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My Truth By Cheryl Smith Publisher
I am not a scientist I’ve been in the air quite a bit recently: Miami, Chicago, DC and Fort Lauderdale. It has been important for me to mix pleasure with business as we continue to navigate and survive as we strive for a peaceful existence during these times of a pandemic, social injustices, headline-grabbing trials and mask mania/rage/hysteria. Wherever I go, when I mention that I live in Texas, the conversation takes on a different tone. The tone is If you can wear not unfamiliar this mask... to me because there have been so many times that I have been asked to speak for Black people. But to speak for Texans, to explain some of the nonsensical actions of those in power; well I “ain’t got time for that!” • I do not, cannot, will not speak for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. • I do not, cannot, will not speak for the Texas Republicans who are annihilating Democrats in Austin and further disenfranchising Texas voters. • I do not, cannot, will not speak for Texas Democrats who boldly left the State to avoid a vote on suppressive voting only to have some abandon the leverage they had and return home to pass the bill. • I do not, cannot, will not speak for Texans who don’t vote. • AND, while I won’t get into it with those who won’t take the COVID vaccine; I do not, cannot, will not speak for those who can’t wait to put on a Halloween or Mardi Gras mask but will fight you about wearing a K95 mask. So with over 633,786 deaths attributed to COVID-19 on death certificates, according to the Center for Disease Control, people have to make a decision about what they want to do. They say you can’t live for everyone, but I have to live for myself and the people I care about, who happen to be everyone. Which brings me to my truth. I will wear a mask. I will encourage others around me to wear a mask or I distance myself. I went to college to be a journalist. I have the receipts to prove it. I also have receipts that show I didn’t do too well in biology or physical science; so what I am going to do is use my journalistic research skills and find some scientists who can educate me on the topic. I don’t reach out to Dr. Google or Dr. Wikipedia. There are people who spent numerous hours and years studying for a time such as this. The person you need to talk to may not be your homie, a relative or even a classmate, because if your classmate is failing those science classes, you won’t know. If wearing a mask keeps down the drama, heck, just for giggle sake; act like you are going to a party and wear it. Think about someone other than yourself, because “oops” doesn’t mean a thing and no-one wants to hear “I’m sorry” when your non-symptomatic self has someone laid up on a ventilator.
SERVING NORTH EAST TEXAS
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 VOLUME X
Firefighter was there, and in ways, CLASSIC AFFAIR he still is remembering 9/11
More than 30,000 gathered for HBCU Battle
By Ahnayah Hughes
Howard University News Service
Even now, the pain of that day lays just below the surface for retired New York City firefighter Rodney Lewis. As Lewis recalled the sights, smells, sounds and horror of Sept. 11, 2001, tears accompanied those memories even as he sat in the comfortable Queens, N.Y., home he shares with his wife. “I had quite a few friends that were at the scene,” Lewis, 66, said through his tears. “People I had just spoken to the week before. People I directly worked with. People whose homes I went to on New Year’s Eve. Just like that, so many lives were just gone.” Twenty years after the attack, after leaving the department and busying himself with new hobbies, after his oldest child, a son, had struck out on his own and his daughter had graduated high school, after buying a sailboat and exploring deeper his love of sailing, after he and his wife purchased another home in Chesapeake, VA, after counseling and consultation, it even surprises Lewis how quickly the feelings can come bursting to the surface. “I can talk about it now, but it’s
By Cheryl Smith
Those people died, and the rest of us are going to die from the complications, whether it be lung disease, cancer, whatever it may be. We knew the risks, but we went in anyway. We knew we may not make it home, and so many didn’t,” said retired New York City firefighter Rodney Lewis. (Pictured left)
still very emotional,” he said. “I remember what I went through, and what so many others went through.” Three hundred and forty-three. It is a number nearly all New York firefighters have seared into their consciousness. That’s how many firefighters died combatting the devastating fire that took down the World Trade Center and claimed more than 2,000 lives. Lewis knew well over 30 of those firefighters. Lewis, then a lieutenant with Engine Company 330, was there too.
Lewis, a native of New York, was studying for his captain’s exam in Staten Island that day, when a firefighter announced that a plane had crashed into a tower at the World Trade Center. It wasn’t until another firefighter arrived shortly after and explained that both towers had been hit, that the room of firefighters fell silent as their new reality began to take shape. “We were off duty, but we were under attack,” he said. “We knew
Coleman Phelps’ daughter and one of their three children. She made her own illustrious history in Dallas. She graduated from Howard University and began teaching in Dallas in 1925 then earned three master’s degrees and completed other post-graduate studies. She became a social worker in See THINKING, page 7
See CLASSIC AFFAIR, page 5
See FIREFIGHTER 9/11 page 7
A highlight of the 20-year anniversary of the Celebrating Life Foundation’s Sister to Sister Fitness Festival has to be the cooking demonstration by Chef Mary Lou Davis, the season 19 Hell’s Kitchen Finalist. The 20th Sister to Sister Fitness Festival 5k Walk/ Run takes place Saturday, October 2, 2021, at the Alan E. Sims Cedar Hill Recreation Center, 310 East Parkerville Rd, in Cedar Hill, TX, 8:30 am - 12:30 pm. This year’s theme is “One Step at a Time” and participants will also be able to join in the virtual experience that includes a T-shirt and a medal. Chef Davis will be the celebrity chef for the 20th Chef Mary Lou Davis, Season 19 year featuring her signature Finalist from Hell's Kitchen will do shrimp and cheese grits and a cooking demo at the 20th Sister See HELL’S KITCHEN, page 6
to Sister Fitness Festival.
Harllee-Phelps family: Dallas Black dynasty of achievement - Part II I Was Just Thinking... By Norma Adams-Wade In the previous part I column, we discussed the legendary Black Dallas educator Norman Washington Harllee (c.1847/1853-1927) for whom the historic local N. W. Harllee Elementary School was named in 1928, the year after Harllee died. That incredibly-beloved school operated for 84 years until it closed under district budget cuts in 2012 – despite strong community objection. The neighborhood institution reopened in 2015 and is now the N. W. Harllee Early Childhood Center, still at its original site 1216 E. Eighth St., across from the prom-
Lucy Phelps Patterson, seated 2nd from Lt. with other Dallas City Council members in the early 1970s. Photo Credit: Pinterest.
inent Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center. In this part II, we highlight some of the other Harllee family members whose achievements helped make this Black Dallas family a proud and true dynasty. Florence Louise Harllee Phelps (4/18/1904 – 6/3/1999) was N. W. Harllee and wife Florence Belle
Photo Credit: Richard A. Moore/TMN
Labor Day weekend has become even bigger for HBCUs and their football programs, especially those participating in classics. Spirited rivalries, as well as a different level of safety and security has been the catalyst for more fans donning masks, and even getting shots so they can participate in the HBCU classic experience; especially after over a year hiatus for many because of the pandemic. Dallas-based promoter Al Wash cited several classics where the attendance was great over the weekend in games that pitted Tennessee State v. Grambling State and Texas Southern v. Prairie View A&M. As he prepared for the State Fair Classic in Dallas September 24, Mr. Wash said he feels good about attendance. “We’re passing more with ticket sales than in 2019,” he said. “I think we’ll have one of the biggest attended games this year, at least in the top 3.” For the first time in 43 years, the Orange Blossom Classic returned to Miami, FL and according to officials, 30,210 fans filled the stadium as Jackson State University welcomed Florida A&M University to the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Even more fans took part in a week of events that ranged from concerts, boat rides, cookouts, parties, pageantry, the tailgating, fashion shows, reunions, battle of the bands, and the football game. Led by NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders (Coach Prime), the Tigers emerged victorious over the Rattlers, 7-6; whose Coach Willie Simmons led the Rattlers to a 9-2 record last season in his second year at FAMU. The Mideastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) had been home to the Rattlers for four decades and in July the school officially joined the ranks of other SWAC powerhouses like JSU, Grambling, Southern, Alcorn and Prairie View A&M Universities. The move was the right one, says Coach Simmons. “I spent six years in this conference,” said Simmons, who left Prairie View to coach at FAMU and was the offensive coordinator (running backs) at Alcorn State and Middle Tennessee State. “I cut my teeth as a head coach in the SWAC. Phenomenal conference, that’s why we’re so excited about joining the conference. “We know the caliber of football and the pageantry and the branding opportunities that the SWAC provides.” Accepting full responsibility for the loss, Coach Simmons was joined by student athletes Markquese Bell and Xavier Smith. “Obviously we didn’t have the outcome we wanted and that’s on me as the head football coach,” the coach
UNCF Dallas hosts second National Hell’s Kitchen Finalist Turns Up the Heat for the 20th Sister to Sister Virtual Walk for Education Fitness Festival Continuing a recent porarily replaced the trend of safety and so- annual in-person walk cial distancing during events that many of a pandemic while rais- the UNCF local offices ing money for a great conduct each spring, cause, the UNCF Na- summer and fall, taktional Virtual Walk for ing what’s typically Education® been a marwill stream Registration now ket-by-marlive and onopen to all across ket approademand Sach on to a turday, Sept. North Texas and fully nationOklahoma for an wide pro18. V i e w e r s exciting digital gram. are invited fundraising event The UNCF to walk, run, National bike and/or dance Virtual Walk for Edalong with the digital ucation® raises funds program to help raise to support (HBCUs). funds for students of Texas is host to nine color across North HBCUs, including UNTexas and Oklahoma CF-members Jarvis who are trying to get to Christian, Texas and and through college. Wiley Colleges. This event has temSee UNCF page 3
Deion Sanders accepts award