African-American New&Issues

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August 22-28, 2007 ™ Vol. 12 Issue 29

TEXAS’ Widest Circulated and Read Newspaper with a Black Perspective

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Houston - Galveston - Texas City - Missouri City - Conroe - Woodlands - Huntsville - Beaumont - Port Arthur - Grove - Orange - Lumberton - Liberty - Cleveland - Livingston - Crockett - San Antonio - Mexia - Gatesville - Bellmead Austin - Brenham - Hempstead - Prairie View - College Station - Bryan - Killeen - Temple - Waco - Dallas - Irving - Fort Worth - Arlington - Waxahachie - Elgin - Round Rock - Harker Heights - Copperas Cove - Ennis - Corsicana

NATION

Electronic voting problems could impact future Black ballot power DARWIN CAMPBELL

EXPO 2007 leader Page 7

Roundup from the

Lone Star Hoods

PORT ARTHUR– Lincoln High School graduates of 1972 came together at Booker T. Washington Elementary for their 35th anniversary, to give back to the community they grew up in. Their generosity resulted in pencils, crayons, books and more than $200 in gift certificates were part of the donations to the school that will help children of West Port Arthur. Washington’s principal, Ella Williams was pleased with the support for the neighborhood where many Black children live. “It’s going to help a great deal because we’re a Title 1 school, which is a school where most of our children are on free and reduced lunch,” Williams said.

WILMER– Citizens to Restore Wilmer-Hutchins ISD is continuing its efforts to raise awareness about the need to restore the school district at a series of Town Hall meetings at Tommie M. Allen Recreation Center, 7071 Bonnie View Road, in Dallas, Texas. The group is using the Town Hall meetings to raise awareness on efforts they are using to reopen their neighborhood schools and to raise badly needed funds to pay attorney fees. The group hired an Atlanta, Georgia law firm to represent them in their case. That firm drew up petitions for residents that have been circulating for a show of moral support.

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Quote of the Week

“But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’”

Barbara Jordan

African-American News&Issues

With the coming of the November elections and a critical Presidential race of 2008, now is the time to ask vital questions about county voting machines. Electronic voting systems have numerous problems that the main-line media refuses to report or reveal and those issues do affect the outcome of elections. Electronic voting machine problems do impact Black ballot power and has the potential to muffle the voices of thousands of African Americans who think their vote counts. African Americans wanting to make sure that “one man one vote”

truly is what it means today must demand that every registered voter’s voice is represented fairly and guaranteed a genuine say on the key candidates and issues affecting neighborhood, community and nation on election day. Use of DREs in the federal General Election is the highest in U.S. history. According to Election Data Services “thirty-six percent (36%) of the counties, with 38.4% of the registered voters, [used] direct recording electronic (DRE) equipment.” Texas is not immune from these problems with its voting machine companies having its fair share of troubles reports results accurately. Texas is among 11 other states that See ELECTRONIC page 4

DOES RAP HURT THE BLACK CHURCH? Money is root of Hip-Hop Industry’s evil BUD JOHNSON

African-American News&Issues

Music has been an essential element of African American religion from its very beginning, when slaves combined the call-and-response songs of their lost homelands with the Christian hymns they absorbed in bondage. The result was both a body of liberation music for themselves and a profound influence on popular music in the United States and beyond. With emancipation from slavery and the establishment of the major black Christian denominations, Black churches relied on a steady stream of musical and religious talent. In the last generation, however, See RAP page 3

Bishop James Dixon II coordinator for the Houston National Day of Decency Initiative leads a group of outraged citizens in protest in front of Soundwaves, 20 E. Crosstimbers. Photo by Roger Jackson

National Day of Decency in Houston MARVIN D. CLOUD

African-American News&Issues

HOUSTON- On August 7, Bishop James Dixon II, coordinator for the Houston National Day of DeIt’s been two years since God called Floyd Simon home. But the precious memories that he left as a loving and devoted brother and uncle continuously inspire his devoted survivors who celebrated his long and productive life on September 3, 2005 at Ross Mortuary Chapel, 3618 Lyons Avenue, with Pastor R. L. Rhone officiating. Craig Keener, Vashawn Jones, Terry Tisdell, Donald Manning II, Terrence Tisdell, Ulysse Miller and Arthur Jones were active pallbearers for Simon, who was the only son born to Pete and Rose Simon on September 14, 1926, in Jennings, Louisiana (FYI: Jennings is a small city located in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana near Lake Charles. In September of 1901, the first oil well in the State of Louisiana was drilled just North of Jennings. The oil and gas industry has been a vital part of Louisiana’s economy since that time and Louisiana has become a key provider of energy to the rest of the nation.Wikipedia Free Online Encyclopedia.) Meanwhile, Floyd was grow-

cency Initiative and senior pastor of The Community of Faith Church, 1023 Pinemont, lead a group of about 200 protestors as part of a nationwide protest to ban misogynistic and offensive lyrics in hip-hop music. The protest, fueled by Rev.

FLOYD SIMON

Sept. 14, 1926 - August 24, 2005

ing up in Jennings, where he was christened as a Catholic at an early age at Our Lady Help of Christians. When Floyd was 21, he moved to Houston, Texas’ Third Ward community in 1947 and joined St. Mary Catholic Church. History records that the post-World War II era was the pivotal point for America In fact, World War II was a blessing in disguise for Black America, insofar as it forced a racist nation to utilize all of its

Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, renewed the debate over the genre’s role in shaping society, and whether responsibility rests with entertainment companies or the artists and whether activists should target other community issues. resources to either serve in the military or work in defense plants and nobody else were more ready, willing and able to answer that call than hard working African Americans. An excerpt from a Library of Congress report (The Postwar United States, 1945-1968) reveals: “Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or during the war. Public policy, like the socalled GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. “The overall impact of such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the upward mobility it provided for many White Americans--was not lost on those who had largely been excluded from the full mean-

Fabolous and other rappers like him might be hurting the Black church. Sharpton who held a rally in the rain in Dearborn, Michigan, before attending a rally calling for music lyricists to stop using the “n-word” and derogatory language towards women in front of the famed former studios of the Motown label in Detroit. The Decency Initiative of the National Action Network, led by Tamika Mallory, was established in order to address standards in the media and entertainment industries. The Initiative’s initial goal is to eliminate the use of three words in music and media; the “N” word, the “B” word and the “H” word, which are a blatant disrespect to women and the African American community. The overall goal is to establish a single standard that will be adopted by media and entertainment entities that will respect all people regardless of race, gender and sexual orientation. Mallory led 300 hundred marchers outside of Virgin Music Story, along with such notables as Sonia Osorio, President of the New York branch of NOW (National Organization of Women), and Reverend W. Franklyn Richardson, ChairSee DECENCY page 3

ing of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a consequence, such groups as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution during the postwar era.” Floyd, however, had already found a gratifying job at Welden Cafeteria and was content to work there until it closed, decades later. He was called home by God on August 24, 2005 and was preceded in death by his sister, Roszeia, and his parents. He leaves to cherish his memory: his loving and caring sisters, Amy Hall and Rosa Jones; his brother-in-law, Arthur Jones; a host of nieces and nephews, Annie Mae Tisdell, Lydia Manning, Eleanor Jones, Searle Jones, Salinger Jones, and Tomika Jones; great nieces and nephews, Terry and Rose Tisdell, Stephanie and Ramon Thompson, Amy and Herman Miller; and a host of great and great-great nieces and nephews, and friends. TX-1


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