June 7, 2020
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
Vol. 25, Issue 20
“Our vote and our money are the two most powerful things we have. Be careful who you give them to.” - Roy Douglas Malonson By: N.L. Preston HOUSTON- Burn, baby burn. March, baby march. Cry, baby cry. Die … baby … die! That’s the reality of the Black man in America. On May 25, Houston native George Floyd pleaded for mercy as he gasped for air and cried out for his mama as a racist cop, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck. The former Yates High School Lion laid helplessly on a Minneapolis pavement, already handcuffed and not resisting, as four officers on top of him waited patiently for him to die. It took eight long, agonizing minutes and 46 seconds but finally, he stopped breathing. Much, many believe, to the satisfaction of Chauvin, who proudly glared into the cameras of bystanders recording the entire incident while begging him to stop. Now “Big Floyd,” as he was affectionately called by family and friends, is dead, Chauvin is facing charges and the American “justice” system is under attack by angry protesters who are all “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” as Fannie Lou Hamer famously said. “We’ve got to tear down that whole system. The whole system is corrupt,” Rapper and activist Trae the Truth said, encouraging a peaceful protest in Chauvin’s hometown. “We are going to do this for George Floyd and for Houston, Texas. We are going to show the whole world and the nation what we stand for.” In the biggest mass protest the country has ever seen, tens of thousands have banded together in cities across the nation demanding justice “by any means necessary,” as the late, great Malcolm X called for. President Donald Trump, instead of calling for calm, has been speaking out against the protesters, even threatening to release dogs on any ‘thug’ who approached the White House. How did we get to a point when, in 2020, Blacks remain vulnerable
CRIMINAL -FOR US JUSTICE -FOR THEM SYSTEM -FOR CHANGE to blatant racism – many claim is being incited by our own president? “I don’t have to chronicle the long history of our nightmare from 1619 because it’s too well understood to be the subject of any serious debate about how we got to our current state. But at the same time, spaceships don’t come equipped
with rearview mirrors,” the Hon. Craig Washington said. “I’ve always maintained that the biggest single thing that led us to where we are today is that, at the end of reconstruction when the Union soldiers pulled out of the South, they left us here without any way to defend ourselves. We didn’t have any weapons nor any law enforcement
to protect us. Do you think if we were armed the White Knights and Klu Klux Klan would have felt so free to drag us out of our homes and burn crosses in our yards? Now we have come to a place where the rubber has met the road. We are tired of seeing the Eric Garners and Trayvon Martins being killed. I even had a relative, Jesse Washington, who was lynched in Waco, Texas in 1919.” And what can we say to our youth who are fighting to live the “American Dream” which was never designed for them? “The most powerful weapons the Black man have are his money and the power to vote,” African-American News&Issues publisher Roy Douglas Malonson said. “Control the black dollar, you can control ‘the man’ and use your right to vote to put the right people in office, which can help you control your neighborhoods.” History proves withholding the black dollar has power. After Rosa Parks was jailed on Dec. 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus, negroes refused to further patronize the public transportation system, in which they heavily relied upon, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott was born. Approximately 40,000 negro bus riders—the majority of the city’s bus riders—boycotted the system on December 5 and, later that afternoon, negro leaders met to form the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). The group elected Martin Luther King, Jr., the 26-year-oldpastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as its president. King, along with Ralph Abernathy and other community leaders, decided to continue the boycott until the city met its demands. Montgomery City Lines lost between 30,000 and 40,000 bus fares each day during the boycott, suffering great financial loss, and after 381 days, the city ended its previous policies and open seating was initiated for all passengers. “My soul has been tired for a long
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‘THE SHEPHERD’ MANSON JOHNSON II 10/14/48 – 5/31/20
“STAY ON TOP!”
By: Omowale Luthuli- Allen
A good soldier stays on the battlefield until he receives orders from the Commander to come home. No matter how challenging the circumstances on the battlefield, the good soldier fights and perseveres to the very end. Houston’s beloved “Shepherd” Manson B. Johnson died after suffering complications due to COVID-19. He put up a good fight, now it’s time for him to rest. During the turbulent 1960’s Holman Street Baptist Church was under the dynamic leadership of Pastor Douglas. This was a church that could be counted on to stand in the gap during the time of transformation. Hope had declared that a change is gonna come. This change would involve a man child in the promised land. Pastor Manson B. Johnson lived in the black belt community of Starkville, Mississippi as a child. Starkville was home to several colleges and was a bastion of the Old South. In the 20’s, black men had been lynched and Klan Rallies were commonplace. Blood was in the Mississippi fields. Johnson’s family possessed a deep pedigree in that they were distinguished educators. Before he was Pastor Johnson, he understood that he had a mission to fulfill, to reap because others had sowed. The gift of Texas Southern University and Prairie View extended the educational pedigree for Johnson. He was moved to be the Mathematics chairperson at the challenging Cullen Middle School in the near Foster Place Community. Johnson was in the process of being gifted with the attributes to lead a flock. Moses had no idea of the mission that he was prepared for. We are not measuring Johnson by the Moses or Abraham yardstick, only by the charge and mission that was given to him. As he was living an exemplary life, he was rewarded and put in the vise grip and shaken. The evil forces attempted to sift him as wheat and chase him off the path. Indeed, God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. Johnson served honorably as Pastor of the Holman Street flock for 43 long years. His community stood a few blocks from a black tar heroin distribution site and crushing poverty in the bottoms. The vestiges of slavery and Jim Crow slapped him in the face almost daily. Johnson, while a student at TSU, endured an invasion of the police at TSU in 1967. He was strip search and forcibly detained. Johnson knew that the Christian fight was not an easy fight. His scripture had taught him that Paul said to Timothy, “Thou therefore endure suffering as a good soldier.” This riveting experience only steadied and increased his
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WASH YOUR HANDS FREQUENTLY • AVOID PUBLIC SPACES OR EVENTS WITH MORE THAN 10 PATRONS • SANITIZE AND STOCK UP • AVOID TOUCHING YOUR EYES, NOSE AND MOUTH • PRACTICE GOOD HYGIENE