AANI November 20 - 26; Volume 22 Issue 44

NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2017 | FREE

AframNews

WWW.AFRAMNEWS.COM

VOL. 22 ISSUE 44

AframNews

African-American News and Issues Newspaper

Legacy of

Keith Reynard Boss Silas

Greater Houston Area

Powerful Weapon Born- May 5, 1953 in Houston, Texas Parents- Killring Boss Jennie V. James, Adopted father; John Silas Education- Klein High School, Texas Southern University, Champion School of Real Estate Affiliations- Brookhollow Baptist Church (TCWW), Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, Houston Real Estate Association, Garden City Civic Club, Acres Home Chamber of Commerce, old Acres Homes Citizen Counsel, PIP, Aldine ISD. Responded to God’s CallNovember 11, 2017 His legacy will live on throughWife- Kimberly I. Silas Children- Keisha Hensley (Leroy) and Khrislyn Silas Grandchildren- Thristian Silas and Logan Hensley

DR. ARCHIE BLANSON

Stepmother- Lillie Silas SEE PG 8

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~ Nelson Mandela

Siblings- Ronald Silas (Pam), Jolanda Silas and John Silas, step-siblings; Gary, Estelle, Cheryl, Kevin, Kervin, and Ann Other Relatives- one aunt, one uncle, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and treasured friends

African

2

American News&Issues

Editorial & Opinion

The GOP’s Never-Ending Judge Moore’s Problem Earl Ofari Hutchinson

T

Author & Political Analyst

he GOP does not have a Judge Roy Moore problem. It has a Judge Moore’s problem. That’s plural for a reason. Moore is hardly an aberration in GOP ranks. In the past two decades the list of GOP governors, congresspersons, and state and local officials who have been accused of, convicted of, and either summarily dumped from office or resigned reads like a who’s of a roster sheet of sexual deviants.

The long list of GOP sexual rogues has engaged in sexual molestation,

Roy Douglas Malonson Chairman Shirley Ann Malonson President/C.E.O. Chandra Jarmon

Production/Editor

Kimberly Taylor

Production Asst.

General: news@aframnews.com Ads: sales@aframnews.com Website: www.aframnews.com African-American News&Issues is published

by African-American News & Issues, Inc., 6130 Wheatley Street, Houston, Texas 77091, (713) 692-1892. Our office hours are Monday-Friday, 9am - 5pm. The entire contents of the paper are copyrighted by African-American News & Issues, Inc. All rights reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the publisher. African-American News&Issues is not responsible for any claims made by advertisers.

The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the publisher.

African-American News&Issues assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and other material, unless accompanied by a self-address stamped envelope.

Letter to the Editor

W

e welcome all original responses from our readers to content found in the AfricanAmerican News&Issues. Letters to the Publisher may be sent via e-mail to news@aframnews.com.

Please keep all letters under 300 words. Be sure to include the author’s name, area of residence.

All letters and articles may be verified before they are published. All letters are subjected to editing or being cut for spacing purposes. Thank you in advance for your submission.

TX-2

rape, pedophilia, pornography trading, peeping tomism, and every sort of internet sexual trading, pandering and solicitation imaginable.

GOP Senate and party leaders sweat bullets over Moore in part because he is a political embarrassment and a potential lethal political liability with the 2018 mid-terms around the corner. Him in office, and in the Senate, is a direct threat to their shakiest of shaky grips on the Senate. They are toying with every desperate political trick and tactic in the book to get rid of him.

That includes: finding a write-in candidate, delaying the December 12 special election, and the even more longshot tact of moving to deny him a seat or expel him if he wins the Senate race.

That’s only part of the reason the GOP sniffs deep danger in Moore. He casts the ugly and sordid public glare back on the GOP’s long history of being a safe hideout for packs of sexual deviants. Moore is yet another reminder of what has been standard operating procedure for the GOP’s family values, bible thumping moralists who have previously gotten caught with their pants down. In nearly all cases when the sexual deviancy, profligacy, philandering, abhorrent fetishes, and pedophilia of GOP notables is exposed, the word that instantly comes to mind is hypocrisy, with a capital H. And, in nearly all cases, the news of their misdeeds quickly blew over. They were not endlessly pounded by Democrats for their acts. This stands in stark contrast to the virtual crucifixion of former North Carolina Democratic Senator John Edwards (and for a time, top Democratic presidential contender) after the revelation that he had an affair and fathered a child out of it. With Edwards there was even some talk of a criminal prosecution, as a spin off from the infidelity and out of wedlock child fathering. The party has repeatedly

whipsawed Democrats for being the loose, anything goes, under miners of family values by touting gay marriage, abortion, and Planned Parenthood. These have become in the GOP hit lexicon code words for the “permissiveness” that then GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon lambasted Democrats for in 1968. He parlayed that attack into a White House win.

In the years since then, GOP presidents, presidential candidates, and nearly every GOP officer holder, or would-be officeholder used Nixon’s morals script to win and hold office, and tar and slander Democrats as apologists for immorality. Despite the bad behavior of legions of GOP officials, the GOP has firmly imprinted family values defenders as its exclusive preserve.

It will not give up the morality preserve without a fight.

Moore himself is a near textbook example of that. He has virtually told GOP leaders to stuff it. He will not step down. He has legions of local GOP operatives and party officials in Alabama and in other parts who passionately defend him, and finger point the usual suspects, Obama, Clinton, the liberal media, and put-up vengeful women out to torpedo the candidacy of a staunch conservative.

GOP Senate leaders are indignant and rage at Moore because he’s a huge political albatross. They are stone silent though about how the Moore’s of the present and past have been so pervasive a fixture in the GOP. And worse, how GOP elected officials have led the charge against such things as transgender bathrooms and pornography, while themselves being outed for fetishes with pornography and child sex.

This isn’t much different than the GOP’s monumental two-faced posture on race.

Read more articles online @ www.huffingtonpost.com

TEXAS • NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2017

The Miseducation of the Black Diaspora

George M. Johnson is the Managing Editor of BroadwayBlack.com.

As crisis in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico continue to manifest in the wake of several hurricanes, our Blackness and understanding of it in America, and globally is now being put to the test. This test, of whether as a diaspora of Black folk who have been spread far and wide, are ready to combat the original sins of the Americas which turned us from one family, to distant relatives several times removed.

Our current understanding of Blackness and what it should encompass was stolen from us; turned into an alt-history tale built on our differences rather than our intersections.

The African Diaspora is a term coined in the 1990s that explains how Black people were enslaved from Africa and displaced in over 15 different areas across the globe including Brazil, the United States, and Haiti between 1500s and 1900s. This displacement creating intersections of Black people and native people; extending Blackness throughout the world and many nations which aided in the failed understanding of our connectedness.

Unfortunately, global antiBlackness has lent a hand in this failed understanding of how Blacks view other Blacks with unshared ethnicities and cultures; pitting us against one another as foreigners, erasing our shared origin of existence.

The crisis in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands shouldn’t have been my wake-up call to an existence where I didn’t fully understand the intersections of my Blackness, yet here we are. As we have watched the destruction of these islands and territories, many of us have failed to recognize the

anti-Blackness that is going into the lacking recovery efforts for these citizens. Citizens, who are part of the diaspora and therefore included in the narrative of shared Blackness that many of us should be fighting for.

As African Americans, our plight is hard and often vacuumed into the issues we have been fighting against in America for 400-plus years, leaving us little room for concern for people we have always been taught to treat as different from us.

Anti-Blackness is a global issue, and in America as much as many of us fight against it, we are also conditioned to play a major role in supporting it. The most recent issues come in the form of a divide between African Americans and the Latinx community. From topics, as large as racial injustice, and as less magnified as Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone, our understanding of how Blackness and Latinx intersect has become more apparent as our oppression is becoming more shared. Even more recent, the arguments of Cardi B being a Black woman vs. being a Latina women have flared dissension amongst us; many failing to understand that both can exist together and separately, with her intersections giving her a justifiable right to own her Blackness.

I’ve played a role in the flat understandings of colorism, reduced nuance around Afro-Latinx, and the poor understanding of how one can own their Blackness. At times, African Americans have a way of determining what Blackness is for others, and what checkboxes are necessary for one to be able to claim it.

Read more articles online @ www.thegrio.com

TEXAS • NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2017

Editorial & Opinion

Trump says he ‘saved’ the UCLA basketball player David A. Love Editor, Black

Commentator. com

We have no reason to believe anything Donald J. Trump says, including his claim that he rescued the three UCLA basketball players who reportedly caught a case in China for stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store.

Trump is a habitual liar and a racist, and Black folks really don’t have to believe anything this man says.

Already, Donald Trump is fresh off his Asian tour–where he has almost certainly embarrassed himself and the country and brought us even closer to getting killed–and he is looking for something, anything, to take our attention away from the corruption, incompetence and possibly criminal wrongdoing of his administration.

Of all the important matters facing a so-called commander-inchief, Trump returns doing what he knows best– tweeting about foolishness.

His latest is a demand the UCLA basketball players

thank him for saving them

from years of incarceration: First, a note about the alleged act. If it’s true, that was dumb.

Really dumb. You know Black men catch enough hell in this country, but in a foreign country? And China? You should’ve watched enough episodes of MSNBC’s “Locked Up Abroad” to know they don’t play that. But with that said, let’s move on.

Let’s just assume for a moment that Trump did play a role in having these young Black men released and back in the warm embrace of Uncle Sam, where they can easily find police to arrest them for things they did not do.

“Saving” these Black college athletes does not undo his role in ruining five others. I speak of the Central Park Five, who spent years behind bars for a crime they did not commit. Trump did his best to whip people into a frenzy back in 1989, when the five Black and Latino teens were arrested for the brutal rape and beating of a White woman in Central Park. The lynch mob wanted blood, as they sought justice against the marauding wolf pack of Black boys and their “wilding” ways. He took out ads in the major New York City dallies calling for a return to the death penalty in New York. And even to this day, not only did he not apologize for his role in that racist mess, he still maintains they are guilty.

Proving the orange doesn’t fall far from the tree, Trump’s father was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally and brawl with police in Jamaica, Queens. Trump has a long history of racism. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division sued him for racial discrimination because his real estate company refused to rent to Black people.

Trump helped birth the Birther movement by promoting the fallacy that President Obama was not born in Hawaii and that his birth certificate is suspect. It was a blatantly racist campaign for those who did not like the Black president because he was Black.

And with that, Trump built his racist voter base, and made the case why he was the candidate for White nationalism.

Read more articles online @ www.thegrio.com

African

American News&Issues

We Have Reasons to be Thankful…

A

s we are approaching and entering the Thanksgiving season of the year, I felt compelled to elaborate on the holiday. Oftentimes, we have a tendency to celebrate days of official designation simply because we are told to honor them. However, I wanted to provide our readers with an understanding of the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Furthermore, I believe that it is imperative that we Africans living in America understand that we have a great deal to be thankful for.

AS it relates to African-American history in these United States, we know that we have a long way to go.

But with the same token, our place in society is much better than life as it was known to our ancestors’ centuries ago. That within itself is one true reason to be thankful for.

According to the History Channel’s website, “In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast.” Today, we now reverence that feast celebration as a day of Thanksgiving. The site continues to inform, “For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.”

The holiday was birthed out of the establishment of over a 100 passengers aboard the Mayflower which deported from Plymouth. Passengers were in search of a location where they could freely express their various forms of religion and culture. After sailing a couple of months they landed near Cape Cod and eventually settled along the borders of Massachusetts Bay. Half of the Mayflower’s passengers, known as “colonists” or “pilgrims”, died during the winter, due to malnourishment and various ailing diseases. By spring, the remaining colonists settled and met an Abenaki Indian who later introduced them to Squanto. Squanto became known for

teaching the colonists how to survive off of: “cultivating corn, extracting sap, catching fish and avoiding poisonous plants,” according to History.

Once the colonists’ first corn harvest was victorious they held a grand celebration to commemorate the accomplishment. As previously fore-mentioned that was performed in November of 1621. The celebration lasted a few days, and the pilgrims would initiate a period of thanksgiving in the years that followed. In 1789, President George Washington issued the first declaration of Thanksgiving under the order of the United States government.

Other presidents that came after him would acknowledge the days as well.

It wasn’t until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln declared the official celebration day on the final Thursday of every November. In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill that established Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

Since the inception of the holiday, American society has upheld the thanksgiving tradition. While there remain an abundant amount of reasons that each person and culture that exists within this melting pot of a nation, has to be thankful for; I can definitely express that the African-American culture, truly has many reasons to be grateful for. Notwithstanding, the fact that our ancestor’s origin and entrance into this country was initiated through slavery and oppression, we have to be mindful that, that those chains of bondage no longer exists. In fact, the oppressed chains that are afflicted upon many of us today; are amongst that we inflict on ourselves.

We MUST Understand that, there was a time when it was against the law for Black folks to read and write. Now, we own institutions and facilities which teach and operate off of educating our community how to become literate. That alone, is a reason to be grateful. The simple fact that you are reading this newspaper right now is a reason to be thankful

3

We MUST Understand

By Roy Douglas Malonson, Chairman

for. Any Black person that is reading this publication that is produced and published by a Black man has a reason to be thankful. Because it was against the law for you to read and against the law for me to write, so imagine that!

We MUST Understand that there was a time when it was unlawful for a Black person to exercise the right to vote. Now, not only can we vote, but we can have our names listed on the ballot to be voted for.

To bring my thanksgiving point even closer to home, we as a nation have just last year concluded the end of an 8-year term lead by a Black president.

Are you catching my drift? Once again, that is something to be thankful about.

We MUST Understand that there was a time when it was against the law for Blacks to marry each other. Now, we marry those who don’t look like us in: judicial seats, Blackowned mega churches, facilities and various other institutions. That is another reason to be thankful for. To that regard, there are many, many more things that we do have to be thankful for, but space will not allow me to write it all.

Concluding, please understand that I could write about all of the ills that continue to plague our communities and present reasons that we Africans in America could complain; but at the end of the day, we still have more to be thankful about in 2017, than we had in 1917 or 1817. Therefore, I would like to encourage our readers in this season of Thanksgiving, instead of focusing on the many complaints that we could have; look at our place in history and just be grateful that it isn’t as bad as what it could be.

- END

TX-3

4

African

Blanson from pg. 1

HOUSTON - The late Nelson Mandela once conveyed that, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” It is apparent that the resonation of this concept took root in the mind of Dr. Archie Blanson, many decades ago; and has manifested itself, into a gulf of educational opportunities. Nearly forty-years ago, he utilized his weapon to transform the world, as he had known it.

From this experience, he has become Deputy Superintendent for the Aldine Independent School District. While success has been his destination, the road travelled was not paved with smooth gravel. Read on to discover how a sharecropper evolved into an educational ambassador.

Archie Blanson hails from the rural area of Northeast Louisiana.

He was birthed to Nathan and Lula Blanson, who were sharecroppers. For the first elevenyears of his life, he and his nine siblings were also sharecroppers; in which they lived on someone’s property and worked on the land for part of the profit. While his mother had a 6th grade education and his father, 3rd grade; both his parents were literate and knew the value of education and hard work.

Likewise, they taught, encouraged and stressed those fundamental

ADVERTISE in the NEXT to release Dec 4, 2017

The

12th Edition

H-Town Black

Connecting Our Communities to the services they need!

Promote Your Black-Owned Business in the Largest Circulated Black Business Journal #TheHTownBK

Inquire today by Calling (713) 692-1178 There are still spots available 100,000 copies circulated throughout the city!

TX- 4

Cover Story

American News&Issues elements to their children.

During our interview, Blanson recalled, “My parents were so dear, they made sure that the ten of us knew that we could do anything – and they really made us believe that.”

Segregation was prevalent throughout the nation, within Blanson’s primary years of education.

However, he was amongst the generation of students to experience integration within the public school

DR. ARCHIE BLANSON

system. After high school, he enrolled at Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA. Upon entering college life, Blanson was aware that there would be gaps in his education. Rural school districts did not offer Advanced Placement or extensive study courses, so he was only familiar with the basics of most subjects. In addition to that hurdle, the lack of funds for books and tuition served as an obstacle.

Though academically and financially-limited in some ways, he still possessed an attribute by his genetic makeup and culture that would ultimately balance those challenges. Through the genuine virtue of hard work, stemming from his background as a sharecropper; he knew that he could work twice as hard and accomplish any task set before him.

Therefore, instead of focusing on the things that he was unequipped with, he utilized the resources that were available to him. As such, he dedicated countless study hours to researching reference books in the library, when he was unable to afford class materials. While continuing to successfully advance in his coursework, he found himself in a race to outpace the tuition rise. Thus, he would go to school during the summer months, on the weekends and in one semester completed 23-hours. In addition to being enrolled year-round, he

was interviewed for a teaching position and began teaching the following Monday. As fate would have it, he found that he truly loved and enjoyed working with students. After his first year of teaching, he realized that he wanted a career in education and went back to school.

At the time, alternative teaching certification programs were non-existent. Hence,

worked several jobs. Furthermore, he received monetary contributions from his brothers and sisters, who continually supported him in his endeavor. Internally determined to succeed and motivated not disappoint his family, he completed his undergraduate studies in three years.

he had to take every course that an aspiring educator would have to take to obtain teacher’s certification. After a four-year period, he received his certification. Simultaneously, he earned a Master’s degree in Supervision and Administration from Texas Southern University.

In 1979, Blanson attained a Bachelor’s degree, in Political Science from Southern University; establishing him as the first member of his family to graduate from college.

Afterwards, he relocated to Houston, with the intent to enroll in law school. However, he soon realized that he didn’t want to practice law. At the time, he had become a part of Montgomery Ward manager’s training program. After completing the program, he interrogated himself asking, ‘Is this something that I can do for 30 years?’ Concluding that he couldn’t, he decided that he would not do it another day and resigned. Following, he made a decision to pursue education, until he determined what he really wanted to do.

Prior to receiving his Master’s degree, Blanson received an opportunity to work at AISD’s Central Office. He had just completed his second-year as an educator when, Mr. Bill Plummer invited him to assist in the office for the summer. Mr. Plummer’s assistant had taken ill and he needed some temporary assistance. Ironically, what began as temporary aid emerged into a permanent billet. Accordingly, Mr. Plummer offered him the position to serve as Assistant Director for Buildings and Properties and Blanson was elated to oblige. The board approved the recommendation and Blanson operated in this capacity, until being promoted to Director of Buildings and Properties, in 1986.

On a whim, he contacted the Aldine Independent School District and asked if they were accepting applications for teachers. He received a firm, “yes”, and applied the Thursday before school was to commence. He

By the year 1994, Dr. Blanson had become the Director of Aldine’s Human Resources department. Four years later, he was selected as Assistant Superintendent for the Human Resources division. Finally, in 2000 he became Deputy

TEXAS • N•OVEMBER - 26, 2013 2017 Texas August20 12-18,

Superintendent for the District and has remained faithful since.

According to his profile he has, “district wide supervisory and administrative responsibilities as assigned by the superintendent of schools.” Dr. Blanson, “oversees the following departments: athletics, buildings and construction, buildings and properties, central receiving, child nutrition, human resources, maintenance, police, technology, instructional technology integration, technology initiatives and innovations, and transportation and is heavily involved in the instructional programs of the district.”

After 39-years of committed excellence, Dr. Blanson will be retiring from AISD. In regards to his career within the public sector of education, he revealed the following. “One of the things that I love about education is the opportunities that it gives you, to do so many different things. My degree was in Political Science and had nothing to do with education, construction or finance; but because, the district gave me so many opportunities - I became an expert in human resources, operations, transportation, finance, bonds and all of those different things. In my 39-years with the district, I can honestly say that, ‘I am one of the rare people, who can say, ‘I’ve never considered going anywhere else.’’ I have always loved getting up, going to work, because I never know what is going to happen. One minute I’m talking to a contractor, the next - a teacher, or a parent who needs some help getting something done. There have been so many different things that have made the job enjoyable; working with people, who you work with, for 35 to nearly 40-years has been a great experience for me!”

Continue reading online @ www.aframnews.com By:Rebecca Jones

Texas • November 20 - 26, 2017

Community

Read us online! www. aframnews. com

5

The Rose Hosts 4th Annual Ensemble Theatre Fundraiser HOUSTON-- The Rose bought “out the house” at the Ensemble Theater in Midtown Houston for an afternoon of entertainment, refreshments and great door prizes, plus a chance to impact the lives of African American women. The Reception started at 1:30 p.m., followed by an exclusive showing of Sassy Mamas, a romantic comedy about three women who confidently pursue their heart’s desires. This year, The Rose @ The Ensemble raised over $30,000 to fund 200 mammograms for patients of The Rose.

National studies show African American women are 45 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than Caucasian women. However, in Houston that rate is even higher, spiking to 60 percent. Awareness and

Bee Busy Wellness Center and more.

To learn more about The Rose’s annual programming, visit www.the-rose.org.

ABOUT THE ROSE:

Zawandi Bryant, Ashley Turner, Dorothy Gibbons, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, Cheryl Turner, Chris Noble, Kim Roxie and Yemi Sholotan

mobile program. The event makes sure African American women have diagnostic follow-up

Breast Cancer Survivors -The Rose at The Ensemble

access to mammography are keys to reducing these alarming statistics and the reasons behind The Rose @ The Ensemble event.

Three years ago, Chris Noble of The Rose and Kim Roxie, owner of Lamik Beauty, wanted to create an event that would increase mammograms among African American women and would also drive home the appalling message of the higher death rate. They created The Rose @ The Ensemble to bring screening mammograms to women through The Rose’s

and access to treatment when needed.

“Awareness is necessary because African American women need to know they are at a higher risk for more aggressive diseases like breast cancer that are also being detected at an earlier age in their community,” said Chris Noble, Director of Corporate and Business Relations at The Rose.

“Without access to mammography, we will never change the outcomes for these women.”

Last year, The Rose cared for 5,552 African American women

of which 733 were uninsured.

While many received screening and had good results, 200 uninsured also needed diagnostic work-ups including ultrasounds, biopsies and physician consultations.

In total, 991 essential procedures were provided.

More care was needed for 23 women who were diagnosed and moved into treatment, of which the youngest

was 38 years old.

Among The Rose @ The Ensemble guests who supported mammograms and breast cancer treatment awareness for African American women were local business leaders Sheila JacksonLee, Marcus Manson, Misha McClure and Carl Davis. Food was provided by Julia Cooks, the organic catering catering company and Sweets by Gabby, the local, organic cupcake company created by child entrepreneur Gabriella. The presenting sponsor at the event was Merrill Lynch. Top sponsors included Community Sponsor, Fort Bend Church, Lamik Beauty, Nightlight Pediatric Urgent Care,

Since 1986, The Rose has provided high quality breast healthcare to all women, regardless of their ability to pay. Their mission is to save lives through quality breast health services, advocacy and access to care for all. As a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence, The Rose is one of only 14 Breast Centers in the greater Houston area to receive this designation. Led by Fellowship trained physicians, The Rose’s advanced digital technology includes 3D tomosynthesis mammography, diagnostic work-ups including biopsies and its nationally recognized Patient Navigation Program ensures access to treatment and a continuum of care for all women.

As the leading nonprofit breast health organization in Texas, The Rose is a strong advocate for quality breast healthcare, a major part of the Healthcare Safety Net and serves 40,000 insured and uninsured women annually.

Two Houston based comprehensive Diagnostic Centers and a fleet of Mobile Mammography Vans provide services to women throughout 40 counties in Southeast Texas.

Breast Cancer Survivors -The Rose at The Ensemble TX- 5

6

African

American News&Issues

Business

Charles Dawson celebrates 40 Years as a business owner. Dawson Chemicals & Janitorial Supplies Company was established in October, 1977. It began in the back room of an office building shared by a tax and insurance company. With hard work and dedication, the one many operation began to flourish. Seeing the opportunity to expand, in 1978 the building located at 6010 Irvington Blvd and I-610 was leased. As the customer base continued to expand and business progressed, Charles was able to purchase the leased property and thus, the home of Dawson Chemical at 610 & Irvington became the main location.

Texas • November 20 - 26, 2017

Dawson Chemicals 40th Anniversary

Dawson Chemicals & Janitorial Supplies is very proud that throughout the years, two additional locations, U.S. Metro Chemicals and Citywide Chemicals & Janitorial Supplies, were added. All three companies has successfully serve Houston and surrounding areas faithfully.

As we celebrate this significant 40 year milestone, we would like to take the opportunity to graciously thank our customers, suppliers, associates, family and employees. Our success and longevity is only by the Grace of God. Photo Credit: Diane Dawson

(L-R) Robert Cerf, James Steptoe, Krystal Howard, John Dawson, CHarles Dawson, Samuel Dawson, Crystal Ross, Irvy Dawson, Shipton Dawson, Omar Dawson

Texas A & M College Friends :(L-R)Scottie Jones, Charles Dawson, Shipton Baker, Michael

(L-R)James Dawson, Samuel Dawson, Joyce Dawson, Charles Dawson, John Dawson, Mary Willis, Irvy Dawson

(L-R) David Rudolpho, Jessica Dawson, Sharonda Dawson, Genesis Mouton, Omar Dawson Jr, Omar Dawson Sr. ,Michelle Dawson, Aaliyah Dawson, Diane Dawson, Charles Dawson, Trina Mouton, Omesha Dawson Zaire Johnson, Deondra Johnson, Jermaine Johnson, Kingston Johnson HOU - 6

EDITION DATE: November 13 - 19, 2017 (Vol. 22 Issue 43) EDITION DATE: November 20 - 26 (Vol. 22 Issue 44)

PublicHappenin’ Notice What’s

Texas • November 20 - 26, 2017

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

Public Notice

Contact Information:

African American News&Issues

7

Name: Sharon K. Ognowski Company: Lone Star College System Phone: (832)813-6211 Fax: 832.813.6513 Credit Email: Sharon.K.Ognowski@lonestar.edu Cards Address for Tearsheets: Acce 5000 Research Forest Drive Lay-a- pted way The Woodlands, Texas 77381-4356

Marketplace Heading:

PUBLIC NOTICE

Heading Title:

Public Notice

Rate and size ofRate Ad toand run in AAN&I’s Houston edition.Houston edition. size of Ad to run in AAN&I’s Houston Community College NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

Lone Star College Bid Requests:

Contact Information

TION DATE: November 20 - 26, 2017, 2017 Issue 44)(Vol. 22 Issue 44) EDITION DATE: November 20 (Vol. - 26, 22 2017, 2017 ION DATE: November 27 - December 3, 2017 (Vol. 22 Issue 45) • RFP #563 Pressure Washing Services for Lone Star College. Electronic Submittal due by 11:00 a.m. 12/19/2017.

Pre-proposal meeting 11/29/2017 at 9:00 a.m. at Lone Star CollegeTraining & Development Bld. Room 113, 5000 Research Forest Dr., The Woodlands, TX 77381 Online WebEx pre-proposal meeting will be held on 12/18/2017, at 10 – 11 AM; call–in number 832-813-6701. Contact christina.m.thibodaux@lonestar.edu 832-813-6575. Must register to bid: http://wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/ istar/supplier.htm.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Request for Proposals (RFP) Central Campus Fiber Infrastructure Build Out Project No. 18-11

Sealed proposals will be received in Procurement Operations (3100 Main Street, Room No. 11B01, Houston, Texas 77002) until 2:00PM (local time) on Thursday, December 7, 2017.

Documents can be obtained at:

www.hccs.edu/procurement.

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

Sealed electronic proposals will be received by Lone Star College for: • CSP #564 – Roof Replacement, Winship Building, North Harris Campus. Electronic bids due by 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, 12/19/2017.

Mandatory Pre Proposal and Site Visit, Monday, 12/4/2017 at 10:00 a.m. at LSC-North Harris Campus, Library, Room 103, 2700 W.W. Thorne Dr., Houston, 77073. Contact: kimberly.a.burnaman@lonestar. edu Must Register to Bid: http:// wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/istar/supplier.htm . If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact donna.e.cottrell@ lonestar.edu 832-813-6275.

Sealed electronic proposals will be received by Lone Star College for: • CSP #562 – Kitchen Renovation – LSC-University Park – Commons Building. Electronic bids due by 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, 1/10/2018. Mandatory Pre-Proposal/Site Visit, Tuesday, 12/7/2017 at 10:00 a.m. at LSC– University Park, Conference Center, Beijing Conference Room, 20515 State Highway 249, Houston, TX 77070. Contact: sharon.k.ognowski@ lonestar.edu Must Register to Bid: http://wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/ istar/supplier.htm . If registered, please ensure your registration is up to date. For assistance with the on-line registration process, contact donna.e.cottrell@lonestar.edu or 832-813-6275.

NOV

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2017 INCOME MATCH MAKER

ENTREPRENEURS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

6161 Savoy Dr Suite 1040 Signature Houston, TX 77036 from 7:30pm - 9 pm 713-301-2446 felicia_guidry@aol.com www.incomematchmaker.com

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2017 Interfaith Ministries

2017 Meals on Wheels Thanksgiving

3303 Main St, Houston, Texas 77002 (713) 533-4900

AD COST OPEN

Thursday, Friday & Saturday 11am - 5pm Total Cost to run Ad for one week:

Holiday $174.24 Gifts

AD COST

Cost to run ad for 2 weeks $280.80

New!

Email: Kimberly.A.Burnaman@lonestar.edu Email: Sharon.K.Ognowski@lonestar.edu Address for Tearsheets: Address for Tearsheets: Please sign 5000 Research Forest Drive 5000 Research Forest Drive The Woodlands, Texas 77381-4356 The Woodlands, Texas 77381-4356

CARRIERS & Outside AD COST Sales Person Total Cost to run Ad for two weeks: Must have

AD COST

for approval and fax back to (713) 692-1183 by 12 NOON Wednesday for next Monday’s publication.

Back

Total Cost to run Ad for one week:

Please sign for approval and$334.08 fax back to 713-692-1183 $174.96 knowledge of maps by 12 NOON Wednesdayand the week before Monday Signature

PO#112784

P.O. Number

Sealed electronic proposals will be Name: Marilyn M. Vega received by Lone Star College for: • CSP #559 – Chilled Water RiserPhone: 713.718.7410 Replacement – LSC-University Park, Building 12. Electronic bids due Email: marilyn.vega@hccs.edu by 11:00 a.m., Friday, 12/14/2017.

Address for Tearsheet/Copies: Mandatory Pre-Proposal/Site Visit, 3100 Main Street Tuesday, 11/28/2017 from 1:30-3:30 Heading Heading Title: p.m. at LSC–University Park, Title: Houston, Texas 77002 Conference Center, Montreal ConferPublic Notice Public Notice ence Room, 20515 State Highway 249, Houston, TX 77070. Contact: Contact Information: sharon.k.ognowski@lonestar.edu Contact Information: Must Register to Bid: http://wwwappsdstc.lonestar.edu/istar/suppliName: Kim Burnaman Name: Sharon Ognowski er.htm . If registered, please ensure Company: Lone StarFor College System Company: Lone Star College System your registration is up to date.

Phone:with 832-813-6782 assistance the on-line registration Phone: (832)813-6211 process, contact donna.e.cottrell@ Fax: 832.813.6513 Fax: 832.813.6513 lonestar.edu or 832-813-6275.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2017 City Of Houston

68th Annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade

African-American Communites For more information

Front

Date

CLEANING “S unday Morning” Please PERSON sign for approval and faxfor approval Please sign and fax LSC PO # 44773 onth Wall Calendar 2018 16 M Needed back to (713) 692-1183 back to (713) 692-1183 P.O. Number for this Ad

call 713-692-1892

Send Resume to by 12 NOON Wednesday by 12 for NOON Wednesday for sales@aframnews.com ble publication. next Monday’s publication. next Monday’s Availa Sunday NOVEMBER 26, 2017 Now!

New!

901 Bagby St, Houston, TX Loaves & Fishes 77002 From 9am- 10am Signature Thanksgiving DateSignature FOR MORE INFO VISIT Homeless www.houstontx.gov

Feeding

SATURDAY Soup Kitchen NOVEMBER 25, 2017Date 2009 Congress St,Date Westbury United Houston, Texas 77002 Methodist Church BEGINNING LSC PO # 44773AT 11am - 12pm LSC FOR MORE INFO Fluffy

PO # 44773

info@houstonpromulgate.org for this AdP.O. Number for this Ad -N- Fitness P.O. Number Sunday “Fierece” NOVEMBER 26, 2017 Paradise Missionary Baptist Masterclass

5200 Willowbend Blvd, Houston, Texas 77096 BEGINNING AT 12pm - 2pm FOR MORE INFO (713) 723-0175

Interested in Advertising?

Email sales@aframnews.com!

“Trust in the Lord “ tote bag with zippers

Church

Thanksgiving Celebration of Praise

3605 Tangerine St, Houston, Texas 77051 BEGINNING AT 6pm FOR MORE INFO (713) 731-1938

713-692-1195

6130 Wheatley Street | Houston, TX 77091

We Appreciate Our Customers!

HOU - 7

8

African

TSU

American News&Issues

SWAC Hall of Fame Inductee

TEXAS • NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2017

Rep. Zerwas Delivers Coin Toss for Football Game

Dr. Dwalah Fisher was selected as one of the nine class members to be inducted into the 2017 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Hall of Fame. The enshrinement ceremony will take place on Nov. 30 at The Westin Galleria in Houston.

(L-R) TSU PRESIDENT AUSTIN LANE, LOREN LANE, SWAC REFEREE, SYLVIA ZERWAS AND REPRESENTATIVE JOHN ZERWAS

Fisher, who serves as the assistant director and senior woman administrator for TSU Athletics, was a top volleyball players at Texas Southern. She earned three All-SWAC nods and four All-Tournament honors for the Lady Tigers and her team won three conference titles. She was a member of the Lady Tigers basketball team before tearing her ACL in her freshman year. She took the helm of the Lady Tigers volleyball program in 1994, guiding the team to the SWAC volleyball championship, and coached until 2010. Fisher also coached the women’s basketball team in 1996. She serves as the color analyst for the SWAC Digital Network’s volleyball broadcasts.

“It is truly an honor to be recognized by the conference with this honor and to go in with this class of outstanding former SWAC athletes and coaches,” Fisher said. “I am most proud that I am joining my college coach Audrey Ford who was TSU’s first inductee into the SWAC Hall of Fame. He recently passed and to be enshrined alongside him means so much to me.”

Dr. Fisher is a proud three-time TSU graduate, earning her undergraduate degree in business administration, a master’s degree in health education and a doctoral degree in education curriculum instruction.

For more information on the ceremony and a complete list of inductees, visit www.swac. org.

TX - 8

HOUSTON - Recently Texas State Representative John Zerwas provided the coin toss for Texas Southern University’s October 11th football game against the Southern University Jaguars. Zerwas, who represents District 28, which encompasses northwestern Fort Bend County, was the special guest of TSU President Austin

Lane.

Rep. Zerwas described education as the “great equalizer.”

“Texas Southern University provides its students with a high quality education,” Zerwas stated. “Education levels the playing field in society and TSU graduates are

professionally and credibly well prepared for the demands of the future workforce. It’s great to be around these students and know that they are the future leaders of Texas.”

Rep. Zerwas was accompanied by his wife, Sylvia. President Lane was accompanied by TSU First Lady, Loren Lane.

JHJ School of Business Announces New Partnership

(L-R) TSU PRESIDENT AUSTIN LANE, JHJ EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT MURIEL FUNCHES, ASPECT PRESIDENT AND CEO STEVE HUGHES, ASPECT MANAGING DIRECTOR SHESHIEDA DAVIS, JHJ DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF ACCOUNTING RICHARD PITRE, AND JHJ INTERIM DEAN JOHN WILLIAMS ~ PHOTO CREDIT: EARLIE HUDNALL, TSU UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER

The Jesse H. Jones School of Business (JHJ) and Aspect, a leading global provider of cloud commodity trading and risk management solutions, announced a new partnership on October 31. Aspect has provided JHJ with a free subscription to its Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) software valued at more than $1.7 million. JHJ will use the software to teach best practices to the next generation of energy and commodities traders. Students will use real-world tools and scenarios used by today’s industry professionals.

“We’re excited to have Aspect’s veteran staff of CTRM experts bring their expertise into our classroom for students to begin to explore real-time trading and future careers as commodity traders,” said TSU President Austin Lane. “This is another valued University partnership and the experience our students will gain will allow them to truly frame their futures.”

JHJ professors will use AspectCTRM to demonstrate how traders monitor profit and loss, inventory analysis, physical oil move-

ments, financial accounting methods and reporting, tax practices, and other activities in its Introduction to Energy Accounting Course. The class is designed to enhance students’ accounting skills and marketability in the global energy market.

“We are thrilled to be part of a program that helps train commodity traders of the future,” said Sheshieda Davis, Aspect managing director of the Americas.

To continue reading visit us online @ www.aframnews.com

TEXAS • NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2017

Did You Know?

First Female African American CWO-5

education/youth

MILLINGTON, Tenn - Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) 5 Valencia Simmons-Fowler is the first African America woman to achieve the highest chief warrant officer rank in the information warfare community.

The Chicago, Illinois native started her Navy career at Recruit Training Command Orlando, Florida in March 1988. From there she attended Cryptologic Technician Collection (CTR) “A” School where she achieved the notable accomplishment of honor graduate.

As her list of successes continued, SimmonsFowler earned the title of chief petty officer in September 2001 while serving aboard USS Bataan (LHD 5). Later, during her tour at Naval Security Group Activity in Norfolk, Virginia she was selected for the CWO program in 2003, beginning her life as a chief warrant officer.

“This was my goal since the beginning of my career,” said Simmons-Fowler. “I have always strived for the next level, the pinnacle profession, and I earned it.”

The historic promotion is the result of hard work and dedication that isn’t achieved alone, but with the help of mentors and shipmates along the way.

9

Executive Leadership Council Scholarship academic achievement and development of black undergraduate and graduate students.

Anthony Collier

Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) 5 Valencia Simmons-Fowler

Read us online! www. aframnews. com

HOUSTON--Anthony Collier has been announced as a recipient of the Executive Leadership Council’s (ELC) 2017 Alvaro L. Martins Scholarship. Collier, a senior honors student from Manor, Texas, has a double major in History and Political Science. ELC is the preeminent member organization for the development of global black leaders. Its scholarship programs build a pipeline of black corporate talent by supporting the

“Receiving the Alvaro L. Martins Scholarship has been a wonderful experience for me,” Collier said. “I have been able to meet and network with some very prominent African-American business people who lead Fortune 500 companies. Seeing people who look like me and are in high levels of leadership in Corporate America has been amazing to witness first-hand.”

Collier is involved on campus and in the community, serving as a member or leader in several organizations including the Thomas F. Freeman Debate Team, Political Science Club, Student Government Association of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, Pre-Law Society, Collegiate 100, NAACP-TSU Chapter, Political Action Committee Student Organizer for the NAACP Houston Branch, and the Wesley Foundation at TSU. He co-founded the Southern Student

HOUSTON – Texas Southern University is pleased to announce that Kendall T. Harris, Ph.D., P.E., has been selected as the new Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Dr. Harris, who will begin employment with TSU on January 1, 2018, comes to the University from Prairie View A&M University where he served as dean of the Roy G. Perry College of Engineering.

“None of us ever gets here alone,” said Capt.

Alonza Ross, the director of enlisted distribution at “Dr. Harris brings a wealth of Navy Personal Command and mentor to Simmonsexperience and will help us enhance Fowler. “It takes a lot of support from family, our academic programs and research friends and shipmates.” efforts. We are glad to have him on our team that is dedicated to serving faculty, Continue online @ www.aframnews.com staff and students,” said TSU President By: Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle Hafer, Navy Austin A. Lane. “Special thanks to Dr. Recruiting Command

He has studied abroad in Israel, Spain and Ghana, and represented Texas Southern in the International Competition for Entrepreneurs (ICE) in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where TSU became the first HBCU to compete on a global level. Collier and a team of four peers won first place in the competition, the first HBCU to win the prestigious title.

The Alvaro L. Martins Scholarship was created in honor of ELC’s founding member and first president/CEO. It is awarded annually to 13 top undergraduate black male students attending one of the nation's top Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Dr. Kendall Harris

Bobby Wilson for his dedication and service to the University as interim provost. Thanks to Dr. J. Kenyatta Cavil, faculty senate chair, for chairing the search committee and each of the committee members for their leadership during this search.”

Kendall Harris

Leadership Association (SSLA). Collier has served as a Congressional intern for U.S. Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee and participated in the Texas Legislative Internship Program (TLIP) in the Austin office of Senator Borris L. Miles.

A licensed professional engineer, Dr. Harris began his tenure at Prairie View A&M University in 2005 as Associate Dean and Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Under his leadership as Associate Dean, the College implemented the College of Engineering Success Center which focuses on retention by offering supplemental instruction for freshman and sophomore students enrolled in math, science and engineering courses.

He also conceptualized and facilitated a program hat partners advisors from each academic department within the college with advisors from the freshman residence complex, University College. This collaboration works through a new freshman course within the College that introduces fundamental engineering, computer science and technology concepts to first-year students.

Dr. Harris has consistently held faculty appointments throughout his tenure as an educator. His external research efforts have

- END

garnered more than $10 million in research and program funding. His research interests are in the fields of Heat Transfer, Electronic Package Cooling and Energy Conservation.

He has numerous publications and conference proceedings in these areas. Dr. Harris is an active member of the faculty in both academia and in his community. Dr. Harris has worked extensively with youth, encouraging them to pursue college degrees and to major in STEM related fields. He strongly advocates and recognizes that an education is the key factor that separates the “haves” from the “have nots.”

Prior to joining the faculty at PVAMU, Dr. Harris served as Associate Professor and Associate Chairman for the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. In this capacity, he managed the departmental budget, curriculum design, fellowships, and scholarships. He graduated from the Naval Aviation Officer School as a U.S. Naval Officer and Aviator. Dr. Harris received his masters and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Mississippi and he holds bachelor degrees from the University of Kansas.

- END TX - 9

10

Read us online! w w w. a f ra m n e ws. co m

Acres Home Chamber for Business & Economic Develop-

Carlecia D. Wright-December Luncheon Speaker

along with LiftOff Houston, a Business Plan Competition that awards $30,000 annually, and Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Turnaround Houston Initiative that provides workforce resources to Houstonians. Her leadership of the City’s Supplier Diversity Program has led to more than 25,000 contracts totaling over $2 billion dollars being awarded to diverse businesses. Houston’s Supplier Diversity Program has become a model for cities around the country.

Carlecia D. Wright

Carlecia D. Wright is the Director for the City of Houston’s Office of Business Opportunity. In this Mayoral appointed role, she leads the City’s Supplier Diversity, Entrepreneurial, and Workforce Development Programs.

Under Carlecia’s leadership, various programs that promote equity and opportunity have been launched -including a regional job platform called TweetMyJobs Houston,

s Flower for All ons Occasi

Carlecia has received several awards for her achievements, including being named one of Houston Chronicle’s 2016 Women to Watch in Business and a 40 Under 40 Professional by the Houston Business Journal. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from Columbia College of Chicago and a Master’s Degree from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. She is a graduate of the Center for Houston’s Future, Leadership Houston, and an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow.

A native of Illinois, Carlecia is the wife of Philip Wright, Jr. and mother of Kaomi.

Shirley Ann’s Flowers

Credi tC Accep ards ted

WE D

ELIVE

design s u t e L oral your fl ent em arrang

Call o r in! Lla Come m Entrenar o !

Norfork Pine Pot Plant

www.shir leyannflower shop.com

OPEN

Tues: 12pm - 5pm | Wed, Thurs, Fri: 8am - 5pm

(713) 692 - 1100

6130 Wheatley Street | Houston, TX 77091 email: contact@shirleyannflowershop.com We A ppr eciate Our Customer s TX - 10

R!

Texas • November 20 - 26, 2017

Mr. Frickles, The Purple Pickle Factory

HOUSTON - Formerly known as, Mr. Frickles, The Purple Pickle Factory has emerged into one of Acres Homes’ best kept secrets. It began as a venture birthed out of sheer necessity from two adopted brothers of the Acres Homes’ community. Its history begins as follows, according to an interview obtained from one of the owner’s, Mr. Rodney Sullivan.

The historical Acres Home became the tie that bound Rodney Sullivan (Memphis, Tennessee) and Robert Bryant (Shreveport, Louisiana) together. Ironically these best friends for over 15 years, found themselves out of work at the same time. Both, being strong believers in the power of the energy that the universe possesses, they felt that nothing happened by coincidence. Equipped with the mental notion that, “as the mind believes, one can achieve”; these like-minded geniuses felt compelled to unite their backgrounds and knowledge together, to aspire to a greater cause. From this experience, they brainstormed of several entrepreneurial concepts that would suit both their styles and personalities.

Initially they thought of a car wash but dismissed the idea since there was already an established site across from their intended location of operation. They considered a number of other ideas, but none fit the innovative image they wanted to create within the community.

Nonetheless, it was when Robert made a journey back home to Shreveport that he realized he had finally found their niche. Accordingly, they went to work to create what became known as, Mr. Frickles to local residents. Frickles is a cut pickle deep fried in hot oil. However, the southernflavored variety of freckled-flavors and styles, the ingenious team developed is what gave their product its unique edge.

Armed with their collective talents’ of sales and marketing experience gathered from their past positions as Collection Agents; they were excited and determined to market their fresh and funky Frickles to local residents. On their first day, they made a whopping $76.25. At the time, this $76 profit served as a mountain of encouragement for them, to assist them with attaining a vision of what would become. The talented friends quickly grasped the attention of the community with their delectable treats. Soon Houstonians were flocking by droves to frequent the location to taste the wide-variety of Frickles they offered.

As with most local mom and pop retailers they experienced the perils associated with

owning and operating a small business. However, they remained determined to excel in the path that they had laid out for themselves. After operating for about a year, things really began to shape for them. It was at that time that they received a call from one of Texas’ largest grocery giants, H-E-B. To their surprise, they were selected for H-E-B’s Primo Picks, out of 400 small independent companies within the state.

Consequently, they were chosen to be amongst the top 25 participants. While this feat served as a major accomplishment for the awesome duo; it also helped them to realize that they had to re-strategize their goals and objectives to accommodate a larger clientele for their product. Undoubtedly, they had become “Big Boys on the block within the ‘44’ (Acres Home)”, however competing with other statewide mom and pop merchants placed them on a larger scale. As luck would have it, they were able to capture the attention of the President and Vice President of H-E-B. Upon doing so, they were informed of the proper channels to assist them with marketing their product to a broader spectrum.

Since that time, they have begun restructuring the company to reflect the invaluable wisdom they received. Hence, the re-birth of the Purple Pickle Factory!

Today, the pair maintains that they have been blessed with knowledgeable insight to help guide them along the way. Since being exposed to the true dynamics of business, they are hoping to duplicate what’s happening with them “throughout the Acres Home community and ultimately the state of Texas as a whole”, says, Rodney Sullivan.

He continued, “We want to see our Black dollars circulated within the community because we know where our seed was planted – right here in Acres Home.” “So be on the look-out as we catapult into the Purple Pickle Factory, Mr. Frickles was the rough draft and now we’ve had three years to get it right,” he added.

Pickled flavors available at The Purple Pickle Factory include: green apple, strawberry kiwi, black cherry, blue raspberry, grape, candy apple, peach mango, cherry limeade, tropical punch, cherry, lollipop, Jamaica, green pineapples, mango, watermelon, tangerine, berry cherry, strawberry and lemon-lime. For more information about services offered contact (832) 891-5833 or visit their website at www.mrfrickles.com/.

The Purple Pickle Factory is a proud member and supporter of the Acres Home Chamber for Business and Economic Development.

By: Rebecca Jones

Texas • November 20 - 26, 2017

dfw-metroplex

Read us online! w w w.a fra mnews.com

Breaking Through The Darkness

of creativity. When it’s all said and done and the curtain falls, we’ve got an audience walking away feeling as though they’ve gotten more than their money’s worth and although it may be way past their bedtime when it ends, there’s an electricity flowing through the air that’s bouncing all over the place from person to person. This is what it was like at the South Dallas Cultural Center this past Saturday night, November 11, 2017.

The occasion was the celebration of Mercedes Johnson’s book entitled, “Her Story: Breaking Through the Darkness.”

Rather than come out on stage and read excerpts of her book to us, the author organized a group of artists and added a subtitle to the evening, dubbing it, “A Neo Soul Night.”

Mercedes Johnson

Having an opportunity to enjoy the performing arts in your own neighborhood can be a very exciting experience. Your senses are awakened by the innovative ways the entertainers use to connect you to their raw talent and they do it minus the fluff. Fluff can be a state-of-the-art sound system, mechanical props, colorful lighting and stuff. But strip all of it away, down to the bare minimum and we got fresh, uninhibited talent and a new level

Dallas is the 4th largest metro area in the United States by population and we have the 5th largest metro economy. As residents of Dallas, we can proudly say, our DFW airport is the 3rd busiest airport in the nation. In May of this year, Toyota moved here and now Amazon is carefully inspecting our area, and considering making it their new home. And while our city can boast of all these impressive achievements and statistics, there is one thing we should all be ashamed of - the 19.4% of our population living in poverty. As Pastor Frederick Haynes, III of Friendship West said at a Poverty Forum at his church last month, “It looks like Dallas is thriving, but in the shadows, there are children living in poverty. I’m looking for facts and figures showing members of the community moving up rather than out. Have our numbers dropped because people haved moved up or moved out?”

In an article published by the Dallas Morning News thirty years ago in the November 25, 1987 issue, entitled, “Study Charts Dallas’ Needy -

The band, drummer Forest, saxophonist Mark, and keyboardist Justin, sat in the recesses of the stage and lighting, playing soft jazzy music in the background, as the performers got rid of their last minute jitters/ temporary bouts of nervousness. It’s something all performers go through. Thoughts of who’s sitting in the audience, and whether or not the friends/family members they invited actually showed up to support them, is common before the opening act. As they got it together backstage, the band played their rendition of “Time Will Reveal” by DeBarge.

The performance opened with author, Mercedes Johnson talking to the audience in

what appeared to be a lot like spoken word.

She left a melancholy tone in the room when she exited the stage, leaving the audience with thoughts about some of the darkest moments in our lives. As the stage went completely black, her image was replaced by a poet’s who put Nina Simone’s lyrics to the song, “Black Bird” in spoken word form. Shortly after, the stage blackened again for a few moments as a spiritual dancer graced the stage gesticulating pain in her body movements with an equally painful look on her face. Her performance ended with her collapsing to the floor, in a sea of hopelessness and in an almost fetal position as the song playing in the background faded out, “Black Bird You Ain’t Never Gonna Fly.” There was a brief reading done by the young Alanah Stevenson, who portrayed the main character as a young girl in the book, known as Jada Rose. She sat in the middle of the floor seated in indian-style fashion and shared details with us about losing her father to the prison system, then her mother who was murdered. Life seemed to be lost without them, but then the saxophonist comes to the stage after Alanah exits, playing “A Change Is Gon’ Come,” leaving us with the hope of life making a 180 degree turn for Jada, the main character in “Her Story.”

As we guessed, life did turn around for Jada.

She rose above her depression, and became an inspiration to women of all colors across the

Stubborn Poverty Levels

214,944 Residents At or Near Poverty Level in 1980,” reportedly 1 out of every 4 Dallas residents was living in poverty which would have represented 25% of the population. If those numbers were correct, and not as conservative as they were described when the report was initially released to the public, it would mean our numbers have only decreased by 5.6%. So the poverty rate only went down by 1.07 percent every 5 years?

It’s scary to look back and compare this article which was written 30 years ago, to articles written about poverty in Dallas today, because it proves not much has changed. We are still struggling with equipping people with the skills they need to earn high enough wages to rise above the poverty line. Also, families receiving food stamps rely heavily on food pantries when there food stamp money has run out. This is a common occurrence among most food stamp recipients when they are close to a week or week and a half or so from having their EBT cards refilled. Thirty

years ago, we were talking about what it would possibly take to eliminate some of the food pantries and reliance upon food stamps. Believe it or not, the same discussion is taking place today.

This week Monday, a group of 16 men and women gathered in a classroom to discuss poverty.

They are volunteers who attended the Poverty meeting that was held last month at Friendship West Baptist Church. After the drivers of poverty were presented to the attendees, those who had a desire to participate were encouraged to place their names on the sign up sheet to be a part of the policy making committee. The reasoning behind the committee is to research and discuss individual drivers of poverty and create policies which will help eradicate those same drivers. For example, if we are saying our high school students are not graduating and going off to college in large numbers, then maybe college prep should be a mandatory class in Junior year, with follow up the first few weeks of the senior year, since

11

country. In spite of her dire circumstances, she found the strength to overcome her vices.

Before it all ended, poet S’scence Adams came out telling us to repeat after her, “I’m done chasing, just living in my destiny.” And when we didn’t respond with the type of enthusiasm she expected, she made us do it again. She told us to always remember God gave us a gift for a reason and we must remember that our gift will make room for us.

Mercedes Johnson is touring numerous cities as a way of reaching potential readers, and those who have already been blessed by reading her book. One of the main responses she gets from readers once they pick up the book, is that they find it impossible to put down. And then some of them say they had to put the book down, because they were not ready to face themselves. The book and the narrative are both very healing experiences.

However, if you are not in one of the cities she is traveling to, be sure to pick up a copy of Her Story: Breaking Through the Darkness.

Mercedes is majoring in Biblical studies and says one of her favorite bible verses is “Greater is he that is in me than he who is in the world”- I John 4:4.

Mercedes Johnson is represented

by Phylonaldsagency.com For bookings, please reach out to her agent Erica Stevenson through the website.

applications for different colleges are generally due by the end of the year. Another one might be making it mandatory for property owners to accept a certain percentage of housing vouchers as compared to tenants residing in their complexes who are not receiving any assistance. It makes no sense for the city to hand out vouchers for housing that no one in the city is willing to accept.

In this brief meeting, which was attended by Councilman Casey Thomas and led by Danielle Ayers, we learned some very important things about our volunteers. We are starting with a very powerful group of people. One of the committee volunteers, Linda Johnson, when given an opportunity to introduce herself, told us she has a Doctorate in Public Policy and said, she is sick and tired of Dallas ignoring large swatches of the population.

By: Arielle Johnosn Continue @ www.aframnews.com TX -11

African

12

American News&Issues

TEXAS • NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2017

®

®

7 items!

19 in buy Get up to

meal deal!

save more than

8

$ 75 in

BUY

X FREE

items! with in-store coupons

two (2) Mi Tienda Tamales, 16 oz. assorted varieties

5

$

15

two (2) Blue Bunny Ice Cream, 46 oz. assorted varieties

with in-store coupons

GET 3rd

free! with in-store coupon

That’s up to

$

4.47

free!

buy Dixie Plates 10" 150 ct.

That’s up to

$

• Cocinaware® Salsa Bowl • Tabasco Pepper Sauce, 2 oz.

FREE

6.13

free! buy

two (2) H-E-B Frozen Vegetables 10 - 12 oz. assorted varieties

GET Llévatelo

free! ¡gratis! with in-store coupons • H-E-B Yellow Mustard, 20 oz.

• H-E-B Ketchup, 32 oz.

• H-E-B Mayo or Whip, 11 oz.

Llévatelo GET 3rd

¡gratis! free! with in-store coupon

original or green pepper

• H-E-B Tortilla Chips

That’s up to

•

free! buy

14 oz., assorted varieties Dr Pepper, 2 L btl. assorted varieties (Dr Pepper Brand ONLY)

• H-E-B Queso Dip

12 oz., assorted varieties (Located in Market)

$

1.78

H-E-B Fully Cooked Seasoned Beef Pot Roast, 16 oz.

That’s up to

buy

Wright Brand Bacon, 24 oz.

assorted varieties Prizes range from $1 to $50,000. For detailed game odds and information, visit txlottery.org or call 800-375-6886.

Must be 18 or older to purchase a ticket. PLAY RESPONSIBLY.

HOU - 12

with in-store coupon

assorted varieties

3.29

free!

Some items may not be available in all stores. Items not valid at Central Market. Due to the popularity of our Extra Low Prices Every Day, we reserve the right to limit quantities. Limit Rights Reserved. We Accept Lone Star Card, WIC And Manufacturers’ Coupons. ©2017 HEB, 17-6971 visit www.heb.com

¡gratis! free!

Simply Mashed Potatoes, 24 oz.

$

Prices Good Wednesday, November 15 Thru Thursday, November 23, 2017 At Your Neighborhood H-E-B Stores.

Llévatelo GET

Llévatelo GET

¡gratis!

free! with in-store coupon

Hillshire Farm Lit’l Smokies That’s up to

$

3.48

free!

12 - 14 oz. assorted varieties

Llévatelo

¡gratis!