Vol 27 Issue 15

May 1, 2022

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

African-American News&Issues

“Addressing Current & Historical Realities Affecting Our Community”

grady prestage

Vol. 27, Issue 15 The more miseducation we receive, the more unemployable we become.

- Roy Douglas Malonson

dr. Jewel prestage

A Natural Born Leader Cont. on Pg. 3

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May 1, 2022

EDITORIAL

President/Chief Editor

Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.: Associate Editor Nick Jones: Afram TV Tristar: Layout Design

News:

Partin’ the Waters

By Omowale Luthuli-Allen

Office: (713) 692-1892

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

Clarence, Check Your Eve

Wednesday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Most fables are pregnant with truth.

Being black is more than skin analysis, more than Genotype. It is culture and consciousness. It is fighting for Black futures and democracy. I nor you should be the arbiter of who is Black and who is not. However, we can be firm about Eve rallying with a fallen angel to overthrow the government of the United States Moving away from the metaphors and hyperbole, Ginni Thomas has gone completely rogue by plotting to overthrow the government and a constitutionally pure election.

I am not asking George Conway to check Kelly Anne alternative facts Conway because George did not and could not decide to negate the Bush Gore election results.

Neither was George able to vote to block opening the presidential archives to the January 6 commission for fear of evidence coming to light about criminal wrongdoing by the fallen angel. Ginni Eve has been taking money from Beel-

zebub and right wing conservative smooth brain groups aiming at overthrowing the United States government.

In the Biblical myth (there was never a real Adam or Eve), only personifications of spiritual forces. But the Eve principle didn’t know who to talk to or when to shut up. The Adam principle didn’t know how to check a Ginni Eve in paradise and who didn’t fear their boss. This disrespect of her husband and fascination with the deceiver led her to partake of forbidden fruit.

Forbidden fruit for Ginni Eve was the sanctity of the constitutional document, which governed an orderly transition of power for over 250 years for the citizens of the United States. Are we to believe that chief justice Clarence didn’t know that his wife was conspiring with chief of staff Mark Meadows as 29 text messages were exchanged? Are we to believe that Justice Thomas was unaware that his lovely Eve was sending Sunday school lessons to her holy drones? Are there religious mandates in your Wizard book that speak of a theocracy in America.

No, Justice Thomas I doubt that you were hospitalized for COVID. For more visit aframnews.com

A Revival of God

Consciousness Bobby E. Mills, PhD

It’s About Zip Code American societal arrangements are primarily based upon socio-economic status; even though America’s founding constitutional governing documents have a spiritual foundation.

Thus, In American society Zip Codes primarily define socio economic residential neighborhood statuses.

ZIP is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan.

Coincidently or deliberately, the Zip Code concept was implemented in (1963) during the height of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights struggles for democratic justice spearheaded by Dr. King. The unwritten rationale for Zip Codes was separation and segregation. Therefore, individuals can determine everything socio-psychologically and economically about other individuals by their Zip Codes. The first digit represents a certain geographical group of states, the second number and the third number represent a region in that group of states, and the fourth and fifth numbers represent addresses within that region.

Consequently, Zip Codes

are used to gather geographical and statistical information for marketing products, locating and relocating certain types of businesses and banking industries, and most of all insurance is higher for individuals in high crime areas. The real rub concerning Zip Codes is that they are used for political partisan gerrymandering of Congressional Representative Districts to subvert the basic principles of democracy, especially voting rights.

Texas is a classic example of zip code gerrymandering, but the entire USA is the perfect case scenario to separate, segregate, and divide along socio-economic racial lines. For example, in certain areas of Houston, Texas there are residents still living with raw sewage and waste materials in their neighborhoods.

Additionally, in certain communities of Harris County there are unsanitary out-door toilets and sceptic tank facilities being used by families: shameful!

Zip Codes are immediate and perfect examples of societal identification (DNA) of an individual’s socio-economic status in American society.

For more visit aframnews.com

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May 1, 2022

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a natural born leader By: Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.

FORT BEND-Growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Commissioner Grady Prestage had a great upbringing as he was exposed to a lot of positive things. He spent a lot of time around the campus of Southern University and even lived close to the campus as his parents were both professors there. “My parents kept us grounded. We had all the opportunities you could possibly afford a child,” Commissioner Prestage stated.

Commissioner Prestage received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering because of his guidance counselor, who encouraged him to pursue that degree. During the 1970’s, counselors were encouraging high achieving students to go into engineering, science, accounting, and computer science. “I chose civil engineering as it fit my interest and I had an entry level job when I got out of college.”

Since his mother was a political science professor, Commissioner Prestage has always been involved in politics. “We were always exposed to local politics and always had discussions about national politics.” Since his mother was the department chair at Southern, there were always speakers who would come to campus and sometimes they would come to their home for receptions, or even stayed as a guest since Black people did not have “total access to public accommodations” back then.

He was also very active in high school as he was involved in student council and was active in college.

When he moved to Houston in 1980, within two years, he was Civic Club President in his neighborhood. Being a leader has always come naturally for Commissioner Prestage as he stated, “I was ready to serve in leadership positions in any type of situation I found myself in.”

Commissioner Prestage has had a

career span of 32 years. He was elected to the Fort Bend Commissioners in November 1990, and this became the first time an African American has served on the Fort Bend Commissioners Court since the 1880’s reconstruction period.

When discussing his role as commissioner, he mentioned that he is in one of those roles or levels of government where you can actually do

Commissioner Prestage, “you only need three votes to get something done.”

As commissioner, there are some obstacles that can make his job challenging.

One of these obstacles is responding to the rapid growth of Fort Bend County.

“Since I’ve been in office, Fort Bend County has grown from 225,000 to 850,000.”

This makes it hard in regard to budget de-

Commissioner Grady Prestage

something.

“You don’t have to build consensus, send things to committees, you don’t have to go through a lot of the processes that you have to at other levels of government,” he stated. The commissioner’s court is made up of five members, which include one county judge elected countywide and four commissioners elected from single member precincts. According to

mands.

“When the population grows, so does the jail population and juvenile population, roads have to be improved, widened, and extended to account for the mobility needs. More rooftops and new subdivisions cause drainage problems, and the public health demand is more.”

Another issue is the revenue cap that the state legislator placed on counties. Regardless of what situation the county may be in, “you can’t

increase your budget three and a half percent stating, “They put the cap on us but have no responsibility to provide any of the services.”

Two budgets have been done since that law took effect, and last year, Fort Bend County was fortunate that they had federal money from the pandemic. They will be able to get by for a few years, but it will “only be a temporary fix.” Commissioner Prestage described his county as “one of the best counties in the world.” Fort Bend County is very diverse, and people live there in “peace and harmony.” Commissioner Prestage said that “folks brag about being from Fort Bend County,” and he wants to keep that going.

He also wants to make sure that the next generation is ready to assume their position in leading and progressing the county forward. “I try to mentor, train, and expose the next generation to the benefits of my experience, so they won’t make some of the same mistakes that I did. I would like someone to come behind me who’s ready to serve and do a better job than I have done and move forward.”

When discussing his legacy, Commissioner Prestage wants to be remembered as a “transformative figure.” I want people to know that “I came to the county when it was still a rural county and we turned it into an urban county and made the quality of life better for everybody.” People had high expectations and fear when he took office, but he never let their thoughts impact his confidence and his ability to lead. He confidently stated, “I’ve been able to prove to them that I was ready to lead.” Commissioner Prestage won the primary seat in March and is looking forward to the November election.

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GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

EDUCATION The 44 Teachers: Engineering You Are Group Appreciated By: Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.

From Left to Right: David Mojica, Daisy Colin, Adrian Maldondo, Eliza Dabrio, Kevin Akowauh, Jayleen Caston, Sydney Prier, Dr.Donald Prier, Monikka Mann(Holding Trophies), Lillian Prier, Sebastian Sandoval, Justin Tobias, Anthony Mulkey, Ismael, Afton Greggs, Jorge Melendez, Abby Vasquez, Mariana Vasquez, Eric Morales, and Pedro Luna By: Jeniece Thompson

ACREAGE HOME-It is very important that students are exposed to the STEM field at an early age so they can explore their interest and be exposed to more opportunities once they decide on a career that best piques their interest.

The Aldine Independent School District (AISD) is doing its part to expose and teach students about STEM. Recently, Carver, Blanson, and Eisenhower high school created a plan together to compete in the 2022 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). The FRC is an international competition that promotes schools and communities to work together to build a large 160lb robot that can travel up to 35 miles per hour.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for Pre-K-12 students that can be facilitated in school or in structured afterschool programs,” founded by noted entrepreneur and inventor Dean Kamen.

Carver High School has been privileged to have FRC National Champion coach Dr. Don Prier, who has been mentored by Edna Griggs since 2015. Dr. Prier formed a team in 1999 along with Jeneva Westendorff that took on the best in the nation and won.

Dr. Prier has been at Carver High School for the last two years and he has seen improvement in students’ interest. He stated, “When some kids first started the program, they had mediocre grades, but now they have good grades because they have a purpose now. They feel like they need to develop their skills so they can make robots and be competitive.” Students are also going out and developing their skills and even receiving job opportunities by companies who are interested in what they’ve built. Dr. Prier mentioned, “By doing the FRC, it has provided careers and students grow their skillset.”

For more visit aframnews.com

HOUSTON-Brad Henry stated, “A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love for learning.”

Teacher Appreciation week is from May 2nd through May 6th. If you see a teacher, tell them they are appreciated! Teaching is and always has been a noble profession, but it is not easy being a teacher. Teachers have a very important job, which is to educate our youth. They deal with so much daily and yet, they are still underpaid. However, they still show up to work and do their part to educate our future.

There are many challenges that teachers face when it comes to teaching, and when the pandemic began, this only added a lot of stress on teachers as they had to quickly shift their modality of teaching from in person to online, with little to no time to prepare. Eric McClellan, who is a communications teacher at MacArthur High School mentioned that one challenge has been the “gift and curse of technology.” Regarding the pandemic specifically, “The pandemic has shown that many of us as educators weren’t familiar or quite ready to modify or adapt our methods of teaching in a fully online technological capacity. It was a true wake up call for everyone.”

Another challenge mentioned regarding technology pertains to the students’ ability to focus on their schoolwork. “While technology is beneficial to have regarding learning, we often get to experience the distraction it can create when it comes to student focus.”

While these are only a couple of challenges, teachers face so many

Eric McClellan other ones such as dealing with student behavioral issues, lack of parental involvement or trying to handle disgruntled parents, stress and anxiety from standardized testing, lack of recognition, and the list continues.

As many teachers continue to leave the profession, this exit has caused a national shortage of teachers. School districts are now tasked with coming up with different ideas, measures, and funds to not only recruit teachers, but to retain them as well.

When it comes to appreciation, McClellan believes that teachers are appreciated to a certain extent.

“Going back to our societal changes over the past two years, it allowed parents and others who may not be familiar with what really goes on in education, For more visit to get a look inside aframnews.com

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

May 1, 2022

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GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

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GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

May 1, 2022

AFRAMNEWS.COM 7

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Art By Nato

By Chelsea Davis-Bibb, Ed.D.

Recently, Douglas James, also known as Art By Nato, participated in an art show hosted by Eternal Light Entertainment. The purpose of the event was to “set up a forum for artists to actually have their own solo show, so people can see the soul of an artist, which was the theme of the show.”

When people review his artwork, he wants them to “take a sense of hope,” and to be “inspired based off someone else’s personal experience, in order to inspire them to be better.

“I also want them to understand who I am as a person,” he explained.

His concept for the show was “The World is Yours,” which was tied to the song off Nas’ Illmatic album.

Inspired by Hip-Hop, he wanted to tie that theme with his art pieces.

Art By Nato has other inspirations that is instrumental in his work.

The inspiration may range from the many talented artist in Houston, or other artist like Faith Ringgold and his favorite artist of all time, Jean Michael-Basquiat.

Art By Nato loves the work of Basquiat because “his artwork was very simplistic, but at the same time, very meaningful and powerful.” He loves the way he used words within

his art pieces, and the way he paints.

He further mentioned, “I like his backgrounds, people, and how he actually portrayed black people in his artwork, because that’s not highly recognized in the art world.”

As a Black male artist in today’s society, Art By Nato feels that being in the art industry is very powerful.

“It’s very powerful because you don’t necessarily see Black men in this field. It’s a gift from God for you to scrape something in your head and put it all on the canvas.

You’re trying to tell your own story, and with technology on the rise, you’re able to get your work out to millions of people.”

During the show, Art By Nato and the other artists who participated in the show were presented with a plaque from Mayor Tuner as a special appreciation for putting the show on for Houston. In addition, Art by Nato was personally recognized because he was able to sell some of his artwork to the well-known filmmaker Spike Lee. Art By Nato posted some of his work on Instagram and not too long after, he received a message from Lee who was interested in one of his pieces. According to Art by Nato, Lee told him, “I just wanted to say

game recognizes game, you have such an amazing talent, keep on doing what you do, and I can’t wait to get this piece from you.” This was a big opportunity for him, and he was very appreciative of Lee’s encouragement and interest in his work.

For young artist, Art By Nato wants them to keep going and to find their passion. “Don’t let anyone else tell you that you can never do anything.

Keep on moving, keep going, keep pushing and never give up.” He concluded stating, “Focus on your craft. Focus on you and everything else will come into place. “

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