VOL IX ISSUE 12 February 19, 2020
MY TRUTH
NBA renames All-Star MVP Award to honor Kobe
Winners named in Spelling Bee
Cheryl Smith Publisher
Stop It! Over the years, there have been many rules that were part of my growth and development. Boys don’t hit girls and girls don’t be fresh around boys. Don’t lie, don’t steal, do your chores, get good grades, and don’t be disrespectful to adults. There was also: if you lie, you’ll steal; if you steal, you’ll kill. Or, if an adult does something you don’t like, come tell me and I’ll deal with it. Mother said, Remember that you must always wear clean underwear and stay out of grown folks business. Then, whatever he does to you, I’m going to make sure someone does it to him (daddy didn’t play)! I was also taught to carry
Gayle King interviews former WNBA star Lisa Leslie for CBS This Morning. (Screen capture from
video of interview. / cbsnews.com)
myself like a lady and if I respect myself others will also. This hasn’t always been the case, but I’ve tried to hold up my end of the bargain and stay clear of people who did otherwise. Now I know everyone wasn’t raised as I was and I think it is important to at least attempt to understand the reality of others and to not be so quick to hurt others just because I am hurting. Which brings me to my truth. There’s been a lot of talk about an interview conducted by veteran journalist Gayle King with WNBA legend Lisa Leslie, following the death of NBA legend, Kobe Bryant. During the interview, Ms. King asked about a rape allegation in what was a “complicated” case that ended with the accuser’s failure to testify. The response, after a clip of the interview, appeared on social media, was immediate and horrible. Now admittedly some responses were very emotional and vicious. Many I don’t agree with but I understand. Hurt people hurt. And they respond/ react based on their realities. When I read and viewed some of the responses, I knew I would get questions about the issue. I thought back to that Sunday when I heard that Mr. Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianni, and seven others - John Altobelli, head coach Orange Coast College baseball team, wife Keri and 13-year-old daughter Alyssa, a basketball player for Mamba; Sarah Chester and daughter Payton; pilot Ara Zobayan; and Christina Mauser, basketball coach at Harbor Day School in Newport Beach, where Kobe’s daughter attended school were killed in a helicopter accident. I communicated with our Sports editor about how to proceed and what angle would we write our story from. Now some might say that I was derelict in my duties as a journalist because never once did I even think about the rape allegation. Just wasn’t my focus! I believe even if I had thought about it during that time, for me, it was not relevant to any of our coverage. Several people asked for my opinion. While I know people were talking about See MY TRUTH, page 4
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver// Photo by Dorothy J. Gentry
By Dorothy J. Gentry Sports Editor
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced on Feb. 15 that the All-Star MVP will be renamed the Kobe Bryant MVP Award. The trophy was presented at the conclusion of the All-Star game, Mr. Silver said, “I know it will be especially meaningful to the player that wins the first Kobe Bryant MVP.” That player, Kawhi Leonard, upon receiving the coveted award, said, “I want to thank Kobe for everything he’s done for me. All the long talks and workouts. Thank you. This one’s for him.” Mr. Silver made the an-
nouncement during his State of the NBA address, held annually during the NBA All-Star Weekend. This year’s event was held in Chicago. “This seems so appropriate here at All-Star because nobody embodied All-Star more than Kobe Bryant,” he said. Mr. Bryant, his 13-yearold daughter Gigi and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash last month. “We were thinking about what the best way is, one of the ways, to honor Kobe,” Commissioner Silver said. “It happened to be that his loss came shortly before we were moving into All-Star festivities. I think one of the
things that stands out with Kobe, of course in addition to his five championships, is that he has the all-time record of 18 consecutive All-Stars and tied for the record of four MVPs. “So we were thinking what is something special we could do at All-Star that had more permanence than changing the num-bers on the jerseys and this was it.” The players also wore the Number 24 in honor of Bryant’s number he wore for 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers or No. 2 in honor of his daughter who also played basketball as part of Mamba Academy. Team Lebron won the game, over Team Giannis.
60 Years Ago: Students Launched Movement
By Dr. Kelton Edmonds Special from The New Journal and Guide
PART II
Unique Weapons for Non-violent Students
In addition to the typical traits that come along with youthfulness such as idealism and impatience, student success during the 1960 sit-ins and thereafter was directly affixed to two distinct assets possessed
by students juxtaposed to their older adult activist counterparts. The first asset is condense demographics, as student-body populations were primarily located on campuses and/or nearby
Leah George First Place Winner
By Caren Rodriguez Garland ISD
This year’s district Spelling Bee featured fierce competitors, proud parents and four first-place winners. The number of winners isn’t a sign of a tie, but the result of a new Garland ISD competition. For the first time in district history, GISD hosted both an English and Spanish Spelling Bee in January. Like its English counterpart, the Spanish Spelling Bee requires students to win at the campus level in order to move on to the district round. The big difference: students in third-eighth grade don’t compete against each other for one title. There are three competitions within the Spanish Spelling Bee, naming one winner each for third grade, fourth-fifth grade and sixtheighth grade categories. Competition day started with the English Spelling Bee, where challengers battled for nine intense rounds. Jackson Technology Center for Math & Science sixth-grader Leah George snagged first place with the word consortium. After going head-to-head for five rounds and correctly spelling amar, Southgate Elementary School’s Kimberly Mendoza won the third-grade Spanish Spelling Bee. Roach Elementary School fifth-grader María González then claimed the fourthfifth grade No. 1 spot with excelsitud, and Jackson Technology Center for Math & Science seventh-grader Brandon Medrano secured first-place in the sixth-eighthgrade category with electrocardiograma. Congratulations and good luck to all winners and the following runners-up who will compete in either the Dallas County Public School Spelling Bee Feb. 19 or Region 10 Spanish Spelling Bee April 25. English Spelling Bee runners-up Valerie Semprun – Dorsey Elementary School Angel George – Shugart Elementary School Carden Nguyen – Spring Creek Elementary School Tripat Gill – Watson Technology for Math & Science Sherry Nguyen – Austin Academy for Excellence Gavin Davis – Hudson Middle School Spanish Spelling Bee runners-up Matthew Martin – Hickman Elementary School Yamileth Becerra – Golden Meadows Elementary School Geovany Flores – Memorial Pathway Academy
See HISTORY, page 8
Photos courtesy of Dave Burton.
A walk down Black History Lane I WAS JUST THINKING... By Norma Adams-Wade
As odds would have it, I am posting these thoughts on February 12. You know the drill. Throughout February, we American descendants of Africa pay tribute to our African and American heritage. Historians tell us that February was picked to commemorate Black History because two people significant to the event were born in that month -President Abraham Lincoln and
abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Lincoln, born on February 12, 1908, was key, of course, because the Emancipation Proclamation that he signed to end slavery – on paper -- became effective January 1, 1863. Douglass was key because he is one of the nation’s more famous abolitionists, writer, orator, and statesmen. Douglass was born into slavery, escaped, and learned to read in defiance of the thenpopular belief that enslaved Black were dim-witted and should not be educated, fearing
Hon. Frederick Douglass
they might begin to seek freedom. Historians say that Douglass did not know his real date of birth because, as an enslaved person, the date was not recorded. Historians say
that Douglass chose a date for himself – February 14, 1818. In one of his autobiographies, Douglass recounted his escape from slavery to freedom and his reaction when arriving on free land in the North: “I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life...gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil.” February as birthdays of these two towering figures intrigued Carter G. Woodson – whose parents were former enslaved Africans. We know Woodson, See THINKING, page 4