Current & Historical Realities Affecting Our Community”
HOUSTON
AMERICA LOVES BLACK CULTURE—BUT STILL HATES BLACK PEOPLE
By: Afram News Staff Writer
In the heart of American society lies a paradox so glaring it has become normalized: the nation’s obsession with Black culture exists alongside its ongoing mistreatment of Black people. From hip-hop and fashion to slang and social movements, elements of Black creativity shape global trends—yet the communities that create them continue to face systemic violence, economic marginalization, and cultural erasure.
is contradiction isn’t new. It’s been embedded in American history since slavery. During the antebellum period, white slaveholders pro ted from the physical labor of enslaved Africans while simultaneously demonizing their customs and identities. Fast forward to today, and a similar exploitation continues: corporations pro t o of Black aesthetics, artists, Culture on pg. 3
The Houston City Council has voted to rename Terminal E at Bush Intercontinental Airport in honor of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, recognizing her 30 years of service in Congress. “This renaming is a fitting tribute to a leader who never stopped fighting for the people of Houston,” Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said in the statement.
FORT WORTH
The West Texas outbreak has grown to more than 550 cases, spreading across the state. A new case has been confirmed near DallasFort Worth.
MONTGOMERY
Montgomery County court judges work to clear cases fast. Here’s how they do it. Judge Phil Grant of the 9th state District Court said Montgomery County can clear criminal cases at a high rate due to a collaborative effort between judges, the district attorney’s office, and defense attorneys.
AUSTIN
This week could mark the conclusion of a two-and-a-half-year debate over the future of education in Texas. On Wednesday, the House is expected to consider two significant pieces of legislation. The spotlight is on Senate Bill 2, which proposes the creation of an Education Savings Account (ESA) program, enabling families to use public funds to help cover the cost of private schooling.
A Revival of God Consciousness
Bobby Mills, Ph.D.
That
e gi of life is free in the “womb” of a woman, because symbolically the womb is the Garden of Eden. Life is a free gi from God to an unborn child. Once physical birth takes place life becomes a struggle, because of the sin of Adam and Eve against God in the Garden of Eden. Symbolically a woman’s womb is every child’s Garden of Eden. e sinful disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden introduced sin into the world, and the consequence was spiritual separation from God. erefore, the real eternal question is: “Who told thee that thou wast naked?” (Genesis 3: 11). e secular answer is the devil made me do it. America, the eternal consequence for disobedience to the will of God is WORK. Freedom is not free. Individuals must work for freedom, because God: “sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” (Genesis 3: 23). Work is a command from God, and this is why most individuals do not desire to work. ey only desire something for nothing, without comprehending that nothing from nothing leaves nothing. Hence, something for nothing is a devilish propositional trick, because work is a Godly eternal propositional requirement. No work: No eat.
EDITORIAL
President Trump is practicing nihilism without a positive vison for multi-cultural American democracy. Nihilism rejects spiritual and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless. e stock market has responded negatively to Trump’s tari policies, leading to a threeday consecutive stockmarket-decline. America, be careful what you vote for, because it just might be to your absolute detriment. us, it is spiritually and secularly written that individuals will reap what they vote for. erefore, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his esh shall of his esh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6: 7-9). America, this is the natural law of life; both spiritual and physical, because every action has an equal reaction. erefore, it is best for individuals to plant to please God, and the harvest will be plentiful. Planting to please God has eternal bene ts. e Trump MAGA-Cult is planting seeds of confusion and corruption to the devil, because they do not understand: “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not: for some have not knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15: 33).
Keeping company with those who reject truth corrupts moral character, because “God is
We Must Understand
the design of numerous churches, homes, and educational buildings, especially at Texas Southern University. His work blended mid-century modernism with cultural identity, o ering a sense of dignity and pride to Black communities during a time of deep segregation.
Black Hands Built More Than Buildings
Black Visionaries Behind Houston’s Foundations
While Houston’s skyline tells a story of rapid growth and innovation, the deeper history—one built by Black architects, laborers, and cra smen—remains largely ignored. ese trailblazers constructed neighborhoods, schools, churches, and civic spaces that still stand today, yet their names are missing from the plaques and pages of history.
John S. Chase: Texas’ First Black Licensed Architect
But Chase was not alone. Generations of Black carpenters, masons, and builders shaped Houston’s historic Black neighborhoods like ird Ward, Fourth Ward (Freedmen’s Town), and Fi h Ward. Structures such as Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, founded by formerly enslaved people in 1866, still stand as symbols of resilience. ese builders worked in hostile conditions, o en barred from unions and public projects, yet their cra smanship laid the foundation for much of the city’s early infrastructure.
Time to Tell the Full Story
A key gure in this hidden narrative is John S. Chase, who became the rst licensed Black architect in Texas in 1950 and the rst African American to enroll at the University of Texas School of Architecture. Chase’s legacy includes
As Houston continues to evolve, it’s time to recognize those who built it—literally. We must ensure their contributions are honored, documented, and preserved. e city’s history is incomplete without the names, faces, and blueprints of the Black architects who shaped it.
eir legacy is not forgotten— it’s rising again with every truth we tell.
Roy Douglas Malonson, Publisher
EDITORIAL
FIRST, THEY CAME FOR THE SOCIALISTS
By:Jazz Paz
Have you ever been bullied? Has your child? It’s a despairing, defeating, infuriating experience.
Bullies lack morals or empathy. ey “need” domination to bolster their pitiable lack of self-respect, and seek out “lower status” victims to abuse. Bullies use their authority to ridicule and vilify their chosen prey. Bullies propagandize loathing and horror of those they exploit. ey reinforce their power by threatening, endangering and humiliating anyone “di erent” and thrill to promote divisions among brethren.
Many politicians are professional bullies. Republican state Rep. Tom Oliverson of NW Harris County recently introduced a bill making it a felony to exist as a trans person. His bill is a national embarrassment and proves that legislation persecuting GLBT people has become more lifethreatening in Texas.
Last month, Republican Texas state Rep. Brent Money introduced a bill would outlaw health care providers who o er support to adults with gender-a rming care, and prohibit medical institutions from receiving public funds if they provide treatments.
cal institutions from receiving public funds if they provide treatments. appropriate transitional care improves far in 2025 aggressively suppressing LGBTQ rights. “ ese bills target our community’s basic rights and free-
Professionals and patients know that appropriate transitional care improves mental health but Texas lawmakers have announced over eighty bills so far in 2025 aggressively suppressing LGBTQ rights. “ ese bills target our community’s basic rights and freedoms, from healthcare access to education to simply being able to live our lives with dignity. ey aim to marginalize LGBTQIA+ Texans and erase our existence from public life,” Texas’ Interim
re all LGBTQ-tolerating teachers.
Remember when Black’s appeal for civil rights was deemed “special” rights? is is why most of us feel passionate, compassionate solidarity with other burdened minorities. Doctor Martin Luther King reminded us repeatedly of the importance of binding ourselves with other oppressed people to double our energies and our chances of victory.
Whether you are acquainted with a trans person, or hold an opinion about personal, human or civil rights, recognize that these disconnected, healthy and wealthy, straight white men are usurping the civil liberties of people who are strangers to them, just as their political ancestors did and continue to do to honorable Black citizens, just because they are Black, and appear to be politicly poorer and weaker.
“First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
en they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
and trends, while Black people remain disproportionately a ected by police brutality, mass incarceration, and inequality.
Take music, for example. Rap and hip-hop—genres birthed in Black communities—have become billiondollar industries consumed by audiences worldwide. Yet Black artists o en nd themselves censored, underpaid, or pressured to present a version of Blackness that feels safe or entertaining for white audiences. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods where these art forms were born remain underfunded, over-policed, and o en gentri ed.
e entertainment industry provides another clear example. Black fashion, language, hairstyles, and bodies are routinely appropriated by in uencers and brands, with little credit or compensation to the originators. Kim Kardashian’s “boxer braids,” Miley Cyrus’s “twerking phase,” and countless fashion lines inspired by Black streetwear all illustrate this trend. What’s seen as edgy or stylish on white celebrities is o en labeled “unprofessional” or “ghetto” when worn by Black people.
Even in healthcare, the contradictions persist. e U.S. maternal mortality rate is signi cantly higher for Black women, who are three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. Celebrities like Serena Williams and Beyoncé have both shared near-death experiences related to childbirth—proving that not even wealth and fame protect Black women from systemic medical neglect.
en they came for the Jews, and I speak out—because I
CEO Equality Texas
Director Brad Pritchett said a few weeks ago a er Governor Abbott threatened to
en they came for the Jews, and I did not was not a Jew.
me—and there was for me.”
en they came for me—and there was no one le to speak for me.”
Beyond cultural the lies the deeper issue of policy and systemic neglect. According to a 2023 report by the Economic Policy Institute, Black workers earn, on average, 24% less than white workers in the same roles. In education, predominantly Black schools receive signi cantly less funding than white-majority districts, despite o en serving higher-need populations. ese disparities are not accidental—they are rooted in generations of discriminatory policy.
America’s fascination with Black culture o en comes from a place of consumption, not true appreciation. To love Black culture while ignoring— or actively harming—Black people is not love; it’s exploitation. True allyship requires more than hashtags or trends. It demands real change—policy reform, economic justice, and a deep reckoning with racial bias. is contradiction also a ects mental health. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Black Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious psychological distress but less likely to receive mental health treatment due to stigma, lack of access, and mistrust of medical institutions. How can a community heal when it’s under pressure to entertain a society that refuses to see its full humanity? So what’s the solution? First, acknowledgment. America must confront both its racist past and present. History books should re ect the full truth, including slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, and police violence. Second, reparative action. is includes policy change, police reform, economic support for Black businesses, and education equity. Reparations aren’t just about money—they’re about restoring opportunity, dignity, and justice.
—Martin
—Martin
Niemöller
Law enforcement shows an even more brutal contrast. While Black artists are celebrated on stage, Black citizens are criminalized in the streets. e deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others remind us that police violence is still an everyday threat. According to Mapping Police Violence, Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people, and 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed when it happens.
ird, respect. Cultural appreciation means credit, compensation, and collaboration—not appropriation. Until then, Black communities will continue to live in a strange duality—celebrated for their culture, but disrespected in their everyday lives. America must decide: does it truly love Black people the way it loves what Black people create?
Because admiration without justice is not love. It’s oppression.
Slavery in America begins in Jamestown for the labor-intensive but lucrative tobacco crop.
Approximately ve hundred persons of African origin or descent are now slaves in the Virginia colony.
Virginia declares that children born to slave women are also slaves.
Bacon’s Rebellion, the rst armed rebellion in the American colonies, occurs. e ruling class responds by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings.
e Virginia Slave Codes are passed, in direct response to Bacon’s Rebellion.
An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery is passed in Pennsylvania. It is the rst act abolishing slavery in the course of human history to be
- Bobby Seale, born October 22, 1936, is most known as the co-founder of the Black Panther Party (BPP), the vanguard party of revolutionaries for Black people living in the United States, but he also played a very in uential role in the advancement of public health among Black communities.
- In the 1770s, a Quaker named Anthony Benezet created the rst school for African American children.
- Between 1810-1850, an estimated 100,000 slaves used the Underground Railroad to escape to the North.
- William Wells Brown’s novel, Clotel; or e President’s Daughter, is the rst written by an African American to be published in 1853.
- Hattie McDaniel became the rst Black person to win an Oscar for her supporting role in Gone With the Wind in 1940. Sidney Poitier was the rst Black man to win, 24 years later, for his leading role in Lilies of the Field.
- In 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler graduated from the New England Female Medical College as the rst Black woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S.
e Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 is passed in Congress, securing rights for a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave.
LOCAL
TOLL ROAD CEO DOES NOT KNOW HOW MUCH CASH HIS AGENCY HAS
By:Bill King
On Wednesday, the Transportation Committee of the Texas Senate held a hearing on a bill by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, which would implement some reforms to the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) and force it to share some of its excess revenue with the City of Houston to compensate it for providing police and emergency services. Roberto Treviño, the HCTRA Executive Director, testified at the hearing in opposition to the bill, basically contending that the agency had no money to spare. Of course, that fell a little flat, considering the County Commissioners have transferred $1.1 billion out of HCTRA in just the last three years. But the truly remarkable moment in
the hearing came when Bettencourt asked Treviño how much cash HCTRA had on hand as of the end of the last fiscal year, September 30, 2024. Treviño said he did not have that number with him. After Bettencourt became incredulous that the Executive Director would not know how much cash the agency had; an aide to Treviño brought him a document, which he identified as the Annual Certified Financial Report (ACFR).
After examining the document, Treviño told Bettencourt HCTRA had $697 million in cash on hand at the end of the year.
As you can plainly see, the ACFR reported that the cash
and cash equivalents were just over $1.2 billion and that the $697,000 was in shortterm investments. HCTRA’s total liquidity at the end of the year was actually over $2 billion. When Bettencourt caught Treviño redhanded, he attempted to cover up his misrepresentation by claiming that bond covenants restricted some portion of the $2 billion.
Read more at aframnews.com
However, as you can see in the excerpt on the balance sheet above, restricted cash is separately itemized below the current assets line. In other words, the $2 billion absolutely did not include any restricted cash. So, essentially, everything Treviño told the Committee during his iño told the during his
EDUCATION
T.E.A TAKE EVERYTHING AWAY
By:Travis McGee
Take everything away is what the letters stand for if you ask most parents, taxpayers, students, or educators. e sole purpose of the T.E.A. takeover was to improve student performance. If the T.E.A is allowed to evaluate and grade themselves I seriously doubt they will admit that they have ruined Texas largest school district in less than 2 short years. Who’s holding T.E.A accountable for experimenting on both our kids and educators with experiments like N.E.S also known as the Not Even Sure System. Not even sure that it will work, however it takes up a third of the total budget. Since they arrival it’s been plenty of questionable hiring practices that basically brought any and everybody in with large amounts of money weather quali ed, unquali ed, certi ed or uncerti ed in some case background checks can be questioned also. Since the T.E.A arrival it has been all about money and real-estate. Money is being spent, property is being sold, and more surplus prop-
erty will be created from school closures. We all should be concerned about the all the money being spent since 90% comes directly from our taxes dollars and less than 10% come the state of Texas. We have paid for our schools whether opened or closed time and time again, but we have very little input of what should happen to the property or what we want to see replace OUR school properties vs. GENTRIFICATION on steroids.
STUDENTS, LOCAL LEADERS MAKE A CASE FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
By:Dwight Daniels
A community college education is the best starting point for today’s high school graduates, according to many who have attended and acquired a high-quality higher education with little or no student debt. For students living within the Houston Community College (HCC) district, choosing to attend HCC was the best option for beginning their higher education journey.
month is a grassroots education and outreach campaign coordinated by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) across the U.S. e e ort’s primary goals are to improve awareness of the economic, academic and employment advantages of attending community colleges.
an average of $35,000 to $50,000 on the cost of a bachelor’s degree.”
HCC also has unique partnerships with local businesses designed to equip students to ful ll in-demand jobs.
higher-level degrees for students, particularly for the most demographically and socioeconomically diverse students.
“Community College Month is an opportunity to celebrate the importance and value of our college to our community and to demonstrate how we are cultivating skills for the future,” the chancellor said.
e T.E.A wasn’t made possible by Bad Schools, but instead by very bad Legislation that was voted on blindly by our ELECTED EMPLOYEES, so they say without fully understanding the consequences of their very ill-advised vote that would allow the T.E.A. to have full total control over the Largest School district in Texas with zero oversight or accountability. ey have full control over the money, our tax dollars, surplus property, recapture, day to day operations, and much more.
e college is encouraging current and former students, supporters, business partners and our community to join the 2025 Community College Month campaign to bring attention to the value and importance of the college to our community.
Community College
e campaign also challenges the public and the media to reconsider common misconceptions of community colleges.
“Economic inequality is a de ning quality of our time,” HCC
Chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher, Ed.D. “But it doesn’t have to be.
Across the U.S, students who choose to attend a community college for the rst two years of their higher-education careers save
Public community colleges are a uniquely American educational model designed to guarantee access to a ordable, high-quality higher education for all people. ey are the primary educators of life-saving nursing and other healthcare professionals among many others. ey also serve as an onramp to bachelor’s, master’s and
“Everywhere I go, I am told by current and former students that choosing to go to a community college is one of the best decisions they ever made,” said ACCT President and CEO Jee Hang Lee. “ e reality is that many students don’t realize this until a er they attend and realize what opportunities their community college gave them, and how much their instructors at the college cared about them. Our goal is to get the message through to students before they make one of the most consequential nancial decisions of their lives: choosing a college or university.”
