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VOL X NO 9 NOVEMBER 6, 2020

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ELECTION

2020 TOO CLOSE TO CALL Joe Biden leading in polls -- see www.myimessenger.com

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Established 2011 CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESS The Black Press believes that America can best lead the world away from racial and national antagonisms when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal rights. Hating no person, fearing no person, the Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.

November 6, 2020

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THE SQUEAKY WHEEL WAKE UP AND STAY WOKE DR. E. FAYE WILLIAMS, ESQ.

TriceEdney — An old axiom states that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.� In other words, no one knows, cares, or does anything about your pain or discomfort unless you are courageous enough to identify it. Weekly, I’m privileged to share my discomfort and the added benefit of sharing how I propose to deal with certain challenges. I find that being straightforward is an opportunity that many neither have nor really want.

Occasionally, I’m blessed with great appreciation for the character and generosity of others. Their behavior affords me the luxury of viewing my world through the lens of positivity for the betterment of humankind.

They go beyond the call of duty to demonstrate selfless concerns and a spirit of hope with the endeavors they perform for the benefit of others.

For two WNBA seasons, Maya Moore, of the Minnesota Lynx, left basketball to concentrate her efforts on releasing Jonathan Irons, a convicted Missouri man serving a 50-year sentence for burglary and assault. Introduced to Irons through a prison ministry, Moore believes that Irons, as a 16-year old, was wrongly convicted. Like many others, Irons was convicted without physical or DNA evidence. At 39, he’s only

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23 years through a 50-year sentence. Moore states, “There are seasons of life when you run harder after certain things than others.

And so, I felt like the season was coming for me where I needed to run harder after criminal justice reform.�

Members of major league sports have begun to use their voices and platforms to advocate for social justice. Although it took the deaths of several African Americans (George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Jacob Blake in Wisconsin - shot in the back in front of his 3 children, Rayshard Brooks in Georgia, Walter Wallace, Jr. in Philadelphia all just in 2020), to demonstrate violent, systemic racism, professional athletes have embraced the cause of justice in law enforcement.

I must mention Coach Doc Rivers for his moving remarks supporting athletes saying, “It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.�

That statement encouraged many athletes to take action. I take great pride in the commitment of our athletes and their participation in reshaping a variety of our cultural norms and imperatives. I commend Lebron James who, without question, was the greatest catalyst for challenging so many athletes to leave their comfortable circumstances to realize they could have been any of the above-mentioned tragedies.

LeBron’s actions didn’t begin with these 2020

tragedies. He has always stepped out to help his community. He’s helped build transitional housing for homeless families and those struggling for a safe environment in which to live. He’s given resources for establishing a school for at risk students in his hometown. His foundation pays for services and programs students would not otherwise have. LeBron is not new to social justice, and he is a blessing to our community. He’s an in-person presence for causes he supports, and his social media outreach is so massive that those wishing to silence him are overwhelmed.

After seeing the worst of the “Rapper� community in the weeks preceding the November election, along came Common who joined the athletes and spoke up with intelligence not always common among rappers.

We hear many well-deserved comments about Black women and our work related to voting, but many Black men also emerged to drown-out the voices of traitors. Lebron James, Doc Rivers, Common, Barack Obama, Stephen A. Smith, and Chris Webber have made us proud with their stepping-up in both social justice and voting arenas. I pray that this coalition will stay together to resolve the challenges which will remain after our election.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is National President of the National Congress of Black Women and Host of “Wake Up and Stay Woke� on WPFW-FM 89.3.

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INSIDE

Faithful Utterances

Quit Playin’

I Was Just Thinking

I was talking to a dear friend who has not always made the best decisions. As he prepares for the next chapter of his life, I reminded him of temptations and triggers that exist. The reality is that we all have temptations and triggers.

This column could get me in trouble for three reasons. First and foremost, I must admit that George Carlin, my favorite comedian of all, ain’t Black. Only two White dudes make my top 10.

I ran across a 1976 news articles that described how Dallas prepared for one of the early chapters of school busing during the 1970s. 1976 was a pivotal year because of court orders that Dallas get really serious – this time – about desegregating its school system.

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November 6, 2020

MY TRUTH

by Cheryl Smith, Publisher

Speak the truth.

Share your feelings.

Show love.

I have known Curtistene McCowan for over 30 years. Reflecting on many of our conversations, I realized we always expressed our feelings for and about each other.

For that I am grateful because she is no longer here to hear me say how much love and respect I had for her.

Which brings me to my truth.

Last weekend citizens, friends and loved ones participated in a service honoring DeSoto first female Mayor Curtistene Smith McCowan, who died Wednesday, October 28.

In early October she announced her lung cancer diagnosis during a City Council meeting on Zoom.

“Those of you who know me are also aware that I have an unusual amount of energy,” she said at the time. “So when I get tired or don’t put in the time and energy that I normally do on an issue, something’s up.”

Her death came as a

Judge Staci Williams

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shock to many.

Ms. McCowan supported former DeSoto Mayor Carl Sherman, Sr., when he decided to run for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, and he was one of her strongest supporters.

Rep. Sherman called her “the most gracious mayor we’ve ever had,” saying that unlike many leaders, “she was able to diplomatically bring both sides of the city together. There was an elegance and an eloquence about her.”

He captured the essence of the Mayor!

Reading about Mayor McCowan’s wonderful life, I can only hope that many will be inspired to reach out and express their feelings to someone they love and admire; before it is too late.

On the day before her funeral, her husband shared with me that he had let her listen to my voicemail message. I also take solace in knowing she heard me and in my head, I hear her voice and it sounds so beautiful, just like she was. myimessenger.com

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November 6, 2020

Run as Fast As You Can FAITHFUL UTTERANCES

BY DR. FROSWA BOOKER-DREW

I was talking to a dear friend who has not always made the best decisions. As he prepares for the next chapter of his life, I reminded him of temptations and triggers that exist.

The reality is that we all have temptations and triggers. One lady relapsed on a show I was watching the other night and remarked that she did not pay attention to her trigger which led to a series of bad decisions.

Sometimes we can be so well intended and still find ourselves in a situation that spirals out of control. No one is exempt. For some of us, the temptation may be food. It comforts us and short term, it fulfills a hunger. The reality is that often it is not enough and so we consume more and more creating another situation of increased weight and even health issues.

That was not the initial intent but because we did not deal with the real hunger, we satisfied it with something temporary that can create an even longer-term challenge.

You should never go to the grocery store hungry. I know this from experience. When you are hungry, you focus on buying items that taste good, are filling but are not necessarily good for you. You overspend and often purchase items that have no nutritional value but provide limited satisfaction.

And a few hours later, you are still desiring more. You November 6, 2020

did not satisfy the real issue which is your body craving nutrients that were substituted with high calorie items-which did absolutely nothing for you. How often are we satisfying our needs with temporary fixes that cause so much pain and regret later? Is it possible that we are fulfilling a need with the wrong medicine instead of really focusing on addressing the core of the matter?

Your triggers do not have to define your life. Jacob was a swindler and his name meant follower. God changed his name and made him a leader.

This trait of being a swindler was something that initially was bad, but God used to it to build character in him. Instead, recognize your traits and triggers and become aware of the situations that cause you to respond negatively. Sometimes it is as easy as removing yourself from circumstances that can create doubt, tension, and even regret.

I was telling my friend that when he is released, he must be careful in returning to en-

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vironments that are reminders of his past. The temptation will be there. Yet, we must be honest with ourselves. Some of us need to run as fast as we can away from toxic people, situations, and even jobs.

Joseph in the Bible had experienced significant trauma. Being kidnapped by his brothers and sold into slavery, he ended up in the house of his Egyptian master who placed him in control of all his household matters. His wife was attracted to Joseph and pursued him relentlessly.

Joseph easily could have taken advantage of the situation.

I mean, it was available to him. Genesis 39: 11-15 MSG states, “On one of these days he came to the house to do his work and none of the household servants happened to be there. She grabbed him by his cloak, saying, “Sleep with me!” He left his coat in her hand and ran out of the house.

When she realized that he had left his coat in her hand and run outside, she called to her house servants: “Look— this Hebrew shows up and

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before you know it he’s trying to seduce us. He tried to make love to me but I yelled as loud as I could. With all my yelling and screaming, he left his coat beside me here and ran outside.”

It was a no-win situation for Joseph but he knew he needed to get away. What do you need to immediately drop and get away from that tempts you to do something that you might regret?

Drop that thing, that situation, that person and leave behind whatever maybe attaching you to stay connected. By making the best decision, Joseph still thrived even in prison “because GOD was with him; whatever he did GOD made sure it worked out for the best.”

Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew is the Founder and CEO of Soulstice Consultancy, specializing as a Partnership Broker and Leadership Expert for companies and organizations to thrive with measurable and meaningful impact. She also is the VP of Community Affairs and Strategic Alliances for the State Fair of Texas.

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Beyond the 2020 Elections THE LAST WORD BY DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX

No matter what the outcome of the 2020 election, there remains much work to do. Our economy is wrong-sided, and we have to right-side it. Our tax code rewards the wealthy and penalizes others. Our regulatory system protects corporations, not people. Almost a hundred environmental regulations from the Obama years have been reversed.

Schools have fewer protections than they once had.

Workers have fewer protections, and unions are under attack. And the Supreme Court has been stacked to favor oligarchs, not everyday people. The very right to vote has been compromised with rules that marginalize too many people.

It is my fervent hope that the Biden-Harris ticket will prevail in this election, but even if they win, there is still much work to do. First, the coronavirus needs to be controlled. Mark Meadows, the 45th President’s chief of staff, says the administration will do nothing to contain the virus, and their wanton disregard of essential public health tenets (hand-washing, mask-wearing, social distancing) reflects their casual approach to the virus.

A President Biden would tackle this issue, but he will need to be pushed to ensure that the process is egalitarian and that those who have suffered disproportionally, myimessenger.com

like Black folks, will get more remediation than those who have not so suffered.

Economic recovery and economic expansion should be high on the agenda.

Again, those who have suffered from covid and repressive economic policies need special attention.

Biden-Harris must address the racial wealth gap, the relentless unemployment

as a right, and it must be universal. The “do” list is long, and it may include expanding the Supreme Court’s size. It’s not court-packing, as some would suggest; it’s right-sizing something that has gone wrong. The point is that a Biden-Harris victory may be cause for celebration, but it is also an invitation for all of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work,

rate differential, and systemic poverty. Some of the employment situation can be addressed through an infrastructure improvement program. The American Society of Civil Engineers consistently grades our roads, bridges, water quality, and public buildings with substandard grades. The appropriate investment of federal dollars would not only be good for employment but also for the economy.

Our criminal justice system must be fixed, and federal initiatives to stop police brutality must be developed.

Environmental issues must be vigorously addressed.

Health care must be treated

not only at the federal level but also at the state and local level.

I can hear my conservative friends already asking what all this will cost. We know the 2017 tax cut cost the Treasury trillions of dollars. We seem only to be interested in cost when we are looking at people on the bottom. There appears to be much less concern about programs designed to benefit the wealthy. Then, some of the work we have to do is to transform our mindset, decide what kind of economy we want, and then work to create it. That may mean a very different approach to our predatory capitalist

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system, and it may mean restructuring the system to make it more people-focused. It is a possibility!

Now we know what it is like to live with a graft-centered leader who has thrown our nation under the bus for his selfish gains. We have the opportunity to learn what it is like to live with a more people-centered leader.

Still, we should be clear that Bidden-Harris leadership will be center-left predatory capitalism. They will need to be pushed, and we need to be prepared to push them.

If we have learned nothing from the Obama years, we should have learned that a closed mouth won’t get fed.

Black folk were so happy to have a Black president that we were reluctant to push him and his administration very hard. Much as we may like Biden-Harris, we must be willing to push them.

When he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King said, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up.” Biden-Harris will move us closer to King’s dream, but they won’t take us all the way there. Not unless we push. We know what we have to do.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an author, economist, and social commentator.

November 6, 2020

George Carlin, America, and Trump!

QUIT PLAYIN’ VINCENT L. HALL This column could get me in trouble for three reasons.

First and foremost, I must admit that George Carlin, my favorite comedian of all, ain’t Black. Only two White dudes make my top 10. But you know it doesn’t take much to get your Black Card snatched these days.

Secondly, Carlin’s mouth is about as filthy as mine. We do the kinda cussing that makes sailors blush!

As a writer, my choices are to have good scripts fed to me in rhythm and context. Bernie Mac was right. The average Black man can use Maryland Farmer (MF) 34 times in a two-minute conversation.

The word takes on at least five contextual sides, and when adequately enhanced, it can be made funny five ways as well.

But Carlin, like Richard Pryor and Deon Cole (Charles on Black’ish) writes jokes for profundity and uses profanity for color and catchiness. Here are a few short quotes by George Carlin that made me a fan early on: “If a man is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, what’s all the fighting about?”

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“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

Great writers/comics use satire and reality to make us laugh at others until we

“It’s called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

Good, honest, hardworking people…these are people of modest means, continue to elect these rich @#$%^%$ who don’t give a ‘truck’ about them. They don’t give a Truck about you! They don’t care about you at all! At all, at all!”

realize that we are actually laughing at ourselves.”

In one of his last punch lines, before he died in 2008, Carlin forcefully challenged America’s bestselling pitch. We claim greatness and preeminence over the world, citing the “American Dream.”

Carlin transformed it into the nightmare that both Dr. King and Malcolm X proclaimed it to be.

And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. That’s what the “owners” count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue “PRICK” that’s assaulting them every day. Because the owners of this country know the truth… It’s called the American Dream.

Because you have to be

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asleep to believe it.”

Now some of you are smart and by now you are wondering. I told you that this article could get me in trouble for three reasons. I gave you the “Black Card” and “Filthy Language.” I didn’t give you point three.

That method is called literary suspense. You give them the answers to the test and then make them wait.

Anyway. The third reason this may cause me some unrest is that this was written specifically for you Trump worshippers: White, Black, Brown, and otherwise. It looks like he’s gonna lose. We fell for that trick in 2016.

The only way to make “America Great,” is to realize that if half this nation has a dream and the other half has a nightmare, neither side can ever have what they want. Trump sold you a bill of goods.

He used racism and every other hateful divider he could find to make you believe in a Dream that he can never live.

You can either go back to sleep or grasp the notion that all men and women are created equal, and all have certain inalienable rights.

But no one possesses these rights until each of us does.

George Carlin got it.

Vincent L. Hall is an author, activist, and award-winning columnist.

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School desegregation, busing left their good and bad marks I WAS JUST THINKING NORMA ADAMS-WADE

I ran across a 1976 news articles that described how Dallas prepared for one of the early chapters of school busing during the 1970s.

1976 was a pivotal year because of court orders that Dallas get really serious – this time – about desegregating its school system.

Remember, the federal Supreme Court some 22 years earlier in 1954 had ordered that all U. S. schools end the sham “separate but equal” method of educating Black and White students. The 1970s, this time, were to make racial integration a true mandated order.

From 1954 into the 1970s, cities and school districts across the land pretty much made their own decisions about whether to desegregate. Districts dragged their feet, putting up creative road

blocks or just out-and-out ignoring the Supreme Court order. Then slowly, school authorities began to comply because of the power and might of federal government oversight and intervention.

I was just thinking about the human toll of that desegregation fight and the life-changing impact – good and bad – on young people who went through those struggles.

I was just thinking of Linda Brown. In 1954, she was the 11-year-old youth at the center of the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that ended the law that protected segregated schools. Brown, who was born February 20, 1943, died March 25, 2018 at age 75.

Her legacy is now enshrined in history.

I was just thinking of Ruby Bridges. In 1960, federal marshals escorted then six-yearold Bridges to her first day at a New Orleans, Louisiana elementary school. The marshals were assigned to protect her from a mob of racist white parents and citizens

Ruby Bridges in front of famous Norman Rockwell painting of her experience.

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who yelled and taunted as they objected to her attending their formerly all-white school. Bridges became the first Black child to integrate a formerly all-white elementary school in the south. Today, Bridges still is alive and active as a chair of the Ruby Bridges Foundation that promotes racial tolerance and unity among youth and adults.

Dallas youth and families also had many life-changing experiences during efforts to desegregate schools here.

In 2015, three years before she died in Dallas at age 66, former Paul Quinn College English professor Dr. Mary Catherine Loving wrote a personal remembrance, sometimes painful, in The Dallas Morning News about Dallas school desegregation.

She told how she lived in the West Dallas projects and graduated from nearby Pinkston High School more than a year before busing to desegregate Dallas schools began in 1971. But later in the mid-1970s, her siblings were on “the big, yellow buses that lined up like tanks to take them far way” to once allwhite Dallas schools.

One sibling in particular did not fare well. A younger sister, Shirley Hardaway, was bused to W. T. White High School where she regularly fought bullies who taunted her.

Emotionally scarred by her experiences, the sister dropped out of school in 10th grade and died relatively young at age 53 in 2012.

“My sister and others of her generation carried the weight

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Linda Brown of the Brown v.

Board of Education case.

of a city wrestling with its own guilt about race, education and the Black body,” Dr. Loving wrote in the retrospective. “... It’s a shame that the city’s young, poor Black children carried the city’s burden on their shoulders.”

But there also were some much-improved experiences in the key years of 1976.

Then-Dallas school superintendent Nolan Estes drove a school bus himself on the first day of school to reassure parents. Monitors were assigned at key points throughout the first days to promote good behavior. And a friendly group of White volunteers stood waiting to welcome the mostly Black students as they came off the buses.

I was just thinking, ...it stirs the heart to consider the things we go through attempting to make us all members of the same human race.

Norma Adams-Wade is a veteran, award-winning journalist, Graduate of UT- Austin and Dallas native.

One of the founders of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), she was inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame

November 6, 2020

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

A different kind of election night with support

By ASHLEY M. MOSS Texas Metro News Team Texans piled into polling sites across North Texas and the state, many expecting lengthy lines, warmer temperatures and potential voting challenges.

Instead, voters walked into several North Texas polling sites, cast their ballots and walked out - all within minutes -- and with an added bonus, a meal; courtesy of Win with Black Women.

The group of women from all industries, ages, and types of life experiences came together with a common goal focusing on trying to eliminate and reduce the impact of racism and sexism on Black women, particularly towards Senator Harris.

Then, Win with Black Women became about se-

curing victory, not just for the Biden-Harris Campaign but for Black women up and down the ballot.

“This was part of elevating the power and agenda of Black women, fostering the power of this collective and working together,” said LeShawnda Larkin, of Dallas. “We’re not just supporting Senator Harris, but also women running in key markets (around the country).

“We asked ourselves, ‘What else can we do,’ and the food truck idea came together just one weekend before Election Day. According to Larkin, feeding voters was not planned.

“It was a way to encourage people to stay and vote if there were long lines. It was also a way to put money back into the (Black community).”

At Friendship-West Baptist

Leola’s Crab Shack

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Church in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood, voters were welcomed by food vendors, one serving free grilled Texas hot links, another serving barbecue sandwiches and a third serving hamburgers, chicken fingers, nachos and a flurry of fixings.

“This was very hospitable,” voter KaDeidra Weatherall said, while standing in line at The ITIS food truck with her son Cedric and partner Chris Washington, all of Dallas.

“It’s like they are giving back to us, while we are giving back to the world,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

Voter Melvin Boyd, said he came to the polls Tuesday afternoon after receiving a call from a friend who told him food trucks were on site at Friendship-West.

Had it not been for the meal, he would not have come to vote, he said.

“I figured, if I’m going to come out here and wait, I might as well get something to eat,” said Boyd, 60, who said he was a firsttime voter. “This encouraged me to come.”

Other polling sites were not so fortunate.

Arlington Police

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Dr. Vivian Bradley Johnson and Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III.

Department Media Relations Coordinator Tim Siesco said far fewer voters than expected showed up at polling sites there. The department fielded no calls Tuesday from election employees.

“It has been quiet,” he said.

“We think that’s because there was such large early voting turnouts that the polls were not that busy.”

At the Junior League polling site in Southwest Arlington, House District 94 candidate Alisa Simmons stood outside greeting voters as they parked and walked across the lawn into the polls.

“I think turnout is a little lighter today,” she said shortly after 4 p.m. “People heeded our request to take advantage of early voting.”

Simmons said she had visited multiple polling sites in the city, beginning shortly after polls opened at 7 a.m. in Tarrant County. She noticed far fewer voters, she said, than myimessenger.com

Rev. Danielle Ayers, Cecelia Criner, State Rep. Toni Rose and Dr. Vivian Bradley Johnson

the numbers she and other candidates had encountered at the polls during early voting.

In Plano, police department Public Information Officer David Tiley, said that by 4 p.m Tuesday, the department had fielded no calls from election sites.

He described the day as “very peaceful.”

In Houston, members of grassroots organizations in the city’s 5th Ward, including the Black Panthers, supported community residents who were casting ballots by “patrolling” those sites.

Some voters appreciated the extra security.

“The Black Panthers were on their motorcycles near the polls to make sure the 5th Ward community was able to vote,” said Lena Jones. “I felt that it was for the safety of the people and to keep the peace.” myimessenger.com

Back at Friendship West, Tamera and Jerry Jacob, owners of Holy Smokes!!! Barbecue, a Lewisville catering company, pulled a super-sized grill behind their pickup truck to the Oak Cliff church and parked it several hundred feet from the entrance.

The waft of grilled meat could be smelled an eighth of a mile away.

Jerry Jacob said he had watched television news accounts of voters waiting hours in line and anticipated waits at Friendship-West. He hoped to encourage voters to cast ballots despite potential waits. So, he and his wife determined they would offer ballot casters free, smoked hotlink sandwiches.

“I was expecting on Nov. 3 it to be pretty crowded,” said Jacob, a U.S. Navy veteran. “(I thought) these people are going to be waiting two or three

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hours. I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”

The caterers served about 500 smoked hotlink sandwiches Tuesday by 2 p.m.

Another vendor, caterer Dana Jackson, who owns Grand Prairie-based KC’s Experience, also served barbecue sandwiches to voters at Friendship-West.

“I want everyone to get out and vote,” she said. “Early voting was great, but success for me is (everyone else) getting out to vote.”

Dallas-area organizer Dr. Vivian Bradley Johnson said she and a coalition of peers from across the country raised nearly $40,000 to cater meals to be distributed at polling sites around the country, including in Dallas, Atlanta, New Orleans, DC., Detroit, Milwaukee, Wis. and Tallahassee, Fla. Johnson’s group, Win With Black Women, contracted

The ITIS food truck to offer nachos, hamburgers and chicken tender meals to voters casting ballots at Friendship-West.

“I wanted to help make an impact and I joined the group six weeks ago,” said Johnson, of Dallas. “We pulled this together in about 24 hours and raised close to $40,000.”

“We wanted to do something so people would not have to worry about food while they were at the polls,” Tuesday, The ITIS food truck parked alongside the church and fielded a steady stream of orders.

By 2 p.m., the chef said she had served nearly 200 orders when she had expected to serve that many throughout the entire day.

Texas Metro News team members, led by news editor Valerie Fields Hill, contributed to this report.

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Hall’s Honey Fried Chicken

(214) 371- 3020

4845 S Lancaster Rd. Dallas, TX 75216

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WHAT’S ON MILES MIND

MILES JAYE Why would I want to be here? Why would I want to live and die here? Why I am so inexplicably, inextricably tethered to this place that I, rightly or wrongly, call home, where I can be treated like an animal or worse on any given day? Why claim as home a place where I’ve been treated like an unwelcome foreigner and told more than once to go back to where I come from? Home, where I’ve been called names, I wouldn’t want my grandsons to hear.

Why would I choose to live in a society governed by what is still referred to as an experiment, when test results are not promising and by all appearances, I’m the lab rat? Perhaps, I’m the lab frog. Remember the parable of the boiling frog? If a frog is dropped into a pot of boiling water, scalded and afraid, it will immediately jump out.

But, if a frog is placed into a pot of room temperature water, it will be comfortable and not sense danger. If you then gradually turn up the heat and increase the water temperature, by the time the frog realizes the water is boiling, it will be too late to escape. Is the water in this pot we call America getting hotter?

Now, more than ever before, in this presidential election year, I’ve asked myself these and similar questions.

However, the problem with asking such questions is they myimessenger.com

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tend to lead to new questions that have nothing to do with what is wrong with them and everything to do with what is wrong with me. Would I date someone who has clearly expressed disinterest in or disdain for me? Would I go to a party to which I was not invited with people who knowingly dislike me? Would I fight to keep a job where I am paid less than my peers and passed over for every promotion? No, no and no!

Of course not!

I voted yesterday and leaving the polling station I asked myself a few more tough questions. Why did I vote? What possible difference will my vote make?

What will it actually change?

And worst of all, would it even be counted? These may seem like simple questions with simple answers, possibly too simplistic, but having to ask them is even more difficult-- it’s hurtful. There’s a feeling that comes with asking them… it’s humiliation.

Black Lives Matter may be the answer to the question, but what of such a question as, Do Black lives matter?

Telling four members of Congress to go back to where they came from may be the answer, but what should we make of the question, do you even belong here… governing OUR country?

Early in my music career we traveled by tour bus. I can recall the AC running hot in the Summer and the heat not running at all one Winter. I remember an Out of Order sign on the rest room door on one trip. I found myself asking this question: If the bus is broken down on the

side of the road, needing a new transmission and a new engine, do we call the bus company and request a new driver, or a new bus?

Our government needs a new transmission and a new engine. If it was in proper working order, Donald Trump would not have completed one year much less one term of presidency. If it was working properly, most of the Senate would have also been impeached for violation of oaths protecting the Constitution from threats both foreign and domestic. Attorney General Bill Barr would have been impeached. If government was in proper running condition, I, along with millions of other Americans, would not have to wonder if our votes will even be tallied, and why voter suppression is not a thing of a long gone past.

The government is in a state of disrepair. It has broken down, and I’m mad about it! I’m angry with the designated stewards of Democracy, both parties, elected and trusted to maintain government properly! Vote?

I want to vote for a new engine and transmission, not a new driver. I want to vote for a new bus! President Obama drove a broken-down bus for eight years, during which time Senator McConnell openly blocked one of his Supreme Court Justice nominees. Trump was impeached

by Congress, a DUI which should have disqualified him for re-election, but he was effectively acquitted by the Senate. He is now running for re-election, and simultaneously rushing a new

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Supreme Court Justice to the bench with Mitch McConnell’s blessing. This is government? This is Democracy?

Donald Trump has spent the past four years turning up the heat-- and not so gradually, but at an increasingly rapid rate. It appears however, we’ve grown accustomed to the near boiling water. We’re not nearly as alarmed by the increase in hate speech and racist rhetoric, xenophobia, the rise in poverty and unemployment, police violence, and Domestic Terrorism as we should be. The Pandemic has struck a death blow to an already aging, outdated Education System. Who’s teaching our children?

Rome may not be burning, but the damn bus is on fire, society is in peril, and interestingly, or perhaps tragically, both parties have us bickering among ourselves-journalists, rappers, comedians, preachers, as they would have us focus on one and only one thing, not the bus-- the bus DRIVER. Maybe it’s time to walk!

Why would anyone in their right mind want to be HERE? Maybe because it’s HERE that we can vote. I guess, because it’s HERE that I can write this article without fear of retribution. No doubt because it’s HERE that I can write directly to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…

Dear Mr. President: I voted!

That’s what’s on my mind!

Website: www.milesjaye.net Podcast: https://bit.ly/2zkhSRv Email: milesjaye360@gmail.com

November 6, 2020

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November 6, 2020

METASTATIC BREAST CANCER THAT CELEBRITY INTERVIEW

BY VALDER BEEBE

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. We as women (men too) must be aware of this deadly disease at all times. I call Joy Jenrette my hero.

Since I began as host of the Valder Beebe Show, over 20-years ago I have met fearless women who have stood up to cancer and the vicissitudes of life. Joy Jenrette, a patient, an advocate, shares her emotional story about living with metastatic breast cancer. Joy was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 2008 and 2012, and with metastatic breast cancer in 2018. Metastatic breast cancer – also called stage IV breast cancer – is the most advanced stage of breast cancer. It is breast cancer that has spread beyond the breast to other organs in the body, most often the bones, lungs, liver or brain. Joy has partnered with Susan G. Komen and is sharing important information for metastatic breast cancer awareness day on the Valder Beebe Show.

November 6, 2020

In the middle of a pandemic, we don’t hear as much about wonderful charities like Susan G Komen and Metastatic Breast Cancer Day. But it may surprise many people to learn that more than 42,000 people in the U.S. are expected to die from breast cancer this year.

VBS: I am so impressed with Joy’s resilience. Just a fact 42,000 women die from metastatic breast cancer each year in America, Joy lives with metastatic breast cancer which is stage 4 breast cancer.

JJ: I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer 12 years ago. I was in treatment, my doctor had a clear plan for us dealing with breast cancer. Once all that was done I wrapped it up in a neat bow and went about my life. Then about 4 ½ years later at an annual checkup (scans) I found that I had recurrence early stage breast cancer. Again I went through treatment with a plan. In about 2018 I had a persistent couch for a few months for several

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BREAST CANCER AWARENESS months. I went to my Oncologist, she dug a little deeper and found that my cancer had metastasized.

VBS: Joy, you are optimistic, resilient and buoyant. You’ve not had an easy journey yet you live your name, Joy. Help inspire my audience as they may be faced with a crisis in their lives at this time.

JJ: I would like to relay that

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metastatic breast cancer is very different from early stage breast cancer. You don’t just get to go back to your life. You spend your time fighting ……

Joy Jenette’s complete interview…

YouTube.com/valderbeebeshow: Broadcasting to a national & global audience: ValdeBeebeShow.com ; SoundCloud.com/valderbeebeshow ; KKVI FM Radio, Streaming TV, Social Media, Print Publications (IMESSENGERS, Texas Metro News, and Garland Journal News).

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November 6, 2020

November 6, 2020

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November 6, 2020

November 6, 2020

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Dallas COVID-19 Resources

MO’ BETTAH WINGS

COVID-19 Call the hotline The bestHotline way to 24-7 protect yourself and others is to 214-670-INFO (4636) to get information regarding: stay at home.

•Current COVID-19 Regulations & Testing Locations •Employment Assistance •Federal Relief Payment Information •Volunteer/Assistance Opportunities •Rental/Mortgage, and Eviction Assistance •Small Business Assistance •Social Services (food pantry, childcare assistance, senior assistance, unsheltered resident assistance and mental health resources) •Utility Payment Assistance

Slow the spread of COVID-19 The best way to protect yourself and others is to stay at home.

Safer at home

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11am-10pm Monday-Saturday 12-8 Sunday

Wash with soap and water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer.

Keep your mouth and nose covered while out in public.

Visit dallascityhall.com/COVID19 for a list of resources and up-to-date information about COVID-19.

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November 6, 2020

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Two Podners Bar-B-Que & Seafood 1441 Robert B Cullum Blvd.

Dallas, Texas 75210 November 6, 2020

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We run specials Monday-Thursday

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November 6, 2020

EAT ZONE Best Food in Town The Hidden Secret of OakCliff 2 Burgers for $5 2 Pc Grilled/Fried Ăžsh

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During this pandemic we are still open for call-in and pick up orders. We have specials Tuesdays $5 burger baskets with fries and Wednesdays $5 chicken strip baskets with fries. Our menu is filled with so many delicious items. We have Bar-B-Q plates, Crab boils and so much more. We would love to serve you.

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November 6, 2020

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Dr. Amerson adapts to Temporary Business Closure Dr. Linda Amerson, Board Certified Trichologist, has adapted to the temporary closure of LA's Hair and Scalp Clinic. We continue to offer our award-winning products to consumers. Our exclusive products are manufactured by a facility in Garland, TX. Premium quality natural ingredients are used to assist with dry, oily, itchy, flaky, inflammed scalps, as well as hair breakage, hair thinning and regrowth.

Everyone may order from our website, and we will ship your product order to you. http://www.hairandscalpessentials.com We need your support.

In addition, we offer Video Consultations globally! We will schedule an appointment, give a diagnosis, them make a recommendation. We are available to serve you in the comfort of your home. Call us today - 817.265.8854 http://www.hairandscalpessentials.com We need your support.

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November 6, 2020

Davis wins Frisco school board seat

Becomes the first African American to serve

By EVA D. COLEMAN I Messenger Media Consistently ranked one of the fastest growing school districts in the nation, Frisco ISD has dramatically changed over the years. Yet, in some areas, things have remained the same. The lack of African Americans seated at the table of the Board of Trustees is one of them.

According to Frisco ISD historical data, its Hamilton School served African American children from 1924 until a school board vote to integrate Frisco High School came on August 31, 1964. Now 56 years later, with an enrollment of over 60,000 students, the District has an African American population of 11.2 percent.

Still, no representation in top tier decision-making has ensued.

Entrepreneur Dynette A. Davis has brought this long-standing phenomenon to an end.

As the first African American elected to the Frisco ISD Board of Trustees, she’ll serve in Place 4, defeating Amit Kalra and Muni Janagarajan.

The election was moved from the spring to November, and according to Davis, it has taught her the power of endurance.

“None of us expected to still be running for our respective offices beyond May; much less have our names on the ballot with presidential candidates,” the DePaul University alum and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., added.

While results were late coming in for several races, it was a November 6, 2020

Dynette A. Davis

fairly early night for Davis and her supporters.

“I am thankful for the lessons learned; grateful to all of my supporters and humbled by the faith that voters in this great district chose me to be their next Frisco ISD Trustee,” said Davis. “The historical nature of my win has not been lost on me. It is an honor to make history as the first African American to be elected to the FISD Board of Trustees; however, it is profoundly sad that in 2020 I am a first.

“In the words of University of Minnesota Associate Professor, Dr. Rachel Hardeman,

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‘While titles alone don’t create change, the resources, institutional support and the right people to lead the work do.’ I, along with the other trustees, am committed to doing the work to keep moving FISD forward.’”

Interestingly, Frisco ISD has seen a dramatic shift in its ethnic makeup, with Asian students comprising 31.3 percent of the Districts total student population and being in the majority at several of its 72 campuses. The District elected its first Asian school board member, Gopal Ponangi, in 2019.

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Davis completed her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction and is currently a Higher Educational Leadership, Doctoral Candidate at Concordia University. She recently earned the Women’s Entrepreneurship certificate from Cornell University. A member of Kappa Delta Pi, an International Honor Society in Education, she currently serves on the board of directors for Her Future Teen Mom Empowerment in Chicago IL. She is committed to using her academic background and professional experience to “Changing the Face of Education.” myimessenger.com

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November 6, 2020

Hair Today...Gone Tomorrow ABOUT YOUR HAIR

BY DR. LINDA AMERSON

Have you ever awakened one morning with your hair all over your pillow? If your answer is YES, you are not alone. In some cases cytotoxic drugs for chemotherapy are the cause, while in other cases, the cause is unknown.

Many chemotherapy patients may experience Alopecia totalis, which is hair loss over the entire scalp. Chemotherapy treatments are synthetic drugs given at pre-arranged intervals to disrupt the cancer cells ability to grow.

These cytotoxic drugs, via the bloodstream, travel through the entire body. In addition to treating the cancer, these drugs may cause temporary side effects in rapidly growing cells, such as those cells of the blood, stomach and hair.

Among these side effects may include hair loss, mouth sores, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and a reduced number of white blood cells.

Chances of infection is increased.

Cancer is a very complex disease. There are 150 anti-cancer drugs approved by the FDA, and more than 700 oncology drugs in late stages of development. As of October 2017, based on drug mechanism of action, these agents are divided into 2 groups: 61 cytotoxic-based drugs and 89 target based drugs.

Hair loss may occur as early as 2-4 weeks after the first effective dose. Hair could fall November 6, 2020

Connie Louise Amerson-Garner

out very quickly, in clumps, gradually when you comb or brush your hair, on your pillow, or in the shower drain.

A patient’s scalp may experience these symptoms: heat, itchiness, tenderness, tingling, sensitivity, or develop pimples.

Some facilities use ‘scalp hypothemia’. This technique includes scalp cooling caps applied on the scalp during chemotherapy treatment to help prevent hair loss. Research results show that cold caps are highly effective in 50%-65% of women who use them.

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When regrowth occurs, the hair texture is a different texture, and sometimes a different hair color.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with the statistics at 25.4%.

Women should give themselves monthly breast exams and annual mammograms.

There are two types of mammograms: film:screen and digital. Technology has allowed one more type: 3-D mammogram...which takes multiple images of breast tissue.

Age 50 for women is the

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recommended age to begin mammograms, unless women have a family history, an earlier age may be recommended by a physician. Take your health seriously. Free mammograms are offered during October.

Special note: Connie Louise Amerson-Garner, my sister, lost her breast cancer battle in 2016. She is truly missed.

Dr. Linda Amerson, Board Certified Trichologist, 817 265 8854. #39yr Veteran Hairandscalpessentials.com

myimessenger.com

TIME AT THE MOVIES BY HOLLYWOOD HERNANDEZ

We've seen a number of documentaries lately where a person is wrongly jailed and seeking their release, but it's hard to gather sympathy for a man who is incarcerated for a crime that he actually committed.

However that's what director Garrett Bradley does in the Amazon/Prime Video movie TIME. The movie tells

film consists mainly of over 100 hours of home movies made by Mrs. Richardson of her daily struggles raising a daughter and three sons who have no memory of their father. She was pregnant with one of the boys when her husband was sent to jail so she has one child who has never even met her father.

This is a movie story about one family's struggle but it could easily be the story of thousands of families who are suffering with the same situation. There's a quote in the movie from Sibil's moth-

We’re open and ready to serve you!

Elaine’s

Jamaican Kitchen

(214) 565-1008 2717 Martin L. King Jr

the story of a Black couple who freely admitted to robbing a bank. Sibil Fox Richardson spent three years in prison for her crime, but her husband, who was the mastermind of the crime, received 60 years in prison with no hopes of parole or early release.

TIME tells the story of the 20 years Mrs. Richardson raised a family on her own while fighting for the early release of her husband. The myimessenger.com

Blvd, Dallas, TX 75215

er that could easily be the bottom line to this story, "It's easy for a black man to get into jail, but it sure is hard for him to get out."

The movie has a run time under one hour and it is not rated. TIME won the director's award at The Sundance Film Festival and on my "Hollywood Popcorn Scale" I rate it a JUMBO.

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November 6, 2020

Employment Opportunity

Funeral Director/Embalmer Black and Clark Funeral Home

Send resume to: Administration Black and Clark Funeral Home 2517 E. Illinois Dallas, Texas 75216 bcfh@blackandclark.com

You have a unique opportunity to be a part of something new at UNT Dallas College of Law. Our law school - which admitted its first students in 2014 - is not bound by the restraints of traditional legal education.

UNT Dallas College of Law is initiating change. Our curriculum stretches far beyond traditional classroom learning. We provide our students with hands on experiences and meaningful opportunities to engage with members of the community, lawyers and legal scholars.

Our mission at UNT Dallas College of Law is to promote justice and advance human potential through the enterprise of legal education.

OUR MISSION HAS FIVE GOALS: ACCESS Expand access to legal education for those who are capable of becoming legal professionals but have lacked realistic access to legal education.

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Follow us: @UNTDallasLaw and @UNTDLaw Version 15- CoL View Book .indd 5

November 6, 2020

7/9/20 3:24 PM

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myimessenger.com

Big Mama shouted: “Don’t come for me unless I send for you!”

THE BLACK CARD BY TERRY ALLEN

It is written in John 6:44“People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day. “In summary, it says by faith, as if God did not send you then you will not stop me on my journey to the end.

Just another lesson, my maternal grandmother gave me. She and other mothers of color stood their ground on uninvited gravity stepping in their path.

African American women are the most powerful group of voters in America. In the 2008 and 2012 presidential

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elections, Black women voted at 74 percent as they invaded the polls. As I pay tribute to African American women, whose very actions rendered make or break outcomes of both elections, I am reminded of my praying Big Mama saying,” Don’t come for me unless I send for you!” No barriers will intimidate us.

This current election is showcasing actions that are deeply rooted in voter suppression. Unfortunately, the strategy for voter suppression was in place before the voting began.

It looks as if it covertly began long just after the first election. Whatever the outcome of the election, we are going to have to provide a real deep cleansing of our American tapestry. The opposition to democracy

has mastered strategies like slowing the mail; closing voting locations; purging voter registrations and, even worse, baiting the American citizens with F.E.A.R – fake expectations appearing real. During the debate, vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris said something quite profound as she responded to a question. She said, “They are coming for you!”

Rather than become discouraged, I say to you, as I channel Big Mama, “Do not let them come for you!” I challenge you to change this moment to a movement. Please continue to collaborate to get our votes secured that have not been counted on or after Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

So, whoever wins, let’s make them accountable to every

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citizen or we can send them packing using the tools of impeachment, recall, and civil disobedience.

Yes, this voter suppression is arriving during a time when we’re carrying the weight of racism and the deathly sting of racism on our shoulders. 2020 will be a year that we will want to never repeat. We cannot let the supremacist baggage of others stop anyone from seeking a real democracy.

Take time to see how they are coming for you and send them back to their source. Please tell me how you will make our officials accountable, email me at Terryallenpr@gmail.com.

Terry Allen is a multi-media journalist and board member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

November 6, 2020

BRIEFS

Hodges to build unity and For Oak Cliff Acknowledges relationships young artist As part of the City of Grand Prairie’s recently-passed “Resolution for Diversity, Inclusion, Justice,” the City has hired a Community Inclusion Director (former GPPD officer Gerald Hodges) to roll out a series of new inclusion initiatives for Grand Prairie residents and City employees.

Mr. Hodges is part of the City Manager’s Office and will work in the community building unity and relationships; and in the city organization cultivating our environment that encourages and supports diversity and inclusion. He previously served In law enforcement for 13 years, eight with Grand Prairie Police as a School Resource Officer and detective, and five with another agency.

Prior to law enforcement, Gerald spent nine years in the education and the social services profession. During that

Gerald Hodges

time, Gerald worked with drug prevention support groups from South Dallas to Highland Park, and was an assistant principal for charter schools in South Oak Cliff and Fort Worth.

Gerald is currently on the Grand Prairie YMCA Board, the board for “Cops and Kids Fishing,” and the TD Foundation.

Gerald has a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Texas A&M University.

For Oak Cliff, (FOC) a nonprofit organization founded in 2015 by school teacher Taylor Toynes, is on a mission to grow and inspire the Oak Cliff community by hosting events and programs to unite citizens.

The Trust For Public Land Art contest was just one of many projects that For Oak Cliff engaged area youth by encouraging students to submit artwork.

Zaiden Nash, a sixth grader at Katherine Johnson Tech Magnet Academy was selected as the winner with his picture of the Dallas Skyline, which he said reminds everyone of the beauty

that Dallas holds even though people aren’t able to see it all the time due to COVID-19. He said he fell in love with art because of his dad who is also an artist.

Krystal Hills, creative genius at FOC, said she was amazed when she first saw Nash’s artwork.

“It’s beautiful to have a young leader to display his talent and gift for the community,” she said.

Hills inspires children to be creative at FOC and hopes that Nash’s work will motivate others.

“He has such a beautiful spirit, he said that, ‘he wants to inspire other artists to continue to practice their craft,’” Hills said.

According to Nash, he sees himself playing in the NBA one day or becoming an architectural engineer.

For More Information: http://foroakcliff. org/links/

Hodges to build unity and relationships A new elementary school is on the horizon for Dallas ISD and educators are strategizing to open the school in the 2021-2022 academic year. The school will be under the Montessori model since E.E. Walker Middle School is expanding to house more of their students.

“If you look at the data, you’ll see that Dealey, one magnet school that is down-the-street from Walker, has a significant number November 6, 2020

of applications,” said Brian Lusk, DISD chief of strategic initiatives.

“This opportunity of a school that is application-required, but doesn’t have entrance criteria, will allow for the families who are seeking this opportunity to have it in their community.”

North Dallas communities have high interest to see more Montessori opportunities in addition to the five schools presently existing: George

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Bannerman Dealey, Downtown The Montessori school method Montessori, Eduardo Mata, has been used for more than Onesimo Hernandez, and Harry 100 years and focuses on human Stone. development.

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Virtual and liVe Community Calendar

National Gratitude Month Lung Cancer Awareness Month November 5

The Truth about the VA Home Loan Benefit Seminar. Free online VA Loan Seminar. Register: www.alignedseminars.com 10 am CST.

Future Stars Event Series with Keynote Speaker James Roday Rodriguez. Hosted by Junior Players. Online Event 7 pm-8:30 pm. At http://juniorplayers.org/futurestars. Tickets: juniorplayers.org/futurestars

Arlington Job Fair. Host Job Fair Pro. At Holiday Inn Arlington NE-Rangers Ballpark, 1311 Wet N Wild Way Arlington. 11 am. The FREE COVID-19 Testing Site at Info: Eventbrite.com.

Paul Quinn College 3837 Simpson Stuart Rd.10 am-4 pm. Food box giveMy Red Hand My Black Hand, Presented by Cara Mia & away from 10AM - 12PM or while supSoul Rep Theatre. Streamed auto play. See the preview per- plies last. https://bit.ly/31anTfq. formance at 7:30 pm.- Indigenous People’s Day - For tickets: www.caramiatheatre.org or www.soulrep.org for tickets.

November 8 Parkland Hospital, Walk-Up COVID-19 Testing Location: West Dallas Multipurpose Center, 2828 Fish Trap Road, Dallas. Tue-Sat 7:30 am-4 pm. Info: https://bit.ly/3eaRjPj Anti-Racism: A Public Professional Learning Community Webinar Series. Racialized Trauma, Mentoring and Counseling.

6-8 pm CST. Please RSVP/register: Eventbrite.com Coffee with the Coach, host Balch Springs Chamber of Commerce. 12 pm. Reg: info@baslchspringschamber.com.

November 6 Happy Birthday to Dareia Jacobs Student Art Contest Submission Dead line. Theme: My Life Matters. Cash Prizes. For info: www.urbanartsonline.com.

Virtual Job Expo / Career Fair. Host JobsOffice.org. 11 am-2 pm. Info on reg: https://jobsoffice.org/jobexpo Leading Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity at Work and in Society. Speakers: Martin N. Davidson and Laura Morgan Roberts. 12-1 pm. Reg: Eventbrite.com.

Keep Your Distance - A Socially Distanced Comedy Show Vol. 8. Host KevOnStage. This Will Be a Live Show. Live Stream on YouTube. Tickets: Eventbrite.com. 6-9 pm.

Valder Beebe Show KKVIDFW.COM FM 89.9 at 12 pm. ‘Good Bones’ on HGTV, stars; TWO CHICKS AND A HAMMER. Tad Starsiak LOTRIMIN Sponsor supported GET OUT TO VOTE .

November 7 Annual Women’s Expo by Petya Edwards 1-4 pm at Embassy Suites by Hilton, 13131 N. Central Epxy, Dallas. Tickets & Info: Petya Edwards 214-971-5005 office@pedwards.org.

Tim Bae’s Comedy Tour Feat: Tim Bae at Hyenas Comedy Club 5321 E Mockingbird ln. Dallas. 7 pm. Tickets Eventbrite.com.

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Happy Birthday to Virlinda Stanton

Dallas Black Dance Theatre & Dallas Symphony Orchestra Unite in Concert Honors Lives lost to Racial Violence & Injustice at Mort Myerson Symphony Center 2301 Flora St. Dallas Info: www.DBDT.com or www.mydso.com.

Soul Talk Hosted by Denton Black Film Festival, (Art) o Photographer Online event, Free. Info: Eventbrite.com.

Sunday Happy Hour, NABJ Media Related Task Force, with host Terry Allen, Guests: Michelle Pettis, PR & Fundraising Powerhouse and Je’ Wesley Day, NABJ Member expert journalist, & mixologist. 5:30 pm CST. Reg: https://bit.ly/2FOlwGG bring your best drink and enjoy the best in online networking!

The Best of Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III 60th Birthday. 6 pm. Watch Live Stream on Fb Live, YouTube, Live Stream and Friendship-West Baptist Church.

How to Be an Anti-racist-Featuring Ibram X Kendi. 8-10 pm.

Online event. Reg: Eventbrite.com. bit.ly/nov11-kendi.

Film Screening: Black Men in Social Work. There is a lack of research on Black Men in Social Work, a live event with discussion, 11:30 am-12:30 pm. Reg: Eventbrite.com.

Black America Clothing Brand Fashion Show at Unique Visons Upscale Events 324 S. Hampton Rd. DeSoto. 7-10 pm.

Tickets@Eventbrite.com.

Iconic Sundays Pink Party in Support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month at Status, 2019 N. Lamar St. Dallas. 10 pm- 2 am. Tickets: Eventbrite.com Celebrating the Visionary Woman.

Host DeMario Davis Pan African Connection at 4466 S. Marsalis Ave. Tickets: https://bit.ly/3dUuEqh

November 12-15 The 16th Annual National Black Pre-Law Conference and Law Fair 2020 Virtual. Sponsored by the Law School Admission Council. 3-9:30 pm. Reg: Eventbrite.com. https://nationalprelawdiversity.org/

November 12 Undesign the Redline Virtual Tour. Hosted by City of Dallas City Hall. Virtual event Tickets: bit.ly/3coKRD4. 11 am-1:30 pm.

November 9 Marvelous Marriage Mondays at Friendship-West Baptist Church-register for Virtual event, online at friendshipwest.zoom.us/.../upcpcOmhqz4rqNU 7-8 pm.

We Still Here. In the midst of loss and death and suffering, our charge is to figure out what freedom really means and how we take steps to get there. 4-5:30 pm CST. Reg: Eventbrite.com.

November 10

American Association of University Women with support from the Coca Cola Foundation, invites HBCU Alumni, faculty, and students. Know Your Value and Get Paid. 5–6:00 pm EST. Zoom Reg: https://bit.ly/3kuKsCp. National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum Presents Western Heritage Virtual Telethon Wrangler Presents at The Warehouse, 1125 E. Berry St. Ft Worth.

7-10 pm. Tickets: https://westernheritagemuseumtelethon.eventbrite.com

Andrew’s World with host Andrew Whigham III on BlogTalkRadio.com 8 am.-10 am. CST. Sundays Tune in for thought-provoking, enlightening, informative, and entertaining news and commentary. Join the call at 646-200-0459 In The Middle with Ashley Moss.

“Talking about topics that Matter” Join in in Facebook/@TexasMetroNews and BlogTalkRadio. com at 11 am-1 pm. CST. Mondays.

Join the conversation call 646-2000459.

Doc Shep Speaks Show! A fresh perspective, but still entertaining!

Welcome to The Doc Shep Speaks Show!!!. Tuesdays at 11 am. CST Live on Facebook/@TexasMetroNews & Blog Talk Radio.com Join the conversation 646-200-0459.

I Was Just Thinking with Norma Adams-Wade “History Class is in Session” Join in on Facebook/@TexasMetroNews and BlogTalkRadio.com at 11 am -1 pm. CST. Wednesdays. Join the conversation call 646-200-0459.

The Bare Truth with Allana J. Baredierld. “Always Audacious, Accurte and Authentic” On Facebiik/@TexasMetroNews and BlogTalkRadio. at 11 am-1 pm. CST. Thursdays. Join the call at 646200-0459 From Marva with Love with Marva Sneed from11 am -1 pm. CST, Fridays on Facebook Live/@TexasMetroNews, and BlogTalkRadio.com.

Call in and join the conversation at 646-200-0459.

COVID in Black, Episode 4: Faith & COVID-19 - A Pathway Forward. Hosted by Covid-19 Prevention Network. Reg: https://bit.ly/34JA9EZ. 6 pm. CST.

Attention future #Quinnites, we are providing Virtual Information Sessions for all prospective students and families. Every 7 pm. Sign up https://pqc-edu.squarespace.com/ Mental Health for Faith and Nonprofit Leaders. Virtual Email community@bigtex.com to Sign Up 9:30 -11:45 am.

November 11

Ask Dr. Amerson Show at 11am CST Dr. Linda discusses healthy hair and scalp talk, and alopecia talk, on FB Live and DfwiRadio.com.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Anti-Racism: A Public Professional Learning Community Webinar Series.

Ethnic Studies and Anti-Racist Pedagogies 6-8 pm CST. Please RSVP/register: Eventbrite.com.

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November 6, 2020

Bozeman’s Backyard

An election night gathering for teens to talk politics Photos and story

By EVA D. COLEMAN Teens gathered on a Tuesday night; a school night at that.

Due to COVID-19 precautions, the crowd was small, however the stakes were extremely high.

It was election night in America, and in Tiffany Bozeman’s backyard, these African American teens were going to be well-informed.

“I felt like it was just so critical in these times that our kids understand the electoral process,” the IT exec for PepsiCo said.

“Having them come together and giving them the facts so they could be equipped, so they can understand, so when they go out into the street they can speak intelligently, they can have the back to support their beliefs; they can then educate at the same time.”

In Frisco, Texas, which spans both Denton and Collin counties - two solid Republican strongholds in the entire state; Bozeman stood underneath the outdoor television screen that displayed election results as they trickled in. Active in numerous organizations including the Fri-

Teens Kori Ballard and Bryce Wilcox at Teen Election Night Party

sco Education Foundation, Jack and Jill of America, Inc., and National Black MBAs, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock alum said this watch party she created specifically for teens had a purpose: to help them know and understand their voting power.

According to several youth, the party was an overwhelming success.

“I think it’s important because the next election we’ll be voting and watching this election will help us make our decision in the future and it’ll also just help us make a better future for everyone in this country,” 15-year-old Maci Curtis said.

Bryce Wilcox, also 15, boldly

Teens take selfie

November 6, 2020

I MESSENGER

shared his opposition to the area’s political majority, emphatically saying, “I wouldn’t want something that is forced on me that I really don’t want to follow if I don’t believe in it.”

Some parents in attendance shared tips on how the teens can use their power. Mackenzie Townsel, age 16, said she understood the collective power of disagreement.

“I believe that everyone has a right to their own opinion and nobody should be biased towards anything or discriminate because of what you believe in, and to a certain extent,” Townsel said. “I believe that we need to be unified in certain stuff because we’re all humans and we’re the greatest resource to each other.

So at the end of the day we need to work together because we’re in it together.”

Jordon Hamilton, 15, seemed excited at the idea of equipping himself with truth.

“We can prove factual evidence and we can’t just sound like we’re talking just to say things,” Hamilton said. “We have to actually know what we’re talking about.”

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Tiffany Bozeman speaks with teens about politics

For 15-year-old Kori Ballard, the night was reaffirming.

“Really just getting out and voting and showing representation within your small community because that is where it starts,” Ballard said. “It kind of motivates you to go out and vote and be more involved within your school board and activities to get change in your small community.”

Sixteen-year-old Amari Merritt plans to take what he learned beyond the backyard.

“I can tell my friends and people that I know to apply for positions of power and make their voice heard,” Merritt said.

Bozeman said that her goal was to provide a safe and comfortable place for teenagers to become better educated about the election process.

“The kids are going to walk away and they’re going to be ready,” Bozeman said. “Whatever happens or whoever wins, they’re going to understand the process, and be able to then go forward, because in four more years they will be the group that will be doing the voting.” myimessenger.com

myimessenger.com

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November 6, 2020

A real nice relationship Dear Alma, I am 35 and my sweet lady is 57. I love her and she loves me.

Although we don’t go out much, we show our affection to each other in many ways. She and I both are homebodies. We live in different states, so our time together is special. She has a beautiful, spacious home.

We have dinner, dance and watch movies. I’m a great cook, and I fix things around the house. We’re both avid readers and it’s a real nice relationship. Here’s the problem. We were at the bank and she was taking care of some business. At first I was in the car but noticed she forgot something, so I took it to her. As I was walking away, I overheard her tell the teller that I was like a son to her. When I asked her about it, she said she lives in a small town and she really didn’t want the woman in her business. She said she really didn’t mean anything by it and asked me to drop it. I can’t get it off my mind. How do I confront her about this again?

Like a son Dear Like a son, Dang! That was wrong‌and kinda creepy.

Maybe she didn’t mean it. Ok – aaah, maybe she did.

That’s worse than calling your second husband by your first husband’s name. Ok, that was me, LOL. She owes you an apology and a decent conversation at the very least. I’m sure hearing her describe you that way was shocking and downright disrespectful. I know you’ve been bruised, and I can understand.

You’re right; she needs to clarify.

November 6, 2020

Now, lets cross this bridge for a minute and see what’s on the other side. Depending on where you live, older men with younger women are still more acceptable than older women with younger men. Older women are perceived to be improper or even desperate when taking on a younger suitor. Some view a few years as ok, but over ten is pushing it. (I don’t think Tina Turner would agree with this part of our conversation, since she just married her boo, 16 years her junior.)

It sounds to me like you guys have a great companionship going on. Anything beyond that is questionable. Your personalities are similar, and if you believe that men and women hit their physical peaks at different times, age wise you two are perfectly suited for one another.

Like any relationship, it works as long as the two of you work at it. In my opinion, people are allowed to have various types of relationships.

Or entanglements, if you ask Jada sorry, so not sorry

đ&#x;˜›

đ&#x;˜‚đ&#x;˜‚

Some are meant to last forever and some are meant to last for right now. Which one are you involved in? If you’re enjoying this journey, by all means, stick with it.

Tell her how you feel. Tell her how uncomfortable you were to hear her describe you that way, and after your conversation, if she’s still embarrassed, that’s your cue to keep it moving. Unfortunately, unlike Stella, she’s just not ready, publicly, to get her groove back.

Alma

Garland NAACP Unit’s

Annual Veterans Forum Honoring our Veterans, past, present and future!

Join us by ZOOM November 7, 2020 ~ 11:00 A.M. to 12:20 P.M.

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/82285845672?

Zoom Meeting ID: 822 8584 5672

Zoom Passcode: 788132

Information Session Presenters and Speakers NNNNN

NNNNN

NNNNN

NNNNN

NNNNN

MR. RICKY MCNEAL

COLLIN ALLRED

DR. THERESA DANIEL

MR. SCOTT LEMAY

MS. MARSHA RODDY

Garland NAACP Unit President

Congressman

Dallas County Commissioner District 1

City of Garland Mayor

NNNNN

NNNNN

NNNNN

DR. LATONIA W. ARRIS

SGTMAJ UCMC (RET.) JB EDWARDS

MS. CATHERINE SMITH

Dep. Assoc. Director, Remote Sites, DAD/PC/RS

North Texas Health Care System

Texas Women Commission

Decision Review Officer VBA Waco Regional Office

NNNNN

LTC.(RETIRED) STONNEL GREENE

Retired Veterans Center Manager (Retired)

“Several other specialist not pictured will also be on the forum�

Information to be discussed:

Garland Veterans Hospital Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Veterans Benefits (medical, disability, and others) Veteran Support Group Locations Agent Orange Register VA regulations updates Question and answer session

I MESSENGER

For more information, please visit the Garland NAACP Unit Website.

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myimessenger.com

Dallas religious icon and humanitarian, Dies at age 88

Dr. Shirley M. Murray

Dr. Shirley M. Murray was Co-Founder of Full Gospel Holy Temple Churches, Inc Full Gospel Holy Temple (F.G.H.T.) mourns the passing of Dr. Shirley Mae Hollis-Murray, the Co-founder of one of Dallas’ original mega churches. Dr. Murray is a renown Dallas religious and humanitarian icon who served her church and community for almost 60 years, feeding the homeless and underprivileged persons, educating youth, creating ac-cess to education and empowering women.

Her sensitivity to homeless and underprivileged persons, due to her own humble beginnings, fueled the establishment of the Helping Hand Out-reach Ministry in 1981. For almost 40 years, this humanitarian outreach has continued to give food and clothes to thousands of needy families each year. In 2005, she orchestrated the transportation of residents dis-placed by Hurricane Katrina to the church to receive warm meals and clothing during their stay in Dallas shelters. Education was also a critical focus for Dr. Murray and in 1979, she founded and served as president of the now-defunct Shirley Murray Child Development Center. Under her care, the institution’s curriculum was designed to develop the whole child: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Of paramount concern to her was maintaining the “care” in daycare. This state-licensed and accredited facility ranked among Dallas’ top preschools. myimessenger.com

Along with her husband the late Apostle Lobias Murray, she co-founded Texas’ first privately owned and funded fully accredited African-American K-12 grade school, the Lobias Murray Christian Academy, which served students from the Dallas and Fort Worth areas for 30 years. After the demise of her husband in 2011, Dr. Murray returned to her love for edu-cation to continue his legacy by creating access to higher education. She established the Apostle Lobias Murray Memorial Scholarship Fund. In addition to her philanthropic efforts, Dr. Murray quickly became a no-table religious icon through her international evangelistic preaching min-istry that impacted many ministries, religious leaders, and countless souls across the globe. She is known as a mentor to First Ladies and women ministers nationwide.

For more than 30 years, she hosted an annual Women’s Conference that drew thousands of women from across the nation to the DFW metroplex.

In the late 1980s, she founded an annual Youth Convention that contin-ues to attract thousands of young people around the country to glean from each other and strengthen their relationship with God. Many young people and youth ministers have been trained and equipped with spiritu-al and natural resources including financial literacy.

Dr. Murray authored several books de-

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signed to share knowledge and divinely ordered guidance and everyday practical advice to women, Christians and those simply seeking a better life. Some notable titles in-clude Strength in the Time of Need, the Power of Silence and Woman to Woman.

Born on January 19, 1932, in Henderson, Texas, to the late Simon and Paulene Hollis, Dr. Murray was educated in the Henderson School Dis-trict.

March 25, 1950, Dr. Murray married Apostle Lobias Murray, founder of the Full Gospel Holy Temple Churches, Inc. In 1953, Dr. Murray moved with her husband and children to Dallas, Texas for a better life.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Apostle Lobias Murray and her only son, Herman L. Murray, Sr. She is survived by her daughters Sharon Murray-Smith, Gwendol Murray, Brenda Rice; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Dr. Murray will lie in honor Thursday, November 5 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday, November 6 from 11 a.m. to the close of the evening celebratory service which starts at 7 p.m. The final Official Homegoing service will be held Saturday, November 7 at 11 a.m. All services will be held at the Full Gospel Holy Temple Church located at 39727 W. LBJ Freeway, Dallas, Texas 75237. For more information, call the church at 972-572-3448.

November 6, 2020

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FEBRUARY 8, 2019

I Messenger

Do you know this man?

POLICE have not apprehended “Pookie” the serial rapist.

We know he has attacked members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and there is a $5,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers.

HE IS A SERIAL RAPIST

He targeted members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. but this is more than about a sorority. We’re talking about a community.

Come on PEOPLE! Don’t you CARE? Will it matter when it is your sister, mother, aunt or grandmother or maybe YOU?

877-373-8477 November 6, 2020

I MESSENGER

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myimessenger.com