anti obama feeling

Transcription

anti obama feeling

New York
Beacon
website:
NewYorkBeacon.com
Vol. 16 No. 33
Showing the Way to Truth and Justice
August 20, 2009 - August 26, 2009
E-Mail
[email protected]
75 Cents
ANTI OBAMA FEELING
Is toting
guns at
town hall
meetings
a civilized
act to you?
ON THE ROAD — President Barack Obama takes health care fight on the road.
(See Story On Page 3)
(CREDIT: White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Lowery continues search for justice at awards gala
(See Story On Page 3)
Bloomberg appoints 8 members to
NYC panel for educational policy
NEW YORK BEACON, August 20, 2009 - August 26, 2009 newyorkbeacon.com
2
Troy Davis
Supreme Court grants Troy
Davis evidentiary hearing
The NAACP applauds the
United States Supreme Court for
ordering a federal judge in Georgia to grant death row inmate
Troy Davis an evidentiary hearing to prove his innocence. The
evidentiary hearing would allow
the testimony of seven witnesses who have recanted or
contradicted their original eyewitness statements to be heard
and examined in a court of law
for the first time.
“We commend the Supreme
Court for this just decision to
step back from the brink of executing a man who is probably
innocent. Troy Davis has
spent 18 years on death row
for a crime he likely did not
commit. Thanks to the wisdom
of the Supreme Court he will
get his long overdue day in
court,“ says Benjamin Todd
Jealous, NAACP President and
CEO. “It is the unjust reality
of the death penalty in our nation that far too many innocent
men who are executed– a travesty that cannot be rectified or
reversed – are poor or people of
color. The Supreme Court’s decision today affirms the integrity
of our criminal justice system
when it works as it should,”
states Jealous.
Troy Davis has been on death
row for 18 years for the killing of
Mark MacPhail, a white police officer in Savannah, Georgia.
“The NAACP along with many
other groups have been working
tirelessly on behalf of Troy and
the MacPhail family to bring the
real killer of Officer MacPhail to
justice and to bring closure to
both families,” concluded Benjamin Todd Jealous.
“The Georgia State Conference
is pleased with today’s Supreme
Court decision. Finally Troy
Davis will be able to have a fair
and balanced hearing to prove
his innocence,” says Edward
Dubose, NAACP Georgia State
Conference President.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
has appointed eight members to
the Panel for Educational Policy,
which was re-established when
Governor Paterson signed the
New York City school governance legislation into law on
Tuesday.
The eight members, whom the
Mayor announced on his
weekly Friday morning radio
show on WOR Radio, are Philip
A. Berry, Linda Lausell Bryant,
Joe Chan , David Chang, Tino
Hernandez,
Richard
L.
Menschel, Tomás D. Morales,
and Gitte Peng.
The Panel’s primary responsibilities include approving educational policies proposed by
the Chancellor as well as the Department of Education’s budget,
the school capital plan, certain
contracts, labor agreements,
proposals for closing failing
schools and other significant
changes in how schools are utilized.
Each Borough President has
one appointee to the Panel, and
members will elect a chair at the
first meeting. The Panel previously existed from 2002 until the
school governance legislation
lapsed earlier this summer.
“The work of the Panel for
Educational Policy is critical to
maintaining the bold reforms we
have initiated since gaining control of schools in 2002, and to
making sure that each student
has access to a quality public
school education,” said Mayor
Bloomberg. “This marks the last
step in re-establishing the
school governance that has allowed our schools and students
to make so much progress over
the last seven years and will allow us to keep working to improve our schools.”
The eight members appointed
by Mayor Bloomberg are:
Philip A. Berry is the president of the management consulting firm Philip Berry Associates LLC and the vice chair-
Michael Bloomberg
man of CUNY Board of Trustees.
He brings more than 25 years of
experience in human resources
management to a school system
with more than 136,000 employees.
Linda Lausell Bryant, who
has a child in a public middle
school in Brooklyn, is the executive director of Inwood House, a
nationally-recognized innovator
in teen pregnancy prevention,
youth development and family
support programs. She manages
and directs the nonprofit’s dayto-day operations, including the
36-bed maternity residence and
other programs helping some
4,000 youth annually.
Joe Chan, who has one child
in a public Pre-K program in
Brooklyn and a second in a
Brooklyn public elementary
school, was appointed as the
first president of the Downtown
Brooklyn Partnership in September 2006. As president of the
Partnership, Chan works closely
with City agencies, elected officials, businesses, cultural organizations, and the real estate industry to spur new and continued investment in (the city).
David C. Chang, the chancellor of the Polytechnic Institute
of New York University, is an internationally-recognized scholar
in the fields of engineering, science, and electromagnetics. As
president of Polytechnic University in Brooklyn prior to its reorganization, Chang increased enrollment by sixty percent.
Tino Hernandez is president and
chief executive officer of Samaritan Village, Inc. one of the largest
nonprofit providers and community-based, substance abuse treatment services in New York . He is
responsible for the administration
and oversight of the Agency’s ten
facilities which include drug-free
residential, methadone-to-abstinence and out-patient modalities,
as well as homeless and senior services.
Richard L. Menschel is senior director of Goldman Sachs, a firm he
joined in 1959. He is director and
president of the Charina Endowment Fund, a member of the Dean’s
Council at the Harvard School of
Public Health, chairman emeritus of
the Board of Trustees for the Hospital for Special Surgery, and a Vice
President and Trustee of the Morgan Library & Museum
Tomás D. Morales was appointed
by the Board of Trustees of the City
University of New York to serve as
the third president of the College
of Staten Island in June of 2007.
An educator and administrative
leader in higher education for over
32 years, Morales is one of the few
higher education administrators in
the United States who have held
senior administrative positions at
the three largest public university
systems in the nation.
Gitte Peng, a new mother and an
independent documentary filmmaker and field producer for Better
Than Fiction Productions, served
for five years as the senior education policy advisor to Deputy
Mayor Dennis Walcott. There she
played a lead role in crafting and
implementing the school governance reform legislation establishing mayoral control of the schools,
advised on all issues of education
policy and reform, and developed
and oversaw education strategies
and initiatives throughout the system.
Ex- Gov. Dean calls public option indispensable
Former Democratic Party
Chairman Howard Dean, a leading figure in the liberal wing of
his party, said Monday he
doubts there can be meaningful
health care reform without a direct government role.
Dean urged the Obama administration to stand by statements
made early on in the debate in
which it steadfastly insisted
that such a public option was
indispensable to genuine
change, saying that Medicare
and the Veterans Administration are “two very good programs that have been around for
a long time.”
Dean appeared on morning
news shows Monday amid increasing indications the Obama
White House is retreating from
the public option in the face of
vocal opposition from Republicans and some vocal partici-
pants at a town-hall-style meetings
around the country.
The former Vermont governor
was asked on NBC’s “Meet the
Press” about President Barack
Obama’s statement over the weekend that the public option for insurance coverage was “just a
sliver” of the overall proposal.
Obama’s health and human services secretary, Kathleen
Sebelius, advanced that line, telling CNN Sunday that a direct government role in a system intended
to provide virtually universal coverage was “not the essential element.”
Dean, a physician, argued that a
public option is fair and said there
must be such a choice in any genuine shake up of the existing system.
“You can’t really do health reform without it,” he said. Dean
maintained that the health insur-
Howard Dean
ance industry has “put enormous
pressure on patients and doctors”
in recent years.
He called a direct government
role “the entirety of health care
reform. It isn’t the entirety of insurance reform ... We shouldn’t
spend $60 billion a year subsidizing the insurance industry.”
Dean also said he doesn’t foresee any Republican support for a
public option. “I don’t think the
Republicans are interested and in
order to have a bipartisan bill,
you’ve got to have both sides interested,” he said.
The shift in the administration’s
stance on a government-run insurance program leaves open a
chance for compromise with Republicans that probably would
enrage Obama’s liberal supporters but could deliver a muchneeded victory on a top domestic priority.
Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.,
who is co-chairman of the Middle
Class Caucus, said that “leaving
private insurance companies the job
of controlling the costs of health
care is like making a pyromaniac the
fire chief.”
Officials from both political parties are looking for concessions
while Congress is on an August recess. Facing tough audiences, lawmakers and the White House are
looking for a way to cover the
nation’s almost 50 million uninsured
while maintaining political standing.
Sebelius said the White House
would be open to co-ops instead of
a public option — a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they
can declare a victory.
Under a proposal by Sen. Kent
Conrad, D-N.D., consumer-owned
nonprofit cooperatives would sell
(Continued on page 33)
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Rev. Joseph Lowery
Lowery continues search
for justice at awards gala
By Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Editor-in-Chief
WASHINGTON (NNPA) –
Within the same hour that Rev.
Joseph Lowery received
America’s highest civilian
honor, the civil rights icon – still
at the White House – declared
war on the “myth” that America
is now a “post-racial” nation.
“The concept of a post racial
era is a myth created by media
and it ought to be dispersed,”
said Lowery, responding to a
question from the NNPA News
Service in the White House
press room. “We are not post
racial.”
Among 16 people to receive
the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama,
America’s first African-America
president in the East Room of
the White House on Aug. 12,
Lowery – awarded for his pio-
neering and lifetime achievements in fighting for civil rights
– told a group of reporters that
the struggle is not nearly over.
“I haven’t done nearly as much
as I should have done. None of
us have. …In spite of all the
progress we’ve made – and
we’ve come a long way - we still
have a mighty long way to go,”
he said.
He said the arrest of Harvard
professor Henry Louis Gates by
Cambridge police officer James
Crowley in his own home was
“clear evidence that race is still a
significant factor in life in
America and they still don’t get
it.”
He explained, “I remember
when I used to lecture young
people on how to deal with the
police: ‘If the police confronts
you, keep your hands in the air
and say a little prayer.’ And that
Sydney Poitier
About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a
military-style rifle, milled among
protesters outside the convention center where President
Barack Obama was giving a
speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have
openly displayed firearms near
the president.
Gun-rights advocates say
they’re exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and
protest, while those who argue
for more gun control say it could
be a disaster waiting to happen.
Phoenix police said the guntoters at Monday’s event, including the man carrying an AR15 semi-automatic rifle slung
over his shoulder, didn’t need
permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.
The man with the rifle declined
to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. “In Arizona, I
still have some freedoms,” he
said.
Phoenix police Detective J.
Oliver, who monitored the man
at the downtown protest, said
police also wanted to make sure
no one decided to harm him.
“Just by his presence and
people seeing the rifle and
people knowing the president
was in town, it sparked a lot of
emotions,” Oliver said. “We were
keeping peace on both ends.”
Last week, during Obama’s
health care town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a
sign reading “It is time to water
the tree of liberty” stood outside
with a pistol strapped to his leg.
“It’s a political statement,” he
told The Boston Globe. “If you
don’t use your rights, then you
lose your rights.”
Police asked the man to move
away from school property, but
he was not arrested.
Fred Solop, a Northern Arizona
MADAM SECRETARY — President Barack Obama greets
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s former secretary Helen Kogel
Denton during the 110th Veterans of Foreign Wars National
Convention Monday, Aug. 17, 2009, in Phoenix.
(AP Photo/Matt York)
University political scientist, said
the incidents in New Hampshire
and Arizona could signal the beginning of a disturbing trend.
“When you start to bring guns
to political rallies, it does layer
on another level of concern and
significance,” Solop said. “It actually becomes quite scary for
many people. It creates a chilling
effect in the ability of our society
to carry on honest communication.”
He said he’s never heard of
someone bringing an assault
weapon near a presidential event.
“The larger the gun, the more
menacing the situation,” he said.
Phoenix was Obama’s last stop
on a four-day tour of western
states, including Montana and
Colorado.
Authorities in Montana said
they received no reports of any-
one carrying firearms during
Obama’s health care town hall near
Bozeman on Friday. About 1,000
people both for and against Obama
converged at a protest area near
the Gallatin Field Airport hangar
where the event took place. One
person accused of disorderly conduct was detained and released,
according to the Gallatin Airport
Authority.
Heather Benjamin of Denver’s
Mesa County sheriff’s department,
the lead agency during Obama’s
visit there, said no one was arrested.
Arizona is an “open-carry” state,
which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry
it in public as long as it’s visible.
Only someone carrying a concealed weapon is required to have
Finally, King of Pop will be
laid to rest among the famous
Joe Jackson, the father of the late
pop icon Michael Jackson, said
Monday the famous star will be
buried in Holly Terrace in Forest
Lawn Memorial on Aug. 29, which
would have been Michael’s 51st
birthday.
The Great Mausoleum at the
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale, Calif., is burial chamber
of famous Hollywood screen legends that include Clark Gable,
W.C. Fields, Red Skelton and Jean
Harlow among many others.
The private ceremony will be limited to family and close friends, a
family member said. All of
Michael’s five brothers plan to be
pallbearers.
The family had delayed burying
Michael for weeks, fearing the
ghouls could try to desecrate the
Michael Jackson
gravesite.
Meanwhile, a judge on Monday traveling exhibition dedicated to
approved a deal for the sale of the King of Pop, amid objections
Michael Jackson merchandise, but from the singer’s mother.
delayed making a decision on a
Los Angeles Superior Court
Judge Mitchell Beckloff, who is overseeing matters related to Jackson’s
estate, approved the deal between
the co-executors of Jackson’s will
and Bravado International Group, a
division of Universal Music Group
owned by Vivendi SA.
But Beckloff postponed until Friday a decision on whether to approve concert promoter AEG Live’s
plans for a traveling exhibition of
Jackson memorabilia. He did so amid
objections from attorneys for
Jackson’s mother, Katherine, who
said the planned exhibition may not
bring enough money to the estate.
On Aug. 7, Beckloff approved a
deal between Jackson’s estate, AEG
Live and Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Corp, for a movie to be
released October 30 using footage
from the pop star’s final rehearsals.
The executors of Jackson’s will,
longtime attorney John Branca and
music executive John McClain, have
A man openly carrying assault 3
weapon attends Obama protest
Clinton brokers lower HIV drug
prices with pharmaceutical firms
4
By J. Zamgba Browne
Special to NY Beacon
C. T. Vivian
C.T. Vivian marks birthday
with star studded events
The C. T. Vivian Leadership Institute hosted the 85th birthday
celebration for the Reverend Dr.
C. T. Vivian on Friday, July 31,
at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel.
Dr. Vivian, a renowned minister,
author, educator, community activist, and humanitarian, was a
close friend and lieutenant of
the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. during the American Civil
Rights Movement.
His birthday commemoration,
themed Leadership Now: Passing the Torch, included a full
day of activities including a
Discussion Summit ; a Networking Mixer; and the main attraction, Narratives of my Life: A
Spiritual Journey , which featured passing the torch to a
new generation of leadership.
The Discussion Summit —
Leadership Now: Passing the
Torch, hosted by Angela Yvonne
Robinson, Derrick Boazman, and
Alisha Thomas Morgan, offered
an occasion to recall some of Dr.
Vivian’s history-making moments in time such as the confrontation at the Edmund Pettus
Bridge in Selma, AL.,. Featured
speakers and presenters at this
event included
Warren
Ballentine, Elizabeth Omilami,
Dick Gregory, Phyllis Yvonne
Stickney and Isaiah Washington.
Alisha Thomas Morgan, Georgia State legislator; Jovita
Moore, WSB TV anchor; and
Isaiah Washington, actor,
hosted the evening dinner party
Narratives of My Life: A Spiritual Journey. Presentations
were made by Monica Pearson,
George Andrews, Henrietta
Antoinin, Derrick Boazman, and
others.
Leadership Torches were
passed by Rev. Dr. Teresa
Hairston and Rev. Dr. Gerald
Durley to those individuals who
participated in the “passing the
torch” discussions earlier in the
day. Entertainment for the event
was provided by Sinfo-Nia
Youth Orchestra and the Youth
Ensemble of Atlanta.
“Narratives” of Dr. Vivian’s
life were written and published
in a journal that is offered for sale
by the C. T. Vivian Leadership
Institute, the non-profit organization founded by Dr. Vivian.
The Institute is committed to
developing minority communities and organizational leaders
through relevant issues and
meaningful programs.
With his family surrounding him,
the evening closed with Dr. Vivian
giving his own narrative and recalling stories about his life and
the people who influenced him.
Commenting on the program,
the exuberant Dr. Vivian said, “I
really like this (the format). I
never thought about doing this
before; but it’s very effective.
It’s more personal and allows
people a close-up view of my life
in the movement.”
For additional information
about the C. T. Vivian Leadership Institute, please contact
[email protected]
or visit the website at
www.ctvivian.org .
New data says Detroit
No. 1 in unemployment
DETROIT (NNPA) - The 82 percent Black Detroit region continues to lead the country’s metropolitan areas in unemployment
with a rate of 17.1 percent, according to data recently released by
the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
The Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn
area reported a rate of 18.5 percent, the Warren-TroyFarmington Hills area reported
a rate of 16.2 percent and
Michigan’s overall unemploy-
ment rate recently rose to 15.2
percent.
Senate Democrats have been
pushing to pass the unemployment modernization legislation
that would secure $138.9 million
from federal funds to help
Michigan’s displaced workers.
The House passed their two-bill
unemployment modernization
package months ago, but the bills
have been ignored in the Senate
Committee on Commerce and
Tourism since.
Former President Bill Clinton
has reached an agreement with
two pharmaceutical companies,
Pfizer and Mylan to lower their
prices of medicines for patients
with drug-resistant HIV in developing countries.
Pfizer commits to improve access through a 60 percent decrease to $1 per dose on drug
to treat tuberculosis in patients
taking second-line HIV/AIDS
medications. The new agreements on HIV and TB – the
leading cause of death of
people with HIV – reinforce
calls for more integrated prevention and treatment of the
two diseases.
“Thanks to the work of my
foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative, two million people living
with HIV/AIDS are now able to
access lifesaving treatment,
said President Clinton. “But
their continued survival depends on uninterrupted access
to medicines and quality and
affordable health care throughout their entire life,” he added.
The former President said
Monday’s announcement will
help ensure “we can sustain
treatment over a lifetime and
better treat patients with both
HIV and TB, two key steps in
Bill Clinton
turning the tide of the global
HIV/AIDS pandemic.”
Addressing the need for
more affordable second-line
ARVs, Mylan and Matrix, a
Mylan company, are making
available four drugs –
atazanavir (ATV), ritonavir
(RTV), tenofovir (TDF), and
lamivudine (3TC) – needed to
enable once-daily treatment of
patients who have developed
resistance to standard first-
line ARVs.
The four drugs will be available
in pills, with tenofovir and
lamivudine combined into a single
bill. The three pills were made
available this week as separate
products, with a total price of less
than $475 annually.
Matrix will also sell the pills together in one package – a “second-line-in-box” – at $425 annually starting in 2010. The products
and prices will be available to
governments that are members of
the Clinton Foundation’s Procurement Consortium across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the
Caribbean.
Mylan Chief Executive Officer
Robert J. Coury said, “Ensuring
sustainable access to effective
treatments in the developing
world is a critical element in the
global fight against HIV/AIDS.”
“Mylan and Matrix are proud to
continue our commitment of creating and introducing innovative
and affordable pharmaceutical
solutions.
“This includes our ‘secondline-in-box,’ which will reduce
patient pill burden and facilitate
patient compliance. Our affordable, heat-stable version of
ritonavir also represents another
advance in the development of
products that can withstand environmental conditions in parts of
the world where treatment is desperately needed,” he added.
NAACP urges end to disruptive
strategies over health care debate
By J. Zamgba Browne
The nation’s leading civil
rights organization has called
for an end to what it described
as the “disruptive strategies”
designed to distract from a serious discussion needed over
health care and encourages a
fair and civil debate.
“Opponents of health care reform and partisan activists have
gone too far by stooping to deplorable antics during these
discussions” said NAACP
President Benjamin T. Jealous.
“Their intent to disrupt the political process, and employ racially offensive tactics, including painting of a Nazi swastika
on Rep. Scott’s door, are deplorable, unproductive and flat
out wrong,” he added.
Instead of spinning a web of
myths and mistrusts about
health care, Jealous said opponents of the current plan before
Congress should be engaging
in thoughtful, productive discussion with their elected officials.
Hilary O. Shelton, director of
the NAACP’s Washington Bureau said the country’s health
system is badly broken, and
that what is even sadder is that
instead of engaging in thoughtful and productive dialogue,
President Obama
adversaries are turning to
“hate mongering, sensationalism and shout-downs to try
and prevent an informed discussion and sway the court of
public opinion through fear
and intimidation.
“Opponents of health care
reform need to move away from
intimidation and name calling
and allow the American people
to engage their elected representatives on the crucial issue
of health care reform,” he
added.
While health care reform
moves through Congress, the
NAACP said it is working hard to
ensure that any health care reform
package provides full health care
coverage that is affordable to every individual, family and business
and covers all pre-existing conditions.
The NAACP also wants the plan
to contain standard, comprehensive health care benefits that meet
everyone’s needs, from preventive
to chronic care, provides individuals with choice of a private or public health care plan.
The NAACP also wants an initiative that includes a new public
health care plan that will provide
guaranteed backup which will always be there to ensure quality,
affordable health care coverage no
matter what.
Also a plan that will ensure quality in health care access, treatment,
research, and resources to people
and communities of color and
stronger health services in low-income communities.
“In the U.S. today, Shelton said
skin color, ethnic background and
where one lives can not only influence an individual’s health care
and quality, they can determine
them.”
He said while medical science has
made a lot of advances over the
last 10 years, the gains made by
the discovery of new drugs and
treatments have not passed on to
the deprived segments of the
nation’s population.
5
Ex-Congressman Jefferson is
found guilty on 11 of 16 counts
6
Tommy Defoe sued for his right to wear Confederate garb
to high school.
(Courtesy Photo)
Judge tosses student suit
to wear Confederate flag
Special to the NNPA from the
Varlan said in his decision
Afro-American Newspapers
that Defoe’s free-speech rights
to display the Confederate
(NNPA) - A federal judge last battle flag in 2006 were propweek threw out a free-speech erly limited by school officials
lawsuit brought by a former who “reasonably forecasted a
Tennessee high school stu- material and substantial disrupdent who wore clothing bear- tion to the school environment”
ing the Confederate flag.
if the clothing was permitted.
Tommy Defoe sued after he
“We’re going to provide a
was sent home and then sus- dress code that is conducive to
pended for insubordination in learning and that it will not bring
2006 for wearing a T-shirt and attention to one individual or a
belt buckle with the flag to group of individuals,” Larry
Anderson County High School Foster, Anderson County
outside Knoxville, Tenn. Defoe School Superintendent, told a
claimed he wanted to display local Tennessee TV station.
pride in his Southern heritage.
H o w e v e r, i n t h e B l o u n t
The case was tried a year ago County case, racial tensions led
and ended with a hung jury. A t o a f i g h t a n d a s c h o o l
new trial had been scheduled, lockdown, Defoe’s attorney,
but in his decision U.S. District Van Irion, told the TV station.
Judge Tom Varlan cited a fed“We came close to winning at
eral court ruling which upheld the last trial and this ruling is
a Confederate flag ban result- essentially saying you have no
i n g f r o m a c a s e i n n e a r b y chance of winning,” Irion said.
Blount County.
“We are stunned.”
Special to the NNPA from the
Louisiana Weekly
NEW ORLEANS (NNPA) William Jefferson, Louisiana’s
first Black congressman since
Reconstruction, was found
guilty on 11 of 16 counts in a
high-profile case that attracted
national attention after federal
investigators
recovered
$90,000 in cash hidden in a
freezer in the congressman’s
home.
After the decision was announced on Wednesday, Aug.
5, in Alexandria, Va.,, U.S. Attorney Dana Boente told the
small army of reporters outside
the courthouse, ”Congressman Jefferson had a contract
with the citizens of Louisiana
and the people of the United
States and he owed them his
honest services and he violated that trust. He sold his office and that’s what brought
us here today.”
“It should be a clear signal
that no public official — and
certainly not a U.S. Congressman — can put their office up
for sale and betray that office.
It cannot be tolerated,” Boente
added.
“No person, not even a congressman, is above the law.
Ninety-thousand dollars in a
freezer is not a gray area. It’s
a violation.”
“I’m holding up,” a visibly
shaken Jefferson told reporters who asked him how he was
doing after the verdict. His attorneys said they plan to appeal the conviction.
“We didn’t think they proved
that case, we didn’t think they
proved anything,” Jefferson
defense attorney Robert Trout
said with Jefferson at his side.
“We have very strong legal issues to appeal on, we’ve been
fighting this issues since the
day of indictment and feel very
strong about them.”
Sentencing was scheduled
for Oct. 30.
Jefferson faces up to 150
years in prison.
The former congressman can
appeal his conviction and was
not taken into custody.
Jurors returned to court and
decided that Jefferson must
forfeit $470,000 in alleged
bribes and 30 million shares of
Former Congressman William Jefferson
stock he received through two
technology companies — iGate
and W2-IBBS, Limited.
The former congressman, his
wife and daughters helped promote iGate as a company that
could deliver affordable, highspeed Internet access to underdeveloped countries in Africa that might otherwise not
be able to afford it. W2-IBBS,
Limited was a company established by the Jefferson clan
under the ownership of Lori
Mody, who later turned out to
be a key FBI informant.
Less than two hours after the
verdict was read, federal prosecutors released FBI tapes
showing a conversation
Jefferson had in a hotel restaurant with Moody as well as
footage of Moody handing
over a briefcase to the congressman that was kept in the
trunk of her car.
For some, Congressman William Jefferson’s rise to power
was the quintessential rags-toriches story.
One of nine children born in
Lake Providence, Louisiana to
parents who did not complete
high school, William Jennings
Jefferson used education to lift
himself out of poverty. After
graduating from G. W. Griffin
High School in 1965, Jefferson
went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Southern UniversityBaton Rouge. After Southern,
Jefferson was commissioned a
second lieutenant in the United
States Army and served in a reserve capacity until 1975. He
earned a law degree from
Harvard University in 1972 and
an LLM in taxation from
Georgetown University Law
Center in 1996.
He began practicing law in the
early 1970s while still serving as
a clerk for Judge Alvin B. Rubin
of the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of
Louisiana. Jefferson served as
a legislative assistant to U.S.
Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.,
of Louisiana from 1973 to 1975.
Jefferson moved to New Orleans in 1976 and was elected to
the Louisiana Senate three years
later, where he served until 1990.
He launched two unsuccessful
bids to become mayor of New
Orleans , losing first to incumbent Dutch Morial in the election of 1982, and subsequently
NAACP mourns passing of first woman chair of Directors Bd.
The NAACP last week issued
a statement about the death of
Margaret Bush Wilson, an activist lawyer, who became the
first Black woman to the chair
the NAACP board of directors.
“ The NAACP family is saddened by the passing of Margaret Bush Wilson, an activist and
lawyer who was the first African
American woman to chair the
NAACP Board of Directors.,”
the statement said.
Mrs. Wilson died on Aug. 11
at the age of 90.
“Margaret Bush Wilson’s passion for legal equity and social
justice provide the framework
for which many of our civil
rights victories have been
fought and won” said NAACP
Chairman of the Board of Directors Julian Bond. “The NAACP
has lost a champion and the
world has lost a pioneer. Margaret Bush Wilson served as an
NAACP board member and
board chairman and a path breaking Missouri lawyer.”
The importance of the NAACP
and its mission were instilled in
Wilson early in life, as both of
her parents were active in the St.
Louis Branch of the NAACP, of
which she became a member as a
youth.
Following her graduation from
Talladega College, in 1940, she
entered Lincoln University
School of Law in Missouri, set
up one year earlier after the Supreme Court ruled that Black stu-
Margaret Bush Wilson
dents must be admitted to the
University of Missouri Law
School or provide equal educational opportunities elsewhere.
In 1953, following her graduation, she incorporated black brokers, organized by her father, who
brought the successful Shelley vs.
Kramer case to the U.S. Supreme
Court. In 1956, she began work as
volunteer for the St. Louis Branch
NAACP when they formed a Job
Opportunity Council to get local
white businessmen to hire black
citizens. In 1958, she became president of the St. Louis Branch.
In early 1960, she organized the
first statewide NAACP Conference in Missouri which became
the Missouri State Conference
of NAACP Branches of which
she also served as president. She
was later elected to the NAACP
Board of Directors in 1963 and was
a member for the next 12 years,
until her election as chairman in
1975 and served in this position
for nine years through 1983.
After her election as chairman,
when male board members inquired “What shall we call you?
chairperson? chairlady? she responded “As long as you recognize that I‘m chairman of the
board, I don’t care what you call
me.”
“Margaret Bush Wilson was the
consummate NAACP leader, and
her steadfast commitment to the
Association was unparalleled,”
7
8
Editorial
They don’t dislike health
care, they dislike Obama
New York
Beacon
By Julianne Malveaux
Walter Smith: Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Miatta Haj Smith: Co-Publisher & Executive Editor
William Egyir: Managing Editor
Michael Vick has paid his dues
By George E. Curry
NNPA Columnist
When it was announced that
Michael Vick had been signed
by the Philadelphia Eagles, echoes of “Who Let the Dogs Out?”
became
popular
again.
Bigmouths on sports radio, proposed some new lyrics for the
Eagles’ fight song: “Die, Fido,
die…”
The auction site eBay offered
Michael Vick chew toys for
dogs.
Some fans threatened to cancel their prized and limited season tickets and others were
standing in line, hoping they
would follow through on their
threat.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the animal rights groups, made clear
that it plans to continue hounding the pro quarterback.
“PETA and millions of decent
football fans around the world
are disappointed that the Eagles
decided to sign a guy who hung
dogs from trees. He electrocuted them with jumper cables
and held them under water,”
PETA spokesman Dan Shannon
told the Associated Press. There
was no doubt that Vick’s treatment of dogs was horrifying and
I described such acts in detail
in an August 27, 2007 column.
http://www.georgecurry.com/
columns/michael-vick-let-thedogs-out
But some so-called animal
rights hypocrites remain critical
of Vick while refusing to challenge state laws that provide licenses to those who hunt deer
and other innocent animals. And
the “animal rights” groups are
not the only cowards.
As a nation, we like to say how
much we believe in forgiveness
and pat ourselves on the back
for giving someone a second
chance. In reality, however, there
is a strong revenge streak that
remains even after a person has
paid for his or her offence.
Vick was the No. 1 draft pick in
the 2001 draft. The Atlanta Falcons signed him to a 10-year,
$130 million contract, making him
the highest paid player in the
league. After the dog fighting
charges surfaced, Vick was
banned indefinitely by the NFL
and eventually filed for bankruptcy.
He was part of an underground
dog fighting ring in rural Virginia
and pled guilty to running an operation that killed at least eight
dogs that failed to do well in test
fights. He decided to plead
guilty after his three co-defenders had agreed to testify against
him. Vick served a year and a half
in federal prison. During that
period, he was visited by Tony
Dungy, the former coach of the
Indianapolis Colts.
NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell has conditionally reinstated Vick on July 27, meaning
the earliest he can play in the preseason is Aug. 27.
The most inspiring part of the
Vick saga is the role played by
Eagle quarterback Donovan
McNabb. He told ESPN.com, “I
pretty much lobbied to get him
here. I believe in second
chances and what better place
to get a second chance than
here with this group of guys.”
When was the last time you
lobbied your company to hire
someone who could possibly replace you?
And McNabb’s enthusiasm
rubbed off on Head Coach Andy
Reid, who lobbied Team President Joe Banner and owner
Jeffrey Lurie. The Eagles signed
Vick to a two-year deal: $1.6 million and a second-year option
worth $5.2 million, plus incentives that could total up to $3
over the two years of the contract.
Ironically, while the NFL is
gradually bringing Vick back
into acceptance, it has wasted
no time exploiting his name.
Even though Vick has yet to be
fully reinstated, NFLShop.com
is already selling replicates of
Vick’s Eagles jersey. As sports
blogger Jeff Schultz notes, “The
NFL is not ready for Vick to be
the face of the league – but it is
ready for Vick to be the face on
the ledger.”
Of course, the Eagles could
have avoided an unneeded public controversy by staying away
from Vick. While they don’t go
looking for controversy, they
don’t run from it. Don’t forget
that this was a team that took a
chance on controversial wide
receiver Terrell Owens.
NNPA Columnist
I am fascinated by the town hall
meetings that are happening
around the country and the ire,
real or imagined, that is being
heaped on members of Congress
who are simply attempting to
share information with their constituencies about ways our government hopes to help 50 million
uninsured Americans get health
insurance.
There are some Americans who
honestly oppose a government
role in providing health care, some
who dishonestly (like Sarah Palin)
have twisted provisions to end up
with “death panels” that do not
exist but frighten many people,
and some who have no problem
with health care, per se, but have
jumped in on this one as a way of
pouncing on a weakness they perceive in the Obama Administration.
They don’t dislike health care,
they dislike President Barack
Obama. They see blood in the
water and so, like the sharks they
are, they are going after it. Here’s
the evidence – the discussion is
shrill and uncivil. It is long on
emotion and short on facts.
I hesitate to say that there is a
racial element in this opposition
because those who oppose national health insurance were
pretty nasty when the Clintons
were attempting to implement
those policies (remember Harry
and Louise?). Still, I never
thought a debate about health insurance could turn so vituperative, and in sleepy August, too.
While politics is the art of compromise, President Obama and his
team should hold the line on
health insurance. It is an essential part of economic recovery and
economic vitality. How many
people file bankruptcy because,
uninsured, they have encountered
health care bills for an unplanned
illness?
How many allow small illnesses
to become large ones because they
can’t get to a doctor? We know
there are 50 million uninsured
adults and children. What kind of
productivity drain exists because
people don’t have the health insurance they need?
After being battered by the
astroturf organizations playing at
real opposition, President Obama
seems ready to step back and perhaps abandon the idea of giving
Americans the option of government-run insurance. This represents capitulation on a key point,
preserves the so-called free market
forces that Republicans want, and
postpones the reckoning that must
take place about health care until a
future time when another leader (or
perhaps this one in a second term)
is able to deal with comprehensive
reform.
One in seven of our GDP dollars
are spent on health care, and it is
inexcusable that so many Americans are pushed to the periphery
of the system. Those of us with
jobs that provide benefits clearly
have the best health insurance options, while those who are gainfully
self-employed have some options,
but pay more dearly for insurance.
Those who are separated from the
labor market and those who work
at low wages often do not have
health insurance, or they simply
can’t afford it. In some cases, premiums will take up to a third of a
worker’s paycheck. That’s when
people decide to take a chance and
pray they won’t get sick.
While the government-run insurance option is not the central fact
of the Obama plan, it is an important part of it. There are Democratic
members of Congress who will not
support health care without this
feature. Why? Because the private sector has heretofore been unwilling to insure the uninsured.
Government is stepping in because
the market hasn’t worked for everyone. But the free market advo-
Protestors are testing President Obama’s fortitude
By Ron Walters
NNPA Columnist
It is time for testing on several
fronts as the health care debate
becomes the platform for a general uprising over President
Barack Obama’s governing program.
His very life is being tested,
as people, like William Kostric,
show up to a New Hampshire
Town hall meeting with a gun
strapped to his leg. In an interview with Kostric, he claimed his
right under New Hampshire law,
to carry a weapon openly, but
he also had a sign with him carrying the words saying that “it
is time to water the tree of lib-
erty.”
This was a phrase from Thomas Jefferson (which) inferred
that liberty often required the
shedding of blood, and it had
been the same phrase carried by
Timothy McVeigh when he blew
up the federal court house in
Oklahoma City several year ago.
The strange thing about this
is that there are no news reports
of the Secret Service securing
this individual quickly, given that
the President of the United
States was there. Federal law,
which should taken precedent in
that case, prohibits any citizens
from threatening the President of
the United States and Kostric
most certainly would have
seemed threatening having a
loaded weapon on his person.
When I saw that, my mind
went back to 1988 when the Secret Service uncovered a plot by
some White supremacists in St.
Louis to kill Rev. Jesse Jackson
when he was running for President. Their admitted motive,
captured on tape by an informant was that, he was getting
too close to being the president.
Barack Obama is already the
president and one doesn’t have
to think too much to sense the
haters plotting to do harm whenever they have a reasonable opportunity.
Rather than the media denouncing such practices and
the vitriol that has accompanied
these town hall meetings, they
appear to want more drama, following the President out to town
hall meetings in the Mid-West in
anticipation that he will be confronted personally. He has done
well in those settings, but you
could not tell it from the subsequent reportage.
Rather than praising him for his
clarity in explaining difficult concepts of health care that are on
the table, he is being chastised
for not having said this or that,
done this or that, and taking little
leadership. Where have these
people been? What guides their
conclusions?
I understand the polling that
has taken place much better than
the opinions of the pundits. The
questions in recent polls have
asked how has Obama handled the
health care debate have found him
at 43 percent, with 48 percent
thinking he could have done better.
But it is more difficult to handle
a debate where fear-mongering is
the most potent resource and
where the confusion around the
lack of a settled piece of legislation feeds into the fear and indecision.
The insurance industry is a master at this. They have fielded television ads that appear to support
reform, but are larded with subtle
questions that propose to support
a “bi-partisan” solution, meaning
9
Obama is bringing back Title VI of the Civil Rights Act
By Harry Alford
NNPA Columnist
Oh, it has been a long drought
in Washington, DC. One of the
most precious components of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has
been diminishing at a constant
rate at the federal level. It didn’t
matter who was President or
Attorney General. This law was
being ignored, diverted and
misrepresented.
It was just a shame and all civil
rights groups seem not to know
exactly what it is. Their focus is
on Title VII which deals with employment and promotion. Title
VI is the standard for all affirmative action programs concerning procurement, funding,
and other business activity. All
of the affirmative action programs within the Small Business
Administration, US Department
of Transportation, etc. evolved
from implementation of Title VI.
The main watchdog and enforcer of Title VI is the Civil Rights
Division, U.S. Department of Justice. The responsibilities are the
management of the Assistant Attorney General in that office. In
essence, if we are to see a turnaround in Title VI enforcement it
will come from Attorney General
Eric Holder with the blessing of
President Obama. There are encouraging signs that show that
is starting to happen.
After the Honorable Parren J.
Mitchell (D – Maryland) wrote
and carried through Congress
the pieces of legislation that
started the development of minority businesses in the federal procurement programs, our businesses started to grow. It even
brought the emergence of Black
Enterprise Magazine’s Top 100
Black Business listing.
Growth was ever present and the
foes also entered the scene. The
Reagan Administration came into
power and Title VI started to be in
danger. Attorney General Ed
Meese decided to strip the staff
of the Title VI department of the
Civil Rights Division. It shrunk to
one person and his/her duties
were to be solely on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
That’s right the main focus on
Title VI was now people with disabilities not affirmative action for
minority and women businesses.
In essence, the enforcer of Title
VI, the Department of Justice, became negligent of that duty.
The Bush Administration followed the two Reagan administrations and it was no better. The
neglect carried on. If fact, he
threatened not to renew the whole
Civil Rights Act when the renewal
fell before him. However, he recanted under pressure and extended it.
The first Clinton Administration
came in and Deval Patrick, now the
democratic Governor of Massachusetts, took the reigns of Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights. He was brilliant. He replenished the staff and began
shaking things up.
It appeared that the good days
President Obama
were going to return. Progress
lasted through the first Clinton
Administration but things
started to change as he neared
re-election in 1996. The Clinton
Administration started to back
pedal in face of strong Republican attacks on affirmative action. Deval Patrick would announce that he was leaving and
we started to see things falling
apart.
The final betrayal came after
Minister Louis Farrakhan successfully pulled off the Million
Man March.
It was like President Clinton
decided to do the push back
himself by telling the nervous
opposition “Don’t worry, I will
push back and they are not going to improve their status. He
then began his “mend it, don’t
end it” program on affirmative
action which was, in fact, a sharp
lessening of the enforcement.
He did it in front of all of us and
to this day I am still embittered
that the Congressional Black
Caucus went along with it without one defection.
President George W. Bush
would succeed the Clinton Administration and he didn’t have
to do a thing. The horror was
already in place. There were few
gains through the Bush Administration as it was not friendly to
construction unions who by the
way discriminate against minority
businesses, particularly Black
ones. Also, his Secretary of HUD
Alphonso Jackson broke procurement records for utilization of
Black, Hispanic and female businesses respectively. These two
actions actually created a good
crop of new million dollar businesses within our communities.
Still, the Title VI office of the Department of Justice was just a
shell.
Now comes the Obama Administration and things appear to be
changing rapidly under Attorney
General Eric Holder. The Acting
Assistant Attorney General,
Loretta King, under direction of
Attorney General Holder has issued a directive to all federal agencies. In that three page directive
she makes it very clear that a new
day has come and they are bringing
Title VI back into enforcement.
Not just threatening to cut off
funding to those who don’t comply but she is prepared to start litigation to make examples of those
who still think it is a joke. This
directive can be found on the
home page of National Black
Chamber of Commerce website.
We are motivated and will start to
fight again for Title VI and re-open
the doors of opportunity at long
last.
Harry Alford is the co-founder,
President/CEO, of the National
Black Chamber of Commerce.
Website: www.nationalbcc.org.
Email: [email protected]
Life and death and child health reform
By Marian Wright Edelman
Child Watch
As a child, Devante Johnson’s
future seemed to be full of promise. He made excellent grades in
school and was a help around
the house. His mother, Tamika
Scott, worked hard, managing to
raise three boys while pursuing
a career, buying a house and
completing a college degree.
Mrs. Scott had a 401(k) retirement fund and private health insurance and was confident she
was prepared for unforeseen
emergencies. At 29, she took
comfort in the belief that her family was secure.
But as we reported two years
ago, her family’s middle class
security crumbled when her
doctors told her she had Multiple Sclerosis and strongly
urged her to leave her job because the stress of work would
make her condition worse. With
the dramatic loss of income and
insurance, everything she was
building began to slip away as
she cashed in stocks and used
money from her retirement fund
to pay bills.
Fifteen months later, her problems worsened. Her oldest son,
Devante, then 10, was diag-
nosed with advanced kidney cancer. Because of the family’s reduced income, the six months of
chemotherapy
treatments
Devante received were covered
by Medicaid. At the end of the
treatments, the doctors pronounced him cured. Six months
later, the cancer returned.
Devante and his mother were
then told that a new three-year
course of chemotherapy, radiation and constant monitoring were
critical to Devante’s recovery. As
a testament to his character,
Devante remained upbeat and optimistic about the new treatment.
Tamika Scott didn’t plan to rely
on government supported health
insurance to protect her children
but she had no other option.
Devante’s Medicaid coverage
was essential for him to receive
the life-saving care he required.
Two months before the expiration of his Medicaid coverage,
she submitted an application for
Medicaid renewal to the Texas
Department of Human Services,
confident that two months was
more than sufficient time for the
application to be processed to allow her child’s health care to continue without any interruption in
coverage. One month before the
deadline, she became concerned
because she hadn’t received
notice that the application had
been approved.
But there was still time she
thought. However, to be on the
safe side, Tamika Scott submitted two more completed applications, followed up with dozens of phone calls, and faxed
supplemental information. After six weeks, she found out
that Devante’s Medicaid application had not been approved
and that it was going to be sent
for verification of eligibility in
the Texas Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
When she contacted the CHIP
agency to check the status of
Devante’s application, she was
repeatedly told they hadn’t received it. The expiration date
for Devante’s coverage came
shortly thereafter, and his access to life giving care was cut
off. His treatments immediately
stopped.
Tamika Scott re-mailed and
re-faxed the application as she
watched her son get sicker with
no way to get him the treatment
needed to save his life.
Devante’s growing tumor became a visibly protruding lump
on his back. His pain increased
and walking became difficult.
He lost twenty pounds. He had
to rely on free samples of experimental drugs as the only treatment available to him. But he
didn’t give up and never complained.
Mrs. Scott inquired on numerous occasions about the status
of his application but never got
a satisfactory answer. For four
months, no one in the Department of Human Services told her
the application was lost in the
system and had never been processed.
With no where else to turn, she
appealed to her state representative. Through his intervention, Devante’s health coverage
was restored in one day. He was
transferred to the University of
Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer
Center where he received first
rate, comprehensive care. But it
was too late. Devante Johnson,
courageous to the end, died on
March 1, 2007. He was 14. The
medical cause of death was
complications from advanced
cancer.
He also died from a shameful
and preventable failure of state
and federal systems and the
lack of a commitment to make
sure every child in America gets
the health coverage for which
they are eligible. That’s why I’m
calling on each of you to join us
now in demanding that Congress
enact child health care reform legislation that simplifies children
getting and staying enrolled in
health care regardless of where
they live in America.
To avoid more deaths like
Devante’s, access to health care
must be simple and seamless. Currently, six million of the nation’s
nine million uninsured children
are eligible for but not enrolled in
Medicaid and CHIP largely because of state-imposed barriers
that Congress can and must eliminate this year.
These include known obstacles
to enrollment like waiting lists
and face-to-face interviews. Ultimately, the bill Congress passes
must leave children better off than
they are now, and in no case
should any child be worse off.
Congress is not there yet and
they need to hear from you.
Marian Wright Edelman, whose
new book is The Sea Is So Wide
And My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, is president of the Children’s
Defense Fund. For more information about the Children’s Defense
Fund, go to http://www.child
rensdefense.org/.
Opinion
African Scene
10
Zuma marks 100 days as prez
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waves as
she boards her plane in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Aug.
13, 2009. Clinton departed Nigeria for Liberia Thursday
to show the Obama administration’s support for Africa’s
first democratically elected female leader, President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf. Liberia is the sixth leg of Clinton’s sevennation tour of Africa aimed at promoting democracy and
development.
Clinton: US sent ‘tough
love’ message to Africa
By Matthew Lee
SANTA MARIA, Cape Verde –
Winding up an 11-day African
tour, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton said Friday she’s
optimistic about its future and
voiced no regrets about “tough
love” messages she gave to government leaders there.
“I love coming to Africa,”
Clinton said at a joint news conference in Cape Verde with Prime
Minister Jose Maria Pereira Neves
as she prepared to head back to
Washington.
“I have been overwhelmed,” the
secretary said of her visits to
Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the
Democratic Republic of Congo,
Nigeria and Liberia, as well as
Cape Verde. “I have been filled
with hope and I have seen despair.
But I come away with an even
greater level of commitment than I
had before,” Clinton said.
She used the tour to reinforce a
message that President Barack
Obama brought to Africa earlier
this year, a call for leaders to fight
corruption, promote democracy,
and combat civil strife, disease,
violence and squalor wherever it
exists.
Responding to Clinton, Neves
said that “we represent a new and
emerging Africa” with progress in
the areas of free press, free speech
and the rule of law.
U.S. officials have said that Cape
Verde, a former Portuguese colony
off the coast of West Africa, could
serve as a model for other African
nations as it has held numerous
free and fair elections and has
taken measures to ensure account-
Kenya church leaders
speak out against greed
(GIN) - Protestant churches in
Kenya are warning that greed is
destroying the country’s environment, bringing drought, famine, hunger, malnutrition and
general scarcity.
“We are today reaping the
fruits (of) greed and imprudence
sowed in the past,” said the Rev.
Peter Karanja, of the National
Council of Churches on Aug. 6.
He urged citizens in the east African country to adopt tree
planting as an act of religious
and social restoration.
Karanja, an Anglican priest,
announced the church council’s
commitment to planting one million trees each year as the
Kenyan government unveiled a
power rationing program for the
forthcoming three months.
The country has been rationing water due to falling volumes
in dams. This, according to
Karanja, has rendered many
businesses useless.
“We are incensed ... this outcome is borne by the politicians
and political appointees who, because of greed built on a culture
of impunity, deliberately continue to destroy our country’s
environment by allocating to
themselves and their cronies land
in our water towers,” said
Karanja.
At the same time, Kenya’s newly
elected Anglican Archbishop
Eliud Wabukala, in an August
pastoral letter confessed that human beings had not always allowed the earth and its creatures
to flourish.
“We have too often abused and
brought death to the land. We
confess that we, especially as
churches, have often been indifferent to environmental degradation and that, as a result, we have
participated in the destruction,”
said Wabukala.
South Africa’s President Jacob
Zuma is marking his first 100
days in office.
Since Mr Zuma was inaugurated the country has slipped
into recession and there have
been nationwide strikes over pay
and protests over services.
Opposition parties have criticized Mr Zuma for a lack of leadership and a failure to tackle rampant crime rates.
But analysts are giving him
cautious approval, and officials
say he needs more time to deal
properly with the complex problems South Africa faces.
Mr Zuma’s party, the African
National Congress (ANC), won
its fourth consecutive landslide
election victory in April.
Perhaps the real assessment
time will be post World Cup Arun
Mehta, Mumbai, India
He came to power promising to
create thousands of jobs and alleviate poverty, but the recession
has hampered his government’s
ability to tackle those issues.
Strikes over wages and protests by poor South Africans
who want better access to basic
services such as housing, water
and electricity have also tested
his government.
Trade unions and opposition
Mr Zuma visited poor communities during tense protests
parties called for drastic action
from the ANC, which has been
in power for 15 years.
Mr Zuma’s response to the unrest was to visit poor communities for a first-hand account of
their grievances.
He also called for patience from
workers who were staging
strikes throughout the country.
The BBC’s Pumza Fihlani says
he seems to have won some fa-
vor with the country’s poor who
have been desperate to make their
voices heard.
The main opposition the Democratic Alliance has applauded Mr
Zuma’s honesty about the challenges facing the country but say
he has not shown “clear leadership” in dealing with them.
They say Mr Zuma should be
prepared to make enemies to do
what is right.
Clinton shows U.S. support for Liberia
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton on Thursday offered high-profile support for
Liberian President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first
democratically elected female
leader.
Torrential rain met Clinton as
she arrived in the capital
Monrovia, where hundreds of
drenched people lined the
streets to welcome her, waving
American and Liberian flags and
holding banners, some of which
proclaimed that she was a
“woman of substance for
Liberia.”
Clinton was presented with a
key to the city and went immediately into talks with Sirleaf and
other top officials and lawmakers to reaffirm U.S. backing for
the recovery of the country that
was embroiled in back-to-back
civil wars from 1989 to 2003.
Her visit is also aimed at offer-
ing personal support for Sirleaf, a
Harvard-trained economist and
former finance minister, who has
been publicly sanctioned for her
past financial support of one of the
country’s rebel groups.
Liberia’s truth and reconciliation
commission has also recommended barring Sirleaf and 50
other high-profile figures from
public office for three decades for
such support.
Sirleaf, 70, acknowledged before
the commission in February that
she gave up to $10,000 to a rebel
group headed by Charles Taylor,
viewed by many as the chief architect of Liberia’s conflict. Taylor is now on trial for war crimes
committed in neighboring Sierra
Leone.
Sirleaf, who was elected in 2005,
has apologized and said the
money she sent while an expatriate was meant for humanitarian
services and that she was never a
member of his group.
Liberia’s wars killed an estimated
250,000 and displaced millions.
Liberia’s postwar government set
up the truth commission, modeled
on the one in post-apartheid South
Africa, inviting both victims and
perpetrators to retell their version
of events.
If the legislature approves the
commission’s recommendations and
they become law before the 2011
presidential poll, it would block
Sirleaf’s chance at a second term.
Liberia has historically close ties
with the U.S. It was founded in
1847 by freed American slaves.
Clinton is here on the sixth leg
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, of a seven-nation tour of Africa
speaks as Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in aimed at promoting democracy and
development.
Washington, DC
11
12
Opinion:
Health care, climate and the progressive movement
By Ted Glick
The last week or so has been
the right-wingers-at-townmeetings moment, and it looks
like it’s going to be supplemented by something similar
but different: rallies organized
by fossil-fuel-supporting corporations in these states:
Texas, Georgia, Michigan, New
Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio,
Colorado, Tennessee, Indiana,
North Dakota, South Dakota,
Florida, South Carolina, Alaska,
Illinois, West Virginia, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas.
Two days ago Greenpeace released a memo written by the
head of the American Petroleum Institute (API) apparently
sent to Greenpeace by a lessthan-loyal employee of one of
the API member companies to
whom it was sent. In the memo it
referred to a “series of ‘Energy
Citizen’ rallies in about 20 states
across the country during the last
two weeks of Congress’s August
recess. . .
API will provide the up-front resources to ensure logistical issues
do not become a problem. . .Please
indicate to your company leadership your strong support for employee participation in the rallies.”
“Energy Citizen,” of course, really means ‘Fossil Fuel Citizen.”
Working with groups like the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, National
Association of Manufacturers,
American Farm Bureau, American
Conservative Union, Freedom
Works and Americans for Tax Reform, you can be sure that the rapidly deepening climate crisis, or the
millions of jobs created by a shift
to a clean energy economy, or energy independence, or the national
security threat of being dependent on Middle East oil—none
of these issues will be on the
agenda of these particular “energy citizens.”
It would be a good thing—
more than that, it is imperative—
to have a presence of progressive activists at these events,
just as it is important that we are
at the town hall meetings focused on health care where the
right-wingers are attempting to
hijack the debate over how we
fix a broken and expensive
health care system.
We need to show them and
show the media that the progressive movement, the climate
movement and the health care
reform movement are not just sitting back, putting our faith in
President Obama and Democratic members of the House and
Senate to do the right thing.
Obama and the extreme right
By Bill Fletcher
NNPA Columnist
I am hoping that you have
been reading and watching the
news. You may have come
across stories about these
right-wing mobs that have attempted to disrupt town hall
meetings that congress people
have organized to discuss
healthcare.
There are some interesting
things about these disruptions: they are virtually all
white; they have completely
mischaracterized the issue of
healthcare and the proposals
that President Obama is suggesting; they are openly and
subtly racist; and they are angry and threatening to the
point of being lunatic.
The extreme political Right,
largely out of desperation, has
decided it must take disruptive
measures in order to derail the
Obama administration. It is doing this through a combination
of appeals to racial fears on the
parts of whites (particularly
white men) along with tapping into
the larger insecurity that nearly
everyone is feeling in the context
of the current economic crisis. On
one level this should not be surprising since the extreme political
Right always emerges during times
of crisis.
What should concern us, however, is that this rabid political
Right does not disappear on its
own. Their objective is power, and
not simply the elimination of
Obama and the Obama administration.
President Obama, on the other
hand, has the tendency to ignore
his base and to attempt to BEGIN
all negotiations by going to the
middle ground. Anyone familiar
with negotiations knows that this
is a losing strategy. Think about
going to buy a car. If the cost of
the car is $25,000 and you offer
what you believe that the dealer
will finally settle on, the dealer will
feel no need to actually bargain
with you. Instead they will play
hard ball and force you off of your
position. This is precisely what
President Obama has been experiencing. Case in point: national
healthcare.
President Obama eliminated
single-payer national healthcare
from the field of negotiations
from the beginning, despite the
fact that not very long ago, he
had supported it. [Note:
“single-payer” would be a government system that eliminates
the insurance companies and allows individuals to get their
healthcare from any medical facility they wish.] Claiming that
single payer would never pass,
he immediately went to the
middle ground. Needless to say,
the right-wing defenders of the
status quo felt no need to shift
their position.
A similar problem has emerged
around both Iraq and Afghanistan. In the case of Iraq, President Obama has been carrying
out a withdrawal. Yet little mention is being made of the US mercenaries still on the ground! In
the case of Afghanistan, President Obama, despite significant
domestic and international advice, presses ahead with deeper
And we need to be there to talk
face to face with those from the
other side. I am certain, based
on many experiences doing just
this kind of thing, that if we talk
to them with respect and patience, a small number will be
willing to consider what we have
to say and a larger number will
begin to have some doubts.
Unfortunately, too many progressive people seem to have
the attitude that Obama and
Democratic leaders in Congress
can take care of things, and
they’ve been having it for the
last seven months, since Obama
took office.
I remember hearing about the
low turnout at a national conference of the Campaign for America
’s Future, a Democratic thinktank/action center, in early June.
The reports that I saw were that
there were about half as many
people at this event as was true
the year before.
Then there were the anti-war
demonstrations in D.C. and NYC
in March on the 6th anniversary
of the invasion of Iraq . Taken
together, there were a maximum
of 10,000 people present, and
that may be generous.
It is not surprising that after
Obama’s historic victory the
hundreds of thousands of
progressives who worked hard
on his campaign would step back
from the kind of intense activism many of them engaged in
during 2008. This is a normal response when a person’s candidate for President, or any office,
wins when it comes to the bulk
of campaign volunteers.
It does make you wonder,
though, about the effectiveness
of the Organizing for America
operation that Obama handed
over to the Democratic National
Committee soon after taking office.
A front-page article in
yesterday’s New York Times,
“Health Debate Fails to Ignite
Obama’s Web,” explored this issue and, based upon research
done in Iowa, came to the conclusion that there is “a sense of
fatigue among volunteers being
recruited for [the health care]
battle.”
Could this just possibly have
something to do with people’s
concerns about the power and influence of the Pentagon, the banks,
coal companies, health insurance
companies and other powerful
corporations within the Obama
administration and especially
within Congress? You betcha, it
sure seems to me.
This is why I was pleased to see
in my email box today an editorial
from the upcoming August 31 issue of The Nation magazine. Entitled “Blue Dog Daze,” it criticized
the “conservative” and “Blue
Dog” Democrats as “the epitome
of a Washington captured by moneyed interests. They aren’t working to ensure that health care reforms are paid for; they are laboring on behalf of insurance companies to protect their obscene profits.”
The editorial goes on to say that
“what the country needs—what
Obama needs, whether he realizes
it or not—is an independent, mobilized, progressive citizen’s movement that takes on the corporate
lobbies, from Big Pharma to Big Oil
to Wall Street; challenges the legislators who are in their pockets;
and demands affordable national
healthcare, renewable energy, empowerment of workers, regulation
of Wall Street and more. That
movement should go after the conservatives and the compromised in
both parties—anyone who stands
in the way of reform.”
During these “dog days” of August and into September, a good
place for independents who agree
with this sentiment to start is the
town meetings and ‘Energy Citizen’ rallies. We should be present
to speak the truth about what we
need, to peacefully confront those
who lie and obstruct democratic
dialogue, and to engage in just
that dialogue with those fellow citizens who are willing to talk.
Ted Glick is the policy director
of the Chesapeake Climate Action
Network (http://www.chesapeake
climate.org). His past columns and
other information can be found at
(http://www.tedglick.com).
Rape: Torture in the Congo
By Nicole C. Lee
NNPA Columnist
As Secretary Clinton closed
her trip to Africa, I was struck
by the importance of her trip
to Congo and her focus on the
rape of women throughout the
current brutal conflict.
Rape is an absolute violation
of sovereignty. I have met
many people over the years
that have been abused or tortured. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that rape is the
most destructive form of torture ever invented.
It can destroy the soul of the
victim, their family and commu-
nity. The insidious way that rape
is used in war proves professionals’ claims that rape is an act of
violence, not of sex.
The rape of women (and sometimes men) in the Congo is the most
talked about issue in human rights,
but with minimal action. Frankly,
for people of African descent, a
part of the silence and inaction is
our own shame.
Let’s get real: these are Black men
raping Black women. Militias,
paramilitaries, even government
troops go into towns and villages
and systematically rape and abuse
the women and girls. Sometimes
the injuries are so severe that the
details can’t be printed. No police,
no judge, and no judicial system
bring these criminals to justice.
But we still find it hard to talk
about this level of Black-onBlack crime.
It is unfathomable how a generation of Central African men
have become such villains and
women such victims. As people
who care about the dignity of
Africa, it is imperative that we
try to understand this complex
situation in order to have an impact in the lives of the people of
Congo.
First, the seeds of exploitation
in the Congo were planted long
ago. The first wave of rape began with the rape of the
country’s resources beginning
in the 1800s. Europeans, in par-
ticular the Belgians, came to the
Congo to exploit its vast natural
resources and to enslave the
population. The violation
against Congo’s land and people
is one of the most vicious untold stories in our recent history.
Between 1885- 1905, Congo’s
black population was reduced
by half because of the vicious
treatment at the hands of the
Belgians. Congo achieved its
statehood in the 1960s, but the
exploitation of its natural resources and people continue
until this very moment by U.S.,
European and Chinese corporations. The corporations’ usable
investments are minimal, illustrated by the lack of passable
roads in the Congo. I am not suggesting that the acceptance of this
exploitation automatically leads to
the systematic rape of women, but
I am saying that the constant degradation and victimization of
Congo’s society has left its citizens extremely vulnerable.
The realities of the last 20 years
have made the women of Eastern
Congo particularly vulnerable.
Paramilitary groups and government forces fight for control of the
Eastern Congo, particularly in the
North Kivu province.
Many of these groups, such as
the Interahamwe, had already
committed mass murder and other
Pharoh Martin
NNPA National Correspondent
Michael Vick
Michael Vick signs
with Philadelphia
Special to the NNPA from the St. in preseason practices, workouts
and meetings and can play in the
Louis American
final two preseason games. Once
(NNPA) - Quarterback Michael the season begins, Vick may parVick has signed a two-year deal ticipate in all team activities except
with the Philadelphia Eagles. The games, and Goodell said he would
first year of the deal is for $1.6 consider Vick for full reinstatement
million with an option for the sec- by Week 6 (Oct. 18-19) at the latond year at $5.2 million. Vick can est.
“I’m a believer that as long as
also earn an additional $3 million
in incentives over the two years people go through the right process, they deserve a second
of the contract.
Vick was the No. 1 draft pick in chance,” Eagles coach Andy Reid
2001 by the Atlanta Falcons and said. “He’s got great people on his
once the highest-paid player in side; there isn’t a finer person than
football. But he has not played Tony Dungy. He’s proven he’s on
since 2006 when his career came the right track. “The Eagles went
tumbling down. He was con- to the playoffs last season under
victed in August 2007 of con- quarterback Donovan McNabb,
spiracy and running a dogfight- and are still looking for their eluing operation, sentenced to 23 sive first Super Bowl win.
McNabb has led the Eagles to
months in federal prison and
suspended indefinitely by the five NFC championship games and
NFL.
one Super Bowl appearance in the
But after serving his time and last eight years, and was rewarded
being released from home con- with a $5.3 million raise in the
finement July 20, NFL commis- offseason. The Eagles tore up his
sioner Roger Goodell condition- old contract with two years remainally lifted Vick’s suspension, al- ing, and gave him a new deal worth
lowing him to sign with a team. $24.5 million over the next two seaVick can immediately take part sons.
WASHINGTON (NNPA) “Seniors have sacrificed” the
commercial begins before highlighting hardship experiences
unique to the “Greatest Generation” such as World War II and
the Great Depression. “And
now, seniors are now being
asked to sacrifice again. Congress plans to pay for
healthcare reform by cutting
$500 billion dollars from Medicare.”
The commercial was produced
by health care reform opponent,
60 Plus Association, a nonprofit organization that bills itself as the “conservative alternative to AARP”.
That advertisement goes on
to claim that America’s seniors
will endure longer waits for care
and that cuts will be made to
vital medical tests such as cat
scans and MRIs. It also rehashes former vice presidential
candidate Sarah Palin’s controversial and false claims of government-sponsored “death panels” by saying that the government will decide “if older patients are worth the cost”.
While 60 Plus Association did
not respond to repeated requests by NNPA for an interview, President Obama addressed that specific claim head
on during his town hall meeting
in New Hampshire on Aug. 11.
“A myth that we’ve been hearing about is this notion that
somehow we’re going to be cutting your Medicare benefits,”
Obama said at the town hall.
“We are not. AARP would not
be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare, okay?”
It is true that President Obama
called for a reduction in spending for Medicare and Medicaid
to offset the absorbent cost of
health care. But the cost is up
to $300 billion over the next decade and coverage and benefits
will not go anywhere, says
Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of
the White House Office of
Health Reform.
While AARP has not endorsed a particular bill per se,
AARP says it absolutely supports the cuts as they are meant
to streamline Medicare and
weed out costly the waste, fraud
and abuse that is currently stifling the health care system.
ON THE ROAD — President Barack Obama takes health
care fight on the road.
(CREDIT: White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
President Obama’s town hall
was part of the White House’s
stepped up efforts to address the
inaccuracies and so-called
“myths” that are being circulated by critics trying to derail
health care reform.
And death panels aren’t the
only untruths raising public
concern. Vegetative wait periods for care and dire warnings
that the push for health care reform will open the door to fullfledge socialism are among
much of the misinformation being put out from right wing propagandists to stir public ire and
spark incessant anger at town
halls.
A majority of these claims are
false, according to fact-checking
website Politifact.com. The
White House and supporters of
health care reform such as AARP
are touting such rhetoric as
“baseless smears” and are confronting conservatives head-on
with heavy-handed campaigns
aimed at debunking such nonsense. The White House recently
rolled out a new website www.whi
tehouse.gov/realitycheck .
And AARP followed suit on its
own site as well.
The president erred when he
stated that AARP endorsed the
proposed health care bill. That’s
not true according to a statement
released by the country’s largest
member organization for seniors.
“While the President was correct that AARP will not endorse a
Palin stands by her discredited ‘death panel’ claim
By Matthew Daly
WASHINGTON – Former
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin refused
to retreat Thursday from her argument that a proposed health
care overhaul would create
“death panels,” even though a
provision of the bill she cites
merely authorizes government
reimbursements to doctors for
voluntary end-of-life consultations.
In a Facebook posting late
Wednesday night, Palin argued
that the elderly and ailing would
be coerced into accepting minimal end-of-life care to reduce
health care costs based on the
Democratic bill in the House. She
criticized President Barack Obama
who has said the legislation
would not create “death panels”
or “basically pull the plug on
grandma because we decided that
it’s too expensive to let her live
anymore.”
In the posting titled, “Concerning Death Panels,” Palin wrote:
“With all due respect, it’s misleading for the president to describe
this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to
Medicare recipients,” and added,
“It’s all just more evidence that
the Democratic legislative proposals will lead to health care ra-
Sarah Palin
tioning.”
In fact, the provision in the bill
would allow Medicare to pay
doctors for voluntary counseling sessions that address endof-life issues. The conversations
between doctor and patient
would include living wills, making a close relative or a trusted
friend your health care proxy,
learning about hospice as an
option for the terminally ill, and
information about pain medications for people suffering
chronic discomfort.
The sessions would be covered every five years, more frequently if someone is gravely ill.
The American Medical Asso-
ciation and the National Hospice
and Palliative Care Organization
support the provision.
Yet it has created such a furor
that senators decided to exclude
it from their version of health care
legislation. Senator Chuck
Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement that
they “dropped it entirely because
of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly.”
Palin’s posting comes one day after Republican Sen. Lisa
Murkowski of Alaska said that
13
Obama sets out to debunk health care
myths by so-called 60 Plus Association
14
children and adolescents healthy
Student interns at work with hospital staff
North General Hospital
hosts summer students
The North General Hospital
last week hosted 21 students
from the New York City Department of Youth and Community
Development (DYCD) Summer
Youth Employment Program
(SYEP) 2009.
The seven-week El Barrio Fight
Back program, dedicated to disadvantaged youth in the East Harlem
community, is funded through the
Obama Administration’s economic stimulus program. The
program’s goal is to provide NYC
youth with summer employment
and educational experiences that
will enable them to acquire good
work habits and develop employment-related skills.
The mission of DYCD is to foster quality youth development,
promote self-sufficiency and build
sustainable communities in New
York City through a continuum of
youth and community programs
by community-based organizations.
The 21 North General local students worked in various medical,
administrative, and clinical departments. They also attended
SYEP educational classes that
included workplace readiness, financial literacy, career exploration, higher education exploration, and health education.
In addition, North General students are participating in weekly
workshops that range from community nursing to financial literacy which the students, with
the social services department,
planned themselves.
Cyril Poindexter, volunteer services coordinator at North General remarked, “Here at North General the students are exposed to
all aspects of day-to-day hospital
administration from the Diagnostic and Treatment Clinic (D&TC)
to health information systems and
several are interested in volunteering in the fall after school”.
The students work in a wide variety of hospital departments, nursing, rehabilitative medicine, surgery, special services, pathology
and operating room (OR) administration.
North General also hosted students from he National Health
Care Workers’ Union 1199 which
is a yearly summer intern program
at the hospital.
North General Hospital offers a
continuum of healthcare. Recognized
as a medical and community leader
in Harlem, North General Hospital
provides its varied communities with
state-of-the-art healthcare services,
highly qualified doctors and quality
treatment centers.
In addition to primary healthcare
for children, adults and the aging, it
offers comprehensive treatment programs in diabetes, obesity, asthma,
hypertension, HIV/AIDS, heart disease, stroke, Hepatitis C, cancer, psychiatric disorders and addiction.
For more information, please call
us at (212) 423-4000 or visit our
website at www.northgeneral.org.
Interns in a memorable picture with hospital staff
The majority of children and
adolescents who struggle with
behavioral health issues go on to
lead healthy and happy lives as
adults thanks to the use of safe
and effective medications and
therapeutic services.
That’s the message from Charles
Herrick, MD, chair of psychiatry
at Danbury Hospital, and the behavioral health experts at the
hospital’s new Children’s Health
and Wellness Center at 79 Sand
Pit Road in Danbury.
“Most of the cases we see involve kids who are experiencing a
bump in the road and just need
some help and support to get back
on track.
They are not as bad off as their
parents perceive,” said Dr.
Herrick. “At the other end of the
spectrum, we can identify more
serious problems that need to be
addressed more aggressively.”
Pediatric psychiatry is among the
many pediatric specialty services
available at the Children’s Health
and Wellness Center opening this
summer. The child-friendly facility
brings pediatric subspecialists under one roof, making it more convenient for families in Connecticut
and New York to access high-quality, specialized care. The Center
includes pediatric specialists in
psychiatry, endocrinology (diabetes), pulmonology (asthma), cardiology, genetics, physiatry and gastroenterology.
The facility consolidates
Danbury Hospital’s pediatric psychiatry services at one location.
Children and adolescents with
mental, emotional and behavior
problems have access to two
child-adolescent psychiatrists
and two licensed social workers.
The staff provides a full range of
services, including evaluations,
medication management, individual and group therapy, and a
family support group.
Enhancing care through
collaboration
In addition to treating behavioral
health problems, the psychiatric
staff will be on hand to assist patients who have chronic medical
problems.
“One of the biggest challenges
kids with chronic illnesses face is
accepting their condition and adhering to the prescribed medication regimen,” said Dr. Herrick.
“We can help patients change
their perceptions about their medical conditions. Our ultimate goal
is to assist pediatric subspecialists
in supporting children and families to develop comprehensive
treatment plans that improve patient outcomes.”
Take action at first sign of
problems
Like adults, children and teens
can experience a variety of behavioral health problems, including
depression, panic attacks, anxiety,
attention deficient hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorders, substance abuse and more.
Dr. Herrick encourages parents
to see past the stigma attached to
mental health issues and seek professional advice if they suspect
their child has a problem.
“Kids and teens are exposed to
all kinds of stressful situations
these days—academically, so-
cially, even the economy,” noted
Dr. Herrick. “Withdrawing from life
and friends, falling grades, and being less communicative with parents are all signs that a problem may
be brewing.”
Help is readily available
Fortunately, children and adolescents with behavioral health issues
can find relief with timely and appropriate treatment and supports.
“Many times, kids who are afraid
to share with their parents feel comfortable talking with a professional
in a private and confidential setting,” said Dr. Herrick.
“By working together,” he added,
“families and mental health professionals can help children and adolescents restore their health.”
Danbury Hospital is a 371-bed regional medical center and university
teaching hospital associated with
New York Medical College, the Yale
University School of Medicine, the
Connecticut School of Medicine
and Columbia University Medical
Center.
The hospital provides centers of
excellence in cardiovascular services, cancer, weight loss surgery,
orthopedics, digestive disorders
and radiology. It also offers specialized programs for sleep disorders
and asthma management. Medical
staff members are board certified in
their specialties.
In the area of cardiac care,
Danbury Hospital is ranked number one in Connecticut for cardiac
surgery and in the top 5 percent
nationally for overall cardiac care
by HealthGrades. This is the second consecutiveyear for the national award.
The yin and yang of wellness
By Master Tony Rogers
I’ve written about how the Taoist concept of the dynamic interface between yin and yang is the
foundation of all things. Modern
science has proven that everything in existence vibrates. You
must have a dynamic interface
between a negative and positive
(yin & yang) to create a vibration
which is energy.
Last week I wrote about the human energy field and how modern science and ancient wisdom
agree that vital energy can dictate the degree of our well-being.
In Taoist energy wellness
treatments, human organs are divided into yin organs and yang
organs. The lungs, spleen/pancreas, heart, and liver are yin organs. The large intestine, stomach, small intestine, bladder/urinary tract and gallbladder are
yang organs. When there is a
balance in the flow of energy in
our body we are well. When
there is an imbalance of the flow
of energy in our body we become ill.
Negative emotional stress is a
major cause of illness, and the
imbalance of yin and yang organs. Sorrow and grief can
cause an imbalance in the large
intestine and lung. Worry can
cause an imbalance in the stomach and spleen/pancreas. Over
excitement can cause an imbalance in the heart and small intestine.
Fear/apprehension can cause
an imbalance in the bladder and
kidney. And anger/frustration
can cause an imbalance in the
gallbladder and liver. We all suffer from negative emotional
stress because we are very seldom in the present. All too often
our thoughts are on the frustrations and grief of the past, or the
fear and anxiety of the future.
When the vital flow of energy
is blocked by negative emotion,
or stress, it is important to turn
that stressed voice in our head
off, and experience the harmony
and balance of the present. The
ancient Korean art of Chunsoo
is an excellent way to bring balance to the flow of vital energy
in the body.
Ki energy masters use sound
vibration and touch to open energy blockages; allowing the
body’s electromagnetic energy
to flow through interlocking energy channels, creating the feeling of relaxation and harmony.
Allegra Taylor writes in her book,
Healing Hands, that “The energy
that activates another human
being’s failing recuperative powers of life-force has been called
unconditional love. It is nonjudgemental and compassionate.
By creating a channel through
which this loving energy flows…a
healer can speed up, sometimes
to an astonishing degree, the revitalizing process”.
The foundation of Chunsoo
treatments is unconditional love.
The treatments will relax you and
allow your body to rejuvenate. Relaxation can be very healing, but
most people just don’t know how
to relax. A major reason why so
many suffer from stress related illness.
If you’d like to experience a Ki
Energy Chunsoo treatment, make
an appointment any Wednesday,
between the hours of 11am and
6pm, at Toni’s Touch Day Spa
(www.tonistouchdayspa.com),
located at 2364 Adam Clayton
Powell Jr. Blvd. between 138th and
139th Streets (by appointment only
- call 212 234-1171). For more information on Ki Energy Treatments and Training and for Midtown appointments call 917 8061801.
Health
Behavioral health: Keeping our
15
16
17
Sharpton, Gingrich and Secretary
of Education plan education tour
Columbia University representatives Joe Ienuso, LaVerna Fountain, Philip Pitruzzello, Marcelo Job training
participants from NonTraditional Employment for Women
and the School of Cooperative Technical Education and
Columbia representatives Philip Pitruzzello and Marcelo
Velez.
Columbia partners with
locals to create green jobs
As part of its continuing commitment to environmental
sustainability and to providing
employment opportunities to its
neighbours, Columbia University hosted a “green” salvage
and reuse on-the-job training
program this summer in Harlem.
Utilizing about 40 men and
women from two local job training and placement programs,
Columbia began the process of
carefully deconstructing a university building on West 125th
Street called Reality House.
Approximately 40 tons of surplus materials office and classroom furniture, file cabinets,
electronic equipment, lighting
fixtures, scrap metal and wood
¯ was removed. Ninety percent
of the materials were suitable
for recycling and were donated
both locally and internationally.
“This project enhances the
university’s commitment to environmental sustainability while
reusing materials and creating
green job opportunities within
our community,” said Joe
Ienuso, Columbia’s executive
vice president for facilities. “We
hope to emulate the success of
these types of win-win projects
in the future.”
Job opportunities requiring
skills taught on this project ¯
salvage, reuse and surplus
management –– are growing.
The Reality House project provided an ideal training site for
both of the local training programs.
One of the programs was
Nontraditional Employment for
Women, a non-profit organization that trains women for jobs
in the construction trades, with
a major focus on green construction practices. The other
was the School of Cooperative
Technical Education, which provides job training to at-risk
young men and women in Upper
Manhattan.
The month-long salvage project
was managed by the Institution
Recycling Network. It specializes
in construction-site recycling and
planned reuse of surplus office
and classroom furniture, and
works to ensure that all materials
are recycled or discarded in compliance with state and federal
waste and privacy regulations. In
the past, Columbia worked with
the network during renovation
projects in residence halls and at
Faculty House, the university’s
premier event venue.
The network partnered with
Build It Green! NYC, the city’s
largest building materials reuse
center, which received approximately eight tons of building materials and furniture. As a direct
result of the success of the
project at Reality House, the network is hiring a crew of workers
from Nontraditional Employment
for Women for an upcoming
project on Governor’s Island.
“This project had it all from green
job training and building materials
reuse in the community, to recycling and surplus materials shipped
to countries in need such as as
Haiti and Nicaragua,” said Mark
Lennon of the Institution Recycling Network. “I’ve seen a lot of
recycling projects, but not a single
one with so many winners.”
On Friday, August 7, Columbia
hosted a small reception to thank
workers from Nontraditional Employment for Women and the
School of Cooperative Technical
Education for their participation
during the Reality House
project. A workday photo is
shown below.)
Former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich and Civil Rights leader
Al Sharpton will join Education
Secretary Arne Duncan on a
tour of four cities to highlight
the Obama administration’s efforts to reform public education,
spur innovation and discuss
challenges facing America’s
school systems.
The tour, an outgrowth of
their meeting with President
Obama last spring, will include
school visits, stakeholder meetings and media briefings. The
goal of the tour is to stimulate
discussion and community engagement around issues of education reform.
Secretary Duncan described
Gingrich and Sharpton as, “Two
of the most candid people I
have ever known. They are willing to challenge conventional
thinking and I can absolutely
promise some provocative conversations on education reform.”
The tour will take them to
Philadelphia on Sept. 29, New
Orleans on Nov. 3, and Baltimore on Nov. 13. Duncan said
that the cities were chosen
Al Sharpton
both for logistical reasons
and for what they can show
about school reform. More
stops, including a rural site,
will be added as the tour
progresses.
“Fifty-five years after the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision we still find that
education is unequal in our nation. I agree with President
Obama that we must use new
methods to close the achievement
gap so we do not continue to fail
our children,” said Sharpton.
“President Obama has shown
real courage on the issue of charter schools. I strongly believe
that when you can find common
ground, we should be able to put
other differences aside to
achieve a common goal,” said
Gingrich.
Al Sharpton is a Baptist minister, civil rights leader and a radio talk show host who advocates for economic and educational equity through two organizations he founded, the National Action Network and the
Education Equality Project.
Newt Gingrich is a former
Speaker of the House of Representatives, author, history professor, political analyst and the
founder of American Solutions,
a tri-partisan grassroots action
organization.
Rev. Sharpton is in Atlanta for
National Action Network’s Summer Conference and available for
interviews.
Thompson: DOE continues to exclude
parents, public in education planning
New York City Comptroller
William C. Thompson, Jr. last
week expressed strong concern
regarding the Department of
Education’s (DOE) failure to release detailed information relating to its proposed 2009-2010
Contract for Excellence (CFE)
plan and to hold mandated public hearings on how $645 million
in CFE funds are being spent.
“As you know the 2007 Education Budget and Reform Act
mandates that DOE provide reasonable notice and detailed
proposed contract information
so the public can offer input at
hearings held within each of the
City’s five boroughs,” Thompson said.
In a letter to Chancellor Joel
Klein – available at www.comptr
o l l e r. n y c . g o v – T h o m p s o n
noted that DOE is required by
law to develop its annual Contract for Excellence through a
public process.
“This is done for a compelling
reason,” Thompson added.
“Timely public review and
transparency is essential to ensure that the funds are used to
address six specifically identified strategic areas using the
best possible practices.”
Thompson highlighted that
other large New York State
school districts held their 2009-
William Thompson
2010 CFE contract hearings as
required: Buffalo on June 9,
Yonkers on June 17, Rochester
on June 24 and Syracuse on
June 30
“It is unfortunate that with
the 2009-2010 school year
about to start, CFE funds already are being allocated to
schools without the benefit of
this critically important, and legally required, public input,”
he said.
In May, Thompson issued a
report entitled Powerless Parents, which documented how
DOE continues to ignore the
mandates of the Education Law
that require the participation and
approval of District Community
Education Councils and DOE’s
attempt to eviscerate the lawful
role of School Leadership
Teams.
“This failure to hold CFE hearings in a timely manner is yet another illustration of how this administration discourages parental consultation in important
educational policy decisions,”
Thompson said.
Lastly, Thompson noted that
the school governance law the
Governor signed this week contains additional provisions intended to ensure that New York
City public school parents have
a meaningful voice in educational policy decisions that affect our City’s schools.
“In the spirit of these new provisions, and in light of DOE’s
previous failures to adhere to existing mandates, I urge that DOE
at long last adopt a new approach to parental and community participation in school governance, an approach that truly
values the input of those who
have the most direct stake in the
success of our public schools,”
Thompson said.
Education
18
AUDREY'S
SOCIETY
WHIRL
Tony Bennett sings Happy Birthday
to Chairman Charles B. Rangel
By Audrey J. Bernard
Lifestyles/Society Editor
A gorgeous gumbo of beautiful
people attended the always fabulous annual birthday celebration
for Chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee and Dean of the
New York Delegation, Congressman Charles B. Rangel, on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at lofty Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
The natal celebration is the
hottest ticket in town and attendees always enjoy the best
of the best in food, booze and
inestimable entertainment. This
year’s special musical performances were by Grammy awardwinning singers Tony Bennett
and Wyclef Jean.
With his lovely wife Alma by
his side, the always natty Chairman Rangel was hemorrhaging
happiness. “This party is the
most fun I have all year and I
Tony Bennett
cannot begin to tell you how
much it means to me that so many
friends, neighbors and fellow
New Yorkers are here to celebrate
with me,” he exclaimed!
Funds raised from the birthday
gala will benefit the Rangel Victory Fund — a joint fundraising
committee of Rangel for Congress, and the National Leadership Political Action Committee.
Chairman Rangel will use these
two committees to protect vulner-
able Democratic candidates and
support challengers in targeted
districts across the country.
The success of past parties has
enabled Chairman Rangel to play
a significant role in the historic
victories of 2006 and 2008. The
Chairman’s campaign committees
contributed to more than 150 candidates last cycle and over $3.5
million to party committees and
Democratic organizations nationwide.
Honorable Charles Rangel and Mrs. Alma Rangel
Dr. Lucille McEwen, Susan L. Taylor, Dr. Chester Gov. David Paterson, Honorable David N. Voza Rivers, Barbara Bolden, Billie HollidayRedhead, Pat Ramsay
Dinkins
Hayes, Lloyd Williams
Ruth Clark, Billy Bryant
Honorable H. Carl McCall
Honorable Charles Rangel,
Kenneth J. Knuckles
Audrey J. Bernard, Dr. Marcella Maxwell
Barbara Minch, Honorable Inez
Honorables Shelly Silver, Joe
Dickens, Judy Wexler, Moises Perez Dr. Muriel Petioni Crowley and Keith Wright
(standing) Sandy Jamison, Leslie Wyche, Marlene
Ledford, George Hulse, Gail Allen, Kirk Ortega,
Joann Skeete (seated) Linda Zango-Haley, Jackie Jim Skeete, Susan L. Taylor, Honorable David
N. Dinkins, Lee Archer
Fisher, Jim Skeete, Ruth Hunt
Robin Verges, Lorraine Watson
(Photos: Gideon Manasseh)
Reflections on Harlem Week celebrations
Thirty-five years ago I was 27
years old, working as an intern
in the law office of Hope R.
Stevens. I was also attending
the City College of New York
majoring in Philosophy/PreLaw. Hope Stevens was the first
person of color elected as
president of the then Uptown
Chamber of Commerce (later to
be renamed the Greater Harlem
Chamber of Commerce) one of
the oldest business organizations in New York City.
The Honorable Percy E. Sutton
was the Manhattan Borough
President at that time. Mr. Sutton
wanted to bring business and
economic development opportunities north of 96th Street.
In August 1974 the Uptown
Chamber of Commerce, under
the leadership of Lloyd Williams who was the executive vice
president of the Chamber, created Harlem Day. The main purpose of the first Harlem Day was
to promote the positive things
that were taking place in
Harlem, even as all of New York
City was experiencing major financial problems.
There was a high rate of unemployment and businesses
were closing down. One-hundred
and twenty-fifth Street was full of
closed storefronts, and New York
City was a major landlord and caretaker of abandoned buildings in
Harlem.
Many people had given up on
the most well known urban community in America. As many of
you know, I truly believe that
there is no such thing as a coincidence. All things happen for a reason. As I reflect (on it), there was
a purpose for that dedicated
group of Harlemites from all walks
of life, in both the private and
public sectors, to create the first
Harlem Day - which was titled
“The Second Harlem Renaissance”. I was part of that group,
and it has always been an honor
to say that I was a founding member of what is now one of the largest urban cultural/economic development festivals in America.
Many things have changed in
Harlem since the first Harlem Day,
but as the saying goes, “the more
things change, the more they stay
the same”. America’s economic
melt-down has hit all communities
hard, but urban communities like
Harlem seem to suffer more. Yet, like
what happened 35 years ago, positive things have been known to develop under economic turmoil.
By Tony Rogers
19
Sunday, August 16th will be
the 35th anniversary of Harlem
Day. And, while we are all experiencing the economic issues
currently facing America,
people are still coming together
to develop strategies to collectively address issues such as
health, unemployment and small
business maintenance and development. As in the past,
Harlem Week serves as a local,
national and international platform to explore solutions for
these issues.
It’s been a wonderful journey.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet
some extraordinary people and see
how a few dedicated people can
truly make a difference. For more
information about Harlem Week, explore the full schedule of events
in your copy of this paper, or visit
www.harlemdiscover.com . Harlem
Day has evolved into a little more
than a month of activities, so there
is still a lot to do. I hope you come
out and help celebrate.
William Tony Rogers is a co
founder of Harlem Week, the senior vice Ppresident of the
Greater Harlem Chamber of
Commerce and the President/
CEO of Urbanology Systems a
Multicultural Marketing and
Strategic Management Group.
Bookin’ It
In G.O.D. we trust, ‘A
Black New World Order’
By Walter Smith
SENIORS JUBILEE—The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce held its annual
seniors jubilee luncheon at the Harlem State Office Building honoring Bernie Miller,
97; (left) of Federation of Black Cowboys, and Cornelius Watson, 97, (far right) for his
22 years of voluntary service at the Harlem Hospital’s Pharmaceutical Department.
Also honored but not in the picture is Maria Garcia, 101. Middle (in the picture) is
Vivian Jones of Congressman Charles Rangel’s office.
Economic crunch affecting
HBCU enrollment this fall
By J. Zamgba Browne
Historically black colleges and
universities across the nation
are experiencing the economic
pinch and many are expecting
their enrollment to shrink this
fall because students cannot afford the rising cost.
Spelman College President
Beverly Tatum said on Monday
that every college and university is asking the same question,
“What will our enrollment be
next year? not because of a
change in institution, but because families are being hit by
the economy.”
Tatum said many students
want to come, but are unable to
afford it. President Obama has
increased Pell Grant funding to
a maximum of $5,500 per student
with stimulus and budget funds,
but some parents say this might
not be enough to solve the problem.
Since 2004, $238 million in federal funding has been earmarked
annually for historically black colleges. In the last two years, those
institutions benefited from an extra $85 million each year under the
College Cost Reduction and Access Act.
When that program ends in May
2010, these institutions may feel
the squeeze. “We are under
resourced,” said Clark Atlanta University President Carlton Brown.
“We try to keep our costs as low
as possible. That means that our
margins are always very tight,” he
added.
In the Atlanta area alone, Brown
noted that Morehouse College has
laid off 25 adjunct professors,
Spellman is eliminating 35 jobs
next year, and Clark Atlanta
University’s budget ax fell mid-semester with 70 professors and 30
staff members let go.
Beverly Tatum
Raising money remains the major challenge for a Black president or chancellor. Private Black
colleges are struggling to keep
their funding sources viable and
to fight off financial starvation
in an increasingly competitive environment.
Raimundo Thomas, a product of Chicago’s Southside,
turned author and philosopher,
has written a book based on his
life’s experiences and his association with the works of Spike
Lee, Curtis Mayfield and Brian
Fleming.
The theme of his book, “A
Black New World Order” was
inspired by the Curtis Mayfield
s o n g “ N e w Wo r l d O r d e r ” ,
which he co-wrote. The book
grabs one’s attention from just
reading the cover. Once inside,
it’s impossible to retreat from
the descriptive “In G.O.D. We
Trust? Black New World Order” until the very end, page
127.
What’s unique about this
book is it doesn’t condemn the
white man for the condition of
African Americans. The book
suggests that African Americans begin building new families and communities with the
resources currently available
to them.
There have been suggestions
for the past 50 years that Black
organizations such as the
NAACP, Urban League, NNPA,
Deltas, Congressional Black
C a u c u s , K a p p a ’s , O m e g a s ,
Churches, etc, refrain from having conventions for one year
and donate the money one
would anticipate spending on
any one convention, to a fund
to build a hotel in central
America that could service all
Black organizations.
This never happened. Black
organizations continue to spend
billions each year in the various
hotel chains on conventions and
various other functions with no
financial interest in any of them.
African Americans should own
a 3000 room hotel to hold their
functions.
Like a seasoned leader or avid
follower of our most vocal community activists, he carefully
wades through the history of African Americans, citing setbacks, accomplishments, deploring the drug trade and the many
evils that retard the mind.
Meanwhile the good and bad
experiences are stored and categorized to develop a plan for the
future. The plan, slowly unveiled in the book began with rebuilding the family in 41 person
units while constructing and energizing a national bank.
One million Black millionaires adopt 40 persons each and
mentor that family in acquiring
the skills to support the family
and rebuild strong communities. This builds a support
mechanism for every Black person in America. This effectively
eliminates the destructive elements that are so pervasive in
our communities today. The
book based on personal knowledge, self help and faith in God
is a must read. For more information call 404 207-0544 or 678
353-7863.
20
Beacon On The Scene
4th Annual
Harlem SummerStage Living Legends
of 2009 tribute rocked at the ACP plaza
CLOCKWISE: Honorees, The Manhattans, Presenter New York State Senator Bill Perkins and Don Thomas, Blue Magic, Chuck Jackson,
Mel’isa Morgan, Billy Mitchell, Carl Ramsey, Florence (Flo) Anthony, Millie Jackson
(Photos: Ronnie Wright)
By Jim Carroll
An overcasted afternoon
didn’t deter the hundreds who
attended the 4 th annual Living
Legends 2009 tribute, produced by promoter Chris
Curry, founder of “So You
Want To Be Star” productions.
The event emceed by
WBLS’ Dr. Bob Lee took place
on Thursday, August 13 th at
Harlem’s SummerStage located
on the plaza of the Adam
Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office
Building on West 125 th.
This years honorees included
African American recording
artists Me’lisa Morgan, Blue
Magic, Chuck Jackson, Ray,
Goodman & Brown, The Manhattans and media correspondents Don Thomas, entertainment editor of the New York
Beacon and Florence (Flo) Anthony, publisher of Black Noir,
who cover the gamut of entertainment.
Also honored was Billy
Mitchell, the Apollo Theater’s
noted historian and Carl
Ramsey, former New York
Knicks sports commentator.
New York State Senator Bill
Perkins (District 30), presented
the proclamations to Thomas
for his outstanding coverage
of entertainments most influential people and community talents that the mainstream seldom focus on.
Publisher Florence (Flo)
Anthony was also the recipient of the illustrious award.
She covered the recent untimely death of superstar
Michael Jackson and the celebration of his transition Memorial. She was also cited for
always being on the scene in
the entertainment world.
R&B living legend Chuck Jackson was honored for his numerous years in the music industry.
A major surprise took place
as the incomparable soul singer/
actress Millie Jackson, appeared center stage announcing
to the massive crowd that she
is still as vivacious as ever.
She received a thunderous
applause as they screamed out
“We love you Millie” She was
recognized for her 40 plus years
in entertainment.
There was also an unexpected special appearance by
Tony Award-winning Melba
Moore, who belted out a soulful acapella rendition of the Negro national anthem “Lift Every
Voice And Sing.”
Following the awards ceremony
the honorees and crowd were
treated to outstanding musical
performances by megastars
Alyson Williams, Lester Fons
Bell, Force MD’s, GQ, The
Joneses, Full Force, The Ultimate
Persuaders, Tony Brooks of
Harold Melvin and The Bluenotes
and Raheim (formerly of GQ).
The internationally renowned
Manhattans brought the Living
Legends 2009 Tribute to an awesome finale as the belted out several of the million-selling hits including the monster classic
“ L e t ’s J u s t K i s s A n d S a y
Goodbye.”
21
22
Lowery continues search for justice at awards gala
(From page 3)
is the nature of the historicity
of the experience and every
Black person brings that to a
confrontation and White and
Black police officers ought to
understand that. Until they understand that, the tension is always going to be there.”
Obama initially said at a press
conference that the Cambridge
police “acted stupidly” in making the arrest. Though the president later softened his language,
Lowery said “he was right” the
first time.
Lowery was among three
Black men who received the
coveted Medals, draped around
their necks by Obama himself.
Pioneering actor Sidney Poitier
and heroic cleric and human
rights leader Bishop Desmond
Tutu were also honored.
The only one of the three who
accepted reporters’ invitations
to visit the press room after the
ceremony, Lowery said Obama’s
award to a civil rights leader in
his first class of Presidential
Medal awards said more about
Obama than about himself.
“I think it’s a credit to President
Obama that in his first class of
awardees he included in it someone who can be viewed as a symbol from the struggle,” Lowery
said. “To include me in the first
class when you want to put your
best foot forward says something
about the nature and character of
the man.”
He referred to himself as a “small
town preacher who’s just an ordinary fellow.” His receiving the
award ought “to encourage others like me to go ahead and serve
the common good.”
Lowery’s medal citation states,
“Reverend Joseph E. Lowery has
marched through life with faith
and purpose, carrying with him
the legacy of a movement that
touched America’s conscience
and changed its history. At the
forefront of the major civil rights
events of our time — from the
Montgomery bus boycott to protests against apartheid — he has
served as a tireless beacon for
nonviolence and social justice.
As a pastor and civil rights advocate, he co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and championed the cause
of peace and freedom around the
world. The United States
proudly honors this outstanding leader.”
Sidney Poitier’s medal citation
states: “Ambassador and actor,
Sidney Poitier has left an indelible mark on American culture.
Rising from the tomato farms of
the Bahamas, his talent led him
to Broadway, Hollywood, and
global acclaim. In front of black
and white audiences struggling
to right the nation’s moral compass, Sidney Poitier brought us
the common tragedy of racism,
the inspiring possibility of reconciliation, and the simple joys
of everyday life. Ultimately, the
man would mirror the character,
and both would advance the
nation’s dialogue on race and
respect.”
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond
Tutu’s medal citation states:
“With unflagging devotion to
justice, indomitable optimism,
and an unmistakable sense of
humor, Archbishop Emeritus
Desmond Mpilo Tutu has stirred
the world’s conscience for decades. As a man of the cloth, he
has drawn the respect and admi-
A man openly carrying assault
(From page 3)
a permit.
Paul Helmke, president of the
Washington, D.C.-based Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said people should not be
allowed to bring guns to events
where Obama is.
“To me, this is craziness,” he
said. “When you bring a loaded
gun, particularly a loaded assault rifle, to any political event,
but particularly to one where
the president is appearing,
you’re just making the situation
dangerous for everyone.”
He said people who bring guns
to presidential events are distracting the Secret Service and
law enforcement from protecting
the president. “The more guns we
see at more events like this,
there’s more potential for something tragic happening,” he said.
Secret Service spokesman Ed
Donovan said armed demonstrators in open-carry states such as
Arizona and New Hampshire
have little impact on security
plans for the president.
“In both cases, the subject
was not entering our site or otherwise attempting to,” Donovan
said. “They were in a designated
public viewing area. The main
thing to know is that they would
not have been allowed inside
with a weapon.”
Representatives of the National
Rifle Association did not return
calls for comment
ration of a diverse congregation.
He helped lead South Africa
through a turning point in modern history, and with an unshakable humility and firm commitment
to our common humanity, he
helped heal wounds and lay the
foundation for a new nation.
Desmond Tutu continues to give
voice to the voiceless and bring
hope to those who thirst for freedom.”
The other 13 medal recipients
are:
Nancy Goodman Brinker, who –
“drawing strength from tragedy”, has “transformed the
nation’s approach to breast cancer”; Dr. Pedro José “Joe” Greer
Jr., who “devoted his career to
improving medical services for
the uninsured”; Stephen Hawking, who “dedicated his life to
exploring the fundamental laws
that govern the universe, and he
has contributed to some of the
greatest scientific discoveries of
our time; Jack French Kemp,
who, as a statesman and a sports
icon, “advocated for his beliefs
with an unwavering integrity and
intellectual honesty”.
U. S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,
who “has boldly fought for equal
opportunity, fairness, and justice
for all Americans” for more than
four decades; Billie Jean Moffitt
King, tennis champion, who “has
advanced the struggle for greater
gender equality around the world”;
Joseph Medicine Crow, who, as a
Native American, became “a warrior and living legend” who “is a
symbol of strength and survival”;
Harvey Bernard Milk, as an openly
gay elected official, “dedicated his
life to shattering boundaries and
challenging assumptions”.
Sandra Day O’Connor, retired
Supreme Court justice and first
woman to serve on the court, who
“paved the way for millions of
women to achieve their dreams”.
Chita Rivera, who on stage and
screen, “has captured America’s
imagination with her magnetic presence and radiant voice”; Mary
Robinson, “a trail-blazing crusader
for women’s rights in Ireland and a
forceful advocate for equality and
human rights around the world”.
Dr. Janet Davison Rowley, “the
first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the
cause of leukemia and other cancers - considered among the most
important medical breakthroughs
of the past century”; Professor
Muhammad Yunus, with his belief
in self-reliance, “has altered the
face of finance and entrepreneurship.”
Finally, King of Pop
(From page 3)
said the deals will generate millions of dollars for the estate.
Separately, Michael Jackson’s father said his son’s body will be buried at a Los Angeles cemetery on
Aug. 29, which would have been
his 51st birthday, the New York
Daily News reported on Monday.
Joe Jackson told a Daily News
reporter the plan was finalized in
recent days.
Media reports last week said Jackson, who died June 25 of cardiac
arrest, was buried in a private ceremony in early August. But those
reports were based on unnamed
sources and never confirmed by
Jackson family representatives.
A Jackson family spokesman did
not return calls seeking comment
Monday, nor did a spokesman at Los
Angeles’ Forest Lawn Park.
New York Beacon
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Council Member Stewart holds Seniors Day in Paerdegat Park
The weather reports threatened thunder and lightening.
There were flood warnings. But
it was the day of Council Member Kendall Stewart’s annual
Senior Day in Paerdegat Park,
and Mona declared emphatically
that she was going. “I have a
brave heart,” this 83-year-old
Trinidadian mother of 11 and
grandmother of 33 told her
daughter. She was having her
day in the park no matter what!
Well, the Gods smiled on
Mona and the other seniors who
were undaunted by the weather
reports because, despite some
brief light drizzle, the weather
turned out just fine for a picnic.
As bus after bus of seniors
rolled up from Fort Greene Senior Action Center, St. Marks
Senior Center, Remsen Senior
Center, Glenwood Senior Center
NPDC and Fort Greene Hazel
Brooks Senior Center and additional seniors arrived on foot, DJ
ning vocalists, including Maryam
Amatullah-Wali, Martin George,
the Wallace Sisters and the East
Flatbush Ecumenical Community
Choir. Five absolutely adorable
young tap dancers from Colorful
Futures, performing under the direction of Monique ChandlerWaterman, put big smiles on
everybody’s faces, and the
Mildred Forde Dancers rounded
out the entertainment with their
praise dancing.
The New York City Department
of Transportation Safety Education Division was also on hand,
giving out goodie bags with pedometers and valuable information on how to walk around and
cross the city streets most safely,
and Downstate Medical Center
conducted free blood pressure
tests and provided material on
other common health issues such
as diabetes, cholesterol and heart
health.
Looking around at all the seniors enjoying themselves, Council Member Stewart said, “I do
Council Member Kendall Stewart serves up bake to his picnic guests.
Brave hearted Mona dances with Council Member Kendall Downstate Medical Center nurse and health educator Sarah Marshall tests senior’s blood
Stewart during Senior Day in Paerdegat Park.
pressure.
Gavin kept the mood just right
with his dynamic musical selections. Millennium Development
Midwood Active Program welcomed the seniors with refreshing snow cones.
As they settled in, the seniors
were entertained by the sweet
sound of CASYM Steel Orchestra. Their music proved so irresistible that it pulled several
people up out of their seats to
dance, much to the delight of all
who watched.
After some juicy watermelon
had been passed around to wet
the appetite, Council Member
Stewart invited his guests over
to the serving tables that practically groaned with the weight
of all the delicious Caribbean
food and beverages waiting to
be consumed.
While they ate, the seniors
enjoyed some wonderful performances by several award-win-
love seniors. For one thing, they
have paved the way for the rest
of us. They have protected our
society and built up our communities. So I feel that the least I
can do is hold this picnic for the
seniors each year to let them
know how much I value them,”
he continued. “It’s always a real
pleasure to come out here and
feed the seniors, entertain them
and laugh and talk with them.”
Stewart also thanked the
many companies, individuals
and his district office staff who
helped make the festivity possible. Benefactors included
business owner Mohammad
Iqbal, Dave Gayle, owner of the
Tropical Paradise Ballroom and
Miss Deny as well as Community Board 17, Golden Krust,
Sharper Vision and Standard
Shipping. Rebecca James provided the delicious homemade Roy, from Fort Greene Senior Action Center, can’t help but dance to the infectious muMauby.
sic of CASYM Steel Orchestra. (Photos by Donna Lamb)
By Donna Lamb
23
24
YOU GO, GIRL!
Winner of Gospel Dream – Melinda Watts – is
‘So Good’ on debut album People Get Ready
Edited by Audrey J. Bernard
Melinda Watts, the season
three winner of Gospel Music
Channel’s popular reality talent
search series, Gospel Dream, realized her life long desire when
her debut CD, People Get
Ready, made its way to a Top
Twenty slot on the Billboard’s
Top Gospel Chart. The gospel
star’s freshman album was released nationwide on July 28.
Watts who beat out thousands of contestants is signed
with Razor & Tie Entertainment
for a worldwide multi-album
deal. People Get Ready is the
first fruit of that desire — yet
another milestone in a legacy
that has already impacted thousands for a greater cause, one
soul at a time.
People Get Ready is a bright
and dynamic album that showcases Watts’ vibrant vocals
along with strong contemporary
production. The celebratory
first single, “So Good,” has already made waves at Gospel radio. The upbeat pop track defies you to get up and dance.
Slick grooves, hopeful lyrics,
and an exuberant vibe are interwoven throughout the album,
which recalls other leading ladies of urban gospel like Coko,
Mary Mary and Kierra Sheard.
From the explosive, dancefriendly tracks of “Say Yes,”
and “Happy” to intimate worship songs like “Available To
You,” there is no doubt as to
why she won over judges and
audiences alike.
Watts is presently on a promotional tour in support of the
release with stops in New York,
Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia. She’s already been chosen to tape an upcoming episode BET’s “Lift Every Voice,”
and will be a part of the Gospel
Music Channel’s Gospel Dream
2009 season that began airing
in June.
“I’ve always had a love of
music and I have been singing
in church my whole life,” the
anointed singer explains.
“God’s grace brought me here.
A lot of faith in God and remembering that it’s okay to dream
even when you feel you can’t.”
When asked about her expectations for her first God-kissed
album Watts who has a high
wattage smile that would light
up any congregation said, “I
want people to walk away saying, ‘I really believe.’ These
songs are a testament to my
faith — that there is a God who
loves you and cares for you.”
That same message lies at
the core of People Get Ready, a
clarion call to live life more abundantly in the here and now,
while looking forward to an eternity on the Earth made new.
In the same spirit of its rallying title track, a thumping rendition of the 1996 Crystal Lewis
classic, the album is a dynamic
extension of Watts’ phenomenal
run on the American Idol-styled
Gospel Dream, while asserting
her as an artist with much more
than just an exceptional voice.
A singer/songwriter in her
own right, Watts self-penned the
majority of People Get Ready,
ing about moving past a difficult situation, and the
celebratory first single “So
Good,” a reggae-infused summer jam where Watts gets testimonial about the many ways
God has brought her through in
ing from Sacramento, CA, the
gospel crusader began singing
at the age of six. Her powerhouse vocals and warm bravado have captured the hearts
of millions of fans, when she
won the American Idol-esque
In addition, Watts oversees
Project Sunday, an afterschool
program she started while working as a teacher in California.
Through daily affirmation and a
curricular component, the program was eventually adopted by
“People ask me all the time if I’d choose working with kids over music or vice versa. I honestly can’t answer that question.
I think both are really a gift. They come from the same well. It’s not like I’m a singer trying to teach on the side, or a
teacher trying to sing on the side. This is really who I am as an artist.”
– Melinda Watts
tag-teaming with some of
gospel’s biggest hitmakers —
among them, award-winners
Smokie Norful, Aaron Lindsey, J.
Moss, Myron Butler, and Bernie
Herms — for a batch of songs
that are at once faith-affirming,
current, and relevant to the times
that we live in.
“All of these are songs from
way back,” says the Jersey-born
Rutgers University graduate,
who earned degrees in sociology and women’s studies and
went on to become a teacher before venturing out into her Gospel Dream adventure. “This was
the time that God saw fit to release them.”
Influenced by a wide-ranging
crop of power vocalists — including Shirley Caesar, Yolanda
Adams, Natalie Grant, and Reba
McEntire, among others —
Watts infused People Get Ready
with a cross-platform appeal that
normally takes up-and-coming
artists several albums to perfect.
“My parents weren’t musical
people but they really exposed
me to different types of music,”
she says.
It really shows. On the one
hand are the urban-flavored pop
anthems, like the reassuring “Try
Again,” a potent hit-in-the-mak-
her personal walk. Both of these
do a fine job of displaying
Watts’ motivational side, much
like a younger Yolanda Adams.
On the other end of the spectrum is the singer’s respect for
the sounds of yesteryear, evident in her cover of the Carlis
Moody Jr. staple “Available to
You,” a duet with J. Moss, and
the stirring “Faith That Conquers,” a modern-day take on
the Vanessa Bell Armstrong
classic.
“That song carried me
through the whole recording
process,” Watts says. “I had a
lot of fear about how people
would respond to the music.
The main thing was I wanted
God to be pleased. I wanted
people to walk away from the
songs being uplifted.”
Watts, who is managed by
Mitchell Solarek of Maximum
Artist Management, is a former
high school English teacher and
active member of her Sacramento community, started the
nonprofit organizations Project
Sunday and Heaven’s House to
address the great need for
mentoring and ministering to
young women in her community.
Born in New Jersey and hail-
show. Influenced by legends
CeCe Winans, Natalie Grant and
Shirley Caesar, Watts shares a
love of music and her church.
Mature beyond her years, the
budding gospel singer didn’t
initially intend to audition for
the 2008 season of Gospel
Dream. It took some convincing on her sister Kisha’s part for
the singer to take a leap of faith
and see God’s big picture.
“There was always this small
voice inside of me telling me
that if I wanted to inspire kids
to follow their dreams, I needed
to follow my own dreams,” says
Watts, who at the time was pregnant with her daughter, Lyric,
and had every intention to put
her life on hold to focus on
motherhood.
But God had different plans.
Since she was crowned the
champ of Gospel Dream, the
former English teacher has used
her new platform in gospel entertainment to advance her philanthropic efforts, especially the
work of her own nonprofit, The
About Face Network, and
Heaven’s House for Girls, an organization that nurtures young
women to fulfill their potential
in society and become everything God wants them to be.
the state of California to empower
at-risk girls from impoverished
areas to break out of the cycles
and patterns that keep them from
getting ahead in life.
All of the above render Watts,
hands down, one of the most purpose-driven performers to ever
grace the reality-singing circuit
— a singer who puts her money
where her voice is. As for where
Watts sees herself in the future,
she is leaving it all in God’s hands.
Just don’t ask her which of her
two life callings is her favorite.
“People ask me all the time if I’d
choose working with kids over
music or vice versa,” Watts says.
“I honestly can’t answer that question. I think both are really a gift.
They come from the same well. It’s
not like I’m a singer trying to teach
on the side, or a teacher trying to
sing on the side. This is really who
I am as an artist.”
In the realm of primetime talentsearch shows, the quest for fame
and fortune is usually the name
of the game. In the case of Gospel Dream victor Melinda Watts,
her vision for competing was
much more far-reaching: She
never wanted it to be about her,
but about inspiring others to
touch the sky through her music
and ministry.
New Tween apparel Mad Style by True Jackson
is inspired by hit TV series True Jackson
Keke Palmer
On Monday, August 17,
2009, Nickelodeon/Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP)
launched “Mad Style by True
Jackson,” a new tween apparel
and accessories line inspired
by the trendy fashions worn in
Nickelodeon’s hit live-action
series, True Jackson, VP, starring Keke Palmer.
The fall fashion show for the
newest tween dream clothing
line “where the runway meets
the school hallway” took place
at The Lodge at 1515 Broadway
followed by a meet & greet session with Palmer. Nickelodeon’s
chief marketing officer, Pam
Kaufman, opened the Mad
Style by True Jackson show
with warm welcoming remarks.
An adorable fashion show
followed that was as well orchestrated as the ones held under the big tent in Bryant Park
during fashion week. Young
fashionistas modeled the Mad
Style by True Jackson Tween
Apparel Line featuring long
sleeved henley t-shirts;
layerable knit tees featuring
graphics with positive messages like ‘be true to you’;
fashion leggings with novelty
buttons; jumper dresses with
removable straps; tunic
dresses with pre-scrunched
sleeves; Mary Jane shoes; bal-
Nickelodeon’s presentation of the Mad Style by True Jackson Tween Apparel Line on August 17, 2009 in New York City
let flats; and sneakers.
“True Jackson, VP inspires
girls to dream big and embrace
their individuality and creativity,” said Hal Snik, senior vice
president, domestic licensing,
NVCP. “The Mad Style line embodies the spirit of the show
and the clothes are comfortable
and affordable enough so that
girls can follow the trends or
create a look totally in their own
style.”
In true high fashion form, the
line’s fashionable creator, Jane
Siskin, president and chief executive officer of L’Koral, LLC,
looking great in a little black
dress with red high heels, told
the young fashionistas that she
was thrilled to be able to create a
line exclusively for Walmart
stores.
“Mad Style is a fashion collection filled with classic styles
with a twist that can be customized to fit any tween’s style
mood,” said Siskin. “Bringing
the design aesthetic of the True
Jackson, VP character to life
through this line was a great
experience for me – this is a
great way for girls to express
themselves.”
The Mad Style by True Jackson Tween Apparel Line show
was hosted by Palmer who appeared on stage looking as
adorable as ever in a chic little
black dress and black high heel
shoes. The pretty young role
model gushed with pride and
happiness as she spoke about
the new line and how excited
she was that the line was patterned from her hit TV show.
Palmer encouraged her young
fans to shop at Walmart stores
for Mad Style by True Jackson.
“Every item from sneakers to
dresses retails at $14 or under
and draws inspiration from the
series. The apparel line incorporates elements that make
each piece unique and
customizable at everyday low
prices and is available exclusively at Walmart stores.”
One of the hottest and fastest-growing shows for kids,
True Jackson, VP is one of the
top two rated programs on Saturday nights on all of broad-
Shively).
True navigates her very first
job, battles real-world obstacles
like competitive co-workers and
corporate politics and builds new
friendships and romantic interests
– as well as her niche as a style
maven.
NVCP manages the world’s
third largest licensing business,
representing leading properties
such as SpongeBob SquarePants
and Dora the Explorer, and managing merchandising for Nick Jr.,
Nickelodeon, Comedy Central,
MTVN International, and Spike TV.
Nickelodeon, now in its 30th
year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a
diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it
Keke Palmer and fashion designer Jane Siskin pose with
models
Chief marketing officer, Pam Kaufman, SVP of domestic licensing for Nickelodeon, Hal Snik and Keke Palmer
cast and basic cable television
with kids 2-11, kids 6-11 and
tweens 9-14 — behind only
Nickelodeon’s iCarly — and
averages 7 million total viewers each week.
True Jackson, VP follows
True’s adventures as she balances work life and social life in
and around the Mad Style ofwith her best friends Lulu
True Jackson, VP star SVP of domestic licensing for Nickelodeon, Hal Snik, fices
(Ashley Argota) and Ryan (Matt
Keke Palmer
Keke Palmer, fashion designer Jane Siskin
does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and
around the world, plus consumer
products, online, recreation,
books, magazines and feature
films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than
99 million households and has
been the number-one-rated basic
cable network for 15 consecutive
years.
(Photos by Scott Gries/PictureGroup/Nickelodeon) 2009 Viacom, International, Inc. All Rights Reserved)
25
CATWALKIN’ with Fashion & Beauty Editor Audrey J. Bernard
26
AG gets annual
WHAT’S GOING ON Georgia’s
Obama Leadership Award
By Victoria Horsford
WEEK IN REVIEW
Congratulations to fine artist/
writer/philanthropist Danny
Simmons who was named interim chairman of the New York
State Council for the Arts by
Governor David Paterson.
Brooklyn-based Simmons is
vice chair and co-founder, with
his brother Russell, of the Rush
Philanthropic Arts Foundation,
which nurtures and provides
access to fine arts programs for
disadvantaged urban youngsters…….
Congrats to Howard Bingham
photographer/film producer/author on his latest book, a pictorial essay titled BLACK PANTHERS, published by L.A.
based Ammo Books…Did you
see 11-year-old student/journalist Daman Weaver who interviewed President Obama , querying him last week. For this
wonderful close encounter between our present and future,
visit YOUTUBE, and input their
names.….
A 14 –year-old neurosurgeonin-progress, Tony Hansberry,
developed a stitching technique used to reduce complications following hysterectomies.
He presented his findings at a
conference of doctors and board
certified surgeons, held at the
University of Florida……NY
Times 8/16 Rahm Emanuel article “Emanuel Wields Power
Freely, And Faces the Risks:
More Chief Than Staff” is a good
read, lending insights into one
of the most powerful Obama
White House players.
It reveals how Rahm killed
Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton proposed appointment
of Sid Blumenthal; Rahm interfaces with Congress, from which
he is an alum; the much improved relationship between
Rahm and African-American
special adviser Valerie Jarrett,
who was profiled in the NYT
Magazine a few weeks ago.
South of the border, the Caribbean twin island nation of
Trinidad and Tobago will celebrate its 47th Independence Anniversary on Aug. 31. Visit
www.thetntalliance.com for full
local TnT independence activities. ……..
Last week Britain suspended
the Turks and Caicos government, legislature and constitution and restored direct rule. Action was taken after a Brit investigation of the T&C government, led by former Prime Minister Michael Misick, which was
adjudged rife with corruption.
Londoner Gordon Weatherell
was named T&C governor, for
approximately two years. Displeased by the British action,
T&C islanders view it as a return to colonization. Turks and
Caicos islands, southeast of the
Bahamas, are British territories.
BUSINESS AFFAIRS
Wanted: A Chief Financial Officer for the NYS Dormitory Authority, DASNY. Send resumes
to headhunter Bill Burgess at
[email protected].
According to my research,
based on an independent
Auditor’s Report, the DASNY
President John Atta-Mills
has total assets of $40.5 billion.
The National Minority Business
Council, NMBC, in partnership
with a substantial investment
fund has launched a financing initiative, targeted to small and medium-sized businesses, to assist
them in obtaining permanent funding to grow their enterprises. Applicants must meet the following
criteria to qualify for this MNBC
initiative. 1) 3 years of continuous operation 2) financial statement for past 2 years prepared by
an outside accountant 3) profitable operation in the past year.
Email application request to
[email protected]
OUT OFAFRICA
Ghana is Africa’s rising media
star this year. It is the first subSaharan country that President
Obama visited. It was the subject of an 8/9/09 Sunday NYT
Travel Section cover story , THE
TWO FACES OF GHANA, which
is equal parts travelogue and
modern history. On Monday,
Sept. 21, 2009, the AfricaAmerica Institute (AAI) will host
its 25th Annual Awards Gala at the
Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Battery City,
Manhattan.
The 2009 AAI gala honoree for
African National Achievement
are the People of Ghana. His Excellency, John Evans Atta Mills
will accept the award on behalf of
his countrymen.
Other AAI 2009 honorees are
DeBeers Chairman Nicky
Oppenheimer, for championing
Corporate Responsibility and the
Carnegie Corporation of NY’s
President Vartan Gregorian for
Leadership in Higher Education
Philanthropy. Harlem’s Abyssinia
Baptist Church pastor, Reverend
Calvin O. Butts, III will provide
the invocation.
AAI Awards Gala Tickets are
available from $500-$1000. Supporters and sponsors of the AAI
2009 Awards Gala are Constant
Capital Partners, Chevron,
DeBeers, and Exxon Mobil. For
more info visit www.benefit
office.org/aai, or telephone
888.483.0653.
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Edgar
Ridley & Associates, Inc, in
collaboration with the African
Profiles USA & Globe Magazine, will host and an evening
of discussion on how a strategic change in mindset can advance Africa’s Recovery, focusing on Africa’s Prospects Beyond the Meltdown.
Event participants include
Edgar Ridley, president of
Edgar J. Ridley and Associates;
His Excellency Ibrahim Auwalu,
Consul General of Nigeria;
Roderick, “Rick” M. Carr, managing director, MKP Capital
Management, LLC; Eloho
Otobo, United Nations;
Kassahun Checole, Publisher,
Africa World Press/Red Sea
Press; Dr. Nick Mwaniki, World
Bank, consultant & advisor,
East African Community. Reservations are necessary. RSVP
at [email protected].
The African Development
Foundation (ADF) will host its
Fourth Dinner Awards Gala on
Thursday, Sept. 24 at the
Marriott Marquis Hotel at 1535
Broadway 45/46 streets, Manhattan. His Excellency John
Evans Atta Mills, president of
Ghana and MLB centerfielder
Bernie Williams, are 2009 ADF
Dinner honorees.
Founded in 2003 by Ghanaborn, Marriott Marquis manager
George Ntim, the ADF is an international 501©3 organization
conceived to promote goodwill
between America and Africa
through youth-oriented initiatives in education, sports outlets,
and health-related resources.
ADF Gala tickets are $500. For
more info, visit www.africandeve
lopmentfoundation.org.
In Book Notes, a few weeks ago,
I wrote that fine arts photographer/scholar Dr. Deborah Willis’
soon-to-be-published W.W.
Norton book was titled “AfricanAmerican Images from 1890s to
present.” The correct book title is
POSING BEAUTY: AfricanAmerican Images from…….”
The National Bar Association
(NBA) presented Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker with
its first annual Barack Obama
Political Leadership Award at its
84th annual meeting in San Diego,
Calif., on Friday. The award recognizes Baker ’s pioneering
achievements as a public servant
and elected official.
Baker, a Democrat from Stone
Mountain, is Georgia’s first African-American Attorney General, having served in the office
since 1997. During this time, he
has been the only elected African-American Attorney General
in the nation. He is also the only
African American to be elected
by his colleagues to serve as the
president of the 102-year-old
National Association of Attorneys General.
As Attorney General, Baker
has successfully managed the
state’s legal affairs for more than
two decades. He has always
made protecting families and
children a top priority. He promoted tough new laws against
sexual predators who target children via the Internet, and has
aggressively worked with local
prosecutors and police to bring
those who target children online
to justice. Baker has also been a
leading voice against domestic
violence. He fought to make it a
crime to commit an act of domestic violence in the presence of a
child and he’s worked with local
law enforcement to fight family
violence.
Prior to his service as Attorney General, Baker served for
five terms in the Georgia House
of Representatives, including
several years as the Floor Leader
for then-Governor Zell Miller. As
Floor Leader, Baker led the fight
to pass some of the most significant legislation in modern Georgia history, including the institution of the state lottery and the
lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship
program.
He was the lead sponsor of the
largest tax cut in Georgia history –
the removal of the state sales tax
on groceries. He also led the fight
to pass tough new laws against
drunk driving, strengthening the
state’s notoriously weak, outdated
drunk driving laws, and helped
bring Georgia to the forefront in
the battle against DUI.
Baker, now a Democratic candidate for Governor of Georgia, said,
“I am humbled and honored to be
the first person to receive the National Bar Association’s Barack
Obama Award. I hope to live up to
the honor by continuing to bring
people together to solve the tough
problems facing Georgia.”
The National Bar Association
(NBA) was founded in 1925, and
is the nation’s oldest and largest
national association of predominately African-American lawyers
and judges. It has 84 affiliate chapters throughout the United States
and affiliations in Canada, the
United Kingdom, Africa and the
Caribbean. It represents a professional network of over 20,000 lawyers, judges, educators and law
students.
The objectives of the NBA are
“to advance the science of jurisprudence; improve the administration of justice; preserve the independence of the judiciary and to
uphold the honor and integrity of
the legal profession; to promote
professional and social intercourse
among the members of the American and the international bars; to
promote legislation that will improve the economic condition of all
American citizens, regardless of
race, sex or creed in their efforts to
secure a free and untrammeled use
of the franchise guaranteed by the
Constitution of the United States;
and to protect the civil and political rights of the citizens and residents of the United States.”
Perkins, Brodsky urge Gov.
to sign reform legislation
Senator Bill Perkins (D-Harlem),
chairman of the Senate Committee
on Corporations, Authorities, and
Commissions and Assemblyman
Richard
Brodsky
(DWestchester), chairman of the
Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions and Gene Russianoff, a leading reform advocate and president
of the Straphanger’s Campaign
have announced a concerted effort intended to ensure that the
Public Authorities Reform Act of
2009 is signed into law by Governor Paterson.
The bill is a fundamental, top to
bottom reform of State Authorities
such as the MTA, the Thruway
Authority, Long Island Power
Authority, New York Power Authority, Empire State Development
Corporation, and hundreds of
others, and has been widely hailed
as the most thorough reform of
state government in decades.
Recent reports have indicated that
Mayor Bloomberg has asked Gov.
Paterson to veto the bill.
“We are committed to working
together to ensure that real reform
in Albany takes place. Authorities such as the MTA ESDC, LIPA,
the Thruway Authority and others
have been vehicles for stupendous
increases in state debt, corruption,
scandal, and mismanagement. They
have become shadow government
operating like soviet style bureaucracies,” said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. “We can bring them
back to legitimate organizations service the public interests. But that
won’t happen if Governor Paterson
vetoes this bill.”
“New York’s authorities have operated in secret, mismanaged public
resources and awarded sweetheart
deals to developers and others long
enough,” said Sen. Perkins, chair of
the Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions. “Governor Paterson needs to
step up and sign on behalf of the
people. Let the billionaires fend for
themselves this time. These reforms
are the result of years of hard work
and thorough analysis by the experts in the field.”
Sen. Perkins and Assemblyman
Brodsky are considering a series of
public meetings and hearings as well
as a coordinated release of info
about authority practices. They plan
on releasing a major statement on
authority debt in a few days.
NNPA Award Winner
27
By Don Thomas
Ashanti featured in new ‘Be Great’ billboard in
Times Square for Boys & Girls Clubs of America
By Audrey J. Bernard
One of the newest billboards
added to the many outstanding
ones hovering over Times Square
is that of Grammy Award-winning
singer/songwriter, author, actress and Boys & Girls Club alum
Ashanti.
The beautiful star was on
hand for it’s unveiling on Tuesday morning, August 11 in
Duffy Square as part of Boys &
Girls Clubs of America’s
(BGCA) new advocacy campaign encouraging youth to
“Be Great.”
Looking gorgeous in red —
a color as powerful as her message — Ashanti sashayed over
to the event from the W Hotel
at Broadway and 47 th Street
bringing traffic to a halt and
giving tourists something to
write home about. There she
was joined by children from the
BGCA and other dignitaries and
a pack of photographers who
gleefully snapped away.
Then, while beautifully
posed in front of the electronic
billboard sponsored by Clear
Channel Spectacolor, Ashanti,
surrounded by the children,
counted down to the unveiling
of the larger than life billboard
featuring her cute childhood
picture and an inspirational
message – “Be Amazing.”
Ashanti is the newest celebrity alumni participating in
BGCA’s new “Be Great” advocacy campaign to help increase
public awareness and understanding about the key issues
facing America’s youth, and
the positive impact of Clubs.
Since its inception, for some
young people, a daily dose of
BGCA has been the best medicine for their getting through
their troubles and for some –
keeping them out of trouble.
From academic failure and gang
Ashanti poses with proud
mom and manager Tina
Douglas
violence to poverty, drugs and
obesity, America’s young people
face a daunting array of problems – with serious consequences and fewer safety nets
at home and in the community.
“Growing up in the Club gave
on the stage,” she laughed.
Once she reached high
school, Ashanti began writing
songs in high school. Her album, Ashanti, hit the #1 spot on
both the Billboard Top 200 and
R&B charts and received a
ington, Muhammad Ali, Swin
Cash, Gen. Wesley Clark, Bill
Clinton, Bill Cosby, Cuba
Gooding, Jr., Michael Jordan,
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Queen
Latifah, Mario Lopez, John
Mellencamp, Edward James
Ashanti poses with BGCA students in front of Be Amazing billboard in Times Square
me the opportunity to explore
many interests and talents, including dancing and singing,
that have profoundly influenced
my life,” said Ashanti. “The
adult staff at the Club in Glen
Cove challenged us to excel, and
instilled positive values that
still influence me as an adult. It’s
an honor to join our alumni ambassadors in talking about the
impact Boys & Girls Clubs have
on young people, because I’m
one of them.”
Ashanti is an amazing performer so her objective, “Be
Amazing” perfectly echoes her
persona as a performer. Recounting her early experiences at
BGCA, the “Princess of Hip Hop”
recalled how her mother, Tina
Douglas, would bring her to the
Glen Cove, Long Island chapter.
“My mom taught dance for some
20 years and I learned to dance
Grammy for best contemporary
R&B album.
She went on to star in such
features films as John Tucker
Must Die, Coach Carter, and
Resident Evil Extinction. TV
credits include the Muppets
Wizard of Oz, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, Vegas, and American
Dreams. Her book of poetry Foolish/Unfoolish is available at
Hyperion Books. In 2008, she
partnered with jeweler Cartier on
a “Love” bracelet benefiting
BGCA. Recently, Ashanti made
her theatrical debut starring as
“Dorothy” in the Encores! production of “The Wiz” to rave reviews.
Ashanti now joins a celebrity
roster of BGCA alumni in the “Be
Great” advocacy campaign including: Academy Award-winning actor and national spokesperson for BGCA, Denzel Wash-
Ashanti with VIPs, family and BGCA students
Olmos, Shaquille O’Neal, Smokey
Robinson, Jimmy Rollins, Martin
Sheen, John Singleton, Ruben
Studdard, Usher, Courtney
Vance, Mark Wahlberg, and Kerry
Washington.
“We are very excited about
Ashanti joining the “Be Great”
campaign and her willingness to
help us impact the lives of the
young people who need us
most,” said BGCA president and
CEO Roxanne Spillett. “Her
story is a textbook case of how
the Boys & Girls Club experience
can help shape a life, and we are
so proud of all that she has accomplished, and all she will continue to do on behalf of the
young people following in her
footsteps.”
As part of the superstar
lineup, Ashanti will collaborate
with the Club and other alumni
to urge the country’s political
and business leaders to make the
young people of America a priority and encourage every citizen to make a difference by supporting organizations such as
the Boys & Girls Clubs – ensuring that every child has a safe,
supervised and structured environment during the critical afterschool hours.
For more than 100 years, BGCA
(www.bgca.org) has helped kids
“Be Great,” providing hope and
opportunity for those who need
it most. Today, more than 4,300
Clubs serve some 4.5 million
young people through Club membership and community outreach.
Known as The Positive Place for
Kids, Boys & Girls Clubs can be
found throughout the country and
on U.S. military bases worldwide,
providing young people 6-18 years
old with guidance-oriented character development programs conducted by trained, professional
staff. Clubs positively impact lives
and help young people reach their
full potential as productive, caring
citizens.
Key programs emphasize leadership development; education
and career exploration; community service; technology training; financial literacy; health and
life skills; the arts; sports, fitness
and recreation; and family outreach. In a recent Harris Survey
of Club alumni, 57 percent said
the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located
in Atlanta.
The billboard featuring
Ashanti is the latest in a series
of ads depicting the childhood
photos of Club alumni, the “Be
Great” message and Web address. Thanks to a partnership
with the Outdoor Advertising
Association of America the lead
trade association representing
the outdoor advertising industry, thousands of billboard ads
will be donated by local companies across the country.
Frank Sanchez Jr., vice
president, corporate & partner relationships, Boys &
Girls Clubs of America with Singer, actor Breje with
BGCA students
Ashanti
(Photo credit: Hilary Steffens/ PRNewswire/ Boys & Girls Club and Ronnie Wright)
Celebrate Harlem Week 2009
Entertainment
28
MELLOW FELLOW
Nobody does ’60s soul and R&B’s oldschool better than Raphael Saadiq
“While I was making the album, I watched videos by
Gladys Knight & The Pips, Al Green, The Four Tops…and
fused them all together.” – Raphael Saadiq
Edited by Audrey J. Bernard
WNET.ORG is a pioneering
public media institution universally recognized for the intelligence, integrity, innovation, and
inspiration of its programs and
initiatives. WNET.ORG serves
its community with unique programming and educational
projects through an array of
channels. Its goal is to deliver
media experiences of lasting significance for New York, America
and the world.
Consummate performer
Raphael Saadiq cares about the
universal language, music, and
is compassionate about its global reach using the media as a
means to keep his art alive. As a
result, Saadiq’s latest smash offering Raphael Saadiq: Live
from the Artists Den, released
July 21, 2009 on Artists Den Entertainment and Columbia
Records, will benefit WNET.ORG
New York Public Media. The
DVD, which is sold exclusively
at PublicTelevisionRocks.org, is
the first concert DVD from the
Grammy-nominated artist and
producer.
The DVD, which will be distributed by RED, was filmed at
an intimate, private performance
at the Harvard Club of Boston,
and selections from the show
aired nationwide on public
television’s Raphael Saadiq:
Live from the Artists Den, the hit
weekly music series featuring
extraordinary artists performing
in extraordinary settings. Released now in full for the first
time, the DVD features bonus
interview clips and concert footage not included in the televi-
sion broadcast.
Saadiq broke through the
American mainstream as a member of multi-platinum R&B innovators Tony! Toni! Tone! The
Grammy-winning producer has
worked with a roster of superstars.
He has released two solo studio albums that have received
eight Grammy nominations between them, including a recordsetting five for his Instant Vintage debut in 2002 – the most
nominations ever for an independent release – and three for
2008’s The Way I See It – Best
R&B Album, Best Traditional
R&B Vocal Performance and
Best R&B Performance By A
Duo Or Group.
The making of his latest offering starts off with Saadiq
warming up the cold winter night
of December 3, 2008 with a ninepiece band in the hallowed
Harvard Club of Boston, built in
1912. Of playing the unique
room, he said, “This building
has some history and this music has some history, so I think
it’s a perfect match.”
The concert DVD features 18
tracks – most from The Way I See
It – and song introductions by
Saadiq, including a somber reflection on “Big Easy,” a tribute
to those who lost loved ones
during Hurricane Katrina.
An excellent interpreter of music, Saadiq enjoys the reputation
of being a standard bearer for
what folks call ‘old school’ music. In this role, he continues a
time-honored tradition that goes
back to the ‘60s and ‘70s.
From his early days as a member of the groundbreaking ‘80s
group Tony! Toni! Toné!
through his work as an award-
winning producer of such artists
as Joss Stone, The Roots, Snoop
Dogg, John Legend among many
others and his own solo albums,
the multi-talented contemporary
crooner has kept the faith.
“Every record I’ve ever made
has had those influences…The
Temptations, Al Green, The Four
Tops and so on,” he explains from
the L.A. studio where he recorded his latest illustrious work.
This album is the culmination of
a life time of experiences informed
by the music I grew up on.”
Indeed. Listening to The Way
I See It, it’s immediately obvious
that it could have been recorded
thirty years ago. Musically cohesive in the same way that soul
music albums were recorded back
in the day, Saadiq’s third solo album and first for Sony BMG is
not merely a throwback: it is as
close to the kind of record made
in Detroit, Chicago, Memphis,
Miami or New York by any number of super R&B hit makers to
anything recorded since.
While other contemporary artists may attempt to emulate the
sound and flavor of ’70s soul
music, Saadiq brings real emotion, real feeling and production
values that are simply (to borrow
a popular phrase from back then),
right on.
The inspiration for singer/
songwriter/musician/producer
and arranger Saadiq’s follow up
to 2004’s critically-acclaimed Ray
Ray set came from an unlikely
destination. “I was out of the
country, cooling out, in Costa
Rica and The Bahamas. I was
surfing and ran into people from
all kinds of places…and I noticed
everybody was listening to this
classic soul music and when I
came back home and the music
for this album flowed organically,
naturally. “
“Since I have my own studio, I
was able to perfect it, take my
time to make it right. I was able
to live with it, day after day and I
think that had a lot to do with
how the album turned out. In all,
it took about four months to put
it all together,” Saadiq concludes.
The result is that The Way I See
It has the kind of smooth musical flow associated with great
records made by pioneering producers at famous R&B companies like Motown, Invictus and
Brunswick. From the foot-tapping opening track, “Sure Hope
You Mean It” to the head-shaking reflective closer “Sometimes,” the heart wrenching
singer delivers a present day potent ode to a bygone era.
Talking about the songs, he
notes, “The first track shows my
deep connection to The Temptations. The vocal has a David
Ruffin ‘feel’: I pictured how it
was when Eddie Kendricks, Paul
Williams and the guys in the
Temps were first introduced to
the world. I looked at a lot of
their album covers so I could immerse myself in the characters. I
think of the track as vintage
Motown with a Stax guitar line
factored in…it’s like a melting
pot of the two sounds…”
Loyal Tony! Toni! Toné! fans
will particularly appreciate “100
Yard Dash,” which Saadiq describes as “a juke joint, Booker
T.-type groove. I reflected back
to my first T!T!T! albums when I
was singing in a high tenor
voice.”
British R&B fans – specifically
‘Northern Soul’ lovers – will dig
“Keep Marching” with its insistent driving beat and he notes,
“That’s the kind of song that can
drive people crazy at my live
shows… it’s a performance piece.”
That same love for real music
is exactly what has created a solid
and loyal audience for traditional
soul sounds among a whole generation of Latino concert-goers
and record buyers: “Callin,’”
with its Spanish language lines
and pronounced doo-wop flavor
is, he notes, “a jump back to the
music of the ‘50s. I wanted to
make a track that would get the
low riders. People talk about the
division between Latinos and
Blacks but we all grew up together loving the same music.
This song is a reminder of how
we do when we get together…”
Hearkening back to the Hot Wax
and Invictus records made in Detroit by Holland-Dozier-Holland
(soul music buffs, think Freda
Payne and The Honeycone),
“Staying In Love” is a nifty dance
floor gem: “It reminds me of a Jackson 5 record, with that James
Jamerson bass line, the kind of
energy folks love from those
Motown tracks.” And the lyrics?
“I wrote it with my ex in
mind…some of it is fabricated and
some of it is true to life!”
Saadiq doesn’t fess up about
the lyrics for the catchy “Let’s
Talk A Walk” (opening line, “This
place is crowded/Don’t know
bout’ you/I need some sex/Some
sex with you…”) only commenting that it’s “self explanatory!”
Born and raised in Oakland,
California Raphael Saadiq learned
to play guitar, drums, and bass
at the age of six, making the bass
his preferred instrument. Singing with a professional gospel
group by the time he was nine,
the budding singer’s musical
education encompassed classical music, ’40’s spirituals, hymns,
jazz and, of course, R&B. Shortly
after high school, Saadiq won a
chance to join Prince and Sheila
E. on their 1984 “Parade” world
tour.
As the lead vocalist and bass
player with late ’80’s/early ’90’s
group Tony! Toni! Toné!, he experienced his first taste of megasuccess, kicking off with the hit
single, “Little Walter” in 1988
through the now-classic slow jam
“It Never Rains (In Southern California)” and the club/dance party
of “Feels Good,” resulting in total sales of over six million copies for the band.
After leaving the group,
Saadiq recorded two singles for
hit movies (1995’s “Ask of You”
from “Higher Learning” and “Me
& You” from “Boyz in the Hood”).
In 2000, he created the supergroup
Lucy Pearl (with En Vogue’s Dawn
Robinson and A Tribe Called
Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad)
and the team’s much-appreciated
sole self-titled album received
Grammy, American Music Awards
and Soul Train Music Awards
nominations.
In 2003, Saadiq released the live
CD, All Hits at the House of Blues
following it in 2004 with Ray Ray.
In demand as a producer,
songwriter and musician, his impressive list of credits includes
Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige,
Anthony Hamilton, Devin the
Dude, Kelis, Q-Tip, Lil’ Skeeter,
Ludacris, The Bee Gees, Nappy
Roots, T-Boz from TLC, Young
Bellz, Earth, Wind & Fire and many
others. In 2006, he was the main
producer and co-writer of seven
songs for the Introducing Joss
Stone project.
Now comes The Way I See It, a
masterful collection of new material that speaks to Saadiq’s deep
love for rhythm and blues. “While
I was making the album, I watched
videos by Gladys Knight & The
Pips, Al Green, The Four
Tops…and fused them all together,” he admits speaking of the
further inspiration he found for
creating the album, which truly
showcases the rich diversity of
funky grooves and smooth balladry that is Saadiq’s calling card.
The standout “Oh Girl” (not the
Chi-Lites classic but an original
Saadiq composition) stirs up images of famed Philly soul harmony
groups like The Delfonics and The
Stylistics. “I love the ballads by
those groups, they’re among my
favorite songs,” says Saadiq.
“When I listen to them, I wonder
where did that sound come from.”
The number one soul singer
grins when talking about the
hypnotic “Love That Girl”:
“ M a n , t h a t ’s a l l a b o u t t h e
swing…the way girls swing their
hips! It’s the type of song that
will make people move and that
shuffle beat reminds me of those
ladies I used to see playing
drums in church!”
With its Motown-flavored tambourine-featured beat, “Never
Give You Up” is what Saadiq calls
“my three generations song. It includes C.J., this youngster from
Baltimore that I’m working with
and Stevie Wonder.
The Way I See It ends appropriately with the Sam Cooke-influenced “Sometimes” which Saadiq
explains is “the story of my mother
and my grandmother who have always been such an inspiration to
me through this journey. It felt
right to close out the record this
way.”
Saadiq says that his latest album was “harder to make than Instant Vintage.”
“Once I got into this, I got almost stuck ‘in character,’ the character of the old school singers I
listened to. But I’m happy and
excited it’s done. I put in a lot of
work and I feel like I achieved something really great,” he concluded.
Interview
29
By Starre Moss
After a five-year hiatus,
R&B star Chico DeBarge is
back on the scene with a new
CD called, “Addiction” and a
new deal with Kedar Entertainment. This time around, the
what I’ve been through in my
life,” said DeBarge.
“Addiction” is DeBarge’s
first musical project since his
last CD, “Free” was released in
2003. He hasn’t been sitting
idle all that time either. “I’ve
been touring a lot and working
tan. DeBarge (whose full name
is Jonathan Arthur DeBarge) is
the youngest of the Debarge
family of singers.
At one point in time the family had close ties with the Jackson family (Janet Jackson was
m a r r i e d t o b r o t h e r, J a m e s
The Debarge, family singing group
Chico DeBarge
Detroit born crooner translates
his life journey through song,
opening up about his battles
with drug abuse, incarceration
and troubled relationships.
DeBarge became addicted to
prescription drugs and heroin
and went through rehabilitation in 2003. “Addiction is
something I’ve dealt with in
my past. The topic matter is
important because it’s true to
on my new magazine called
The 9’s mag.com, an online
lifestyle magazine,” Chico told
me. The singer has also been
busy writing the songs for
project which he produced as
well.
Chico, who now resides in
Brooklyn, New York has been
performing all summer long
from Von King Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhat-
thoughts on the death of pop
icon, Michael Jackson, “It’s a
very sad incident. It’s sad that
he died so early because we
wanted so much more from him
and he had so much more to
give.”
DeBarge has been both inspired and influenced through
the years by legendary artists
such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin
Gaye and Michael Jackson.
When he’s enjoying music, he
DeBarge) and the musical fami- prefers to listen to the classics
lies were often compared to one rather than music put out by
today’s artists.
another.
Chico’s experiences, good
When asked what it was like
being compared to the
J a c k s o n ’s , t h e s i n g e r r e sponded, “I think it’s great especially since they discovered
DeBarge. They also discovered
Switch. It’s an honor to be
compared to the Jackson’s.”
The singer also shared his
Theater/Review
New play tries to convey too much of
everything but character development
By Ernece B. Kelly
Theater Critic
Sometimes it feels as if a playwright were driven to include
every idea that comes to mind.
George O. Brome’s two-hour
marathon drama, “Another
Man’s Poison,” performing at
The Peter J Sharpe Theater on
West 42 nd Street, set in the
1970’s, is a vivid example of this.
Gayness, absentee fathers, the
Vietnam War, Kent State and
Jackson State, plus the Korean
Conflict are just some of the
themes touched on here.
It’s too much. Brome doesn’t
explore most of them, so these
tantalizing undeveloped notions distract audiences and
prevent him from developing
his six characters. One who
escapes this fate—the play re-
volves around him—is Frankie
Masters (Leland Gantt), a Black
comedian struggling to have
his own television show.
Masters has honed his comic
skills over decades beginning
in the Army when he realized
that whites were more accepting of a Black man who could
make them laugh. After Korea,
he neglects his wife Pauline
(Penelope Lowder) and son,
Alan (James Edward Shippy) so
that he and his manager Mel
(Steve Greenstein) can develop
his TV pilot. Scenes of that pilot provide much needed comic
relief and are rehearsed with
Dennis Hearn and Toni L.
Stanton playing multiple parts.
Scenes of Frankie and his
wife show the rifts in their longstanding relationship, (“Show
business has done nothing but
keep us apart”, Pauline complains) and when their son Alan
is added to the mix, mutual resentment intensifies matters.
“Instead of cutting the apron
strings…you’re crocheting
them,” Frankie shouts at one
point. (Peppering the drama is
dialogue like this which shows
the playwright’s strength.)
But clever lines, Kevin Lee
Allen’s sleek and efficient set design, and the pitch perfect l970’s
styles of costume designer Ali
Turns—Alan’s suede fringe vest
and patterned shirt are classic—are
not enough to salvage this drama.
Sometimes less is more and
sometimes more is too much.
“Another Man’s Poison” simply
put, tries to convey too much of
everything but character development, and that’s the stuff theatre audiences come for.
and bad, have made him stronger and wiser. The advice he offers to today’s up and coming
artists, “Learn all you can about
the business because this is a
very difficult business to be in.
Get all the knowledge you can
get.”
DeBarge’s ‘addiction’ these
days is his music. “I wouldn’t
really say it’s an addiction but
it’s definitely my passion,” he
said. When asked what he would
like his legacy to be, the singer
answered, “I would like to be remembered for truth and honesty
in my music.”
Chico DeBarge: A Good Addiction
30
Film Strip
‘District 9,’ a South African racially charged sci-fi flick
By Marie Moore
Contributing Scribe
Peter Jackson, producer, is
used prominently in the promotion of “District 9.”
The ads read: “Peter Jackson
presents District 9.” Jackson is
responsible for “The Lord of the
Rings” trilogy and the 2005 remake of “King Kong,” in which
the natives were more threatening than the original 1933 film.
Aliens who landed in South Africa in “District 9” isn’t the only
vexing issue but menacing Nigerians who devour body parts
compound the debacle.
Director Neill Blomkamp says
he saw a void in South Africa’s
cinema when it came to science
fiction. “I was a science fiction
nut growing up in Jo’Burg
(Johannesburg) and I realized
that I hadn’t seen science fiction
in Africa before,” says
Blomkamp, who is also responsible for the screenplay.
I asked the star of the film,
Sharlto Copley, to address a
statement he had made about
South Africans dealing with issues that most people don’t deal
with around the world. “In South
Africa, we have to deal with issues that generally people
around the world try to sweep
under the rug,” Copley commented. Grilled about the issue,
he went on to explain that they
were cultural.
“Cultural differences and
value differences, I think, are the
biggest challenges that people
face in any country. You try not
to talk about the things that you
really differ on. You know, if you
believe that it’s fine to have 10
wives and I believe that it isn’t,
we try to sort of not talk about
that one because it just creates
tension. So you just try and focus on the positive side and try
Scene from “District 9” the sci-fi flick of space aliens living in apartheid-like squalor copped the box-office number
one spot earning $37 million in ticket sales.
to focus on common values.
“That’s certainly what South
Africa was able to do to allow that
kind of decision to happen in
1994, the kind of peaceful transition to democracy. It was about
focusing a little bit more and also
creating a space for the painful
stuff to come out; things like the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“In it’s most boiled down distilled level, I think it’s really just
the idea of two groups, two races
kind of meeting one another head
on and one group oppressing the
other one directly and indirectly. I
think a lot of it is subconscious,”
Blomkamp says.
The animosity between the Africans in the film is very cognizant.
“There are two parts to South
Africa’s history,” Blomkamp continued. “There’s the part that everybody knows which is, you
know, the white oppression over
the Black majority. But then
there’s the second thing that’s
happening now which I wanted to
include in the film.
“The situation of the millions
of Zimbabwean immigrants and
the impoverished Blacks of
South Africa reached its critical
point while we were filming in
2008. I don’t know if you saw the
news, about the lynchings,
burnings and machete attacks
but it was seriously violent stuff
that happened.”
More disturbing than the
aliens who wanted to return home
are those are the scenes of Nigerians eating body parts. Called
upon to describe the cannibalistic scenes Blomkamp noted that
putting the Nigerians into a setting where they are involved in a
crime syndicate, “South Africans
would instantly think that was absolutely accurate and completely
hilarious.
That is exactly how South Africa is. For all of downtown
Jo’Burg it’s Nigerian occupied
and most of the violent crime in
Jo’Burg stems from the central
area around Hillbron where huge
Nigerian gangs own and control a
lot of the ins and outs of how the
city works.
There are lots of African witch
doctors and voodoo. In South Africa that practice or idea of consuming body parts and stuff has
powerful results. So it’s something
that I put in there because it is African and it is part of South
Africa’s makeup but I walk that fine
line knowing that a North American population may or may not get
it. So it’s authentic to South Africa
and it’s authentic to West Africa
but the audiences are going to take
from it what they will I guess,”
Blomkamp concluded.
Hip-hop artist Big Boi, onehalf of the Grammy Awardwinning duo “OutKast,”
poses with Minnie Mouse
at the Magic Kingdom in
Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Antwan Andre Patton, a/k/a
Big Boi is scheduled to release his first solo project
entitled “Sir Luscious Left
Foot: The Son of Chico
Dusty” in 2009. In addition
to his work with “OutKast,”
the Atlanta, Georgia based
artist and producer has appeared on tracks by
Grammy Award-winners
Beyonce, Jay-Z and Missy
Elliott. In 2008 he collaborated with the Atlanta Ballet for a series of well received performances.. He
was visiting the Walt
Disney World Resort during his recent vacation.
(Photo: Garth Vaughan)
KICKIN’ IT with Audrey J. Bernard
31
Dr. Billy Taylor, founder of Jazzmobile,
celebrates milestone birthday
Jazzmobile presents New
York’s oldest continuous summer Jazz festival reaching approximately 100,000 annually. In
honor of Jazzmobile Inc.’s 45th
anniversary, on Wednesday,
August 12, an array of musicians
– wearing their 2009 Jazzmobile
Summerfest T-shirts — attended
a very special opportunity to
pose for a reunion photograph
prior to the group’s free concert
featuring the Jimmy Heath band.
Artists including Jimmy Heath,
Jimmy Owens, Charli Persip,
Benny Powell, Frank Wess and
Randy Weston, who have performed for Jazzmobile at concert
halls, clubs and in its renowned
Summerfest mobile concerts since
the group’s 1964 founding, joined
the organization’s founder Dr. Billy
Taylor for the historic gathering.
Additional performers and others from the Jazz community who
attended the jamboree included
WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM radio personality and concert producer Sheila
Anderson, Hakim Ankh-ra,
Azande Cummings, Michael Max
Flemming, Ghanniyya Green,
Onaje Allan Gumbs, Winard
Harper, Antonio Hart, Michael
Howell, Linda Hudson, David Lee
Jones, Melba Joyce, Kiyoshi
Kitagawa and Ray Mantilla.
Together with Marie Lee
McBroom (former grant writer for
Jazzmobile in 1964), Danny
Mixon, Antoinette Montague,
Don Moore, Eunice Newkirk,
Dion Parson, Jeb Patton, Jeremy
Pelt, Donald Sanger, Bill Saxton,
Cynthia Scott, Dotti Anita Taylor, Akiko Tsuruga, Diego Urcola,
Lynette Washington and Elise
Wood.
“We are delighted that some
of the artists, who have been entertaining in neighborhoods
throughout the city as a part of
Jazzmobile’s programs for de-
Jazzmobile Instructors (1st row) Jim Harrison, Jimmy Heath, Dr. Billy Taylor, Robin Bell-Stevens, Chris White, Paul
West, Bill Saxton (2nd row) Michael Max Flemming, Jimmy Owens, Benny Powell & Michael Howell
cades, have joined us today.
Some of the artists missing are
performing in national and international festivals. Having our
founder, Billy Taylor, and two
former heads of Jazzmobile (jazz
musicians themselves) — Chris
White and Paul West — is very
special,” said Jazzmobile president & CEO Robin Bell-Stevens.
“The public also came out to
thank them for their dedicated
years of service to the art and
culture landscape of the City of
New York. This event is part of
the 18-month celebration of our
45th anniversary,” concluded
Bell-Stevens.
Heath led the free concert that
followed the photo taking opportunity. The consummate jazz artist has long been recognized as a
brilliant instrumentalist and a
magnificent composer and arranger. He is the middle brother
of the legendary Heath Brothers
(Percy Heath/bass and Tootie
Heath/drums) and the father of
urban contemporary and funk
musician and producer Mtume,
known for his 1970s/80s band of
the same name.
Having led his own ensembles
Jazzmobile executive directors Paul West, Robin
Bell-Stevens, Dr. Billy Taylor & Chris White
and big band, Heath has performed with nearly all the jazz
greats of the last 50 years, from
Howard McGhee, Dizzy Gillespie,
and Miles Davis to Wynton
Marsalis.
Over the course of his career
he has performed on more than
100 record albums, including
seven with The Heath Brothers
and 12 as a leader. Many of
Heath’s more than 125 compositions have become jazz standards. Heath has not only been
a Jazzmobile artist, he’s helped
create the next generation of jazz
performers as a Jazzmobile instructor since the 1970s.
Jazzmobile’s Summerfest runs
through August 28, with concerts in all five boroughs of New
York, including performances as
a part of the Harlem Week celebration.
Each Wednesday the group
presents a concert at Grant’s
Tomb and each Friday it holds a
concert in Marcus Garvey Park
— both shows at 7:00 p.m.;
throughout the week Jazzmobile
swings into neighborhoods
across New York City. For more
information, go to www.jazz
mobile.org.
Jazzmobile, Inc., the oldest not
for profit arts organization created just for jazz in the country,
was founded in 1964 by jazz master Dr. Billy Taylor and Daphne
Arnstein. Its mission is to
present, preserve, promote, and
propagate Jazz — “America’s
classical music.”
This mission is implemented
through quality jazz education
and performance programs:
workshops, master classes, lecture demonstrations, arts enrichment programs, as well as outof-doors mobile Jazz performances and those in clubs and
major concert halls here and
abroad.
Jazzmobile, www.jazzmo
bile.org, serves approximately
100,000 people in New York City
and its outlying areas each year.
Remaining 2009 Jazzmobile
Summer Concert Schedule:
Thurs., 8/20, 7:00 PM, Dave
Gibson, Lyman Pl. bet. Freeman
& 169th St., Bronx; Fri., 8/21,
7:00 PM, Antoinette Montague,
Marcus Garvey Park, 122nd St.
& 5th Ave, Harlem; *Sat., 8/2,
Jazzmobile Reunion at Grants Tomb
11:30 AM, Ray Mantilla, NY Family “Health Walk-a-thon,” St.
Nicholas Park, 135th St. & St.
Nicholas Ave, Harlem.
Sat., 8/22, 3:00PM, Arturo
O’Farrill, J. Hood Wright Park,
Fort Washington Ave., bet. W.
174th & 175th St., Washington
Heights; Mon., 8/24, 7:00 PM,
The Duke Ellington Legacy Band,
featuring Edward Ellington II,
106th St. bet. Central Park West
& Manhattan Ave, Manhattan;
Tues., 8/25, 7:00 PM, Cecil
Bridgewater & the Jazzmobile
All-Stars, 122nd St., bet. 7th &
Lenox Aves, Harlem.
Wed., 8/26, 7:00 PM, Frank
Wess, Grant’s Tomb,122nd St. &
Riverside Dr., Harlem; *Wed., 8/
26, 7:30 PM-10:00 PM, (3 Sets),
Boncella Lewis, “The Joints are
Jumpin’”, Londell’s, 2620 8th
Ave at 140th St., Thurs., 8/27,
7:00 PM, Lynette Washington,
132nd St. bet. 7th & Lenox Aves,
Harlem; Fri., 8/28, 7:00 PM,
Ghanniyya Green, Marcus
Garvey Park, 122nd St. & 5th Ave,
Harlem. *Note: As part of Harlem
Week 2009. Please note that all
performances are weather permitting and subject to change.
Enthusiatic Jazzmobile fans in their Jazzmobile
T-shirts
(Photos: Hubert Williams/Imagezs of Us)
45th Anniversary Reunion
32
In Performance
George Wallace says: ‘Laughter
is the greatest thing in the world’
George Wallace
By shirlee r. schwam
Contributing Scribe
Inspired by such greats as
Red Skelton, Johnny Carson,
Redd Foxx, Milton Berle and Richard Pryor, among many other
comedic actors, at the tender
age of six, George Wallace already decided that one day he
would be an outstanding comedian. Nonetheless, in order to
achieve his dream, he needed a
financial cushion to fall back
upon.
In order to pursue the practical goals, he left his home
town of Atlanta, Georgia and
enrolled in the University of
Akron in Ohio. Upon graduation, he received a degree in
transportation, marketing and
advertising which he then put
to good and practical use by
selling advertising space. And
although he was successful,
(within a couple of years he
progressed to being vice president of the firm for which he
worked) the idea of becoming a
comedian was never far from his
mind and remained his ultimate
goal.
At every opportunity,
Wallace did stand-up comedy
routines in all venues, and the
skills he honed in sales quickly
helped him land comedy appearances. As he himself has
said on many occasions, “In
advertising, I had to sell space,
whereas in comedy, I have to
sell myself.” He was successful in marketing his talents and
when one of his clients opened
a comedy club, Wallace hit the
stage and from then on the transition occurred smoothly.
Within a matter of weeks,
Wallace was seen on stage at a
comedy club and was offered a
job writing for “The Red Foxx
Show.” As his comedic reputa-
tion grew, he was suggested as a
competitor for a cable television
special “The Big Laff Off” where
he won the first prize of $2,000
and club engagements all over
the country.
Like his contemporaries, Jerry
Seinfeld and Bill Cosby, Wallace
derives his comedy from every
day moments of life. His unique
brand of social commentary
proved popular with radio audi-
ences as well. He also is a favorite guest on the TV talk show circuit with appearances on “The
Tonight Show,” “Late Night With
Dave Letterman,” “Entertainment
Tonight,” “E!Entertainment,”
“Extra” and “Oprah” as well as
starring on his own HBO special.
In addition, Wallace has had
guest starring roles on
“Seinfeld,” “The Parkers,” “In
The Heat Of The Night,” “Tall
Hopes,” “The Fresh Prince Of Bel
Air,” and “Arliss And Moesha,”
among others. In 1995, after having been nominated four years in
a row, Wallace won an American
Comedy Award as best stand-up
comedian.
Wallace has also appeared in
several motion pictures, including: “The Wash,” “Three
Strikes,” “Little Nicky,” “A Rage
In Harlem,” “Punchline,” “Bert
Rigby You’re A Fool,” “Hot To
Trot,” “Things Are Tough All
Over,” “Postcards From The
Edge,” “Batman Forever” and
“Meet Wally Sparks”.
Signs and billboards throughout Las Vegas proclaim Wallace
as the best 10pm show on the
Strip. Having read that this ultimate showman was seeking to run
for Mayor, I inquired if this was
true. He replied that this is a
standing joke with his colleagues.
“One day I talk of running for
Mayor, the next day I am being
promoted as a candidate for
President. It’s one of the things
we banter about” he adds,
tongue in cheek.
“Vegas is an audience unlike
any place else. It’s made up of
people from all over the world,”
he adds. The world-known, affable comedian is comfortable
with audiences as young as 8
and as old as 80. Currently he is
doing his hilarious stand-up
routines at the world famous
Flamingo Hotel & Casino on the
Las Vegas Strip. He is the undisputed king of the “I Be
Thinkin Yo Mamma Jokes.” “I
met your Mama at the airport–
She got a job sniffing luggage.”
“Yo Mama is so cross-eyed,
yesterday she dropped a dime
and picked up two nickels.”
“Yo Mama cook’n is so bad,
all the flies got together and
fixed the hole in the screen.”
“My mama so fat, she has to
iron her panties in the driveway.” Wallace lets the audience know who’s boss. When
someone shouted a command,
he immediately retorted with
“This is my house–you do what
I say!” He also regales audiences with the “Stupid Things
People Say.” “At the airport,
this guy comes up to me and
asks, “What are you doing at
the airport? Are you going
somewhere?” or the sign that
reads: “Cleaners open 7 days a
week; even Sundays.”
“The other day, I went down
to the lobby of the hotel, and
this man looked me over and
said, “I got something exactly
like that, only, it’s different.” His
wit is the swiftest. Looking at
some couples in the front row,
Wallace asks: “How come
people who snore, are always the
first to fall asleep?” Wallace, who
looks like a lovable huge teddy
bear, tells his standing-room only
audience that “laughter is the
greatest thing in the world.”
As if to prove it, the awesome
comedian continues with his observations. “You know. I went to
night school. Not that I had to, we
lived so far away, it took me until
night to get there.” “I went in to
my local post office yesterday, and
there on the wall were some photos. A picture of a wanted murderer
and the employee of the month
were the same.”
Discussing the economic situation Wallace says It’s becoming
ridiculous. I stayed at The MGM
Grand and ordered a slice of raisin toast. The price charged was
$6.75. I told the waiter that the
price was too high and suggested
he take off a few raisins to make it
cheaper.”
While Wallace performs nightly
at the Flamingo Hotel, he does not
rest on his past accomplishments;
he writes new jokes all the time.
Unlike some comedians, Wallace
does not rely on offensive jokes
and rarely, if ever, repeats his dialogue. Instead, he uses his flare
for knowing his audiences and
avoids the standard or cliché material often used by others.
No matter how often a patron
goes to see his show, he always
finds room for more and more
laughter. When in Las Vegas, “The
George Wallace Show” should be
your first stop—you will thank me
for it!
Anika Noni Rose (2nd left), who provides the voice of Disney’s newest princess, (Tiana), in the upcoming Walt Disney
Pictures animated feature film “The Princess and the Frog,” poses with the new Princess Tiana character (left) as she
will soon appear at Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The very first public
appearance of the Princess Tiana theme park character and took place during the 2009 National Association of Black
Journalists (NABJ) Annual Convention in Tampa, Florida. In addition, Rose performed a song from the film for
convention-goers. “The Princess and the Frog” film will premiere in theaters nationwide December 11, 2009.
(Photo: Matt Stroshane)
33
(From page 2)
part, is you don’t turn over the
whole new marketplace to private
insurance companies and trust
them to do the right thing.”
Obama’s spokesman refused to
say a public option was a make-orbreak choice.
“What I am saying is the bottom
line for this for the president is,
insurance in competition with
private industry, not unlike the
way electric and agriculture coops operate, especially in rural
states such as his own.
With $3 billion to $4 billion in
initial support from the government, the co-ops would operate
under a national structure with
state affiliates, but independent
of the government. They would
be required to maintain the type
(From page 10)
of financial reserves that private
companies are required to keep
in case of unexpectedly high ability and transparency in government.
claims.
Clinton, particularly, praised the
“I think there will be a competitor to private insurers,” Sebelius government as “a model of democsaid. “That’s really the essential
what we have to have is choice
and competition in the insurance
market,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday.
A day before, Obama appeared
to hedge his bets.
“All I’m saying is, though, that
the public option, whether we
have it or we don’t have it, is
not the entirety of health care reform,” Obama said at a town hall
meeting in Grand Junction, Colo.
“This is just one sliver of it, one
aspect of it.”
Lawmakers have discussed the
co-op model for months, although the Democratic leadership
and the White House have said
they prefer a government-run option.
Conrad, chairman of the Senate
Budget Committee, called the argument for a government-run public plan little more than a “wasted
effort.” He added there are enough
votes in the Senate for a cooperative plan.
Clinton: US sent ‘tough love’ message to Africa
racy and economic progress in
Africa.” She noted that women
account for more than half the
members of Cape Verde’s Cabinet. “I think the United States can
learn a lot from your example,”
she told Neves.
Said Clinton: “I always feel a
sense of awe that we are in the
place where human beings began
so many, many years ago.”
“I leave Africa even more com-
mitted about what lies ahead,” she
told reporters. “The Obama administration has delivered ... a message
of tough love. We are not sugarcoating the problems. We’re not
shying away from them.”
Protestors are testing President Obama’s fortitude
That is increasingly unlikely as nance Committee who is workone can see by the leadership in ing with the Chair,Max Baucus.
a solution that is favored by Re- the Senate of Grassley of Iowa, the
Baucus is already compropublicans as well as Democrats. minority leader on the Senate Fi- mised because he has been
(From page 8)
Rape: Torture in the Congo
(From page 12)
atrocities before they even arrived in Congo. Pushed out by
Tutsi forces after they perpetrated the Rwandan genocide,
these paramilitary forces settled
in Eastern Congo.
Other groups, like Laurent
Nkunda’s CNDP, continue to
fight the Congolese government. Under-funded and underpaid Congolese government
troops fight both types of
groups, and unfortunately, also
the civilian population.
The psychology of it is both
complicated and elusive. Yet the
ripple effect is too great to be ignored.
Each time perpetrators whether military or militia – rape,
torture, terrorize, and burn villages, they destroy the very fabric of Congo and any hope for
real democracy and prosperity.
We need to take a stand and demand accountability. From the
corporations that rape the
country and turn a blind eye to
the violence, to our governments and African governments, we must demand action
regardless of boundaries and
partisanship.
Generations of abuse and rape
in this rich land can only be
overcome by a global uproar
and demand for action globally
and locally.
Nicole C. Lee is the executive
director of TransAfrica Forum
Michael Vick has paid his dues
(From page 8)
Another bright spot is that the
National Humane Society has
been acting humanely. It has accepted Vick’s offer to talk to
youth about animal cruelty and
will reserve judgment on
whether he’s had a true change
in heart.
Vick’s interview with James
Brown Sunday night on “60
Minutes” was largely designed to
win over some doubters. It was
largely successful. It was clear to
me that he was well-trained on how
to deal with hostile questions.
BROWN: And the operation,
Michael, that you pleaded guilty
to bankrolling, to being a part of,
engaged in barbarous treatment of
the animals — beating them,
shooting them, electrocuting
them, drowning them. Horrific
They don’t dislike health care
(From page 8)
cates claim that government intervention isn’t fair to private
companies. What? The same
private companies that now leave
people uninsured?
A compromise might be the notion of government supported
health insurance cooperatives.
This takes a step in the direction
of those Republicans who want
to preserve competition. From my
perspective, the cooperatives
could work, but they may also
have flaws that distort the outcomes for the poorest Americans.
Further, a compromise right now
signals that all people have to do
is go to town meetings, clown and
perform like banshees, in order to
get their way. In discussions that
have shed less light than heat,
health insurance reform opponents have clearly signaled their
antipathy to this President, but
they have not offered clear objections to his health insurance plan.
They have provided the basis for
analysis, but not capitulation.
Julianne Malveaux is president
of Bennett College for Women. She
may be reached at presben
[email protected].
things, Michael.
VICK: It’s wrong, man. I don’t
know how many times I gotta
tell, I gotta say it. I mean, it was
wrong. I feel, you know, I feel,
you know, tremendous hurt behind what happened. And, you
know, I should’ve took the initiative to stop it all. You know,
given more money from the
health care industry than any
other Senator except for
Grassley, but his deference to
Grassley makes it all the worse.
It was the same during the
Clinton years in the 1992-1994,
when Clinton tried to get a health
care bill through.
He did craft a bill, but there
were also several others developed by other members of Congress and none of them made it
out of the relevant Committees
due to the power of the Insurance lobby. So, the issue is
whether Obama will have the
guts to stand up to them or negotiate reform away, seeking to
get anything to set him up for
re-election in 2012.
Already, the wheels of the
“Government Option” seem to be
coming off. This measure had
been sold as a mechanism to provide competition to the 1,300
health insurance companies to
bring down costs.
Now, his Secretary of Health is
saying that if the same thing can
be achieved without this Option,
it might be done.
He needs to not be intimidated,
but to understand the raucous
town hall meetings as nothing more
than the massive rant of those who
lost the election, that things will
clarify when there is a bill and the
American people will most probably swing behind it and him.
Dr. Ron Walters is Professor of
Government and Politics Emeritus at the University of Maryland.
His latest book is: The Price of
Racial Reconciliation (University of Michigan Press).
and I didn’t. And I feel so bad
about that now. And I know, you
know, that I didn’t I didn’t step
up. I wasn’t a leader.
BROWN: In any way, for those
who may say it showed a lack of
moral character because you
didn’t stop it, you agree or disagree?
VICK: I agree.
Vick has repeatedly accepted
full responsibility, he has
served his time in prison and is
surrounded by talented people
such as Tony Dungy. It’s time for
PETA and others to call off the
dogs.
George E. Curry, former editorin-chief of Emerge magazine and
the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached
through
his
Web
site,
www.georgecurry.com.
Obama and the extreme right
(From page 12)
US military intervention into a
situation that could end up resembling Vietnam. In fact, the
Afghanistan war, through its
budgetary impact, could derail
his domestic objectives.
So, while President Obama ignores the principal concerns of
his base, the extreme Right
sharpens its knives. It wishes
to see him fail and they have
been very clear about that. Insofar as President Obama departs from a focus on “Main
Street” instead of “Wall Street,”
and insofar as he attempts to
appease big business, he will
demoralize his base. Those who
were and are looking for progres-
sive change will fall prey to despair.
So, President Obama has a
choice, and progressive people
do as well. Those who argue
that we need to give President
Obama more time in order to
move his agenda are missing
what is actually happening in the
real world. If he continues to
retreat, time will run out and the
Right will have won.
Therefore, President Obama
needs to have pressure coming
from another direction and that
other direction needs to ensure
that he follows up on his commitment to jobs; healthcare;
housing; and peace.
What the political Right is
counting upon is that President
Obama will fall on his face. They
are also counting on his base becoming tired, despairing and lazy.
If that happens, they assume that
they can march into office in 2010
as the saviors of the USA, and
more specifically, the saviors of
white people.
Irrespective of President
Obama’s negotiating strategies,
progressive people need to make
sure that the only way that the
political Right marches is into
oblivion.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a senior
scholar with the Institute for
Policy Studies, the immediate past
president of TransAfrica Forum
and the co-author of “Solidarity
Divided.” He can be reached at
papaq54@hotm ail.com.
Ex- Gov. Dean calls public option indispensable
34
THEATRE BRIEFS
Lillias White joins cast of Fela!, as mother
of iconic African composer & performer
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti
Lillias White
Tony Award-winner Lillias
White will join the cast of Fela!,
the new Broadway musical based
on the life and music of African
composer and performer Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti, playing the role of
the iconic artist’s mother,
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.
The critically acclaimed musical,
which had sold-out crowds dancing in the aisles during its world
premiere last summer at OffBroadway’s 37 Arts, will arrive on
Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill
Theatre, on Monday, October 19,
2009.
The official opening is set for
Monday, November 23, 2009. Fela!
is directed and choreographed by
Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones,
with a book by Jim Lewis and
Jones. The world renowned
Antibalas and other members of the
NYC Afrobeat community, under
the direction of Aaron Johnson,
will again perform Kuti’s rousing
music live onstage.
Winner of this year’s Lucille
Lortel Award for Best Musical,
Fela! was conceived by Bill T.
Jones, Jim Lewis and Stephen
Hendel.
White, a native New
Yorker, began singing at a young
age atop her Grandmother’s dining
room table. Since then she has
performed at major venues around
the world from New York to
Singapore, L.A. to Sydney.
An acclaimed actress and singer,
White has achieved success on
Broadway in such hits as Barnum,
Dreamgirls, Cats, Once On This Is-
land, How To Succeed In Business…, Chicago and The Life, for
which she won the Tony Award,
Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Friends of
New York award for her outstanding performance as
“Sonia.”
On film, White can be seen
with Katie Holmes in Pieces Of
April, with Michael Keaton in
Game Six, and you can catch a
glimpse of her with Jim Carrey
on the conga line in How The
Grinch Stole Christmas.
Television credits include;
“Sesame Street” (Emmy Award),
“Law & Order: S.V.U.,” “The
Jury,” “NYPD Blue,” “PBS TV in
Performance at the White
House” with Leotyne Price, and
most recently as Bloody Mary
in the PBS “Great Performances”
telecast of South Pacific.
Off-Broadway, White was part
of the original cast of Crowns
(Audelco Award) and won an
Obie Award for playing “Hennie”
in William Finn’s Romance In
Hard Times at the Public. She
was also seen in The Princess
And The Black-Eyed Pea (San
Diego Rep.), The Best Is Yet To
Come (Rubicon Theatre), and
Waiting For Godot (Cynthia
Belgrave Th.).
White can be heard singing
background for Madonna (“Rescue Me”) and as the voice of the
Lead Muse in Disney’s Hercules
as well as “Effie Melody White”
in the 25th anniversary concert
Anne V. Andre, Lauren Deveaux, Maia McKinney, Iris
Wilson
recording of Dreamgirls. Her autobiographical recording From
Brooklyn to Broadway is available
online and coming soon is The Jazz
Album – Just Jazz.
In this revolutionary new musical, directed and choreographed by
Jones with a book by Lewis, audiences are welcomed into the extravagant, decadent and rebellious
world of Afrobeat legend Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti.
Using his pioneering music
(a blend of jazz, funk and African
rhythm and harmonies), Fela! explores Kuti’s controversial life as
artist, political activist and revolutionary musician. Featuring many
of Fela Kuti’s most captivating
songs and Bill T. Jones’s imaginative staging, Fela! is a provocative
hybrid of concert, dance and musical theater.
Fela! features scenic and costume design by Marina Draghici,
lighting design by Rob Wierzel,
sound design by Rob Kaplowitz
and projection design by Peter
Nigrini. Musical arrangements
and additional music by Aaron
Johnson and Jordan McLean, and
Jim Lewis provided additional lyrics.
Fela!, a new musical, based on
the life of groundbreaking African
composer, performer and activist
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, moves to
Broadway. Performances will begin on October 19 at the Eugene
O’Neill Theatre (230 West 49th
Street, between Broadway and 8th
Avenue) with an official opening
set for Monday, November 23.
The cast will again be led by
Sahr Ngaujah as Fela AmikulapoKuti. Ngaujah won an Obie and
was nominated for a Lortel award
for his performance. Ngaujah’s
career spans work with F.
Hendrioks, D. Hamilton and T.
Habeger (Atlanta, GA) to G.
Timmers (Rotterdam) and F. Richter (Berlin).
Ngaujah is the Theatre Director
of Rotterdam’s Lef Act Festival and
a collaborator with MC
(Amsterdam). A graduate of
Dasarts, his most recent creation
is Conversations with Ice. Recent
films include The Signal and Blood
Done.
* * * * *
Fela Ransome Kuti was born in
Abeokuta, Nigeria, north of Lagos
in 1938. His father was a Christian
schoolmaster, minister and master
pianist and his mother was a worldrecognized feminist leader, who
was very active in the anti-colonial Nigerian women’s movement
during the struggle for independence.
Fela was educated in Nigeria
amongst the indigenous elite.
Ironically, many of his classmates
in his Nigerian school would become the very military leaders he
so vociferously opposed.
With medical aspirations for
their offspring (Fela’s older
brother. Koye, was to become a
deputy director of the World
Health Organization and his
Bill T. Jones
younger brother, Beko, President
of the Nigerian Medical Association) in 1958 Fela’s parents sent
him to London for a medical education. Instead, he registered at
Trinity College’s school of music
where he studied composition
and chose the trumpet as his instrument.
Quickly tiring of European composers, Fela, struck by Miles
Davis and Frank Sinatra, formed
the Koola Lobitos in 1961, and his
band became a fixture in London’s
club scene.
Two years later, Fela returned
to Nigeria, restarted the Koola
Lobitos, and became influenced
by James Brown. Trying to find
an authentic musical voice, he
added elements of traditional
Yoruba, high life and jazz, and
“Afrobeat” was born.
In 1969, Fela’s Koola Lobitos
traveled to Los Angeles to tour
and record. During his eight
months in the US, with LA as a
home base, Fela befriended
Sandra Isidore, who introduced
him to the writings and politics of
Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver and
other proponents of Black nationalism and Afrocentrism.
With this new politically explicit and critical worldview, Fela
reformed the Koola Lobitos as Nigeria 70 and returned to Lagos.
He founded a commune/recording studio called the Kalakuta Republic, complete with his own private nightclub, The Shrine, and
Fela dropped his given middle
name “Ransome,” and replaced it
with a Yoruba name “Anikulapo”
(meaning “he who carries death
in his pouch”).
Playing constantly and recording at a ferocious pace, Fela and
band (who were now called Africa 70) became huge stars in West
Africa and beyond. His music
served as a rallying cry for the
disenfranchised, critiquing the
military government, and made
Fela not only a pop star but thrust
him into political life. People took
to the streets singing his songs
and the military responded by viciously harassing Fela, jailing him
and nearly killing him on several
occasions.
In 1977, during a governmentsanctioned attack on his Kalakuta
Republic commune, Fela and other
members of his commune were arrested; Fela himself suffered a fractured skull as well as other broken
bones; a number of women living at
Kalakuta were beaten and raped;
and his 82-year old mother was
thrown from an upstairs window,
inflicting injuries that would later
prove fatal.
The soldiers set fire to the compound and prevented fire fighters
from reaching the area. Fela’s recording studio, all his master tapes
and musical instruments and the
only known copy of his self-financed film Black President were
destroyed.
After the Kalakuta tragedy, Fela
briefly lived in exile in Ghana, returning to Nigeria in 1978. A year later,
he formed his own political party,
MOP (Movement of the People) and
ran for president in two elections,
although his campaigning was consistently blocked by the military. As
the ’80s ended, Fela recorded blistering attacks against Nigeria’s corrupt military government.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was arrested
more than two hundred times in his
life, and charged with almost every
conceivable crime, although only
serving one eighteen month sentence in jail for a currency violation.
Despite this constant harassment
he continued to live in Nigeria even
though, as an icon in the international world of rock and roll, soul,
jazz and hip-hop, he could have at
any point abandoned Nigeria and
led the life of an international music
superstar.
His death on August 3, 1997 of
complications from AIDS deeply affected musicians and fans internationally, as a unique and ineffable
musical and sociopolitical voice was
lost. In Nigeria one million people
attended his funeral. His incredible
body of work, almost 70 albums, is
now available, through public demand, all over the world.
For more information about
Fela!visit www.FelaOnBroad
way.com. (AJB)
Sahr Ngaujah as Fela Kuti
(Photos: Monique Carboni)
(From page 13)
health care reform bill that
would reduce Medicare benefits, indications that we have
endorsed any of the major
health care reform bills currently
under consideration in Congress are inaccurate,” the statement read.
AARP spokesman Jordan
Mcnerney said that AARP will
not formally endorse any particular bill because all the bills
are being legislated and many
components of the proposals
will change throughout the process. “But we are supportive of
and committed to healthcare reform,” he says.
The president’s inaccuracy
aside, Mcnerney said that his
advocacy group has bigger errors to address.
“We won’t stand idle when
opponents of health care reform
attempt to scare or mislead the
American people—and older
Americans in particular—about
what fixing the system really
means,” said AARP Executive
Vice President Nancy LeaMond
said in a statement . “The truth is
we need to fix health care,
whether it’s ensuring affordable
coverage for Americans age 50 to
64 or improving benefits for
people in Medicare. It’s time for
the public to get the real facts.”
Mcnerney said AARP members
have been most concerned about
health care reform becoming socialized medicine, whether it will
mean rationed care, whether it
will hurt Medicare, be
unaffordable and, of course,
whether the government could
really make life-and-death decisions for individuals. These are
the myths that the group will focus on knocking down in its
multi-million dollar campaign.
“We’ve already started national
and local ad campaigns,”
Mcnerney said. “We’re doing interviews to get the word through
the press. We’re doing massive
email blasts, organizing events
and we have offices in every
state so we can spread the word
pretty effectively.”
Palin stands by her discredited ‘death panel’ claim
(From page 13)
Palin and other critics were not
helping the GOP by tossing out
false claims. Portions of the Democratic health care bills “are bad
enough that we don’t need to be
making things up,” Murkowski
said, invoking a phrase that Palin
used in her resignation speech,
when she asked the news media
to “quit making things up.”
Murkowski said she was offended at the death panel terminology. “There is no reason to gin
up fear in the American public by
saying things that are not included in the bill,” she said.
Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson,
a Republican who co-sponsored
a similar measure in the Senate,
said it was “nuts” to claim the
bill encourages euthanasia.
And Rep. Earl Blumenauer, DOre., who authored the provision on end-of-life counseling,
said he is astounded that Palin
has not tempered her bleak descriptions of the health care bill.
“It’s deliberate at this point,”
Blumenauer said. “If she wasn’t
deliberately lying at the beginning, she is deliberately allowing
a terrible falsehood to be spread
with her name.”
He said the measure would block
funds for counseling that presents
suicide or assisted suicide as an option, calling references to death panels or euthanasia “mind-numbing.”
Ex-Congressman Jefferson is found guilty on 11 of 16 counts
(From page 6)
to Sidney Barthelemy in
1986.
During the 1982 mayoral
race, Dutch Morial attacked
Jefferson by calling him “Dollar Bill” — a nickname which
has stuck to this day. Still,
Jefferson was considered a
rising star in Louisiana politics, with some even predicting he would someday become Louisiana’s second African-American governor.
In 1990, Jefferson threw his
hat into the race to replace 10term incumbent Lindy Boggs
after she announced her retirement. After finishing first
among seven candidates in
the primary with 24 percent of
the vote, he defeated Marc
Morial, the son of Dutch
Morial, in the runoff with 52
percent of the vote. He was
reelected seven times.
In Congress, Jefferson was
considered a rising star in
many respects. He was named
to a seat on the influential
Ways and Means Committee,
the tax-writing body that is
probably the most powerful
among the various House
committees. He used that post
there to benefit African
American-owned small businesses.
Jefferson is also credited
with taking the lead on the issue of “environmental racism” (an issue of critical importance in southern Louisiana), successfully heading
off the construction of a potentially hazardous plastics
plant near an African-American community. He fought to
end the “digital divide,” by
introducing legislation providing for tax breaks that
would enable low-income
families to purchase computer
equipment.
In 1991 he was a strong supporter of then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in his run
for the presidency, and continued to work closely with
President Clinton.
The Congressman, along
with his family, controlled one
of the most powerful and effective political organiza-
tions in south Louisiana — the
Progressive Democrats.
Coupled that with his work
with the national Democratic
Party —for which he served as
Louisiana co-chair for the 1988
and 1992 Democratic presidential campaigns — Jefferson’s
name became a statewide
household name which fueled
his ambitions toward higher office. He contemplated a U.S.
Senate run in 1996. And twice
he pondered a gubernatorial
run before he fully committed
in 1999 to challenging incumbent Republican governor Mike
Foster.
Unlike Cleo Fields, the Black
Democratic candidate who ran
unsuccessfully in 1995,
Jefferson did so with the supp o r t o f L o u i s i a n a ’s l a rg e l y
white-dominated Democratic
Party.
In the 1999 race, Foster, who
purchased voter mailing lists
from former KKK leader David
Duke, appealed to white voters’
sense of racial solidarity while
Jefferson sought to address
the economic hardships faced
by many of Louisiana’s working-class families. In the end,
too many votes went to minor
candidates in the race for
Jefferson to have a real shot at
winning.
Jefferson only captured 30
percent of the state electorate,
with Louisiana’s residents still
voting rigidly along racial
lines.
However, the off-year election allowed Jefferson to maintain his Congressional seat,
and the gubernatorial loss did
little to tarnish his image.
Although Jefferson was convicted on 11 of the 16 counts,
it surprised some who closely
followed the trial that he was
acquitted on the count that involved the infamous cash
found in a freezer in Jefferson’s
home by federal investigators
four years ago.
Over the course of a six-week
trial, federal prosecutors told
jurors in Alexandria, Va. that
the former congressman
sought to collect hundreds of
thousands of dollars in bribes
from a dozen companies in several industries including oil and
communications from 2000 to
2005.
The government alleged that
Jefferson accepted more than
$400,000 in bribes and sought
millions more in exchange for
using his considerable influence as a congressman to broker business deals in Africa.
Defense lawyers argued that
federal bribery laws are narrowly written and were never
intended to ensnare the conduct alleged against Jefferson,
an argument that some legal experts found compelling.
Jefferson’s attorneys told jurors that their client was acting as a private business consultant in brokering the deals.
Longtime New Orleans pollster Silas Lee, said last week
that Jefferson’s loss of his congressional seat to political
newcomer Anh “Joseph” Cao,
R-La., coupled with the convictions, have not only ended his
political career but dramatically changed the political landscape.
“Once he lost, it automatically moved the city on, a
changing of the guard,” Lee
told The Associated Press.
“Certainly, this is the final the
nail in the political coffin of
Bill Jefferson,” political analyst Clancy DuBos told WWLTV. “There is no coming back
politically from this.”
Before last week’s dramatic
conclusion to a saga that
lasted four years, there was
talk about Jefferson possibly
resurrecting his political career with a bid for mayor or a
run to reclaim his congressional seat if he were acquitted.
“This is a difficult day for
the people of New Orleans and
Louisiana, but now we can turn
the page on a negative past to
focus on a positive future. My
thoughts and prayers go out
to Mr. Jefferson and his family
during this time,” Congressman Cao.
New Orleans City Councilwoman Shelley Midura told
USA Today that last week’s
trial proves that the image of
Louisiana politics is changing.
“Any victory against corruption and the old-guard political machines is good news
for New Orleans,” she said.
“It’s a sacred trust to serve
the people, in any one of these
offices – whether it’s a governor or a congressman,” Jindal
told WWL-TV. “This wasn’t
some technical violation, these
were the most serious allegations – allegations about abusing the office for personal
gain, selling the office for personal gain.
“This is one of the greatest
acts of betrayal of trust an
elected official can do.”
“I want to commend the Justice Department, because it
sends a strong message that
we’re not going to tolerate political corruption,” U.S. Rep.
Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, told
the local daily paper.
“This is a sad and tragic day
for Louisiana,” U.S. Sen. Mary
Landrieu, D-La., said last week.
“My hope is that with this
case’s resolution, the people of
New Orleans can move forward
and focus on the many opportunities and challenges ahead,
including our ongoing recovery and rebuilding efforts.”
Jefferson was not without
supporters last week.
Among them was New Orleans minister the Rev. Aubrey
Wallace, who told The Associated Press, “We’re going to
rally around him,” he said. “I’ll
be a supporter until the last
breath in my mouth.”
“We just pray for him, and
that’s all we can do now,” the Rev.
Samson “Skip” Alexander told
the local daily paper. “He’s done
a lot in the community that people
don’t see. He changed the community from one where brothers
and sisters couldn’t get elected.
“Those who are mad with
him naturally say that doesn’t
count. I still credit him with
changing the electorate for African Americans for running
and getting elected,” he said.
Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report, worked alongside Jefferson
as a legislative assistant for U.S.
Senator J. Bennett Johnston, DLa., in the 1970s.
“It’s a case of, ‘Here’s a guy
who grew up very poor, he
wanted to be in Congress and
politics, but he just made a decision that he wasn’t going to
be poor again,’” Cook told USA
Today. “It just broke my heart.”
NAACP mourns passing of first woman chair
(From page 6)
said NAACP President and CEO
Benjamin Todd Jealous. “Her invaluable contributions will be
sorely missed, and her legacy and
passion for social justice will live
on through the NAACP’s efforts.”
Roslyn M. Brock, NAACP vice
chairwoman, said upon hearing
of Mrs. Wilson’s passing that
“she was a pioneer in Missouri
who effectively sought to bring
change, the first black woman to
run for Congress in 1948, the second to practice law in the state,
and the first woman of color to
become chairman of the NAACP
National Board. She set precedents and demonstrated that
with qualifications determination
and perseverance, goals can be
reached. Her achievements have
certainly inspired me to move
forward.”
Founded in 1909, the NAACP
is the nation’s oldest and largest
civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United
States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in
their communities, conducting
voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
35
Obama sets out to debunk health care myths
CLASSIFIED
36
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CLASSIFIED
NOTICE OF SALE
SUPREME COURT: COUNTY OF
BRONX - AURORA LOAN SERVICES, LLC, Plaintiff, AGAINST
RONALD WILLIAMS, ET AL.,
Defendant(s). Pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale duly
dated 1/6/2009, I, the undersigned
Referee will sell at public auction
at the Bronx County Courthouse,
Room 600, 851 Grand Concourse,
Bronx, NY, New York, on 9/14/2009
at 2:00 PM, premises known as
1036 EAST 226TH STREET,
BRONX, NY 10466. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land,
with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate,
lying and being in the New York
City, Borough of BRONX, County
of Bronx and State of New York,
Section, Block and Lot: Block
4872 - Lot 60. Approximate amount
of judgment $352,196.22 plus interest and costs. Premises will be
sold subject to provisions of filed
Judgment Index #380757/07. Leroi
John Andrews, Referee,
Steven J. Baum PC, Attorneys for
Plaintiff, P.O. Box 1291, Buffalo,
NY 14240-1291 Dated: 8/6/2009
NOTICE OF SALE
SUPREME COURT: COUNTY OF
BRONX - U.S. BANK NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE
FOR THE MLMI SURF TRUST
SERIES 2006-BC5 C/O WILSHIRE
CREDIT CORPORATION , Plaintiff, AGAINST WILLY ABREU,
ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to
a judgment of foreclosure and sale
duly dated 7/7/2009, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public
auction at the Bronx County
Courthouse, Room 600, 851 Grand
Concourse, Bronx, NY, New York,
on 9/21/2009 at 2:00 PM, premises
known
as
1026
OLD
KINGSBRIDGE ROAD, A/K/A
1026 GROTE STREET, BRONX,
NY 10460. All that certain plot
piece or parcel of land, with the
buildings and improvements
thereon erected, situate, lying and
being in the New York City, Borough of BRONX, County of Bronx
and State of New York, Section,
Block and Lot: Block: 3100 Lot:
12. Approximate amount of judgment $550,308.04 plus interest and
costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #14480/07. Larry
Alfonso Arias, Referee, Steven J.
Baum PC, Attorneys for Plaintiff,
P.O. Box 1291, Buffalo, NY 142401291 Dated: 8/12/2009
Notice is hereby given that an Order entered by the Civil Court,
New York County, on 07/27/2009,
bearing, Index Number NC001696-09/NY, a copy of which
can be examined at the Office of
the Clerk, located at 111 Center
Street New York, NY 10013, grants
Akua Amanimaa Baa-Asante the
right to assume the name of Akua
Angela Asante. The place of birth
is Kumasi, Ghana, the date of birth
is May 9, 1984 and the present
address is 3941 Secor Avenue,
Bronx, NY 10466
Notice is hereby given that an Order entered by the Civil Court, New
York County, on 07/28/2009, bearing, Index Number NC-001710-09/
NY, a copy of which can be examined at the Office of the Clerk, located at 111 Center Street New
York, NY 10013, grants Margene
Joy Villanueva-Guerrero AKA
Margene Joy Guerrero the right to
assume the name of Jay Miguel
Guerrero. The place of birth is
Seattle, WA, the date of birth is
April 19, 1979 and the present address is 78 Van Buren St. Bklyn,
NY 11221
Pablo Cepeda AKA Pablo Rosario
the right to assume the name of
Pablo Rosario. The place of birth
is Manhattan, NY, the date of birth
is Nov. 9, 1986 and the present
address is 619 West 136 Street,
Apt #10, New York, NY 10031
Notice is hereby given that an Order entered by the Civil Court, New
York County, on 08/11/2009, bearing, Index Number NC-001862-09/
NY, a copy of which can be examined at the Office of the Clerk, located at 111 Center Street New
York, NY 10013, grants Isaac
Nicholson Posner the right to assume the name of Isaac Nicholson
Mor Posner. The place of birth is
New York, the date of birth is Aug.
7, 2008 and the present address is
360 Riverside Drive, Apt 7C, New
York, NY 10025
Vilma Sofia Trelles AKA VilmaSofia Trelles-Paucar the right to
assume the name of Vilma Sofia
Trelles-Paucar. The place of
birth is Brooklyn, NY, the date of
birth is Sept. 26, 1991 and the
present address is 636 Dahill Rd,
Apt. 2, Brooklyn, NY 11218
Annette Torres Rivera AKA
Annette Torres-Natal, A. Torres
the right to assume the name of
Annette Torres. The place of
birth is Bronx, NY, the date of birth
is Dec. 2, 1974 and the present
address is 2201 Haviland Ave, Apt
#51, Bronx, NY 10462
Notice is hereby given that an
Order entered by the Civil Court,
Petra Ulrika Strader AKA Petra
Ulrika Zather the right to assume
the name of Petra Ulrika Zather
Strader. The place of birth is
Kansjo, Sweden, the date of birth
is Aug. 26, 1974 and the present
address is 165 East 35 Street, Apt
#12F NY, NY 10016
Street New York, NY 10013,
grants David Christopher
Pritchett II the right to assume
the name of Shaznay Pritchett.
The place of birth is Charleston,
SC, the date of birth is Nov. 23,
1988 and the present address is
948 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn,
NY 11213
Dabar Yashar Brice the right to
assume the name of Shamiah
Yashar Dabar Brice. The place
of birth is Bronx, NY, the date of
birth is Aug. 28, 1991 and the
present address is 159-64 Harlem
River Drive, Apt #13E, New York,
NY 10039
HOROSCOPE
ARIES
Look for an increase in your personal prosperity this week, my little
darlings. You’ll either be receiving a long-overdue debt, an unexpected bonus, a lucky lottery ticket, or you may just find cash
laying at your feet as you are out for a stroll. Lucky ! You love
feathering your nest and this week the Universe is helping you.
TAURUS
Dive into it! Don’t be intimated by the unknown. Your adventurous
spirit can take you to a new place of celebration this week. If you
can, bring someone along who can celebrate in the same manner
with you. Harmony and peace is the motto that you should chant
when you accomplish what you want to do!
GEMINI
You may find that discussions at home have taken a sudden, spiritual orientation. Give everyone room to express their personal beliefs without trying to preach your point of view. Your openmindedness helps you with deep learning this week.
CANCER
Feeling bold, are we? Well, go with the flow of your feelings! No
other sign can call on inner courage as easily as you. Whether at
home, at work, or out on the town, let your personal statements be
stylish and bold!
LEO
Strong vibrations make for a series of dramatic interactions with
others this week. Practice your art with your heart, and let your
energy carry you upwards to your best, highest self. Keep emotions calm.
VIRGO
Restless feelings may arise over health matters, or perhaps education or the lack of it. Do what you need to do to feel comfortable
with yourself. If it involves seeing a dentist or taking a class, what’s
stopping you? Self-improvement can be a very enjoyable game!
LIBRA
Surprises are in order this week, and you can roll with everything
that comes at you unexpectedly. Healing can happen in a relationship if you just show up. That’s power! Use it for the good of
others.
SCORPIO
This week you may find yourself pulled in many directions; it’s a
good time to say No to certain forceful or manipulative people who
know where your buttons are. You may want to focus your bountiful attention on what exactly composes your very likeable nature.
What do you love about it?
SAGITTARIUS
You want a comrade who doesn’t place inordinate expectations or
demands on you, and who is creative, intelligent, a good conversationalist, and highly spiritual. Perhaps you should be out looking
this week with eyes wide open!
CAPRICORN
Set a limit on what you can do for others this week. You’ll enjoy
your feelings more if you are straightforward about refusing a less
than appetizing assignment. Trust your feelings and say “No, I
won’t.” Clear bound111 help you define yourself.
AQUARIUS
Business looks good this week as you discover a new way of increasing exposure to your product. Let hope and optimism lead
you into new beginnings and fresh starts. All vibes are good. Go!
PISCES
You seem preoccupied this week and it’s because your mind is
filled with a vision of love for the entire planet. Use your gifts to
assist others in seeing the world as you do, in glorious color. Check
the details on paperwork that you have to do, dreamer.
PISCES
LEGAL NOTICES
37
SPORTS
38
In defense of Jeter’s glovework
By Jason Clinkscales
For much of the past decade,
there has been a vocal group of
people connected to baseball –
fans, media and maybe a few
within the game itself – that think
Derek Jeter isn’t half the player
on the field that he is in the
batter’s box. Yet, when taking a
glance at his defensive numbers
this season, he is showing that
he’s nowhere as terrible as they’d
lead you to believe.
There’s no question of his abilities as a hitter. He cemented as
the best pure hitting shortstop
of this generation long ago, but
breaking Luis Aparicio’s record
of career hits at the position over
the weekend places him in the
conversation of the all-time
greats at any position.
Save for soreness of being an
everyday player and the dislocated shoulder suffered at the
start of the 2003 season, his relative durability will allow him to
add onto the record in remarkable
fashion. Yet, for as long as he
whacks singles through the infield gaps, he will be nitpicked for
not having the strongest of arms
or criticized for wasted motions
to glove the ball.
However, here’s the rub for
those critics; in 108 starts, he’s
made only six errors and is on
pace to tie, if not better his career-best .986 fielding percentage
in 1998. Of course, the most scrutinizing stats-heads will point to
having less fielding chances that
season compared to his first two
full campaigns or numbers that
reflect limited range compared to
the league average. While those
are certainly valid issues but the
fact is that he takes care of the
balls that come to him.
This isn’t Chuck Knoblach – a
stellar defensive second baseman
with Minnesota before coming to
New York – making errant throws
to the high-priced seats in the
front row as he did in 1999.
What Jeter’s critics will also
overlook is that having a superb
defensive player at first base can
improve any infielder’s stats. In his
first few seasons as a Yankee, he
had Tino Martinez to throw to.
While Jason Giambi was serviceable, at best, on the bag, there’s a
tremendous upgrade when you
have a perennial Gold Glove candidate – and likely 2009 AL MVP –
in Mark Teixiera.
As discussed at his signing,
Teixieria is a top-notch fielder who
can reach for the too high throw
or stretch for the near-dirt tosses;
turning potential errors into
putouts.
Honestly speaking, much of the
‘hate’, if you will, for Jeter’s defense comes from a seemingly
endless loop of Yankee coverage
from the national media. Considering that the Yankees are absolutely beloved or reviled – there is
no middle ground with this team –
any of The Captain’s highlights,
including the famous backwardsleaping toss to first, drives his
detractors insane.
Jeter isn’t as smooth or quick
as Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel, two
of the best defensive players of
any position in the game’s history.
Yet, if he wore a Kansas City Royals uniform or even that of the
Chicago White Sox, his shortcomings and strong points would have
dimmer lights shone on them.
Jeter has been doing this in the
Bronx; a star of the early part of
the 21st century who’s comparable
to Joe DiMaggio. As he once said
in response to the criticism, “I play
in New York, man. Criticism is part
of the game, you take criticism as
a challenge.”
Even with such national attention as the Yanks receive, a few
selective highlights or lowlights
presents can present an inaccurate portrait to the sporting public. Jeter may not worry much about
that perception, but it’s about time
he gains a bit more respect for being the complete player his fans
have appreciated for over a decade.
Derek Jeter does not get the credit he deserves for his glove work.
Luis Castillo, New York Mets MVP
By Adam Salazar
It’s time for the much maligned Luis Castillo to receive
the recognition he’s due as the
best Met of the year.
Of course after Wright’s injury Castillo is the last Met
standing from opening day line
up but even before the beaning Wright was sitting on just
8 HR which is certainly way
below expectations for the face
of the franchise.
So to all you Castillo haters,
and you know who you are,
it’s time to admit that Luis has
been surprisingly good and the
most consistent Met on the
year.
You simply can’t complain
Luis Castillo is one of the lone bright spots in this dismal about a .304 batting avg, 13 SB,
Mets season.
(Photos by Marc Rasbury)
and (Yankee pop up aside)
sparkling defense all season
long. It’s hard enough to hit
.300 so Luis gets extra credit
for overcoming all that he has:
• He literally begged Omar to
give him another chance because he was so embarrassed
by his ‘08 season
• Luis began the year knowing
full well he was in the Shea
Faithful’s doghouse yet he delivered in spite of the added
pressure
• Dropping the Subway Series
pop-up could’ve broken a
lesser man (KazMat and
Benitez immediately come to
mind) but Luis stood there,
took it like a man and just kept
on getting’ the job done
In a season of Met agony and
disgrace Luis Castillo has been
one of the very few bright spots.
***
As for David Wright getting
clocked in the head by a 93 mph
fastball: what a terrible thing to
see. While it was encouraging
to see Wright eventually walked
off the field under his own
power, it wouldn’t be shocking
if he’s taken his last AB until
2010.
There’s no way to know how
getting hit in the head by a major league fastball will effect
someone but it can easily render you “less than all there” for
the next 6 weeks.
And considering the Met medical staff ’s history you would
have to expect they will be overly
cautious with the star player.
39
Ware, Patrick continue Giant trend of rushing depth
By Jason Clinkscales
It isn’t a case of “don’t
know what you got ‘til it’s
g o n e ” a s h e a d c o a c h Tom
Coughlin was quick to say
that his Giants have very talented players who can catch
the ball as well as they run it.
Yet, in the Monday night
preseason win against Carolina, the Big Blue running
backs displayed those very
skills up, over and through the
Panthers defense. In particular, it was Danny Ware who
used the game to show that
he can make up for some, if
not all of what went south to
Ta m p a B a y w h e n D e r r i c k
Ward signed with the Buccaneers.
Ward, formerly Wind of the
Earth (Brandon Jacobs), Wind
and Fire (Ahmad Bradshaw)
rushing trio of the Giants, had
some of the better hands of
running backs in the league;
he had become Eli Manning’s
favorite option for screen
passes when wide receivers
were defended well.
Despite the depth chart and
likelihood that he would have
seen little to no time in the
regular season, Ware was the
early offensive star last preseason. Since Ward remained
healthy for the first time in his
career and Bradshaw’s speed
c o u n t e r i n g J a c o b s ’ p o w e r,
Ware unsurprisingly had just
two carries in 2008; both in
the season finale in Minne-
sota for fifteen yards.
With Ward’s departure and an
expanded role for Bradshaw,
Ware’s ascension will be vital for
a team whose offense is predicated on a strong running game.
It appears that Ware prepared himself well for the increased workload, even if we’re
talking about the preseason. “I
think I had a pretty good
offseason,” said the undrafted
reserve from Georgia. “I lost a
little weight, trained hard,
studied hard, just been working as everything has been
about football this offseason.”
With the glaring opportunity
of 2009 in front of him, he
quipped, “I noticed that we had
Ward leave, so there was an
opening and I took it upon myself to just go get it… and see
what happens with the end results.”
That potential role hasn’t
kept him from forgetting the
unfortunate realities of the
NFL, however. Last week during camp, Andre Brown, the
much-touted rookie from NC
State was lost for the year with
a ruptured Achilles tendon.
So understanding that Allen
Patrick, the fourth back in the
group, is in a similar predicament from himself a season ago
in just trying to retain a roster
spot, Ware reminds him to be
ready. “Anytime, guys can get
hurt, so I tell him to stay up in
that playbook and be prepared
and always finish up everything he does hard.”
Danny Ware looked like a keeper on Monday.
(Photo by Marc Rasbury)
It’s official, the Sanchez era has begun
(From page 40)
his play. From the moment he
took off the baseball cap and
trotted on the field, one could
feel the energy level rise
throughout the Meadowlands.
He not only got a standing
ovation from the fans, you can
see a little extra pep in each of
the players. Even some of the
members of the Jets starting defense unit were on the sidelines
looking at this kid’s first series.
And, like all of the fans, they
were thrilled at what they saw.
He showed you that he was the
real deal on his very first play with
30 seconds left in the first quarter. He stepped into the huddle
with an air of confidence and proceeded to execute a perfectly
thrown 48-yard bomb that set up
a 33 yard FG. Forget the fact that
the Jets eventually lost the game,
23-20, to the St. Louis Rams.
I guarantee you that no Jet
fan remembers the score of the
game or even the fact that Gang
Green lost the game. All they
will remember is that the Jets
appear to have found that
young franchise QB they have
been searching for since they
Rex Ryan's first unit defense was in attack mode all night brought Joe Willie Namath up
from the “Land of Dixie.”
long.
According to teammates, this
kid did not even flinch when
the play was called prior to taking his first snap. Sanchez went
3-4 for 88 yards and looked like
a season pro. He has all of the
tools to be one of the best QBs
of his generation. He comes
from a great college program in
USC that prepares players for
the next level.
But the talent and preparation means nothing if the QB
does not have those intangibles, like self confidence, that
all the great ones possess.
When the bullets start flying
for real, can the signal caller
answer the bell? From what all
of the Jets fans witnessed on
Friday, it appears that Sanchez
may be the real deal.
Like the Giants, the Jets have
a big question mark at the receiver position due to their ine x p e r i e n c e . We k n o w t h a t
Jerricho Cotchery and Chansi
Stuckey should put up some up
some nice numbers this season.
But keep a close eye on the
second year WR David
Clowney. This kid has explosive speed. In the past he was
known to have suspect hands
and spent most of his rookie
season on the disable list. He
showed flashes of brilliance last
pre-season before getting hurt.
If he can stay healthy, this kid
may be the X factor for the Jets
offense even more than Sanchez.
The Jets defense was impressive as well. Rams starting QB
Marc Bulger was pressured all
night long to the point even he
went to the bench, he was still
looking for Rex Ryan’s unit.
But getting back to Sanchez.
It is only matter of time before
the rookie is handed the starting job. It could be next week or
week eight. Everyone in attendance or watching the game on
TV knows that this is Sanchez’s
job to loose.
I saw Boomer Esiason running
off the field at half time yelling,
“Looks like you guys have yourself a Quarterback!” Rex Ryan
also liked what he saw and indicated that Sanchez will start on
Friday against the Ravens in
Baltimore. That may be a sign of
things to come.
I will have to agree with
Boomer. Sanchez raised the bar
on Friday. Now I do not want to
get too giddy about his short
performance, but I do like what I
see thus far. I have to cross my
fingers and hope that he is the
“Real Deal.”
SPORTS
40
BEACON
Marc Rasbury
SPORTS
It is better to run than receive?
By Marc Rasbury
That may be the Giants mantra this season. They are
strong in every aspect of the
game with the exception of
game with the exception of their
receiving core. It is not that
they do not have talent in this
specific area, it is just that there
is very little experience in this
group. If the Giants are going
to repeat as division champions, they are going to have to
tread water until their receiving group gets their feet under
them.
After watching the Giants first
pre-season game on Monday, I
was pleasantly surprise with
the receiving unit. However, I
still realize that it was only a
pre-season game and that the
receiver group was a work in
progress.
I could care less about the
fact that the Giants won the
game, 24-17, only the final play
of the game in dramatic. I was
there mainly to see how the receivers were going to perform
and more importantly how Eli
Manning would perform with-
Hixon looks as if he is ready to take on a bigger role this season.
Giants in receiving. And Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad
Bradshaw also made some nice
catches out of the backfield.
On the surface it might appear
that the backs were the apple of
QB Eli Manning’s eye. Yet, the
young receiving core showed
some flashes of promise.
Hixon had two catches for 23
yards including a nice 18 yard
grab. Manningham had one nice
catch but it was nullified due to
a holding penalty. Braden had a
nice grab for 20 yards. Moss,
Nicks, and forth year pro Derek
Hagan each had snag in the preseason opener.
Keep in mind that the Giants
also have two TEs in Kevin
Boss and Darcy Johnson who
are both capable of moving the
chain. Over all I believe that the
receiving core “represented”
and Manning looked sharp in
his two series.
The Giants have enough weapons to extend drives and wind up
in the endzone. Hopefully the running game powered by the best
offensive line and the deepest
most talented defensive line core
can hold the down the fort until
the passing game gets on track.
This group may not keep defensive coordinators up at night,
but collectively this young inexperienced group might surprise
some folks by the bye week.
It’s official, the Sanchez
era has begun
By Marc Rasbury
Hakeem Nicks has been the talk of the camp thus far.
out Plaxico Burress.
This is the only question mark
on the squad that GM Jerry
Reese. Big Blue lost their two
starting WRs (Burress and
Amani Toomer) from last year’s
opening day roster.
A lot of weight will be put
third year pro Steve Smith and
Domenik Hixon to replace
Burress and Toomer. The Giants will also need contributions from Mario Manningham
and Sinorce Moss as well as
rookies Hakeem Hicks and
Ramses Braden. And don’t forget David Tyree is back in the
mix.
Replacing Toomer’s production over the last few years
might not be that difficult.
However, replacing his leadership will be tough. Replacing
Burress’s leadership will be
easy. His production is another
story.
The Giants do not need one individual to replace Burress’s
production. If they can get two
or three players from that receiving core to step up their games,
I do believe they will be alright.
Reese and coach Tom Coughlin
also brought in Keenan Mard
It is often said that a chain is
only strong as its weakest link.
Well, many consider that the receiving group as that weak link
among Big Blue’s squad. On
Monday, the RBs were more effective catching ball than receivers. Rookie Danny Ware led the
Once again, I know that it
was only a pre-season game.
But I loved what I saw on Friday night out of Mark Sanchez.
He only played one series.
However, it was one impressive
showing.
My heart goes out to Kellen
Clemens. He has done and said
all of the right things off the
field. He did not flinch when
Jets brought in Brett Favre last
season and he did not jump off
the bridge this time when the
Jets moved heaven and earth to
draft Sanchez. New head coach
Rex Ryan stated all along that
there would be an open competition between them with
Clemens holding a slight lead
over the hyped rookie.
Well, after that one Sanchez
series, it is apparent that the
starting QB spot is his to lose
and that is not only based on
"Fellas look like we have ourselves a QB"

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