06.04.2026_Defender-e-FULL

Out of

Bounds?

NAACP asks Black athletes to boycott NEWS

SPORTS

JOHN WHITMIRE

ZINA GARRISON

The mayor’s budget has sp purred a lot of conversation aboutt spending risks.

Volume 95, issue 33 June 4, 2026

The tennis great is still serving up impact.

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DN To the POINT

The pushback against the NAACP’s efforts to get Black student-athletes to refuse to attend SEC schools in states working to suppress Black votes forgets the long legacy of student-led activism.

Credit: Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Message from the Reporter states encompass nine of the 10 worst states for maternal mortality and lead the nation The NAACP’s call for Black athletes to in infant mortality. boycott SEC schools carries a profound Furthermore, the 10 poorest U.S. states historical weight. In the 1960s, K-12 stuare all Republican-led. This systemic poverty dents and Freedom Riders didn’t just risk directly drives violence, resulting in a homilife-changing money—they risked their cide rate that is 23% higher in Red states than literal lives, inspiring global resistance Blue ones. Meanwhile, progressive initiatives from Birmingham to South Africa. in Blue cities like Baltimore and Chicago have Today’s Black athletes aren’t being successfully achieved record crime reducasked to make the ultimate sacrifice. tions—even after the Trump administration Aswad Walker Elite talent can secure NIL deals at other cut vital community violence intervention universities. While a unified shift to HBCUs would beau- funds. Red states remain America’s least safe realities, regardtifully redirect TV revenue, the immediate goal is to stop less of Republicans running every election campaign since enriching politicians in gerrymandered, former Confeder- the 60s on the issue of safety, and law and order. ate states (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) that actively strip America 250 is so American away Black voting power.

Planned as a grand celebration of the country’s 250th The idea of “changing the system from within” is a myth. anniversary, the “America 250” blowout is quintessentially Though groomed from middle school to “shut up and drib- American—a propaganda initiative birthed to celebrate a ble,” Black athletes hold immense leverage. Martin Luther whitewashed history on stolen land. Mirroring historical King Jr. championed “redistributing the pain” by hitting exploitation, organizers sought to profit off Black talent oppressors in the wallet—a strategy that built the very plat- (singers and musicians) without disclosing the event’s true form today’s players profit from. purpose: exalting Donald Trump’s ego and a political legWe still harvest the spiritual residue of the 1960s sacri- acy marked by voter suppression, eroded civil rights, and fices. To endorse silence in 2026 by using the same justifi- billionaire-fattening policies. cations used by folks in the 60s who stood on the sidelines Once entertainers discovered these ugly foundations, during the civil rights era, yet profited from other people’s they escaped to freedom by refusing to participate. True sacrifices all the same, is hypocritical. And on brand. Ulti- to the American playbook, Trump attempted to rewrite the mately, how much is NIL money worth if you and your historical narrative. He launched social media rampages, family lose voting rights and legal protections? We must labeling the departing musicians “ungrateful lowlifes” while stop financing our own demise. claiming his own star power would suffice to make America 250 great again. It hasn’t.

Red states bloodiest, most dangerous by far Now, Trump wants to “cancel” the event entirely. Yet, Every election cycle, Republicans champion “law and claiming the power to cancel oppressive systems is straight order,” painting Blue cities as hotbeds of crime—rhetoric cultural appropriation (which is quintessentially Amerioften used to justify mass incarceration. However, actual can). Because canceling white nationalism has been the data completely flips this narrative: America’s Red states are history of Blackfolk. We’ve worked to cancel slavery, Jim statistically the most dangerous places to live.

Crow, segregation, redlining, mass incarceration, and now Political analyst @doss.discourse notes, “There is no Trump Crow. Canceling oppressive systems is what we do, place in the United States of America more dangerous than not Trump, and definitely not America. a state that has been historically run by Republican policies and Republican leadership.” In fact, Blue state residents On the web live an average of 9.6 years longer than those in Red states.

• Signs you’re surviving, not thriving, in the Houston heat.

This life expectancy gap is fueled by Republican governors • America-first policy deadly for Houston, globe. denying healthcare access, leading to severe disparities; Red • Five Black travel safety tips.

SEC boycott call bigger than NAACP

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DN News

Houston budget battle Spending plan vs. long-term risk warnings

By Tannistha Sinha

It is budget season, and the City Council is about to vote on Houston’s spending plan in June. The document will affect every resident, especially their daily necessities and the government services they use daily.

In early May, Mayor John Whitmire proposed a $7.5 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year. This year, as with the Whitmire administration’s previous two budget cycles, Houston will not see a property tax increase.

While Whitmire calls it a “transformative financial plan,” City Controller Chris Hollins calls it a “gimmick.”

The right solution, as council member and Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee Chair Sallie Alcorn said, lies somewhere between the two financial models. The committee hears both sides and concludes the City Council votes.

The mayor’s case

Whitmire argues that Houston operates under self-imposed constraints that no other city accepts. For more than a decade, Houston has operated under dual revenue caps that forced a nearly 20% reduction in the tax rate while demand for service kept growing, per the Whitmire administration.

“This budget corrects that,” Whitmire said.

Houston has not charged a solid waste fee so far. It has not collected a standard right-of-way rental fee from its utility system, while other major Texas cities do both, often at higher rates.

Per his administration’s proposal, solid waste services are being moved into the Houston Public Works Combined Utility System, and a $5 utility fee will be charged to households, generating an estimated $116 million in General Fund relief.

Second, a new right-of-way rental fee, or 5% of utility gross revenues, will transfer an additional $104 million annually from the water and sewer system to the General Fund.

Together, these two methods are projected to deliver $220 million in combined relief.

The Controller’s case

Meanwhile, Hollins is not persuaded.

He took his grievances with the budget to Houstonians, conducting a “reality check” tour, saying the budget in its current form is misleading and raids the city’s water infrastructure reserves.

His concern centers on the Combined Utility System (CUS), Houston’s water and sewer fund that holds $1.5 billion. The minimum reserve required under city policy and existing bond covenants is $1.36 billion,

Mayor John Whitmire says the budget rectifies the deficit caused by Houston’s revenue caps. Credit: Tannistha Sinha/Defender A budget in the middle: Council’s view

For years, Houston operated under constraints that put us at a disadvantage--without dedicated funding for solid waste, without standard right-of-way charges, and under dual revenue caps. This budget begins correcting that imbalance.”

MAYOR JOHN WHITMIRE

leaving $140 million available.

Drawing more than $200 million from that fund simultaneously through the trash transition and the right-of-way fee would obliterate that buffer entirely, Hollins argues.

Meanwhile, the city faces a federally mandated consent decree requiring roughly $9 billion in wastewater system upgrades over the next decade, infrastructure obligations that depend on those reserves remaining intact.

Alcorn occupies a position in between, as chair of the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee.

In a conversation with the Defender, she said she is not dismissing Hollins’ concerns, but she is not ready to side with the administration either.

“It’s the administration’s budget,” she said.

“We work with the administration, since they created the budget, to better understand the budget. The controller weighs in, too, but our review is independent. We call in each CHRIS HOLLINS department…and discern the information that’s presented in the budget.”

Alcorn noted that Randy Macchi, Houston Public Works director, expressed conHollins also pointed out that the right-of- fidence in the CUS drawdown and assured way transfer would cost the city millions to the council it would not affect infrastrucobtain the permit to carry it out. ture projects or require a water rate increase, “We are going to pay tens of millions directly countering Hollins’ warnings. of dollars, if not more than $100 On the $5 admin fee, Alcorn million, for the privilege of acknowledged the regressive robbing ourselves,” he told nature of flat fees but defended a town hall audience. the starting point as manageHollins calls the $5 able, noting a fee increase “administrative fee” a would require a council garbage fee, arguing that vote. She framed it as a a cit y-commissioned bridge to a more sustainBurns & McDonald study able outcome that would found that the true cost of generate revenues to cover solid waste service is approxpensions, retiree health benefits, imately $32 per household today Alcorn and union contracts with the police and is projected to reach $46 and fire departments, as well as by 2031. municipal workers.

We are going to pay tens of millions of dollars, if not more than $100 million, for the privilege of robbing ourselves.”

4 | June 4, 2026 |

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DN News

Fifth Ward, Pleasantville continue fight for clean air

By Aswad Walker

Houston has a long history of environmental racism. More specifically, Houston’s Black communities have long endured the short end of that stick.

In fact, the founder of the fight against environmental racism, Dr. Robert Bullard, first battled those forces in the Bayou City in 1979, when Jimmy Carter was in the White House.

Fifth Ward and Pleasantville are no strangers to the ravages of environmental racism, enduring some of the worst air quality in the region, and the higher incidence of diseases and maladies associated with it.

“Environmental racism has significantly impacted both the Fifth Ward and Pleasantville communities with the placement of harmful industrial facilities, rail lines, and switching rail yards, diesel truck traffic, and highway impacts that have even led to flooding in the areas,” said Dr. Denae King, associate director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University. “The air emissions from these harmful sources of pollution have affected health and well-being for families in these historic Black communities for generations.”

Recently, these communities experienced what some are framing as an environmental justice “win.” But even the most optimistic observers recognize that true victory—air quality suitable for human beings and all members of their ecosystem—demands far more.

Industrial facilities, rail lines, diesel truck traffic and more add pollutants that make the air quality in Fifth Ward and Pleasantville some of the worst in the region. Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images.

neighborhoods. Still, the air monAnd in light of policies itors that were long fought for will unleashed by the current White give residents specific information House administration, the vicabout what they’re breathing. tory could be viewed as a minor It’s an essential step to pro- miracle. tect public health, and Since returning to power is celebrated as a last January, the Trump remarkable win administration has for long-time rolled back essential local advocates environmental proat a time when tections that keep African Amerall of us safe from icans stand to the harms of polface the greatest lution and extreme health risks from weather fueled by the rollbacks of bedclimate change. It has rock pollution protec- Dr. Denae King closed the agency’s environmental justice offices tions at the federal level. and clawed back millions of dol“The air monitoring network Recent ‘win’ in Pleasantville became the first lars intended to improve the health Recently, Fifth Ward and nearby community-led air monitoring and well-being of people most Pleasantville won the right to network in the state of Texas, so harmed by pollution. receive state-level data on the qualKing asserts that the recent win ity of their air and what exactly is to have access to regulatory data is a win for the health of Pleasantville is not just symbolic, but rather, in it. residents, ” shared Bridgette Mursubstantial on multiple levels.

Residents already know the air ray, founder and executive director “Community leaders in Fifth quality is bad. They can tell it from for Achieving Community Tasks Ward and Pleasantville neighborthe smell and the levels of illness Successfully, during an interview hoods have been longtime advoand disease they endure at rates with King. cates for healthy communities, higher than those in other Houston safer environments, and reductions in poor air quality,” she said.

“Their advocacy led to the estabHistory of bad air in Houston. lishment of networks of low-cost air monitors designed to measure

particulate matter and volatile organic compounds.”

Next steps

Along with the grassroots organizing victory highlighted by King, she added that the air monitors are community-owned and maintained, and provide residents with important data on potential sources of contamination.

“The installation of

reference-grade air monitors by TCEQ will only enhance the community leaders’ understanding of air quality in the area,” added King. “The community leaders can combine their air monitoring data with the new reference monitors’ publicly available data to educate residents about potential health impacts and advocate for stricter enforcement of nearby industries and other sources of pollution.”

VOLUME 95, NUMBER 33 - JUNE 4, 2026 Publisher | CEO Sonceria Messiah-Jiles Strategic Alllance Clyde Jiles Managing Editor ReShonda Tate Content Manager Terrance Harris Community Reporter Aswad Walker

Culture/Lifestyle Reporter Laura Onyeneho Special Assignments Reporter Tannistha Sinha Sports Terrance Harris Jimmie Aggison Video Editor Bryan Erdy

The Defender newspaper is published by the Houston Defender Newspaper Inc. and audited by Alliance for Audited Media (AAM). Only digital subscriptions are available at: www.defendernetwork.com/subscribe No paper subscriptions available. All materials covered by 2026 copyright. No materials herein may be reproduced without the written permission of the Publisher. 713-663-6996 | P.O. Box 8005, Houston, TX 77288

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DN Sports

Out of Bounds?

Is asking Black athletes to boycott too much for the NAACP to ask?

P

a 6-3 decision in the Louisiana v. Callais case. rairie View football coach Black professional athletes and many talking Tremaine Jackson will be the first heads immediately suggested that Black athletes to tell you he is an NAACP guy. boycott playing for the nation’s most powerful He grew up in the Acres Homes conference in the nation in the states that either area here in Houston, watching are or will practice gerrymandering. his grandmother be a part of the It wasn’t long before the NAACP joined in National Association for the Advancement of and dominated the conversation.

Colored People, fighting for voting rights, Civil That’s when the pushback came, as many Rights, and just decency for Black people. questioned the notion of an organization that So Jackson supports the NAACP. But the some believe hasn’t been relevant to younger HBCU coach is drawing the line when it generations and asks so much of student-athcomes to the nation’s letes. In this current college oldest Black Civil Rights athletics environment, organization’s ask of student-athletes competBlack college athletes to ing in football and basIt sounds boycott SEC schools in ketball in the SEC can good, but states where gerrymanmake hundreds of thoureally, dering, redistricting, sands of dollars and into to me and redrawing maps to the millions because of it don’t dilute the Black vote are name, image, and likeness being embraced.

(NIL) deals, plus the reveeven sound The NAACP has nue sharing of universities good. It sounds like they branded the movement in the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, had a meeting and they as Out of Bounds. Jackand Big 12. In addition reached on something. son believes the NAACP other smaller conferences Let’s get college athletes is the one that has are now required to share to do X, Y, and Z. These stepped out of bounds. with the athletes. are kids you don’t even “I think they are The natural question is talk to. They don’t even trying to do what the whether the ask of turning know what your letters NAACP does, which is down that type of money stand for. Let’s be honest, fight wrong things for is realistic or fair to stupeople get the NAACP colored people,” Jackdent-athletes and their and the NCAA confused. son said recently to the families?

Defender. “By using this, Apparently, the NAACP Not a lot of kids today you are using something thinks so, and so does know what that is, that has nothing to do Houston NAACP Presiand that’s our fault as with … You’re trying to dent Bishop James Dixon. parents. It’s our fault.” take a commodity that “The money they are TREMAINE JACKSON you think you have and guaranteed, they can Prairie View A&M football coach make it political.” receive money through This all became a the portal from other colhot-button topic last month when the Supreme leges,” Dixon said. “I don’t think anyone underCourt ruled that race may not be considered estimates the sacrificial effort that has been when drawing congressional district maps, in requested. But there will be a sacrifice.

say, `This ain’t right, and we need to do this.’” Calipari said to the Defender. “You have these Republican institutions that make it hard.

“I haven’t thought a whole lot about it, and I’m happy our state wasn’t one of them. I’m happy we weren’t in that mix.

But my main concern is going forward, that this doesn’t become a yearly thing. Getting things back to being right would be okay, let’s just do that.”

But Dixon isn’t about leaving anything to chance. He believes Black people, particularly Black athletes, must act now to help in this voting rights fight.

“The states that are imposing these egregious policies that are racist and are applying for African Americans must feel the pain immediately,” he said. “Black athletes should not be contributing to the coffers of those who are funding what I call the plantation plan. There are plenty of plans that strip us of all rights and all freedoms that return African Americans to plantation status. has got to be a more educational way that we movement and the LeBron James move“In order to disrupt the plantation plan, can get our point across and fight. But as we ment. But nothing of this magnitude. we’ve got to discontinue adding finansee, Black people aren’t even voting on the level “Some believe you shouldn’t ask a cial fuel to their effort.” that we used to vote. Let’s attack that. Let’s not 17 or 18-year-old to do that. It’s like Still, Jackson struggles with the ask these 17 and 18-year-olds who can get this what we saw in the Civil Rights NAACP’s ask and methodology. life-changing money.

Movement when we had young Jackson believes that instead of “And if you are going to do that, then why individuals on the front line. It’s asking student athletes to boycott don’t you fund some Black colleges to be able totally different now.”

SEC schools, the NAACP should to compete in the financial race. But we ain’t University of Arkansas basequip them with the knowledge talking about that.” ketball coach John Calipari has John Calipari. to use their platforms to bring Billy Hawkins, a noted professor in the paid attention to the NAACP Credit: University of about change at those state Department of Health and Human Perfor- movement and is sympathetic Arkansas athletics schools. mance at the University of Houston, says he to the cause. Calipari, who also While not campaigning to understands the NAACP’s intent behind the coached at Kentucky, where he developed many leave Prairie View, Jackson used himself as an Out of Bounds movement, but has conplayers who entered the NBA, hopes that example of how he would handle it if an SEC cerns about its execution. all states will revert once the political school came calling for his coaching services.

“I thought it was a lofty idea power shifts.

“If Mississippi State called Tremaine Jackson initially,” Hawkins said. “I think Apparently, the SEC is con- to come be the head football coach, I’m not it’s a good effort to draw some cerned enough about the poten- going to go? I’m going,” Jackson said. “I’m going, attention. The implementation tial impact of the movement that and I’m going to try to effect change while I’m lacks footing. When you think it has hired veteran crisis manager in the chair because I understand that change of what’s going on politically, Jarvis Stewart, who is Black, to needs to be made. Somebody has got to go first. economically, in the era of college push back against the NAACP and “So instead of trying to stop people from athletics now… the 60s was the last Dr. Bill Hawkins. the Congressional Black Caucus. going somewhere, why don’t we give them strong movement by athletes, and a Credit: University “I get what they are saying, and some tools so when they go, they can help little bit with the Colin Kaepernick of Houston I don’t blame them for trying to affect change? They can use their platform to The NAACP has begun a movement called Out of Bounds, which it hopes will convince Black student-athletes to boycott SEC schools in states that practice gerrymandering, which dilutes the Black vote.

Credit: ChatGPT

By Terrance Harris

“Our challenge is we have lived on the sacri- President Donald Trump asked him to find five fices of others in previous generations. We have additional seats ahead of the 2026 mid-term not had to pay those prices. Now we are in a elections. place where it’s real; the fight is real. I promise “You have to do what’s urgent, and states are that others are making sacrifices, and it’s the ones causing these racist activations at costly.” the state level,” Dixon said. “And by The goal of the NAACP’s prothe way, Texas led this before the posal is that by Black athletes Supreme Court reached the decichoosing to take their talents to sion. I’m surprised we haven’t been the Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12 more aggressive within our state.” schools, as well as non-gerryWhile the NAACP and even mandering SEC states like Arkanthe Congressional Black Caucus sas, Kentucky, and Missouri, the have strongly urged Black athgerrymandering states will feel Bishop James Dixon. letes to consider signing with the pressure from the loss of top Credit: The Defender schools outside the offending Black talents taking their sports SEC states, there has also been talents elsewhere. The states where the NAACP a call for those athletes to consider taking their is targeting gerrymandering and redistricting talents to HBCUs. include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Jackson says that would be great, but it isn’t Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and realistic.

Texas, where the University of Texas and Texas “I just think they shouldn’t ask kids to do A&M are members of the SEC. that. There has to be a better way,” said JackWhile most of the states are now actively son, who is the reigning SWAC Coach of the redrawing maps to dilute the Black vote, Texas Year after guiding the Panthers to the SWAC Governor Greg Abbott announced last year that Championship and a berth in the Celebration the state was redrawing its district maps after Bowl during his first season at the helm. “There

BY THE NUMBERS

50-60%

Percentage of Black football and men’s basketball players in the SEC

$143, 627

Average amount of payout to each SEC football player per year

0

Number of Black football coaches in the 16-member SEC

2

Number of Black men’s head basketball coaches in the SEC

3

Number of Black women’s head basketball coaches in the SEC

8

Number of SEC states to be boycotted: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas

$1 million-$3.5 million Range that top-tier SEC quarterbacks make

$300K-$1 million Range that top-tier SEC offensive linemen make

$200K-$700K Range that top-tier SEC running backs and safeties make

$400K-$1 million Range that top-tier SEC wide receivers and defensive ends make

affect change and not lose their livelihoods or something like that because ain’t nobody from the NAACP losing their livelihoods.

“Me at 42 years old, I know about those things, but if Mississippi State called me or Southern Miss, I’m going to go because financially I’ve got a family I’ve got to take care of.”

8 | June 4, 2026 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Feature How Houston can get ahead in the

AI education race

By Laura Onyeneho

Houston’s technology sector is growing, major employers are already integrating artificial intelligence into daily operations, and the demand for AI-literate workers is outpacing supply.

The question facing the city’s colleges and K-12 schools is no longer whether AI will reshape Houston’s workforce. It already has.

The question is whether Houston’s students will be positioned to benefit.

Right now, the answer is uncertain, and the window to act is narrowing.

According to the 2025 Higher Education Policy Institute and Kortext Student Generative AI Survey, 88% of college students now use generative AI for coursework, up from 53% just one year prior. Yet more than half attend institutions that formally discourage or prohibit it. That disconnect is creating a policy vacuum that students are filling on their own, without guidance on how to use these tools responsibly or effectively.

For Houston to produce graduates, especially Black students, who are competitive in the AI economy, experts say three things must happen simultaneously. Institutions must close the policy gap, educators must be trained first, and the city’s existing models for responsible AI integration must be scaled.

Working models

Harmony Public Schools was recently named a Texas State Champion in the Presidential AI Challenge for its Human Core Initiative.

Burak Yilmaz, Ed.D., director of instruction at Harmony Public Schools, said the framework was built around the idea that unguided AI use is already doing harm.

“If we ignore AI, our students will just figure out how to use it on their own, and that may not be the healthiest approach,” Yilmaz

ACTION STEPS Institutions must close the policy gap.

Educators must be trained first.

The city's existing models for responsible AI integration must be scaled.

Houston is becoming a prominent “star hub” for AI, projected to rank in the second-highest tier nationally by 2025.

However, it still lags behind other central metros in terms of per-capita AI readiness, innovation, and adoption.

Credit: ChatGPT

said. “Right now, when it’s unguided, AI is being used by young people in a way that is essentially to cheat the system.”

Harmony’s “pedagogical reversal” requires students to lead every AI interaction with their own thinking, use AI to expand on those ideas, and then critically audit the output. Through a partnership with MagicSchool AI, the school deploys teacher-controlled environments where the AI responds with Socratic questions rather than direct answers.

Since its launch, Harmony has recorded 66% overall student growth across assessments, with students in special education and emergent bilingual programs each reaching 70% growth, outpacing general education peers. This fall, the school launches mandatory AI literacy coursework for all eighth graders, with plans to expand it systemwide.

“Those high-need student groups aren’t just keeping up,” Yilmaz said. “They are outpacing the general population’s growth rate.”

What Houston universities should consider

At the university level, Amin Alipour, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Houston who researches AI in education, said the most urgent step is not technology, it is people.

“We need to start training instructors right now,” he said. “AI is very vague to a lot of people. They should know what these systems are and what they do. They are not magic.”

Alipour said faculty literacy is the precondition for everything else. Without educators who understand how these tools work and where they fail, coherent AI policy is impossible. The University of Houston has taken initial steps, providing faculty and students with access to Google’s Gemini platform and hosting curriculum-integration seminars, but Alipour said the pace must increase.

He also cautioned against framing AI fluency as a standalone advantage. The students Houston needs are not just those who can use AI; they are those who know their field

well enough to know when AI is wrong.

“Subject matter expertise becomes more important with AI because people need to verify AI outputs,” he said. “And that requires knowing your field.”

Research shows the AI literacy gap already tracks along racial and economic lines.

Without deliberate intervention, Houston’s Black graduates risk falling further behind before they begin.

“The people who are more AI-literate, who have access, who have better networks, they can spot opportunities faster,” he said.

“Others that don’t have that background are going to lose out. It’s going to widen the already existing gap in the economy.”

The opportunity, he added, cuts both ways. AI has real potential to open industries that were previously inaccessible to people without technical backgrounds or elite resources.

“AI can let more people build tools we didn’t have the means to build before,” Alipour said. “But only if they have access and the skills to use it.”

June 4, 2026 |

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DN Profile

Jaylin Vinson is a composer and violinist dedicated to celebrating Black and African musical traditions, conveying a vibrant and joyful connection to his heritage through his music. Courtesy: Performing Arts Houston

Jaylin Vinson

Brings joy and Black excellence to classical music

By Laura Onyeneho

When Jaylin Vinson fell in love with music at six years old, it didn’t begin in a concert hall or a conservatory; it began in the Black church.

Growing up in Oklahoma City, he was surrounded by gospel music. His mother directed the choir, his brother on drums, and a community united through song.

“There was always this sense of musicality within my family that felt ordinary, that felt like it was every day,” Vinson recalls. “It was something that we did, not because we wanted to, but because we had to. It was like inevitable.”

That foundation in gospel music with its blend of individual virtuosity and collective communion would become the bedrock of Vinson’s approach to classical composition.

Now based in Houston and a recent graduate of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the young composer is part of a new generation redefining what contemporary classical music can sound and feel like.

When Vinson picked up the violin at 11, he nearly quit when things got difficult, as most kids do. But something made him hold on. By his teens, he discovered that his true

passion was creating. Composition became the ultimate form of collaboration, a way to build community through sound.

“I never get used to that feeling of creating a new work with new people,” he says. “It’s just such an exhilarating experience.”

Vinson describes his music as embodying “unadulterated joy.” Even when a piece doesn’t sound overtly optimistic, there’s always hope emerging from within it, a reflection of who he is. His work draws from the rhythms and realities of Black life, blending classical training with gospel roots, hip-hop sensibilities, and what he calls “cultural memory.”

That signature sound was on full display at Performing Arts Houston’s New/Now in March at the Wortham Theater Center. His piece, “Dark Matter,” created in collaboration with Kinetic Ensemble and acclaimed flutist Tyler Martin, is inspired by the literary imagination of science fiction writer Octavia Butler and explores themes of Afrofuturism, imagining Black futures through art.

Austin Lewellen, who works with Kinetic Ensemble, Houston’s unaccompanied string orchestra committed to amplifying diverse and newly composed classical music, has

witnessed Vinson’s creative process up close.

The two have been in each other’s orbit for years through Rice’s music community, but their collaboration deepened about a year ago when Vinson approached the ensemble with his vision for “Dark Matter.”

“He came in with a really clear vision. He’s a really diligent writer. He thinks along so many different angles,” Lewellen says. “Having the chance to see sketches and hear works-in-development has left Lewellen increasingly excited. “I can tell that this is going to be a really special collaboration for us.”

The piece tackles profound questions about change, humanity, and our relationship to the environment. The opening movement, “Terrestrial Space,” wrestles with a quote from Butler’s “Parable of the Sower”: “Everything you touch, you change. Everything you change changes you.”

“We’ve had a pretty intense Midas touch on the environment with climate change,” Vinson explains. “But ironically, even though we’ve sped up the change of our environment, we’ve become resistant to changing our own behavior.” That tension between constant change and stubborn resistance

drives the musical conflict in the piece.

Being a Black composer in classical music means confronting an uncomfortable truth that representation in this space remains scarce. But Vinson wants people to know that Black composers have always been here.

“The stories get told a certain way that makes us feel invisible because that’s almost intentional,” he says, citing pioneers like Florence Price and contemporary composers like Houston’s own Joel Thompson, part of the “Black Nificent Seven” collective.

“There is a well-known lack of diversity in classical music,” Lewellen says. “For someone like Jaylin to have such a high-profile performance like this, bringing visibility and creating representation that people can point to and say, ‘Look, this is something that I could do. It’s just huge.”

Vinson envisions a classical music world where diversity is about expanding what greatness can be.

“The window in which we consider greatness has always been narrow,” he says. “It doesn’t mean we have to lower the bar. It just means we have to make the bar a little bit wider.”

10 | June 4, 2026 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Sports TENNIS GREAT

ZINA GARRISON Still serving up impact

By Terrance Harris

Before there were Venus and Serena Williams, there was Zina Garrison out there, swinging that racket and making noise on a level in professional tennis that hadn’t been seen by a Black woman in nearly 30 years.

There is an argument that, had Garrison not accomplished what she did as a young tennis star in the 1980s and early 1990s, there might be no Williams sisters, Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, or Taylor Townsend.

But until recently, the native Houstonian admits she didn’t think much about her impact and legacy alongside Althea Gibson in women’s professional tennis.

“As I get older, I do,” Garrison said. “Serena said this to me before; she called me a ‘Hidden Figure.’ I was like, what?

“But it made sense. She said, ‘A lot of people don’t know your story.’”

Indeed, many people may not know Garrison’s story. They should.

In a sport that has never truly been inviting or accepting of Black people, the Sterling High School product who honed her skills at MacGregor Park under legendary coach John Wilkerson gave Black America something to be proud of during her run to the 1990 Wimbledon Finals, the US Open Finals in 1988 and 1989, and her exemplary play at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

What an inspiration Garrison was, and continues to be, as she still impacts the sport and the people she loves.

Her eyes light up when she talks about the youth gardening project she is part of at MacGregor Park, thanks to a donation from Ellen DeGeneres in collaboration with her ZGA Foundation. Garrison is also still involved in various ways with introducing tennis and growing the sport among kids, which is a big part of her job as the youth program manager for the City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD).

“I just really want to have more activities for the young kids to do,” Garrison said.

“Right now, it’s just a stressful time in our lives. Kids still don’t have the opportunities to just be kids for a minute.”

She also wants kids and young people interested in tennis to have the best available knowledge out there, which is why she put on the HPARD Tennis Exclusive Coaching Summit at the community center at Hermann Park, where coaches around the city were invited to come in and pick up tips about strength and conditioning, nutrition, mental health, and communication.

Then they were introduced to a tennis

Until recently, tennis legend Zina Garrison didn't think about how much of an inspiration she has been to younger players like Caroline Garcia (L) of France and Coco Gauff (R) in women's tennis. Credit: Matthew Stockman/ Getty Images

simulator machine from Fast Track Tennis, which Garrison is truly passionate about.

“The fact that in five minutes you can hit almost 100 balls. Like literally the ball just keeps coming back over and over and over,” Garrison said. “The ball comes back at a certain spot, so you can speed up according to what you need to do as you start moving up.

“For most kids, the hardest thing to do is when the ball is bouncing, and they are trying to move or trying to hit. The fact that you can learn a stroke over and over again, that’s what caught my eye again.”

Next thing you know, Garrison called Fast Track, where CEO and founder John Davey picked up. Both were surprised for

different reasons. Garrison was surprised that the number was a direct connection to the founder. Davey couldn’t believe Garrison was reachingg out to h him.

“She is a legend,” Davey s said.

“And if you’ve got s someone like her who b believes in what you a doing, then you are c can’t argue with t that.

There are a l of people who lot m may try to give m advice or may me t to give people try

I just really want to have more e activities for the young kids to do. Rightt now, it’s just a stressful time in ourr lives. Kids still don’t have the opportunities to just be kids for a minute.”

ZINA GARRISON

advice, but she has been to the top of the mountain. You can’t question her tennis cred.”

You also can’t question her love for tennis, as she remains an outspoken ambassador for the sport.

“I definitely think it has grown,” Garrison said. “Venus and Serena for sure put it on the map. But a lot of my friends tell me, ‘You and Lori (McNeil) did as well,’ at MacGregor Park. You showed the kids at that age. Venus and Serena got to the Wimbledon finals or semifinals. So they took it to another level.

“People looked up to Venus and Serena, and then you have Coco, Naomi, Taylor Townsend … I think it’s a great opportunity for the sport to move forward. What I love more than anything is that it’s not just Black kids, but it’s all kids.”

Garrison will be reminded of the part she played in that this fall when the mini-documentary highlighting her ascent in tennis is released. While maybe a little nervous about the project at first, Garrison is excited for its release in October.

Serena Williams is the executive producer of the documentary.

“I didn’t want to see it when the lady was making it, so I finally saw it a couple of weeks ago,” Garrison said. “It was interesting because you had Billie Jean King in it, you had Carl Lewis, Clyde Drexler, Serena,, Jackie J Joyner-KerJ y see. All of these people are my friends.

They know me, know me.

“But to even talk about me was really kind of interesting.

I was like, ahh, I really have touched people’s lives.”

June 4, 2026 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

| 11

DN Sports Kashmere returns only four from its 2025 team (from left to right): Kevin Joe Jr, Kyjuan Cook, Kyon Cook, and Chase Robertson. Credit: Jimmie Aggison/ Defender

Kashmere baseball Returns four, adds 11 new players

By Jimmie Aggison

With a sub-.500 record in 4A Region III District 20 and the season now over, Kashmere’s baseball team learned far more than wins and losses this spring.

While most high school programs build fundamentals years before opening day, at Kashmere, players were picking up the rules and rhythm of the game in real time. With only four returning players and a roster full of newcomers, the Rams weren’t just trying to win games; they were laying the foundation for a program, one pitch at a time.

“I usually start building from the catcher position and work up to the pitchers, then go up the middle with a shortstop, second baseman, and centerfielder,” said head coach James Laster. “But I knew coming into this year it would be a challenge not having many players with the skill set to compete at a high level.”

With few youth baseball programs in the area, Laster faces an uphill battle. For many players, their first real exposure to the sport doesn’t come until high school.

“Because of this, most of our kids lean toward basketball and football rather than baseball,” said Laster.

Senior shortstop Kyon Cook admitted he had early doubts after realizing how many teammates were new to the game.

“I was a little skeptical about how this season would play out,” said Cook. “But I had faith in them. I felt that if we practiced enough, we would improve and become a

better team overall.”

The real challenge showed up on the field, where even the basics couldn’t be taken for granted and mistakes became opportunities for growth.

“I call it Baseball 101,” said Laster. “It’s about teaching the rules of the game and the fundamentals every day, including fielding, hand-eye coordination, hitting, bunting, and situational play. You have to put more time into the basics to get them ready for game play.”

Senior left fielder Mario Moncada said staying resilient was one of the toughest parts.

“Even when the team felt discouraged, we pushed ourselves to stay positive, keep our heads up, and finish every game with pride,” said Moncada. “One of the biggest challenges for me was learning to play the outfield and knowing when to come up or stay back on fly balls. But through consistent practice, I improved a lot.”

As the learning curve steepened, leadership became critical.

“I’ve taken on a leadership role with my teammates,” said Cook, the only returning starter. “Since many of them are new to the game, I try to teach them their positions in a way they can understand and grow from, while also helping them stay confident, even when they make mistakes.”

Senior centerfielder Kevin Joe Jr. emphasized keeping the team focused.

“After tough losses, I kept my teammates motivated by focusing on our growth and

Success for this team goes beyond the scoreboard. It’s about all four seniors being accepted to a university and continuing their education.”

JAMES LASTER Kashmere HS baseball head coach

what we needed to improve rather than the result,” said Joe. “I reminded them that mistakes are part of learning. I stayed positive by highlighting what we did well and led by example to keep our energy up.”

Kashmere’s challenges extend beyond experience. A lack of youth baseball programs, combined with the demands of being a smaller 4A school, forces many athletes to split time across multiple sports.

“The lack of youth baseball puts a lot on the coach,” said Laster. “We’re building players from scratch rather than developing kids with some experience. By the time they gain the skills and understanding of the game, it’s usually their junior or senior year, and then they’re gone.”

That reality makes it difficult to build continuity, especially when off-season

development is limited.

Moncada balanced baseball, soccer, and band.

“Between soccer and band, I barely had time for anything else,” said Moncada. “I was constantly juggling practices, making it hard to fully commit to baseball.”

Joe faced a similar challenge while participating in football, wrestling, and track.

“Football and wrestling didn’t interfere as much,” said Joe. “Track overlapped with baseball, so I had to manage my time carefully.”

Despite the obstacles, players kept showing up, often driven by more than the scoreboard.

“I wanted to join the baseball team because of my girlfriend,” said Moncada. “She plays softball and used to ask me to practice with her every day after school. One day, she suggested I try out. I was hesitant, but I gave it a shot.”

“What kept me coming back, through the toughest parts of the season, were my friends,” he added. “No matter the score, we were united in our goal to prove ourselves as great student-athletes.”

For Kashmere baseball, success isn’t defined by wins and losses. It’s measured by growth, effort, and opportunity.

“Success for this team goes beyond the scoreboard,” said Laster. “It’s about all four seniors being accepted to a university and continuing their education. Winning in sports is great, but winning in life comes from earning a degree and being able to take care of yourself and your family.”

12 | June 4, 2026 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Entertainment

Houston Jazz Scene Deserves ‘A Love Supreme’ figure in music education. Through programs In most conversations about jazz and at Kashmere High School and beyond, he the cities central to its birth and evolution, cultivated generations of musicians. But as Houston is treated like an afterthought. The noted by the Conrad Johnson Regional Youth usual suspects—New Orleans, New York, Orchestra (CJRYO) director Artie Onayemi, Chicago, even St. Louis—are praised as Johnson was more than a bandleader. sacred ground. Meanwhile, the Bayou City, “He was a writer, poet, teacher, and with its deep well of talent and history, is too respected musician who turned down peroften left off the list. forming on the road with the jazz greats to That omission is both an oversight and dedicate himself to teaching younger genera distortion. June is Black Music Month, so ations of musicians here in Houston,” said it’s the perfect time to correct the record and Onayemi. give Houston’s jazz scene the kind of revThe city also gave rise to the Jazz Crusaderence one feels when hearing ers—Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, John Coltrane’s classic, A Love Wayne Henderson, and Stix Supreme.

Hooper—a group of WheatTierney Malone, recently ley High School friends that named a 2026 Jazz Hero by the fused jazz with soul and funk, Jazz Foundation of America, expanding the genre’s reach. The Houston jazz scene is alive and well, and historic. Saxophonist Kyle doesn’t mince words.

Flutist Hubert Laws, a member Turner (left) and guitarist Joe Carmouche are two of many jazz artists “You can’t talk about jazz of Houston’s “First Family of Jazz making Houston’s current jazz scene one that is vibrant and growing.

Read more in America…without talking (saxophonist Ronnie and vocal- Courtesy Kyle Turner. about the about Houston,” said Malone, ists Debra and Eloise), was an jazz scene host of the long-running KPFT original member of the Crusad- including its bayous, its proximity to Louisi“I’m excited to see the rejuvenation of the show Houston Jazz Spotlight. ers, who left the group early on. ana, and its entanglement with both cultural Houston jazz scene,” said Joe Carmouche.

His research reveals a startling pattern.

Nick Sample, Joe Sample’s son, describes richness and racial oppression.

“There are numerous venues…enough Houston musicians have been embedded in Houston’s sound as deeply rooted in the Sample said that out of that oppression, offerings to keep veterans…and the new the DNA of the genre, often serving as the Gulf South. the Crusaders, other jazz artists, and Black generation…busy.” rhythmic backbone for major figures in the “It has a very effective rhythm…more people in general, produced beauty.

From Doc’s Jazz Club and Scott Gertjazz canon. rhythmic and blues-based…there’s just this ner’s Rhythm Room, to Red Cat Jazz “There’s not a major jazz musician…that groove that is different,” said Sample, who A living, breathing scene Cafe and Emmitt’s, the city offers jazz doesn’t have a Houston musician in their played bass in his father’s band for 12 years.

If Houston’s jazz history is underappreci- seven nights a week—if you know where rhythm section at some point,” Malone said. He ties that sound to the region’s history, ated, its present is equally overlooked. to look.

“That’s just how serious the cats are from Malone highlights both established and Houston.” emerging spaces, including performances Part of that story is geographic. Texas is at the Eldorado Ballroom through DaCalarge, and its musical output reflects that. But mera’s programming.

Houston’s contribution is not just about vol“You get the opportunity to see cats who ume; it’s about influence. The city has prowill be legends tomorrow,” he said. duced a steady stream of artists who shaped Still, challenges remain. Malone points the sound, feel, and direction of jazz. to the absence of a dedicated jazz museum And then there’s the cultural infrastrucand the lack of a world-class jazz club as ture. During segregation, Houston was a gaps in the city’s cultural infrastructure. His critical stop on the Chitlin’ Circuit, with 2022 “Jazz Church of Houston” exhibit at the Eldorado Ballroom serving as a central the Houston Museum of African American hub. As former Project Row Houses execu- Local jazz historian Tierney Malone curated the Jazz Church of Houston Culture was, in part, an attempt to address tive director Eureka Gilkey explained, while exhibit at the Houston Museum of African American Culture in 2022. Credit: those shortcomings. mainstream venues hosted performances, Aswad Walker/Defender. “this is where the real party happened.”

Teaching the next generation Legends like Dizzy Gillespie and Louis If jazz is to survive, it must be taught, Armstrong graced that stage, alongnot just as music, but as history, disciside Houston’s own Arnett Cobb, Jewel pline, and identity. And Houston is doing Brown, and others. It was a space of that work.

Black expression in a country determined Programs like the CJRYO and the Jazz to suppress it—a reminder that jazz, Houston Youth Orchestra are cultivatlike Black life itself, has always thrived ing young talent while grounding them under pressure. in the legacy of jazz. Vincent Gardner of Jazz at Lincoln Center recognized Architects of a sound Houston’s potential when he and his Houston didn’t just host greatness; it prowife, Belinda Munro-Gardner, helped duced it. Names like Arnett Cobb, Joe Sample, establish Jazz Houston, which now and Conrad “Prof” Johnson are foundational. The Jazz Crusaders, Stix Hooper, Wilton Felder, Wayne Henderson, and Joe runs one of the nation’s most respected Johnson, in particular, stands as a towering Sample. Credit: Wikimedia. youth programs.

By Aswad Walker