbell’s latest offering is a traditional gospel message—have faith, God has blessed me, get on it (“it” being God/Christianity)—set to a “trap” beat, one you’d expect from maybe Three 6 Mafia or UGK. There’s also some slang—she’s in “luh,” not “love”—thrown in for good measure. Mary Mary has often blurred the lines of gospel and secular—there was outrage over the group’s award-winning song, “God in Me,” which found its way into clubs. Then there was the controversy over an Instagram photograph of Campbell in a curve-hugging dress—but with “I Luh God,” some say Campbell has finally gone too far. “In an attempt to reach new audiences, Erica is falling into the same trap (so to speak) as your favorite trash-radio rappers— dumbing down their messages to appeal to soft-minded listeners,” writes Edward Bowser at Soul in Stereo, encompassing the sentiment of naysayers. “It’s not the direction I have beef with, it’s the preschool-level message. I mean look at the title alone–‘I Luh God.’ Playa, you can’t take an extra millisecond to properly pronounce love? The production, the lyrics, everything is embarrassingly basic and has none of the substance of earlier contemporary hits like ‘Shackles’ or ‘Go Get It’ or ‘God in Me.’ “And I won’t even get into the sheer madness of christening a genre of gospel ‘trap,’” Bowser added. “Who told Erica it was cute to name hymns after drug houses?” Campbell defended “I Luh God” on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. “Everyone doesn’t speak properly,” she said. “Everyone doesn’t live in a well-maintained, manicured neighborhood. People live in rough neighborhoods and they speak how they speak. No matter where you are, you have to acknowledge that you’re blessed. Everybody don’t like it. Some people are upset about it, but they’ll be all right. God don’t live in a box. Why should I?” Personally, I prefer it when Campbell (and her sister) shows off the range of her powerhouse voice, so “I Luh God” isn’t my clichéd cup of tea. But there’s nothing inherently wrong with the song. Yes, it’s a gully, hip-hop beat, but she’s not singing about being “in love with the coco.” She’s singing about God. What separates gospel from every other genre isn’t the beat, it’s the message. And “I Luh God,” ebonics and all, doesn’t falter from gospel music’s core foundation: the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let Campbell live. And sing. And rap (kinda). Her new song—and likely, her next hit—is the intersection of “reaching people where they are” and ministering through music. Somewhere, there is a young woman with green hair, who is known to declare on Instagram how much she “luhs herself” some-something. And right this moment, she is bopping in her car, singing about loving God because of this here trap beat. How is that a bad thing? (Demetria Lucas D’Oyley is a contributing editor at The Root, a life coach and author. Follow her on Twitter.)
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. – Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
Mt. Olive Cathedral C.M.E. Church, 538 Dr. M.L. King Jr. Ave., celebrated Annual Women’s Day 2015 and LEADing Ladies (Law Enforcement Appreciation Day) Who Serve and Protect Sunday, April 12. From left: Rev. E. L. Perry, Bishop Henry M. Williamson Sr., retired Bishop William Graves, Mayor A C Wharton Jr., Rev. Peris J. Lester I, church pastor, and Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong. (Photos: Tyrone P. Easley)
Women who serve... The LEADing Ladies of Mt. Olive were dispatcher LaShey Wright (left), Lt. C. Elaine Easter, Lt. Loyce Bonds, the first female and first African-American DUI officer; and Sheriff’s Deputy Emilie Brownlee.
Praise and prayer in the park... Rev. Isaac Wright (left), pastor of New Fellowship Baptist Church on Alcy Road, and Rev. John Harris, pastor of Old Nonconnah Baptist Church on Brooks Road, chat with a group of young “saints” in Hillview Park on Alcy Road during “Praise and Prayer in The Park” Saturday, April 11. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
Keynoting the celebratory gala... Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., the presiding bishop and chief apostle of the Church of God in Christ, was in Memphis Monday, April 13, to keynote the inaugural gala honoring Auxillary Bishop Charles Harrison Mason Patterson Jr. at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. Bishop Patterson gave an emotion-filled testimony about God’s grace. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
ENTERTAINMENT The New Tri-State Defender, April 16 - 22, 2015, Page 10
Local artist spruces up Handy Park with a mural of Rufus Thomas
by Kelley D. Evans kdevans@tsdmemphis.com
Renovations to a park to improve the visitor experience in Downtown Memphis now includes a huge mural paying homage to late, R & B, “funky” soul singer and comedian Rufus Thomas and the music, culture and history of Beale Street. Located on world-famous Beale Street and Third Street, WC Handy Park is a treat for many tourists and a familiar scene for regulars, where live music is played on a daily basis. Renovations to the park included a call to artists to paint a colorful mural of Thomas on the brick exterior wall facing the park’s small stage near the back of the Pepsi Pavilion’s main stage. Artist Kyle Taylor answered the call and submitted a proposal to Beale Street Management, an affiliate of the Downtown Memphis Commission, to paint the mural and install it inside of Handy Park. Taylor submitted the project by Feb. 13 and began painting the likeness of Thomas using a colorful palette of yellows and purple. The RFP (request for proposals) called for the artist to complete the mural by April 1. “When I saw the RFP I thought about Rufus Thomas as the ‘Funky Chicken,’” Taylor said. “I submitted my proposal not expecting to be chosen – and I was.” Through a rigorous evaluation process by a selection committee, each submission had to meet the project’s goals, and Taylor’s proposal fit the bill. The artwork needed to be visually interesting, memorable and help establish Handy Park as a landmark on Beale Street; honor the spirit and character of Memphis musician Rufus Thomas and Beale Street’s unique character and place as an iconic musical destination; complimentary to its context and site; highly visible to the general public; colorful, unique and original; be thematically appropriate for public display; durable and require no maintenance. Taylor, a Memphis-based artist, designer and illustrator, is interested in African-American art. He is looking to do more pieces capturing the African-American history of Memphis. Thomas made his professional singing debut at the old Elks Club on Beale Street. He was an on-air personality at WDIA. He is the father of soul singer Carla Thomas, singer Vaneese Thomas, and keyboard player Marvell Thomas. The Downtown Memphis Commission has several RFP’s for bid. It is composed of five separate, but related entities collectively responsible for coordinating the redevelopment of Downtown Memphis, a 6.5 square mile Central Business Improvement District. The Commission is 38 years old and has 27 full and part-time employees, with an $11.4 million annual operating budget and approximately $56 million in total assets.
Rufus Thomas immortalized... Kyle Taylor, a Memphis-based artist, designer and illustrator, answered the call to paint a mural of the late R & B, “funky” soul singer and comedian Rufus Thomas and install it inside of Handy Park on world famous Beale Street. (Photo: Kelley D. Evans)
To check for current RFPs, you can visit http://www.downtownmemphiscommission. com/current-rfqsrfps.html.
‘Explore the Cosmos like Neil deGrasse Tyson’ by Terri Schlichenmeyer
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
Nighttime is absolutely your favorite time. Some people choose to hang out with friends after dark. Some go to movies, listen to music, or just go to sleep. But you – as soon as it’s dark, you lay down somewhere quiet and look up. That’s where the stars are, and in the new book by CAP Saucier, you can learn to “Explore the Cosmos like Neil deGrasse Tyson.” Born a few days before the National Aeronautics and Space Administration began, Neil deGrasse Tyson likes to say he’s the same age as NASA. By the time he was nine years old, he was “in love with the night sky” and at eleven, he knew he wanted to be an astrophysicist (a scientist that studies the universe). He was so fascinated by planets and stars that he almost got in trouble with a telescope when he was a teenager. Tyson’s parents both stressed to him that skipping college was not an option and so, though he wasn’t a great student in high school, Tyson went to Harvard, then to the U of Texas and to Columbia University. Why, you might ask, didn’t he become an astronaut? Back then, the program wasn’t open to African Americans, so being an astronaut never even entered his mind. In finding beauty in the night sky, Tyson is not alone. More than 2,500 years ago, the Greeks looked upward and tried to understand what they saw. Other cultures studied the heavens, too; Ptolemy tried to count the stars, and stopped at a thousand. In recent years, we’ve learned more about the cosmos than ever before, but there’s still so much we don’t know.
To study the stars, you need to understand light and physics. You’ll need to know about galaxies and Nebulas, which look different and have descriptive names. You’ll want to find out the truth about black holes, and why you never, ever want to be “spaghettified.” And above all, says Tyson, stay in school, learn math, and go for the best education you can get. Even if you don’t end up studying stars, that’s always a good path to take. I was pleasantly surprised and a little daunted, both, by “Explore the Cosmos like Neil deGrasse Tyson.” The delight comes in the biography part of this book. Author CAP Saucier lets us explore the life of Neil deGrasse Tyson, from his childhood to his fascinating career today and what he thinks about the future of space exploration. Along the way, we’re given an education on the universe and what’s in it. That part, however, can be formidable; the language is more advanced than I would have liked to see in a book for middle-graders. Kids who tackle those sections will need a better-than-average understanding of astroscience, since those pages aren’t otherwise very kid-friendly. I think maybe a science-loving 9-year-old could try this book but it’s really better-suited for someone older. For a sharp child with her head in the stars, “Explore the Cosmos like Neil deGrasse Tyson” is pretty cosmic. “Explore the Cosmos like Neil deGrasse Tyson” by CAP Saucier c. 2015, Prometheus Books $14.99 / $16.00 Canada 177 pages
Author CAP Saucier with Neil deGrasse Tyson. (Photo: Pete Saucier)
The New Tri-State Defender
April 16 - 22, 2015
ENTERTAINMENT
“Shake The Dust,” a Nas-produced documentary, will be released on Vevo’s On Demand feature and other online streaming platforms like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, XBOX TV, and Samsung-connected devices. (Courtesy photo)
by Kam Williams
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
For movies opening April 17, 2015 BIG BUDGET FILMS “Child 44” (R for violence, profanity, disturbing images and a sex scene) Screen adaptation of Tom Rob Smith’s best-selling political thriller of the same name, set behind the Iron Curtain in 1953, about a disgraced Soviet spy (Tom Hardy) who joins forces with his wife (Noomi Rapace) and an army general (Gary Oldman) to track down a pedophilic serial killer preying on young boys. With Joel Kinnaman, Charles Dance, Paddy Considine and Victor Cassel. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” (PG for mild violence) Kevin James reprises the title role in this slapstick-driven sequel, which finds the hapless hero on vacation in Vegas with his college-bound daughter (Raini Rodriguez) until he instinctively jumps into action when duty calls. With Neal McDonough, Nicholas Turturro and Loni Love. “Unfriended” (R for violence, sexuality, teen drug and alcohol abuse, and pervasive profanity) Found footage horror flick revolving around a half-dozen teens who find themselves terrorized over the Internet by a stranger seeking vengeance for a classmate shamed into killing herself a year earlier. Ensemble cast includes Cal Barnes, Matthew Bohrer, Courtney Halverson, Shelley Hennig, Renee Olstead and Will Peltz. INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS “Alex of Venice” (R for profanity, sexual references and drug use) Midlife crisis drama about a workaholic attorney (Mary Elizabeth
Winstead) suddenly forced to reorder her priorities after being unceremoniously dumped by her frustrated, stay-at-home husband (Chris Messina). With Don Johnson, Derek Luke and Troy Garity. “Antarctic Edge: 70 Degrees South” (Unrated) Eco-documentary following a team of scientists in a race against time to understand the rate of planetary climate change at the fastest-warming place on the planet. “Beneath the Helmet” (Unrated) Comingof-age documentary chronicling the transformation of five high school graduates drafted into the Israeli army to defend their country. (In Hebrew with subtitles) “Beyond the Reach” (R for violence) Suspense thriller about a high-rolling corporate executive (Michael Douglas) playing a very dangerous game with his young guide (Jeremy Irvine) during a hunting trip in the Mojave Desert. Cast includes Martin Palmer, David Garver and Hanna Mangan Lawrence. “Felix and Meira” (R for nudity and sexuality) Romance drama, set in Montreal, about the love which blossoms between a loner (Martin Dubreuil) and the sheltered, Hasidic housewife (Hadas Yaron) he meets in a bakery. With Luzer Twersky, Benoit Girard, Melissa Weisz and Anne-Elisabeth Bosse. (In French, Yiddish, English, Hebrew, Spanish and Italian with subtitles) “The Human Experiment” (Unrated) Cautionary documentary, narrated by Sean Penn, warning of the dangers lurking in a variety of everyday household products containing toxic chemicals. “Monkey Kingdom” (G) Nature documentary, narrated by Tina Fey, examining a family
of monkeys living among ancient ruins in a Sri Lankan jungle. The film primarily focuses on one young mother’s struggle to survive while caring for her newborn son. “Mr. X” (Unrated) Sci-fi thriller about a man (Emraan Hashmi) who morphs into a revenge-minded vigilante after developing the superpower of invisibility. With Amyra Dastur, Arunoday Singh and Nora Fatehi. (In Hindi with subtitles) “The Road Within” (R for sexuality, nudity, drug use and pervasive profanity) Cross-country dramedy about a Tourette’s sufferer (Robert Sheehan) who, accompanied by an anorexic (Zoe Kravitz) and an obsessive-compulsive (Dev Patel), escapes from a treatment center in order to scatter his recently-deceased mother’s ashes in the ocean. Featuring Kyra Sedgwick, Ali Hillis and Cooper Roth.
Page 11
Nelly faces drug charges; trooper makes arrest in Putnam County
NASHVILLE – Internationally known hiphop artist “Nelly” faces felony drug charges in Putnam County, Tenn. following his arrest by a state trooper on Saturday morning. Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Haynes, was charged with felony possession of drugs, simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. At approximately 9:20 a.m. on April 11, Trooper Michael Loftis stopped a Prevost motor coach bus on Interstate 40 near the 275-mile marker for failure to display a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and International Fuel Tax Association (IFTA) sticker on the vehicle. The investigating trooper planned to conduct an inspection on the bus when he noticed an odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle. Trooper Loftis, assisted by THP Sgt. Donald Jennings, then conducted a probable cause search of the bus. The troopers discovered in the sleeper area a plastic bag that contained five colored crystal-type rocks that tested positive for methamphetamine, as well as a small amount of marijuana and other drug paraphernalia. Further investigation revealed approximately 100 small Ziploc bags that are commonly associated with the sale of narcotics and numerous handguns, including a gold-plated 50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol, a 45-caliber Tarus pistol, and a 500 magnum Smith and Wesson. The bus was occupied by six people, one of whom was identified as Brian Jones, 44, of St. Louis. Jones, a convicted felon, was also in possession of a handgun and was charged accordingly. Nelly, 40, also of St. Louis, and Jones were traveling to St. Louis when the traffic stop occurred. They were transported to the Putnam County Jail. The weapons and drugs were seized in accordance with state law, according to law enforcement officials.
“Shake the Dust” (Unrated) Hip-hop documentary examining the influence of breakdancing in poor neighborhoods all over the world, from Colombia to Cambodia to Uganda. “The Squeeze” (PG-13 for sexuality, profanity, drug use and mature themes) Crime caper about a notorious gambler (Christopher McDonald) who enlists a modest golf prodigy (Jeremy Sumpter) into playing a series of high-stakes matches against unsuspecting suckers. With Michael Nouri, Jason Dohring and Katherine LaNasa. “True Story” (R for profanity and disturbing material) Fact-based cat-and-mouse caper about a disgraced New York Times reporter’s (Jonah Hill) investigation of the jailed murder suspect (James Franco) who had assumed his identity while on the run from the FBI. With Felicity Jones, Gretchen Mol and Betty Gilpin.
Surprised kiss...
Sunday night, Drake got unexpectedly kissed on (and in) the mouth by Madonna. The Canadian rapper was the headline act for the Coachella event in California and brought Madonna onstage for a mini set.
April 16 - 22, 2015
Page 12
CLASSIFIEDS
Legal Notices
PUBLIC NOTICE THE MEMPHIS URBAN AREA METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION
In compliance with federal regulations 23 CFR 450, the Memphis Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is proposing twelve (12) amendments to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014-2017 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Three (3) TIP amendments are associated with an Air Quality Short Conformity Determination Report. Nine (9) TIP amendments are associated with an Air Quality Exempt Packet. The Memphis MPO will present the Livability 2040 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP): Preferred Scenarios for Approval, the Roadway Classification changes associated with the Atoka-Brighton-Munford Smoothed Urban Boundary, an amendment to the FY 2015 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) to include the Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting Technology Pilot Program, and the US-78/ Lamar Avenue Project funding transfer. The public is hereby given notice that these documents are available for review 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM Monday through Friday in the offices of the Memphis MPO located at 125 N. Main Street, Room 450, Memphis, TN 38103 or for download from the Internet at: www.memphismpo.org. The English copies and Spanish language exclusive summaries are also available for public review in the library systems of Shelby, Fayette, Marshall, and DeSoto counties. Written public comments on the amendments will be accepted through Wednesday, April 29, 2015. Comments may be submitted to Pragati Srivastava, Memphis MPO, 125 N. Main Street, Room 450, Memphis, TN 38103 or via email at Pragati.Srivastava@memphistn.gov. The Memphis MPO TPB will hold a public hearing on Thursday, April 30, 2015, 1:30 PM, at the UT Health Science Center, Student Alumni Building, 800 Madison Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, 38103 to accept oral comments and take action on the proposed items. It is the policy of the Memphis MPO not to discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, national origin or disability in its hiring or employment practices, or in its admissions to or operations of its program, services, or activities. All inquiries for Title VI and/or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), or for persons with disabilities that require aids or services to participate either in the review of these documents or at the hearing may contact Mitchell Lloyd at 901-576-7146, fax (901) 576-7272; or email Mitchell.Lloyd@memphistn.gov to make accessibility arrangements no less than five days prior to the April 30, 2015 TPB meeting. This notice is funded (in part) under an agreement with the State of TN and MS, Departments of Transportation. NOTICE TO BIDDER(S) Shelby County Government is soliciting Seal Bids for the provision of Construction Services to provide parking lot paving at the Shelby County Health Department Building. The Seal Bid is located on the County’s website at www.shelbycountytn. gov, click the link “Department” at the top, then P for the Purchasing Department, then click on the link “Bids.” Bidders are required to download the information for submittal. DUE, May 8, 2015 AT 2:30 PM SEALED BID #SBI-000322 “HEALTH DEPARTMENT PARKING LOT IMPROVEMENTS” A voluntary pre-bid conference will be held at 9:00 A.M. Friday, April 24, 2015 at the following location: Shelby County Roads and Engineering Department, Conference Room, at 6449 Haley Road, Memphis, TN 38134 Shelby County is an equal opportunity affirmative action employer, drug-free with policies of non-discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or military service. THE RIGHT TO REJECT ANY AND ALL BIDS IS RESERVED By order of MARK H. LUTTRELL, JR., SHELBY COUNTY MAYOR SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT All Interested Bidders The Shelby County Board of Education will be accepting written bids for the 2015-2016 SY Bread Bid #042215. Visit our website for additional information: www.scsk12.org-Departments, Procurement Services link, click on Bids & RFPs. Shelby County Board of Education does not accept bids electronically by email or by facsimile. Questions concerning proposals should
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be addressed to Lajuanna Jones-Sulton, Buyer, (901) 416-3508.
(901) 222-2581
Thank you for your interest and responses.
NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Bobby Reed Tax Parcel # 07513500000220 Tax Sale #1003 Exhibit #18213 Price Offered: $4,000.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 1:00 p.m. on May 12, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581
Shelby County Schools – Procurement Services NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Sterling Ford Tax Parcel # 06012300000320 Tax Sale #1003 Exhibit #13577 Price Offered: $4,500.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 2:00 p.m. on May 5, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Artizan Constructors, Inc. Tax Parcel # 08601200000100 Tax Sale #1003 Exhibit #21021 Price Offered: $9,000.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 2:00 p.m. on May 8, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Artizan Constructors, Inc. Tax Parcel # 08601200000110 Tax Sale #1003 Exhibit #21022 Price Offered: $40,000.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 1:00 p.m. on May 8, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL
NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Gerald Jones Tax Parcel # 03406500000040 Tax Sale #0903 Exhibit #2679 Price Offered: $3,750.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 10:00 a.m. on May 6, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Whitney Fant & Melissa Fant Tax Parcel # 0934180B001110 Tax Sale #1003 Exhibit #22315 Price Offered: $5,000.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 8:30 a.m. on May 7, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY
The New Tri-State Defender
GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Andre Hodge and Lisa Chalmers Tax Parcel # 06012300000190 Tax Sale #1002 Exhibit #1327 Price Offered: $3,600.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 10:00 a.m. on May 8, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Move In Investment, Inc. Tax Parcel # 07611000000090 Tax Sale #1003 Exhibit #19187 Price Offered: $4,000.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 10:00 a.m. on May 7, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Maria Aguilar Tax Parcel # 05205000000100 Tax Sale #0903 Exhibit #2213 Price Offered: $3,000.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 1:00 p.m. on May 5, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Clay McGee Tax Parcel # 03701700000090 Tax Sale # 0802 Exhibit # 5757 Price Offered: $1,500.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 2:00 p.m. on May 6, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase
for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Clay McGee Tax Parcel # 03701700000100 Tax Sale # 0802 Exhibit # 5758 Price Offered: $900.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 2:00 p.m. on May 6, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581
NOTICE OF PROPOSED SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT Notice is hereby given, pursuant to T.C.A. § 67-5-2507, that Shelby County Government has received an Offer to Purchase for the following property: 1. Purchaser: Florian Meeks, IV and Demetrice Meeks Tax Parcel # 09000200003190 Tax Sale # 1003 Exhibit # 21432 Price Offered: $6,000.00 Terms: Cash Additional Offers to Purchase, of at least ten percent (10%) higher, may be submitted within Ten (10) days of the initial publication of this notice. If additional offers are received during this ten (10) day period, all prospective Purchasers must attend a Public “Bid Off” at 10:30 a.m. on May 8, 2015, to be held in the Shelby County Land Bank Office, to determine the highest and best offer. The property shall thereafter be sold to the prospective Purchaser making the highest and best offer without warranties of any sort. SHELBY COUNTY LAND BANK 584 ADAMS AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TN 38103 MIKE BLACKWELL (901) 222-2581 NOTICE TO BIDDER(S)
Shelby County Government is soliciting Seal Bids for the construction of the following project. The Seal Bid is located on the County’s website at www.shelbycountytn. gov, click the link “Department” at the top, then P for the Purchasing Department, and then click on the link “Bids.” DUE THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015 AT 2:30 PM SEALED BID SBI-000325 SIGNAL SYSTEM SET 5 Pre-Bid Conference: A Voluntary PreBid Conference will be held at 9:00 AM, Wednesday April 29, 2015 at Shelby County Roads & Bridges, Conference Room, 6449 Haley Road, Memphis, TN 38134 Shelby County is an equal opportunity affirmative action employer, drug-free with policies of non-discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or military service. THE RIGHT TO REJECT ANY AND ALL BIDS IS RESERVED By order of MARK H. LUTTRELL, JR., SHELBY COUNTY MAYOR SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT NOTICE TO BIDDER(S)
Shelby County Government is soliciting Seal Bids for the construction of the following project. The Seal Bid is located on the County’s website at www.shelbycountytn. gov, click the link “Department” at the top, then P for the Purchasing Department, and then click on the link “Bids.” DUE THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015 AT 2:30 PM SEALED BID SBI-000326 SIGNAL SYSTEM SET 8 Pre-Bid Conference: A Voluntary PreBid Conference will be held at 9:00 AM, Wednesday April 29, 2015 at Shelby County Roads & Bridges, Conference Room, 6449 Haley Road, Memphis, TN 38134 Shelby County is an equal opportunity affirmative action employer, drug-free with policies of non-discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or military service. THE RIGHT TO REJECT ANY AND ALL BIDS IS RESERVED By order of MARK H. LUTTRELL, JR., SHELBY COUNTY MAYOR SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Media’s mega users: finding TV and radio’s biggest fans on their home turf Aligning with the famous “pareto principle,” which states that 80 percent of consumption comes from 20 percent of the participants, heavy media users make up the lion’s share of the usage in markets all across the U.S. Heavy viewers and listeners are often considered the ‘super fans’ of the media ecosystem. These power users devote significant hours of their lives to one medium or another and are the most likely to consistently engage with content and advertising found on those channels. Aligning with the famous “pareto principle,” which states that 80 percent of consumption comes from 20 percent of the participants, heavy media users make up the lion’s share of the usage in markets all across the U.S. Recently, Nielsen released the Audio Today report profiling the listening habits of the 243 million Americans who use radio each week. The report also included a profile of the heaviest users across four media sectors. And an interesting headline emerged: heavy radio listeners and heavy TV viewers are, for the most part, mutually exclusive. Heavy TV viewers watch nearly double the amount of TV each
Nielsen report: Heavy radio listeners and heavy TV viewers are, for the most part, mutually exclusive. week as heavy radio listeners, and conversely, heavy radio listeners
listen to nearly double the amount of radio each week as heavy TV
viewers. Employment is the driving force behind these differences; indeed the majority of all radio usage nationwide comes from the employed audience while they are away from home. Based on habits alone, it is highly unlikely that a heavy radio listener would also be a heavy TV viewer because the heavy radio listener is much more likely to be away from home more often—where TV viewing is less likely to occur. This is a major reason why the findings of other Nielsen studies which have shown that radio does an exceptional job of increasing TV tune-in, particularly in the days and hours leading up to a premier or other primetime event. The consumers most likely to be reached by a tune-in promotion on the radio are not big TV viewers and therefore offer the most opportunity to convert a set of ears on the dial into a pair of eyes on the screen. The same holds true when reversing the situation; ra-
dio broadcasters have for years used TV as an important marketing vehicle to entice new listeners to tune in. In fact, of the four media profiled in the report, heavy radio listeners and heavy Internet users actually have the most in common, not just in their age and working status, but also in how they spend their time. Heavy radio listeners spend nearly nine hours a week online, second only to the heavy Internet group at over 16 hours weekly. And both of these groups are very likely to use social media to stay connected; nearly all (92 percent) heavy Internet users also use social media, and three-quarters of heavy radio listeners do, too. In today’s crowded media jungle, knowing where to focus attention is crucial for marketers and content creators. Reaching enthusiastic users on their favorite medium is the most efficient way to make sure your messages hit home.
The New Tri-State Defender
April 16 - 22, 2015
Page 13
HEALTH
Map the Meal Gap 2015 (PRNewswire-USNewswire) – Food insecurity exists in every county and congressional district in the nation, according to the Map the Meal Gap 2015 study released Wednesday by Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Food insecurity is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s measure of lack of access at times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. Map the Meal Gap 2015 is based on an analysis of statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Census Bureau, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2013, the most recent year for which data is available. District 9, which encompasses Shelby County, was ranked No. 5 among the nation’s congressional districts with the highest rates of food insecurity. This is the fifth year the data have been compiled. There are eight counties in the nation with median household incomes above $100,000, yet each of these counties have child food-insecurity rates above 10 percent. This includes four counties in Virginia: Falls Church City, Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun. In fact, Loudoun is the wealthiest county in the U.S. with a median household income of $122,000, but is also home to more than 10,000 food-insecure children. Other affluent counties with notable rates of child food insecurity are: • Howard County, Maryland, where the median household income is $110,000, yet 15 percent of its children –
some of the counties with the most abundant farm lands that produce millions of pounds of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products also have many families with children at risk of hunger. Fresno, Imperial, Kings, Merced, Monterey and Tulare counties in California all have a higher than average child food-insecurity rate and are also among the top 10 agricultural producers. All six counties have a majority Latino population. Local Meal Cost and Food Budget Shortfall
more than 11,000 – are food insecure. • Los Alamos County, New Mexico has a total population of 18,000 people with a median household income of $107,000, yet nearly 18 percent of its children – nearly 800 – are food insecure. • Douglas County, Colo. has a median household income of $102,000, yet nearly 15 percent of its children – more than 13,000 – are food insecure.
America is Holmes County, Miss., where a third of the population, 33.4 percent, is food insecure. • Los Angeles County is home to the largest estimated population of food-insecure people – nearly 1.5 million – a 14.7 percent food-insecurity rate. • Slope County, North Dakota has the lowest rate of food insecurity of any county in the nation at 4.2 percent.
North Dakota to 43 percent in Apache County, Arizona, home to Navaho Nation, Fort Apache and Zuni American Indian reservations. • The largest estimated population of food-insecure children is Los Angeles County. Nearly 600,000 children, 1 in 4, live at risk of hunger. • There are more than 400,000 food-insecure children across the five boroughs of New York City.
Other key findings from the report include:
Food Insecurity among Children at the County Level
Race
Food Insecurity at the County Level • The county with the highest rate of food insecurity in
• Child food insecurity exists in every county where there are children, ranging from 6.2 percent in Billings County,
• The report finds that hunger disproportionately affects counties where the majority of the population is African American or American Indian. • The report also finds that
• In addition to rates of food insecurity, Map the Meal Gap 2015 estimates the relative cost of an average meal by county. • The lowest meal cost is $1.97 in Maverick County, Texas. • The highest meal cost is $5.01 in Crook County, Oregon. • The meal-cost data demonstrates that 26.4 million food-insecure people live in areas where food costs are higher than the national average. • The food price data and analysis was provided by Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN), a global provider of information and insights. • The report estimates that food-insecure American households have a total “food budget shortfall” of $24.2 billion, compared to $23.5 billion in last year’s report, an increase of $700 million. Congressional Districts • No. 1 among the nation’s congressional districts with the highest rates of food inse-
curity was District 13 in Michigan: Food insecure people – 197,340 (29.3 percent); food insecure children – 50,890 (30.5 percent). • District 2 in Mississippi was ranked No. 2 among the nation’s congressional districts with the highest rates of food insecurity. For 2013, the number of food insecure people was put at 208,530, with a rate of 28.7 percent. The number of food insecure children was listed as 60,490, for a rate of 32.5 percent. • Ranked third was Ohio’s District 11: Food insecure people – 194,480 (28.1 percent); food insecure children – 46,770 (30.3 percent). • Ranked fourth was Florida’s District 5 – 199,970 (27.4 percent); food insecure children –58,270 (31.6 percent). The Map the Meal Gap 2015 study is supported by the founding sponsor The Howard G. Buffett Foundation as well as the ConAgra Foods Foundation and Nielsen. The lead researcher is Dr. Craig Gundersen, professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, executive director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory and member of Feeding America’s Technical Advisory Group. “We must shine a light on the hidden hunger crisis in America if we want to make our nation stronger and create a brighter future for everyone,” said Howard G. Buffett, chairman and CEO of The Howard G. Buffett Foundation. “This data is a powerful tool that we hope will educate people about hunger in their own communities, and more importantly, compel all of us to work to address the issue.”
April 16 - 22, 2015
Page 14
BRIEFS & THINGS
COMMUNITY
Sista Strut steps out strong for breast cancer awareness
Born2Win Concert – A Survivor’s Journey
by Warren Roseborough
The Sharen Rooks Agency and Walking Into A New Life, Inc. will present the 2nd Annual Born2Win Concert – A Survivor’s Journey on June 5 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Great Hall, 1900 S. Germantown Rd. The evening’s line-up includes gospel recording singer and songwriter, Shirley Green, saxophonist Cameron Ross, comedienne Mz. Vivacious and the Born2Win choir, which features individuals who have overcome adversities such as cancer, domestic violence, sexual assault, poverty and homelessness. Multi-talented radio personality, author and spoken word artist Aisha Raison is the host. The cost for attendees is $10. Proceeds benefit Walking Into A New Life, Inc., a nonprofit organization whose mission is to stop domestic violence and help stabilize victims. To learn more about the event, purchase tickets, place an ad, become a sponsor or vendor, call 901-466-6182, email info@ wianl.org and/or visit http://bit. ly/1FNCldl. For more information, visit www.wianl.org, www.sharenrooks.com.
Sista Strut – designed to heighten awareness about the issues of breast cancer in women of color – debuted in Memphis in a big way on Saturday. Hosted by iHeart Media, the inaugural event drew 5,500 participants to Tiger Lane. Each was an advertisement in motion for the importance of African-American women getting checked for breast cancer. Also part of the pitch was the importance of healthy eating and being actively involved in one’s health, including self-checks and being alert for early signs and indications of breast cancer. Local celebrities were in abundance for the event. Mayor AC Wharton Jr. noted that breast cancer affects African-American women more than any other group. Ruby Wilson sang “Lift Every Voice” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” Other notables showing support through their presence included Congressman Steve Cohen, Bobby O’Jay, Bev Johnson, Stan Bell, Devin Steele, Stormy Taylor, Angela Jackson Sheila Whalum. Even before the event kicked off there were indications of widespread support, with 4,000 people registering in advance. Organizers created opportunities for the distribution of information on community resources. Allison Perry made her way to the event. Last August, Perry was diagnosed breast cancer, acknowledging that she had not put any focused thought on the deadly disease
April 21 blood drive set for UTHSC campus Lifeblood, in collaboration with the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation, will host a public blood drive at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) on April 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The goal is to collect 50 units of blood. A minimum of 100 to 125 people must be seen to accomplish this goal. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments will be honored first. To make an appointment, go to http://bit.ly/1ctLL17 or call 901-529-6320. Firsttime donors should contact Lifeblood by phone, or email clublifeblood@lifeblood.org with your name, email address, phone number and preferred time to donate. Donors must be at least 17 years old (or 16 with parental consent), weigh at least 115 pounds, and be in good health. The drive will be held at the UTHSC’s General Education Building, Rooms B201-B204, 8 S. Dunlap. “Lifeblood is very appreciative of UTHSC for the opportunity to host blood drives on campus,” said Susan Berry-Buckley, chief executive officer of Lifeblood. “UTHSC’s students, faculty and staff are impacting the lives of local patients when they donate with Lifeblood.” Until Mother’s Day, May 10, donors will receive a T-shirt honoring women who have received blood for treatment in fighting breast cancer, anemia and other illnesses. Mother’s Day tribute cards will also be available to donors. For those who don’t want the T-shirt, the cost of the shirt will be donated to the donor’s choice of the following organizations: MidSouth Transplant Foundation, Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee, American Cancer Society, or Lifeblood. BRIEFLY: The Faith in Action: Memphis Cleanup 2015 is set for April 18-26. The weeklong event will involve teams of volunteers from faith-based organizations, businesses and schools throughout the city of Memphis. Each team can choose a project from a short list of options provided on the “register now” page or develop its own. For more information, including registration, visit faithinactionmemphis.com. BRIEFLY: The annual Rabies Drive sponsored by the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) Vector Control Program will be held April 18 and April 25 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Residents are encouraged to bring their dogs and cats to the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library at 3030 Poplar Ave.; or Fire Station #66 at 5469 Raleigh Millington in Millington. Dogs must be on a leash; cats must be in carriers. The rabies tag, required by law, varies depending on the city of residence. For more information, call the SCHD Vector Control Program at 901-222-9715 on Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. BRIEFLY: The Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color will host the 9th Annual Gathering of Leaders “I AM A YOUNG MAN: Honoring My Past, Celebrating My Present, Anticipating My Future” at the University of Memphis April 22-24. For more information: http://bit.ly/1a89HFg.
The New Tri-State Defender
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
Hosted by iHeart Media, Sista Strut drew 5,500 participants to Tiger Lane. Each was an advertisement in motion for the importance of African-American women getting checked for breast cancer. (Photos: Warren Roseborough) beforehand. She now is among those trumpeting the importance of early detection. Stax Academy students added their special brand of entertainment to the outing, putting on another stellar performance. Funds from the event go to help local nonprofits engaged in supporting African-American women confronted with breast cancer.
Allison Perry, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last August, talked to The New Tri-State Defender about the importance of early detection.
United Way gets new home from GP Cellulose Dr. Kenneth S. Robinson, president and CEO of United Way of the MidSouth, knows that an “incredibly generous donation” can create “an unprecedented opportunity.” Just such a gift from GP (Georgia-Pacific) Cellulose is a case in point for Robinson. The company’s recent donation of its Memphis office building means a new home for the local United Way. “Not only will our relocation to our new offices allow us to be a more efficient organization, but it will also immediately change the narrative about what United Way means to the communities we serve,” said Robinson. For Georgia Pacific, extending a helping hand to the United Way is in keeping with the fact that many of the products are centered on the home and families. The 37,000 square-foot office building will anchor the United Way in North Memphis. In addition to the building, valued at $1.3 million, GP Cellulose will donate a cash contribution of $100,000 for the
Pictured (l-r): Charmaine Ward, director, GP Community Affairs; Susan Crenshaw, senior director R&D, Cellulose T&IC; Chuck LaPorte, Memphis Cellulose mill manager; Dr. Kenneth S. Robinson, president & CEO, UWMS, and James Barnes, public affairs manager, Memphis Cellulose operations. (Courtesy photo) transition to its new location. Until recently, the building was used as the headquarters location for Buckeye Technologies, a company Georgia-Pacific acquired in 2013. In a release about the transaction, Georgia Pacific officials noted that the
company has been a long-time supporter of the United Way in many facility communities across the country. “(We) share in the belief that strong communities make life better for everyone – our employees, our neighbors and our customers. …
“A proverb that has been adapted many times over says that to make friends you must show yourself friendly. It’s in that spirit that our GP Cellulose business in Memphis is looking forward to having a new neighbor and becoming more integrated into the city.
Bear-like support…
Dedicated to the ones she loves...
The Memphis Child Advocacy Center, along with Katrina Edwards, community leader and Center supporter, hosted a reception (April 10) to thank organizations that helped collect 725 new teddy bears for adoption by children who are victims of sexual abuse or severe physical abuse. Representatives from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.-Phi Lambda Omega Chapter, the Coalition of 100 Black Women and the State Farm Insurance Agents-ATS Study Group were present. Other teddy bear drive supporters were the Memphis Area Women’s Council, Delta Kappa Gamma, Republican Women of Purpose and the Shelby County Legislative Delegation. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
Minister Regina Bennett-West, a noted singer and songwriter, honored Solomon Young (left) and Harold “Scotty” Scott of the Temprees and Heritage Tours of Memphis, during “A Celebration of Art” recently at Amro’s Music Center. Young and Scott are part of the chart-topping trio that wowed fans in the 1970s. Bennett-West dedicated the evening to longtime friend George Barnes. They kept their dreams alive, she said. (Photo: Andrew “Rome” Withers)
A president’s pitch… Lincoln University President Dr. Kevin D. Rome Sr. was at the Holiday Day Inn-University of Memphis recently at the invitation of the Memphis alumni chapter and he spent time with several young people who may one day become Blue Tigers. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
Chapter Charter Day… The Beta Tau Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. at The LeMoyne-Owen College celebrated 77 years of service on Sunday at LOC’s Brownlee Hall. The golden sorors were saluted for their 50 years of commitment. And Clarabelle Howard Weaver (seated) was honored for 75 years, having joined the chapter two years after it was founded in 1938. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
The New Tri-State Defender
April 16 - 22, 2015
Page 15
SPORTS The New Tri-State Defender, April 16 - 22, 2015, Page 16
GRIZZ TRACK
Marc Gasol of the Grizzlies shoots and scores over a trio of Pacers during Memphis’ last regular season game of the year. (Photos: Warren Roseborough)
With countless moves in his bag of tricks, Zach Randolph of the Grizzlies prepares to show Indiana’s Roy Hibbert why he still is tough to handle.
Vince Carter of the Grizzlies passes off to teammate Marc Gasol en route to Memphis’ win over the Indiana Pacers at the FedExForum on Wednesday night.
Jamaal Wilkes: ‘Memoirs of the Original Smooth as Silk’ Rasheed Brooks
Southwest guard Rasheed Brooks All-American Sophomore guard Rasheed Brooks, who led the Southwest men’s basketball team to a 24-4 record and the TCCAA regular season championship, has been selected First Team NJCAA All-American. He is the fourth Saluqi named to the first team, Lorico Duncan (1998), John Grice (2000) and Donald Boone (2007). A native of Mansfield, Ohio, Brooks has signed to play next season at the University of Mississippi. He led the Saluqis with a 14.2 scoring average, 1.9 steals per game and a 76.4 free throw percentage. Brooks was voted First Team All-TCCAA and TCCAA Player of the Year by the conference’s coaches and was also named to the All-Region VII Tournament team. In his two seasons at Southwest, Brooks led the Saluqis to a 47-8 record.
Drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1975, Jamaal Wilkes later joined the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won three titles with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and company. (Photo: ESPN)
by Drew Barrett
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
LaKyesha Stennis
Lady Saluqis star nets honorable mention All-American nod Freshman guard LaKyesha Stennis, the leading scorer for the Southwest women’s basketball team, has been named honorable mention All-American by the National Junior College Athletic Association. Stennis, who came to Southwest from Bryan Station High School in Lexington, Ky, averaged 16.6 points per game and also ranked among team leaders with 5.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.9 steals. She started all 26 games and scored 20 or more points seven times, including a season-high 26 against Motlow State Community College. In addition, Stennis was voted first team All-Tennessee Community College Athletic Association by the conference’s coaches.
When your bio has to account for two-time NCAA Basketball champion, four-time NBA champion, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, owner of your own financial advisory firm and author, well, you’ve got plenty of fodder for memoirs. Jamaal Wilkes’ new book, “Memoirs of the Original Smooth as Silk,” is now available on Amazon.com, Jamaalwilkesbook.com, and in some bookstores. “I wanted to write this book for the fans,” Wilkes recently told The New Tri-State Defender. “This is a way for me to give back some of the love the fans have always showed me.” In “Memoirs of the Original Smooth as Silk” Wilkes talks about his life journey both on and off the court, including the two dynasties that he helped build. While in college Wilkes preformed at a high level, both in the gym and in the classroom. At UCLA he earned academic all-American honors for three straight seasons (1972-4), graduating with a degree in economics. In 1990 he was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic Hall of Fame. “I did so well in the classroom because it was how I was raised and what my parents taught me,” Wilkes said. “My parents taught me to always do my absolute best at everything.” On the court at UCLA meant playing under the direction of legendary coach John Wooden, an experience Wilkes described as “simply awesome.” Wooden, he says, never put a lot of emphasis on winning, even though that seemed to be what his teams did best. “All of his (Wooden’s) emphasis went on being the best that we could and consistently paying attention to detail with a sense of urgency. You really had to bring your “A” game to every practice,” Wilkes said. “Playing at UCLA and under Coach Wooden was like basketball heaven and I
Jamaal Wilkes’ new book, “Memoirs of the Original Smooth as Silk,” is now available on Amazon.com, Jamaalwilkesbook. com, and in some bookstores. (Courtesy photo) believe he was the best basketball coach ever.” As a member of the Bruins, Wilkes, along with Hall of Famer Bill Walton, won two national championships, including the 1973 championship over then-Memphis State. “Memphis had a great team with Larry Finch, Ronnie Robinson, Coach (Gene) Bartow and “Dr. K” Larry Kennon. They were a really fun and ex-
citing team to watch with a lot of talent.” Wilkes was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1975 and won his first NBA championship the same year. He also won rookie of the year. After three seasons with Warriors, Wilkes moved to Los Angeles to play with the Lakers, where he won three titles with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. “It took me a while to learn how to play (with) Magic because he could look over everyone and could do and see things other point guards couldn’t do,” Wilkes said. “For a guy like me, who played without the ball and was a scorer, it was an absolute delight to have him passing you the ball.” Wilkes averaged 18.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game with the Lakers. After he finished his 13-year NBA career, Wilkes put his college education to use and become a mortgage and real estate consultant. In 2003, he started Jamaal Wilkes Financial Advisors. The post-basketball career moves were in keeping with Wilkes’ ongoing commitment to keep learning and doing things he can be passionate about. He originally planned on writing a book back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but that took a back seat to family responsibilities. And while the book covers his dynasty days and the great players he played with and against, it also reflects the influence of his family. “I raised three children and I feel like I can interject some things that would help young people and inspire them to want to achieve and excel,” he said. Busy now promoting “Memoirs of the Original Smooth as Silk,” Wilkes said the next step is to write another book. He also wants to help other retired athletes write books of their own. “If you’re a sports fan, my book is a must read because it’s about the golden era of basketball with the teams I played with. And as a human interest, I think parents, young people and fans of all ages will find it interesting. They’ll find it uplifting and inspirational.”