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Urban Prep Academy turns boys into scholars in Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods
Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel poses for selfie with the young men of Urban Prep Academy. By Curtis Bunn, Urban News Service CHICAGO — In some of Chicago’s lowest income neighborhoods, African-American teenage boys are overcoming their challenging surround-
ings. They are the young men of Urban Prep Academy, an allmale charter high school with a 100 percent graduation rate. All of those students earn college scholarships. And it all starts each morning with a sort of pep
rally in the school’s gym. There is blaring music with inspirational messages. A fivepiece drum band performs African-themed beats. The students — about 125 Black teenagers — line up in rows, dressed
in blue blazers, white shirts, red neckties and khakis. A video appears, featuring Black trailblazers from various disciplines around the world. A student leads his classmates in a punctuality pledge. In the bleachers, Principal Dion Steele grips a microphone. “You are Black, proud, beautiful young men,” he tells the students. “There is a battle out there, and the battle is yours to win.” When Steele says, “It’s time to show some love,” the students greet each other with handshakes, hugs and laughs. When they line back up, Steele updates them on the highestscoring groups in particular classes. They cheer each other. Then, in unison, they recite the school’s creed — a 17-line treatise that begins and ends with “We believe.” In between, its principles champion success, integrity, self-commitment, community and family. This daily wake-up lasts about 30 minutes. It ends with Steele directing the young men to first period at 9 a.m. “Exit through the Door of Solidarity,” he says as they disperse through various parts of the gym. “Exit through the Door of Integrity. Exit through the Door of Resiliency.” (Cont'd on Page 10)
Russell Simmons brings water and attention to plight of Flint residents By Roz Edward, Special to the NNPA News Wire from the Michigan Chronicle When business mogul and founder of the RushCard, Russell Simmons, arrived in Flint early Monday morning to deliver cases of bottled water door-to-door, he did so with a minimal amount of fanfare. Flanked by a handful of local reporters and several staff members, Simmons and his affable team carried case after case of Aquahydrate to eager and desperate residents. In total, Simmons and his team delivered 150,000 bottles of water to cardholders of the prepaid debit card, and students at Flint Southwest Academy. Simmons partnered with Sean “Diddy” Combs and Mark Wahlberg (owner of Aquahydrate) to launch a relief campaign for victims of the Flint water contamination crisis. The campaign includes a pledge of 1,000,000 bottles of water to the people of Flint. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
“The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.” 2 Timothy 1:16 (NAS) By Bobby R. Henry, Sr. Here lately I’m beginning to feel like no one really cares about ending HIV/AIDS in this country in general, but most importantly, in particular the Black and Brown communities. I feel this way largely because there is less attention being presented to where the disease is devastating the most; yes there is great lip service but nothing that contributes to cold hard facts in terms of cash and concerted efforts from the pharmaceutical companies. (Cont'd on Page 6) **********
Senator Lee says Lottery targets the poor Black owned media get, 'crumbs from tables of plenty' Congratulations to Senator Tom Lee (R-Brandon) for exposing the Florida Lottery’s dirty little secret —“targeting” low income Floridians. Lee’s bill, SB 790 passed the Senate Regulated Industries Committee last week. It would limit the number of lottery scratch-off games to 20 or less and the price of a ticket not to exceed $10. Currently, the Lottery offers up to 75 different scratch-off games with no limit at prices ranging from $1 to Clarence V. McKee, Esq. $25. In his comments before the Committee, Lee pointed out that scratch-off games have generated $26 billion in the past nine years and that the top grossing zip codes “includsome of the poorest in our state.” (Cont'd on Page 7)
Respectively, ages 25-44 in 2010 – higher than any other racial/ethnic group
Russell Simmons delivers water to victims of Flint water crisis. (Kory Woods/Michigan Chronicle/NNPA)
Toyota Motor Cr Credit edit to pay $21.9 million for discriminatory practices Each year observances and events offered in recognition of Black History Month offer opportunities for people of all colors and locales to reflect on the unique experiences of Blacks both past and present.
What is stopping you from joining the fight against HIV/AIDS
HIV was the fifth and seventh leading cause of death for Black men and women
More than 40 years after fair credit laws, racial discrimination continues By Charlene Crowell
February 7, 2016 was National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Many of the annual observances chronicle progress since the passage of laws adopted years ago to ensure that Black citizens and others of color would enjoy all freedoms and benefits that come with citizenship. Yet in recent months, too
Pleading Our Own Cause
many headlines have illustrated how multiple forms of injustice still plague Black America. Whether from Ferguson to Flint or Chicago to Cleveland, the barrage of assaults remind us how far our journey towards justice has yet to go.
WWW.
And when it comes to credit and financing, racial disparities remain despite a 42-year-old federal law guaranteeing fair treatment in lending. Four decades ought to be long enough for businesses and corporations to accept and comply with the law of the land. (Cont'd on Page 10)
In the face of recent racially driven conversations approaching this Black History Month, Feb. 7, 2016 marked the 17th observance of the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) in the United States. In 1999, NBHAAD was created to raise national awareness of the impact of HIV in the Black community in the United States, and to mobilize efforts around the world to eradicate the virus. In a recent study, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that, although Black Americans represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 44 percent of new HIV infections and an estimated 44 percent of people living with HIV. Even more alarming, the rate of
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infection within the Black community is nearly eight times that of whites and more than twice that of Latinos. Based on these numbers, we must normalize discussions on race, and effectively bend the curve of new HIV infections. Such drastic differences enforce a need for NBHAAD’s Pillars: to Educate, Test, Involve, and Treat. (Cont'd on Page 13) MEMBER: National Newspaper Publishers Association ( NNPA), and Southeastern African-American Publishers Association (SAAPA) Florida Association of Black Owned Media (FABOM)
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First elected Black governor says the Black vote is Clinton’s only hope to win presidency By Joey Matthews Richmond Free Press
Former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder. He says Hillary Clinton will need every Black vote to get to the White House Former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder says Hillary Clinton will need a massive Black vote turnout to get into the White House
(TriceEdneyWire.com) — Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s first elected African-American governor and one-time Democratic presidential candidate, issued a cautionary warning to Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s campaign prior to a talk and booksigning event at his alma mater, Virginia Union University. When a Richmond Free Press reporter asked him to assess Mrs. Clinton’s skin-tight victory over Democratic rival U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses, Wilder said, “I was shocked that it was that close.” He continued, “I think every-one will see now that the only way Hillary Clinton will get the nomination is with a massive African American vote,” he added. “Without that, it’s gone.” The former U.S. secretary of state edged out Sen. Sanders by less than a percentage point in the first leg of the presidential nominating process. Voters then shifted their focus to the next contest, the New Hampshire primary, which is taking place today. Sanders is leading in early voting, according to various news outlets. In 2008 and 2012, President Obama’s presidential victories were fueled largely by huge turnouts from African-American voters, where he earned well in excess of 90 percent of the Black vote, including in Virginia. Political pundits also have forecast Clinton will need substantial support from the African-American community if she is to prevail in the primary process or be successful in November’s general election against an as-yet unde-termined Republican contender. Riding the wave of popularity and national publicity,
his election as governor brought in November 1989, Wilder announced midway through his four-year term that he was seeking the Democratic nomination for president. His candidacy lasted just under four months, from Sept. 13, 1991, to Jan. 8, 1992, when he announced he didn’t have time to seek the nation’s highest office and effectively run the state. At the book signing, Wilder said that he is not ready to endorse a candidate for president at this point. Minutes later, the governor broached the subject of the African-American vote again in his address to about 100 people in the L. Douglas Wilder Library & Learning Resource Center, where he also autographed copies of his new autobiography, “Son of Virginia: A Life in America’s Political Arena.” When people talk about a candidate’s potential for being elected president, “you hear, and I hear someone always saying, ‘We’ve just to have the young people’s vote for this to happen. We’ve just to get that millennial vote. We’ve just got to get the women’s vote. Don’t forget the Hispanic vote. We’ve got to have it.’ “Now I want you to raise your hands. How many of you have heard anyone publicly proclaim, ‘We have got to have the African-American vote?’ “And you won’t hear it,” he said. “People say, ‘Well, you know, they take us for granted.’ Well, what do you do about it? When you stand up, you’re not a team player.” Wilder told the young people in the audience that it was important for them to attain the best education they can. “When I was growing up, it was not are you going to college, but, where are you going to college?” he said. “If you have no more than education,” he later added, “you are one step ahead of the person who doesn’t have it.” In opening remarks, VUU President Claude G. Perkins introduced Wilder — who grew
up in Church Hill in the East End section of Richmond, and served in the state Senate, as lieutenant governor and as Richmond’s mayor — as a “man from the East End who has gone to the far ends of the world to carry the message of hope, equality and dignity to mankind.” Richmond residents and longtime friends LaVerne Cooper and Florence Neal Cooper Smith said they were thrilled they could come to see Wilder at the book signing event. “We went to Armstrong High School with him from 1943 through 1947 and then went to Virginia Union with him from 1947 through 1951,” Cooper said. “And our husbands were members of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity with him and they were all friends. And we still stay in touch with him today,” she added. “We’re so proud of him,” Smith said. “He’s always been a leader and a go-getter.” Former Richmond Judge Willard H. Douglas Jr., who sat near the former governor, noted that when he was elected in 1974 by the General Assembly and became the state’s first fulltime African-American judge,
it was then-Sen. Wilder who had nominated him. “He helped me and a lot of other people along the way,” the retired judge said. “He has been a great public servant for the state and the nation.” After his address, about 70 people lined up to have their books signed by Wilder. Dr. Gerard McShepard, chair of VUU’s Department of Natural Sciences, was first in line. “We talk about him in one of my classes on African-American perspectives in science,” McShepard said. “He graduated from Virginia Union with a degree in chemistry and we talk about how he used his degree in the STEM field to accomplish all that he has.” Behind him, Delores Llewellyn, an associate math professor, said, “He’s an inspiation to all of us on what you can become in life with hard work and determination.” Jamal Ciego, a VUU junior majoring in history and political science, said he wanted to see “in person the first elected African-American governor in the nation, who has done a lot of great things. He’s an inspiration to a lot of people like me.”
Alabama woman recounts devastating debtors’ prison experience to congressional staffers
Harriet Cleveland spent time in jail because she was unable to pay her traffic tickets. Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Southern Poverty Law Center (TriceEdneyWire.com) — A Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) client who served time in a modern-day debtors’ prison in Alabama when she couldn’t pay fines for minor traffic tickets told her story to congressional staffers on Capitol Hill and called for action to prevent others from going to jail simply for being poor. Harriet Cleveland spent time in jail because was in debt. Harriet Cleveland spoke at a briefing that examined the practice of cities and counties hiring for-profit private “probation” companies to collect minor fines and fees. The grandmother from Montgomery was joined by Sam Brooke, SPLC deputy legal director, to highlight how these companies, which operate across the country, often use the justice system to extort payments from the poor – including fees for their own profit – under the threat of jail. It’s apparent to Cleveland that Congress must act. “It has to be addressed nationwide so [people] don’t have to worry about going to jail because they can’t afford to pay,” she said after speaking to 50 staff members gathered in a packed meeting room in the Rayburn House Office Building. The briefing was held last month, the same week that U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., introduced legislation – the “End of Debtors’ Prison Act of 2016” – that would cut federal funds from municipalities that hire for-pro-fit private probation companies. “This is not a problem that is unique to Alabama,” Brooke said. “These same companies are working in many different states, particularly in the Southeast.” When Cleveland couldn’t immediately pay her traffic tickets in the city of Montgomery, she was placed on pay-only probation. She made her payments to Judicial Corrections Services (JCS), a private probation company that collected fines for the city. She paid a $140 monthly payment – $40 of which went to the company. She was desperate to come up with the money for JCS.
“I lost my car to a title loan in order to come up with the amount they told me I had to come up with to keep from going to jail again, so I had to do that,” Cleveland said as she wiped away tears during the briefing. When she could no longer make the payments, a police officer arrested her in 2013 at her home while she was babysitting her grandson. A judge sentenced her to 31 days in jail even though debtors’ prisons were abolished in the United States almost 200 years ago. She spent two weeks in jail before SPLC lawyers secured her release. An SPLC lawsuit ended after a settlement was reached to change the city’s practices. JCS left Alabama last year after the SPLC filed a separate lawsuit against the company for violating federal racketeer-ing laws with its business prac-tices. JCS once had contracts with more than 100 local governments in the state. Despite this victory, people across the country are finding themselves in Cleveland’s situation. Governments hoping to generate more revenue are turning to these companies which typically don’t charge them for their services but rely on fees they charge probationers. Hundreds of thousands of people fined in more than 1,000 courts are paying such fees. Private probation companies in Georgia collected almost $40 million in fees in 2012 alone, according to a Human Rights Watch report. “Plain and simple, it’s a racketeering scheme where people are being extorted,” Brooke said. “The company is using the threat of jail. They are telling people if you don’t pay, you are going to go to jail. It’s clearly extortion because you can’t jail someone for not being able to pay.” He also noted that private probation companies create a two-tiered justice system – one where people of means pay and go and one where low-income people ultimately pay more. The “End of Debtors’ Prison Act of 2016” would withhold Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants from governments contracting with these companies. The SPLC endorses the legislation.
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Hillary Clinton tours Flint, Michigan Lends her voice, support for federal plan to aid city By D. Kevin McNeir, NNPA News Wire Contributing Writer Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a pause from campaigning on Feb. 7 to visit Flint, Mich. at the invitation of the city’s mayor, Karen Weaver, following weeks of conversations between the two leaders about the health crisis that citizens, particularly children, continue to face after several years of drinking and bathing in tainted water. While on the campaign trail and even during interviews and private speaking engagements, Clinton has referred frequently to the challenges facing the
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (l) visits with Flint, Michigan Mayor Karen.
Weaver to discuss the water crisis in Flint and relief efforts. (Photos by Barbara Kinney/Hillary for America) residents of the lead-poisoned city – a once bustling factory town long in decline that in addition to widespread poverty and unprecedented unemployment now faces a state-declared man-made emergency because of undrinkable tap water. Former Secretary of State and First Lady Clinton, scheduled to tour the city with Mayor Weaver, spoke to Flint residents at the House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church, and then traversed the city listening to personal testimonies, requests and complaints in order to learn more about the state of the crisis. Weaver, during an MSNBC televised interview on Sunday, said Clinton has promised to help in every way possible including adding pressure on Congress to approve a bill that would allow for federal funding to help the city deal with its water crisis. “We’ve been waiting for the state [of Michigan] for almost two years to come in here and fix this problem,” Weaver said. “We can’t wait any longer.” Clinton spoke with the NNPA News Wire from Flint by telephone following her tour and a host of meetings with clergy, elected officials, the mayor and residents of the city. “I was honored to be asked to come to Flint by the city’s mayor as she continues her valiant effort to draw national attention to the tragedy here,” Clinton said. “This is not merely unacceptable and wrong, but also immoral. The children of Flint are just as precious as children in any other place and they’re deserving of health care and a quality education. We still don’t know how many will be effected or the challenges that they will face in the future. But we do know that action is needed immediately. During my visit here, I had the opportunity to address a large congregation at the House of Prayer where their pastor and others remain committed to bringing about positive change.” Clinton continued: “I hear that both senators from Michigan are proposing a $200 mil-
lion bill and Congress should pass that bill. Then we need to figure out how to initiate more medical testing and also institute educational support so that everyone, especially the children here, are better equipped to cope with the long term effects of lead poisoning. The state of Michigan also needs to step up to the plate.” Clinton added that it’s vital that a bright line be shined on Flint. “What happened here was so egregious – officials knew what was going on and they ignored it, they remained indifferent to it – this particular crisis deserves as much attention as possible. First things first – everyone deserves clean air and clean water,” she said as she prepared to return to New Hampshire in order to campaign for the final days before the state holds its presidential primary elections. Weaver has recently begun promoting a private-public partnership that would fund a complete pipe system replacement, but she also remains highly critical of state officials, particularly Governor Rick Snyder, who she says knew about the foul, lead-poisoned water but
chose to look the other way because of the costs related to overhauling the pipe system. Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta, in an earlier statement, said, “We should use the spotlight of the presidential campaign to keep the focus on Flint and to lift up the historic underlying issues that Flint and too many other predominantly low-income communities of color across American are struggling with each day.” During the latest Democratic presidential debate, held last week and aired by MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, who served as a co-moderator, asked Clinton if she would launch a federal response. Clinton said she would “absolutely” while also seeking remedies to the myriad of burdens now faced by Flint residents. “That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever health care and educational embellishments they may need going forward and I think the federal government has ways where it can bill the state of Michigan,” Clinton told Maddow. “If Michigan won’t do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it and hold them accountable.”
February 11 - February 17, 2016 • Page 3
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Event
Commissioner Edmonson Miami-Dade County Commissioner Audrey M. Edmonson presented by Latonja Eppinger, SMART GAL Productions and Suzanne Boyd, The Party Company, The film Black Friday What Legacy Will You Leave? When you die will you leave bills or benefits?, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 at 7 p.m., at The Historic Lyric Theater, 819 N.W. Second Ave., Miami, Fla. For VIP package info call (800) 385-1819.
Celebration
Sen. Chris Smith The City of Lauderdale Lakes Eight Annual Black History Parade, celebrating Heritage & History, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., at starting location Willie Webb Senior Park, 3601 N.W. 21 St., Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. Ending location, Community Carnival.
Luncheon
Health Fair
Vice-Mayor Darlene B. Riggs, in partnership with Care Community Center in celebrating Black History Month, will host a free health fair and family fun day Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 6452 Pembroke Rd., Miramar, Fla. Free blood pressure chest, breast exams, HIV testing, flu shots, immunizations, school health exams, Medicaid, state insurance for kids and more.
EDUCATION MATTERS Every Child Deserves a Chance to Succeed.
Join the BCBA YLS, the Caribbean Bar Association, the T.J. Reddick Bar Association and the Haitian Lawyers Association for our February Luncheon, Diversity Across the Bench, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016 from 12 to 1:30 p.m., at Tower Club, 28th Floor, 100 S.E. Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. For cost and additional info go to http:// www.eventbrite.com/e/season2-village-square -dinner-2tickets-18866799810
Festival
Eta Nu Education Foundation Third Annual Black History Festival presents by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity - Eta Nu Chapter and The City of Pompano Beach, Thursday, Feb. 18-21, 2016 at the E. Pat Larkins Community Center, 520 Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd., Pompano Beach, Fla.
Discussion
NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library will host a viewing and discussion of the documentary “The Loving Story,” Film Viewing and Discussion, Sunday, Feb.14, 2016 at 2 p.m., at Cotilla Gallery, Alvin Sherman Library, 3100 Ray Ferrero, Jr. Blvd, Fort Lauderdale – Davie, Fla For more info contact Public Library Services (954) 262-5477. This is a free event.
Conference
South Broward Alumnae Chapter presents Delta GEMS Conference 2016, Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Broward College 7200 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, Fla. Open to the public, high school students ages 14-18. There will be games, prizes, workshops, activities and Scholarship Available. For more info call Yolanda Brown at (954) 529-9835 info@dstouthbroward.org
Luncheon
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., South Broward Alumnae Chapter (SBAC) presents the Seventh Annual Red Shoe Luncheon on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, at Tatiana’s Restaurant and Club, 1710 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd, Hallandale Beach. Doors open at 10:30 am. Tickets may be purchased by visiting http:// www.dstsouthbroward.org. For more information call (954) 303-3585 or info@dstsouthbroward.org.
Rally
Lauderhill 6-12 hosts Teen Dating Violence Awareness Rally, Lauderhill STEM-MED students, Women in Distress, Lauderhill Police Department, Broward County Public Schools, Staff, Volunteers and Business Partners, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at Lauderhill 6-12, 1901 N.W. 49 Ave., Lauderhill, Fla.
Happenings at African-American Research Library and Cultural Center
Second Annual Black Empowerment Summit presented by Fort Lauderdale Community Center. All events at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center · Political - Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. · Economics – Thursday, Feb. 18 – from 11 a.m. 5 p.m. ·Network FUNdraiser: The Hope Band “Private Club” PopUp Concert! from 7 to 10 p.m., for tickets info contact www.eventbrite.com/fleefundraiser-the-hope-bandsprivate-club-tickets21041221861 ·Social – Tuesday, Feb. 23 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Join the fun and excitement at Sistrunk's Annual Parade and Street Festival, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. WE ARE RETURNING TO THE STREETS!!! Deadline for all application is February 19th. A late assessment fee will be added for application received after this date. For further info, visit sistrunkfestival.org or call (954) 779-4376. Margaret Haynie Birch (954) 593-7413
Greek Unity Day Program
The Mount Hermon A.M.E. Church Family (Fort Lauderdale), Pastor, Rev. Henry E. Green, Jr., cordially invites the entire community to attend our 22nd Annual Greek Unity Day Observance, 10:15 A.M. on Sunday Feb. 21, 2016 at 10:45 a.m., at Mount Hermon A.M.E. Church, at 401 N.W. 7th Terr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. For additional information please contact Committee Chairperson Dr. Sylvia Sloane Jones at (954) 701-0744.
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Opinion
The Westside Gazette, under the Management of BI-ADs, Inc., reserves the right to publish Views and Opinions by Contributing Writers may not necessarily reflect those of the Staff and Management of The Westside Gazette Newspaper and are solely the product of the responsible individual(s) who submit comments published in this newspaper.
Fix Flint water now! By Rev. Dr. R. B. Holmes, Jr. of the Capital Outlook What is happening in Flint, Mich., is a shame, a sin, a disgrace and an abomination. The big question is “What are we going to do about it?” As you should know about now, the good people of Flint have been drinking bad, dirty, filthy and toxic water for over a year. Yes, children, their parents, the elderly, the sick, and the weak have been drinking, cooking, bathing and washing their clothes in toxic, contaminated water. The question is ”What are we going to do about it?” Flint can be your city; this can be your family, your mother, your grandmother and your children drinking nasty water simply because the government did not care.
In a move to save money in April 2014, the state of Michigan disconnected the water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The city of Flint was taken over by the government to fix the so-called economic problems in the city. They fixed it alright by “flipping the switch.” Flint has a population close to 100,000 people and over half of them are Black and poor. Consequently, it was easy to disconnect the flow of good water and allow these poor people to drink from the polluted Flint River. Yes, the governor needs to be ashamed of himself and all of his appointees who were directly or indirectly involved in this reckless matter. “The Michigan Department of En
Black quarterbacks are still held to a different standard By George E. Curry George Curry Media Columnist Despite Cam Newton leading the Carolina Panthers to a 15-1 record during the regular reason and two playoff victories en route to his being selected the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and six Black QBs playing in the
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Super Bowl, Black quarterbacks are still routinely subjected to a double-standard by fans and the media. In a game an errorfilled game in which neither star quarterback played particularly well, Newton’s team lost Sunday to the Denver Broncos 24-10. Even so, he had a stellar season by all accounts: throwing for 3,837 yards, including a league-high of 35 touchdowns, and running 636 yards, accounting for 10 more TDs. He was selected as a first-team All-Pro and received 48 of the 50 votes cast for league MVP. The undisputed leader of his team was clearly having fun on the field all year — at least until Sunday — and wasn’t shy about showing it. And that’s a breath of fresh air in the NFL which some say stands for No Fun League. Not only does Newton have at least five different dances, he races to end zone stands after scoring and flips the ball to a smiling, grateful kid. Similar criticism is never leveled at quarterback Aaron Rodgers who performs the Lambeau Leap in the end zone stands after scoring a touchdown. While other teams are penalized for excessive celebrating, the NFL exempts Green Bay players from being disciplined for jumping in the stands after scoring. But officials are quick to penalize Black players. Although African Americans comprise 65 percent of the NFL, they receive 91 percent of the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties assessed after touchdowns, according to a 2012 study titled, “The Hubris Penalty: Biased Responses to ‘Celebration’ Displays of Black Football Players.” The authors, Robert Livingston and Erika V. Hall, noted of the celebrations, “This challenges whites’ perceptions that they are and should be in charge. These perceptions and feelings often operate at an implicit or subconscious level. However, it is the black player who ends up getting blamed, rather than whites’ implicit bias. “What is clear, however, both in our data and in many real-world scenarios, is that it’s perfectly fine for white males to show a lack of humility. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
vironmental Quality (MDEQ) incorrectly advised the city of Flint that corrosion control treatment was not necessary, resulting in leaking of lead into the city’s drinking water. The EPA regional staff urged MDEQ to address the lack of corrosion control, but was met with resistance. The delays in implementing the actions needed to treat the drinking water and in informing the public of ongoing health risks raise very serious concerns,” said Joel Beauvais, acting Deputy Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Water. Yes, this is more than a tragedy; this is a crisis in leadership and it could be happening in a city near you and it will happen, if we don’t stand up and fix Flint! I have preached in the city of Flint on many occasions. I know many of the pastors and leaders in the state of Michigan. At a Pastors’ Conference that I hosted last week in Tallahassee, Feb. 1-3, I invited a pastor from Flint to share with the conference pastors and laity about this bad water crisis in Flint. What Pastor Mark Jones shared with us was very heart-wrenching and heart-breaking. He mentioned the number of people who are complaining about rashes, headaches and downright depression from using this contaminated water. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
Black History Month and the search for Planet X By Lee A. Daniels George Curry Media Columnist I was catching up recently on my reading about the newest discoveries and speculations about the dinosaurs, and I thought about Black History Month. And then in late January, I read with fascination of the intensifying speculation about “Planet X - a giant, Jupiter-sized planet billions of miles beyond Pluto in our solar system whose orbit is so distant from the sun that the planet’s as yet invisible to even our most powerful telescopes. And I thought, then, too, about Black History Month. For many years now, I’ve always twinned my thinking about my two favorite, long-ago childhood preoccupations, space and the dinosaurs, with a consideration of the value of Black History Month’s special emphasis on African-American history. One reason is that we now know so much more about the past of all three fields than we did in the 1950s - and that much of the “new” knowledge has revolutionized our thinking about the dinosaurs, about space, about black Americans’ history. In other words, these three areas of inquiry offer dramatic proof that the excavation and examination of a buried or concealed or in some way undiscovered past or present can lead to a new understanding not only of the past and the present but possibly the future as well. That central point of the dynamic of discovery has motivated scientists exploring the seemingly barren landscapes of our moon and Mars, and the rings around Saturn, and the telescope-enabled glimpses of far-distant galaxies. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
Will Black Americans be left out and lost in the 2016 primary? By Roger Caldwell In the 2012 election cycle, Black voter turnout surpassed the white vote for the first time since 1996. This was a phenomenal achievement, and it was due to the massive turnout of Black women voters. Basically, this confirmed the fact that Black women were the most motivated and organized category in the country, when it came to voting in 2012. But in 2014, the Republican Party was more organized and motivated, and now there are 31 governorships, many of the state legislatures are Republican, and the Republicans control the majority in both Houses in the fe-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR GUIDELINES The Westside Gazette welcomes your letters. Letters must be signed with name clearly legible along with a phone number and complete address. No unsigned or anonymous letters will be considered for publication. The Westside Gazette reserves the right to edit letters. The letters should be 500 words or less.
deral government. There are many excuses that the Democrats can give, but there is no excitement and outreach in the leadership of the party. Many in the party think that Rep. Debbie WassermanShultz is the wrong person to lead the Democratic Party, but no group has challenged her authority. As the 2016 election draws near, the leadership in the Black community appears to be disorganized with no clear cut plan to rally the Black vote around. The Black Lives Matter movement initiated civic engagement and communication with the two Democratic presidential candidates, but nothing substantial came out of the talks. Both Democratic presidential candidates together have over 30 key Black executive staffers, but there is still a major disconnect with Black community. With nine months until the election, Black leadership has not developed a comprehensive Black agenda to get grassroots Blacks to vote in the primary. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
Beyond the Rhetoric: Filthy rich and dangerous Harry Alford says that it’s troubling that Black America is easily manipulated by leftwing extremist. By Harry C. Alford, NNPA News Wire Columnist Part Two Yes, the new Progressive Movement is in full form and they are not taking any “prisoners.” Move On.org, ACORN and others are basically a memory. When the Obama Administration moved into the White House, just a block away from the beautiful U.S. Chamber of Commerce building, we immediately saw that times for conciliation were not to be. Chaos with no exceptions. Groups using tactics that were close to military. They camped out in some of the prominent parks in Washington, DC nonstop with the blessings of the White House. These hot heads would arrive with ladders and scale the walls of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce giving the impression of an attack – an attack on corporate America. They would press themselves against the windows on the fourth floor offices and make noise. Marches throughout downtown DC made this fine city look like some third world uprising. They had the contact information on all board members of the Chamber and would send e-mails, letters and phone calls demanding us to resign from the board. They would harass the neighborhoods of some of our board members causing them to hire security service to protect their families and property. It was hooligan! My organization had a pretty good relationship with the Washington Post. But suddenly this major publication turned on me personally. While I was in Paris on some important business meetings, a bombshell hit us. There was a very derogatory article about me, Harry C. Alford, and the NBCC. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
Attorney Billy Murphy says Flint residents, “living a nightmare” By Stacy M. Brown NNPA News Wire Contributing Writer
The Gantt Report The come up haters By Lucius Gantt We all know the answer to the Malcolm X question about “Who taught you to hate yourself?” Well, Malcolm was assassinated and the original hate teachers are dead and gone but many in the African American community continue to hate their brothers and sisters! Many members of your family, several of your closest friends and most of your coworkers and business associates are hating you in public and in private. What are they hating? They smile in your face but hate it when your relationship is better than theirs, they hate it when your job is better than theirs and they hate it when your business is bigger and better than theirs. Too many people hate it when you get a come up! Social media is the promised land for come up haters. They will click “like” on your social media posts and talk about you behind your back. They hate it when you find your soul mate, hate it when you get married, hate it when you lose weight and they get fat, hate it when you travel and they can’t leave the state or the neighborhood. Like The Gantt Report says, “Every Jesus has his or her Judas!” We all have someone close to us in our lives that will turn on us, betray us and, in a way, stab us in the back! Sometimes your favorite relative, your closest coworker, your best friend, even the best man or matron of honor at your wedding will turn out to be a come up hater! You may not believe it but don’t even try to think that everyone is happy you accomplished your goals, followed your dream, took care of your business or married the person you love that loves you back. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
In it to win it – My head says Hilary, my heart says Bernie Julianne Malveaux says that she’ll vote for Hillary Clinton, because Clinton is a center-left moderate who will pragmatically work toward social and economic justice. By Julianne Malveaux, NNPA News Wire Columnist
Famed Baltimore Attorney William “Billy” Murphy Jr., has filed a federal class action lawsuit alleging a pattern of behavior by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, the mayor and other officials that Murphy said violated the constitutional rights of those who are being forced to pay for clean water but have never received it. “The governor has to be held accountable,” Murphy told the NNPA News Wire in his first detailed interview about the lawsuit and the water disaster in Flint, where superstars like Aretha Franklin, Snoop Dogg, Diddy, Cher, Jimmy Fallon and others have been donating water bottles and funds to assist residents. The lawsuit, filed on Sunday, Jan. 3, specifically names as defendants Snyder, former Flint Mayor Dwayne Walling, the state of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the state Department of Environmental Quality, the state of Michigan and the city of Flint. Those defendants breached their duties by knowingly, recklessly and callously providing a toxic water supply that’s unfit for human use and consumption, Murphy said. Making matters worse, officials insisted that the water was safe and fit and they knowingly, recklessly and callously refused to reinstate a safe water supply despite ample evidence that the water was highly toxic.
I am looking forward to Nov. 8, 2016, and to voting for Hilary Rodham Clinton to lead these United States. I am so extremely excited that a woman of character, experience, and discernment can lead our nation. Even as I look forward to the November vote, I am fully enjoying the path to November. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has provided tone and texture to this race. He has forced Senator Clinton to hone her positions on health care, Wall Street and income inequality. He came so amazingly close to toppling her in Iowa that it gave me Post Dramatic Stress Syndrome. She didn’t make my drama hers, though. She has managed, with stoic dignity, to stake her claim for this presidency. My head is with Secretary Hilary Clinton, but my heart is with Senator Bernie Sanders. I realize that he has promised everything and hasn’t shared how he might pay for much of it — free tuition, universal health care, or Wall Street reform. Still, his energetic bluster has been a galvanizing factor in a race that might otherwise have been seen as a cakewalk or a coronation. Hilary needs to be pushed as hard as Senator Sanders can push her. And even though Sanders says he does not care about her “damn e-mails,” the email conversation has to remind Senator Clinton that she has to figure out ways to restore trust among those who support her positions but look askance at the ways she has been too frequently presented. There is an element of sexism in this.
(Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
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The water crisis in Flint is a man-made disaster Armstrong Williams says that the major lesson to learn from Flint is that suspending the democratic process in the interests of managerial expediency usually turns out badly. By Armstrong Williams NNPA News Wire Columnist Something is definitely rotten in the state of Michigan. And it’s not just the lead-poisoned water coming from the corroded pipes undergirding Flint’s public water system. The rottenness goes to the very core of an attitude of
managerial expediency unfettered by moral leadership. Contrary to widespread belief, Flint, Michigan’s water woes are not the result of decades’ long neglect of critical infrastructure investments – although that is certainly a contributing factor. The blame for Flint’s water problems lay squarely with a legacy of policy choices dating back decades. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
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Could big data reduce the prison population population? Technology could prove as important as legislation By Eric Easter, Urban News Service Better use of technology and data could help solve the problem of mass incarceration. That’s one conclusion that can be drawn from the work of Steven Matthews, a technology consultant who, until recently, was Chief Information Officer for the Illinois Department of
Corrections. During his tenure, relatively simple changes in both technology and how data are collected resulted in both shorter sentences and significant taxpayer savings. According to Matthews, which information is kept, tracked, shared, analyzed and acted upon, may prove a faster and more effective route to actual changes than the raft of
What is stopping you from joining the fight against HIV/AIDS (Cont'd from FP) There are lines of demarcations that have been established to indicate the Haves (Ones who are infected) and the Have Nots (Ones who have monies and programs) but are not sharing equally. There are even battles occurring between agencies, care givers and advocates. How can the battle be won when the soldiers are fighting against themselves? Yes the army against the fight of HIV/AIDS is being killed by “friendly fire”. I’ve been told that our local Health Department allowed a private business to serve in the capacity of administering to those infected with Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STD) and to have their office in the high rent district off of Las Olas Boulevard. Now let’s be frank and open: how many Black people that you know will be willing to go over to Las Olas and be treated for an STD? Now transfer this type of thinking as it relates to HIV/AIDS. They don’t care enough to ask those that are infected and affected the most! I also understand that we have a building sitting right in the heart of Historic Sixth Street (Sistrunk Boulevard), a Black neighborhood on Northwest 15th Avenue. This building once was used to treat STDs and was the first clinic for treating HIV/AIDS. Now the building sits abandoned. And just like that vacant building, so too are we left alone and abandoned. So what’s really happening? Are we concerned enough to force our political leaders to address this issue of taking away an effective place and location that is user friendly and culturally sensitive? How long will it take for us to realize that the only ones who really care enough about those of us who are affected and infected with HIV/AIDS are those who have not been ashamed to confront all aspects of this fight to eliminate this virus? Don’t wait until the debilitating effects of HIV/AIDS cripple you or someone very close to you before you join in the cries for help while beating down the doors of frustration and cowardice. Sunday, February 7, was Black HIV/AIDS Day. What did you do to help eradicate this dreaded disease? Did you act like turtles, tucking your heads deep down in between your shoulders until you could smell the bile in your stomachs? Don’t speculate only to realize that if you don’t do something now, who’s going to come and help you when it’s your turn? Nobody else is going to. Are we acting like ostriches, burring our heads in the sand wishing that this disease would go away and with each breath that we take, we fill our nostrils with putrid dirt, choking ourselves to death all because we refuse to help? One would think that the Black community is being attacked from all angles and yet our Commander and Chief is AWOL (absent without leave), but in our case he has been granted the leave-to leave us alone! Our churches, inundated with trying to address the spiritual aspects of its congregations and filled with us wicked beings, when asked to address the issues of HIV/AIDS, some of the spiritual leaders have the mitigated gall to say that “God has made them to suffer because of their se*ual choices - they too have to answer for their own inactions. Now is the time for us to step up and help those in need while we still can. I would hate to find myself in a jam and look into the face of one who I refused to help and they were the ones who could now help me. “Dear God never allow me to walk past a person infected with the HIV/AIDS virus as if they are less than human. My need to disassociate with them could very well be the death of me. Help me to realize that HIV/AIDS is not an alone disease.” — Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
proposed criminal-reform legislation. “Lack of efficient tracking and outdated technology is at the root of a host of mistakes and errors that can result in prisoners being un-served, under-served, misplaced, misdiagnosed, undiagnosed and thrust into unnecessarily long sentences. Those things should be tracked and be factored into the length of the sentence, especially for non-violent, firsttime of-fenders. The reduction in costs could be dramatic,” said Mat-thews. In contrast, Offender 360, a new software and tracking system that Matthews and the Illinois system installed, has curbed the prison population by 10 percent over two years, according to the Illinois Bureau of Prisons. The secret? Tracking a seemingly minor detail — which prisoners get awarded good conduct credits for GED education, something that never was recorded adequately. With tracking in place, 2,303 prisoners have received 314,634 new days-off credits since 2013. Based on the estimated imprisonment cost of inmates who stayed, these early releases saved the state approximately $11 million and returned people to their families and communities sooner.
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Black Tech Week connects and celebrates powerful entrepreneurs and influencers of color in technology VC funding in the Black community. The weeklong series of events will be held during Black History Month, Feb. 15-20, 2016 at various locations around Miami provides impactful program-ming centered on innovation, technology and creativity. Black Tech Week includes interactive workshops for idea exchange,
Senator Lee says Lottery targets the poor (Cont'd from FP)
While these statistics appear dramatic, in release days, the program’s broader impact is cumulative. For the average inmate, the numbers are far less impressive. Actual release times may come a few days, or less often, a few weeks earlier. “For a person confined, a release even of just a few days [sooner] matters,” Matthews said. Still, prison experts stress that early releases gained this way address only one small part of the need for broad reform. While state taxpayers may benefit in raw numbers from
“Together with Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, I have worked to prioritize legislation to level the playing field and make it easier for all Americans to cast their ballots on Election Day. These issues affect all Americans, regardless of race, color, or creed. During Black History Month, and throughout the year, let us continue our efforts to ensure all Americans received equal treatment and opportunity.” Congressman Alcee L. Hastings serves as Senior Member of the House Rules Committee, Ranking Democratic Member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, and CoChairman of the Florida Delegation.
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such technological innovations, barriers to success for the newlyreleased — scarce job opportunities, lack of education, few effective transition programs — remain high. According to Matthews, most state prison systems collect these data, but rarely use them, and often lack the resources — or political will — to analyze them. Matthews cites problems throughout many states that have not updated technology or tracking systems in years. “There are drug addicted people… and hardcore drug dealers in the same programs, often because they are all classified simply as ‘drug offenders,” Matthews said. A. Scott Bolden, a prominent Washington D.C. defense attorney and former New York prosecutor, echoed these sentiments. “There simply is no incentive on the part of the prison industry to ensure accuracy of data, and more important, the accuracy of the data is only as good as the people who put it in and analyze it,” Bolden said. “As both a prosecutor and a defense attorney,” said Bolden, “I’ve often found that it is the inmates who can calculate their
time better than the judges, the prosecutors or the prison system. It can get pretty complicated, and it’s the inmate who has the vested interest in that. But aside from them, there is no one out there advocating for the correct use of tracking or data on their behalf.” While much of the focus on justice reform has been on prisons and prisoners, Matthews also sees this technology and tracking as tools to be used well before people enter the system. “When a judge sentences someone to three years, for example, neither that judge nor anyone else knows if there are beds available, or occupancy levels, or what services will be available during the time served,” said Matthews. “So someone may be sent to prison for one period and be in need of services, but those services may not be available until most of that sentence is served. So how does that really help?” “The bottom line is that thousands of people are staying in prisons much longer than they should and not getting the services they need because of a lack of transparency and accountability.”
February 11 - February 17, 2016 • Page 7
Venture Capitalist, startup founders and innovators converge in Miami for Black Tech Week 2016 Miami, FL - The second annual Black Tech Week connects entrepreneurs with the people and tools they need to increase the number of startups that are founded by people of color and connect them with the resources to scale, deliver solutions for stronger partnerships, training and expand the technology blueprint and access to
Hastings’ Statement on Black History Month WASHINGTON, D.C. — Recently, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.) released the following statement in recognition of Black History Month: “This month, our country celebrates the remarkable history and valuable contributions of Africans Americans. Black history is an inseparable part of American history, and Americans of color have impacted every aspect of our nation’s culture, from the arts and humanities to research, scientific exploration, and public service. “Recently, we marked the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in our country. In the century and a half that followed, the journey of African Americans was marred by setbacks and injustices – many of which still exist today. From emancipation to the Civil Rights Movement, the journey of the Black community across America exemplifies perseverance and triumph. “It is undeniable that disparities in employment, wealth, and education still exist among communities of color, and across the country, new laws have been enacted that restrict the ability of minorities to vote. These issues must be addressed by Congress.
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He went on to state that this was no coincidence and that lottery spending “increases in low income areas” concluding that “it appears that low income citizens…are being targeted with advertising....” He added that this does not “mirror the lottery’s mission of maximizing revenues in a manner consistent with the dignity of the state and welfare of citizens.” Becoming even blunter, Lee told the Committee: · We have become “addicted to lottery revenue.” · It has “gotten too big.” · Is “too much of a revenue source.” · The “tail is wagging the dog and must be reined in.” Lee went on to say that the money being raised, at the magnitude it is being raised, is coming out of the pockets of those who “can least afford to pay it.” Committee Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, agreed and thanked Lee for the bill saying: “We have become addicted to this revenue stream and it is a shame…it takes money from many of our citizens that can least afford it. We need to do something about it.” Lee’s remarks mirror comments of Representative Frank Artiles, R-Miami, who has introduced similar legislation in the House (HB 607). He told a House Subcommittee last month that we have seen “the largest expansion of gambling” through the lottery with scratch-off games constituting 66 percent of revenues and spending being the most in poorer areas. Like Lee, he has stated that we are “hurting those who need the most help” and that the purpose of his bill was to “rein in the Florida lottery.” According to the Committee’s staff analysis of the bill, in 2014-2015 alone, scratch-off games brought in an all-time sales record of $5.8 billion exceeding those in the prior year by $215 million. Lee’s concern that the lottery is the “tail wagging the dog”, and Bradley’s belief that we have become “addicted to this revenue stream,” is equally applicable to the renegotiated Seminole Gaming Compact where the state stands to collect three billion dollars over seven years. It will lead to the largest expansion of gambling in Florida history including: craps and roulette at all seven Seminole facilities, black jack and baccarat at new Seminole locations, a new casino in Palm Beach and Dade counties, black jack at eight slot machine facilities in Miami Dade and Broward counties, and a new gambling racing machine games at every par-mutuel in the state. Talk about “gambling creep”, it looks like Florida has become “addicted” to gambling revenue. So who is getting rich? Certainly not those in the poorest zip codes! The gambling business in Florida is pretty much a closed shop: the Seminole Tribe; the state; and, members of the exclusive mostly “good old boy” club of pari-mutuel owners. Most everyone else is in the “donor class” feeding the insatiable gambling beast. Lower income communities are particularly vulnerable and asked to support gambling creep with overblown promises of job creation and community benefit— slots will bring hundreds of jobs and “build wealth.” The Florida gambling industry—especially the Florida Lottery—welcomes and profits from Black patrons and low income customers. Unfortunately, the returns on their investment to the institutions to which they look for news and information about their community—local Black media— have been called “crumbs from tables of plenty!” By showing such disrespect for one of the basic institutions of the Black community, these gaming kingpins show just how little they understand and respect the very Black communities from which they seek to suck hard earned dollars with false promises of prosperity! **Clarence V. McKee, Esq. is a Consultant to No Casinos Inc.
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the Power Moves Early Stage and Series A Startup Bootcamps, a 3 Day Technology and Startup Conference, Women’s Innovation Brunch, Walker Legacy’s Women in Tech events, Pitch Competitions and VC Mentor Sessions. Attendees can register at http:// blacktechweek.com/. Black Tech Week is the premier pipeline in South Florida for people of color, to have access to key global players of color in the tech industry. The visionaries behind the conference are Derick Pearson and Felecia Hatcher who are also the founders of the Miami-based, Code Fever. Their commitment to training African-American and Caribbean youth and adults in the areas of technology and entrepreneurship through full stack development coding boot camps, in school programs is unmatched. “The second annual Black Tech Week is a jammed packed week during black history month dedicated to getting our community all the resources we need to move our community forward in the innovation economy, states Felecia Hatcher. This year we are excited to partner with the Knight Foundation, Florida International University, Simkins Foundation, Baptist Health, Power Moves and Walker’s Legacy to celebrate entrepreneurs, innovators and technologist in our community and across the globe”. Black Tech week has tapped into a global network of some of the most influential and notable keynote speakers and session leaders. The impressive roster of speakers include; Jeff Hoffman, Co-Founder of Priceline.com, Kathryn Finney, Founder of Digital Undivided, Justin Washington, QA Engineer at SnapChat, Frederick Hutson-Founder/CEO of Pigeonly, Chris Powell-Chief Executive Officer for BlackbookHR, Eunice Cofie-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Chemist of Nuekie, and George E. Curry-Founder of Emerge Magazine, Previous Editor-inChief of National Newspaper Publishers Association just to name a few. The Knight Foundation has been an essential supporter to the long-term success of a more diverse and inclusive tech ecosystem. Their unwavering commitment to position Miami’s diversity and increasing inclusion in the tech and entrepreneurial space has been key to the blueprint of Black Tech Week and the working partnership with Code Fever. Key highlights of the conference include the Knight Foundation Angel Pitch competition with Power Moves, Women Innovators in Tech panel with Walker Legacy, Tech HAHA Hackathon and Comedy Show, Patent and Trademark workshop for Women Innovators. The summit will culminate with the Women In-novation Brunch that spot-lights women tech achievers sponsored by Baptist Health. Code Fever is committed to closing the technology education gap among-low-income and underserved youth in South Florida. During Black Tech week, a series of hour-long Black Tech Hour work-shops
will be conducted at area schools and community organizations. Designed to empower and encourage minority youth to learn and consider careers in technology at a young age. About Code Fever Code Fever is a nonprofit committed to getting our
communities up to code. The mission of Code Fever is to inspire more underserved minority students between the ages of 13 to 21 to code, build and create technology enterprises within their communities, close the gap in technology education, and become leaders in STEM
fields by increasing the number of young startup founders. For more, visit www.CodeFeverMiami.com For more information:Website-http:// blacktechweek.com/ Twitter@blacktechweek #BlackTechWeek
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AF amily T hat Prays T ogether, Stays T ogether Family That Together, Together
Church Directory
Worship T his and Every Sunday at the Church of Your Choice This
Bethel Missionary Baptist Church 2211 N.W. 7th Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33061 Church: (954) 583-9368 Email: bethelmbchurchfl@att.net
Reverend Jimmy L. English PASTOR WORSHIP SERVICES Sunday Worship ............................................................. 8 a.m. & 11 a.m. Sunday School ........................................................................... 9:30 a.m. Wednesday (Prayer Service & Bible Study) ............................... 7:30 a.m. Saturday (Women Bible Study) ............................................................ 8 a.m. "Baptized Believers working together to do the will of God"
New Mount Olive Baptist Church 400 N.W. 9th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale 33311 (954) 463-5126 ● Fax: (954) 525-9454 CHURCH OFFICE HOURS Monday - Friday 8:00 - 4:00 p.m.
"Historically the First Church in the City of Tamarac!”
Rev. Dr. Ileana Bosenbark, Senior Pastor WEEKLY SERVICES & EVENTS SUNDAY Worship Service (Communion 1st & 3rd Sunday) ........................................................... 10 a.m. F.A.I.T.H. Academy for Children (Spiritual Formation) K-12 ................................ 10 a.m.
TUESDAY F.A.I.T.H. Academy for Adults (Spiritual Formation) - Office Complex ...... 10:30 a.m.
WEDNESDAY Worship & Arts Ministry Rehearsals (Open Auditions) - Sanctuary .............................. 7 p.m.
First Baptist Church Piney Grove, Inc. 4699 West Oakland Park Blvd. Lauderdale Lakes, FL 33313 Office: (954) 735-1500 Fax: (954) 735-1939 fbcpg@bellsouth.net
Rev. Dr. Derrick J. Hughes, Pastor SUNDAY SERVICES Worship Services .......................................................... 7:30 & 10:45 a.m. Children's Church ........................................................ 7:30 & 10:45 a.m. Communion (First Sunday) ......................................... 7:30 & 10:45 a.m. New Members' Class .................................................................... 9:30 a.m. Church School .............................................................................. 9:30 a.m. Baptist Training Union (BTU) .................................................... 1:00 p.m. Wednesday (Bible Study) ...................................... 11:15 a.m.. & 7:00 p.m.
Harris Chapel United Methodist Church Rev. Juana Jordan, M.Div E-MAIL:juana.jordan@flumc.org 2351 N.W. 26th Street Oakland Park, Florida 33311 Church Telephone: (954) 731-0520 Church Fax: (954) 731-6290
Mount Calvary Baptist Church
800 N.W. 8th Avenue Pompano Beach, Florida 33060 Church Telephone: (954) 943-2422 Church Fax: (954) 943-2186 E-mail Address: Mtcalvarypompano@bellsouth.net
Reverend Anthony Burrell, Pastor SCHEDULE OF SERVICES SUNDAY
New Member Orientation ........................... 9:30 a.m. Sunday School ................................................ 9:30 a.m. Worship Service ........................................ 11:00 a.m. WEDNESDAY Prayer Meeting ............................................... 6:00 p.m. Bible Study ..................................................... 7:00 p.m.
"Doing God's Business God's Way, With a Spirit of Excellence"
Mount Hermon A.M.E. Church Reverend Henry E. Green, Jr., Pastor 401 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311 Phone: (954) 463-6309 FAX 954 522-4113 Office Hours: Tuesday - Friday 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Email infor@mthermonftl.com
SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICES Worship Service ..................................................................... 7:30 & 10:30 a.m. Fifth Sunday ONLY .................................................................................... 10 a.m. Church School ........................................................................................ 9:15 a.m. BIBLE STUDY: Wednesday ....................................................................... 10 a.m. Gems & Jewels Ministry Senior Wednesday Wednesday (Bible Study) .................................................... 12 Noon & 7 - 8 p.m. Daily Prayer Line ...................................................................................... 6 a.m. (712)432-1500 Access Code296233#
Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church 1161 NW 29th Terr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33311 (954) 581-0455 ● Fax: (954) 581-4350 www.mtzionmissionarybapt.com
Dr. James B. Darling, Jr., Pastor/Teacher WORSHIP SERVICES Sunday Worship Service .............................................................................. 8:00 & 11:00 a.m. Sunday School ............................................................................................................... 10:00 a.m. Communion Service (1st Sunday) ......................................................................... 11:00 a.m. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting ........................................................................... 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Night Bible Study ................................................................................... 7:00 p.m. Saturday (2nd & 4th) Christian Growth & Orientation .................................. 8:30 a.m. But be doers of the Word - James 1:22 nkjv - “A Safe Haven, and you can get to Heaven from here”
New Birth Baptist Church The Cathedral of Faith International Bishop Victor T. Curry, M.Min., D.Div. Senior Pastor/Teacher 2300 N.W. 135th Street Miami, Florida 33167
ORDER OF SERVICES Sunday Worship ........................................................ 7:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m. Sunday School ....................................................................................................... 9:30 a.m. Tuesday (Bible Study) ......................................................................................... 6:45 p.m. Wednesday (Bible Study) ............................................................................... 10:45 a.m.
1-800-254-NBBC * (305) 685-3700 (o) *(305) 685-0705 (f) www.newbirthbaptistmiami.org
To Have Y our Chur ch placed in our Your Church Church Directory call us TToday oday -- (954) 525-1489
145 NW 5th Ave., Dania Beach, FL 33004 (954) 922-2529
Senior Pastor WORSHIP SERVICES & BIBLE STUDY Sunday .................................................... 7:15 a.m. 9:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Sunday School ............................................................................ 10:00 a.m. Wednesday Noonday Service .................................. 12:00-12:30 p.m. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting ............................................ 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Night Bible Study ................................................... 7:00 p.m. Where the kingdom of God is increased through Fellowship. Leadership, Ownership and Worship F.L.O.W. To Greatness!
St Paul United Methodist Church 244 S.E. Second Avenue Deerfield Beach, Florida 33341 (954) 427-9407 EMAIL EMAIL:: Stpaulmeth@bellsouth.net WEBSITE WEBSITE:: saintpauldeerfield.com
Rev. Dr. Jimmie L. Brown Senior Pastor
SERVICES
Sunday School .................................................................................... 10 a.m. Sunday Worship ................................................................................ 11 a.m. Bible Study (Tuesday) ....................................................... 11 a.m. & 7.p.m.
Obituaries
WORSHIP SERVICES Wednesday (NOON DAY PRAYER) ............................................. 12 -1 p.m. Wednesday (PRAYER MEETING & BIBLE STUDY) .................... 645 p.m. Sunday Worship Service ................................................................. 10 a.m. Fifth Sunday Worhip Service ............................................................ 8 a.m.
Williams Memorial CME “PRAYER IS THE ANSWER” 644-646 NW 13th Terrace Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 (954) 462-5711(Ministry Office Line) (954) 462-8222(Pastor’s Direct Line) Email: wm_cme@bellsouth.net (Church} pastorCal50@yahoo.com (Pastor)
Rev. Cal Hopkins. M.Div) Senior Pastor/Teacher
The WITNESS of “The WILL” Sunday Worship Experiences ................................................................ 7:45 and 11:00 a.m. Sunday School ................................................................................................................. 9:30 a.m. Tuesday Night Triumph {Prayer, Praise and Power} Prayer Meeting ................................................................................................................ 7:00 p.m. Bible Study ........................................................................................................................ 7:30 p.m. We STRIVE to PROVIDE Ministries that matter TODAY to Whole Body of Christ, not only the Believers, but also for those stranded on the “Jericho Road”! “Celebrating over 85 Years of FAITH and FAVOR! Come to the WILL ... We’ll show You the WAY: Jesus the Christ!”
Earth, Wind and Fire founder dies By David Bauder And Hillel Italie Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White, whose horn-
James C. Boyd Funeral Home
Feb. 2 at McWhite’s Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Timothy Jackson officiating. Interment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.
KATES Funeral services for the late Annice Kates – 65 were held Jan. 30 at James C. Boyd’s Memorial Chapel with Pastor Jimmie Witherspoon officiating. Interment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.
DIFTON Funeral services for the late Sam L. Difton, Jr. – 64 were held Feb. 6 at McWhite’s Funeral Home Chapel with Kewon Felton officiating. Interment: Forest Lawn Cemetery.
FAULK Funeral services for the late Alton Thomas Tarber, Jr. –64 were held Feb. 6 at James C. Boyd's Memorial Chapel with Bishop Tony Mitchell, Eulogist. Interment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.
FENLAYSON Funeral services for the late Theodore Fenlayson – 87 were held Feb. 6 at The Well Christian Worship Center with Pastor Merceda Stanley officiating. Interment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.
WILLIAMS Funeral services for the late Flora Simpkins Williams - 88 were held Feb. 6 at Mount Zion A.M.E. with Pastor Alvin Simpkins officiating. Interment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.
RHETT Funeral services for the late Isiah Rhett 68 were held Feb. 6 at Immanuel Church of God in Christ with Pastor Trudy Davis officiating. Interment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.
McWhite's Funeral Home
SHERILL Funeral services for the late Doris A. Wilson- Sherill – 61 were held Feb. 6 at Mt. Hermon AME Church with Minister officiating. Interment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.
FERGUSON Funeral services for the late Rosa Rushine Ferguson – 72 were held Feb. 6 at New Hope Baptist Church with Rev. Ricky Scott officiating. Interment: Sunset Memorial Gardens.
SMART Funeral services for the late Mabis Louise ChambersSmart – 82 were held Feb. 6 at Grace Fellowship Center Church of God with Bishop Maurice
MARTIN Funeral services for the late Sheila Denise Martin – 38 were held Feb. 6 at Roy Mizell & Kurtz Worship Center with Pastor James B. Darling, Jr. officiating.
SERVICES Sunday Worship ................................................. 7:30 a.m. & 10:30 a.m. Sunday School .............................................................................. 9:00 a.m. Wednesday (Bible Study) ........................................... 11a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
St. Ruth Missionary Baptist Church
Dr. Marcus D. Davidson,
Faith United Church of Christ 6201 NW 57 Street Tamarac, FL 33319 954-721-1232 uccfaith@bellsouth.net faithbroward.org
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ARMSTRONG Funeral services for the late Amos Armstrong, Jr. – 75 were held Feb. 6 at McWhite’s Funeral Home Chapel. BOLDEN Funeral services for the late Raymond Bolden, Jr – 67 were held
Clarke, Sr officiating. Interment; Martha Brae Cemetery, Treland, Jamaica West Indies.
Roy Mizell & Kurtz Funeral Home BURNS Funeral services for the late Dr. Elouise Randall Burns – 66 were held Jan.30 at Roy Mizell & Kurtz Worship Center with Pastor James B. Darling, Jr. officiating. CRAWFORD Funeral services for the late Lillian Crawford – 98 were held Feb. 7 at Roy Mizell & Kurtz Worship Center with Clavin Hankerson officiating. DAVIS Funeral services for the late John W. Davis – 82.
WHITE driven band sold more than 90 million albums with hits like September, Shining Star and Boogie Wonderland, has died at his home in Los Angeles. White, who was 74, suffered from Parkinson’s disease and had retreated from the public even as the band he founded kept performing. “My brother, hero and best friend Maurice White passed away peacefully last night in his sleep,” his brother Verdine White, also a member of the band, said on Thursday. Earth, Wind & Fire, a ninepiece band featuring the two White brothers, singer Philip Bailey and the distinctive horn section, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. The band’s most successful period started with the 1975 album That’s The Way of The World and continued through the rest of the decade. Other hits included Serpentine Fire, That’s the Way of the World and a cover of the Beatles’ Got to Get You Into My Life. Chris Rock tweeted his condolences on Thursday with a photo of White and the lyrics, “You can’t hide love.” Nile Rogers called White “one of the most amazing innovators of all time” on Twitter, while Diane Warren said “this world just got a lot less soulful.” (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
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Bernie Sanders raised $20 million with the average donation being just $27. What is wrong with Black folks? For decades, conscious Black leaders have cajoled, encouraged, admonished, and begged us to raise money among ourselves, a small amount from a lot of people, you know, the way Marcus Garvey did, which we love to brag about but never emulate. What we have done instead is raise a lot of Cain about our collective economic predicament. Why do we cloak ourselves in Garvey’s legacy of rallying millions of Black people and raising millions of dollars from Black folks but do not pick up where he left off by pooling some of our tremendous annual income to help our own people? A massive pool of Black dollars could leverage reciprocity from politicians and from the marketplace. If we were as serious about action as we are about our rhetoric, many of our problems would be solved in a “New York minute,” as they say. But it seems we’d rather just call radio talk shows and voice complaints about what the White man won’t let us do, or what he’s doing to us, or how corrupt his elections are, how we should pack up and leave (with no money, at that), and a myriad of other Black economic and political woes. We sign online petitions in support of some cause or another; we send letters to our representatives in D.C.; we do our obligatory marches and demonstrations; we celebrate historical events and fawn over memorials of fallen Black heroes. Some of that is fine, but if those actions are not backed up by economic muscle, they will not advance us one iota. If Bernie Sanders can raise $20 million in $27 increments, why can’t we do the same thing? I’ll tell you why; Black dollars don’t make any sense. We are so focused on the current political prospects of this candidate or that one, and we have lost complete sight of what is really important and vital to our future: economic empowerment. Sometimes I think Black folks have lost our everloving minds, well some of us at least. On the other hand, I am proud to be a member of the One Million Conscious Black Voters and Contributors (OMCBV&C), a group of folks from 35 states who are not just talking about pooling resources but are actually doing it. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
Page 10 • February 11 - February 17, 2016
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Black Panther Party’s legacy of Black Power endures By Elizabth Weise, USA Today Network OAKLAND, CA - For many Americans, the name “Black Panthers” brings to mind young, stone-faced Black men in berets and Black leather coats and carrying rifles. Those images were either exhilarating, terrifying or world-changing, depending on who was looking. Fifty years after the group was founded, the Panthers remain a flashpoint in the struggle for Black equality in the USA. While it’s true that the party failed to live up to its ideals during its more than 10 years of activism, it’s equally true that its efforts led to greater equity and strength in the Black community. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was formed by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland in 1966. It was founded to monitor police violence in Black communities, a seemingly intractable issue that Black Lives Matter and other groups continue to organize around today. “We took no crap, so to speak, from what we used to say is the racist pig power structure,” Seale said in a recent interview. What the Panthers actually
stood for, as well as the group’s many projects and its eventual slide into violence and disarray, are the subject of a new documentary airing on PBS starting Feb. 16. Sometimes controversial but always stunning in its use of archival footage, modern interviews and the music of the time, Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, was written, directed and produced by Stanley Nelson, who has made films about such touchstones as the Freedom Riders and the murder of Emmett Till. The documentary has been criticized by former Panthers as either too soft or too hard on the movement that at one point had thousands of members in more than 21 communities. Roots on campus The Panthers grew out of the generally pacifist civil rights movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was part of an African-American culture of self-discovery and self-determination that was flowering in many parts of the country at the time. “It’s hard to think back to 1966, when you never saw a Black man confront a white person, anywhere — not on the street, not on TV, not in the North or the South. You never
saw the aggressive attitude that the Panthers had. For better or worse, it’s so much a part of our culture today,” Nelson says. “It was very much the hiphop attitude, but the Panthers personified it 50 years ago,” he says. It’s not widely known that the Panthers trace their origins to a fight to make education at a small Oakland junior college more relevant to a student body that was more than 45 percent Black. At the time, in the early 1960s, Seale was working in anti-poverty programs and studying part time at Merritt College in Oakland. Every year, the college celebrated “Pioneer Day,” honoring the history of settlers who came West in the 1800s. But Seale and others noticed a glaring omission in the story of the settlement in the American West. “One day, we said, ‘Ain’t no Black folks involved in this.’ I guess we didn’t cross!” Seale says. The students created the Negro History Fact Group, which called for the school to offer classes covering African history and, as it was called then, Negro history in America. Out of that came the Soul Students Advisory Council.
Urban Prep Academy turns boys into scholars in Chicago’s Jessie Mack, a member of roughest neighborhoods the school’s first graduating (Cont'd from FP) This display represents one of this dynamic charter school’s guidng principles: elevating students’ self-esteem while focusing on test scores. Eighty-five percent of the students come from single-mom homes in impoverished areas, according to Roosevelt Moneyham III, the school’s student recruitment chief. The only admissions requirement is to be a Windy City resident. A lottery selects 450 students among some 1,500 applicants to attend one of Urban Prep Academy’s three campuses in inner-city Chicago. The faculty at these schools brims with Black men, a rarity in U.S. education systems. Moneyham, a former Chicago police officer, “decided to stop arresting little brothers and find a way to keep them out of trouble,” he said. The teachers and staff call the students “Mr.” followed by their surnames. The students refer to each other the same way. “It took a while to get used to this school,” said Dashawn Cribbs, 17. “It’s better than I thought it would be because
the teachers push you, everyone cares, and you gain a lot of pride in the process.” This school is a return to the sometimes-controversial singlesex education system. It was founded in 2006 by Chicago educational entrepreneur Tim King and a group of AfricanAmerican business, civic and education leaders. The Englewood campus of Urban Prep is its original location, in one of this city’s most impoverished and violent regions. NBA stars Derrick Rose, Anthony Davis and Jabari Parker and singer and actress Jennifer Hudson hail from southwest Chicago, which has a 44 percent poverty rate — quadruple the 10.4 percent average across Chicago, according to the Illinois Commission on the Elimination of Poverty. “The neighborhood doesn’t exactly inspire future success,” said Nakkia Burn, whose son, Trevon Lucas, 15, is an Urban Prep student. “He has black male mentors that really care, so the students feel connected to them. . . And they don’t just push them to get to college; they emphasize getting their degree.”
class in 2010, earned a communications degree from Denison University and now works as an assistant to Urban Prep’s CEO. “My time here as a student made up for what I missed by not having a father growing up,” Mack said. That parental element permeates the school. “It’s a personal connection many of us have,” Steele said. “We try to fill in the gaps, with positive reinforcement about their strengths as a key part of our message.” “I was always curious about the school because I would see how the guys were dressed, in their jackets and ties,” said Malik Johnson, 16, who lives in Englewood. “You just didn’t see that in my neighborhood. . . And it’s turned out to be a great place. We love each other, but are too manly to say it. But we’re put in a position to pursue success.” Added Moneyham: “The unbelievable part is watching some of them walk in as [kids] who don’t want to be here … and years later watching them walk across that stage at commencement as mature young men about to go off to college. . . It’s a powerful thing.”
A crowd of 4,000 to 5,000 persons, some carrying Black Panther flags, staged a protest march and rally against the Detroit Police Stress unit, on Sept. 24, 1971, in Detroit. (Photo: Richard Sheinwald, AP) Seale and Newton went on to found the Black Pan-thers. They chose the name, Newton said at the time, because the
Black panther doesn’t strike first, “but if the aggressor strikes first, then he’ll attack.” That organizing work led
them to conclude that only by claiming power could the Black community live and flourish. Newton, who had studied law, knew that it was perfectly legal to carry loaded weapons in California as long as they were not concealed. With that knowledge, the Panthers began walking the streets of Oakland armed, converging on police who pulled over Black residents to observe and, it must be said, intimidate. Later, in 1967, the Panthers went to the California Legislature in Sacramento, also while armed. The episode led thengovernor Ronald Reagan, a Republican, to call for gun-control legislation. “Anyone who would approve of this kind of demonstration must be out of their mind,” Reagan said. But the Party wasn’t about guns, Seale says; it was about empowering the Black community in the face of a racist system. (Cont'd on Page 12)
More than 40 years after fair credit laws, racial discrimination additional $38 million to borcontinues rowers for discrimination that (Cont'd from FP)
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) of 1974 requires financial institutions to “make credit equally available to all creditworthy customers without regard to sex or marital status.” It is illegal for “any creditor to discriminate against any applicant with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or marital status, or age.” The above language seems clear and yet, just a few days ago another financing arm of a major auto manufacturer reached a multi-million dollar settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its failure to treat consumers of color fairly. Toyota Motor Credit agreed to pay $21.9 million in restitution to thousands of Black, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islander borrowers. These borrowers paid higher interest rates than white borrowers for their auto loans due to the lender allowing dealers to mark up a borrower’s interest rate for compensation. Toyota Credit also agreed to change its pricing and compensation system to significantly reduce the dealer’s ability to manipulate the interest rate. “No consumer should be forced to pay more money for a loan because of their race or national origin,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California. “This settlement resolves our claims by providing compensation for affected consumers and seeking to ensure that future loans funded by Toyota reflect equal terms.” Toyota is only the latest perpetrator, extending a series of
CROWELL actions by law enforcement to address discrimination in auto lending. Last May, Evergreen Bank Group, based in Oak Brook, Ill. settled charges that it violated the ECOA by charging Latino and Black borrowers higher interest rates on motorcycle financing. The bank settled the claim by paying $395,000. Months later in July, Honda Finance Corporation agreed to pay $24 million on similar violations. In September, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank agreed to pay $18 million and cooperate with an independent administrator appointed to identify affected borrowers and distribute restitution. The largest of the recent cases came two years earlier when in 2013 Ally Bank agreed to pay $98 million in civil penalties and restitution. This enforcement action found that approximately 100,000 Black borrowers, 125,000 Latino borrowers, and 10,000 Asian/Pacific Islander borrowers paid higher rates for their auto loans than similarly situated white borrowers. Even more troubling, just one year later Ally paid an
occurred after the initial settlement. Despite progress resulting from these recent enforcement actions, discrimination in the market remains, says Chris Kukla, a senior vice present with the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). “The terms of the settlement continue to move in the right direction,” noted Kukla. “However, dealer discretion to mark up interest rates remains an unfair and hidden practice with continued potential for discrimination. The only effective way to completely eliminate the discriminatory impact and the unfairness of hidden dealer interest rate markups is to end the practice altogether.” At one trillion dollars, auto lending is the third-largest source of consumer debt, behind that of mortgages and student loans. CRL has also determined through survey research that even though Black and Latino consumers make more of an effort to negotiate auto interest rates than others, they still wind up paying higher rates. “Law enforcement must continue to vigilantly and swiftly act when they uncover discriminatory or unfair lending as they have done with other enforcement actions,” continued Kukla. “The recent news that Ally paid an additional $38 million in restitution to compensate borrowers harmed after Ally’s settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice shows that the issue of discrimination due to car dealer interest rate markup is real and needs to end.” Here’s hoping this Black History Month fair-minded people of all races and ethnicities will better understand that the struggle for justice must continue.
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Delfeayo Marsalis, jazz royalty By Don Valentine The Gold Coast Jazz Society presents Delfeayo Marsalis this Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. He is universally recognized as one of the top trombonists, composers and producers in jazz today. Not to mention being part of the Marsalis lineage. There are multiple Grammy awards between Branford, and Wynton. His father Ellis was his early musical inspiration; as a young toddler he listened to him play while sitting under the piano. This prodigious background led to earning the nation’s highest jazz honor – a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award. Philip Elwood of the San Francisco Examiner described him as “…one of the best, most imaginative and musical of the trombonists of his generation.” In a recent interview, Delfeayo noted, “After briefly trying bass and drums, in sixth grade I gravitated towards the trombone, which was an extension of my personality. Early on, my influences and inspirations included J.J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller, Al Grey, Tyree Glenn and Tommy Dorsey.” His musical passion evolved into making him a producer of worldwide fame. “When I was in fifth or sixth grade, my brother Branford showed me how to create a feedback loop on a reel-to-reel machine. At that time there was a real need in
the family for demo tapes. In fact I was recording Wynton when he was in high school. When I was in seventh grade, he challenged me to have his demo tape sound on the same level as Maurice Andre’s classical studio recordings. It was all trial and error and I learned a great deal.” A teen producing prodigy, since 17 he has produced over 100 recordings for major artists including Harry Connick, Jr., Marcus Roberts, Spike Lee, and Terence Blanchard. In addition to his musical acumen Marsalis has been an adjunct educator. In 2004, he eared an MA in jazz performance at the University of Louisville and was conferred a doctorate by New England College in 2009. He lectured in schools
Miami Dolphins: What’s going to happen to Cam Wake & Oliver Vernon? By D’Joumbarey A. Moreau Not for long. That’s the moniker that players and coaches alike have given the abbreviations for the most popular league in North America, the NFL. Now that Super Bowl Sunday is officially over, it marks the beginning of the next season in the NFL, the offseason. If you watched the Super Bowl you saw how important it is for a team to have a strong defensive line. DeMarcus Ware, etc.... If you watched the Miami Dolphins this year then you understand how one of your strongest aspects of your team can become a weakness in just one play. In the league, your whole year could change in the course of one play and for the Dolphins they had to feel the effect of how devastating one play could be. For Dolphins defensive end Cameron Wake, he saw his whole career change in an instant this year. Wake was having yet another Pro Bowl caliber season after having the most
dominant performances in weeks six and seven in the NFL season where he had 6 sacks, four forced fumbles, and one pass deflection alone. However, during the 36-7 road loss to the New England Patriots, Wake was forced to sit out for the rest of the season because of a torn achilles. The Dolphins went on to underachieve after having playoff aspirations finishing with a 6-10 record. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
Miami Hurricanes: Spring brings a new season By D’Joumbarey A. Moreau If it were easy anyone could do it. In today’s college football it’s not easy to draw in new blood into your program. In fact, if you think it’s easy just look at the Miami Hurricanes for the last six years. The Hurricanes during their 2008 recruiting class landed one of the best we’ve seen in decades, right before the beginning of the “Golden Era.” With Jacory Harris, Aldarius Johnson, Marcus Forston and Sean Spence, we
LEGAL NOTICES PUBLICATION OF BID SOLICITATIONS Broward County Board of County Commissioners is soliciting bids for a variety of goods and services, construction and architectural/engineering services. Interested bidders are requested to view and download the notifications of bid documents via the Broward County Purchasing website at: www.broward.org/purchasing. Feb. 4, 11, 18, 25, 2016
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got to see a number of local talent stay at home to help bring the prestige of the program back. Nevertheless, for as much as we expected out of that class and because they were many high school All-Americans in the class, they never lived up to the hype. They say to whom much is given, much is required. This year for the Miami Hurricanes, they’ve been given quite a bit. Not only did Miami manage to finish the year strong with awesome play from the cornerstones of their team such as Brad Kaaya, Joe Yearby, and David Njoku, they also came back with a coach in Mark Richt who knows how to consistently win. Richt already has done something in the last two months that Al Golden couldn’t do during his tenure in Coral Gables. Richt has fans excited to watch this team play for their spring practices (March 14 - April 14) and subsequently their spring game (April 16). Watching the way that this Hurricanes team played last season after the Clemson game was the wakeup call fans wanted to see the entire season. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
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Miami Heat: The most dangerous in the East? By D’Joumbarey A. Moreau When other people are starting to pay you compliments then you’re doing something right. “The most dangerous team in the East.” Those were the six words that TNT NBA Analyst Kenny “The Jet” Smith said about the Miami Heat. Smith who was a twotime championship point guard on the 1994 & 1995 Houston Rockets squad knows a lot about the game and his analysis are normally dead right. For the rest of the Eastern Conference that only spells a world of trouble. This Miami Heat team, like many of the teams that Pat Riley has created in the past, is built for a championship run. Riley would love to win the regular season outright and have
RILEY home court advantage but during his tenure in Miami, we’ve seen that’s not his most important priority. Slip up losses like the ones Miami recently suffered to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday aren’t expected but their not thought about too much. Riley cares about the Heat having a strong enough team come playoff time in order to usurp power from any op-
ponent. Right now you won’t find many people outside of the city of Miami that believe in this team because of their standings within the conference. The Heat are ranked in the middle of the pack at No. 5 behind a few lesser-talented teams such as Boston, Chicago and Atlanta, but in a little time, they could fly back up to the No. 2 spot with great wins before the AllStar break. The reason why this team could start to win more often in the second-half of the season is because of the way Riley constructed this roster. The biggest strength of this team is the fact they defend at one of the elite levels in the league. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com)
Page 12 • February 11 - February 17, 2016
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Poets. Uplifters. Lyricists. Singers. Entertainers. By Brandon Robinson This plethora of upcoming prodigies attends Plantation High School. They are “a Dream Team of Mean Teens,” whether in the studio or on stage. Through music, poetry, acting, and dance, P.U.L.S.E. aims to encourage freedom of expression, promote cultural diversity, increase social awareness, and inspire all to fulfill their dreams. As a school-based organization, they will be returning contestants in the Louder Than A Bomb Florida poetry festival, #ltabfla in April this year. One member who competed as an individual finalist in last year’s Louder Than A Bomb Florida, is Brandon Robinson. He is the President of P.U.L.S.E. and a
South Florida’s P.U.L.S.E.! senior at Plantation High School. Individual yet united. A firing squad of fire starters and our pen is the lighter. In a cold world, we’re the flame that sparks revolution. Silence hurts, so we turn up loud as we can, making the world face the music. Life is a contradiction if you live by too many traditions, so we’d rather go off script than let others direct our scenes. To be or not to be, is the question but to question society is to oppose oppression. Did you pose for checks while flexin’, or were you the one who rose up against misdirection? To see wrongs, and not right them is to witness evil, then partake in the devil’s dance.
Instead, we fight our demons, conquering them with bare hands. From womb to the tomb, doom continues to loom. But light in a dark room, can change more than a mood. Salt in our wounds, but scars will heal soon. Midas mind-set gold mines but we never had silver spoons. Clever as Harvard grads, driven like fully gassed, poker faced but, never hiding behind masks. Nice guys, who guarantee we won’t finish last. Pacifists, but we’ll pass a fist like Iron Mike if we clash. Attention please! For all the dreamers, we propose a toast. But first, ask yourself...who could live without a P.U.L.S.E.?
Black Panther Party’s legacy of Black Power endures (Cont'd from Page 10) “It was all about them trying to make a law to stop us from observing police (while carrying) law books, tape recorders and guns. People forget the law books and the tape recorders,” he says. A 10-point plan “They’re always seen as more armed and confrontational, but that’s the sensational part of their history,” says Manisha Sinha, a professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “What’s really forgotten is that they were a continuation of the civil rights struggle. They’re part of the forgotten Black freedom struggle in Northern cities,” she says. Newton and Seale crafted a very political 10-point plan to empower Black communities economically. Whereas the more mainstream civil rights movement focused on the largely rural South, the Black Panthers were perhaps better known for their actions in the North, in inner cities and on the West Coast. The plan contained basic de-
mands such as self-determination, decent housing, full employment, education that included African-American history, and an end to police brutality. It also included more radical demands that were very much in tune with the times. They included freedom for all incarcerated Black men, their exemption from military service and a national vote in which only Black people would be allowed to participate in order to determine their will “as to their national destiny,” according to the document. The Party gained followers and momentum in the late 1960s, launching multiple “survival until revolution” efforts such as a free breakfast program for children, food banks, health clinics and education outreach. These community-based programs garnered goodwill and support in Black and other communities nationwide. By the 1970s, historians note, women made up more than 50% of the membership of the Panthers. But there was also a macho, violent streak to the Panthers, with an emphasis on armed revolution. That came to the fore early on in a 1967 gun battle between Newton and Oakland police, which left Officer John Frey dead and Newton wounded. He was arrested, and a massive “Free Huey” movement sprang up, sparking interest far outside the Black community. After an overturned manslaughter conviction, two retrials and hung juries, the case against Newton was dismissed. Both the goodwill and the violence, along with the revolutionary ideals, worried J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI. In response, he launched an investigation of the Black Panther Party, and an eventual covert attack. Hoover came to see the group as one of the most potentially destabilizing groups in the country and actively set out to discredit, disrupt, subvert and destroy it. “The term at the time was ‘community control,’” says Amilcar Shabazz, vice president of the National Council for Black Studies, who lectures on AfricanAmerican history at Massachusetts-Amherst. Hoover targeted Panthers for surveillance by COIN-
TELPRO, a covert program he created to track individuals and groups he deemed subversive. Other targets including Martin Luther King Jr., Vietnam War protesters, feminists and Puerto Rican activists. Internal divisions, personality cults, and the efforts of the FBI created bitter divisions within the party. Members began to turn on each other. Violence flared In a shootout with Oakland police in 1968, Panthers national treasurer Bobby Hutton, just 17, was killed. Police raids and other conflicts with Panthers in Los Angeles and Chicago ended with shootouts and deaths. Internally, there were violent disputes between factions and a series of purges. Members of the New Haven chapter tortured and killed Alex Rackley, a 19-year-old Panther whom they believed was an FBI informant, in 1969. Three Panthers were convicted of murder in the case. Seale was accused of having ordered the killing because he had visited the building where Rackley was being held. The jury deadlocked on the charges, and the prosecution declined to retry the case. It was the beginning of the end. Still, the Panthers struggled on for several more years. In 1973, Seale ran for mayor of Oakland, and fellow Panther Elaine Brown — who would lead the group from 1974 to 1977 — ran for the Oakland City Council. “That was part of the agenda, to run for political office. We were a political party, we were not a gang. We were concerned with issues and programs,” Seale says. Neither was elected, and by the late 1970s the Party was effectively defunct. The film Nelson spent seven years working on the documentary. “I hope that it will be an inspiration to people to see that they can make change,” the New York-based documentarian says. The Panthers’ story, he says, is extraordinary and important, despite the group’s eventual demise. “The Panthers were not as successful as they wanted to be,” he says. “They were very young. They said, ‘It’s up to us to make
the changes, not any-body else – and we can do it.’” With criticism coming from both directions — those who say it overstates the good as well as those who say it dwells too much on the bad — Nelson says it would be impossible to make a single film that everybody would like because the party went through so many permutations. “You have to understand that the Panthers were different things to different people in different cities at different times. The Black Panther Party in Oakland in 1967 was different from the party in New York in 1969 or the one in Chicago in 1968,” he says. The legacy today The legacy of the Panthers very much lives on in Black empowerment groups today, the most visible of which is Black Lives Matter. “(The Panthers) made ‘Black’ a word to be proud of,” says Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter. “Their legacy is about challenging a narrative that our Black lives don’t matter, that actually what is true and honest is that we know best what we need to live our lives.” Today’s groups spring from the concerns of a younger generation of activists who focus on social justice, economic equality and back self-determination. They also see an object lesson in the Panthers, learning from their successes and their failures. “The Panther Party in a lot of ways was dealing with a significant amount of patriarchy and violence that our movement is trying to ensure doesn’t repeat itself,” Cullors says. Shabazz says he sees the Panthers’ legacy every day in his students: “They’re holding our feel to the fire, they’re demanding greater accountability from us.” He notes proudly that students begin or end their gatherings in a circle, reciting lines written by Assata Shakur, a Black Panther in exile in Cuba. Shabazz quotes them from memory: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
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February 11 - February 17, 2016 • Page 13
Westside Gazette
Yvette Michelle is awarded first place at the ninth annual Lauderdale Yacht Club Fine Art Fair
Recently, Yvette Michele Booth won Art Fort Lauderdale Yacht Club’s Best in Show. This is what she had to say: “Each day I wake up and say Thank You. It is with the sincerest gratitude that I have a fabulous Henry family. I wanted to share some art news. I won the art Ft. Lauderdale Yacht Club show last Thursday. :) Thank you for your prayers and support. I feel them with my spirit. Truly blessed to be a Henry. ”
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — Las Olas Capital Arts is pleased to announce that the first
artist to be exhibited in the Las Olas Capital Advisors office, Yvette Michele, was awarded
BLACK HISTORY AND INSPIRE— On Feb. 8, In the East Room of the White House, Washington, D.C. youth dancers perform for Black History Month. (Photo by Cheriss May, Howard University News Service).
with the First Place ribbon at the Lauderdale Yacht Club Fine Art Fair. Yvette earned this phenomenal award in a competition with over 30 other artists. Her work can be noted as delightfully different through her use of threedimensional abstracts created from raw canvas and oil. Yvette participated in the Ninth annual Lauderdale Yacht Club Fine Art Fair. Lauderdale Yacht Club has become an advocate of the arts in Fort Lauderdale. Fort Lauderdale continues to produce a flourishing and evolving community that supports local artists. Yvette Michele specializes in large works of botanical and life abstractions. Within Yvette’s Art Portfolio are the St. Croix King Series, Le Fleur – The Exotics, The Original Sculptured Canvas, Le Fleur – The Roses, and Le Femme Portrait Series. Yvette also specializes in photography, especially of her beloved country of Bermuda. The work of Yvette Michele brings life to the walls comprising the Las Olas Capital Advisors office. A reception celebrating the exquisite work of Yvette Michele will be hosted at the Las Olas Capital Advisors office in Fort Lauderdale. For more information about the event, please contact Melissa Stephenson at (954) 2894692.
HIV was the fifth and seventh leading cause of death for Black men and women In 2014, NBHAAD National Coordinator LaMont “Montee” Evans shared, “Regardless of where we stand on sexual orientation, religious beliefs/values, age, income, education or otherwise, Black life is worth saving and working for the betterment of our survival has to become our paramount objective and goal. It is time for us to end AIDS in Black communities by making sure those living with HIV or AIDS take care of themselves. We stand on some strong shoulders that intended for us to survive.” Two years later this sentiment remains the same. It is sobering to know that HIV was the fifth and seventh leading cause of death for Black men and women, respectively, ages 25-44 in 2010 – higher than any other racial/ethnic group. Your race should not be the determining factor for your risk of HIV infection. NMAC’s Leading with Race initiative aims to significantly reduce new infections that are disproportionately affecting communities of color. NMAC is committed to staying the course of fighting for racial justice and health equity by partnering with NBHAAD’s national coordinating organizations and stakeholders within government and the private sector. Through all of this, we unapologetically continue to share the dream that together we will forge our own future and end HIV once and for all. For additional information on NMAC’s Leading with Race initiative visit: www.nmac.org. Yours in the Struggle,
Jacqueline Coleman, Director of Leadership Pipeline