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South Florida Black-owned media An educated reader listener companies team up to address advertisers is our greatest asset You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:3 (NASB)
Media symposium addresses informing advertisers and possible boycott By Janey Tate and Carolyn Guniss cguniss@miamitimesonline.com For the first time, all of the top Black-owned media companies in South Florida have joined forces to show a united front and to prove to advertisers that doing business with them is more than worth it. The group members, nine media organizations, named themselves the Black Owned Media Alliance (BOMA) and put on their first symposium as a way to educate media buyers and advertisers. It was the first in a series of planned educational outreach in an attempt to get the respect shown to even smaller media companies that are non-Black. During a media symposium, Dexter Bridgeman, owner and creator of Legacy and MIA magazines, said the group’s first approach would be informative, to let advertisers know their influence in the Black commu-
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
Panelists from nine Black-owned media and FMU professor speak about the benefits of the Black market. (Miami Times photos/Cleveland Bryant) nity. BOMA is the brainchild of Bridgeman, who in the summer invited several Black media owners to join with him in reaching out to the advertising com-
munity. But while Bridgeman sees the group as an educational and advocacy force, there was a lot of talk during the sympo-
sium of boycotting businesses that are heavily fraternized by Blacks but do not show their support through advertising. (Cont'd on Page 5)
Fifth Third Bank to pay $21.5 Mil in federal auto lending and credit card discrimination case Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Target Market News (TriceEdneyWire.com) -The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced two separate actions against Fifth Third Bank, for discriminatory auto loan pricing and for illegal credit card practices. The joint CFPB and Department of Justice (DOJ) auto-lending enforcement action requires Fifth Third to change its pricing and com-
Homeless as kids, brothers Lamont and Anthony Peterson evolve from street life to boxing’s elite
Lamont, Hunter and Anthony
Experts representing healthcare, government, law enforcement, the judiciary, and substance abuse agencies, joined with local residents to present a united front to help stem the tide of drug use of the synthetic drug commonly referred to as “Flakka”in Broward County which leads the nation in overdose deaths attributed its drug usage. Photo by Septembra Leseane
Broward County law enforcement, healthcare officials, as well as the county’s judicial system have seen
(Cont'd on Page 9)
pensation system to minimize the risks of discrimination, and to pay $18 million to harmed African-American and Hispanic borrowers. The CFPB’s action against Fifth Third’s deceptive marketing of credit card add-on products requires the bank to provide an estimated $3 million in relief to eligible harmed consumers and pay a $500,000 penalty. (Cont'd on Page 9)
Broward leaders joined together to address community during recent No Flakk a FForum orum at Dillard High School Flakka
By Charles Moseley
In less than two weeks since I have been engaged in the dialogue of the inadequacies in reciprocity as it relates to the outright disrespect of the spending power, I have read a number of stories where companies have been court ordered to pay millions of dollars do to their discrimination. There were two articles in particular that speak volumes to disrespecting the hard earned Black dollars and the “taking of Black people for granted” syndrome; “Fifth Third Bank to pay $21.5 mil in federal auto lending and credit card discrimination case” and BMW to pay $1.6 million; Plus offer jobs to settle Federal Race Discrimination Suit” (read both of them in this week’s Westside Gazette).
more than its share of cases involving illicit drug activity over the years, but nothing can compare with the latest in a line of so-called designer drugs commonly referred to on the
Pleading Our Own Cause
streets as “Flakka,” which has left local officials wondering how to stem the rapidly growing tidal wave of death and devastation in its wake as it sweeps throughout Broward
WWW.
County. On Oct. 24, 2015, Dillard High School located in northwest Fort Lauderdale, played host to a “No Flakka Forum,” and invited the local community which has been most affected by the outbreak of flakka, to participate in a panel discussion amongst a cadre of experts to examine the most important issue in the battle against illegal drugs in years. The forum was co-sponsored by the T.J. Reddick Bar Association, Urban League of Broward County’s Young Professionals Network, and the Dillard High School Student Government Association. Dillard High School Principal Cassandra D. Robinson set the tone for the event by sharing a recent incident involving the use of flakka, which hit very close to home, as she revealed that everyone has been affected either directly or indirectly by flakka, whether they were aware of it or not. (Cont'd on Page 5)
By Curtis Bunn, Urban News Service Abandoned and left on the streets, these two boxing champions are now cheered by the very parents who once cast them aside. It is the story of four individual transformations combining into one incredible tale. As a result, each victory in the boxing ring moves brothers Lamont and Anthony Peterson farther away from an unfathomable childhood living on the streets of Washington, D.C. Lamont, a former champion who has won 34 bouts, and his brother Anthony (36-1) have achieved admirably in the sport, but their crowning success is that they have survived. When they were 8 and 6 respectively, the Peterson boys were homeless. They lived for two years in desolate buildings, bus terminals, abandoned cars—any place they could squat. Theirs is a story of triumph over circumstances that “are something I’ve never seen,” said Barry Hunter, the brothers’ trainer who met the boys when they were 10 and 8. “They are battle-tested. I know
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people who have gone through far less pain and hurt and cracked. Not these kids.” Lamont, 31, the welterweight champion until this year, is the quieter of the two, an introspective sort who’d rather stay at home with family and a small circle of lifelong friends. Anthony, 29, is gregarious and open, full of laughter. “I don’t know how I would have faired if I had their upbringing,” Hunter said. “To live through sleeping in cars, benches, on the streets—as kids—it’s remarkable that they are so well-adjusted.” A tough opponent in the ring hardly registers with them as a crisis. “Life is hard,” is a Lamont Peterson mantra that he uses during most interviews when asked about his background. That could be viewed as an oversimplification, considering what he and his brother endured: father in prison, mother an alcoholic with 12 children. The kids were scattered about, with the older kids going to a grandparent and others to various places. (Read full story on www.thewestsidegazette.com) MEMBER: National Newspaper Publishers Association ( NNPA), and Southeastern African-American Publishers Association (SAAPA) Florida Association of Black Owned Media (FABOM)