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VOL IX ISSUE 23
“KLAN” RALLY IN DALLAS
My Truth Publisher Cheryl Smith
COMMUNITY COMES OUT TO SUPPORT CHURCH AFTER “INTIMIDATION “ RALLY
Time to stop punishing Selma
Friendship-West Baptist Church supporters drove miles to say “you messed with the wrong church!”
By Ashley Moss Staff Writer
The likes of Dick Gregory, Harry Belafonte, Hon. John Lewis, Xernona Clayton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Hon Maxine Waters, George Curry, Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson, Amanda Fitzpatrick, Dareia Tolbert, Danny Glover, Santita Jackson and the Obamas were all there. Ten years earlier I visited Selma and was awarded the “Invisible Giant” Award from the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute. Talk about honored. I can’t thank board member Thomas Muhammad enough for the role he played in not only sharing Selma with me, but also the naming of me, as an “Invisible Giant.” The original “Invisible Giants” served as foot-soldiers of the struggle for voting rights and marched in the Selma to Montgomery Marches of 1965, the “Bloody Sunday March,” and the “Turn Around Tuesday March.” Thomas, who I have known for decades, praised my work as a journalist in dealing with and fighting for those issues impacting Black people; as did those valiant men and women who came before me. As they introduced me at the awards program, they compared my journalistic contributions to Ms. Oprah Winfrey! The Invisible Giant award is an honor I cherish because in addition to those from Selma and around the world, I joined the ranks of other “giants” who have been recognized from right here in Dallas County, Texas: the Rev. Zan Wesley Holmes, Jr., Dr. Frederick D. Holmes III, Hon. Diane Ragsdale, Judge Marylellen Hicks, Hon. Kathlyn Gilliam and Ghulam Warriciah. The year I was honored, which was at the 40th anniversary commemoration, I was also with civil rights notables
see MY TRUTH, page 5
Inside COLLABORATION
page 3
Adding fuel to the fire of our pandemics page 4
I was just
Thinking Norma Adams-Wade
Natural hair/ ancestral guru cleanses South Dallas confederate cemetery
It was at the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in March 2015 when I last visited Selma, Alabama. Full disclosure: I was brought into Selma to handle the media (local and national). Still, I was excited about being involved with such a historic commemoration of that 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
On Edmund Pettus Bridge during 40th Bloody Sunday commemoration
AUGUST 5, 2020
It was a tale of two protests on Sunday in southern Dallas County as more than 1,000 vehicles descended on Friendship-West Baptist Church on Sunday. Ahead of what was to be a planned Black Lives Matter Rally at the church’s cam-
pus, supporters of a Blue Lives Matter group rapidly gathered at the church, later saying they were taking a rest. According to bystanders and church officials, an estimated more than 1,000 vehicles filled the church parking lot, many brandishing Trump 2020 and confederate flags. Many know Friendship-West
from the leadership of its senior pastor, Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III. The Bishop College graduate has been on the forefront calling for social justice and reform. The church bears a huge sign that explains its position, “Black Lives Matter!” So when a large caravan of
Isis Brantley is better known for blazing trails with natural hair than engaging the moon to bring peace in a South Dallas/ Fair Park Confederate cemetery. But Brantley –one of, if not, Dallas’ leading natural hair care salon and training school owners -- is not known for walking away from a challenge with good cause.
see “KLAN”, page 8
U.S. Surgeon General: Debate is Over — We All Should Be Wearing Face Coverings to Prevent Spread of COVID-19 By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia It was only recently that U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams suggested that a national mask mandate wasn’t necessary for the American public to combat the coronavirus pandemic. However, the surgeon general told BlackPressUSA lastweek that wearing face coverings could help speed up a safe recovery, school re-openings, and save lives. “The best science we have available right now tells us the debate is over we all should be wearing a face-covering to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” Dr. Adams told NNPA President and CEO, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.,
Dr. Jerome Adams
during the interview streamed over BlackPressUSA’s Facebook and YouTube channels. “Science is all about making the best recommendations you can with the best information you have and then having the humility and vigilance to continue to look at data,” Dr. Adams submitted. “As data change, the recommendations change.” Dr. Adams added that Amer-
icans should follow what he called are the three W’s: Wear facemasks, wash your hands, and watch your distance.” “We know if you do these things, we can turn around this epidemic very quickly,” Dr. Adams declared. “Italy is now open for tourism again, playing soccer games and opening schools. So, we can do it even without a vaccine. This [wearing a facemask] is a small inconvenience that will provide big benefits for you, the one you love, and your communities.” To view the full interview, which aired July 27, 2020 at 7pm ET, visit http://www.facebook. com/blackpressusa/live_videos and http://www.youtube.com/c/ blackpressusatv.
rus, experts repeat, is most easily spread from person-to-person when within six feet of another. It makes sense that if you are not in close proximity to others, you are less likely to be contacted by spraying saliva droplets that could transmit COVID. So keep apart. DO IT.
The hair care and African ancestral guru has taken on the task of informing a South Dallas community and the public about what she sees as the need to cleanse and transform any negativity that may still linger in a small, overlooked confederate cemetery in the predominately African-American area. The long-standing but little-known site is the Confederate Cemetery at 4225 Electra St. between Reed Lane and Pine Street in this South Dallas/Fair Park neighborhood. With no identifying nameplate for years, many locals speculated that it was a pet cemetery. The site’s origin is linked to the Dallas Chapter of the United Daughters of the confederacy, a women’s organization that helped wounded and needy Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and whose parent body formerly organized in 1894. Currently and in recent years, the Daughters group has spoken against racist acts and rhetoric and attempted to set a conciliatory tone while sustaining its purpose to honor their Southern ancestors who members say bravely fought to preserve their land and economy during the war. Brantley said she would welcome a public conversation with group members. Meanwhile, she said she plans to do a cleansing rite at other Confederate cemeteries in traditionally African American neighborhoods once she completes researching their locations. “I accidentally ran across it (the cemetery) while in the neighborhood visiting my aunt,” Brantley said. “I really never noticed it before but it caught my eye this time.” Brantley, aside from using her innate natural hair skills, has studied and trained in African ancestral ceremonies and spiritual rites. She said the cleansing idea came after she and a friend walked over and looked at the cemetery. Various headstones showed that some of the confederate soldiers and their families who were buried there had been born as early as the 1820s and were buried there in the early 1900s. She said she thought about the irony of a confederate cem-
see COVID-19, page 7
see THINKING, page 5
Garland ISD’s free and reduced-price meal benefit In an effort to meet the needs of district students, Garland ISD has announced an update to free and reduced-price meals served under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program for 2020-21. Twenty-four schools qualifying for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) will provide breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge, eliminating the collection of free and reduced-price meal applications, as well as paid student meals. This new approach reduces burdens for both families and staff and ensures all students receive nutritious meals at CEP campuses. Learn more about CEP and see a complete list of
Eligibility criteria includes: • Household income that is at or below the income eligibility levels. View these on the Student Nutrition Services webpage or at any district school. • Receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). • Status as a foster child, runaway, migrant, homeless, or displaced by a declared disaster. • Enrollment in Head Start or Even Start.
Non-CEP schools will continue to provide free and reduced-price meals for students who qualify. Starting Aug. 1, Student Nutrition Services will begin distributing letters to district families detailing eligibility benefits and how to apply. Applications can be submitted online at mealapp.garlandisd. net or via paper at 701 N. 1st St., Garland, TX 75040. To apply for free and reduced-price meals, families should submit just one application per household listing: • Names of all household members. • Amount, frequency, and
participating schools on the school meals page of the dissee GARLAND ISD’S, page 7 trict website.
To fight COVID-19, generously apply common sense! By ROYCE WEST Texas Senate For how many of us did it take more than one experience to learn the simple lesson of ‘don’t stick your hand in the fire?’ Maybe you took your parents word, or saw what happened to others who did not heed the warning. But five months into a deadly virus that’s claimed more than 637,000 lives worldwide, there remain too many who still do not believe that the incendiary spread of the coronavirus is tragically real. To hasten efforts to bring the virus under control, I offer a simple standard. If instruc-
tions offered to combat COVID make sense, DO IT! If you hear something that doesn’t, DON’T DO IT! For example, wearing a mask helps slow the spread of the virus. Since a cure has yet to be discovered and we know the disease is highly contagious, DO IT! Wear a mask! On the other hand, most Americans were dumbfounded by ramblings from a White House podium which pondered ingesting bleach or other toxic disinfectants as a COVID remedy. Please, DON’T DO IT! Worldwide, we have been given the message to avoid large crowds and have learned the term “social distancing.” The vi-
Isis Brantley, owner/operator of Naturally Isis hair salon and a braiding school
Sen. Royce West