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Insight News

January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022

Vol. 49 No. 2• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Reflecting on Martin Luther King, Jr.

IF IT MEANS DYING…

By Brenda Lyle-Gray Columnist

Essence

STORY ON PAGE

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Page 2 • January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022 • Insight News

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Insight News • January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022 • Page 3 WINNER: 2020 T YPOGRAPHY & DESIGN, 1ST PLACE, PHOTOGRAPHY (PORTRAIT & PERSONALIT Y), 1ST PLACE, WEBSITE, 3RD PLACE

Insight News January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022

Vol. 49 No. 2• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Reflecting on Martin Luther King, Jr.

If it means dying…

Columnist

By Brenda Lyle-Gray Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was nine years old when Martin Luther King Jr. was first arrested. It was 1956 and King was 27. He would continue to see the inside of a jail cell in solitary or with Coretta Scott King and his followers until that never forgotten April 1968 late afternoon. Before going to the ‘mountaintop’, our inspiring leader had been stabbed, his home bombed, his family constantly threatened, and his life in peril every day.

As a single mother teaching school during the day and bartending at night, my children and I faced a similar fate when Skinheads came into my oldest child’s predominantly white high school soliciting membership. Nine years later, my younger college bound scholar and aspiring filmmaker endured stalking and bodily harm at a prestigious California university.

I was 11 years old

when I first heard Dr. King’s powerful message while sitting between my parents in a predominantly white audience at the Music Hall in downtown Kansas City. All that many years ago and I can still remember King’s laughter when he talked about loving soul food like greens and ham hocks, red beans and rice, and fried chicken. He loved to have a good time, the times when he didn’t have to think about humanity’s burden that had fallen on his shoulders and being concerned of what the next day would bring.

Ten years later, as if it were yesterday, I recall sitting in the back of a Greyhound bus riding down to 31st and Indiana minutes before the urban areas of cities across the country went up in flames.

I was looking forward to coming home for spring break, but any plans for good times faded with the excruciating pain that never left our hearts. A few of my childhood friends who had marched in Selma and had gone to the March on Washington were heading to Memphis that very day.

Within 14 hours, the world shook like it had never been shaken before when the bullet that zipped in the direction of a Lorraine Motel’s room balcony silenced the Dreamer. Daddy didn’t move for awhile from his badly worn

recliner chair. He pulled his handkerchief from his sweater pocket to dry tears I had never seen before coming from his beautiful eyes. I watched the television screen as the news broadcasters choked up on nationwide television as they had five years prior when John Kennedy was assassinated.

Walking up to the upstairs front room of our twostory house, I watched as the fires four blocks away burst upwards into the night skies. I listened as the National Guard tanks rolled down the streets where my friends and I had played when we weren’t in school. They were heading to protect the rich white Plaza and Mission Hills areas.

Glass from store windows shattered and the cries of a people in disbelief and ripping pain would be etched in the souls of chocolate baby boomers and their families especially, until the very end.

I recall being so afraid the fires would head in the direction of Santa Fe Place where we had embraced as or own community after white flight and the burning of the elementary school where the ‘new kids on the block’ were to attend.

King’s words rang clear that night in the Music Hall so very long ago, but they

Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK JR. 4

Brookline, MA

Perspectives of an African

Black Lives Matter and the removal of racist statues

By Caesar Alimsinya Atuire Part 2 in a series I. Introduction.

Una passeggiata estiva romana (A Roman summer walk) Cities and towns around the world are adorned with monuments and statues commemorating events, deities and persons that have shaped the present. I write this paper from Rome, a city whose centre can be described as an openair museum. I walk from Via Cola di Rienzo – named after the Renaissance demagogue and populist, mythologized by the leaders of the Italian risorgimento – to Piazza Risorgimento towards Piazza San Pietro and the imposing Saint Peter’s Basilica. From the piazza I look up to the loggia balcony from which popes over the centuries have sent out messages of peace and fraternity through urbi et orbi blessings at Christmas and Easter. Many thoughts about the meaning of monuments race through my mind. This magnificent monument of Catholicism was built with money raised through dubious means, such as selling papal noble titles and indulgences. As I walk away from the Basilica along the Via della Conciliazione – built by fascist leader Mussolini – towards Castel Sant’Angelo, which was originally built as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian (134–139) before becoming a Papal Fortress with a secret passage to the Vatican and finally a prison where the likes of Giordano Bruno and Il Cagliostro were detained and where executions were carried out, I begin to wonder whether

“We have significant testimony that leads us to believe that the White House had been told to do something. We want to verify all of it,” Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said on CNN.

Fyodor Bronnikov/httpsimperiumromanum

Statues and images - The Crucifix: A painting by Fyodor Bronnikov showing the crucified insurgents along the Appian road from Rome to Capua. there are any monuments without a dark side? From Castel Sant’Angelo, I descend the steps from Ponte Sant’Angelo with its ten statues of angels holding sponges, lances, whips, crown of thorns and other religious symbols. Away from the traffic and walking on the riverbanks, I head towards Isola Tiberina, where the temple of Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine lies underneath what is now the Church of Saint Bartholomeus. Along the way, I find myself wishing that the river Tiber, witness to all these events of the past as well as all the ways each era has rewritten history, could speak.

Across the river, now from the Isola Tiberina overlooking the Jewish ghetto, I see the cupola of Rome’s major synagogue. I ask myself, what is the Jewish version of the history of Papal Rome and its ubiquitous Christian monuments?

The building of

monuments and statues is a symbolic representation of a heritage. As Simon John puts it, statues “are symbolic of the fixed ideas of a specific community regarding its past, as captured at a particular point in time”.2 In fact, most monuments and statues are erected to immortalize a retrospective interpretation of events and lives of persons. Statues, unlike other monuments which are not always celebratory, tend to exalt the persons they represent. For example, monuments like the holocaust memorial in Berlin inaugurated in May 2005 is a grim reminder of a dark page in human history. On the contrary, most of the statues of historical persons that occupy the public spaces in cities and towns around the world are celebrations of the achievements of persons who are believed to have made positive contributions to their societies. From this perspective, as Pippa Catterall points out,

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Governor Walz hosts Roundtable to discuss ways to lower costs for Minnesotans

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it is hardly surprising that “another perennial facet of statues throughout history” is that “they have mostly been of men, usually from the military.

The database of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association suggests that only 2.7 per cent of the civic statues in Britain are of non-royal women.”3 From this perspective, statues are symbolic representations of an interpretation of history. This often takes the form of a secular or religious hagiography of historical persons based on the views of the persons who commissioned them. It is worth noting that these narratives do not always coincide with the honoured one’s own perception of themselves. A recent example is the case of Professor John

BLM PT. 2 4

U.S. House January 6 attack chairman Bennie Thompson lays out the investigation ahead

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor During two interviews on January 2, Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) outlined steps moving forward after months of investigation of the violent January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump supporters.

The Chair of the special committee to investigate the January 6, 2021 attack said in a January 2nd interview that the violent insurrection “appeared to be a coordinated effort on the part of a number of people to undermine the election.”

Thompson also indicated that the Department

of Defense may have interfered with assistance to the Capitol from the National Guard.

“There were significant inconsistencies in coordination, that the National Guard from the District of Columbia was slow to respond, not on its own, but it had to go to the Department of Defense. We have actually fixed that right now, where the mayor of the District of Columbia can access the Guard right now,” Thompson said.

Thompson is planning televised hearings of the committee’s work in January.

Thompson also mentioned a task force within the committee that will investigate the financial

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On Antonio Brown, Covid closures, and minimum wages

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Page 4 • January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022 • Insight News

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BEE MARKETPLACE

Latoya J. Burrell: Be Bold Columnist

By Brenda Lyle-Gray Former First Lady, Michelle Obama, writes at the close of her memoir, ‘Becoming’, “There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for me, is how we become.”

Mercedes Jaime, Business Director for BWWA asks, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”

Jaime posted the rhetorical question during the third program in a series of Facebook Live webcasts of Conversations with Al McFarlane, airing at 1pm Wednesdays through the end of January.

The program features business owners who are collaborating under the umbrella of BWWA to present the 2nd Annual BEE Marketplace, a virtual cultural marketplace showcasing the talents, products, and services of Black-Women owned businesses and entrepreneurs. A groundbreaking visionary and innovative business strategy, the BWWA initiative focuses on empowering Black women to pursue their entrepreneurial genius by supporting them with expertise needed to develop their business, their products, and their standing in the marketplace.

Jaime said, for Kenya McKnight-Ahad, founder, President, and CEO of the Black Women’s Wealth Alliance, (BWWA) it was a ‘leap of faith’.

The building where the BWWA paid rent for three years is now owned by the former tenant.

For Stacy Abrams, candidate for Georgia governor, it means growing the movement

MLK Jr. From 3 transformed my thinking about who I was inside my Black

led by women to mobilize Black communities, to vote.

We must.

As Vice-President Kamala Harris recently said, there’s too much at-stake.

Dr. Irma McClaurin, Insight Culture and Education Editor, encourages Black women to tell their own stories and to ‘archive’ them so they can be preserved and inspire generations to come. McClaurin has created the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive at University of Massachusetts – Amherst, leading by example.

Psychologist Dr. Bravada Garrett-Akinsanya, leader of the African American Child Wellness Institute, insists that Black Americans and other people of color have the right to wellness and simply ‘being’.

Kenya McKnightAhad and her staff at BWWA inspire Black women business owners to step into their dreams.

In each of these leaders, there is a deep-seated physical and spiritual radiance, power, and beauty at all levels, and the historic ability to keep the faith that sustains meaning, success and joy. Each demonstrates the power of remaining in gratitude despite roadblocks or heartaches, and of being a blessing by adamantly declaring the truth of their experiences as Black women.

Standing in their brilliance, wisdom, confidence, passionate calling, and responsibility, they do their individual and collective part to make the world a better place.

LaToya Burrell is boldly working towards change although she didn’t seek out entrepreneurship at the beginning. She describes herself as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. Above all else, she says, she is a child of God. She has been and still is a college dean, professor, attorney, and mentor. As an author and lecturer, Burrell contributes to the change she wants to see in the world. After the televised execution of George Floyd, Burrell knew she had to do skin, this person my racist white neighbors used to call ‘nigger baby’.

My mother cried the first time I asked her what that was. My favorite uncle,

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the pandemic.

Women still wanted to look and feel good.

I’ve gone back to working and selling shoes, but the hard work, along with being a mother first, has made me a stronger person.

I love being a woman, and I’m just so grateful to just meet all these beautiful women who have stepped out on faith. I don’t have a lot of family so just uniting and supporting one another means so much more than just being a business owner.

It’s the personal connection, the service added to providing a high quality, affordable product.

The time in between pandemic lockdowns gave Greer an opportunity to learn more about entrepreneurship and finding success proven ways she could build her business.

“McKnight-Ahad lit a fire inside of me. She goes to bat for all of us and convinces us that our cause is worth it. It also shows our kids how people can work together. I’m learning. I’m growing. I’m needing people while supporting others. It’s personal to me.” (go to Go to Instagram her.shoe.fetish) “It’s interesting, though not surprising, that we would be discussing the fourth principle of Kwanza which is ‘cooperative economics’ at the same time BEE Marketplace is happening,” Burrell said. The celebration which is annually held from December 26th to January 1st was created by Professor Maulana Ron Karenga based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of Africa. “That’s what BWWA is all about. Pollination of prosperity and how we as women can uplift and support other women by building and maintaining our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

“I want our world to be a reflection of our Creator.

I want to see heaven on earth,” says Burrell. She speaks that vision into existence through her willingness to listen, to learn, to lead, to dare to dream and do something bold.

DeTeyonce Graves

Shaneka Greer

something bold. Like so many of us, the pain of witnessing this atrocious crime was beyond imaginable. What happened to humanity? What happened to civilization?

Burrell decided to write a book entitled, Be Bold: How to Prepare Your Heart and Mind for Racial Reconciliation.

That book has led to her expanding engagements as a speaker, lectururer and facilitator of bold conversations on how to prepare for racial reconciliation. The book is available at Amazon.com and other booksellers.

DeTeyonce Graves, owner and creative hair stylist of DeStyle Hair Care said, “After graduating from high school, I first earned a degree in fashion but decided after having my first child that I needed a career with the potential of being more consistent and yet affording me the flexibility I needed to become the woman I was intended to me and the best mother I could be.”

“I watched my mother work in the cosmetology profession for almost 40 years.

It wasn’t easy, but she was good, and she enjoyed her clientele. I decided to try and carve my own niche in the hair care business,” she said.

The DeStyle Hair

Care value proposition is to not only make women look beautiful but also to elevate the women’s entire hair experience even beyond the salon. Graves works to provide her clients with knowledge on how to care for their hair as she promotes the longevity of their hair’s health.

In order to grow her business, she built a website that featured haircare products she most often sold to her clients. In the face of the pandemic, she created additional haircare and beauty products, including one of her daughter’s lip gloss products that has its own tab on her salon website. Graves says she hopes to start blogging in the near future as hair care products and techniques are constantly changing. “If you’re going to be good, it’s imperative to research, study the markets, go to hair shows, and keep investing in yourself. Virtual learning is available to anyone who wants to advance in their particular niche. It’s important to know what’s out there,” she said.

DeStyle is located at 2130 E. Lake St. #D, Minneapolis, MN 55407. Call (612) 807-4615 for further information.

Britany Carter worked a daily job with the school district, but had her sights set on the creative and unique accessories and gifts market.

When students were sent home due to the pandemic Carter and other staff members chose to re-invent themselves by mining alternatives that could possibly open the way to better opportunities. ‘Besti B Crafts’ was a side gig for Carter. The business creates customized

shirts, mugs, treats, and more.

“I started out making different things just for my family members. There weren’t too many creative crafts people in my lineage, but there certainly were great cooks. When I began posting some of my products on Facebook, like my wine and strawberry boxes, tee-shirts, and advertising for my popular dessert tables, my customer base began to increase. Thanks to a grant from BWWA, I was able to purchase materials to make my products and have an inventory.

I had conquered my fear of using the Cricut Machine for printing and was able to purchase equipment for computerized printing and sublimation that made the process easier.

Cricut cutting plotters are computerized cutting machines designed for home crafters.

Sublimation is a quicker process. Dye subprinting is a computer printing technique which uses heat to transfer dye onto materials such as plastic, card stock, paper, or fabric. These printers are often used for photographic prints, ID cards, clothing, and more.

“I started my company, High Heel Shoe Fetish, when was a kid,” said Shaneka Greer. “My mom loved shoes and fashion, but I simply fell in love with shoes. I always thought they made a woman look and feel so beautiful.

Finding unique shoe designs became a hobby, one day I started researching just how I could turn my hobby into a business. I posted a few samples of shoes I loed on Facebook it became a full-time job during

Sheffield, used to always tell me as he pointed out successful people of color in an Ebony Magazine, “Your destiny must never be defined or determined by what white people think of you. It will be determined by how much you love and appreciate who you are and how quickly you discover God’s purpose for your life on this earth.”

It’s kind of sad that many children today have no clue about the temporary conversion of our world as a result of that April day and the profound significance of the presence on this earth for such a short time of such a man as Dr. King. Many parents and educators have failed to explain to this generation why there is a national holiday for this man, one who was far more than one speech, one march, or one

movement.

Like Jesus, King was reviled, hunted down, and martyred for his message and his beliefs, and those of us who followed him felt the same hatred as we do in a divided world of Black and white in current times.

We were so proud of this warrior because he stood for something, and was willing to sacrifice even his life for a cause that had to be fulfilled somehow, that of liberation, opportunities, and equality. Every time I see a homeless child or a veteran who has served our country but on that day is hungry and jobless, and when my children or my students faced such malicious racism even the perpetrators themselves didn’t understand, I am disheartened because the Dreamer’s dream was allowed to be deferred, to dry up like a

raisin in the sun.

As we celebrate this national holiday in memory of this great citizen of the world, I am reminded of his words, “I choose to identify with the underprivileged. I choose to identify with the poor. I choose to give my life for the hungry.

I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity.

I choose to live for those who find themselves seeing life as a long and desolate corridor with no exit sign. This is the way I’m going. If it means suffering a little bit, I’m going that way. If it means sacrificing, I’m going that way. If it means dying for them, I’m going that way because I heard a voice telling me, “Do something for others.”

Martin Luther King Jr. left books, sermons, and instructions for those of us

dedicated to the betterment of our diverse communities, our country, and our world. We must celebrate and honor not the entombed Dreamer, but the living one through our service to the least of our brothers and sisters, especially our children and during these difficult and unprecedented times.

They need us today more than ever. We must work for voter registration, stand up against voter suppression, and remember those who died horrible deaths on lonely back roads so we could vote.

When we honor King’s courage, his strength to love, and his ability to act against the grain in the face of fear and hatred, we must reflect on what his courage cost him.

Let us make his holiday a day of service to others,

has been renamed Asomdwee Park. Even though studies undertaken after his death have sustained the idea that Attah Mills championed a peaceful agenda in politics,4 the humble professor would have never considered himself a ‘king’, let alone ‘a king of peace’. And yet, future generations will know him as the ‘king of peace’.

An even more astonishing example of how later epochs can represent historical facts and find novel meanings to suit their contexts is the case of the most widely diffused Christian symbol: The Crucifix. In the Roman Empire, crucifixion was a gruesome execution, so much so that in the first century it was applied only to non-citizens of the empire.

For the first three centuries of Christianity until the era of Helen and Constantine, the crucifix was not the symbol of Christianity. Early Christians preferred other symbols like the fish and would perhaps have been horrified to see an instrument of torture and capital punishment as a representation

of their beliefs. Yet later theological interpretations have constructed a narrative that portrays the crucifix as a symbol of love and salvation.

Three points have emerged so far: first, statues are not an objective historical representation of the figures they represent. Second, they represent an attempt by those who commissioned them to celebrate and perpetuate their version of history. Third, these attempts to fix history can be unfixed – meaning can change with time.

2 Simon John, Statues, Politics and The Past, in: History Today 69, 9, September 2019, https:/ /www.historytoday.com/ archive/behind-times/statuespolitics-and-past (12.08.2020).

3 Pippa Catterall, On statues and history: The dialogue between past and present in public space. British Politics and Policy at LSE (2020), https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/ politicsandpolicy/ statues-pastand-present/ (18.08.2020).

4 Jacob Anderson and Eric Ziem Bibiebome, Analysing John Evans Atta Mills’ Speeches Projecting him as ‘A Man of Peace’, in: International Journal of Language and Translation Studies 7, 2019, 105–110.

Caesar Alimsinya Atuire is a Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy and Classics Department at the University of Ghana, Legon. He is also a 2020 Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford. Dr. Atuire’s work draws from African and European philosophical traditions to reflect on normative issues in bioethics, health, and intercultural relations. He is coeditor of the volume Bioethics in Africa: Theories and Praxis. He has also lectured and published on epistemic decolonization in academia. Originally published as 21: INQUIRIES INTO ART, HISTORY, AND THE VISUAL #2-2020, pp. 449– 467 https://doi.org/10.11588/ xxi.2020.2.76234

theboldlatoyaburrell

LaToya Burrell

BLM PT. 2 From 3 Attah Mills, a president of the Republic of Ghana who died in office in 2012. He has become known as Asomdwee Hene (king of peace) and the park where his mortal remains lie

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Insight News • January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022 • Page 5

Founding and early members of Kappa Alpha Nu near the Indiana University campus.

Happy Founders’ Day Kappa Alpha Psi Hobb servation Point

By Chuck Hobbs “We need the historian and philosopher to give us with trenchant pen, the story of our forefathers, and let our soul and body, with phosphorescent light, brighten the chasm that separates us. We should cling to them just as blood is thicker than water.”―Arturo Schomburg, legendary historian, archivist, and Kappa Man January 5, 1911—κ α ψ was founded Over the past few decades, as vestiges of overt discrimination have either vanished or become covert, a question that is occasionally asked in the public square is whether Black Greek Letter Organizations are still relevant in the comically coined “postracial era.” My simple reply is “of course,” and as a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, which celebrates its 111th anniversary today, I go even further and add that Kappa and other BGLO’s are needed more than ever in the present age when racist wolves often appear in ally sheep›s clothing!

For those who are not familiar with BGLO’s in general, and Kappa specifically, your unfamiliarity is due to the failure of mainstream history

Thompson From 3 support of Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The committee is bipartisan with two Republicans: Reps. Adam Kinzinger (RIL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY).

The attack on the legislative branch of the U.S. government happened on the same day that the election of President Joe Biden was to officially be certified as the victor of the 2020 presidential election by Congress. The certification process is typically a non-eventful procedure that involves officially receiving the certification papers of all the states during an hours-long ceremony and vote on the House floor.

There were 147 Republicans in the U.S. House who voted against the certification of Biden’s election even after the violent attack on the Capitol.

On January 6, 2021, former President Trump, who lost to President Joe Biden on November 3, 2020 by over 7,052,770 votes, had only 14 days left to remain in The White House before Biden’s inaugural. On the morning of January 6, 2021, Trump appeared at a gathering of his supporters and lied to them,

courses—and the mainstream media—to chronicle the achievements of Black people beyond rudimentary facts about slavery, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement.

That unfamiliarity makes it easy for some to conclude that BGLO’s are “elitist” institutions that are more concerned with hazing and frivolity, than organizing men and women into a common cause of excelling in one’s chosen endeavor— while providing meaningful service to one’s community.

In fact, for every three headlines that heralds some incident of hazing, there are few to no articles highlighting the past and present efforts of BGLO members to perfect this wholly imperfect Union called “America.”

To that end, as to Kappa Alpha Psi, I submit that our organization was not founded primarily for bacchinallian purposes; its founding purpose was to unite college men to honorably pursue “Achievement in Every Field of Human Endeavor.”

You see, back in 1911, this purpose was no small task as few Black men (or women) were able to actually matriculate at any college, including the many Historically Black Colleges and Universities that were located mostly in the Deep South. In the State of Indiana, even fewer Blacks attended college, thus, the decision of ten Black men, led by Elder Watson Diggs, to form a Bond and charter the Kappa Alpha Nu Fraternity on the Indiana University campus was not only a bold step—it was a necessary step

for their literal survival. Lest we forget that barely 15 years before Kappa was founded, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Plessy vs. Ferguson decision that established Jim Crow segregation as the supreme law of the land; what is often lost in translation today is that Jim Crow was not just relegated to the South, but was prevalent in parts of the North and Midwest.

It is also critical to note that when the Ku Klux Klan was reestablished in Georgia in 1915, by 1925, the State of Indiana had more Klan members than any other state in the Union, replete with having half of its state assembly and a sitting governor as card carrying members. Such makes it easier to understand the extremely intemperate racial climate that Kappa’s Founders found on the IU campus, one that was so deplorable that our original Greek letters of K-A-N soon found white students mocking the Founders as “Kappa Alpha Nig”—for “nigger.” To counter these racist slights, in late 1914, the membership changed the name to Kappa Alpha Psi, with the distinct Psi symbol also serving as a reminder of its founding at IU. As the fraternity grew in membership, it also grew in stature as over the past 111 years, some of the most influential men in American history have been members, including several of my personal idols like: The late Robert Sengstacke Abbott, a lawyer and writer who established the Chicago Defender as the number one black newspaper in the world in the 1920’s.

as he had since November 2020 claiming the election was “stolen.” Trump’s lie that his election loss was the result of fraud has been advanced on Facebook by his supporters and in right-wing media non-stop.

“I think it is critically important, given everything we know about the lines that he was willing to cross — he crossed lines no American president has ever crossed before. You know, we entrust the survival of our republic into the hands of the chief executive, and when a president refuses to tell the mob to stop, when he refuses to defend any of the coordinate branches of government, he cannot be trusted,” Rep. Cheney said about Donald Trump on January 2.

Trump lost to Biden by double the amount of votes that he lost to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Clinton won the popular vote by 2,868,686 votes but lost the electoral college 304 to 227.

“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats, which is what they’re doing. And stolen by the fake news media,” Trump bellowed from a stage on the eclipse near The White House.

“We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved,” Trump continued citing no evidence.

Several Republican election officials in states such as Georgia, Arizona

and New Mexico certified Biden as the winner of the election without controversy.

Trump’s supporters violently attacked the Capitol shortly after Trump’s speech, over-running entrances, assaulting police officers and breaking glass doors as Vice President Michael Pence during the violent insurrection at the Capitol.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called Governors in surrounding states for assistance from their National Guard.

Trump’s supporters set up a fake guillotine they said was for Pence on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol between the reflecting pool and a memorial of U.S. Grant.

Trump’s supporters chanted “hang Mike Pence” in the Capitol during the insurrection.

“We have significant testimony that leads us to believe that the White House had been told to do something.

We want to verify all of it,” Thompson said on CNN. The next committee meeting is expected soon.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE. She is a political analyst who appears regularly on #RolandMartinUnfiltered.

She may be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke

The late Lerone Bennett, Morehouse Man, historian, and Editor Emeritus of Ebony/Jet magazines.

The late Johnnie Cochran, trial lawyer extraordinaire and civil rights activist.

Among other notable past and present Kappa Men include Arturo Schomburg, noted historian and archivist; Rev Ralph Abernathy, civil rights leader; General Daniel “Chappie” James, first Black 4-Star General; U.S. Representatives Sanford Bishop (D-Ga), Al Lawson (D-Fl), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and the late John Conyers (D-Mich) and Alcee Hastings (D-Fl); Florida Lottery Secretary John Davis and Enterprise Florida CEO Jamal Sowell; Actors Max “Goldie” Julien, Whitman

Mayo, and Director John Singleton; comedian Cedric the Entertainer and singer Montell Jordan; Tennis legend Arthur Ashe; NBA legends Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Roberston; NFL legends Lem Barney and Gale Sayers; coaching giants C. Felton “Zip” Gayles (Morehouse), John Chaney (Temple), Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), and Billy Joe (Central State/Florida A&M), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers).

More important than notoriety, however, is the amount of service that Kappa Men incorporate through our Guide Right program and Kappa Leagues that assist middle and high school aged boys on their journeys to manhood, among other philanthropic pursuits.

As such, I lift “a cup of joy and health” to my fellow members around the world as we reflect upon where our organization has been—and where it must go in the days ahead!

As Covid won’t allow Ol’ Hobbs to participate in activities this year, I leave you today with a few reminisces of me and some good Nupes from ages past: Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point—have a wonderful Wednesday!

Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Page 6 • January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022 • Insight News

Insight 2 Health

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Governor Walz hosts Roundtable to discuss ways to lower costs for Minnesotans Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan last week hosted a roundtable with farmers, seniors, legislators, and health care experts to discuss ways to lower health care costs for Minnesotans. The Governor made clear that permanently lowering health care costs, including exploring a public option program, will be a priority of his administration for the upcoming legislative session.

“The best way to understand where the problems lie within our health care system is to hear stories and experiences directly from Minnesotans,” said Governor Walz. “Health care needs to be affordable, and I am committed to making that a permanent reality in Minnesota. With a historic budget surplus, now is the time to act.”

“Like all Minnesotans, dealing with health care is an inevitable reality in our family: from routine check-ups to emergency care,” said Lieutenant Governor Flanagan. “But we know that far too many people in our state delay or avoid getting the care they need, simply because they are worried about how they’re going to pay for it —sometimes with devastating consequences.

That’s unacceptable, and I know we can do more to make health care affordable and accessible.”

“It’s not news to anybody that most small, family farms are running at a pretty narrow margin, and health insurance costs can be the difference between profitability and being under water year-to-year.

My youngest son would like to take over our farm, but right now he is really going to struggle with his health insurance premiums,” said Steven Read, president of the Rice County Farmers Union and owner of Shepherds Way Farms. “A public option for us, and for a lot of young farmers, will be critical going forward.

If we want to keep people in agriculture, and want to keep people in rural areas and small towns, this is one of the biggest drivers in forcing people to make a choice between an avocation that can be their vocation, or just a job for benefits that they have to live with.”

“My mother had a rare type blood cancer, and her prescription costs for one pill a day was over $13,000 a month,” said Toni Mangskau, a resident of Rochester. “Her co-payment was over $7,000 a year, which was nearly half of her monthly Social Security check. With me having the same genetic mutation, how will the high cost of treatments impact my future access to care?”

“I would say the biggest challenge we face in Southern Minnesota is disproportionately higher premiums than anywhere else in the Minnesota by more than 30%. This is due to the costs for services of our area’s largest healthcare provider. Though I will recognize we receive higher tax credits because of this, we still see higher premiums. We also have a limited number of carriers to choose from in Southern Minnesota those being Medica, Blue Cross, and Quartz. We need to figure out a way to give equity and balance in Southern Minnesota with the

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Governor Tim Walz rest of the state,” said Charles Moline, senior financial advisor with AdvisorNet Financial.

“Our young adult son, Blake, requires around the clock care. Blake, my wife Kay and I all agree that it’s best for him to live in our home,” said Mike Peterson, a Farmers Union member who farms near Northfield. “The personal care attendants we have make it possible for him to remain at home. However, finding personnel to care for him at the wages provided is extremely difficult. We need raise wages to compensate these compassionate people who do the important work of caring for our loved ones.”

“Even with recent increases in available premium tax credits, health insurance costs remain disproportionately high in the Southeast Minnesota region, especially when considering the very high out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance,” said Denise Robertson, navigator program

director for Health Access MN. “MNsure is invaluable in helping people access the most affordable coverage available, and funding additional technology improvements to language access and individual access to online accounts is critical to help MNsure ensure that all Minnesotans—including those with limited English proficiency—understand their health insurance options, get enrolled in coverage that’s best for them, and efficiently update their application information as it changes throughout the year.”

“Again and again I hear from many of my constituents, even those with health insurance, that they put off going to the doctor or avoid getting the care they need because of the high cost. No one should feel like the choice is between going to work sick or putting off purchasing prescription drugs or seeing a doctor,” said Senator Melissa Wiklund,

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Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan DFL-Bloomington. “We must address these high costs and barriers and ensure Minnesotans have health care that is affordable, accessible, and addresses their needs.”

“Everyone deserves affordable, quality health care, but Minnesotans still face significant challenges,” said Rep. Tina Liebling, DFLRochester, chair of the Minnesota House Health Policy and Finance Committee. “High out-of-pocket costs, including outrageously expensive prescription drugs, prevent many Minnesotans from getting health care even if they have insurance. Minnesota has long been a health care leader and innovator, and people are counting on us to find solutions so everyone can get the care they need.”

“I was very appreciative of this roundtable discussion,” said Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. “The rising costs of healthcare have impacted

the majority of Minnesotan families, which is why Governor Walz and Lieutenant Governor Flanagan have wisely prioritized engaging as many average Minnesotans as possible in the search for a policy solution. They know that involving grassroots Minnesotans in the search for a solution to this healthcare crisis is the only way to solve it.”

“Every day my nursing colleagues provide care to patients who can’t fully focus on getting well because of looming worries about the bill they’ll receive at the end of treatment,” said Rep. Liz Boldon (DFL Rochester), a nursing education manager.

“Often patients without adequate insurance will wait until the last minute before seeking care, which can have dire consequences.

Quality healthcare is a right, and it is our moral duty to ensure that every Minnesotan can access affordable or no cost care.”

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Insight News • January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022 • Page 7

On Antonio Brown, Covid closures, and minimum wages

By Chuck Hobbs “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” - Oprah Winfrey, legendary journalist and Billionaire business mogul Happy New Year!

Antonio Brown meltdown Chances are that whether you are an NFL fanatic, a casual observer, or even somewhat indifferent to the sport, that by now you have seen clips or heard about Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown’s meltdown during the third quarter of the Bucs game against the NY Jets yesterday afternoon.

In a bizarre series of events, Brown flung his jersey and shoulder pads to the ground before throwing his t-shirt and gloves into the stands and, finally, jogging back into the locker room—while his teammates were still playing.

So far, we have yet to hear Brown’s vantage point, but social media was abuzz with speculation that he was angry because he was due nearly $1 million dollars in performance incentives if he caught x number of passes for y number of yards before the game’s end and was being frozen out from meeting those incentives; until we hear from Brown, there’s no way for us to know if such was his rationale. What we do know is that Tampa Bay Coach Bruce Arians said that he pleaded with Brown to go back into the game but was refused, and that Brown “is no longer a Buc” due to his refusal to play and subsequent meltdown. We also know that legendary Bucs quarterback Tom Brady has pleaded with the public to have compassion for Brown, a friend of his who he says “needs help.”

Well, I am no mental health expert and won’t pretend to be one in this morning’s blog, but I’ve lived long enough to know that yesterday’s display

was not how the average NFL player—or fan—deals with job dissatisfaction. I, like many of you, have read the litany of AB transgressions through the years that popped up in the media yesterday and realize that from fights, to an alleged rape, to a nocontest plea to felony burglary in 2020, that AB has had his share of issues from his school days at Florida International and Central Michigan, on through to his brilliant (on the playing field) career in the NFL. For added perspective, check out Colin Cowherd’s summation in his short Sunday night podcast.

Cognizant that football is a very violent sport that enthralls the masses while leaving many of its stars unhealthy due to one too many hits to the head (CTE), such certainly leaves me with a sincere hope that AB gets the help that he needs to function in society. However, lest we forget that even within our own spheres, that those kin and friends who we describe as “a little touched in the head” typically do not get help unless they choose to seek it and, when they don’t seek help, the original problems remain in perpetuity.

Whether AB will seek help remains to be seen...

Coronavirus Breakthrough The Hill reports this morning that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) both have tested positive for COVID-19.

With both political figures fully vaccinated and boostered, neither is seemingly at risk for serious health complications while they isolate per CDC mandates, the Hobbservation Point wishes them both speedy recoveries.

Still, with the Omciron variant of Covid-19 surging across America, some school districts and colleges/ universities reverting to online learning, and major businesses like Bank of America, JPMorgan

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the treatises and journal length articles that delve deeply into the virus and its treatment, including the use of masks and safe social distancing.

Specifically, TaylorGreene’s ban came from her final Tweet about “extremely high amounts of Covid vaccine deaths.” Again, each of us has a right to determine whether we wish to be vaccinated, but we have no right to publish lies about vaccine deaths in the cyber public square. Thus, good riddance, Ms. Taylor-Greene

AB81 Chase, and Citigroup allowing employees to work from home, the question remains whether state and local governments across America have the wisdom to realize that even a two to three week stay at home plan could help to ride out this latest wave, one complicated by flu and cold season?

I suspect that the answer is “no” due to the simple fact that the business of America is business, and that the political powers that be prefer for workers to work—not staying at home assisting children who are learning online. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona echoed this very point yesterday when he stated, “We’ve been very clear: Our expectation is for schools to be open fulltime for students for in-person learning...We remember the impact of school closures on

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students last year, and our science is better.”

I hear you, Mr. Secretary, but we also remember that over 800,000 Americans have died since the pandemic began, and that school children who get infected with Covid-19 will expose their family members and even friends to the disease—and prolong an end to this nightmare!

Here’s hoping that those with the ability to do so will take all precautions to protect their children and themselves from the phantom Covid menace...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene in Twitter Jail As is often said, each of us is entitled to our own opinions—but we are not entitled to our own facts! It seems that U.S. Rep. Marjorie

Taylor-Greene refuses to accede to this basic truth and because of her hard-headedness, has found her Twitter account permanently suspended for spreading misinformation about Covid-19.

Much like Frankenstein’s monster, in recent weeks, former President Donald Trump has found himself booed and pilloried even among his loyal base when he has appeared at rallies (or on Candace Owens’s political affairs show) to push back against the anti-vax crowd that is legion within the Republican Party. Rep. Taylor-Greene is one of the leading proponents of kooky right-wing conspiracies and, due to her insouciance (if not wanton ignorance), has left ALL of us at risk to many of those claiming “to do their own research,” but who hardly have the abilities to fully grasp

Minimum Wage hikes The new year brought minimum wage increases from $15 to $17 per hour in 20 states and with it, hopes that a livable wage ensues for those struggling to make ends meet.

While some may conclude “that’s a lot of money,” the simple truth is that it really isn’t when considering the cost of living increases across the Republic. Over the past two years EVERYTHING has gotten more expensive, from gas, to electricity, to purchasing a gallon of milk, eggs, and meat. There’s a reason that joking memes across social media, such as my favorite “Make Oxtails Cheap Again,” allow us moments of levity amid the reality that prices at our local supermarkets are sky high!

Ergo, without wage increases for workers, the economy will only suffer more as folks simply choose less expensive options, public assistance to help defray costs, or, to our collective chagrin, starvation…

Subscribe at the Hobbservation Point—buckle up for what is sure to be a fun ride in 2022!

Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Page 8 • January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022 • Insight News

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