Houston Defender: January 21, 2021

Mr. President Madame Vice-President In a historic, vastly dierent inauguration, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris take the oath of oďŹƒce.

Volume 90, issue 12 January 21, 2021

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2 | January 21, 2021 |

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DN To the Point

FIT & FINE Briana Gore Age: 25 Occupation: Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)/ Touched By Trilla (Faux loc Business) / Seiani (fitness brand) Education: Vanden High School Motto: ”When you look good, you feel good.”

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Borris Miles

Royce West

Dan Patrick

Message from the Publisher

HALLEUJAH… tired.’ We must Keep the Faith and Keep The president of the United States is the Fight.”

Joe Biden and his Vice President is KaState Senator Royce West concurred mala Harris, a Black woman. It is like a adding, “The opening days of a Legisbreath of fresh air as we embrace a new lative Session that already faced the unchapter in our history. I join others in precedented challenges caused by an inpraying for our nation, knowing that discriminate COVID pandemic, now has there is much to be done and “We Can to safely manage the fallout of a chaotic Do It.” White House and administration.

Even with the focus on the national “More than ever, policy and bipartisan scene, the reality is all politics is LOsolutions will need to rise above politics CAL. Knowing that fact, the Defendand issues that pit one group against anSonceria Messiah Jiles er Network is proud to make a historic other and urban versus rural, versus submove to give Black communities throughout Texas the urban Texans. But yet, African Americans still have isopportunity to hear from our state elected officials. sues related to equity when it comes to educational and On Thursday, Jan. 28 at 6:30 pm the State of BLACK economic opportunities, and the need for fairness and TEXAS will present Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, and State reforms within the criminal justice system. That, as I see Senators Borris Miles (Houston) and Royce West (Dal- it, is the State of Black Texas,” stated West. las) in a virtual, live stream event on the website DefenThe legislators will be questioned by representatives dernetwork.com, talking about the issues that matter from the six Defender community partner organizations to Black Texans. and will cover the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 When asked why people should attend the State of on Black lives in Texas, criminal justice, redistricting BLACK TEXAS program, State Senator Borris Miles and a host of other topics. Some of those posing the said, “The Defender Network’s ‘State of Black Texas’ is questions include: Dallas partners Friendship West important for all to attend because 2020 shined a bright pastor Frederick Haynes and Top Ladies of Distinction light on the many disparities that Blacks have histori- National President Sharon Beard. Houston partners incally been subject to in healthcare, education, housing, clude NAACP Houston Branch President Elect James criminal justice, finance and more. In 2020, not only did Dixon, Houston Area Urban League President Judson African Americans contract and die from COVID at a Robinson III, Greater Houston Black Chamber Interim disproportionately higher rate than any other race, but President Carol Guess and the Pan-Hellenic Council of we also suffered again from racially motivated attacks Houston President Wanda Anderson. such as that against Amhaud Aubrey and continual poAdding a new perspective of collaboration, Houston lice violence with the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Atatia- Public Media has joined the Defender in this project and na Jefferson, Rayshard Brooks and our very own George will also participate in the questioning of the guests.

Floyd, and countless others.”

The Defender applauds our program sponsors for Miles added, “The ‘State of Black Texas’ gives you the their support of this three-part series, which includes opportunity to speak to your Texas leadership, Lt. Gov- title sponsor H-E-B, presenting sponsor Chevron and ernor Dan Patrick, and ask him the hard questions. As V.I.P. sponsors Cadence Bank and Amegy Bank.

Black Texans we must make our voices heard, we must To attend the free, virtual event, go to the website Destand and demand answers. In the words of the heroic fendernetwork.com and click on the red tab. The proFannie Lou Hamer, ‘I am sick and tired of being sick and gram begins at 6:30 pm., Thursday, Jan. 28. Join us.

January 21, 2021 |

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DEFENDER NETWORK

DN News Drucie Chase, distinguished Community Volunteer died recently. The former school teacher was married to the late John S. Chase, a noted architect in the City of Houston.

Niles Dillard is named the chairman of the The Greater Houston Black Chamber. Dillard, founder of Superior Video Productions, will join other board members for installation at the GHBC Annual Meeting, which will take place virtually Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 6:30 p.m.

Texas lawmakers confident Confederate statues will soon come down Texas Tribune

Greg Travis

City Council to review social media ethics Defender News Service

In light of recent backlash against Facebook comments posted by Houston City Council Member Greg Travis, Council Member Letitia Plummer has called on members of the city’s legal team and a separate ethics commission to review two city ordinances related to council member conduct. Plummer said reviewing the policies will refresh council members on appropriate conduct and serve as an opportunity to identify weaknesses in the ordinances.

Plummer, an at-large council member and chair of the council’s Ethics, Elections and Council Governance Committee, called for the meeting after members of the public, the NAACP of Houston and Black Lives Matter Houston called on Travis to resign or for council to censure him. The ethics committee meets on an as-needed basis rather than following a regular schedule.

The reprimand stemmed from a Dec. 29 Facebook post shared by Travis that compared former First Lady Michelle Obama to First Lady Melania Trump.

In comments that have since been taken down, Travis questioned Obama’s intelligence and attributed her acceptance to Harvard University to affirmative action.

Greg Travis shared a post on Facebook with an unflattering picture of former First Lady Michelle Obama next to First Lady Melania Trump, commenting “Yep, just saying.”

Travis also attributed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s success to her husband’s presidency rather than to her own qualifications and alleged that Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris received her position by engaging in improper romantic relationships.

“It created an uproar in the Black community, and they felt it was time to voice opinions and Regardless of demand accountability of an elected what comes official,” said Plumout of this mer, who is Black. meeting, we “Obviously, the have to hold emotions are high, ourselves so what I wanted to at a higher do was to see, ‘How does this look from standard.” a policy perspective?

-Councilwoman What are we able to Letitia Plummer say with respect to free speech?’”

The meeting will serve as an opportunity to educate members of the public and of council on the city’s policies around council members’ speech, Plummer said.

A public comment portion at the end of the meeting will serve as an additional opportunity for residents to voice their opinions on the matter, she said.

“We’ve seen at the nation’s capitol what words can do to incite fear and destruction and what that responsibility means,” Plummer said, referring to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

If council members determine that Travis’s comments do violate city policy, Plummer said they will have the option to ask the ethics commission, which operates outside of City Council, to recommend disciplinary action.

Demonstrators across the nation spent months over the summer protesting police brutality and racial injustice, leading many states to initiate mass removals of Confederate memorials and abolishment of a day to honor Confederate heroes in Texas.

“The killing of George Floyd, a Texan, and the killing of Atatiana Jefferson, another Texan, at the hands of law enforcement, certainly do underscore the importance of removing a day of remembrance that brings to the mind slavery and oppression,” said state Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, chairperson of the Legislative Black Caucus.

Texas isn’t alone in its recognition of the controversial holiday.

Eight other states have similar Confederate memorial days throughout the year: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia. Mississippi and Alabama also have a joint Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee Day. The birthdays of Lee and Davis used to be separate Texas holidays, but lawmakers consolidated them in 1973 to create Confederate Heroes Day.

Confederate monuments

State Rep. Jarvis Johnson, D-Houston, filed one of two bills for this session attempting to remove the holiday from the state’s calendar. State Rep. Shawn Thierry, D-Houston, filed the other in support.

“This is an opportunity for us to bring and shine light on social injustice, how Black people across this country have been demonized and have been treated unfairly by the judicial system, the criminal justice system,” Johnson said. “I think this is another way that we have to wipe away and erase harmful, hurtful imagery that continues to remind us of our horrible past.”

Johnson filed the same bill to abolish the holiday during the 2019 legislative session, but it never got a vote in the State Affairs Committee, which House Speaker Dade Phelan chaired at the time.

Johnson said he is working with more lawmakers this session and has higher confidence that the bill could pass this year. He plans to hold a press conference with Collier and other representatives at noon on the state holiday.

“I think it’s the right thing to do at the right time to do it,” Johnson said.

Read more at www.DefenderNetwork.com.

4 | January 21, 2021 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN News

Mr. President, Madame Vice-President

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris take the oath of office

Today I felt the full power of being represented as a Black woman with similar interests.

Today was the first day I saw someone like me as the Vice President of the United States.”

Associated Press

Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Jan. 20, while declaring that “democracy has prevailed” and summoning American resilience and unity to confront the deeply divided nation’s historic confluence of crises.

Biden took the oath at a U.S. Capitol that had been battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks earlier.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who took her oath right before Biden, broke the barrier that has kept men at the top ranks of American power for more than two centuries when she took the oath to hold the nation’s second-highest office.

Harris was sworn in as the first female vice president — and the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to hold the position — in front of the U.S. Capitol

by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The moment was steeped in history and significance in more ways than one. She was escorted to the podium by Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, the officer who single-handedly took on a mob of Trump supporters as they tried to breach the Senate floor during the Capitol insurrection that sought to overturn the election results.

Harris was wearing clothes from two young,

Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Jill Biden holds the Bible during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, as their children Ashley and Hunter watch. -AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool

emerging Black designers — a deep purple dress and coat.

Her rise is historic in any context, another moment when a stubborn boundary falls away, expanding the idea of what’s possible in American politics. But it’s particularly meaningful because Harris is taking office at a moment of deep consequence, with Americans grappling over the role of institutional racism and confronting a pandemic that has disproportionately devastated Black and Brown communities.

Those close to Harris say she’ll bring an important — and often missing — perspective in the debates on how to overcome the many hurdles facing the new administration.

“In many folks’ lifetimes, we experienced a segregated United States,” said Lateefah Simon, a civil rights advocate and longtime Harris friend and mentee. “You will now have a Black woman who will walk into the White House not as a guest but as a second in command of the free world.”

Harris used two Bibles to take the oath,

- Jessica Hill, President, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Missouri City-Sugar Land Chapter

one that belonged to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the late civil rights icon whom Harris often cites as inspiration, and Regina Shelton, who helped raise Harris during her childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area. The drumline from Harris’ alma mater, Howard University, joined the presidential escort.

To mark the occasion, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the nation’s oldest sorority for Black women, which Harris joined at Howard University, declared Wednesday as Soror Kamala D. Harris Day. Members of the sorority watching the celebrations across the country were clad in pearls, as was Harris, and the sorority’s pink and green colors.

TSU debate team featured in virtual Inauguration Day event Texas Southern University was among several HBCUs featured in the virtual inauguration.

Led by TSU’s debate team director, Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts, four students performed what is known as Readers Theatre.

The students included president of the TSU debate team Nahab Fahnbulleh, Maya Williams, Gloria Ekezie and Trevor Mouton.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spoke at the event, “We Are One,” which also honored the historic nature of her being the first Black and South Asian woman to become U.S. vice president.

The event paid homage to the legacy of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, as well as Black sororities and fraternities. Harris is the first HBCU graduate

and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority member to be vice president.

The sorority’s international president and CEO, Dr. Glenda Glover, and Howard University President Dr. Wayne Frederick also spoke.

The celebration also included a Battle of the Bands and features several other HBCUs, including: Delaware State University, Howard University, Florida A&M University Marching 100, Grambling State University World Famed Marching Band, Jackson State University Sonic Boom of the South, Louisiana Leadership Institute All-Star Marching Band, South Carolina State University Marching 101, Southern University Human Jukebox Marching Band, and the Tennessee State University Aristocrat of Bands.

Maya Williams

Nahab Fahnbulleh

Trevor Mouton

Gloria Ekezie

January 21, 2021 |

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DEFENDER NETWORK

State of

BLACK TEXAS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28 @ 6:30 PM

Dan Patrick

Texas Lt. Governor

Royce West

Texas Senator (Dallas)

The 87th Texas Legislature will address issues seriously impacting the Black community: health and economic issues of COVID-19, criminal justice, redistricting, education and more.

PARTNERS

JOIN US!

NAACP of Houston Houston Area Urban League Greater Houston Black Chamber Top Ladies of Distinction Houston Baptists Ministerial Alliance Houston Pan-Hellenic Council

Borris Miles

Texas Senator (Houston)

Title Sponsor

Presenting Sponsors

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Media Sponsor

ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 28 LIVE STREAMING ON

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6 | January 21, 2021 |

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DN ON SOCIAL THE WEB OnSocial Hot on Facebook….

Mayor, Bow Wow squash their beef Defender News Service

Rapper Bow Wow is defending his recent appearance at a crowded Houston night club, saying he only briefly performed and then put his mask back on, and he tweeted it was not his show.

Over the weekend Bow Wow and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner exchanged tweets after a video showed the rapper and a big, mask-less crowd during the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

Bow Wow complained it’s not fair to single him out for the gathering, adding that the mayor “hates my guts.”

The day after the event, Bow Wow was back on Twitter to defend himself again: “Heres the TRUTH: My only statement. 1. It was not a bow wow concert. I simply did one verse to like you. And went back to my section and simply put my mask BACK on. 2. I did not i repeat did not GET PAID for anything. It was my boys 30th bday weekend and i came down off the love....I apologize if i did anything wrong. I love the city of houston. I consider it like a 2nd home. A place i go to on my free time.....Sorry to the mayor for any confusion. I understand the time we are living in so I apologize.”

Mayor Turner said his criticism of the gathering was not personal, but he said everyone needs to do their part to keep our hospitals from being overwhelmed.

“Let me be very clear. I don’t dislike Bow Wow. While the city is in the midst of this pandemic

- April Logan

If those people want to risk getting COVID and go see him, let them.”

- Derrick L. Deal

The people at this party aren’t gonna be happy until everybody in Houston is dead.”

Misinformation is down

73%

since Donald Trump was banned from Twitter

The hottest story on social media is the departure of Donald Trump. Social media users sent messages to Trump on his final full day in office. #ByeDon

HOT ON TWITTER

Feds arrest dozens in Capitol riots Dozens have been charged since a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“I’m still trying to understand how these people filmed themselves, took selfies, kept their GPS on....and thought they wouldn’t get caught.”

Bow Wow performed in Houston on Jan. 17.

nearly 2,000 infected and 17 dying yesterday, this is not the time for concerts. Help us get past this virus and then do your thing,” Turner tweeted.

“I love the artist, I appreciate the artist but I am asking you to appreciate the fact they are getting these viruses and people are dying.”

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING....

Who’s out here willing to die for BOW WOW?????”

End of an ERROR

-Anthony Sawyer

“Those riots were white privilege at it’s finest.”

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Bow Wow said bad press is better than no press. Who pays to see his ass?”

-Leslie Ball

Wonderful News! Now he stepped up to the plate like a man in his position should!”

- Michael White

-Aneesah Saleem

- Shawnda Martin

Hot on IG

Kyrie Irving bought a house for George Floyd’s family

Meanwhile the hospitals are filling up again like back in the summer overwhelming the doctors and nurses and Black people keep dying disproportionately. No. He doesn’t get to grill the mayor. No sir..”

- Cicely Reid

NBA player Kyrie Irving may be MIA from the Brooklyn Nets, but he’s remained involved in his social justice work. According to former NBA star Stephen Jackson, who was friends with fellow Texas native George Floyd, Irving purchased a home for Floyd’s daughter, Gianna, and her mother.

What a notable way to use one’s celebrity.”

- Vonterance Bell

8 | January 21, 2021 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Health

Houston Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Castex Tatum receives her Coronavirus vaccine.

How to get a COVID-19 vaccination in Houston Defender News Service

Mayor Sylvester Turner is among several big-city mayors calling for more vaccines.

RACIAL DISPARITIES LEADING CAUSE OF COVID-19 DEATHS Mayor joins colleagues in appeal for direct vaccine shipments Defender News Service

Mayor Sylvester Turner joined a group of 36 big-city mayors across the U.S. calling on President-elect Joe Biden to provide direct shipments of COVID-19 vaccines, along with additional funding in order to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

In the letter, the mayors say giving vaccines directly to cities and providing funding would mean vaccines could be administered more quickly and efficiently.

“Cities need direct access to vaccines, funding to support scaling the distribution infrastructure, and funding to support engagement, and funding to support engagement and outreach to disadvantaged communities that are ‘vaccine hesitant’,” the mayors wrote.

Turner cited distribution and accessibility concerns with the vaccine rollout, saying the city was trying to turn around appointments as quickly as possible.

“The goal is to get these vaccines out as soon as we get them,” Turner said at an afternoon press conference. “The more we get, the more we can get out.”

In particular, the mayors’ letter expressed concern about distribution in

Black and brown communiat Minute Maid Park, which ties, arguing that cities able to did end up providing close MAYORS more easily reach communities to 4,000 doses of the vacMAKING disproportionately impacted by cine.

APPEAL COVID-19.

The mayor has made pub• Houston Black and Hispanic populalic plans for two such sites in • Austin tions have been hardest hit by the city, but stressed that it • Dallas the coronavirus, according to is dependent on additional • San Antonio public health data. vaccine shipments from the • New York The Biden administration has state. As of Thursday, only • Chicago a goal of vaccinating 100 million the Minute Maid site was • Los Angeles and others Americans in its first 100 days. scheduled for operation But in the letter, the mayors over the weekend. expressed concern about whether or not Ultimately, Turner said he hopes to that lofty goal could be accomplished. open another mega site that would pro“Very few cities are receiving direct vide 6,000-8,000 vaccine doses. allocations, and as a result the necessary The letter ended by calling on the outreach needed to lay the groundwork Biden administration to implement a for your vaccination goals are not being strategy that allows for the public to be met,” the letter reads. vaccinated as quickly as possible, a mesMany mayors have already taken mat- sage Turner echoed in a statement to ters into their own hands by establishing Houston Public Media Thursday. testing facilities as vaccine administra“Getting a direct and predictable suption sites. ply of COVID-19 vaccines would allow In Houston, the city has tried to focus for a faster and more localized adminon setting up “mega sites” to vaccinate istration of vaccinations,” Turner said. as many people as possible, although the “Cities are going to be in the best posistate’s rollout has led to some confusion. tion to push out vaccines – especially Turner last week began a push for a site needed in reaching diverse populations.”

Texas has moved into vaccination Phase 1B, allowing people 65 and older to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, as well as anyone 16 and older with underlying chronic health conditions. And in Harris and surrounding counties, public health departments have begun opening clinics for those who qualify.

In order to sign up, each county has a separate registration portal. But slots fill up almost immediately after opening, and because of that, there’s no guarantee you can find a slot through local health departments.

To that end, the state has set up an online dashboard to find the closest private hospital, clinic or other vaccine location.

And if your primary care doctor is a vaccine distributor, it may be possible to coordinate through them.

WHERE TO GET VACCINATED • Visit https://tinyurl.com/y2pgf5od for locations.

• Call ahead to confirm vaccine availability *As vaccine availability increases in 2021 and more people become eligible, people will be able to get vaccinated at doctor’s offices, pharmacies, hospitals and other “usual” sites.

WHO QUALIFIES Everyone who wants to get vaccinated will eventually be able to do so, but initial doses are allocated for critical populations as identified by the Texas Department of State Health Services: • Phase 1A - front-line healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities.

• Phase 1B - people 65 and older and those with medical conditions that put them at greater risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

January 21, 2021 |

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10 | January 21, 2021 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Sports Newly acquired center Christian Wood scored 20-plus points in his first seven games with the Rockets while averaging 23.1 points 10.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in his first nine games of the season.

Jayen Harris is one of four Panthers to make the 2021 Preseason All-SWAC First Team Defense.

WHAT WOULD LOSING HARDEN AND WATSON MEAN?

By Terrance Harris

Just over four months ago, Deshaun Watson and James Harden were the unquestioned faces of the Houston sports market for the foreseeable future.

The Rockets seemed poised to rebuild around Harden, yet again, after another NBA title run came up short. The Texans had solidified Watson as their franchise quarterback of the future with a four-year, $160 million contract extension.

But a few months later, Haden has gotten his wish and been traded away. Watson may now want out, too, after being frustrated with the direction of the Texans after team CEO Cal McNair went back on his word to give his star quarterback a say in the next general manager and head coaching hires.

Suddenly, the city could see the two most defining faces in this sports market gone overnight.

“This is a good group of people and you hate to see

them leave,” said legendary pioneering sports radio personality Ralph Cooper, who is on the air with KCOH and KTSU. “They have been involved in the community and they have given back.”

Harden had made it known since the offseason that he didn’t want to return after the team parted ways with both general manager Daryl Morey and Mike D’Antoni. The NBA’s most prolific scorer and eight-time All-Star wanted to be on a team that is positioned to win a championship and he didn’t feel that the retooled Rockets, with rookie head coach Stephen Silas and first-time general manager Rafael Stone at the helm, could get it done.

Finally, last week the Rockets shipped Harden to the Brooklyn Nets and in return got a total of five unprotected firstround picks

Deshaun Watson

and a couple of players in a move that should serve the team well in the future.

While this is going on, all indications are that Watson is miffed with McNair and the direction of the team after Nick Caserio was hired from the New England Patriots’ staff as the Texans’ new general manager without Watson having any input. Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, the known favored head coaching candidate of Watson, wasn’t invited to interview for the Texans’ job during the window that NFL assistants in the playoffs were allowed to do so this month.

The city likely didn’t want to lose either Watson or Harden, but the consensus seems to be that it is far more important to hold onto Watson, not just because of his upside as a quarterback, but because of what he means to the community.

“It clearly hurts the

Texans more because in Deshaun they’ve finally got a franchise quarterback,” said Chalk Talk host Kim Davis. “There is buy-in from the team, there is buy-in from the community, there is buy-in from the sponsors and he is just universally respected. And if they somehow blew it over on Kirby and weren’t able to figure this thing out with Deshaun, they are in the total rebuild mode.

“I just think the landscape looks really different if there is no Deshaun. I have no idea which way this team would go.”

On the other hand, it seemed that Harden, a former MVP, had worn out his welcome with his antics, such as showing up late and out of shape for training camp and then blasting his teammates for not being good enough to compete for a championship.

“Understandably so, he wants to win a championship ring. I get it,” said Nate Griffin, who is a reporter with Fox 26. I think it’s now better for all parties that James Harden has been traded.”

James Harden

January 21, 2021 |

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DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Sports WASHINGTON GUARD

KENNETH LEWIS CAN’T BE STOPPED

By Jodie B. Jiles

When experts and coaches say a recruit can’t be held and only contained, you know you are witnessing something special in sports. And Booker T. Washington High School’s 6’5” sophomore guard Kenneth Lewis may be that type of recruit.

I mean, what a week Lewis has had. To start things off, Lewis put up 52 points in a win over Wheatley before scoring 29 in a victory over Scarborough.

Currently, Booker T. Washington is second in their district with a 10-8 overall record (7-2 in district play). Jack Yates High School seems to be one of the few district foes with

ABOUT KENNETH LEWIS Height: 6’5” Weight: 160 lbs.

Players He Studies: Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum and Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State) Favorite Artist: Youngboy, Moneybagg Yo and Lil Baby Shoutouts: My dad, my mom and little sister

Washington’s kryptonite, defeating Booker T. earlier this year. However, Lewis and company may have a chance at redemption when they face Yates again February 2.

When coach Vincent Grayson was asked what his underclassman bring to the team, Grayson stated, “He brings an offensive skill that is hard to teach. He knows how to score the ball and he finishes at the rim really well.”

The Defender spoke with Lewis after his game against Scarborough to discuss his style of play, major influences and how he foresees Washington getting on a roll as they enter the second half of the season.

Lewis sets himself up for another easy hoop. Photo by Jimmie Aggison.

STYLE OF PLAY “I play inside and outside. I can rebound and do everything on the court.”

FINISHING AT THE RIM “I use my length, my arms, my height, my strength and I also know how to rip to get to the basket really well.”

OBSTACLES THIS SEASON “When we get a lead up we can’t let the other team back in the game. We have to keep pushing until the entire game is over.”

MOVING FORWARD “We just need to get more chemistry, move the ball better and get to know each other better.”

12 | January 21, 2021 |

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