VOL XVIII ISSUE 20 MAY 15, 2019
MY TRUTH Cheryl Smith Publisher
Celebrating Women
I talked to one of my mother’s best friends over the weekend. I always check on her and a few others because they now get the Mother’s Day calls that I can’t make to my mother. Virginia is really sweet. While there are other friends I can recall who Mother had known since she was a teenager, Virginia is someone she met and they would hang out together for decades until my mother’s passing in 2014. My mother and Virginia went to church at the historic New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. They attended events with other senior citizens, were active in the National Council of Negro Women and the NAACP branches, and they had their regular “therapy” sessions in Atlantic City. Virginia even traveled with my mother to Dallas for the Don’t Believe the Hype Celebrity Bowl-a-thon around 2000. Then after Mother relocated to Dallas in 2012, Virginia returned to Dallas to spend quality time with her. They were friends til the end. I thank Virginia for being a friend to my mother and I will cherish and respect her forever. You see, I’m so glad that I have friends of my mother who I respect and can talk to. Her friends help me, especially during those times when all I can do is breathe heavily and say a prayer. Which brings me to my truth. About 29 years ago, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price introduced me to Vera English. A very stylish woman, Vera was an entrepreneur. The owner of Pink Palace, a beauty salon in Oak Cliff, Vera has won
Virginia Magee
QUIT PLAYIN’
By Vincent L. Hall
An abundance of hope
Hope is a rare and rich commodity these days. With “Deranged Donald” in the White House and with solid evidence that the Republicans have just been using “Law and Order” as a branding strategy, dystopia seems much closer than America ever thought it could be. Former President Barack Hussein Obama made a ton on
Hope. “The Audacity of Hope” was published by then-Senator-elect Obama and skyrocketed. Not only was it a bestseller, it sold us on his acumen and his ability. Hope ain’t no joke. Obama probably borrowed the book title and the idea from his former pastor; Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose 1990 sermon of the same title, was published
in full text and transcript, after Obama’s book hit. Listen to the beauty of “Daddy J.” “And that is what the audacity to hope will do for you. The apostle Paul said the same thing. “You have troubles? Glory in your trouble. We glory in tribulation.” We glory in tribulation See QUIT PLAYIN, page 5
Call him “DOCTOR”
Once considered at-risk, former Texas charter school student receives Doctorate Degree and returns to high school to deliver graduation address
Dr. George Lewis, a 2008 graduate of Evolution Academy Charter, will return to inspire current graduates at the 2019 graduation ceremony, which will be held on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at 7 p.m. at Curtis Culwell Center, 4999 Naaman Forest Blvd, Garland, TX 75040. When George Lewis first walked through the doors at Evolution Academy, he was just
Dr. George Lewis
16 years old and in search of an alternative to the traditional high school setting that would allow him the flexibility to complete
his high school education, while also working to help provide for See DOCTOR, page 3
Paul Quinn College
CLASS of 2019 Story and Photos By Dorothy J. Gentry
Vera English numerous hair competitions and when I need my hair/scalp taken care of, I go see her. But then again, I go see her for more than hair treatment. Vera, much like my mother’s friend, Virginia, is a source of inspiration, support, guidance and love. She speaks truth to power, and more importantly, truth to my heart. I don’t worry about whether or not she is telling the truth or whether she has a hidden agenda, or an ulterior motive. I know that Vera is the real deal. Like my mother and Virginia, Vera loves to dress! She loves to be color-coordinated and yes, she can top off the most stylish outfit with a hat. That hat or headpiece notwithstanding, Vera always made sure that should it blow off See MY TRUTH, page 5
focus on STEM initiatives and helping underserved youth. “Paul Quinn College has given me valuable work experience and helped me to learn new and different lessons in life.”
of short time was filled to capacity. Those in attendance waited to hear the names of Victoria Bryant booked her their loved ones called and plane ticket, packed her bags to hear the commencement and came all the way from speaker, Beto O’Rourke. California to Paul Quinn O’Rourke, 2020 College so she could Presidential Candidate gain the experience of and former U.S. attending an HBCU. Congressman, is no “The value of stranger to the HBCU. attending an HBCU is Saturday was his third trip in its roots, the culture, to the Paul Quinn campus it’s background and how over the last two years. the colleges began back He spoke at the opening in the 1800s,” she said. of Paul Quinn’s Summer “Students attending Bridge Program last them learn how to rely year and returned to the on themselves, but also campus six months later how to uplift their peers to hold a town hall with that surround them – no students and the southern matter the race - on a Dallas community. daily basis so they’ll be “It is an all-time honor more ready to enter the to return to the Paul President Michael Sorrell and Presidential real world and network.” Quinn College and join Candidate Beto O'Rourke Bryant was one of the inspiring graduating 60 graduating as part of the Early morning class who continues to be our Class of 2019 at Saturday’s thunderstorms threatened example of the leadership, 143rd Commencement to rain on their parade, but power and joy we see in young Convocation of Paul Quinn couldn’t. The festivities, which people across America who are College. She graduated with were slated to be held outdoors, already guiding us on every a Bachelor of Arts in Business were quickly relocated to the See PAUL QUINN, page 6 Administration and plans to gymnasium, which in a matter
WORDZ OF WILSON By Chelle Luper Wilson
More Pain than Joy for Black Mothers
EDITOR’S NOTE: Although Mother’s Day has passed, this piece by Ms. Luper Wilson is so poignant and relevant, we had to share it with our Garland Journal readers! The pages of history are flooded with the tears of Black mothers. Another Mother’s Day. I keep thinking about the mothers for whom this year’s celebration was a tragic reminder of life lost too soon. I remember Ashley Wright and Mamie Jackson, mothers of Raniya Wright and Kashala Francis, respectively. Both girls died following fights at their schools. Both girls were jumped by another, or as in Kashala’s case others (plural). Neither was the aggressor. Raniya was just 10 and Kashala 13. Somehow, both deaths were determined to be the result of natural causes—one an undiagnosed brain tumor and the other a ruptured blood vessel inside the brain. I have so many questions. So many. How can no connection be made between their death and the fights, especially considering the brutality of it all? Those who watched describe these girls getting stomped in the head… having their head slammed into a wall and a metal bookcase. Why did so many watch? Why didn’t anyone help? I remember Camika Shelby. “Nigel was the sweetest child,” Shelby said as news of her son’s death went viral. “He was sunshine. He was just a great spirit to have around and it just breaks my heart because I feel like he had so much more love to give.” In every picture that I’ve seen of Nigel, I could see the sunshine radiating from his big, bright, and beautiful smile. His mother said he was bullied for being gay which presumably led to Nigel taking his own life. She doesn’t want him remembered as “a kid that was bullied,” she said. “He was sunshine.” What will Mother’s Day be like this year for Ashley Wright, Mamie Jackson, and Camika Shelby? Each saw their child as they truly were—beautiful, kind, and filled with potential. To their mothers, their lives were valuable and precious, but seemingly to society our children’s lives are worthless and disposable. No one was held accountable in any of their deaths. Not those who attacked Raniya and Kashala. Not those who bullied Nigel. Not those who stood and watched. Not those who saw the teasing, taunts, the psychological and physical bullying; yet said and did nothing. I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman? Sojourner Truth The pages of history are flooded with the tears of Black mothers. Recently, attention has been brought to the disparities in Black maternal health. Not only are Black mothers dying at three to four times the rate of white mothers, the infant mortality rate of Black babies is higher now than it was in 1850. So far, numerous studies have shown that race is not the factor in these disparities; however, studies do show that racism is. Black women live within an unrelenting matrix of systems, people, and policies designed to support the violent domination of Black bodies. Without leaving our own backyards, we see the effects right here. The images of L’Daijohnique Lee being viciously beaten by a white man repeating every hour on the news for weeks. Then, the attempted charge on Lee for, I’m not even sure of what, perhaps because she’s a Black woman who fought back? In the recent release of the 911 call made by See WORDZ, page 6