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JUNE 15-21, 2016
Community leaders call for new superintendent search ‘Damage already done’
by Christian Morrow
cal Empowerment Project Chairman CEO Tim Stevens and Hill District Education Council Co-Chair Sala Udin, joined by A+ Schools Executive Director Carey Harris, said the damage has been done. “We have waited more than 16 days since the initial discoveries of inconsistencies in Dr. Hamlet’s resume surfaced for the board to act. We can no longer wait,” the statement read in part. “The hiring of the superintendent is the most important job that the School Board
Courier Staff Writer
Education advocates, including three Black community leaders, have called on the Pittsburgh Board of Education to scrap it’s hiring of embattled superintendent candidate Anthony Hamlet and start from scratch, even as a new investigation of his credentials by a former state prosecutor begins. The joint statement issued June 14 by Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Esther Bush, Black Politi-
ESTHER BUSH
SALA UDIN
CAREY HARRIS
TIM STEVENS
SEE LEADERS A4
Muhammad Ali: A send-off fit for a king by Yvonne Coleman Bach Louisville Defender Editor
“America must never forget that when a cop and an inner city kid talk to each other, miracles can happen,” words spoken by Lonnie Ali at the public memorial service for her husband, Muhammad Ali. The Greatness of Ali began after he had a talk with retired Louisville Police Officer Joe Martin who taught him to box. That was the start of the man known to the world as “The Greatest.” Ali died on Friday, June 3, at the age of 74. The world watched as Muhammad Ali’s life was celebrated in his hometown of Louisville, KY June 9-10. Two services filled to capacity, a procession through the streets of Louisville was a send-off fit for the King he was. A traditional Muslim service was held on Thursday at Freedom Hall with a capacity crowd of 14,000 attending. The procession and Interfaith Memorial Service were held on Friday. Although Ali touched the lives of so many throughout the world, the people of Louisville knew what others did not know. The procession route included a stretch of Broadway Street. In the earlier days, after Ali won his fights, he loved to come back to Louisville. He drove a big recreational vehicle west on Broadway, sometimes very fast, fast enough that the police would pull him over. But when they looked inside and saw it was the Champ, they would just smile and tell him to slow down. It is that incident and so many others that are unique to Louisville. Ali was loved by his hometown and he always made it clear that he indeed loved his hometown. He was known for his bragging, known to many as the “Louisville Lip” He called himself “the greatest.” When others talked about his bragging, he would often say, “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.” The City of Louisville backed him up in a big way showing the world that he was “the Greatest” when over 100,000 people lined the streets for 20 miles to say their final goodbye to the Champ. As the procession that originated from A. D. Porter & Sons
THOUSANDS LINED STREETS FOR THE GREATEST—More than 100,000 people lined the streets as Muhammad Ali’s Funeral Procession made its way through the streets of Louisville, KY. (Photos supplied by Louisville Defender) Funeral Home—Southeast passed, the crowd chanted “Ali, Ali.” Some began throwing flowers on the windshield of the hearse carrying their hometown hero. Children were running alongside the hearse SEE MUHAMMAD A5
URA moves on park plan by Christian Morrow Courier Staff Writer
Though it wasn’t on the scheduled agenda, the Urban Redevelopment Authority board spent a significant portion of its June meeting congratulating all involved before voting to accept the gift of 660 acres of land in Hays that will become the city’s largest park. When he bought the former J & L. Steel
property in 2003, Beaver County businessman Chuck Betters had originally planned to strip mine the property for its coal, then build a race track and casino on the reclaimed land, alternatively he planned housing. But the site, with its highly wooded, uneven terrain, its three streams, a waterfall, was unsuited for any of those. And now that the authority board has SEE URA A4
PA loosens liquor laws slightly by Christian Morrow Courier Staff Writer
FAMILY GRIEF—From left: Khalilah Ali, second wife; Lonnie Ali, current wife; two daughters and Veronica Porche Ali, his third wife, at the traditional Muslim service for Muhammad Ali.
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Almost lost amid the hoopla surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins run to the Stanley Cup, Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg passed a law that allows Pennsylvanians to buy alcohol in more places than before—and Gov. Tom Wolf signed it.
“This is truly a historic day for Pennsylvania and the most significant step the commonwealth has taken to reform our liquor system in 80 years,” said Governor Tom Wolf after signing the bill into law. “I want to commend leaders and members from both parties in the House and SEE LIQUOR A5
Ulish Carter says
The Greatest will never be forgotten Opinion A6
A2
This Week In Black History
JUNE 15-21, 2016
INTERNATIONAL
Zimbabwe’s flag center of social media war over frustrations
WRAPPED IN FLAG—This photo taken Tuesday May 3, shows Evans Mawarire, a young pastor, posing with a Zimbabwean flag wrapped around his body, in Harare. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
by Farai Mutsaka Associated Press Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)—Zimbabwe’s national flag is furiously flapping in the center of a heated social media war over what the flag means and people’s frustrations with President Robert Mugabe’s government. The hashtags (hash)Thisflag and (hash)Ourflag now determine one’s political loyalty in this deeply polarized southern African country.A young pastor in the capital, Evan Mawarire, in April launched the (hash)Thisflag campaign to protest alleged government failures. He said he was struggling to raise money for his children’s school fees when he looked at the flag sitting on his office desk. He questioned its relevance, and from there the idea was born. Mawarire went onto social media and challenged people to post pictures and videos of themselves with the national flag and to drape the flag around their shoulders in public. His first video, in which he rants about how the flag’s colors have lost significance because of alleged political mismanagement, attracted over 120,000 views on the first day it was posted.
Elaine Effort
He has since posted several videos, and the campaign has taken on a life of its own. Other people now post videos of themselves wrapped in the flag and venting about their everyday problems. “I was just frustrated,” Mawarire told The Associated Press. “My own country is standing in front of my dreams. That’s how I started the campaign.” He said he has since received death threats that say the flag should be used to choke him. Gone viral, the campaign is now a full-blooded political war that has engaged cabinet ministers, members of parliament and diplomats in the social media conflict. To counter Mawarire’s movement, supporters of Mugabe’s government have coined their own campaign, (hash)Ourflag. That campaign extolls Mugabe’s virtues and the successes of his ruling ZANU-PF party, but it has struggled to take off. The five colors of the Zimbabwe flag, adopted at independence in 1980, are loaded with political and economic significance. Red represents the blood shed during the 1970s war to end white minority rule, yellow is for the country’s gold and mineral resources and green stands for Zim-
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babwe’s rich agriculture and its rural areas. Black is for the country’s majority population and white stands for peace. The flag also features a rendering of the historic Zimbabwe bird which is on top of a red star, symbolizing the Marxism espoused by the ruling party at independence. The dueling flag campaigns have sparked some skirmishes in parliament. “This is the Zimbabwean flag. Just put it down,” speaker of the House of Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, said to opposition MPs who wore flags over their shoulders during a session last month. “Place the Zimbabwean flag down. We have to treat it with some respect.” Opposition chief whip Innocent Gonese responded by pointing out the small flag pins worn by ZANU-PF supporters: “Where is the difference with those wearing the flag over their shoulders and those with flags on their jackets?” Diplomats have entered the fray, with the United States and European Union ambassadors to Zimbabwe retweeting some of the campaign messages. U.S. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas drew the anger of pro-Mugabe officials, who began calling him (hash)dirtyharry, after he tweeted in May: “Wonder if (hash)Zimbabwe’s (hash)ThisFlag movement will spread to the US y other nations?” Others in Zimbabwe think it’s a wasteful campaign. “The only person benefiting from this is the guy selling the flags,” said Blessing Vava, a government critic activist based in South Africa. “If Zimbabweans are bold enough, then they should just demonstrate in the streets.”
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Week of June 15-21 June 15 1864—Gen. Ulysses S. Grant outfoxed Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee by switching an attack strategy from Cold Harbor to Petersburg, Va. The assault, spearheaded by Gen. Charles Paine, knocked a mile-wide hole in Lee’s defenses and resulted in the capture of hundreds of rebel soldiers and helped speed up the end of the Civil War. Several Black regiments were involved in the assault and siege. Grant would later become the 18th president of the United States and use his office to deal a series of crushing blows to the rapidly growing forces of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870s. 1877—Henry O. Flippea becomes the first Black graduate of the U.S. military academy at West Point. 1921—Bessie Coleman becomes the first woman of any race to obtain an international pilot’s license. But she had BESSIE COLEMAN to leave the United States and study in France in order to accomplish her goal. She was barred from U.S. flight schools because of her race and her sex. Born in a small town called Atlanta, Texas, Coleman would move to Chicago where she was influenced by several prominent Blacks including Robert S. Abbott, publisher of the Chicago Defender. When she returned to the U.S. from France, Hollywood wanted to do a movie about her amazing feat. She walked off the set because she felt the film actually degraded Blacks. Coleman died in a plane accident April 30, 1926. June 16 1822—This was the rumored start date of the Denmark Vesey-led slave revolt in the Charleston, S.C., area. Vesey, a former slave who had bought his freedom, had organized what is still believed to be the largest and most comprehensive slave revolt in American history. Aware of how “house slaves” tended to be loyal to their slave masters, Vesey had given strict orders that none were to be included in the plot. But so many Blacks (both slave and free) were involved that word eventually leaked out and just as Vesey feared, a house slave told the authorities. Military forces were moved into the city and scores were arrested. Thirty-five Blacks, including Vesey, were hanged. [There is some historical debate as to whether June 16 was the actual start date for the rebellion. There is some authority that July 14 was to be the start date. But what is clear is that military forces moved into the city on June 16 to put down the planned revolt.] 1969—The United States Supreme Court rules that the suspension of Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. from the U.S. House of Representatives on alleged corruption charges was unconstitutional. Powell, who had first won election to Congress in 1945, was returned to the ADAM CLAYTON POWELL JR. House but without his seniority. Powell had been one of the most powerful men in Congress. He had fought civil rights battles in New York and had followed his father as pastor of the city’s influential Abyssinian Baptist Church. He often told Blacks “Mass action is the most powerful force on earth.” He also frequently reminded his supporters to “Keep the faith, baby.” Week of May 17-23 June 17 1775—Blacks fight in two of the major battles of America’s war of independence from England—the battles of Bunker Hill and Breeds Hill. Two of the most outstanding soldiers were Peter Salem and Salem Poor. 1871—James Weldon Johnson is born in Jacksonville, Fla. Johnson is clearly one of the most multi-talented men in Black American history. He was a poet, writer, lawyer, diplomat and civil rights activist. Johnson was one of the leading figures in the Black cultural revolution of the 1920s known as the Harlem Renaissance. He was the first African American admitted to the Florida bar to practice law. He was the first Black executive of the NAACP. He served as one of the first Black diplomats to Latin America and he is co-author of the “Black” National Anthem—“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.” He died in an automobile accident in 1938. 1928—The “Godfather of Soul” James Brown was born on this day in Pulaski, Tenn. He was also referred to as “Soul Brother Number One” and “Mr. Dynamic” for his senJAMES WELDON JOHNSON sational dancing. Brown died in December of 2006. 1948—Actress Phylicia Rashad is born on this day in Houston, Texas. Rashad is best known for her role as Bill Cosby’s wife in the once highly popular NBC television series, “The Cosby Show.” 1980—Tennis great Venus Williams is born in Lynwood, Calif. Venus is the older sister of fellow tennis great Serena Williams. May 18 1896—The United States Supreme Court issues its infamous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. The decision declared the doctrine of “separate but equal” was constitutional. By doing so it, in effect, approved all Jim Crow or segregationist laws designed to degrade Blacks or keep them separate from Whites. The ruling would stand until the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. 1955—Legendary educator Mary McLeod Bethune dies at 79 in Daytona Beach, Fla. Born the 15th of 17 children in Mayesville, S.C., Bethune would rise to become one of the nation’s foremost Black educators and early civil rights activist. She was a driving force behind the founding of Florida’s Bethune-Cookman College. May 19 1925—Black revolutionary Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on this day in Omaha, Neb. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and a follower of the legendary Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey. For his outspokenness, Earl Little would be brutally killed in 1929 by a Ku Klux Klan type group. A smart and focused student, Malcolm dreamed of becoming a lawyer. But that dream would be crushed by prejudice when one of his favorite teachers told him that was “not a realistic goal for a nigger.” He would end up dropping out of school and moving with his mother to Boston, Mass. He would later travel to New York City where he began a criminal life of petty crimes, but rapidly moved up to coordinating drug, prostitution and gamMALCOLM X bling rings. With the “heat” on, he moved back to Boston where he was arrested and sentenced to prison on a burglary charge in 1946. By the time he was paroled in 1952, he was a devoted follower of Elijah Muhammad and a small Muslim sect known as the Nation of Islam and had dropped his “slave” last name in favor of being referred to as “Malcolm X.” From 1952 to 1963, he became the primary force behind the building of the Nation of Islam from a sect of fewer than 1,000 members to a national organization of over 30,000 members. But his faith in Elijah Muhammad was crushed when he learned in 1963 that the married and outwardly puritanical Muhammad had had extra-marital affairs with at least six young Nation of Islam women. A bitter separation resulted between Malcolm and the Nation. Malcolm then turned to a more orthodox version of Islam and began to seek closer relations with other Black Nationalist and civil rights groups. He was assassinated at Harlem, N.Y.’s, Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965 by three men associated with the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was 39. 1930—Lorraine Hansberry is born in Chicago, Ill. During her short life she becomes one of Black America’s most prolific authors and playwrights. Her most famous play was “A Raisin in the Sun”—which was the first drama written by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. After her death from cancer in 1965, another one of her plays—“To Be Young, Gifted and Black” became a major off-Broadway production. 1952—Eccentric model and singer Grace Jones is born in Spanish Town, Jamaica. In addition to her singing and modeling, her unusual style propels her into a status as one of the icons of the disco and new music scene of the 1970s. May 20 1743—Touissant L’Ouverture, the father of Haitian independence, is born. Although he was not part of the initial disturbances, L’Ouverture was quickly drafted into leadership of the 1791 Slave Revolt. He converted the random burnings of plantations and killings of unlucky Whites into a full scale revolution against slavery on the island. Under his leadership, the slaves were organized into an effective fighting force which would go on to defeat the British army and the greatest conqueror of the period, France’s Napoleon Bonaparte. Indeed, L’Ouverture’s fighting might was indirectly responsible for the growth of America. Desperate to raise money to fight the Haitians, Napoleon sold the massive Louisiana territory to America at an amazingly low price. L’Ouverture was tricked into attending a phony “peace conference” in France. Once there he was jailed. But the leadership void was immediately filled by one of his lieutenants—Jean Jacques Dessalines who would complete the revolution started by L’Ouverture. Haiti became independent in 1804. May 21 1881—Blanche Kelso Bruce is sworn in as a senator from Mississippi. He became the first Black man to serve a full term in the United States Senate. During his service, he advocated for the political and social rights of Blacks, Indians and Chinese immigrants. 1862—Mary Patterson becomes the first Black woman in U.S. History to be awarded a master’s degree. She earned it from Oberlin College in Ohio. 1969—Police and National Guardsmen open fire on student demonstrators at predominantly Black North Carolina A&T University, leaving one student dead and five policemen injured.
NATIONAL
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
JUNE 15-21, 2016
A3
Clinton, Obama prove Democratic dependence on nonwhites by Bill Barrow
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP)—Eight years ago, exit polls showed Hillary Clinton with comfortable margins over now-President Barack Obama among Whites and Latinos during the Democratic primary season. This year, exit polls of Democratic voters showed Whites narrowly preferred Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Yet, Clinton is the presumptive 2016 Democratic nominee. The key difference: African-Americans sided overwhelmingly with the winner of 2008 and 2016 nominations, with Black voters across the South and in heavily Democratic cities fueling key wins and delegate advantages in the drawn-out primary contests. For Clinton, her second effort is evidence of a lesson learned, and it provides her with a head start in rebuilding part of the general election coalition that propelled Obama to two terms. For Sanders, it’s a case of what-might-have-been. And for aspiring Democrats eyeing future White House bids, it serves notice that the presidential demand for a diverse voting coalition isn’t just a general election concern for Republicans too dependent on Whites; it actually begins in the Democratic primary. “You just can’t have a limited strategy focused on Iowa and New Hampshire, two of the whitest states in the country,” said Atlanta-based Democratic consultant Tharon Johnson, who worked for Obama’s 2008 campaign, arguing that Sanders and Clinton, in her first campaign, made that mistake. South Carolina Democratic Chairman
LESSON LEARNED—In this Dec. 1, 2008, photo, then-President-elect Barack Obama, left, stands with then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., after announcing that she is his choice as Secretary of State during a news conference in Chicago. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) Jaime Harrison, whose early voting state offers the first primary contest with a large contingent of Black voters, singled out Black women. “They almost single-handedly gave the nomination to Secretary Clinton,” he said, after “doing that for Sen. Obama” in 2008. The two campaigns bear strikingly similar trajectories. Each time, the top two contenders split Iowa and New Hampshire before a competitive finish in Nevada. But Obama then trounced Clin-
PAYING RESPECTS—Farzam Farrokhi, an Iranian native now living in New York, drops rose petals on the grave of boxing great Muhammad Ali, Saturday, June 11, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Ali’s cemetery opens to public, and fans pay homage at grave by Claire Galofara and Bruce Schreiner Associated Press Writers
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)—He carried a dozen roses into Cave Hill Cemetery and headed for a patch of grass in the back corner that seemed too ordinary for the man buried beneath it. Farzam Farrokhi had worried there would be a horde of people Saturday morning elbowing for a place among the first to see Muhammad Ali’s grave. Instead he found a quiet and reverent stream of visitors. There was not yet a headstone marking the spot. No rope cordoned off those wishing to kneel, pray or kiss the grave. It would have looked like any unremarkable rectangle of fresh sod had people not been snapping photos. A few brought flowers, one left a tiny set of boxing gloves. A man unfurled an Islamic flag and laid it alongside the grave. Farrokhi, a native of Iran, drove 12 hours from his home in Queens, New York, for Ali’s funeral. He was grateful for no massive crowds so he could sit and reflect on the life and the death of The Greatest, who suffered for years with Parkinson’s disease. “I can’t imagine a heart like Ali’s being stuck in a body where he can’t do what he wants to do. Now he can be free,” he said. “Maybe he’s shaking up the next world already.” Ali was buried Friday in a corner of his hometown’s historic Cave Hill Cemetery, 300 acres famous for its beauty and wildlife. Ali picked the site himself. He toured the cemetery’s twisting paths and towering trees and decided on this spot just across from a flower patch and a lake, with a fountain that babbles day and night. Four geese moseyed across the road nearby Saturday morning. His headstone will be simple when it’s installed, in keeping with Muslim tradition. It will be inscribed with just one word: Ali.
Visitors trickled in from near and far. James Terry, a Louisville native, carried a map of the cemetery, marking the family plot on the other side where he will one day be buried. He delighted at the idea he will share the same dirt as The Champ. Roy Johnson, a long-haul truck driver from Colton, California, was delivering a load a paper to New Jersey when the heard about Ali’s death. It broke his heart, he said. Ali made him believe, as a little black boy, that greatness was possible if he fought for it hard enough and never wavered. Johnson was planning to visit his son, stationed at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee border during his trip. He drove about 100 miles out of his way to be among the first to see Ali’s grave. “My heart is beating really fast right now, I’m in awe of this moment,” he said. “I never got a chance to meet him when he was alive. Now he’s just a few feet away. It’s just beautiful to be standing here.” Farrokhi stopped at a florist on the way and surveyed the bouquets of roses. They had bunches in red and yellow and white. Then he found one that mixed all the colors. “When you think of Ali’s fans, they’re every color,” he said. “It seemed right, that’s how he wanted the world to be.” He pulled the flowers off the stems one by one, crushed the petals between his fingers and sprinkled them on top of Ali’s grave, rows of magenta yellow, red and white. He repeated it 11 times until he got to the last flower, a pale pink one. He kneeled and laid it whole at Ali’s feet. Jake and Janell Bessler drove from Evansville to see it Saturday. On the way, they told their 4-week-old daughter, Violet, sleeping in her car seat, about the boxing great and what he meant to the world. “We told her ‘this is history, you get to be a part of it,’” Janell said. They sat her in front of the grave and snapped a photo, so she’ll be able to see it one day.
ton in South Carolina by a 2-to-1 margin. Blacks made up about 55 percent of the electorate, and Obama won about four of five of them, according to exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and television networks. This year, Clinton won South Carolina 3-to-1, with exit polling reflected a whopping 86-14 advantage for Clinton over Sanders among Blacks, who accounted for an estimated 61 percent of primary ballots. The 2008 and 2016 circumstances were influenced by unique characteristics of the candidates. Black voters embraced the possibility of Obama becoming the nation’s first Black president. Clinton, this year, capitalized on decades of good relations with Black Democrats she’d helped elect, raise money for and worked with on various issues since her early years as a lawyer, advocate and first lady of Arkansas. But South Carolina established a pattern. The nine states where Blacks account for the greatest population share form an unbroken band from Maryland and Delaware down the Atlantic Coast and through the Deep South to Louisiana. Obama defeated Clinton in all of them on his way to winning 82 percent of African-Americans in states where exit polling was conducted. Clinton defeated Sanders in the same nine states, as well,
and won 77 percent of the Black vote in states with exit polling. The margins are important since Democrats award pledged delegates roughly proportionally. Obama’s total pledged-delegate advantage of less than 200 can be attributed almost entirely to his success among African-Americans. Clinton’s advantage this year is wider, but it was first established during a concentration of Southern states that had voted by March 15. Unable to catch up, Sanders sometimes dismissed Clinton’s victories, saying the primary schedule “distorts reality” because the South is so conservative. Yet in late 2015, before voting began, he began emphasizing his personal civil rights advocacy in the 1960s—including being arrested for protesting segregated housing in Chicago. He also massaged his economic inequality arguments to focus on minorities. “The African-American community ... will respond,” he predicted to AP in September. Clinton, who spent 2015 formalizing a deep network in the South, countered with her own biography and an open embrace of Obama. She cast Sanders as disloyal to the president and hammered the senator as soft on gun control, focusing the issue on at Black voters wrenched by violence within the Black community and many high-profile cases of Black citizens being killed by police. Georgia state Sen. Vincent Fort, a Black Sanders supporter, argued Clinton’s advantage was “entirely to do with her brand” as a party powerbroker and lamented that Sanders “is more in line with the Black community” on issues “from universal health care to free college tuition.” Fort also noted that Sanders’ appeal among young voters crossed racial lines, foreshadowing that nominees after Clinton “will come from the progressive wing.” Certainly, Sanders can defend his strategy: Could he have essentially tied Clinton in Iowa and blitzed her in New Hampshire if he’d spent more early campaign time in the South? Regardless, Johnson, the Georgia Democrat, said future nominees must sell themselves and their ideas across the electorate. “We have now gone through two consecutive cycles in which campaigns have gone to the very, very end,” Johnson said. “We’re going to continue along that path. In the end it’s important to know the diversity of America, the diversity of the issues people are facing, and then having people know who you are.”
Community leaders call for new superintendent search A4
JUNE 15-21, 2016
CONTINUED FROM A1
has. Our community needs a visionary leader whose credentials are unimpeachable. The School Board must restart the search to find such a candidate.” They believe further investigation would serve no beneficial purpose, especially if Hamlet were to remain. “No additional amount of investigation will undo the damage already done. More time spent deliberating only further tarnishes the reputations of both Dr.
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Hamlet and the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The Board must act now,” they wrote. “We need a superintendent with a clear and flawless background, with a huge commitment to kids, and a solid record of accomplishment. Unfortunately, given the seriousness of the questions already raised, any initiative Dr. Hamlet would put forward or his evaluation of such initiatives as superintendent would be met with suspicion and doubt from administrators, principals, teachers, students, parents,
and community.” Bush, Stevens, Udin and Harris are demanding restart the search immediately following guidelines “recommended by various community stakeholders to the School Board in October 2015.” They asked the board to: •Issue a request for proposals for executive search organizations with successful track records of placing urban superintendents (including supporting the board in vetting the final candidates), and
URA moves on park plan CONTINUED FROM A1
voted to pay $5 million to accept this gift, none of that coal or any other mineral resources will ever be extract from the site. It will be a park. “People use it as a park now, and those (environmental covenants) will be in perpetuity,” said board chair Kevin Acklin, who negotiated the purchase of the property for far less than the mineral rights alone. That wasn’t the only park news at the meeting. The board also authorized entering into agreement with three state agencies to utilize $300,000 in federal Choice Neighborhood Implementation grant funds to build a park at the intersection of Larimer Avenue and Station Street in East Liberty. The board also voted to appoint Chris Shea, principal of Xia, LLC to act as Choice Neighborhoods project director. “Mr. Shea is highly recommended for this work based on his long history of managing federally assisted programs and projects for HACP and the City of Baltimore,” said authority Executive Director Robert Rubinstein. “He (has) experience with comprehensive transformational neighborhood development and his positive relationships with HUD, the foundation community and other local stakeholders.” Also in the East End, the board made a move toward extending the recent development boom seen in East Liberty into Homewood by voting to request proposals for planning service related to creating a comprehensive Community Plan. “The Homewood Comprehensive Community Plan shall serve as the basis for future planning activities, neighborhood design, and a framework for investment within the Homewood neighborhoods,” said
Rubinstein. “It is intended that the plan will be formally adopted by the City Planning Commission and incorporated into the City’s Comprehensive Plan.” Rubinstein said the scope for the comprehensive plan will include planning gap analysis, an inventory of community assets, the development of community goals and objectives, and an implementation plan and metric evaluation system. Some of that work, however was already been done last year with the completion of Operation Better Block’s Homewood Cluster Visioning Plan which cut the neighborhood into nine “clusters” based on community assets, and residents’ needs and desires. Jerome Jackson, OBB’s executive director said the completed work should lower the cost of the Comprehensive Community Plan considerably. “When it’s all said and done, we’ll probably spend about $100,000 for the complete Homewood Vision Plan. Compare that to the plan for the Hill District, which cost about $250,000,” he said. “The reason is, because of the cluster approach, we’ve done all the survey work for the designers ahead of time. They don’t have to do it.” The planning process will be led and managed by the Department of City Planning in partnership with the Homewood Community Development Collaborative In other business, the board voted to sell the former Broadhead Manor site in Chartiers. Burns & Scalo, partnering with Franklin Interiors, agreed to purchase the site for $821,000 to build a 150,000 square foot warehouse. It also voted to purchase the vacant nearby former Fairywood School site as well as the closed Thaddeus Stevens School in Elliott for $615,000, and will market both for redevelopment.
•Upon selection of a reputable firm, use a community committee to screen applicants and build consensus for selecting the district’s next leader—a decision that ultimately rests with the elected school board. In response, the school board repeated its stance from June 13, When board solicitor Ira Weiss, announced the board had authorized an independent inquiry into Hamlet’s resume. “The Personnel Committee of the Board took steps to continue its due diligence and met with Dr. Anthony Hamlet related to media reports regarding his resume. Prior to making any decision, the results of an independent inquiry, authorized by the Board, will guide recommendations related to Dr. Hamlet’s status.” The letter came just one day after The inquiry will be conducted by former state prosecutor Laurel Brandstetter, with whom Weiss said he has worked before on personnel matters in other school districts. Now a partner in the Downtown firm of Leech Tishman, Brandstetter focused on pubic corruption in her time as a senior deputy attorney general between 2008 and 2014. She also served as an Allegheny County assistant district attorney from 2000 to 2008. The first issue she will concern herself with is Hamlet’s claims that while a principal and administrator in the School District of Palm Beach County, Fla., he raised a particular school’s grade from an “F” to a “C.” According to an article published in the Palm Beach Post that compared Hamlet’s resume with Florida state records, Hamlet actually made that claim about two schools: John F. Kennedy Middle School and Palm Beach Lakes High School. In both cases, state records disagree.
Palm Beach Lakes never had an F grade. It was a C when he became principal in 2011 and remained so during his three-year tenure. John F. Kennedy did improve, but only from a D to a C, and it did so under the previous principal, remaining a C under Hamlet. The article also noted discrepancies between his resume and official records regarding the reduction in suspensions he claimed at the high school and its increased graduation rate. While the state did note a significant drop in suspensions—1,035—Hamlet claimed a drop of 2,689. State records also indicate an increased graduation rate of 4 percent. Hamlet claimed overseeing a 13 percent increase. During a June 7 press conference at the Board of Education, Hamlet said the disagreements were due to his using a different calculation method than the state of Florida, and were minor when taken against the totality of his experience. However, since his press conference, it was discovered that in the “educational philosophy” section of his resume he copied—without attribution—a 2015 Washington Post article about a Maryland superintendent.
He repeated it during his introductory speech May 18, where he also described himself as “charged with identifying the needed change and creating a vision to guide the change through inspiration.” That is the word-for-word definition from the “transformational leadership” entry found in Wikipedia from businessdictionary.com. Also on June 13, members of the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network maintained their support for Hamlet and urged the school board to stand by its decision to hire him. Three days earlier, however, the board had already received an online petition calling on them to “freeze and reconsider” Hamlets’ hiring in light of the discrepancies. As of New Pittsburgh Courier deadline, it had nearly 650 signatures. Brandstetter will begin her investigation reviewing information from Hamlet, the school district and Brian Perkins, whose consulting firm was paid $100,000 to conducted the superintendent search that recommended Hamlet. The inquiry will likely take several days. The school board is scheduled to meet June 15 to discuss personnel maters. The board’s next pubic meeting is June 20.
Community Calendar Market Square Farmers Market CONTINUING—The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership presents the 12th Annual Market Square Farmers Market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday through Oct. 27. The opening day event includes flower bulb and tree giveaways sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. This season will also see the addition of 10 new full and part-time vendors including Two Acres Farms, A519 Chocolate and Pittsburgh Fudge Co. Again this year, Just Harvest’s Fresh Access program will allow credit/debit and food stamp EBT cards to be used to purchase fresh produce, meat, dairy and baked goods.
Workforce Experience Program THROUGH JUNE 30—The Urban League of Pittsburgh’s Work Experience program has 38 out-of-quschool youth, ages 16 to 24, available for five hours per week on either a Thursday or Friday for four / six weeks through June 30. The Urban League pays and provides supervision to the participants. Parties interested in taking on any of these young people may contact Director of Housing Richard Morris at 412-227-4163 to schedule interviews.
SummerFood Program THROUGH AUG. 19—The Allegheny County Department of Human Services will begin its SummerFood program offering breakfast, lunch and recreational activities for children up to 18 years old and individuals with disabilities at more than 80 sites throughout the county. For a complete list of times and locations, visit www.alleghenycounty.us/dhs/food. aspx or call 800-851-3838.
KidsPlay Activities THROUGH AUG. 30—The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh bring KidsPlay to Market Square, Downtown every Tuesday, 10 to 11:30 a.m. Kids can engage in crafts, activities, fitness fun and meet visiting celebrities and performing artists. Free to all and lunch is provided. For more information visit www.DowntownPartnership.com.
Single Mothers Workshop JUNE 16—Small Seeds Development presents its inaugural Mother to Son Conference at the Hillman auditorium at Kaufmann Center, 1835 Centre Avenue. The focus is Single Mothers Raising African American Boys, and will provide workshops and information from women in the following domains: education, health and wellness, entrepreneurship, self-empowerment, goals and intentions, effective parenting, giving back, housing and stability. Education consultant Tyra Good is the keynote speaker. The event is free. Breakfast, lunch and daycare is provided. For more information, call 412-665-2810.
Summer Celebration JUNE 17—Bme presents its
#BetterTogether Celebration Event at 7 p.m., Carnegie Museum of Art, 1400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland. The event will feature networking, food drinks, music, and will recognize local leaders and community champions of BMe Pittsburgh, and will include special guest speakers. The event is free.
Juneteenth Celebration of Life: Black Tie Event JUNE 17—Stop the Violence Pittsburgh will honor Men of Distinction and Women of Distinction during its Pittsburgh Legacy Martin R. Delaney Bicentennial Juneteeth Celebration at the SHereton Station Square, 300 West Station Square Drive. Honorees include: African American Chamber of Commerce Pres. and CEO Doris Carson Williams, former Pittsburgh police Asst. Chief Maurita Bryant, Civil Rights Icon Katie E. Johnson, , CEO & CFO of Rice Enterprises Mitchell Rice, also former Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church pastor Rev. Johnny Monroe, Historian John L. Ford, U.S. Army Col. Paul G. Patton Ret., State Rep. Ed Gainey and Bethel AME Church pastor Rev. Dr. Steven Jackson. Actress Vivica A. Fox will emcee the event from 6 to 10 p.m. Call 724-205-9376 for tickets.
Juneteenth Interfaith Memorial Service and Reenactment Parade JUNE 18—A memorial service will be held at 9 a.m. at St. Benedict the Moor followed by Historic re-enactors from across the country join residents at 9 a.m. for a reenactment of the 1870 Freeman’s Jubilee Parade from Freedom Corner, down Center avenue, to Grant street, on to the Blvd of the Allies, to Stanwix street and Third avenue. At 1 p.m. a commemorative and wreath laying service for U.S. Civil War hero Alexander Kelly at the Martin R. Delany historic marker will precede festivities at market Square including Kids-Fun-Zone, Live Bands, Drill Teams, Speakers, DJ’s, Food and Specialty vendors, Singers, Resource Tables, Culture Dance troupes and more.
Corporate Inclusion Conference JUNE 20—The Corporate Equity & Inclusion Roundtable will hold its 4TH Annual Conference at the Duquesne University Power Center Ballroom, 1015 Forbes Avenue, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Industry Leaders from firms including Highmark, Massaro Construction, UPMC, Duquesne University, Randall Industries, Rivers Casino, the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board and others will share ideas on providing opportunities for employment and advancement, including the Revised Rooney Rule; suppliers with business opportunities, including the Hybrid Rooney Rule, and aiding hose re-entering the workforce, including Ban the Box initiatives. For more information call B-PEP at 412-758-7898.
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Muhammad Ali: A send-off fit for a king CONTINUED FROM A1
throwing jabs in the air. People were running up to the hearse to kiss the roof. As the cars traveled down Broadway, Hana Ali, the champ’s daughter, tweeted, “We just left the funeral home and are in the car now following our beautiful father in route to his final resting place, as his reoccurring dream is realized. When he was younger he said, ‘I used to dream that I was running down Broadway in downtown Louisville, Kentucky and all of the people were gathered in the street waving at me and clapping and cheering my name. I waved back, and then all of a sudden I just took off flying. I dreamed that dream all the time.’” When the procession made it to the little pink house on Grand Avenue in west Louisville, the heart of the African American community, those waiting wanted to touch the hearse. Ali’s children lowered the windows of the limos and began shaking hands with the people. The pink house on Grand Avenue is where Ali grew up. One could only imagine the reaction of Ali’s Children when they saw the many thousands who lined the streets of Louisville to pay their final respects to their father. The procession made the final leg of the journey when it made the turn into Cave Hill Cemetery where Ali was buried. Thousands of rose petals lay at the entrance as spectators lined the entrance as Ali was taken to his final resting place. It was a scene that Louisville will never see again. The Public Memorial Service at the KFC YUM Center was filled to capacity with 15,000 people attending. Celebrities came to say their final goodbyes including former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Orrin Hatch, both speakers on the program. Others include director Spike Lee, former NFL great Jim Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Whoopi Goldberg, Kareem AbdulJabbar, boxing greats Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis and soccer star David Beckham and others. Unable to attend because of his daughter’s graduation, President Barack Obama sent Valerie Jarrett as his representative. Minister Louis Farrakhan, Boxing Promoter Don King and Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson were also in attendance.
ALI LAID TO REST—The Casket containing the body of Muhammad Ali was carried during the traditional Muslim Service on Thursday June 9, at Freedom Hall before a Capacity crowd of 15,000 people. (Photos supplied by Louisville Defender) The three-hour interfaith service featured speakers from various religious denominations. The service began with prayers from the Quran from Ali’s Muslim faith and the moderator was an imam from Memphis. Two rabbis, a catholic priest, the leaders of two Indian tribes and a Baptist minister were all on the program. The first speaker, Rev. Kevin W. Cosby, senior pastor of St. Stephen Church in Louisville referred to Ali as a “silver-tongued poet” who led African Americans to a new identity. Bring the crowd to the feet, he said, “Before James Brown said I’m Black and I’m proud, Muhammad Ali said, I’m Black and I’m pretty.” Cosby said Ali “dared to
PRESIDENTIAL FAREWELL— Former President Bill Clinton speaking at the Interfaith Service on Friday, June 10, at the KFC Yum Center before a capacity crowd of 14,000 people. love Black people at a time Black people had difficulty loving themselves. . .And he loved us all and we loved him because we knew he loved us, whether. . .you lived in the penthouse or the projects. . .or came from Morehouse or no house.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a friend to Ali for 28 years, said Ali was truly the Greatest. “He moved with agility and punched with Herculean strength. He was an extraordinary fighter and a committed Civil Rights leader.” Hatch also called Ali “an effective emissary of Islam.” He said Ali showed us all the path of greatness. Hatch said Ali was humble. He said Ali told him “God gave me this condition (Parkinson’s) to remind me always that I am human and that only He is the greatest.” Lonnie Ali, also a Louisville native and Ali’s wife for 30 years, gave a moving tribute to her husband. She said, “He wanted us to use his life and his death as a teaching moment for young people and the world.” She said Ali “may have challenged the government, but he never ran from it, or from America.” Rabbi Michael Lerner, based in Berkeley, said the way to honor Ali was to be Muhammad Ali today. He brought the crowd to their feet as he talked about political reforms. He did not mention the Presidential candidates by name, but referring to former President Bill Clinton as the “First Man” gave the audience a clue, and they got it, judging by the applause and standing ovation. Louisville’s own John Ramsey, a close friend of Ali for many years, talked about his experiences with the champ. He said he was present with him at an Olympic gold medal boxing match and they stood with the winner hearing the chants of U-S-A. He said Ali leaned down and whispered to him that he wanted to talk to the loser. He said he
PA loosens liquor laws slightly CONTINUED FROM A1
Senate for coming together to pass this legislation, and today, I am proud to design it into law. As I have always said, my goal is to modernize the sale of liquor and beer in Pennsylvania and this reform package finally brings Pennsylvania’s wine and spirits system into the 21st century.” So, can you now buy a case of beer at the grocery? No, the limit is still just over half a case. Can you buy beer at a convenience store? No. But in some limited cases, you can buy it, and now wine, at the gas station. And if your grocery sells beer, it can now also sell wine if it chooses. Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, who tried to re-write House Speaker Mike Turzai’s byzantine privatization legislation two years ago, said he was pleased to write this one. “As the author of the final version of this bill, I am extremely grateful that all sides were able to set aside partisanship and unite around a plan that truly puts the consumers first,” he said. “The reforms included in this bill are measures that consumers have requested for years, and I appreciate the fact that we were able to reach a compromise that responds to the most pressing concerns we hear from community residents.” The bill: •Removes Sunday restrictions and state-mandated holidays.
LIQUOR FOR SALE IN STORES •Enhances customer loyalty programs and opens up coupons at state stores. •Provides options for flexible pricing to allow state stores to offer special discounts and sales. •Allows restaurants and hotels to sell up to four bottles of wine for take-out. •Allows grocery stores that currently sell beer to sell up to four bottles of wine. •Allows for direct shipments of wine to people’s homes, and •Makes permanent gas stations’ ability to sell 6 packs. Turzai, still the bill’s main sponsor, also praised the legislation. “This historic legislation is a tremendous leap into bringing Pennsylvanian into the 21st century,” he said. “This privatization bill will bring consumers the added choice and conve-
nience they have been asking for since Prohibition.” As for those gas stations, there are currently just nine fuel-related applications approved. They are: Arch Six Packs to Go LLC, Wyoming, Luzerne County, Fast Lane Six Packs to Go LLC, Hanover Township, Luzerne County; Lathia Investments LLC, Canonsburg, Washington County; Ohio Springs Inc. (Sheetz) Smithfield Township, Huntingdon County; SAI Hazleton LLC, Hazleton, Luzerne County; SAI Hess Market LLC, Orange Township, Columbia County; Save N Go Beer LLC, Richland Township, Allegheny County; Shivashish LLC, Plains Township, Luzerne County; and VGV Beverages LLC, Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County. More applications are expected.
arranged for Ali to talk to the loser of the match. “In that locker room, in the lowest of the lows, he walks in and the kid recognizes him immediately, said Ramsey. “He says, in broken English, ‘Muhammad Ali’ And Muhammad starts dancing, saying, ‘Show me what you got, man.’ And he starts throwing out jabs and the kid starts ducking and smiling and Muhammad grabs him in a bear hug, and said, ‘I loved what you did out there. You looked good. You’re going to be a champion, don’t give up.’” Ramsey said it warmed his heart because Ali took the young kid from a very low to a very high in an instant. He said when they were in the car leaving, he told Muhammad Ali that he really was the Greatest. Ramsey said Ali’s response was, “Tell me something I don’t know already.” Ramsey recalled one of the quotes Ali used to say, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room her on earth.” He then said, “Champ, your rent is paid in full.” Ambassador Attallah Shabazz, daughter of the late Malcolm X, gave a very tearful tribute to Ali. She has
been a resident of Louisville for the past six years. “Having Muhammad Ali in my life somehow sustained my dad’s breath for me just a little while longer; 51 years longer until now,” she said as she fought back tears. Speaking on behalf of President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor, said, “Ali was . . .loud and proud, an unabashedly black voice in a Jim Crow world.” She said, “Muhammad Ali was America. Muhammad Ali will always be America.” Jarrett said the world embraced Ali because he was the best of America. Sports Commentator Bryant Gumbel said Ali “gave us levels of strength and courage we didn’t even know we had.” He said, “The world needs a champion who believes in fairness and inclusion for all... (He said) it doesn’t matter which color does the hating, it’s just plain wrong.” Comedian Billy Crystal said Ali always referred to him as his brother. “He was funny, beautiful, the most perfect athlete you ever saw, and those were his own words...He was so much more than a fighter. He made all of our lives a little bit better than they were. He taught us that life is
best when you build bridges between us, not walls. He is gone, but he will never die. He was my big brother.” Former President Bill Clinton said Ali was not imprisoned by a disease. He recalled Ali’s carrying of the Olympic Torch. “He was going to make those last steps, no matter what it took. The flame would be lit, no matter what, the fight would be won.” Clinton said, “In the end, besides being a lot of fun to be around, I will always think of Muhammad as a truly free man of faith. And being a man of faith, he realized he would never be in full control of his life. It is the choices that Muhammad Ali made that brought us all here today, in honor and in love.” He said, “We should honor him by letting our gifts go among the world as his did.” Rev. Dr. Kevin Cosby, Pastor of St. Stephen Church in Louisville summed it up best. Talking about Ali and his importance to the Black Community, he said, “He dared to love America’s most unloved race. . .While he was the property of all people, let us never forget, he is the product of Black people, and their struggle to be free.”
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The Greatest will never be forgotten
Guest Editorial
House Speaker Ryan: Party politics ‘Trumps’ racism Paul Ryan blasted Donald Trump last week, saying Trump’s criticism of a judge because of his ethnic background are “the textbook definition of racist comments.” “I regret these comments that he made,” Ryan said. “Saying a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of the textbook definition of racist comments. …I think that should be absolutely disavowed.” Ryan also called Trump’s comments “indefensible”—but in a preposterous pronouncement, he still plans to support Trump for president. So here’s what it’s come to: The Republican leadership admits Trump, their nominee for president, is racist, but nevertheless still pledge their support for him for the White House. Clinton, Ryan said, is not an option to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This drama is all taking place during a time when GOP Chairman Reince Priebus says he wants more diversity and racial inclusion within the Republican Party. That’s comical. How can we take Priebus and the GOP seriously? The history of this country is clouded with consistent attempts to hide or ignore White racism, particularly when it conflicts with perceived national interests. For that reason we applaud the Republican Speaker of the House who in an extremely rare instant has labeled an action as being what practically every minority individual in this country already knows to be BLATANT racism. However, in making this unusual declaration (particularly as a Republican conservative), we are nevertheless STRUCK by the simultaneous clarity this Republican party spokesman is providing us with respect to where the importance of addressing racism stands in connection with the Republican party. By continuing to support Trump, Ryan is clearly stating his party’s expectation that minorities should accept the Trump insulting racist dribble with smiles and their votes! Ryan and the Republican party cannot expect minority support while simultaneously ignoring the threat of Trump’s racism. Republicans cannot, nor should they be allowed to expect, both. For Ryan to expect American minority citizens to support a Republican candidate that is now recognized, even by him and other Republican conservatives as being a blatant racist, is absurd and clearly justifies that party receiving no minority support or votes. With all the infighting within the GOP, we believe the Republican Party, which has been off the rails ever since Trump appeared, has now precipitously fallen over the cliff as it is heading into the Republican National Convention in July. And Ryan, a GOP leader, has shown us his true colors: Now that the Republican position has been made clear as to where racism stands in their list of democratic ideals, it is more important for all minorities to register to vote and be prepared to finally shut the Republican party down and out in November. We continue to condemn racism—and we condemn Trump, Ryan, and the racially insensitive actions of the entire Republican Party. (Reprinted from the Afro American)
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
Founded 1910
Rod Doss
Editor & Publisher Stephan A. Broadus Assistant to the Publisher
Allison Palm
Eric Gaines
Office Manager
Advertising Manager
Ulish Carter
Jeff Marion
Managing Editor
Circulation Consultant
John H. Sengstacke Editor & Publisher Emeritus (1912-1997)
“I will float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” The greatest fighter of all times and one of our greatest leaders of all time recently passed away and he will be missed. Or should I say he was already being missed before his death, because Parkinson disease took away most of his communicating skills years ago. There have been a lot of great heavyweight boxing champions over the years, as well as boxing champions, such as Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Rocky Marciano, Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier, and many others. But no one other than Louis and Robinson came close to Muhammad Ali’s, born Cassius Clay, overall brilliance, showmanship and pure talent in the ring. But his contributions to the Black community were just as great outside the ring. First his showmanship boosted boxing to an all time high in sports and the entertainment arena. Yes the heavyweight division was popular, but Ali took it to another level. A level that it had never reached before and never will again. When he had a boxing bout, no matter who it was against it was the biggest entertainment/sporting event of the year. He was bigger than the NBA, Major League Baseball and even the NFL. And I’m not just talking about in the United States. Ali was known, loved and hated throughout the world. Ali didn’t need promoters; he was his greatest promoter. He used the media, with Howard Cosell as his leading man, (Donald Trump has nothing on him), he used his promoters, mostly Don King, he used his opponents, whoever it was, and he used his fans and his haters to raise awareness of the event to record levels. But most importantly he always delivered in the ring, which made him even more popular because his fans lived to see him fight again and his haters
Ulish Carter
Just Sayin’
percent. I couldn’t see going to war killing and running the chance of being killed or maimed for life because the government said we should. What had the Viet Cong or the Communists done to Blacks? Would living under a Communist government be any worse than living in the rural South or most urban cities at the time? There has never been anyone like Ali and probably never will be. And even though the Nation of Islam at the time called all White people devils Ali never consented to that, he had Whites all around him, in his professional life. But just like he never backed off an opponent, taking on all challengers during his reign he never backed off expressing his views about the racist system and people in this country during his lifetime. He confronted it first hand growing up in Louisville, Ky, one of the most racist states in the union. He worked with Blacks and Whites throughout his career to help him become the most popular figure the world has ever known, in sports, politics, or entertainment. There was hardly anyone who didn’t know Ali in any part of the world, whether they hated him or loved him. Having met him a couple of times myself in his visits to Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania my view is that he was one of the nicest persons I’ve ever met. He loved talking, he loved people, and he loved poetry. At a promotional event in the ‘70s I remember him spending the bulk of his time doing improv poetry, basically using people names. I was the only Black person there. They loved it. Because of Parkinson disease Ali hasn’t been the man we know and loved for years, but it was great for the short period we did have him, because there will never be another. Farewell to the GREATEST. Thanks, for the memories.
lived to see him beaten. And even in defeat, which was rare during his prime, he kept everyone waiting for his next fight. Oh, only if we could have seen him fight in the three years during his prime that the government took away from him and us. This is what made Muhammad Ali so great was his honest and direct approach toward racial discrimination in this country and his ability and lack of fear when he spoke about it. He converted to the Nation of Islam religion and was a dedicated Muslim, not like most Christians who say they are but don’t practice it. Ali spoke his mind. When he stated loud and clear across the country and world that he wasn’t going to be drafted into the Army to fight in Vietnam, even though he knew they would have never put him on the front lines or anywhere near Vietnam pretty much like Joe Louis, he still refused to enter stating that he could not see picking up a gun and killing people who had never discriminated against him or called him or his people a nigger. If he were to pick up a gun it would be to fight the racist people in this country who supported the Jim Crow system of segregation in keeping Black people down. He knew that the government wanted to use him to make the case that all Blacks should support the war, in which 45 to 55 percent of the front lines were made up of Blacks. So when he spoke out against the war he spoke for many of us low-income brothers who couldn’t speak for (Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the ourselves. I know I supported him 100 New Pittsburgh Courier.)
Dear White people: Muhammad Ali did not transcend race by Julianne Malveaux (NNPA)—Muhammad Ali was, among other things, a proud Black man. He embraced his Blackness, and often referred to it. He is often quoted for saying he had no quarrel with the Vietcong, but less frequently quoted for saying, in the very next sentence, “the Vietcong never called me a n**r.” Muhammad Ali was unapologetically Black. Why, in death, are White folks claiming that he “transcended” race? White people must think it some kind of compliment to say someone “transcended” race. I consider it an insult. Race is nothing that someone has to overcome, or “rise above.” Race is not an impediment. It is simply a fact. Muhammad Ali is “The Greatest,” he’s amazing, he’s an outstanding boxer, he’s a humanist and he is a Black man. Nothing to transcend. Something just to be. I have never heard anyone say that a White person transcended race because, perhaps, whiteness is not perceived as a handicap, as something to rise above. Whiteness is perceived as the norm, and everything else is perceived as at least somewhat deficient. This manner of thinking is what allows the likes of Donald Trump to disrespect a judge because his parents were born in Mexico. It is the kind of thinking that allows a judge to sentence a teenaged White Stanford
rapist to six months in jail because he would be damaged by jail time. It is the kind of thinking, indeed, that compelled tens of thousands of people to call for the parents of a Black child who fell into a gorilla pen in Cincinnati to be investigated by Child Protective Services. It is plain and simple white skin privilege that allows a White person to speak of an African American icon as having “transcended race.” Why not say that Muhammad Ali has “universal appeal.” Why not speak to his humanism and his kindness? Why is it necessary to implicitly put his blackness down, to compliment the man while going negative on his race? He never went negative. He was essentially, and centrally, a Black man. After all, he converted to the Nation of Islam when he was in his early twenties and had adhered to that faith for the rest of his life. His friendship with Malcolm X was likely the foundation of his unwillingness to be drafted to fight in Vietnam. Many African Americans decried his conversion, but he was so firm in it that he fought all the way to the Supreme Court to protest his elimination from professional boxing. Through it all, Ali was outspoken and defiant. He proclaimed, “I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own;
get used to me.” White folks kind of got used to him, but they attributed their acquiescence to the fact that Ali had “transcended race.” What he actually did was eluded them—he took no tea for their fever. He was a Black man, an unapologetic Black man who cared about humanity because to be Black is to be human, not to be transcendent. There is so much of Muhammad Ali’s life that is inspirational. Yes, he was an amazing boxer, and he was also an amazing human being. He stood for what he believed in, regardless of the cost, losing his prime years of boxing, because of his religious beliefs. He did, as he said, “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” He stung with his fist and with his words. He made us smile, he made us laugh, and he made us inhale with his awesome athleticism. And when he succumbed to Parkinson’s disease, he made us marvel at his grace and dignity. Whatever we have to say about Muhammad Ali, let’s not say that he “transcended race.” He was a Black man. A courageous man. An unapologetically arrogant man. Yes, he had universal appeal. But according to him, he was always Black. (Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy is available at juliannemalveaux.com and Amazon.com.)
Clinton and Trump Point America in two very different directions by Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (GEORGE CURRY MEDIA)—Residents in the District of Columbia voted in the last primary on Tuesday. Bernie Sanders vows to make the case to superdelegates that he is the best choice to take on Donald Trump, as he has every right to do. The media has already dubbed Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee. She has won more votes, more pledged delegates and more primaries. Superdelegates will not overturn the choice of the voters unless the former secretary of state’s email scandal gets much worse. We are headed into a race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Most attention is focused on their personalities. The polls show that Americans feel unfavorably toward both of them. Trump calls Clinton “crooked” and has already begun a campaign of personal insults and slurs. Clinton calls Trump “unfit temperamentally” for the job and has highlighted his changing ideas and lack of policy expertise. Trump wants to be seen as a strong outsider. Clinton wants to be perceived as experienced and responsible. But this election is less a choice about personality than about direction, less about individuals than about movements. Trump presents himself as an insurgent in the Repub-
lican Party, but he carries that party’s right-wing agenda. He thinks climate change is a myth. He’s for massive tax cuts on the wealthy, and for more spending on the military. He has embraced the GOP’s race-baiting politics and carted them to new lows. He has no program for dealing with inequality. He’s built his campaign by pushing off against Hispanics, Muslims, women, environmentalists and African-Americans. He pledges to tear up the Iran nuclear deal, which would add tensions to the most volatile region of the world. Trump sounds refreshing in his skepticism about America’s failed trade policies and about its interventions across the world. But his answers—that he’d cut a better dealare postures, not policy. Clinton, in contrast, offers herself as an experienced reformer who will build on the progress made over the last years, not reverse it. She’ll push for strengthening the Voting Rights Act, comprehensive immigration reform, equal pay for women and a stronger effort to address climate change. She’ll defend progress made on choice, gay rights, civil rights and the environment. She favors lifting the minimum wage and empowering workers to organize. She celebrates the Iran deal and the Paris agreement on climate.
Trump is far more a Caesar than a movement candidate. But he will be supported by and pressed by the conservative movements that drive the Republican right—the Tea Party, the Gun Lobby and the anti-choice, anti-immigrant, anti-gay and anti-Black reactions. Clinton is far more an establishment than a movement candidate. But she will be supported by and pressed by the civil rights, women’s, environmental, LGBT, union, Latino, pro-democracy and anti-Wall Street movements. Sanders was right to run in the Democratic primaries because that is where the reform movement energy gets expressed. The choice in direction is clear. Activists have to decide whether it is preferable to fight against a leader supported and pushed by the right— even if it means supporting a candidate they deem less progressive—or to deny their vote to both nominees. We know the cost of dismay and the power of hope. In 1960, John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon by 112,000 votes, the margin of our hope. In 1968, Hubert Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon by 800,000 votes, the margin of our despair. In 1980, Ronald Reagan won in large part because of Democratic Party divisions over Jimmy Carter. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first AfricanAmerican president on the basis of our hope.
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
JUNE 15-21, 2016
FORUM
Gary Convention: ‘Justice’ in Black and White Susan Smith A showcase of political impotence Commentary
(GEORGE CURRY MEDIA)—Last weekend was supposed to be a remix of the 1972 National Black Political Convention in Gary, Ind. Richard G. Hatcher, who became the first Black mayor of Gary in 1968; Newark, N.J. Mayor Ras J. Baraka, the son of the late poet/activist Amira Baraka, one of the original organizers; and Tuskegee, Ala. Mayor Johnny Ford were among the co-conveners. According to organizers, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had confirmed they would attend. Convention officials had been in touch with Donald Trump’s camp and were convinced that he, too, would land his jet in Gary. But within a week of the event, convention organizers said each presidential candidate said they would not be in attendance and offered to send a “representative” instead. For all of the talk about the importance of the Black vote and, in Donald Trump’s case, “My African American,” it was what Bernie Sanders would characterize as a “hugeeee” slap in the face. To illustrate just how “hugeee,” consider the legwork for the conference performed by the National Policy Alliance (NPA). Its members include: •Blacks in Government (BIG) •Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) •Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (Joint Center) •Judicial Council of the National Bar Association (NBA-JC) •National Association of Black County Officials (NABCO) •National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBCLEO) •National Black Council of School Board Members (NBCSBM) •National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) •National Organization of Black County Officials (NOBCO)
George E. Curry
Commentary •World Conference of Mayors (WCM) NPA’s website declared its “purpose is to give voice to the nearly 10,000 African American elected officials and the more than 3 million African American government employees who serve the nation. Together, these public servants represent not only the interests of the 35 million African Americans, but the interests of all Americans. For example, the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus represent approximately 40 million people of every racial and ethnic group.” Yet, the major political candidates thought so little of African Americans that they were only willing to send a “representative” instead of coming themselves. I can say without fear of contradiction that neither of those candidates would have exhibited such an appalling disrespect toward a White organization of similar standing. As we have already seen, all of the major candidates cleared their schedules to speak before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Sanders spoke there even though he believes “to be successful, we have to be a friend not only to Israel, but to the Palestinian people, where in Gaza, they suffer from an unemployment rate of 44 percent—the highest in the world—and a poverty rate nearly equal to that.” Except for Trump—who had advance warning that he would probably be booed—Republican presidential candidates knew they had to appear before the Conservative Political Action Conference. Ted Cruz was there. Marco Rubio and John Kasich checked in. And so did Ben Carson. They were too afraid to not appear if they wanted to win the conservative vote. Meanwhile, Clinton and Sanders in particular felt no need to show up in Gary. Mayor Johnny Ford, one of the Gary co-conveners, is a Clinton delegate to the Democratic National Convention and he couldn’t persuade her to attend. Sanders has Professor Cornel West, actor Danny Glover and former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous in his corner, yet none of them successfully pressed their candidate to go to Gary. Evidently, when it comes to African American voters, we are Roger Dangerfield—we get no respect. And we don’t demand it. Republicans know that in order to win, they must get a small slice of the Black and Latino vote and augment that with their disenfranchisement efforts in different states. Democrats, who have been winning with a minority of the White vote and an overwhelming majority of people of color for the last half-century, simply cannot win without the Black vote. As the Washington Post pointed out, “in the 1992 election, 13 percent of the Democratic vote came from Black voters. In 2014, it was 23 percent.” Since Lyndon B. Johnson’s election in 1964, Republicans have carried the majority of White voters every year except 1996, the year Bill Clinton carried the non-Hispanic White vote over Bob Dole by one percentage point, according to Gallup. In addition to questioning the major presidential candidates, a goal of the Gary conference was to develop a Black Agenda and force the presidential nominees to respond to it. But the convention got off to a rocky start. I was asked to moderate the convention’s Presidential Forum, but was told of the cancellation only days before the convention was to begin. I was also asked to moderate an intergenerational Town Hall, but that, too, was cancelled. With things falling apart, I decided to skip the convention. Before plans for the Presidential Forum fell into disarray, Mayor Johnny Ford told me: “Every presidential candidate has been invited. If they are interested in Black votes, they ought to want to come out and hear from us. We hear from them all the time.” Apparently, they are content to keep it that way. And we keep accepting it. (George E. Curry is President and CEO of George Curry Media, LLC. He is the former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA. He can be reached through his Web site, georgecurry.com.)
(GEORGE C U R R Y MEDIA)— Their names will—or should — b e c o m e household words: Brian Banks and Brock Turner. Both are athletes. One, Banks, is Black, and Turner is White. Both were accused and convicted of rape. Banks was 16 and still in high school in 2003 when he was accused and convicted. He spent a year in juvenile detention before his case came up and faced a sentence of 41 years to life but a judge eventually gave him six years. The clincher: he did not commit the rape. He served five years and two months of his sentence before he was released. His accuser recanted her story in 2012, but by then, the life of his once promising football player had been forever altered. He missed graduating from high school and, of course, could not go to college, though he had committed to play at the University of Southern California (USC). Turner is 20, a student at Stanford University, and a champion swimmer. He was found in the act of raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster, and yes, he was convicted on three felony counts of rape for a crime that happened in 2015. But he received a sentence of only six months, though he faced the possibility of 14 years. Santa Clara County Judge Aason Persky thought that prison time would be damaging to the young man. His exact words, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him.” Do tell. Not only has Turner received a 6month sentence, but it is six months with the possibility of parole. And ...his father has pleaded with the court for even more leniency. Neither athlete had a criminal history. Both were good students. Both were star athletes. But one was Black and one was White. The Turner sentence has sparked outrage; literally thousands of people have signed petitions protesting the sentence and demanding that Judge Persky be removed from the bench, but it is not likely that the outrage will have any effect.
People are saying that the 6month sentence is unfortunate, but that the “syst e m
worked.” The same system, one must suppose, that worked for Ethan Couch, the young White youth who pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter. Prosecutors sought a 20-year prison sentence, but Couch received no jail time. His attorney argued that he was sick; that his affluence had affected his ability to make good decisions—like not driving drunk. When Brian Banks was accused and convicted of rape, and sentenced to six years in prison, there was no outrage. And it actually took some time between the recantation of Banks’ accuser and his release from jail. There was no hurry, no concern about how prison and indeed this entire experience, had affected, or would affect, this young man. Not only has Turned gotten, in effect, a free pass, but the woman whom he raped has been ignored. She pleaded for justice. Her long letter was read to the judge, to the court, and now, to the public, but it has been for naught. The rich, White kid has virtually gotten away with rape. Banks now works for the National Football League, not as a player, but in the NFL offices. He still remembers the all-White jury pronouncing him guilty and the people in the courtroom that day regarding him with disdain. Nobody, it seems, cried at Banks’ conviction and nobody cared that his life was ruined. It is the lay of the land in these United States: justice for some, not justice for all, especially if you are an AfricanAmerican male. Someone said that Turner’s life is forever ruined. He has been ordered to register as a sex offender. He will not be able to compete as a swimmer anymore, and he probably will not be able to go to college. Or maybe he will. (Rev. Susan K Smith is an ordained minister who lives in Columbus, Ohio. Reach her by emailing revsuekim@sbcglobal.net)
Over-protecting the prophet Recently, in Nigeria a Chris- J. Pharoah tian pastor’s wife was stabbed to death for insulting “The Prophet” Muhammad. Supposedly the woman said, “The Prophet” Muhammad was not important. Under Sharia Law insulting “The Prophet” is a capital offense. But two suspects were arrested. That means even Sharia has vigilantes. A spokesman for the Christian Association of Nigeria believes the police tried to cover up the crime. He also said the killing was a part of a larger problem the Nigerian government hasn’t addressed properly. The spokesman didn’t elaborate on the larger problem in Nigeria, but these types of “insulting Islam” charges have been human rights concerns elsewhere because the larger problem was never the insult. In 2013 Raif Badawi, a rights activist in Saudi Arabia, was convicted of insulting Islam and violating the Kingdom’s anti-cyber crime laws. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes. He appealed the verdict and was retried. After the retrial he was sentenced to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes. Badawi’s wife asked, “How is it possible they could take a sentence that was already harsh and make it harsher?” On the surface the answer is simple; to deter others from insulting Islam, but Amnesty International said Badawi was a “prisoner of conscience” who is guilty of nothing more than daring to create a public forum for discussion. Badawi created what the Saudi government labeled a liberal website. Apparently, Badawi used this site to call for reforming a system controlled by religious clergy “who violated the basic human rights of Saudi citizens”. The website also promoted critical thinking. And that got him charged with “insulting Islam”. In 2014 Mohamed Cheikh was sentenced to death in Mauritania. His crime was writing an article that was critical of “The Prophet” Muhammad. His article was actually about
how religious texts and narratives of the life of “The Prophet” Muhammad are used to justify slavery. In 1981 Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery, but it wasn’t officially criminalized until 2007. In 2012 The Guardian (US edition) ran a headline: Slavery Still Shackles Mauritania, 31 years after its abolition. The reporter stated up to 800,000 people in a nation of 3.5 million remained in slavery. Mohamed Cheikh argued for new interpretations of Islamic teachings. In that case the issue was slavery and not “insulting The Prophet”. Now in Nigeria the Christian woman wasn’t charged by the government for insulting the prophet so the motives of the suspects have to be reexamined. The alleged insult was “The Prophet” was not important. This is a faith fact from a Christian that has no intent to insult. But according to Daniel Akbari, an attorney certified by the Iranian Bar Association, “The range of actions that constitute insulting Muhammad is very broad. For example, discussing the fact that Muhammad married Aisha when she was 6 years old—even though this is recorded in the Hadith—is considered an insult.” If that’s the case this separates the suspects from defenders of their faith to over-protectors of “The Prophet” from facts they find insulting. I’ve heard of honor killings, but over-protection kills? Immediately following this murder, Christians demanded for the authorities to do more to protect them, because in 2015 more Christians were killed in Nigeria than in the entire world combined according to a study by a religious violence monitoring group. And if over-protection kills are the larger problem the Nigerian government hasn’t addressed properly, it’s most likely because they don’t know how.
Doss
Commentary
(J. Pharoah Doss is a contributor to the New Pittsburgh Courier. He blogs at jpharoahdoss at blogspot.com.)
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Marc H. Morial
To Be Equal
Muhammad Ali: A fighter in and out of the ring (GEORGE CURRY MEDIA)—“It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.”— Muhammad Ali, Championship Boxer, American Activist, International Icon, 1942-2016 How would you approach the colossal task of describing a man who once boasted that he, “wrestled with alligators, tussled with a whale, done handcuffed lightning and throw thunder in jail. Only last week murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick, so mean he made medicine sick”? I think that’s a man you allow to define himself—in his own colorful words—which is what Muhammad Ali did his entire life and throughout his legendary boxing career. Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born where he was buried: Louisville, Ky. His mother was a cook and house cleaner and his father was a frustrated painter with big dreams, dreams he would pass on to both his sons along with this constant refrain—“I am the greatest.” Ali’s legendary boxing career began with a beloved, stolen bicycle. The $60 red Schwinn was a Christmas gift from his father, and it would set the wheels in motion for an angry 12year-old kid who claimed he would “whup” the person who stole his bike, to step into a ring, pick up boxing gloves and fight for justice. It was a defining moment and a trope that would shape his professional and personal life. Ali was a great fighter, but his fights were never limited to the inside of a boxing ring. Ali’s career was teeming with personal success, but every win in and out of the ring was a win for every man or woman who ever felt attacked, or had to bob-and-weave past the ferocious jabs of social injustice. Ali was a professional athlete, but he used that platform to make an impact that transcended pugilism. Famous people often take up causes, but Ali is the greatest because he stood up for his principles and made consequential sacrifices on behalf of those causes. After winning a gold medal in the Rome Olympics and beating Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship, the newly crowned 22-year-old champ renounced his given name, Cassius Clay, as a “slave name” and revealed that he was a member of the Nation of Islam. His new faith and his new name drew intense controversy and lost him many fans, but he persevered and successfully defended his title every time he stepped in the ring. In 1967, Ali was drafted to serve in the Army during the height of our nation’s war in Vietnam. He refused to serve, saying, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” and requested conscientious-objector status from fighting against people he said never lynched him or put dogs on him. No slight of hand in the ring, head fake or lightening quick shuffle was as bold as Ali’s refusal to fight in a war he did not believe in. The reaction was swifter and harder than the punches of any opponent Ali had ever faced. Many called him a traitor. Ali was convicted of draft evasion, stripped of his heavyweight title and banned from boxing. While he wasn’t locked up for sticking to his conviction, he was locked out of the sport the brought him to fame. He sacrificed three years of his career and untold millions rather than renounce his anti-war stance. Ali would return to the ring in 1970 and would go on to thrill boxing fans, supporters, and critics, with his skill in the ring. Loud and unapologetic, Ali would continue to speak out against social injustice and preach the gospel of Black pride. Never forgetting those who were still “catching hell” while he had it made, Ali understood that “service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” The 12-year-old boy who lost his bike at the hands of an unknown thief may have changed his name, but never wavered from his purpose: to seek justice. His fight for justice was never his alone; it was for everyone. It was during this period of his career that I, a star-struck 13-year-old, was thrilled to meet Ali at an Alpha Phi Alpha convention in Milwaukee. I was awed by him and have considered him a hero all my life. One of my prized possessions is an autographed Ali boxing glove, a cherished wedding gift from my wife. Later, I was honored to serve as an Ali Center board member for several years. Ali laid his gloves down for the last time in 1980. After retiring, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. As the progressive condition robbed him of his poetry, stinging provocations and physical dexterity, he became a more cherished figure, here and abroad, and the accolades poured in for breadth of Ali’s career as a boxer and activist. He was the first boxer on a box of Wheaties. He lit the Olympic flame during the Atlanta Olympics. President Bush presented Ali with the Medal of Freedom, and the National Urban League honored Ali with the highest commendation presented by the organization by giving him an Equal Opportunity Day (EOD) Award. He was my idol and his courage has been a beacon for so many in my generation. Ali fought his last battle against his most vicious foe in the public eye for more than 30 years. While we mourn the time of his departure, we are reminded of what made him “the greatest of all time.” We should all draw comfort from knowing that he competed well. We take pride in the fact that he finished the race. And we recognize that we are all better because he kept the faith. Rest in peace, champ. (Marc H. Morial, former mayor of New Orleans, is president and CEO of the National Urban League.)
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NATIONAL
JUNE 15-21, 2016 NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
1 year after church shooting, much is the same in Charleston by Jeffrey Collins and Jonathan Drew Associated Press Writers
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP)—The names of Confederate generals still adorn street signs in Charleston’s public housing projects, and a heroic waterfront statue dedicated to the Confederate Defenders of Charleston still faces Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Just down from the Emanuel AME church—where nine Black parishioners studying their Bibles were gunned down one year ago—a statue of Vice President John C. Calhoun, a staunch defender of slavery, towers above a park. After the June 17, 2015, massacre, South Carolina lawmakers did what many people thought was impossible to achieve and removed the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia. Across the country, as far away as Alaska, officials moved to strip streets, college dormitories and even lakes of the names of Confederates, secessionists and public figures who championed segregation. But a year later, little has changed in Charleston, the city where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans first set foot in North America. It was here that the work of plantation slaves made the city one of the wealthiest in the nation before the Civil War. It was here where the bombardment of Fort Sumter threw the nation into that war in 1861. A section of a street in front of the white stucco Emanuel AME church may have been renamed “Mother Emanuel Way Memorial District,” but all of Charleston’s Confederate commemorations remain intact—and longstanding racial issues endure. “I think a lot of things happened out of the immediate emotions of how horrific the killings were. That’s the human side of folks and the politeness, particularly of Charleston, that we just had to do something. But then when reality checks us— the question is what is that going to cost us in terms of changing the way we think and do things?” said Dot Scott, president of the Charleston branch of the NAACP. A White man who police said hated Blacks and posted photos of himself with the Confederate flag has been charged with killing the nine parishioners. “It was truly an attack on a race of people,” Malcolm Graham, the brother of victim Cynthia Hurd, said of the shootings. “After 400 years, the African-American
MOURNING THE VICTIMS—S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, center right, joins hands with Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley, left, and Sen. Tim Scott, right, at a memorial service at Morris Brown AME Church for the people killed during a prayer meeting inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. on June 18, 2015. (David Goldman/AP Photo) community still is suffering and dealing with these types of issues relating to race.” So why was there not a push to remove Confederate symbols in Charleston following the church attack? Bernard Powers, a Black College of Charleston history professor, noted that it took a 15-year struggle to get the flag removed from the Statehouse grounds and that it happened only after the slayings. “People see what it took, and ultimately that flag was removed because nine people were murdered,” said Powers, who co-authored a book about the massacre called “We are Charleston.” “I think people appreciate how deeply entrenched the reverence is for the Confederacy. For a lot of folks, it is a civil religion.” As soon as South Carolina lawmakers voted to pull down the flag, they shut the door on any other changes. Gov. Nikki Haley had pushed for the flag to come down but feared that going further would incite fights across the state, so she asked lawmakers to protect all the other flags and monuments while removing the Statehouse flag. “Our goal was to hold everything together. Let’s do what we can, let’s be kind and accepting and understand history is
just that—it’s history,” she said. So a statue of former Gov. and U.S. Sen. “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman still stands on the Statehouse grounds. Tillman once famously praised a lynch mob that killed seven Black Republicans in 1876 to
“The flag may be down in front of the Statehouse of South Carolina, but the landscape of South Carolina is still full—bursting—with symbols honoring the Confederacy…And they’re going to be there.” UNC history professor W. FITZHUGH BRUNDAGE
intimidate others from voting. The statue calls him a “friend and leader of the common people” but makes no mention of the violence he bragged about for decades, something Black lawmakers would like to see added. Changing a monument requires a two-thirds vote, and South Carolina and House Speaker Jay Lucas has vowed to block changes of any kind. That means the Citadel, South Carolina’s Charleston-based military college,
has to keep the Confederate flag up in the campus chapel among the flags of the 50 states and other territories, even though the school’s board of visitors voted to take it down. It’s not just South Carolina. North Carolina passed a bill protecting its Confederate monuments, and other Southern states also made it harder to alter monuments or change the names of buildings honoring prominent Confederates. Like many southern states, just about every North Carolina county has a monument extolling the bravery and honor of its Confederate soldiers. University of North Carolina history professor W. Fitzhugh Brundage, who is White, said he understands Blacks who feel alienated seeing statues in public places honoring those who fought a war in large part to keep them enslaved. “That is a reminder that this state’s history includes an organized effort to keep people like you, African-Americans, enslaved at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars of destruction,” he said. Though the monuments remain, the Confederate fervor may be fading decade by decade in Charleston. The area commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Civil War earlier this decade with subdued events at Fort Sumter and elsewhere, compared to the celebratory mood surrounding the 100th anniversary. And there was a new emphasis on slavery as a cause of the war and the roles that Blacks played in the conflict. Daniel Turner, a 57-year-old wastewater treatment plant operator from Charlotte, North Carolina, visiting Charleston’s Confederate Museum, said he realizes why the Confederate flag is offensive to many. “I understand the flag,” Turner said. “There are bad people who used it. But the monuments are different. They are a part of history. We can’t change that.” Brundage said he expects skirmishes over Confederate monuments to continue to pop up across the South, but that a full-scale removal of Confederate symbols still seems a long way off, even generations removed from the Civil War. “The flag may be down in front of the Statehouse of South Carolina, but the landscape of South Carolina is still full— bursting—with symbols honoring the Confederacy,” the professor said. “And they’re going to be there.” Drew reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Alex Sanz contributed to this report from Charlotte, North Carolina, and Bruce Smith contributed from Charleston.
New Pittsburgh Courier
Achievers Society B6
National
LIFESTYLES JUNE 15-21, 2016
www.newpittsburghcourier.com
helps local chuch celebrate B2
McClurkin
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Debbie Norrell
Lifestyles Report
Summer reading list For as long as I can remember I have loved to read. There is nothing like escaping into the pages of a good book. Not too long ago I read Beyoncé by J. Randy Taraborrelli, when I told a friend about it they suggested that I read one of his other books “Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness.” The book is over 600 pages and anyone who likes the back story of the music industry would enjoy this read. I am almost finished with it and can now move on to the rest of my summer reading list. Next up “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson. This is also a suggested read by a good friend. This national bestseller is the epic story of America’s great migration. Toni Morrison says the book is profound, necessary and an absolute delight to read. It is a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. This book is also over 600 pages long. It looks like I am going to be real busy reading. I typically read under the dryer at the hair salon, before I go to bed at night and I like reading on the airplane. I am trying to get back to my reading instead of playing Candy Crush. This is no short list if I do say so myself. Here are the rest of the books that I am going to try and read this summer. Some of these books I picked up several months ago and they have just been sitting on my desk. I started the “New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander but it didn’t grab me. I know that this is supposed to be a very important book about mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The back cover says that once in a great while a book comes along that changes the way we see the world and helps to fuel a nationwide social movement. I really want to read this book. On my list after that one is “Before I Forget” by B. Smith and Dan Gasby. This is about B. Smith’s fight with Alzheimer’s. She and Dan were in Pittsburgh about a month ago for a book signing at Barnes and Noble. Dan Gasby gave a moving talk about how he met B. Smith and what Alzheimer’s has done to their lives. Based on the reviews that I have read about this book I recommend it for anyone who has dealt with someone suffered from Alzheimer’s. The last on my list is “The Lucky Years” by David B. Agus, M.D. I heard about this book on a radio talk show. Here are some of bullet points that drove me to purchase this book: lose weight effortlessly without a trendy diet, reverse aging to look, feel and physically be ten years younger, use simple technologies to avoid or control chronic conditions like pain, depression, high blood pressure and diabetes. This book needs to be moved to the top of my list. If you are looking for a good book try one on my list. (Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com)a
COMMENTATOR—Lesely Crawford
CROWD FAVORITE
BLACK AND WHITE LINEN
TUX TRIMMED IN BLING
Butterfly Wishes completion of new beginnings by Debbie Norrell Lifestyles Editor
ED AND DENISE RAIFORD
On May 14, at the Doubletree Monroeville Convention Center Butterfly Wishes presented their Seventh Annual Fashion Show and Dinner to nearly 500 fashion minded people. It has been reported that some guests wait for this show each year. They love to shop with the vendors who bring fabulous hats out of Ohio, beautiful one of a-kind-fashions from all over the world and unique jewelry from Denise Raiford and Butterfly Wishes. Once again Lesely Crawford served as commentator to the multiple scene style show: casual, church, a taste of Africa, after five, a showcase of Butterfly Wishes jewelry and a grand finale featuring all models in white ensembles. This year there was an added attraction, Patty LaBelle impersonator, Shelley LaVelle. She nailed the moves and look of Patty as she lip-synced a few of Patty LaBelle’s most popular songs. The creator of Butterfly Wishes, Denise Raiford said the show began in the Homewood Library Auditorium and now it has gone to a large venue in Monroeville. Each year Butterfly Wishes gives back to organizations who have made a difference in the community who reach out and help others. This year’s recipient was The Center for Spirituality where Gina Hickman is the executive director. The mission statement of the center says they respond to the needs of people suffering from addiction by fostering the spiritual process of the twelve-step program. They provide services that will nurture ongoing healing and growth and collaborate with other stakeholders in the broader community. The 2016 Butterfly Wishes models included: Edward Raiford, Denisha Raiford, Kenya Owens, Elizabeth Hillard, Reverend Katrina Organ, Charles Pollard, Cynthia Davison, Hazel Jackson, Marytteta Johnson, Harold Jackson, Monica Jackson, Mark Rozier and Lori Brown.
LAVELLE OR LABELLE
FROM THE BUTTERFLY WISHES COLLECTION
OUT OF AFRICA
FROM THE CENTER OF SPIRITUALITY—Joyce Macon, Gina Hickman and Clara Jones
THE BUTTERFLY WISHES MODELS (Photos by Debbie Norrell)
CONNECT THE DOTS
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RELIGION
JUNE 15-21, 2016
Praise & Worship
Church Circuit Unity in the Community
HILLCREST SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH
JUNE 16—Unity Baptist Church of Braddock, on Braddock Ave., will hold a Tent Reival from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nightly speaker will be Rev. Dr. David Wingfield featuring praise and worship groups.
2340 Wylie Ave., Pgh., PA 15219 412-391-4334 412-566-8787
“Be Encouraged”
Elder Christopher C. Thompson Power Hour Sabbath...............8:15 A.M. Sabbath School........................9:00 A.M. Divine Worship......................11:00 A.M. AYS One Hour Before Sunset Prayer Meeting Wednesday......7:30 P.M.
Pastorial Anniversary
JUNE 17—Shiloh Community Missionary Baptist Church, proudly presents its 25th Pastorial Anniversary of Hubert D. Hutcherson, at the Double Tree at the Hilton 101 Mall Blvd., Monroeville at 6 p.m. Program starts at 7 p.m. 412-441-8710.
ST. BENEDICT THE MOOR CATHOLIC CHURCH Crawford & Centre Ave. Pgh., PA 15219 412-281-3141
Hymns for Him
Mass Sunday 9:00 A.M. & Noon Sunday (Gospel Choir Mass) Noon www.stbtmchurch.org
METROPOLITAN BAPTIST CHURCH 22 Sampsonia Street, Northside Pittsburgh, PA 15212 412-231-2554 FAX 412-231-6395 Rev. Lacy F. Richardson, Ph.D., Pastor Church School.................................9:30 A.M. Worship Service.................8:00 & 10:45 A.M. Bible Study/ Prayer Wednesday...................6:30/7:30 P.M. www.metropolitanbaptistchurch.com metropolitanbaptist2224@gmail.com
SIXTH MOUNT ZION BAPTIST CHURCH 6556 Shetland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15206 (412) 441-7839 Church School Worship Service Wednesday Night Bible Study
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
9:00 a.m. 10:15 a.m. 6:00 p.m.
East Liberty Presbyterian Church Rev. Dr. Randy Bush, Senior Pastor 412-441-3800 116 S. Highland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
www.cathedralofhope.com
Summer Worship........10 a.m.
PASTOR DONNIE McCLURKIN
LEADERSHIP TEAM—Pastor Marvin and First Lady Charisse Moreland.
McClurkin helps local church celebrate by Jackie McDonald For New Pittsburgh Courier
He took to the Podium and immediately began an acapella rendition of two well known Hymns satisfying everyone’s desire to hear this Grammy Award winner’s claim to fame. However, Pastor Donnie McClurkin did not come for a musical concert but to preach at the request of his special friends Pastor Marvin and First Lady Charisse Moreland to help celebrate the 40th Church Anniversary of Deliverance Temple Church Of God In Christ in Aliquippa. But to accommodate the large crowd Pastor Moreland held this service at the beautiful Wildwood Chapel on Jack Street in Aliquippa, Pastored by Richard Liptak. Pastor McClurkin served as an assistant to Pastor
Join our growing Praise and Worship Church Community
Marvin L Winans at Perfecting Church, Detroit for more than a decade. He was ordained in 2001 and established Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, NY. His membership has grown to nearly 3000 since it’s inception. Though known for his singing, he feels his greatest strengths and calling lie in pastoral ministry. His preached Word, taken from Matthew 13 focused on “getting an understanding of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, with balance, not succumbing to the religious traditions of church rhetoric and the animation of many preachers.” He further encouraged the congregation to allow God to deal with their heart, turn away from sin and be totally healed. His message touched the hearts of those in attendance, many came forth to the alter as all three Pastors prayed for
them. Before and after the benediction, Pastor McClurkin sat, at length, at the piano
to share his music ministry with all the young musicians who participated in the service.
100th Anniversary
JUNE 22/26—Zion Baptist Church McKeesport,1300 Locust St., will celebrate its 100th church anniversary. On Wednesday, June 22 Prayer and Praise will begin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday June 23 is youth night at 6:30 p.m.. Friday June 24 Craig Giles will be the guest preacher at 7 p.m. The culminating events will be on Sunday, June 26. The service at 10:30 a.m. will feature the preacher Rev. Richard W. Truss, the pastor of the host church. The 100th anniversary banquet will be held at the Georgetown Centre 526 East Bruceton Rd., Pleasant Hills at 3:30 p.m. The guest preacher will be Rev. William C. Callaway, Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Clairton. For more information please call 412-664-9832 or by email zionbaptistmckeesport@ gmail.com. Reverend Richard W. Truss is the senior pastor.
Kennywood Park
LEANDING A HELPING HAND—Pastor Marvin Moreland and Pastor Donnie McClurkin
JUNE 19—The Education Department of Pentecostal Temple Church will be selling tickets at a discounted price of $23.00 for Kennywood Park that can be used for the following dates—June 19, July 6, July 8, July 18,and Aug. 9, which will be PT day at the park. Come out join us in the pavilion with your basket for great fellowship and fun. For information /tickets call the church office at 412-361-7000.
Praise, Worship & Candlelight Service
DIGNITARIES—From left: Pastor Lola Thorpe, State Mother Wilma Beauford, and Pastor Clinton Beauford.
JUNE 22—Following are the services to be held in celebrating the Zion Baptist Church’s 10th Anniversary. Theme “We’ve Come This Far By Faith” at 7 p.m.
Men’s Day
JUNE 23—Second Baptist Church,108 W. 12th Ave., Homestead. At 7 p.m. 10th Annual Men’s Day. Rev. William Hill, Pastor, New Pilgrim. Friday, Rev. George Williams, Pastor, First Baptist.
Worship Service
JUNE 24—Worship Service featuring Rev. Craig Giles, son of Zion Baptist Church, and Pastor of Triumph Baptist Church, Sewickley, Pa.; accompanied by his congregation and choir, 7 p.m.
For rate information, call 412-4818302, ext. 128. We are looking to feature
Prayer Breakfast
LEARNING THE TRADE—Young musicians with Pastor McClurkin.
our positive youth in the church communities. You can e-mail, fax or mail their bios and photo to:
JUNE 25—Bethlehem Baptist Church Women’s Ministrdy Prayer Breakfast at the Comfort Inn Hotel & Conference Center, 699 Rodi Road, Penn Hills, at 9 a.m. Pastor.
Annual Deacon Day
JUNE 26—New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1434 Juniata St., is greets you in the joy of the Lord and send our special invitation for all to join the New Zion family as we celebrate our Annual Deacons Day at 3 p.m. Rev. Walter C. Butler, pastor of Commission Church of Pittsburgh will be the guest preacher for this special occasion. The theme is “For a Season of Change, Try Prayer”—James 5:16. Rev. Dr. Samuel W. Williams, pastor. For more information call 412322-3838.
Morning Worship Anniversary
JUNE 26—10:30 a.m. Rev. Richard W. Truss, pastor, preaching. Anniversary banquet, Georgetown Centre, Pleasant Hills, Pa, Rev. W. C. Callaway, pastor of Mt. Olive First Baptist Church, Clairton, banquet preacher, 3 p.m. Tickets available: $40 donation.
New Pittsburgh Courier 315 E. Carson St. Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Fax: 412-481-1360 email: egaines@newpittsburghcourier.com
JUNE 19—Pastor Deryck Tines & the Lemington Chorale present Hymns for Him on Father’s Day at St. Andrew Episcopal Church, 2234 Waverly St. Highland Park at 4:30 p.m.
MINISTERING THE WORD—Pastor Marvin Moreland ministering during Alter Call. (Photos by Jackie MdDonald)
(To have items listed on the Church Circuit, email information at least two weeks in advance to newsroom@newpitts burghcourier.com.)
PEOPLE
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
JUNE 15-21, 2016
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Black Male Leadership Development Institute recognizes young leaders
GRADUATES—The graduating class of the Urban League BMLDI 2016. (Photos by J. L. Martello) PITTSBURGH—Black Male Leadership Development Institute held its annual Rights of Passage and Recognition Ceremony at the August Wilson Center. The Institute brings Af-
rican American boys, in grades 9 through 12, together to participate in a year-long program designed to increase educational and leadership opportunities, expose them to a challeng-
ing curriculum and a rich set of activities that enhance their self-awareness and world view. The celebration will include family and community members and a special keynote ad-
dress by Dr. Christopher Howard, the new President of Robert Morris University. BMLDI, which is co-sponsored by Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and
CHRISTOPHER HOWARD, President of RMU was the keynote ESTHER BUSH president and CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Urban speaker. League.
CHESTER THOMPSON—BML- RYAN SCOTT—BMLDI Co-DiDI Co-director does the BMLDI rector speaks about the occayear in review. sion.
DERYA JACOBS vice president, and senior vice-provost RMU
JAYLIN CLARK master of ceremonies BMLDI Alumnus, 2015.
SPECIAL HONOR—Ryan Scott puts the BMLDI metal on Louis Cal- A SPECIAL HONOR—Ryan Scott the Co-director of BMLDI puts the houn. BMLDI metal around Eric Carter’s neck.
Robert Morris University is in its eighth year. The Institute began with a weeklong residential program on the RMU campus. Staffed by a faculty consisting of mostly African American leaders from the region and beyond whose diverse backgrounds span the range from the pulpit to the boardroom, these sessions are designed to inspire and motivate the participants as well as to provide a venue for adult male role models to share their stories. The week-long program was followed by The BMLDI Saturday Institute which is an ongoing year round series of activities
and workshops on leadership development, community service, advocacy, college and career preparation, networking, presentation skills, character education and more. The institute engaged participants in ongoing programming throughout the school year with the help of grants from the Heinz Endowments and Buhl Foundation. Black Male Leadership Development Institute is a non-profit program that operates entirely on grants and donations. For more information on the program or how to donate, contact: Ryan Scott at 412-227-4241.
ENTERTAINER New Pittsburgh Courier
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JUNE 15-21, 2016
www.newpittsburghcourier.com
Cover To Cover
‘I Almost Forgot About You’
by Terri Schlichenmeyer For New Pittsburgh Courier
In every love life, there’s always The One That Got Away. He got away because you were both too young, too scared, too broke, or too different. Things were said that couldn’t be unsaid, done that shouldn’t have been done. It just didn’t work out then, but now…? In the new novel, “I Almost Forgot about You” by Terry McMillan, he’ll never get away twice. It should have been an ordinary run-of-the-mill Monday. That’s the way it started for optometrist Georgia Young: new prescriptions, return clients, follow-ups, and one new Monday-morning patient who—big surprise!—turned out to be the daughter of a man Georgia dated in college and had fallen for. She never told the guy she loved him, though, and she never would…be-
cause he was dead. Shaken to the core, Georgia began to think about all the men she’d slept with, and the ones she’d fallen in love with. How would life have changed if she’d stayed with any one of them? She’d been divorced twice; would that number have been higher or lower? Would she have more than her two daughters, live somewhere other than San Francisco, travel, cook for two? At nearly 55 years old, she figured she’d never find love again, but she at least needed closure. With the urging of her BFF, Wanda, Georgia made a list of the men she’d once loved, and she promised herself she’d find them - not because she wanted to rekindle anything, but because she had so many questions for them and for herself. Finding her ex-husbands was easy. Michael happened to be moving back to California, and Niles was out of jail for his white-collar crime; both were happy and had moved on with their lives. Georgia was even able to stop hating them. But Abraham wouldn’t be easy to find. Neither would Lance. There were two Jameses, two Harolds, Thomas, Horace, and others, and one white guy that Wanda remembered, and added to the list. Georgia knew she’d never find them all, especially since she had a business, a busy family, and a life to live. Still, they were all men she’d remember forever. But would they remember her? Show of hands: who hasn’t spent girlfriend-time talking about boyfriends? Probably nobody, so “I Almost Forgot about You” is a comfortably familiar story. That’s not to say that it’s same-old, though. Like she did in many of her other novels, author McMillan gives readers a cast of strong-minded, smart women who lean on other strong-minded, smart women. (“I Almost Forgot about You” by Terry McMillan, c.2016, Crown, $27 $36 Canada, 358 pages.)
New Horizon Theater ends its season with humor, heart in ‘The Old Settler’ by Genea L. Webb For New Pittsburgh Courier
When Rita Gregory learned that New Horizon Theater was ending its season with John Henry Redwood’s “The Old Settler,” she knew she had to be a part of it. “John Henry was a good friend of mine and we were going to do the play in New York but I had cancer so when I was given this opportunity I really wanted to do it,” explained Gregory who portrayed Elizabeth Borny. “There are so many young people out here pursuing theater, but we have to have more work for older women in theater.” Set in World War II Harlem, ‘The Old Settler” tells the story of 55 year old spinster (or as they were called in those days, an old settler) rents a room in her apartment to handsome South Carolina transplant, JONATHAN BERRY WITH RITA GREGORY (Photos supplied by New Horizon Theater) Husband Witherspoon, who comes to the Big Apple in search of his girlfriend, Lou Bessie Preston, who is blinded by the worldly sophistication of New York City and is eager to shed her southern shackles. There is a kink in Husband’s plan as he finds himself falling for Elizabeth. “I know what it feels like to have your heart in two places,” said Jonathan Berry who portrayed Husband in the production. Berry played the title role in New Horizon Theater’s previous play, “The Ballad of Emmett Till. “This character wasn’t as heavy as playing Emmett Till but I enjoyed it. I know the character because my father’s from the South. I model all of my Southern characters on my dad and other Southern family.” In addition to Husband, Elizabeth’s 53 -year-old sister, Quilly McGrath (who was portrayed to perfection STRONG WOMEN—From left: Brenda Marks, Rita Gregory and Melessie Clark. by Brenda Marks), also resides in the apartment. Quilly doesn’t like Husband living with them and gets really disjointed when Husband and Elizabeth start a romantic relationship. The new relationship strains the ominous tension between the sisters and exposes the fact that Elizabeth’s boyfriend dumped her for Quilly and the two got married. Quilly is living with Elizabeth because her husband left her for a neighbor. “The Old Settler” was first staged in 1996 and was selected by the Russian Theatre Union to be performed in Sheleykovo, Russia and in Moscow with both an American and Russian cast. Houston-born actresses and real-life sisters Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen produced, directed and appeared in the April 2001 television premiere of JONATHAN BERRY GREETS MELESSIE CLARK. the play on PBS Hollywood
CAST—Brenda Marks, and Rita Gregory, sitting. Jonathan Berry and Melessie Clark standing.
Presents. New York-born John Henry Redwood, III was an actor and playwright whose work reflected different racial and ethnic experiences in America. He graduated from St. John’s University and earned a Master’s degree from Fordham University. “The Old Settler” gained Redwood national recognition when it earned an American Theater Critics Association Award and was listed in American Theater magazine as one the 10-most -produced plays in the United States for two subsequent seasons. Redwood died in 2003 at the age of 60 at his home in Philadelphia. The story’s celebration of older African American women and its addressing the themes of age, strength, forgiveness, love between a younger man and an older woman, a young woman reinventing herself, and sisters reconciling their estranged past is what drew New Horizon Theater to the work. “We tried to get a production that would go over well with the audience and this one has,” explained New Horizon Theater chairperson, Joyce Meggerson-Moore. “Everyone meshed well together and everyone enjoyed the comedy of the show.” Audience members left the theater laughing and with smiles on their faces. “The play was really good and funny. It was very enjoyable,” said audience member Cassie Lemon-Johnson. Originally New Horizon Theater was supposed to end its season with “From My Hometown” but the production to be put on hold due to personal issues between the actors. As a result a replacement production was needed. “We needed seasoned actors that could come in with little rehearsal time and do the show,” Meggerson-Moore said. “We chose the actors based on that and Melessie Clark (a recent Point Park University graduate who made her New Horizon Theater debut as Lou Bessie) was a new find for us.” “The Old Settler was funded in part by The Heinz Endowments, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Pittsburgh Foundation and Chris Moore Communications, Inc. In lieu of New Horizon Theater’s summer fundraiser, Summer Jamz, Chris Moore Communications, Inc. will be presenting The Manhattans featuring Gerald Alston on Saturday, August 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. (Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting www.newhorizontheater.org.)
SISTERS—Brendan Marks, sitting, Rita Gregory, standing.
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
June Three Citiparks Farmers Markets JUNE—Squirrel Hill, Carrick and Beechview sites join four markets currently open All markets sell farm-fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese and baked goods, while several locations also sell flowers, small gifts and gardening items. Four Citiparks markets have been operating since early May: East Liberty (Monday afternoons), South Side (Tuesday afternoons), Downtown Pittsburgh (Friday middays) and North Side (Friday afternoons).For more information, visit www.Citiparks.net or call 412-422-6523.
CCAC South Campus Theatre “Fences” JUNE 16–25 The Community College of Allegheny County South Campus Theatre, in collaboration with Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, will present the award-winning Fences by August Wilson at 7:30 p.m. A powerful drama set in 1950s Pittsburgh, the play is the sixth in Wilson’s 10-part “American Century Cycle.” Like each of the plays, “Fences” explores the changing African American experience and race relations, among many other themes. The play, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play, was chosen for CCAC’s 50th Anniversary performance because of Wilson’s and the play’s strong association with Pittsburgh.
Point Park student lands acting gig As Denzel Washington’s understudy PITTSBURGH—Point Park University graduate Perris Drew recently experienced a budding actor’s dream gig when he worked as a stand-in and understudy for the Oscarwinning actor Denzel Washington. Perris Drew, 23, graduated last month from Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts with a degree in theater arts and a concentration in acting. Drew spent three weeks last April acting as a stand-in and understudy for Washington when the actor was in town to rehearse his planned production of ten August Wilson plays over the next decade for HBO. Drew said landing the acting job with Washington happened very quickly and was the result of efforts by his agent Jarod Pascoe of the Docherty Agency. “He told me Denzel was coming to Pittsburgh and had the idea to cast a couple young actors from the city to be under-
studies and stand-ins during rehearsals.” His agent recommended Drew update his resume, which he quickly did and 48 hours later, he was hired. Drew was the understudy for the character of ‘Jim Bono’ who is Troy Maxson’s (played by Denzel Washington in the recent production of “Fences” on Broadway) best friend. “The experience felt like a three-week acting intensive. Having the chance to play opposite Denzel, and for him to share his experience and wisdom in such an intimate setting was truly life-changing,” said Drew. With this impressive experience under his belt, Drew is ready to start the next phase of his career. Having made several contacts with other professional actors during the rehearsal process, he hopes to move to Los Angeles soon to launch his career.
Former teacher creates a new super hero to drive home family values from ground zero
Bilingual Schenley Plaza Public Art Tour In Arabic JUNE 17—The Office of Public Art presents a bilingual Schenley Plaza Tour on June 17, 7 p.m.–8 p.m. Enjoy a summer evening on the emerald lawn of Schenley Plaza and discover how this greenspace came to be. Visit and learn about the art works Conflict Kitchen and the bronze fountain A Song to Nature by Victor David Brenner. Guest speakers include: Isabelle Chartier; Susan Rademacher, and Dawn Weleski The tour is open to the public and will be available in Arabic and English; to register, please visit www.publicartpittsburgh.org or call 412-391-2060 x237. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 on-site. For more information on parking locations, visit: http://www.bestparking.com/pitts burgh-parking/
Mathew Tembo and the Afro Routes Band JUNE 18—A Benefit Concert for Surgicorps International Presented in partnership with Surgicorps International, the award-winning Afro-Pop and Reggae musician Mathew Tembo and the Afro Routes Band bring their unique sound to benefit Surgicorps’ lifechanging surgeries in Zambia.
Sonny Fortune JUNE 18—At the Jazz Workshop the renowned jazz legend saxophonist and multi-reedist, Sonny Fortune will perform at the Concert Haoo of the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library in Homewood, 7101 Hamilton Ave. at 6:30 p.m. For More Information: 724-506-2556.
Summer Speaker Series JUNE 18—The McKeesport Regional History and Heritage Center will host it’s next Summer Speaker Series program at 2 p.m. The film “Silent Tales from Richland Cemetery” will be shown, highlighting some of the historical figures buried there, and members of the Dravosburg Community Archives will be available to discuss the film. The Center is located at 1832 Arboretum Drive, McKeesport, in Renzie Park. Our programs are free for our members, $2 for the general public. Please call 412-678-1832.
Pgh Choir to tour New York JUNE 22—The Concentio Choir of Pittsburgh School for the Choral Arts, will tour in New York and Pennsylvania in June before returning to Shadyside Presbyterian Church for a homecoming concert on Wednesday, June 22 at 7 pm. The Shadyside performance is part of the church’s “Music for Midsummer Nights,” a mini-series of concerts from Music in a Great Space.
Cultural Trust Pgh JazzLive JUNE 24-26—For three-days, internationally-renowned musicians will perform at one of the most highly anticipated festivals in the country in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. Performances will take place in a variety of settings: outdoor stages, ticketed special engagements and indoor “gigs” at over 20 small venues throughout the Cultural District.
JUNE 15-21, 2016
ARTS & CULTURE
NEW SUPER HERO—Author Auntie El and her inspirational character Amya at their first book signing event. BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (BlackNews.com)—A former teacher at Benton Harbor High School started a publishing company to expand her reach beyond the four walls of her classroom. “I was telling my students to live their dreams while my dreams sat on the shelf. I felt like a hypocrite,” recounts Elnora Gavin (also known as Auntie El), founder/chief publishing officer of MEracle Family Publishers. “As much as I love my students, I knew that I needed to do more and sooner.” An abnormal educator As a teacher, Gavin worked with her students to coordinate a Peace Day Service Learning Project that has since turned into a citywide movement. The initiative launched on the 10 year anniversary of a citizen’s revolt against police that instantly caught national attention. “I will always be an educator. As a publisher, I will use my creativity to educate without boundaries.” In a recent public post, Marilyn RossGolden, Chairperson of the high school’s Black History Committee interjected, “Elnora Gavin touches lives daily in Benton Harbor and
throughout this country. The best is yet to come.” A hero to the unborn Timey and Friends: Amya Tells the Truth by Auntie El is the first installment of MEracle’s children’s book series geared towards critical reading ages 0-9. Gavin intentionally includes age 0 to increase early literacy by engaging families to read the stories to babies developing in their mothers’ wombs. She distinguishes the stories as “Womb Smart Readers.” Stacey Thompson, a parent out of Houston, Texas wrote, “Wow this is a great book for all ages and would be a wonderful tool to use when teaching character. Auntie El has written a masterpiece!” Timey, a super sports car transforms into a tow truck that uses time travel, hyper speed, telepathy and high tech gadgets to rescue troubled youth. When questioned about the identity of the friends in the title, Gavin explained that she included the friends because more super machines will be added to the series. Timey’s allies will unveil unique powers that will bring forth social justice and uncover historical truths.
(To purchase the book, visit www.meraclefamilypublishers.com.)
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PEOPLE
JUNE 15-21, 2016
National Achievers Society
ESTHER BUSH president and CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Urban League congratulates the students.
RYAN SCOTT of the Greater Pittsburgh Urban League did the welcoming and closing remarks.
The National Achiever’s Society is a recognition event sponsored by the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh’s Education & Youth Development Department. African American and students of color in grades 9-12 with an overall QPA of 3.0 or higher are invited to apply to join this academic honor society. The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh is taking a proactive stance in the education of youth by working with students and parents to provide them with support and training to continue the youth’s academic success and prepare them for higher education. The purpose of NAS is to encourage, recognize and reinforce academic achievement among underrepresented youth. NAS seeks to counter the pervasive and damaging public image of youth of color and is designed to energize students and families to academic excellence.
TAIAN BUGGS Honoree from East Hills
JASMINE SIMPSON Honoree from CAPA
TYRESE WRIGHT Honoree from Obama Academy
WILLIAM PAGE Honoree from Clairton
THE HONOREES—Sudents on high honor roll from schools all over Allegheny County. (Photos by J.L. Martello)
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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PARTNER by Diane I. Daniels For New Pittsburgh Courier
Presley L. Gillespie describes his self as a people person that always admired Pittsburgh from afar. A Harlem New York native and longtime resident of Farrell, Pa. located in Mercer County, he says he viewed Pittsburgh as a great and vibrate place. Relocating here from Youngstown, Ohio in 2014 Gillespie became the inaugural president of Neighborhood Allies. He now loves the city and understands the challenges it faces as a post-industrial city. Formerly operating as the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development, which for nearly three decades focused on the mission of creating vibrant communities in the city. Public Allies reports that more than $100 million has been invested by PPND and its partner, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, along with close to $300 million leveraged in other funds, toward the goal of making Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods safer and healthier places where people want to live, work, and invest. Now representing what Gillespie calls a new era, Public Allies operates as a new and improved 21st century community development organization, with a renewed and revamped commitment to improving the social and physical infrastructures of Pittsburgh’s distressed and transitional communities. Excited to be in Pittsburgh, Gillespie for the past 24 months has been focused on elevating the organization’s capacity to serve as a valued community development partner. He has been committed to injecting new energy by building a forward-thinking, solutions-oriented community development organization that brings hope, fresh ideas, expertise and resources to distressed and transitional neighborhoods. “Building stable, healthy neighborhoods require more than bricks and mortar strategies,” he says. “It takes a comprehensive approach that is led by residents and supported by many stakeholders.” Public Allies mission is to support the people, organizations and partnerships
by Charlene Crowell For New Pittsburgh Courier
For more than a decade, civil rights organizations, labor, clergy, and consumer advocates have fought to end triple-digit interest rates on small dollar loans. Whether it was a high-cost installment, payday or cartitle loan, the push has been to free America’s working families and consumers of color from fees that can double, or even triple the amount of money borrowed. Now, after years of research, public hearings and advisory forums, on June 2 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a long-awaited proposed rule. Speaking before a public hearing in Kansas City, Richard Cordray, CFPB’s director, spoke to the ultimate consumer goal tied to the proposed rule. “Our proposed rule is designed to ensure more fairness with these financial products by making systemic changes to steer borrowers away from ruinous debt traps and restore to them a larger measure of control over their affairs,” said Director Cordray. “Ultimately, our objective is to allow for responsible lending, while making sure that consumers do not fall into situations that undermine their financial lives.”
ONCE A PITTSBURGHER FROM A FAR—Presley L. Gillespie, president of Neighborhood Allies believes in building people while building the market. (Photo by Diane I. Daniels).
Neighborhood Allies provides Pittsburgh residents a partner in the community committed to creating and maintaining thriving neighborhoods by creating community partnerships, connecting distressed and transitioning communities with valued and vetted resources and by communicating and celebrating progress and success. Considered a unique community development partner, Gillespie explained that Public Allies is about connecting people to the resources to revitalize neighborhoods. “It’s about creating networks and better collations throughout the system so that advancements that affect one neighborhood can affect multiple neighborhoods,” he says. Considering Neighborhood Allies as a unique community development partner unlike any other in Pittsburgh he explained
that they serve as an investor, thought leader, and catalyst for innovative approaches in order to solve challenges in distressed neighborhoods. The groups’ literature outlines that they provide capital, expertise and technical assistance to help neighborhoods become better places for residents to live work and play. It serves a key role as neighborhood facilitator, bringing together partners, experts, best practices and resources to help Pittsburgh envision what is possible. They collaborate with other organizations across sectors, working on complementary issues and works to break down barriers of inequality by linking low-income communities and people of color with the region’s economic resurgence, and advance a new
model of equitable growth. As an organization its strategic long-term roles are; to serve as primary convener of resources, fund innovation, and broker financing; to connect and align people, organizations, and networks; to communicate results and impact to promote and inspire; to support innovative approaches to engaging residents, building leadership, and growing the talent pool; to synthesize data and research and serve as the resource for actionable information and to grow and diversify funding support. Three focused priority issues of Neighborhood Allies include economic opportunity with the goal to increase people’s financial health and credit, net assets, employment skills, and connections to en-
trepreneurship opportunities and career paths that produce living wages. Safety and Healthy Environments aimed at increasing wellness and quality of life for residents including: place making, good housing, strong schools, access to local health centers, fresh food markets and athletic programs, community police partnerships that reduce violence, and new ventures that reduce blight and attract new neighborhood amenities. Leadership Capacity aiming to increase people’s self-confidence, motivation, hope, and willingness to take risks and get involved; increasing their interpersonal, project management, teamwork, group management, fundraising, and other skills in service to community improvement. Priority neighborhoods in
Black and Latino leaders support stronger regulation of payday and car-title loans
HOUSE BRIEFING—Wade Henderson with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights speaks at a June 8 Hill hearing on CFPB’s proposed payday rule. Other presenters from left: Lindsay Daniels, National Council of La Raza; Col. Bill Harris (Ret.) Pennsylvania State Council, Military Officers Association of America; Tom Feltner, Consumer Federation of America; and Hilary Shelton, NAACP. For Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, a hearing speaker, pastor of Quinn Chapel AME Church in Jefferson City, Missouri, and executive director of Missouri Faith Voices, “all financial products are not equal” and payday lending is “a scourge on minority communities.” “Families need credit but not all products help despite
filling that need,” testified Rev. Gould. “I am reminded of the people in Flint. They needed water because we need it to survive, but the water they received was deadly. Payday lending is toxic; it equates to the water in Flint, it does more harm than good.” “Instead of finding ways to help people in desperate
economic times, predatory lenders trap them with systematic callousness and cycles of debt for their own gain,” added Rev. Gould. The centerpiece of the CFPB’s proposal establishes an ability-to-repay principle based on income and expenses, covering both short-term and longterm loans – but with ex-
ceptions. Early reactions to the proposal were as swift as they were strong. “Low-income people and people of color have long been targeted by slick advertising and aggressive marketing campaigns to trap consumers into outrageously high interest loans,” said Wade Henderson, pres-
which the group has commit place-based investments for the next 10 years are: Pittsburgh Hilltop consisting of Allentown, Beltzhoover and Knoxville, Homewood, Larimer, Millvale, Wilkinsburg and the Hill District. Aware of the needs of communities throughout Pittsburgh and the region, Gillespie acknowledged that they continuously work to leverage the millions of dollars invested by PPND and LISC to refine the way they operate and invest, when necessary, to achieve the highest level of success for the entire region. One such initiative is the launching of three Financial Opportunity Centers with technical support from LISC and financial support from local partners. FOCs are located at the Mon Valley Initiate in Homestead, Oakland Planning and Development in Oakland and Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania: Northside Common Ministries on the Northside. Helping families build assets to attain financial staSEE COMMUNITY C2
ident and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “That’s why the civil rights community wants to see predatory payday lenders reined in and regulated. The power to lend is the power to destroy.” Recent research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) found that payday loans drain $4.1 billion in annual fees from consumers living in one of 36 states where the loans are legal. Similarly, car title loans offered in 23 states account for another $3.9 billion in fees each year according to CRL. For these borrowers, car repossession, not repayment, is a common result that ends mobility for working families. Depending upon available alternative transportation options that can jeopardize employment. Nearly half of these combined fees—$3.95 billion— come from only five states:California, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas. Each of these states loses a half-billion or more in fees each year. “These loans often come with outrageous terms, such as interest rates that can top 1,000 percent, and trap millions of Americans a year in a cycle of debt that many of them are never able to SEE LEADERS C2
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bility and upward mobility, the three core services of the FOCs are employment services, financial education and coaching and access to Income Supports. With the intention to develop human capital, Gillespie said Neighborhood Allies is looking at how they build the commitment, resources and skills within neighborhoods. “One of my most important messages is that we have to build people as we build the market,” he said. “As the market is improving, as housing values are going up we have to insure that economic opportunity pathways are prioritized as part of the revitalization efforts because at the end of the day if the home values go up and the rents go up and people can no longer afford to be there because their incomes have not gone up and entrepreneurship opportunities have not been provided or workforce and training has not been preparing people to take advantage of jobs that pay family and living wages then we still only have solved half the puzzle. We are very much focused on increasing economic opportunities in our neighborhoods.” The FOCs, based on a national model and proven to be successful in lifting incomes is the way Gillespie and Neighborhood Allies aim to empower residents to reach financial stability throughout the region. Considered a nationally recognized leader in the field of community and economic development, before coming to Pittsburgh Gillespie was the founding executive director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. Prior to that he had an18 year banking career, primarily focused on community development lending and community revitalization. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in organizational communication and management from Youngstown State University. Now focused on Pittsburgh Gillespie, a long time Steeler fan is excited to be involved and utilizing his skills in a city he says offers a vibrant downtown with arts and theatre and neighborhoods full of cultural. Envisioning the city with healthy neighborhoods that are thriving, resilient and livable for all he and the Neighborhood Allies staff encourage residents to get involved by calling 412471-3727.
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BUSINESS
Philadelphia could become 1st major U.S. city with soda tax by Errin Haines Whack Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP)— Philadelphia could soon become the first major U.S. city with a sugary drinks tax after a city council committee voted Wednesday to approve an amended version of a soda tax proposal that would set a 1.5 centper-ounce tax on sugary and diet drinks. Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney initially proposed a 3-cents-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages only, but he lacked the votes needed to secure it. He wants the tax to pay for universal prekindergarten, community schools and park improvements. Critics balked at the proposed tax, saying it was too steep. Wednesday’s compromise adds diet soda to the
list and slashes Kenney’s initial proposal in half, to 1.5 cents-per-ounce. The amended plan is expected to raise $91 million over the next year, slightly less than the $95 million projected under Kenney’s original pitch. A full council vote is scheduled for Thursday. “You don’t always get everything you ask for,’’ said Kenney spokeswoman Lauren Hitt. “That’s the meaning of compromise.’’ Before the committee’s vote, Democratic City Council President Darrell Clarke said it likely would “leave some people with a sour taste in their mouth.’’ Afterward, Clarke expressed concerns about how the tax would be implemented, such as including diverse labor participation in recreation center building projects and en-
suring that Philadelphia’s most vulnerable children benefit from pre-k expansion. “These are taxpayer dollars, and we want to make sure these dollars are being spent in an equitable manner,’’ Clark said. “We want to make sure young people have an opportunity to get an early education.’’ Cities including New York and San Francisco have tried to pass similar taxes, but have failed. Berkeley, California, is the only U.S. city to approve such a tax. Philadelphia’s proposal has drawn national attention, with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg jumping into the fray and spending thousands of dollars on ads supporting the measure. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary
Clinton and Bernie Sanders took opposite sides of the issue when they campaigned in Pennsylvania ahead of the state’s primary. The soda industry also spent millions of dollars on ads to block the proposal. It is expected to sue the city if the tax is adopted. Both sides dug in hard ahead of Wednesday’s vote, with people shouting “No new tax!’’ and “Kids can’t wait!’’ across the council chamber. Council members and the mayor worked behind the scenes for much of the day before emerging with the compromise. In California, the beverage industry lost a fight over warnings appearing on ads for sugary drinks. A federal court rejected an effort to block a San Francisco law that would require health warnings on the drinks. That decision clears the way for the law to take effect in July. A final vote on the Philadelphia tax is expected June 16, the deadline for adopting next year’s fiscal budget.
Financial planner for same-sex couples When a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2015 legalized same-sex marriage, it brought many changes to same-sex couples and their families. Among other things, it made a momentous alteration to their financial planning outlook. One significant change was that same-sex couples no longer have to navigate a hodgepodge of state and federal laws to map their financial plans and address many other important legal concerns. The Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants examines the current financial landscape for these couples and offers some advice to address their unique concerns. Make the most of the benefits The 2015 Supreme Court decision—and another important ruling in 2013— simplified many financial planning considerations for same-sex couples. Estate planning has become easier in many ways because, among other things, a surviving spouse in a same-sex marriage can now inherit the couple’s assets without paying estate tax. As a result, couples may want to reconsider previous plans they had in place and revise them as necessary. Tax time should be easier, too, because couples filing jointly can file one federal tax return and one state return in any state. It’s still a good idea, however, to review how a change in marital status could have an impact on your tax situation and to
consider new tax planning approaches. Members of same-sex couples are also eligible for spousal benefits, such as health insurance coverage and life insurance, without being taxed for them, so be sure that your beneficiary designations on these policies are up to date. Workers in same-sex marriages must be given leave to care for a spouse under the Family Medical Leave Act, and they have full access to Social Security spousal retirement and survivor benefits, as well as veteran and military benefits. These are among the factors you should take into account as you chart your financial plan. Update existing documents Before the most recent Supreme Court ruling, couples often drew up power of attorney documents and health care directives in
case, for example, they needed to make medical decisions for a spouse in a state that did not recognize their marriage. All couples should still have power of attorney documents and health care directives to address health care and financial concerns, but consult your CPA or attorney about updating existing documents as needed. Protect your legacy It’s very important to write a will. It creates fewer complications for your loved ones when you die and helps ensure that your wishes are carried out. This may become even more important if a couple has children. A will helps ensure that your children are cared for according to your wishes and your loved ones receive their intended legacy. Your Local CPA can help Court decisions do not re-
move the financial planning challenges for samesex couples. While many common sense financial planning practices may apply to any family, a total of 53 percent of couples surveyed after the Supreme Court ruling reported there were still open issues in the family’s finances due to their status as a same-sex couple, according to a UBS poll. The Supreme Court rulings were cause for celebration for same-sex couples, but if you’re not sure how to address the financial impact they may have, be sure to check with your local CPA. He or she can offer advice customized for your family’s needs. (Visit www.picpa.org/ moneyandlife to find a CPA using the free CPA locator tool and find other helpful articles and videos on how to manage your finances.)
New York court upholds $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)—A state court has upheld the decision by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration to gradually raise the hourly minimum wage for many fast-food workers to $15. The Appellate Division panel’s five justices are supporting last December’s finding by the New York Industrial Board of Appeals. That board ruled that the decision by a state wage board and labor commissioner were lawful, rejecting a challenge by the National Restau-
rant Association. The court says New York’s subsequent enactment of legislation for more gradual statewide minimum wage increases to $15 doesn’t make this case moot. Justice Eugene Devine writes that the wage board noted correctly that fast food chains had experienced significant profit increases without significant wage increases. He implied those profits were “wrung from the necessities of their employees.”
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exit,” said California Congresswoman Maxine Waters. “I applaud the CFPB for their proposal and I will continue to work with the CFPB and consumer advocates to stop the debt trap once and for all.” Similar reactions came from Latino leaders. “Payday loans might sound like a good option, but they are intentionally structured to keep borrowers in a cycle of borrowing and debt that causes millions of hardworking Americans extreme financial difficulty,” said Janet Murguía, National Council of La Raza President and CEO. For Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez, tying the ability-to-pay standard to payday lending is long overdue. “These lenders are taking a big bite out of low- and medium-income borrowers, exploiting their lack of choices and shaking down hard-working men and women,” said Gutierrez. “I have tried to address this through legislation, but I was always up against a very powerful and wellfunded lobby and they work on politicians at the state and federal level in both parties.” Many advocates, includ-
This map reveals the average payday loan APRs by state. ing the Stop the Debt Trap Campaign, viewed the measure as an important first step that still needs work. This broad coalition of more than 500 advocacy organizations from all 50 states spans civil rights, clergy, labor, consumer issues, and other groups is among the largest groups advocating
for consumers. This coalition applauded the removal of a large loophole in last year’s preliminary proposal. It would have permitted lenders to avoid an ability-to-repay test by limiting loan payments to 5 percent of a borrower’s gross income. CFPB rejected that approach in
part because evidence does not support that such loans would in fact be affordable for many lower-income borrowers. According to Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), “As currently written, the rule contains significant loopholes that
leave borrowers at risk, including exceptions for certain loans from the abilityto-repay requirement, and inadequate protections against ‘loan flipping’ – putting borrowers into one unaffordable rule after another. For CRL, the final rule should: 1. Apply ability-to-repay requirements to every loan; 2. Increase protections against loan flipping; 3. Ensure lenders must determine that borrowers have enough income left over to meet their basic living expenses; and 4. Be broadened to cover any loan that enables lenders to coerce repayment from borrowers. Often consumers have opinions but wonder if anyone is listening. The proposed payday lending rule is a time when CFPB not only is listening, but is relying on consumers and organizations to weigh in by September 14. All interested groups or individuals can learn how to have their concerns count by visiting CFPB’s web. (Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending. org.)
BUSINESS CALENDAR
PowerBreakfast
JUNE 17—The African American Chamber of Commerce will host its monthly PowerBreakfast schedule by welcoming new Regional Asset District Executive Director Richard Hudic to the Rivers Club, 301 Grant St., Downtown, 7:30 a.m.
Corporate Inclusion Conference JUNE 20—The Corporate Equity & Inclusion Roundtable will hold its 4TH Annual Conference at the Duquesne University Power Center Ballroom, 1015 Forbes Avenue, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Industry Leaders from firms including Highmark, Massaro Construction, UPMC, Duquesne University, Randall Industries, Rivers Casino, the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board and others will share ideas on providing opportunities for employment and advancement, including the Revised Rooney Rule; suppliers with business opportunities, including the Hybrid Rooney Rule, and aiding hose re-entering the workforce, including Ban the Box initiatives. For more information call B-PEP at 412-758-7898.
Vision Pittsburgh Luncheon JUNE 22—Vision Pittsburgh’s quarterly Luncheon series continues with a presentation by Vivien Li, president and CEO of RiverLife, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Duquesne Club, 325 Sixth Avenue, Downtown. Li will discuss her organization’s mission to reclaim, restore and promote Pittsburgh’s riverfronts. Cost for the event is $65.
Training Event JUNE 22—Duquesne University’s Small Business Center presents First Step: Business Start-up Essentials, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Rockwell Hall, 108, 600 Forbes Avenue, Uptown, designed for new business start-ups and entrepreneurs without previous business experience. The program will cover: Business Structure and Formation, Fictitious Name Registration, Employee Issues, Insurance, Government Procurement, Environmental Concerns, Financing Options, Taxation Requirements, and Major Components of the Business Plan. Cost is $25. for more information, call 412-396-6233.
Disaster Loan Deadline JULY 5—The U.S. Small Business Administration is reminding businesses that they have until July 5 to apply for low interest Working Capital Loans to address damages and issues related to the excessive rain, flooding, high winds and lightning from May 28 through July 15 of 2015. To apply, visit https://disasterloan.sba.go v/ela.
Build Your Business Workshop JULY 30—The Women Business Center in partnership with Hill CDC an SCORE® Pittsburgh present a Build Your Business Workshop to women interested in starting or expanding their business, from from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Hill CDC offices, 2015 Centre Avenue. Business experts and seasoned entrepreneurs will discuss the following topics: business planning, marketing and sales, financing, legal issues and business lessons learned. The cost is $20. Veterans are free and there are a number of 50-percent scholarships available. Register online at http://www.chatham.edu/ wbc. (To have information on Business Calendar, send information at least two weeks in advance to: 315 E. Carson St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219; Fax: 412481-1360 or e-mail: newsroom@ newpittsburghcourier.com.)
SPORTS New Pittsburgh Courier
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Pittsburgh Penguins win Stanley Cup SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)—Sidney Crosby let out a scream as he lifted the Stanley Cup above his head, a wide smile spread across his face. The seven years of adversity since he last held the trophy were firmly in his past: the concussions that nearly derailed his career, the early playoff exits and the rough start to this season that led to a coach being fired. Crosby and the Penguins are once again champions. A kid no more and surrounded with new talent, Crosby set up Kris Letang’s go-ahead goal midway through the second period and Pittsburgh won the fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history by beating the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in Game 6 of the Finals Sunday night. “It wasn’t easy getting here, especially the way things started out,” Crosby said. “The first half wasn’t easy and I think everyone just stuck together, kept going and found some momentum there in March and continued to keep it going.” Brian Dumoulin opened the scoring with a power-play goal and Patric Hornqvist added a late empty-netter. Matt Murray made 18 saves to give the Penguins a championship seven years to the day after they beat Detroit for their third title. The game ended when Crosby cleared the puck the length of the ice with San Jose on the power play, setting off a wild celebration. All that was left was for Crosby to accept the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP and then the Stanley Cup. “We tried to keep fighting and slowly started to turn things around,” he said. “Everyone has a part in
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS WITH STANLEY CUP this. It feels really good to win your last game of the season.” Three nights after squandering a chance to become the first Pittsburgh team to win a title in front of the home fans in 56 years, the Penguins finished the job on the road just like they did in Minnesota (1991), Chicago (1992) and Detroit (2009) in past title runs. More than 2,500 miles away, Penguins fans packed Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh for a watch party. When the game ended, the doors to the arena flew open and fans rushed out, cheering. Police were out in force to keep celebrations safe and under control. The city’s public safety department took to Twitter, urging fans to “celebrate responsibly.” Fans seemed to be doing
just that. There was no immediate word on any arrests. CBS Sports Writer Adam Gretz writes that the game “was about the Penguins defense. All season, the Penguins defense was a question mark because it isn’t exactly full of household names. …It is not a particularly big group, it is not a physical group, and it is not full of players that are known for being crease-clearing, shut down players. “But thanks to their ability to skate, move the puck, and get it out of danger, they find a way to make it work and on Sunday night, they played what might have been their best game of the season, limiting the Sharks to just 19 shots on goals.” The championship in Detroit was supposed to be
the first of many for a team led by players like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But a series of concussions cost Crosby almost an entire season and a half, and there were those playoff disappointments that included twice blowing 3-1 series leads. There was no second celebration in the Crosby era—until now. “It’s so hard to win it year after year,” owner Mario Lemieux said. “For them to be able to come through this year and win their second Cup is big. Hopefully there’s a few more for them.” This didn’t seem like it would be a season to remember back in early December when the Penguins were the near the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference and coach Mike Johnston was fired. But led by coach Mike Sullivan, the Penguins recovered to make the playoffs as the second-place team in the Metropolitan Division after some shrewd moves by general manager Jim Rutherford, Elias Diaz, forcing Clint who put together the enHurdle to sign catcher Erik Kratz from the Los Angeles Angels and have Kratz behind the plate in less than 24 hours had a negative effect on the game, but Niese would have none of it. by Bill Neal “He’s [Kratz] good. He knows what he is doing For New Pittsburgh Courier back there. He called a EDITOR’S NOTE: great game.” As far as Erik To all my Ali Brothers, Kratz being thrown into please pardon my delay the fire and basically tak- in this exclusive Ali bio, ing a 24 hour crash course, but last week was dedisuch as watching videos cated to the passing of my that helped him scout the dear friend and basketopposing hitters, Kratz ball legend Leroy Freetook it all with a grain of man. Now…let’s get ready salt. “It’s been twelve hours to RRRRRUUUUUMnow but it [learning] never M M M M B B B B stops. [Not even] for Stew- BLLLLLEEEEE! art and Cervelli, the guys :10—There have, in fact, that have been here for a been great fighters, but while.” none as great as MuhamI also suspect with a mad Ali, Olympic gold medyoung up and coming sec- alist, heavyweight championdary, the Pittsburgh on at age 22, and three time Steelers may have some heavyweight champion of defensive growing to do, the world. but overall the Pirates, the :09—Clearly, and without Steelers and the Penguins doubt, the most recognized have relatively young man in the world. teams and the future :08—Not only great at seems as bright as “high his craft, yes, a superior beams in your eyes;” not athlete, social activist, huonly for the Steelers and manitarian and prophet for the Penguins but I have a peace and love. sneaking suspicion that be:07—He not only stood up fore it’s all over, the Pirates to the Supreme Court and may sneak up on the one of U.S. government against the wildcard spots in the the Viet Nam war, but he MLB NL. also gave power and voice A trifecta of Pittsburgh to millions of others that teams just reaching the thought the war was unplayoffs and competing for just, especially for Black a championship should be folks who were fighting good enough for fans from their own war right here in the Steel City. After all, the the U.S.A. fans and the media don’t :06—He shook up the have to play the game. world. He was a “Bad (Aubrey Bruce can be reached Man.” He was pretty. Oh so at: abruce@newpittsburghcouri- pretty…not a mark on his er.com or 412-583-6741. Follow face, and they did fall in him on Twitter@ultrascribe.) the round he called. Yep, he
Inside Conditions—Triple Play by Aubrey Bruce For New Pittsburgh Courier
When the New Year’s Eve bells of 2015 chimed into 2016, I was in church but shortly thereafter I went home, drank a “Grand Marnier” hot toddy, and smoked a cigar, (which I only do on New Year’s Eve or early in a.m. on New Year’s Day). Shortly after I participated in those two vices, or at least they are “vices” for a preacher man, or so I am lead to believe. After that “excursion,” I fell into a deep trance like sleep. I dreamed that I had covered the “trifecta” of Pittsburgh sports; a Stanley Cup Finals in which the Pittsburgh Penguins brought home a Lord Stanley Cup, a MLB World Series in which the Pirates beat the New York Yankees for a second time. Last but certainly not least, I covered Super Bowl 51 in Houston which was a rematch between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, with the Steelers hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in victory. That dream has been squashed already because I did not cover the Penguins drive for the cup in 20152016 but nevertheless I still enjoyed ride like everyone else whether they were fans, foe or a member of the media. Next up, can the Pittsburgh Pirates climb out of the abyss, excuse me, I meant to say the hole that they have fallen into, get up brush off the dirt and sail into the 2016 MLB postseason? Well if any team can do it, maybe we can take a
AUBREY BRUCE clue from the Pirates lategreat, Pie Traynor who would remind the cynical, bandwagon Buc’s fans by saying, “Who can? The [Pirates can,] or American,” or something like that. Also, the Pirates have a manager in Clint Hurdle that will never give up until the “Fat Lady” sings at least a couple of verses. Hurdle had this to say after the subpar outing of Jonothon Niese one of his most consistent pitchers in 2016. “He was in the zone, but a lot of those times the execution was lacking. A lot of balls got up a little bit, more so than normal.” Niese had this to say about his performance. “I’ll put the results of this game behind me. I’m gonna take each game one game at a time.” The performance of Jonthan Niese left many observers wondering whether the sudden injuries to Pirates catchers Francisco Cervelli and
tire “HBK line” of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel over the past year as well as other key acquisitions. Pittsburgh knocked off the New York Rangers in the first round, Presidents’ Trophy-winning Washington in round two and then rallied from a 3-2 series deficit to beat Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference final. “In the playoffs, suddenly we thought we could beat any team,” Malkin said. “We tried to play the same game we played in 2009.” The Penguins were in control for almost the entire final. They did not trail until Game 5 at home and responded to a strong push from San Jose in the clincher to avoid a decisive seventh game. Pittsburgh held San Jose to just one shot on goal in the first 19 minutes of the third period to preserve the one-goal lead. The Penguins sealed it when Crosby blocked a shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic that set up Hornqvist’s empty-netter. “You dream your whole
life for this,” said Kessel, the former Maple Leaf who led the Penguins with 22 points this postseason. “How can you ask for anything better than this? Winning the Cup is what your dream of and what you play for.” Logan Couture scored the lone goal for the Sharks, who were making their first trip to the final in their 25-year history. Martin Jones made 24 saves and was San Jose’s best player for the series. “The end is like hitting a wall,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “But only one team can win.” While the season ended in disappointment, it also was a bit of a breakthrough for Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and the rest of a franchise that had been known for playoff collapses, most notably in 2014 when the Sharks blew a 3-0 series lead in the first round to Los Angeles. “We thought we had the team, going through the teams we did in the West,” Thornton said. “It’s just tough right now.” There was an electric atmosphere before the final home game of the season in San Jose with fans starting their “Let’s Go Sharks!” chants well before the opening puck drop and an elaborate pregame light and video show firing up the fans. But the Penguins jumped ahead for the fifth time in six games this series after Dainius Zubrus was sent off for tripping when Crosby’s line didn’t allow San Jose to leave its own zone. Dumoulin took advantage when his point shot beat Jones for a rare soft goal allowed by the Sharks’ netminder. The Sharks tied it early in the period when Couture beat Murray with a big shot for his 30th point of the postseason. Pittsburgh answered 1:19 later when Crosby sent a pass from behind the net to Letang, who beat Jones from a sharp angle to the short side to make it 2-1.
Overtime
MUHAMMAD ALI was the greatest. :05—The 3-peat with Frazier was historic, but for me the rumble in the jungle with George Foreman going down head first after falling victim to the rope-adope was the greatest fight of all time! :04—Call the Liston fight what you want. Ali had nothing to do with Sonny Liston, the mob or whatever. :03—Float like a butterfly…sting like a bee… the hands can’t hit what the eyes can’t see. Rumble young man. Rumble! What we gonna do “Bundini?” Gonna win champ, gonna win!!! :02—Hailed by kings and
queens, presidents and pharaohs, the lighting of the Olympic torch, standing with Malcolm X… Muhammad brought the mountain to him. :01—I had the pleasure and honor of bringing “The Greatest” to Pittsburgh in 1979. If you were at Judy’s Banquet Hall, you were there. And then the awesome privilege of going to his camp in Deer Lake, PA with Grand Master Jacquet Bazemore. When Bazemore broke a red brick in his bare hands, Ali screamed at Bundini, “Bundini, did you see that? Mmmaaannn, he’s the greatest!” :00—GAME OVER
CLASSIFIED New Pittsburgh Courier
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Help Wanted
2ND/3RD TEACHING POSITION OPENING AT PUCS
DISPLAY ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE
The New Pittsburgh Courier is looking for a display advertising sales executive with 3-5 years experience in media sales. This full-time staff position offers salary + commission with full benefits after 90 days, paid vacation after 6 months. Must be a self-starter, with leadership skills, reliable transportation, strong computer, written and verbal communication skills. Must be able to work under deadlines, do comprehensive sales-related research and make sales presentations. Send resumes to egaines@newpittsburghcourier.com.
ZIMBABWE PARTNERSHIP COORDINATOR
Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church seeks Zimbabwe Partnership Coordinator in Cranberry Township, PA to implement programs designed to promote religious education and activities on behalf of the United Methodist Church, specifically concerning our missionary work in Zimbabwe. Duties will include travel to Zimbabwe to lead groups to perform missionary activities, including working with local churches in Zimbabwe, and fundraising and recruiting and training volunteers for missionary work stateside. Requirements: Master’s degree in International Relations, International Development, or related field. Must be conversant in the Shona language. Must be able to travel frequently to locations in the United States for brief missional gatherings, and to Zimbabwe for as much as four weeks at a time. Mail resume to: Rev. Gregory Cox, Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, 1204 Freedom Rd., P.O. Box 5002, Cranberry Twp., PA 16066.
POLICE OFFICER
The Township of Penn, Westmoreland County, 2001 Municipal Court, Harrison City, PA 15636 will have applications available for the position of fulltime Police Officer from 8:30 a.m. on Monday, June 13, 2016 through Friday, June 24, 2016. All completed application packages must be received at the Municipal Building no later than 4:00 p.m., Friday, June 24, 2016, and MUST include a fifty dollar ($50) application fee – no exceptions. At the time of application, applicants must possess the following qualifications: 1) diploma from an accredited high school or a graduate equivalency diploma, 2) PA Act 120 certified or successfully completed Act 120 training and passed the final examination, 3) United States citizenship, 4) physically/mentally fit to perform the full duties of a Police Officer, and 5) valid motor vehicle operator’s license and eligible to legally operate a motor vehicle in the Commonwealth of PA. Candidates must be available to take the physical agility test scheduled for Thursday, July 7, 2016. Candidates passing the physical agility test will be invited to participate in the written examination immediately afterwards. There will be no make-up dates available. Applications can be downloaded from the Township website www.penntwp. org, picked up at the Municipal Building, or faxed/mailed by calling Alex Graziani at 724-744-2171, x201 or emailing a request to alexgraziani@penntwp.org. The Township of Penn is an Equal Opportunity Employer. COURIER CLASSIFIEDS
Pittsburgh Urban Christian School, located near downtown Wilkinsburg, is a small and loving K-8 community of ethnic and economic diversity. Send resume and cover letter to christy.wauzzinski@pucs.org Applications received by June 30 are assured of full consideration.
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
California University of Pennsylvania seeks to hire a Director of University Marketing who will be responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive strategic marketing efforts with a focus on increasing enrollment and brand awareness at California University of Pennsylvania. A bachelor’s degree is required, along with at least five years of demonstrated experience (with increasing responsibilities) in marketing higher education or relevant nonprofits for enrollment management and organization-wide services. For a detailed job description, position requirements and instructions for application, visit www. calu.edu; click on Employment, then Staff Positions. All applicants must apply online. Integrity, Civility and Responsibility are the official core values of California University of Pennsylvania. Cal U is M/F/V/D/AA/EEO.
Seneca Valley School District CERTIFIED SCHOOL NURSE (K-12)
Permanent, 187-day school year; Available immediately. Requirements: RN, BSN, CSN (required), proficient technology skills, strong communication & interpersonal skills. School nursing experience preferred. Submit application, cover letter, resume, PA certificate, transcripts, clearances, and three letters of reference to our online application at https://senecavalley.cloud. talentedk12.com/hire/index.aspx. Deadline: June 27, 2016. Seneca Valley is committed to diversity in the workplace. E.O.E.
NEXT GENERATION ENGAGEMENT MANAGER UNITED WAY OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
The United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania is expanding engagement with the region’s next generation of philanthropists with a goal of enhancing relationships through volunteerism, advocacy, and financial support. We seek an energetic and innovative Program Manager oversee and coordinate the strategic direction of the initiative; including the stewardship process, volunteer project coordination, and fundraising events and activities. Individual must bring critical thinking to an organizational strategic planning process resulting in: Identification of issues, concerns, and opportunities; Analysis of issues, markets and organizational positional strategy; Strategic options and recommendations, with measurable objectives and results. Experience required in corporate and community engagement and strategic planning; a Bachelor’s degree in a related area in addition to 2 plus years’ experience in a similar position and/or equivalent combination of education and experience. Visit our website at https://uwswpa.org/careers/ to view job description and apply for this position. Submissions will only be accepted electronically. The United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, is an equal opportunity employer committed to workplace diversity, serving Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette and Southern Armstrong Counties.
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JOB OPPORTUNITIES
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LEGAL ADVERTISING
Help Wanted
Help Wanted
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VICE PRESIDENT OF WORKPLACE GIVING UNITED WAY OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
PARAPROFESSIONAL (SPECIAL EDUCATION LEARNING SUPPORT)
United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, a growing and successful organization making great impact in the community, is seeking a goal driven individual with an outstanding record of fund raising success, extensive experience in fundraising, strategic planning and management to serve as Vice President of Workplace Campaign. Reporting to the Executive VP of Community Giving and Fundraising, the Vice President of Workplace Campaign will serve as a key leader and active participant in making strategic fundraising decisions affecting United Way of Southwestern PA. This position is ideal for a candidate who is experienced and passionate about fundraising with a strong ability to develop and maintain relationships with donors and volunteers while leading the corporate fundraising team. Visit our website at https://uwswpa.org/careers/ to view job description and apply for this position. Submissions will only be accepted electronically. The United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, is an equal opportunity employer committed to workplace diversity, serving Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette and Southern Armstrong Counties.
FAITH IN ACTION PROGRAM DIRECTOR UNITED WAY OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania is seeking an individual to serve as our Faith In Action Program Director serving communities in Greater Greensburg and Alle-Kiski area of Westmoreland County. Twenty-one percent of Westmoreland County’s population is age 65+; the national average is 13%. Many of our older adult family, friends and neighbors want to remain living in their homes and maintain their independence, but they need some supportive services to help them accomplish this goal. United Way of Southwestern PA operates a Faith in Action Program Network, in conjunction with community, business and volunteer leaders throughout our region. The mission of Faith in Action is to provide free, non-medical support services, such as transportation to doctor appointments, errands, home safety checks, yard work, supportive visits and calls and caregiver relief, for older adults by matching them with trained volunteers. The program has served almost 2,000 older adults since inception through approximately 80,000 hours of service. The primary responsibilities of the Faith in Action program director include: recruiting and working with local volunteer steering committees to assist with volunteer recruitment, training and matching to program recipients; promoting the program to older adults in the community and assessing their needs, and fund raising to support the program delivery. The program director also administers the office operations and budget of the Faith in Action site. Full-time position with benefits. Must have valid Driver’s License and personal use of a car. Visit our website at https://uwswpa.org/careers/ to view job description and apply for this position. Submissions will only be accepted electronically. The United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, is an equal opportunity employer committed to workplace diversity, serving Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette and Southern Armstrong Counties.
To place a display ad in the New Pittsburgh Courier call 412-481-8302 ext. 128 or 129
Available immediately. Seneca Valley School District is accepting applications for paraprofessionals in various district buildings. Responsibilities include supervising students’ daily routines. Requirements: Proficient technology skills, strong communication & interpersonal skills. Submit classified application, cover letter, resume, clearances, and three letters of reference to our online application at https:// senecavalley.cloud.talentedk12. com/hire/index.aspx. Applications accepted until positions are filled. Seneca Valley is committed to diversity in the workplace. E.O.E. LEGAL ADVERTISING Legal Notices
Estate of JACOB J. RUHLE AKA JACOB JAMES RUHLE, Deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. August 19, 2014, No. 021602937. Shirley M. Ruhle, c/o Judith A. Lehnowsky, Atty., 820 Evergreen Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15209 (412) 821-0441. Estate of SCHULZ, JEFFREY N., deceased of Pittsburgh No. 03029 of 2016. Ryan Warfield Schulz Adm., or to c/o Matthew J. Beam, Esq., Scolieri Law Group, 1207 5th Avenue, Ste. 200, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15219. Estate of DAVID HEAD a/k/a DAVID HEAD, SR., Deceased, of Pittsburgh, PA. No. 06091 of 2015. Stacy L. Head, Executor, c/o A. Jean Cason-Wynter, Esq., 905 Western Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15233. Estate of FICHTER, MARY ALICE, Deceased, of McCandless. No. 02485. Exec. Admin. Roberta A. Shirey, 86 Park Place East, Midland, PA 15059 or to Michael J. Saldamarco, ESQ., STE. 100, 908 Perry Hwy., Pttsburgh, PA 15229 15229-1120
LEGAL ADVERTISING Legal Notices
PUBLIC MEETING LEGAL NOTICE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION AUTHORITY FOR CITIES OF THE SECOND CLASS NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING Tuesday, June 21, 2016 4:00 PM
The Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority for Cities of the Second Class (the “Authority”) hereby gives notice that it will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 4:00 PM at the City County Building, 5Th Floor Council Chambers 414 Grant Street Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 15219. The meeting will be held in order for the Board to conduct Authority business in fulfillment of the statutory requirements detailed in Act 11 of 2004. The Board may address any and all matters determined by the Board as necessary to fulfill the requirements of Act 11. The meeting is open to the public. LEGAL ADVERTISING Bids/Proposals
ALLEGHENY COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY (ACAA) PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS INSURANCE BROKERAGE AND CONSULTING SERVICES
ACAA is seeking proposals for Insurance Brokerage and Consulting Services at Pittsburgh International and Allegheny County Airports. ACAA affirmatively ensures that disadvantaged businesses shall be afforded the full opportunity to propose and be considered for this concession. Proposal documents are available on the Airport’s official website at http://www.flypittsburgh.com/ business_opportunities or by calling 412-472-3677.
COURIER CLASSIFIEDS GET RESULTS!
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) recently issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for HUD 2016 Reallocation Funding for Permanent Supportive Housing and Rapid Re-Housing Programs. Proposals are due by: June 30, 2016.For more details and submission information, visit: www.alleghenycounty.us/ Human-Services/Resources/ Doing-Business/Solicitations(RFP/RFQ/RFI).aspx. Marc Cherna Director Allegheny County Department of Human Services
INVITATION FOR BIDS
The URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY of Pittsburgh will receive bids from qualified contractors for grading, installation of storm drainage appurtenances, relocation of a fire hydrant, pavement and subbase, traffic signals and mast arms, street lights, sidewalks, curbs, ADA accessible ramps, landscaping, and all work incidental thereto required to complete East Liberty Site Preparation Contract No. 3 – N. Highland Avenue and East Liberty Boulevard Intersection Improvements, until 11:00 a.m. prevailing time on Friday, the 8th of July, 2016, at its office, 11th floor, 200 Ross Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219, at which time all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud in the Conference Room on the 11th floor. Contract documents will be available on Thursday, June 10, 2016, in the Engineering and Construction Department, 11th Floor, 200 Ross Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219, upon a non-refundable payment of ONE HUNDRED TEN ($110.00) DOLLARS made payable to the URA of Pittsburgh. CHECK OR MONEY ORDER ONLY. Contract documents will not be mailed. A certified check or bank draft payable to the order of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, negotiable U.S. Government Bonds (at par value), or a satisfactory bid bond, executed by the Bidder and an acceptable surety in a dollar amount equal to 5% of the total bid, shall be submitted. Each bid submittal must include the Bid, Non-collusion Affidavit of Prime Bidder, Bid Bond, Statement of Bidders Qualifications, and Certification of Minority and Women’s Participation with Exhibits. Wages paid on this project shall not be less than the minimum wages determined by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry as set forth in the contract documents. The Contractor will be required to comply with all applicable Equal Employment Opportunity requirements. The Contractor must assure that applicants and employees are not discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, disability, ancestry, national origin, age or sexual preference, gender identity, gender expression, political and/or union affiliation. The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh requires that all bidders complete and submit Certification of Minority and Women’s Participation with Exhibits. The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh reserves the right to reject any or all bids or to waive any informality in the bidding. Bids may be held by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days from the date of opening of bids for the purpose of reviewing the bids prior to awarding the Contract. URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF PITTSBURGH Robert Rubinstein Acting Executive Director June 15, 2016
COURIER CLASSIFIEDS… THE ONLY WAY TO GO!
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
CLASSIFIEDS
LEGAL ADVERTISING
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Bids/Proposals
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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PROPERTY MAINTENANCE
HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB) FOR PARTIAL COMPREHENSIVE MODERIZATION WINDOW REPLACEMENT AT VARIOUS NORTHVIEW HEIGHTS UNITS IFB#300-30-16
The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) is accepting competitive proposals from experienced property maintenance firms to perform year-long maintenance of its vacant land real estate portfolio. Approximately 400 properties are involved in bundles of approximately 50 parcels each and are located in geographic clusters throughout the City of Pittsburgh. A listing of properties is available for review at the URA offices for those companies wishing to submit a proposal. The initial contract period will be for twelve (12) months, with the possibility of extending up to three (3) years. Interested companies must secure a copy of the RFP from the URA website at www.ura.org/ working_with_us/proposals.php. A mandatory pre-proposal meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 10:00am in the 11th floor conference room of the URA, 200 Ross Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Proposals are due Thursday, June 30, 2016 4:00pm prevailing time.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sealed bid proposals are hereby solicited for the Community College of Allegheny County, Purchasing Department, 800 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15233(412.237.3020) on the following items: Bid Proposal No. 976 – Replace Carpet – College Wide Proposals will be received at the Purchasing Department until 2:00 P.M. Prevailing Time on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at which time they will be publicly opened. Any proposals received after this deadline will be considered as a “late bid” and will be returned unopened to the offerer. The CCAC Purchasing Department is now publishing all bids via the CCAC website at https://www. ccac.edu/Bid-RFP_Opportunities. aspx. It will be each vendor’s responsibility to monitor the bid activity within the given website (“Bid and RFP Opportunities”) and ensure compliance with all applicable bid documents inclusive of any issued addenda. Failure to incorporate any applicable addenda in the final submittal may result in the rejection of your bid. Proposals may require Bid Bonds, Performance Bonds, Payment Bonds, and Surety as dictated by the specifications. No bidder may withdraw his bid for a period of ninety (90) days after the scheduled closing time for receipt of bids. The Board of Trustees reserves the right to reject any and all bids. The Community College of Allegheny County is an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and encourages bids from Minority/Disadvantaged owned businesses.
INVITATION FOR BIDS
Sealed bids for the Petrolia Borough Storm Water Project, will be received in the office of Benjamin Holland, BUTLER COUNTY CONTROLLER, FLOOR 5, COUNTY GOVERNMENT CENTER, 124 WEST DIAMOND STREET, whose mailing address is P.O.BOX 1208, BUTLER, PA 16003, on or before 2:00pm, June 28, 2016. All Bids must be plainly marked Bid – Petrolia Borough Storm Water Project. All bids will be publicly opened and read at the Public Agenda Setting Meeting of the Butler County Board of Commissioners on June 29, 2016 at 9:30am, in the Commissioner Public Meeting Room located on Floor 1 of the County Government Center, Butler, PA 16003. Bids will be received for the following: Petrolia Borough Storm Water System according to the specifications in the bid package. Plans, specifications and bid documents are available via a free download from the Widmer Engineering web site at: widmerengineers. com under bids. Contact Widmer Engineering with questions at 724847-1696. Paper Documents can be picked up at Widmer Engineering 806 Lincoln Place Beaver Falls PA 15010 for a nonrefundable fee of $34.98 add $10 for postage. Each proposal shall be accompanied by a bidder’s bond, or certified check or cashier’s check, in favor of the County of Butler, in the amount of not less than ten percent. The County of Butler reserves the right to waive any informality in and to accept or reject any and all bids or any part of any bid. No bid may be withdrawn for a period of sixty (60) days. Prevailing wages established under the Davis-Bacon Act will apply to this contract. The contract documents contain requirements addressing prevailing labor wage rates, labor standards, nondiscrimination in hiring practices, goal for minority and female participation, MBE and WBE participation, participation by Section 3 residents and businesses and related matters. BOARD OF BUTLER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Leslie Osche, Chairman Kim Geyer Kevin Boozel Attest: Scott J. Andrejchak Director of Administration/ Chief Clerk
COURIER CLASSIFIEDS GET RESULTS!
JUNE 15-21, 2016
The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) hereby request proposals from qualified Firms or Individuals capable of providing the following service(s): PARTIAL COMPREHENSIVE MODERIZATION WINDOW REPLACEMENT AT VARIOUS NORTHVIEW HEIGHTS UNITS IFB#300-30-16 The documents will be available no later than June 13, 2016 and signed, sealed bids will be accepted until 10:00 A.M., July 6, 2016 at which time they will be Time and Date Stamped at 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, at which time they will be opened and read aloud. Parties or individuals interested in responding may download a copy of the Invitation for Bid from the Business Opportunities page of www. HACP.org. Questions or inquires should be directed to: Kim Detrick Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh Procurement Department 2nd Floor, Suite 200 100 Ross Street Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-456-5116 Opt 1 A pre bid meeting will be held: Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh Procurement Dept. 100 Ross Street 2nd. Fl. Ste. 200 Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Friday, June 24, 2016 10:00 A.M. The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh strongly encourages certified minority business enterprises and women business enterprises to respond to this solicitation. HACP’s has revised their website. As part of those revisions, vendors must now register and log-in, in order to view and download IFB/RFPs documentation. Caster D. Binion, Executive Director Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh HACP conducts business in accordance with all federal, state, and local civil rights laws, including but not limited to Title VII, the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, The PA Human Relations Act, etc. and does not discriminate against any individuals protected by these statutes.
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Pick up your Courier at these locations WESTERN AREA: CRAFTON BEVERAGE CRAFTON/INGRAM SHOPPING CENTER GIANT EAGLE CRAFTON/INGRAM SHOPPING CENTER SHEETZ #353 5400 CAMPBELL’S RUN RD SHOP N’ SAVE #1686 2103 NOBLESTOWN RD SAFRANS SUPER MKT 429 WALNUT ST GIANT EAGLE #74 PARKWAY CENTER MALL SOUTHERN AREA: KEN’S 216 BELTZHOOVER AVE NELSON’S 92 SYLVANIA AVE GIANT EAGLE #61 2021 WHARTON AVE COGO’S 2400 EAST CARSON ST COGO’S 925 EAST CARSON ST DAILY MART 1125 ARLINGTON AVE SHOP N’ SAVE CARRICK SOUTH EASTERN AREA: SUPER STOP 403 KENMAWR AVE CARL’S CAFE 337 FIFTH AVE COMET NEWS 540 BRADDOCK AVE PUFFS DISCOUNT TOBACCO 1722 GREENSBUR AVE A-PLUS SUNOCO 7403 WASHINGTON ST COGO’S 1050 BRINTON RD COGO’S 2003 S BRADDOCK AVE EDGEWOOD EXPRESS 253 EDGEWOOD AVE BRAD EXPRESS 1101 S BRADDOCK AVE GIANT EAGLE #619 1705 S. BRADDOCK AVE CVS 7406 CHURCH ST HANINI MARKET 1105 SWISSVALE AVE DUKE’S SUNOCO 825 DUQUESNE BLVD 7-11 818 N. DUQUESNE BLVD GIANT EAGLE #6379 420 EAST WATERFRONT DR GIANT EAGLE— MCKEESPORT 3812 O’NEILL BLVD J & S FOOD MART 625 W GRANT AVE RITE AID PHARMACY 100 WILLIAM MARKS DR GIANT EAGLE 1356 HOFFMAN BLVD BP GAS STATION LYSLE & WALNUT DS FOODMART 929 UNION ST RITE AID PHARMACY 725 LYSLE BLVD CHARLIE’S CORNER STORE 500 LOCUST ST NEIGHBORHOOD DOLLAR 333 5TH AVE GIANT EAGLE #38 1901 MURRAY AVE JACK’S E 8TH AVE EASTERN AREA: WATERWORKS GIANT EAGLE #72 1005 FREEPORT RD— DIVINE HAIR STUDIO 10 DUFF RD GIANT EAGLE 9001 FRANKSTOWN RD GIANT EAGLE #78 230 RODI RD BP GAS STATION 11835 FRANKSTOWN RD THE SPOT 11675 FRANKSTOWN RD MASH MINI MART 4341 OLD WM. PENN HWY GIANT EAGLE #60
4004 MONROEVILLE BLVD GIANT EAGLE #76 AMES PLAZA, ROUTE 22 GET IT QUICK 500 GARDEN CITY DESTINY’S HAIR SALON 408 RODI RD PUFF’S DISCOUNT TOBACCO 10991 FRANKSTOWN RD SHOP N SAVE 3335 WILLIAM PENN HWY SHEETZ 3457 WILLIAM PENN HWY GETGO 10525 FRANKSTOWN RD CVS PHARMACY 10600 FRANKSTOWN RD SHELL OIL 7619 BAUM BLVD KIWI SUNOCO FRANKSTOWN AVE WILLIAM PENN SMOKE SHOP II 132 NORTH HIGHLAND AVE MARATHON GAS 6680 FRANKSTOWN AVE PENN AIKEN DAIRY 5401 PENN AVE GIANT EAGLE #17 6320 SHAKESPEARE ST HOMEWOOD MARKET 7201 FRANKSTOWN AVE SALIK HARDWARE 607 NORTH HOMEWOOD AVE NEGLEY A PLUS 123 NORTH NEGLEY AVE BAKER’S 7203 HAMILTON & STERRETT AVES DORSEY’S RECORDS 7614 FRANKSTOWN AVE HOSPITAL CORNER 4201 PENN AVE PEOPLES GROCERY 5136 PENN AVE A&M MARKET 5224 PENN AVE A-PLUS MINI MART 7701 PENN AVE WOOD & PENN 902 WOOD ST AL’S FISH & CHICKEN 1000 PENN AVE SAVE A LOT 725 ROSS AVE CVS PHARMACY 520 PENN AVE GETGO 408 PENN AVE QUICK STOP LIBERTY 3349 LIBERTY AVE K-2 CONVENIENT STORE 4900 PENN AVE SHUR SAVE 4120 MAIN ST SHELL GAS 6701 FRANKSTOWN RD UNIMART 5724 ELLSWORTH AVE GIANT EAGLE #77 254 YOST BLVD PUFF’S DISCOUNT TOBACCO 234 YOST BLVD SPEEDY MART 2131 ARDMORE BLVD SQUIRREL HILL NEWS 5804 FORBES AVE MURRAY AVE. NEWS 2024 MURRAY AVE GIANT EAGLE MURRAY AVE & LORETTA ST DISCOUNT TOBACCO & NEWS 1929 MURRAY AVE UNIVERSITY OF PGH BOOKSTORE 4000 5TH AVE DANA’S BAKERY 720 N. HOMEWOOD AVE DA STORE 606 & 1/2 N. HOMEWOOD AVE BONUS TIRE SERVICE 4349 VERONA RD KANDY CAFE 4291 VERONA RD GIANT EAGLE SHADYSIDE 550 CENTRE AVE MARATHON GAS 4010 PENN AVE STANTON NEGLEY DRUG 804 N. NEGLEY AVE RON’S CORNER DRUG MT. CARMEL RD CENTRAL AREA: GET GO #64
4924 BAUM BLVD SCHWARTZ MARKET 1901 5TH AVE SMOKER FRIENDLY 906 5TH AVE HILL DISTRICT: WONG’S MARKET 2170 CENTRE AVE ANN’S MARKET 2316 WEBSTER AVE A-PLUS MINI MART 2350 CENTRE AVE UJAMMA BOUTIQUE 1901 CENTRE AVE K LEROY IRVIS TOWERS 715 MERCER ST SHOP & SAVE SUPERMARKET 1850 CENTRE AVE ABE’S MARKET 1860 CENTRE AVE WYLIE TOBACCO 2152 WYLIE AVE DOWNTOWN: KWIK-E-MART 212-10TH ST 7-11 #167 643 LIBERTY AVE 7-11 #165 SIXTH & PENN AVE 7-11 #170 429 WOOD ST ESTER’S SNAX FEDERAL BUILDING, 2ND FL SMITHFIELD NEWS 115 SMITHFIELD ST FABER COE & GREGG 500 GRANT ST FABER COE & GREGG FIFTH AVE. PLACE FABER COE & GREGG 600 GRANT ST NIELSEN’S STORES #09 301 GRANT ST— ONE OXFORD CENTER NIELSEN’S STORES #13 437 SEVENTH AVE— KOPPERS BUILDING 9TH & PENN NEWS-NUMBERS 136 PENN AVE EXTRA EXTRA NEWS 413 SEVENTH AVE NEAL NEWS 400 CHERRY WAY CVS PHARMACY #4120 610-612 WOOD ST C&C NEWS 2 PPG PLACE NEWSTAND SIXTH & WOOD ONE STOP 300 SIXTH & WOOD EDDIE’S SNACKS 262 5TH AVE BIG DADDY 465 FORBES AVE 711 SMITHFIELD 420 SMITHFIELD ST NORTHERN AREA: W. N. GROCERY 1018 NORTH AVE. NORTH SIDE BEER & BEVERAGE 1304 FEDERAL ST ALLEGHENY GIFT SHOP— AGH HOSPITAL 320 EAST NORTH AVE GIANT EAGLE #652 318 CEDAR AVE 7-11 #158 1001 WESTERN AVE RICHEY’S BARBER SHOP 1207 N. FRANKLIN ST QUIK-IT 820 PENNSYLVANIA AVE RITE AID #3459 802 PENNSYLVANIA AVE MARSHALL SHELL 1500 SPRING GARDEN AVE SWINKO’S MARKET 2535 PERYSVILLE AVE MERCY STREET EXPRESS 6 MERCY ST HARV’S EXXON 2501 BRIGHTON RD QUICK SCHWARTZ 3235 BRIGHTON RD HANINI MARKET 3245 BRIGHTON RD
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PEOPLE
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
Highmark Walk: ‘Make A Difference One Step At A Time’
THERE’S NO STOPPING THEM—Thousands of people fight the rain to walk in the Highmark Health Walk.
VOLUNTEERS—Cheryl Williams from Garfield and Tonya Cunningham from Downtown help pass out shirts to the walkers.
VOLUNTEERS—Charita Farris from Millvale, Rita Charles from Wilkinsburg, Leslie Preston from Brighton Heights and Consweoa Hill from the North Side are volunteering at the Highmark walk.
SICKLE CELL—Rev. William Hill and Sherdina Hill supporting the Sickle Cell community and the Highmark Health Walk
MOTIVATORS—Keeping everyone in a good mood and motivating walkers are Monique McCoy and Sapphire Mason clapping and dancing to the music.
SMALL SEEDS—From left: Sylvia Wilson, Patricia Cheeseboro, Andrew Cheeseboro, Brittany Tonet, REPRESENTING THE HILL—Robin Scott from the Hill, Runa Lester from the Hill, and Sheila Gilmore and Levi Tonet with small seeds. from the Hill are walking in the Highmark Health Walk.
MOUNT ARARAT—Members of the Mount Ararat Church in East Liberty come out in support of the Highmark Health Walk.
NORTH SIDE—Kienna Johnson from the North Side, Trudy Johnson from the North Side, Brandi Mikulan and the kids 5-year-old Julius Ghafoor, 9-year-old Arianna Ghafoor, and 7-year-old Shawn Ghafoor.
GETTING READY—The Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community is an annual fundraising walk that benefits local health and human service agencies. The primary goal of the walk is to help participating organizations raise money for their individual missions. There were similar walks in Erie, Johnstown, Harrisburg, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Del. All locations featured a 5K Walk beginning at 9 am and a one-mile Walk starting at 9:15 am. Events are held in May and June each year. Highmark Inc. coordinates and underwrites the cost of the walk so that 100 percent of the money raised by walkers goes to the participating nonprofits.The primary goal of the walk was to help participating organizations raise money for their individual missions. The secondary goal of the walk was to energize community members to have a greater hand in their health by becoming or staying physically active. The inaugural Walk for a Healthy Community took place in Pittsburgh, in 2003, and raised more than $25,000 for eight nonprofit organizations. Additional walks have since been added through 2015, the events have raised more than $9 million for more than 250 nonprofits across the states. Above: HELPING THE CAUSE—Shanon Williams from the North Side and Andrea Stanford from Friendship. the YWCA team getting ready to walk in the rain. (Photos by J.L. Martello)