NJG-Volume-123_No-50_Dec_14_2023

NEWJOURNAL & GUIDE Serving Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk & The Peninsula

Vol. 123, No. 50 | $1.50

December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023

Publishing since 1900 ... that no good cause shall lack a champion and evil shall not thrive unopposed.

www.thenewjournalandguide.com

GIFT-GIVING & SHARING THE GIFT GOOD DURING KWANZAA OF SERVICE

By Dr. Maulana Karenga Creator of Kwanzaa

Above all, gift-giving is the sharing of good, and practiced rightly, it becomes not only a ritual of celebration, but also a lesson and a model and mirror of how we should live our lives. For it is not only the giving of things, but also a sharing of the good of ourselves, expressing beautiful emotions and building, reaffirming and reenforcing our relationships in reciprocal sharing.

2023 THEME:

“Kwanzaa, Freedom, Justice and Peace: Principles and Practices For A New World” As the season of gift-giving opens up during our end-ofthe-year holidays, we know our gift-giving should be and needs to be more than a simple offering and exchange of money and material things. But we know that in a materialist and consumerist society, gift-giving can and often does lose its best

meaning.

Thus, it is important for us who actually care to hold fast to this deeply African and human practice of gift-giving in its most meaningful forms.

...see Kwanzaa, page 2A

Loni Love Keynotes NSU’s 111th Commencement

Photo: Courtesy

Photo: Randy Singleton

CHESAPEAKE Christmas offers an opportunity to support the Salvation Army’s community outreach. Rev. Dr. Keith Jones and his grandson James Rolon took turns ringing the bell at Walmart’s in Greenbrier last Saturday on behalf of the Alpha Phi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha.

NORFOLK Two-time Emmy, two-time NAACP Image and four-time Gracie Award-winning host, comedian, actor, author, and philanthropist Loni Love delivered the keynote address at Norfolk State University’s 111th Commencement ceremony on Saturday, December 9, 2023, at Joseph G. Echols Hall. Love stepped in as speaker to replace actress Sheryl Lee Ralph who was originally scheduled after Ralph was called back to work on an acting project. Love delivered an inspiring and thoughtful speech to around 400 graduating students, family, faculty, and alumni. ...see MORE INSIDE, page 1B

Voting Rights Act Threatened –Again!

VA. BEACH & PORTSMOUTH CANDIDATES ANNOUNCE BIDS FOR CITIES’ MAYORS

A recent when he became mayor. Chief Reporter Emeritus Arkansas Wooten was elected in 2020 New Journal and Guide and her term expires at the court decision In November 1963 end of 2024.

“Virginia Beach deserves housewife, and community contradicts a leader who envisions a activist Evelyn Butts of future where every voice Norfolk filed a suit aimed decades of is heard, and every resident at abolishing Virginia’s has the opportunity to requirement that voters pay precedent-setting a poll tax. thrive,” Wooten said.

Represented by attorney cases across the Wooten, age 48, and Chris Taylor, a 39-year-old Black Joseph Jordan, Butts’ suit nation.

City Councilman serving claimed the tax violated

By Rosaland Tyler Associate Editor New Journal and Guide

Virginia Beach Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten recently became the second Black to officially announce her 2024 mayoral bid for that Hampton Roads city.

This week, over in Portsmouth, Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke declared her candidacy for Mayor in that city’s forthcoming 2024 election cycle during a press conference.

“Portsmouth deserves a Mayor who is an effective communicator and consensus builder of City Council members, Community Leaders, and

Hon. Sabrina Wooten Virginia Beach

Hon. Lisa Lucas-Burke Portsmouth

Stakeholders,” LucasBurke said about her candidacy.

Virginia Beach Councilwoman Wooten, who represents the District 7, said in a press release,

“I will be committed to building on the foundation we’ve learned together.”

She was appointed to Virginia Beach City Council in 2018. She filled the seat that Bobby Dyer vacated

his first term on Virginia Beach City Council, will run against Bobby Dyer, the incumbent mayor in the Nov. 5, 2024 election.

Former Virginia Beach Councilman John Moss, 69, who lost the District 9 election last year, is also running. ...see Mayoral, page 2A

Fan’s Racial Slur Mars NSU-ISU Basketball Game

By Leonard E. Colvin

The racial slur was directed at a Chief Reporter Emeritus Norfolk State player by an Illinois New Journal and Guide State fan, the university said in its Illinois State University (ISU) officials are press release.

investigating an incident where fans of the school’s basketball team hurled racial slurs at the Norfolk State University (NSU) Spartans during a contest on December 9.

During Illinois State

By Leonard E. Colvin

men’s basketball’s loss to NSU at Horton Field House, an altercation occurred following claims that an ISU fan directed racial slurs at an NSU

player, leading to the ejection of three ISU fans, according to various news agencies.

“The men’s basketball game between Illinois

State and Norfolk State was regrettably marred by the report of a racial slur directed at a Norfolk State player by an Illinois State fan,” the university said in the release.

NSU player Jamarii Thomas spoke with officials to make them aware of the racial slurs directed toward him with just over eight minutes remaining in the game. ...see Slur, page 5A

Celebrate Kwanzaa In Richmond RICHMOND – The Elegba Folklore Society will host one of the biggest Kwanzaa events on the East Coast, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia on December 30th. ...see ... see page 6A

the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

It also was a critical barrier to thousands of AfricanAmerican and White residents from participating in the electoral process during the Jim Crow era.

Hearings before two lower federal courts ended in dismissals. Despite the two setbacks, Jordan filed the case with the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided to hear it in October 1965.

Butts’ case was combined with a similar one filed by another private citizen Annie E. Harper, which had been accepted by the high court first.

The justices accepted the suit’s claim, abolishing the poll tax in 1966 a year after the historic Voting Rights Act (VRA) was passed by Congress, striking down many of the other roadblocks

to Black voter participation.

But a case winding its way up the federal court circuit now could halt citizens filing such suits to protect their access to the ballot.

On November 20, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis ruled that private individuals and civil rights groups like the NAACP do not have the right to sue under a vital section of the federal Voting Rights Act, to challenge discriminatory voting laws and policies imposed by states and locales.

This decision involves a redistricting case in Arkansas and contradicts decades of precedent-setting cases, most of which have been filed by the NAACP or Black individuals like Butts, based on Section 2. ...see Voting, page 5A

INSIDE: Harvard President Is Weathering Anti-Semitism Storm ...see page 2A

Dr. Claudine Gay

New Journal and Guide

2A | December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023

Kwanzaa gifts must always include two items: A) a book, and B) a Continued from page 1A heritage symbol – regardless of what else is given.

Kwanzaa

This means engaging it as a vital way of sharing good, expressing caring, bringing joy, giving thanks, offering assistance, building and strengthening relationships, and practicing reciprocity of good done and good returned.

In this regard, I want to share with you a section from my book on Kwanzaa titled Kwanzaa, A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture (Sankore Press) on Dr. Maulana Karenga “Zawadi, Gift-Giving,” as an essential but not dominating or diverting practice which dilutes and diminishes the open or subliminal seduction integrity, expansive meaning of advertisers.

Kwanzaa gifts must always and beauty of the holiday as a include two items: A) a book, whole. and B) a heritage symbol – regardless of what else is ◆◆◆ given.

This stipulation clearly First, we decided that even though we respected points to our priorities of the desire of our children to building and liberating our have gifts at that time because people. The book reflects and of peer concerns and the reinforces our commitment to relentless push of seasonal education as an indispensable advertising, Kwanzaa giftgiving would not be automatic or done without reference to the needs of the people and their struggle. Kwanzaa gift-giving by the internal demands of the holiday had to be designed to be instructive and inspirational.

Secondly, we decided that Kwanzaa gift-giving had to be open and informed so that parents would receive due credit for their sacrifice and hard work to provide their children with the gifts.

This, in fact, also put an end to the negative and demeaning practice of reducing African American parents to the role of mediators and messengers for a European cultural symbol in red and white, promising things that he could not deliver and had no idea of whether the parents could either. Such an arrangement not only makes a mockery of reality, but also damages the image of loving and productive parents in the process.

Thirdly, it was agreed that in order to escape the economic entrapment of Christmas advertising, we would not buy December 14, 1957 presents until after Christmas Edition of the Guide and also observe some basic guidelines. These include the stipulations that: 1) children be New YMCA ‘Board’ Faces Showdown in Court Test the main recipient of Kwanzaa gifts; 2) that the gifts be given on the basis of commitments NORFOLK A Norfolk court will likely made and kept; and 3) that they not be mandatory or be asked to decide which of two management committees excessive.

To purchase gifts after is the actual board in control Christmas is to take advantage of the affairs of the Hunton of after-Christmas sales and Branch YMCA. Legal actions seemed thus escape the exorbitant prices established for the almost inevitable as the season. Secondly, making GUIDE went to press. A headchildren the main recipients on clash between opposing of gifts rightly lowers the factions occurred when small number of recipients and in groups of members met many cases also lowers the Tuesday night and “adopted” price of the gifts. Thirdly, to a new constitution and “voted make the gift equal in value to “dissolve” the present to the achievement record Committee of Management.

This insurgent group moderates the mania for unrestricted buying just for the consisted mainly of supporters season or in response to the of Horace G. Christopher, the discharged executive, a 56 to 8 vote of the new constitution by which it hopes to severe all branch relations with the Central YMCA, reinstate Christopher, and get rid of the management board, which recommends his discharge following a summering NEW JOURNAL investigation of Hunton AND GUIDE P.O. Box 209, Branch finances.

Norfolk,VA 23501 Court actions could be Phone: (757) 543-6531 stated by either faction. Both Fax: (757) 543-7620 have been talking freely about the possibilities of such a PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: course. It could be a suit for an Brenda H. Andrews injunction or restraining order prohibiting the opposite side ASSISTANT TO from asserting or exercising THE PUBLISHER: any authority or control over Desmond Perkins the Hunton Branch.

If any group enjoined by the ASSOCIATE EDITOR: court and order should violate Rosaland Tyler its terms by attempting to interfere in the Management, CHIEF REPORTER EMERITUS: the court could find that Leonard E. Colvin they are in contempt and punish them with fines or PRODUCTION: imprisonment.

Tony Holobyte The established management committee was New Journal and Guide (USPS 0277560/ISSN 8096) is published to hold a special meeting weekly on Thursday for $50 per Thursday night to consider year, $30 per year for six months by possible actions. According New Journal and Guide Publishing, Incorporated,5127 East Va. Beach to YMCA officials, this Blvd., Suite 100, Norfolk, VA Management committee 23510. Periodicals Postage Paid has pledged the central at Norfolk, VA 23501. Postmaster: Send address changes to New association’s complete Journal and Guide, P.O. Box 209, support.

Norfolk, VA 23501. The New The new Board members Journal and Guide is not responsible for any unsolicited manuscripts, were elected Tuesday during photographs or related materials. the meeting attended by about

Harvard President Supported

By University’s Overseers

By Stacy M. Brown

Senior National Correspondent part of the struggle for @StacyBrownMedia liberation and reconstruction.

The heritage symbol can Harvard University’s be an African art object ... or Board of Overseers released any other hero, heroine or any a statement this week appropriate representation expressing their support of our history and culture. for President Claudine Its purpose is to keep us Gay despite increasing constantly in touch with criticism and demands for ourselves, our history and our her removal. It read: “We own humanity. fully support President Gay, In a word, it is to shield us standing together in unity and from the vulgar envelopment agreement.” by the views and values of The controversy ensued the dominant society, remind after the hearing on us of the richness of our past December 5 before a House and point to the unlimited subcommittee on antipossibilities of our future. semitism. During the session, Dr. Maulana Karenga, Gay and two other university Professor and Chair of women presidents were Africana Studies, California criticized for not clarifying State University-Long if supporting the genocide of Beach; Executive Director, Jews would go against their African American Cultural universities’ code of conduct.

Center (Us); Creator of As the situation escalated, Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture.

Mayoral

Continued from page 1A Wooten is the current chair of the Minority Business Council and the chair of the Outreach Committee. She is a member of the Minority Awareness Committee, the American Society for Public Administration, and the National Association of Professional Women.

For more than 13 years, Wooten has worked as an administrative pastor and the chaplain for the Virginia Beach Police Department. She is a graduate of the 2018 Lead Hampton Roads Signature Class.

opponents intensified their demands for Gay to be fired.

However, support for Harvard’s independence and opposition to political meddling came together in the form of letters signed by faculty members and alumni in her honor. Concurrently, a petition was disseminated in support of her removal, which reflected the divergent

viewpoints present in the Harvard community.

Liz Magill, the President of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned this week because of criticism about her testimony.

Magill, like Gay, abstained from specifically determining whether endorsing the genocide of Jews contravened campus speech regulations, instead stating that the matter was “context-dependent.”

Because of the controversy, Gay subsequently issued a statement of remorse and provided further clarification regarding her stance, emphasizing that threats of violence “are abhorrent, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held accountable.”

Gay, who graduated from Harvard in 2006, is the first Black person to hold this position.

Portsmouth Vice Mayor Lucas-Burke serves in her current position from 20222024; she also served as Vice Mayor from 2019 to 2020.

She joined Portsmouth City Council in 2017.

Lucas-Burke, a product of the Portsmouth Public Schools, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology, both from Norfolk State University.

She began her professional journey with the City of Portsmouth’s Data Processing Department in January 1988.

In 2000, she joined her family’s business and currently serves as the Executive Director and partner at the Lucas Lodge entities headquartered in the Lucas Professional Center.

Vice Mayor Lucas-Burke assumes leadership roles in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Steering Committee, Portsmouth Democratic Committee, Girls Incorporated of Southwest Hampton Roads Board of Directors. She is an honored graduate of the Vann H. Lefcoe Leadership Class of 2013. Her association with the Portsmouth Economic Development Authority included a noteworthy tenure as Vice Chair from 2013 to 2014 and Chair from July 2014 to 2016.

Lucas-Burke is the firstborn daughter of Senator L. Louise Lucas and the late Otis M. Lucas. She is married to Herbert Burke, and they are proud parents of one adult daughter, Demesha.

President Claudine Gay

From The Guide’s Archives

Archives taken from the pages of the (New) Journal and Guide 80 of the 800 odd members, nine are the old management committee members. Most have been closely identified with the Christopher factions.

He has withdrawn from consideration as the executive secretary.

He has considered taking a job elsewhere, he told members of the Central Y committee. A motion was passed to accept Christopher’s request.

Students Missing Since December 3 PORTSMOUTH The anxious families of two Portsmouth 14-year-old girls, missing from home since last Tuesday, continued their search this week for even the slightest clue as to the girls’ whereabouts.

Audrey Grant, daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Harvey Grant of 2913 High Street and Polly Ann Robertson’s daughter to Mrs. Richardson of 1244 Summit Avenue, left home for school on December 3 and have not been seen since.

Both girls were 9th-grade students at Norcom High School.

The parents of the two girls told a GUIDE reporter they could give no reason for their daughter’s disappearance.

They said they had been informed by W. E. Waters, principal of Norcom High School, that he had given both girls notes for their parents, asking them to report on the school.

Waters said the girls had broken some school rules and had sent them home at about 11 a.m. Neither of the girls reported home.

Officers R. E. Cornwell and C.H. Brown of the Portsmouth police youth Bureau said Wednesday morning they are checking all possibilities of the girl’s location.

it did not receive a rousing welcome In fact, the entry of the hooded order into the Old Dominion on Saturday night has been greeted by catcalls, jeers, and heckling.

A rain-soaked handful of race baiters finally got a cross to burn, but even the glare of the fiery symbol of racial intolerance failed to warm the ardor of the attendance.

A statement by a man who said that he was the grand wizard of the group indicating that there would be other KKK meetings in the state sent officials in the areas mentioned rushing to their laws books to see what it meant and what actions could be taken toward closing the door in the faces of the bed sheet clad racists.

The Grand Wizard said that meetings would be held at Arlington, Norfolk, and near Richmond. He gave no dates. But Norfolk officials did not sit around waiting for dates, places, etc. Police Chief Harold Anderson, City Attorney Leonard Davis, and Director of Public Safety Calvin Dabney went into the conference room to “map out what he would do” in case the KKK carried its intentions to hold a meeting at Norfolk.

While the police chief says he does not believe that the Klan would try to hold a meeting in the city, he said, “We are alerted to the situations, and we certainly don’t want anything here at Norfolk that would cause excitement and disorder.”

He declared, “If any laws are violated, we will act on it.”

Similar statements from other areas where the Klan has announced intentions to meet are forthcoming.

The failure of the Saturday meeting at Danville to draw a big crowd gives indications that Virginia does not have a place in it for the Klan.

than any other classification of man.

That is why they don’t marry.

With some instinctive sensation of genius, they feel that a woman will heel under to a heel and remain delightfully subservient to a guy whose stature and deportment suggest security but whose lips do not.

The Bachelors’ credo: “By tying the (marital) knot, you are offering a woman rope; give her enough rope, and she will hang you.”

A female psychologist, Cleo Dawson, refutes this ageold story of the boutonniere lover boys.

In a report titled “How to Manage a Woman,” she agrees that a girl’s goal always is security. But she contends that the lady who has not got security will give a guy the most trouble.”

“A woman,” she said, “operates on a constant straight line, never deviating.

Her goal is security; she will only stop once she gets it. This search for security makes her supersensitive to danger.”

Thus, she likely can spot a bounder sooner than he thinks.

More Social Action By Churches Needed

NORFOLK Representatives of the churches of several denominations unharmoniously voiced the need for more social action and greater participation in civic affairs by churches in a one-day interdenominational institute held at Virginia State College, Norfolk, Saturday.

The institute, sponsored by the Division of Adult Services of Norfolk College, was under the direction of Dr. G.W.C Brown, supervisor of the Evening College.

No Welcome For The Church, one of the Aging Bachelors Are Sure most influential institutions KKK From Virginia They Understand Why in the community, should Special to Journal and Guide Women Don’t Get Married. assume a leading role in its battement and NEW YORK the development of an DANVILLE, VA. Aging bachelors are sure awareness of the obligation The KKK came back to Virginia last weekend, but they understand women better of members to participate

in civic affairs and support certain moments, speakers agreed.

A group that has as its topic for discussion “Civic Participation” concluded that ministers should use the pulpit more to encourage their congregations to pay their poll tax and vote.

The various candidates’ platforms should be made known, and their significance should be analyzed and interpreted.

Hospital Patients “Go” For New Recovery Room

By Richard E. Moore NORFOLK The response to the addition of a new service at Norfolk Community Hospital means any person soon to be literally “fighting” to get admitted to the hospital.

The responses have been favorable for the recovery room recently instituted at the hospital. Patients, physicians, nurses, and hospital staff members have all put in a good word for the news service. Only one other hospital in the city can boast a recovery room.

The recovery room is a particular room set aside for patients who need intensive treatment and care following an operation.

As Charles Green, hospital administrator said, “The recovery room is set up to provide immediate bedside care when it’s most needed.”

Persons who were patients at the hospital last June can readily appreciate the new service.

Under the old system, a patient who underwent an operation at the hospital was taken directly to the “whatever” facility he has reserved, be it a private room, semi-private, or ward.

This shortens the distance between the operating room and the following service areas. This helps the nurses who walk long distances to provide post-operative patient care.

New Journal and Guide

December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023 | 3A

New Journal and Guide

4A | December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023

GIVE A CHILD A BOOK FOR CHRISTMAS

By Julianne Malveaux

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY VIRGINIA TECH

GUN VIOLENCE IS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS

By Wornie Reed, Ph.D.

The public health framework involves primary, secondary, and tertiary Gun violence is a public health crisis, says the prevention.

American Public Health Association.

The burden of gun violence in the United States vastly outpaces that in comparable countries: Of all firearm deaths in nearly two dozen populous, high-income countries, including Australia, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, 82 percent occur in the U.S., and 91 percent of children ages 0-14 killed by firearms in this group of nations were from the United States.

Each year, more than 39,000 people in the United States die because of gun violence, and tens of thousands more suffer nonfatal gun injuries.

Gun violence affects people of all ages and races in the U.S. but has a disproportionate impact on young adults, males, and racial/ethnic minorities: Among U.S. residents ages 15-24, homicide is the fourth leading cause of death for non-Hispanic whites, the second leading cause of death for Hispanics, and the leading cause of death for non-Hispanic Blacks.

Guns are a weapon of choice for homicide and suicide: Guns are the leading method of suicide in the U.S., accounting for half of all suicide deaths.

Sixty percent of firearmrelated deaths in the U.S. are suicides. Attempts of suicide by firearm result in death 85 percent of the time, compared to just 3 percent for other methods such as drug overdose. This is significant because nearly 90 percent of people who survive an attempted suicide do not attempt suicide a second time.

While most gun violence does not involve a mass shooting, in 2019, there were 418 mass shootings,

killing 464 people and injuring another 1,710.

According to The Gun Violence Archive, the U.S. witnessed 619 mass shootings in 43 different states (and Washington, D.C.) through the first 332 days of 2023.

Gun violence is an epidemic. One way to prevent gun violence is to treat it as a public health epidemic.

Dr. Deborah ProthroStith pioneered the idea of violence as a public health issue in the 1990s. Working in the emergency room in her medical school days, she kept seeing victims of violence treated and then released – unlike other patients – without any preventive care.

She began pushing prevention efforts in emergency rooms, doctor’s offices, and schools. And guns are increasingly a part of that conversation. Where stabbings were the issue when Prothro-Stith was in medical school, the picture has changed. More and more, it is guns.

To address this issue, Prothro-Stith advocates for the public health prevention approach.

The public health framework involves primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.

Primary prevention protects individuals to avoid disease before signs or symptoms of the disease. It includes activities, programs, and practices that operate fundamentally nonpersonally and alter the set of opportunities, risks, and expectations surrounding individuals.

Secondary intervention is the early detection of disease, followed by appropriate intervention,

such as health promotion or treatment.

Tertiary prevention aims to reduce the impact of the disease and promote rehabilitation of persons with the disease.

This is often referred to as treatment.

Prothro-Stith uses the example of smoking and lung cancer to explain the public health prevention approach. “First, there’s primary prevention, which involves informing the public of the consequences of smoking. The secondary phase is helping smokers quit, and the third, or tertiary phase, is treatment for those who have lung cancer.”

Concerning gun violence, the primary phase is raising awareness and trying to increase safety, which, of course, involves gun control.

Prothro-Stith argues for focusing on an assault weapon ban because it has worked before. There was a decrease in gun massacre deaths during the decade the federal ban was in place – from 1994 to 2004 – and an increase when the ban expired.

The secondary phase involves understanding the risk factors. For youth violence, Prothro-Smith argues for addressing youth who are hurt by violence or because they have witnessed it. Tertiary prevention works with victims of violence to intercede in the cycle of violence.

The American Public Health Association, which takes its role as the advocate for Americans’ health seriously, issued a policy statement in 2018 proclaiming that violence is a public health issue and that public health is essential to understanding and treating violence in the U.S.

So, if you are playing Santa (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM) Claus laden with They don’t call it “Black Friday” because they love gifts, make sure Black people; they call it Black Friday because many at least one is businesses are pushed into a book. And if the Black (from the red ink of losses to the Black your funds aren’t ink of profits) on that day challenged ... gift or into the holiday season.

Julianne Malveaux In just the three days from another child or Black Friday until Sunday, November 26, online sales 3, 2024, ends her voicemail two with a book. jumped by more than seven percent, according to one of the credit card companies that tracks spending from credit receipts. Even with economic anxiety, people are spending money.

If your email inbox is anything like mine, you are barraged with ads and promotions offering 25, 50, and even 75 percent off.

These retailers aren’t giving anything away for free. A 75 percent offer means they had marked the product up by three times what it cost them to produce it to get their retail price. The original tag may have said $99.99. Trust and believe that the item didn’t cost more than $25 to produce unless it has been sitting on the shelf for so long that it is cheaper to mark the item down than to use shelf space for something else.

Books are the same way.

Booksellers mark books down when they need to make room for new inventory. But there is a big difference between giving someone a jacket and giving them a book, especially if the book is a gift for a young person. Too many children don’t have books or access to them, and the gift of a book can transform a child’s life.

You can open a world for a youngster with a book that shows her other countries and offers him different ways of thinking (thus the scientific fiction genre and Afrofuturism many young Black folks are getting into).

Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati, founder of the AfricanAmerican Children’s Book Fair, which will be held in Philadelphia on February

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. (Ret.) (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

(TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM) If you live in Detroit or another part of Michigan where there’s a looming threat of bodily harm from fossil fuel pollution, it just got a little easier to breathe a sigh of relief ... and to maintain your ability to breathe in general.

The historic Clean Energy Future Package and Clean Energy and Jobs Act, just recently signed into law by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, will greatly accelerate the state’s transition to the exclusive use of clean power sources like wind and solar.

That’s a victory for Michiganders and for the country’s goals of slashing the pollution that fuels climate change and harms our health.

It’s also a major win for environmental justice, hard-hit communities in a state, and workers.

Michigan’s codified commitment to fighting the pollution driving climate change is inherently good news for the communities of color that bear a disproportionate burden of the effects of the crisis, and the benefits go even further. New incentives in the bills to make buildings energy efficient will have an outsized positive impact for these communities, where a higher number of the homes are old, drafty,

According to 2019 figures from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services ... within Detroit, Black residents were Ben Jealous hospitalized for and not energy efficient. asthma three Finally, air pollution from many of the times as often as power and industrial plants, which are also white residents. disproportionately located in these communities, will be reduced by the state’s mandates for clean energy. This is huge for all Michiganders, and especially for those communities where public health is suffering from pollution.

The Detroit tri-cities area – encompassing Detroit, River Rouge, and Ecorse – and other parts of Michigan experiencing the worst air pollution are predominantly Black or Black and Latino. The Harvard Medical School Primary Care Review has pointed out that within the two zip codes that make up Southwest Detroit alone, “there are more than 150 facilities that emit toxic fumes, gasses, chemicals, and particulate matter.”

Black residents make up 80 percent of one of those

zip codes, 48217, a statistic noted at an October gathering of activists, near the Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s refinery in Southwest Detroit, by Ember McCoy, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, in discussing the disproportionate impact of air pollution on the city’s residents.

According to 2019 figures from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, adult residents of Detroit were 46 percent more likely to have asthma than the statewide average. And within Detroit, Black residents were hospitalized for asthma three times as often as white residents.

And that’s just asthma. ...see Michigan, page 5A

racist parent can cause a book to be removed from a library or banned from a syllabus. The American Library Association keeps track of the more than 1600 books that were challenged in 2022, with the thirteen most frequently challenged including Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (https://www.statista.com/ chart/29757/anti-criticalrace-theory-measures/).

Rabid parents want to keep these books out of the curriculum and ban them from libraries. That’s why every home needs a library, and every child needs to have their own books.

The culture wars are here, and with the 2024 election, they will likely start sizzling.

There’s a big battle that groups like the American Library Association, the National Education Association, and other organizations, including civil rights organizations like the National Urban League, are taking on through the Freedom to Learn Campaign (www.freedomtolearn.net).

This cause is good trouble!

At the same time, we can provide education child by child. Buy a child a book for Christmas! Talk to her about it. Give a book to a child you don’t know. Give a book, give a book, give a book.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and educator. Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History is in its 2022 second edition. Copies are available at info@ speakloudly.com.

Issues You Care About

we look at How The Clean Energy Win In Michigan whatSo isoften before us, knowing must be done to Provides A Roadmap For Other States something make something happen or

By Ben Jealous

message with “buy a book” because she is passionate about the power that literacy has to enhance a young life.

So, if you are playing Santa Claus laden with gifts, make sure at least one is a book.

And if your funds aren’t challenged, bring at least one book to your cherished child and gift another child or two with a book.

COVID-19 and the ease and speed of online ordering have challenged the vitality of independent Black bookstores. But Mahogany Books, founded in 2007 as an online platform (www. mahagonybooks.com), now has two brick-and-mortar locations and thrives.

In Oakland, California, Marcus Books, the first Black bookstore west of the Mississippi River, continues to thrive despite challenges. One recent list of independent Black-owned bookstores counts 89 (https:// www. cntraveler.com/story/ Black-owned-bookstores) suggests patronizing them in person or online.

Independent Blackowned bookstores are now more critical than ever.

As of this April, twentyeight states have passed laws preventing teaching “critical race theory” (https://www.statista.com/ chart/29757/anti-criticalrace-theory-measures/), which can sometimes be broadly construed to include the simple teaching of African-American history.

Several initiatives have been introduced, with some implementing and regulating teaching, library content, and more. One disgruntled

to prevent something from happening.

Fortunately, both individuals and groups are answering the call to do something to change what is – but shouldn’t be. Our history tells us there have always been people who would step up to prevent negative things from happening to us when others just laid back and told themselves, “Nothing can be done about that.” Others have often given their lives proving them wrong.

If you haven’t heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s speech below, you need to listen to it and think about whether you are willing to go as far as he did, so that you know we are blessed to have had people like Dr. King who paid the ultimate price for us to enjoy many of the benefits we have now, but stand the chance of losing if we don’t care enough to protect them. In his “Mountaintop” speech he said: “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.

Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.”

Some groups and individuals have adopted that same philosophy today and are inspired to do something about the problems. One of the groups you should

... They work to make good things happen. They work to get people registered to vote and assist in getting voters to vote.

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. (Ret.) around criticizing others.

They work to make good know about is Black Women things happen. They work for Positive Change. They to get people registered to have just completed their vote and assist in getting 12th Annual Month of voters to vote. Unlike other Non-Violence.

Many of groups, they don’t just hold the members are women a luncheon or a dinner once you might know such as a year and call it quits. They Dr. Stephanie Myers (DC), work to inspire others to Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds take action on issues we (MD), Dr. Valda Crowder should all care about. I am (PA), Karen Carrington- especially pleased with Washington (DC), Daun the work they do and the S. Hester (VA), Charlene inspiration they give to Ligon (NE), Gloria Dulan- others.

Wilson (PA), Renata Valree Maybe you just want to and Jan Perry (CA.) Many say thank you when you run of them I have called friends into any one of those I’ve for years, and they continue mentioned and anyone you to do God’s work. Every day know in your community of the year, some of their who is making a difference. members work to save lives- These are people who give -especially of young people their time, their energy, their through a program they know-how, and their money promote nationwide called because they care enough to “Peace Circles” in schools. take action on issues they They work along with care about. They don’t just Dr. Franklyn Malone (DC) criticize others for what they of 100 Black Fathers and do or do not do. They get up several “Good Brothers” every day working to bring such as Rev. Oliver Buie about the kind of world they (CA), and Dr. Robert want to see. Where do you Fairchild (VA) and they stand? What are you doing make a difference in the to make a difference? If lives of many young people. everybody does a little bit, I have a nephew by the nobody would have to do a name of Dwayne Dupar whole lot! I LOVE DOERS! (LA) (known as Difference Dr. E. Faye Williams Maker) who works with is President Emerita of young people every day – The National Congress of even on his job as he gives Black Women and current them haircuts.) They don’t President of The Dick just talk. They don’t sit Gregory Society.

New Journal and Guide

December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023 | 5A

OP-ED

WHY DOES MOST OF AMERICA IGNORE VIOLENCE PREVENTION?

By Dr. Stephanie Myers For 12 years during months of October, Black Women for Positive Change has sponsored annual days, weeks and months of Non-Violence, Families, Voters Rights and Opportunities. It is our belief that with the epidemic of violence gripping the nation, America should be anxious for new approaches that can promote violence prevention, anger management, conflict resolution and deescalation of violence.

So far in 2023, the Gun Violence Archive reports that there have been at least 35,275 people who have died from gun violence this year and 50 percent were suicides. However, in spite of our 12 years of outreach to Governors, Members of Congress, Mayors and national leaders there has been very little response to our efforts to start a violence prevention movement.

Not everyone is turning a deaf ear. In September 2023 President Joe Biden created the vital Office of Violence Prevention, and Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) are supporting our efforts, along with Everytown for Gun Safety, National Black Nurses Association, National Association for Community Mediation, 100 Fathers Inc., and some law enforcement and faith-based organizations. But this is not enough. Our nation needs a national grassroots movement with citizens and institutions from all sectors.

We all know America was born into violence with genocide of the Native Americans, enslavement of millions of African people, and violence against indentured poor White Europeans from England, Scotland, and Ireland, during the 1500’s-1800’s. Violence has been used as the preferred method of control, and is showcased regularly in movies, on nightly television, in video games, by law enforcement, gangs and through easy access to guns.

In 2024, we must “Change the Culture of Violence in America, and the World,” by urging use of new methods for

Michigan Continued from page 4A The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says this type of pollution is also known to increase rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological and immune disorders, and other health concerns. And, as McCoy also noted at that Detroit panel discussion, “certain pollutants, when combined, as they are in the air, are worse together than they are alone individually … but we still measure them and regulate them as if they’re acting separately.”

So, yes, a lot still needs to be done. Especially in terms of how these chemical and particulate pollutants are regulated at the federal level. Still, we shouldn’t lose sight of the positive action that states like Michigan are taking right

Voting Continued from page 1A The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court found that only the U.S. Attorney General can enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires political maps to include districts where minority populations’ preferred candidates can win elections.

The majority said other federal laws, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, make it clear when private groups can sue but said similar wording is not found in the voting law.

According to Civil Rights legal activists like Roy Perry-Bey, two historic winning cases filed in Hampton Roads would not have been possible if the proposed change had been in effect at the time.

For instance, Herbert Collins vs. The City of Norfolk said the city’s atlarge system of electing council deprived Blacks of electing candidates of their

In 2024, we must “Change the Culture of Violence in America, and the World,” by urging use of new methods for peace and reconciliation.

Dr. Stephanie Myers peace and reconciliation. For example, this year during the Month of NonViolence, we focused on “Restorative Justice Peace Circles,” in schools and organizations. These Peace Circles provided adults and children with forums where they were able to honestly express anger, interact with peers, analyze their moods and to find ways to resolve conflicts without violence or suicide.

This year, we engaged over 3,400 adults and children, in 84 activities including Peace Circles, in 15 U.S. States and eight overseas countries. Children in elementary schools in South Korea, Pittsburgh, PA, Houston, Texas, Ivory Coast and in Nigeria, Africa had open non-judgmental discussions about anger they were feeling and how to resolve it. Global peace discussions were held with professionals in the USA, England, Scotland and Canada where health professionals, educators and law enforcement personnel discussed how to stop domestic violence, and how to teach de-escalation of violence. There was even a session on the impact of artificial intelligence on society, and how it can be used to foster global peace.

As we hear daily news about violence increasing in the U.S. and overseas in Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries, we are all alarmed. It is urgent that people come together to implement non-violence, non-militaristic solutions since history shows that more violence, increased

punishment, expanded prisons and lack of mental health for suicidal adults and children, are not the answer.

Let’s stop ignoring the discipline of violence prevention and start to overhaul the American culture of violence. We must advocate for funding for programs that establish Peace Circles in schools, make state and local Departments of Parks and Recreation safe centers of non-violence, and build on programs that teach the time-tested philosophies of Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and other non-violent leaders.

Sadly, much of the violence in our nation begins at the kitchen table and is the fault of law enforcement that commits violent acts against innocent people. Our children, adults and law enforcement must learn how to de-escalate violence and how to use different approaches to resolving disputes and anger, other than taking guns and shooting family members, co-workers, fellow students, or shooting themselves.

The year of 2024 will be the 13th Year of Non-Violence, Families, Voters Rights and Opportunities. Will the readers of this article stop ignoring violence prevention and take leadership in their communities? If yes, contact us at Bkwomen4poschange@gmail. com or visit our website at www.

Blackwomenforpositivechange.org Dr. Stephanie Myers is National Co-Chair, Black Women for Positive Change. She can be reached at Bkwomen4poschange@gmail.com.

now and the example it sets for other states.

There’s a lot to be hopeful about in the clean energy bills’ impact on public health. The bills also set a powerful example for how to help ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels with strong protections for labor.

Part of the clean energy package is the creation of the Community and Worker Economic Transition Office.

The office will develop a plan and coordinate efforts to address the impact on workers in the shift from fossil fuels to renewables, helping to ensure that no worker is left behind. By delivering historic federal action in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration has already given states a powerful way to capitalize on massive federal investments in their economies and a green future for us all.

That’s exactly what Michigan is doing, and doing it right. In addition to the billions that Michigan

has already secured in federal investment dollars, a recent report by the Michigan-based 5 Lakes Energy shows that passing the 100 percent clean energy legislation could mean over 160,000 additional quality jobs over the next decade and $7.8 billion more in investments by 2050, which is more than twice what Michigan would expect to receive without enacting these policies.

Thanks to the IRA, states now have an unprecedented opportunity to address the harm done by climate change while also jumpstarting economic development, creating jobs, moving towards energy independence, improving the health and lives of their residents, and leading on environmental justice.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club, professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free.”

choice in the early 1990s. It resulted in the creation of the city’s current ward system.

Two years ago, a single mother, Natasha Hathaway, filed a case in the same federal court that struck down Virginia Beach’s hybrid at-large and borough system, which deterred Black residents from electing candidates of their choice.

Now, four of the eleven members of the Virginia City Council are Black for the first time in its history.

“This is going to be the most critical voter protection case in a generation,” said Perry-Bey, who assisted in drafting the legal briefs and strategy for both the Collins and Hathaway cases.

“Private citizens have filed most of the cases to challenge racist election systems and policies with the help of the NAACP and other rights organizations seeking to address wrongs,” he said.

“The idea that they no longer have that right to grievance and fight for their rights is insane, and I hope the U.S. Supreme Court dismisses it if it gets that

far.”

In a statement, the Congressional Black Caucus noted that private individuals and civil rights groups have successfully given Black voters better representation through recent challenges to congressional maps drawn

by Republican lawmakers in Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida.

“This decision by the appellate court is illadvised, cannot stand, and should be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which we hope will reaffirm that citizens have a private right of action to bring forward lawsuits under Section 2,” the group said.

Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, called the ruling a “travesty for democracy.” She had argued the appeal on behalf of the two Arkansas groups.

Barry Jefferson, political action chair of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP, called the ruling “a devastating blow to the civil rights of every American and the integrity of our nation’s electoral system.”

Slur Continued from page 1A ”The use of racial slurs and other offensive language targeting people for their identity is abhorrent and is not tolerated by Illinois State University. Among Illinois State’s core values are respect for others, diversity, and inclusion,” the statement continued.

NSU head coach Robert Jones went on the court to speak with officials.

ISU head coach Ryan Pedon was upset NSU head coach Robert Jones was on the floor.

NSU President Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, Ph.D., and the school’s Director of Athletics, Melody Webb, released a statement on December 10.

“We are profoundly disappointed at the events that transpired during the men’s basketball game (December 9) at Illinois State University where racial epithets were shouted at our studentathletes,” the statement said. “We are at a critical time in this nation and world as it relates to race relations, and any type of hate speech or language is unacceptable.

“This behavior and language has no place in society or athletic competition.

College athletics is rooted in sportsmanship, camaraderie, and exhibiting school pride.

“We appreciate Coach Jones for standing up for our student-athletes, and we commend our studentathletes for exhibiting restraint during a stressful ordeal.

Our student-

Congratulations To The 2023 Graduating Class of Norfolk State University

A Future to Behold!

By Melissa Spellman, Class of 2023 On the night before commencement anticipation filled their hearts up.

Not a graduate was sleeping in all of Sparta.

O! How they fought, defeated every obstacle at hand.

Wrestled every foe.

Accomplished every plan.

Battle scars did wound, but persistence pushed them forward.

The Mighty Legion held strong through the pain and the turmoil.

They came. They conquered.

They battled. They bled.

They carry generations, and more generations will be led.

We salute you, we honor you with sword and shield.

Onward to victory, Dear Spartans No retreat. No yield.

May your heart never be weary.

Your head always held high.

Your spirit never waver.

Your soul never grow tired.

Rest well tonight, O! Sparta For tomorrow your future is told Onward to victory, Dear Spartans!

BEHOLD! THE GREEN and GOLD!

athletes followed in the footsteps of the late Bill Russell and basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during their collegiate careers and successfully played through racial slurs meant to traumatize and disrupt the team. Our students remained Spartan Strong, but that is not something they should have to overcome during an athletic event in 2023.

We are so proud of our team for maintaining a competitive game and spectacular performance for a win against Illinois State University.

“We have heard from the president and athletic director of Illinois State University. They have stated that the behavior shown to our studentathletes at the Horton Field House does not represent their institution and that they will fully investigate this incident.

We acknowledge their apology and look forward to hearing the results of their investigation.”

Just after 6 p.m.

(December 10), ISU men’s basketball released a statement from Pedon via its X account.

“I reached out to Coach Robert Jones this morning to apologize for my reaction during our game last night. I take full responsibility for my actions. I was wrong for allowing the situation to escalate. I expressed to Coach Jones after the game that I absolutely did not hear what he was saying to me,” Pedon said in the statement.

“Had I heard Coach Jones, my response would have been completely different. This was a misunderstanding in which I reacted to him without understanding the

situation, and I own that mistake 100%. I would also like to apologize for any negative reflation my response may have brought to either institution, its student-athletes, or basketball programs,” Pedon continued.

Pedon addressed the conflict in his post-game press conference following ISU’s 64-58 loss to NSU. “I was upset he was on the floor, and I was raising hell with the referees. It was never personal to him.

I’ll leave it at that. I’ll take the high road on that,” Pedon said.

Jones took to X, formerly Twitter, to express his emotions about the incident following the game.

“I’m not letting anybody call my players a racial slur. Those are my kids, and I will fight for them.

We have come too far in society to be called the N-word at (a) college basketball game,” Jones posted via X after the game.

Jones reposted a number of comments on the situation, including one that said, “PARENTS PAY ATTENTION!”! One coach is standing up for his players, and the other coach is mad at the coach for standing up for his players. Choose wisely.”

“Illinois State has moved swiftly to investigate the report and will respond appropriately.

Illinois State University and Redbird Athletics extend sincere apologies to Norfolk State University, its student-athletes, and its athletics staff for the deep upset caused, and university leaders have personally reached out to colleagues at Norfolk State,” the university said in the release.

New Journal and Guide

6A | December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023

RICHMOND’S ELEGBA SOCIETY PLANS ANNUAL KWANZAA FESTIVAL One of Biggest On East Coast; December 30 RICHMOND The Elegba Folklore Society is having their annual Kwanzaa Festival, one of the biggest Kwanzaa events on the East Coast, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on December 30.

Spend your evening enjoying the Kwanzaa holiday with the Candle Lighting, world Music and Dance, the African Market, Food, Children’s events, and more! Tickets for the event start at $6 for general admission.

But what is the Kwanzaa Holiday, and why is it important to us as a community? The history of Kwanzaa begins in the 1960s, when Maulana Karenga, a Black Nationalist and later a college professor, created Kwanzaa as a way of uniting and empowering the AfricanAmerican community in the aftermath of the Watts Rebellion, which was a large series of riots that broke

Each day of Kwanzaa, there are 7 items that are displayed, as well as 7 candles that are lit to symbolize a different principle of Kwanzaa. out on August 11, 1965, in Watts, California. To bring African-Americans together as a community, he combined different aspect of several different harvest celebrations, and with that knowledge formed the week long holiday of Kwanza, which takes place between December 26 and ends on January 1.

For each day of Kwanzaa, there are seven items that are displayed, as well as 7 candles that are lit to symbolize a different principle of Kwanzaa. There are seven life principles to reflect on and practice, one for each day.

The candles are red, green, and black, with the black

candle being in the center, three red candles on the left of the black candle, and three green on the right. They are lit in order of the seven principles with the black candle being lit first, then they alternate from left and right starting inwards and branching outwards.

Celebrate this historical holiday as a community at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on December 30 from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., and enjoy the largest Kwanzaa event in the East Coast on the day of Nia. For more information of the event, contact the Elegba Folklore Society on their website at https://efsinc.org

ARE YOU READY FOR KWANZAA?

CELEBRATE KWANZAA 2023 DECEMBER 26 - JANUARY 1

THEME: “Kwanzaa, Freedom, Justice and Peace:

Principles and Practices For A New World” NGUZO SABA: DAILY PRINCIPLES TO PRACTICE Dec. 26 UMOJA (UNITY) To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

Dec. 27 KUJICHAGULIA (SELF-DETERMINATION) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Dec. 28 UJIMA (COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY) To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together.

Dec. 29 UJAMAA (COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Dec. 30 NIA (PURPOSE) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Dec. 31 KUUMBA (CREATIVITY) To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Jan. 1 IMANI (FAITH) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

PHARRELL’S WORKING ON MOVIE; SITW MUSIC FEST UNCERTAIN

By Rosaland Tyler Associate Editor New Journal and Guide

Pharrell Wiliams, a Grammy Award-winning artist and 2014 Academy Award nominee, is busy scouting a female lead for a new Hollywood movie that will feature his music, at a time when the date for his 2024 “Something in the Water” music festival seems to hang in the air.

The City of Virginia Beach recently asked Audacy Virginia to sponsor the 2024 spring musical festival. Will it replace Williams’ controversial Virginia Beach music festival that was launched a few years ago?

The three-day festival has been held on the fourth weekend of April in the past, but Williams floated the idea of moving it following bad weather during the 2023 festival. No

word yet.

The music festival has encountered bad weather and disputes with local officials. In 2022, the music festival was moved to Washington, D.C. “Something in the Water” replaced College Beach weekend, a controversial spring music festival that HBCU leaders and students organized in 2019.

Meanwhile Williams is a very busy man.

He is holding casting calls and continues to be a style icon. He has served as the men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton since midFebruary 2023. His debut Louis Vuitton collection was unveiled in Paris in June.

He and Japanese producer and designer Nigo founded the streetwear brand Billionaire Boys Club in the early 2000s. Williams also has a long-standing partnership with Adidas

Originals and recently launched a skin care line, Humanrace.

In his role at Louis Vuitton, he is responsible for producing two collections a year (bags, accessories, and ready-to-wear).

“He has also recently been sporting custom diamond-encrusted shades he designed with Tiffany & Co., LVMH (Louis Vuitton’s parent company),” GQ magazine noted in February.

“His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter,” GQ noted.

During previous ‘Something in the Water’ concerts, the list of entertainers included Williams, as well as Jay Z, Clipse, Grace Jones, Wu-Tang Clan, 100 gecs, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Durk, and others.

New Journal and Guide

December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023 | 7A

SANCTUARY ROAD

EXPERIENCE TRUE STORIES FROM THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD AT HARRISON OPERA HOUSE IN NORFOLK | JANUARY 26, JANUARY 28 HAMPTON ROADS The Virginia Opera will present Sanctuary Road in late January, a production that brings to life the harrowing and inspiring tales of enslaved Blacks who escaped bondage through the Underground Railroad. Local audiences can embrace this tribute on stage January 26 and January 28. Other performances are planned for Richmond and Fairfax in February, with Harrison Opera special tickets starting at “Pay As You Wish.” (See Sanctuary Road ad, page 6A) Harriet Tubman is the best-known conductor of the Underground Railroad, but there were others, including William Still. An abolitionist and historian, as well as a conductor for the Underground Railroad, he is credited with helping nearly 800 enslaved Africans in America escape to freedom.

The final words of the opera could not be more powerful and resonant, evoking such a jubilant expression of freedom – ‘Shout from every rooftop. Loud as can be: free.’”

– Adam Turner, Virginia Opera’s Artistic Director

The writings of Henry Still form the basis for Sanctuary Road which was composed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Moravex.

Still’s 1871 book, The Underground Railroad Records, documented a staggering 745 accounts, with approximately thirty percent, or 242, provided by escapees from Virginia, including Clarissa Davis, who fled Portsmouth, Va., Henry “Box” Brown, who fled Richmond, Va., and

many more.

Sanctuary Road premiered in 2022 by North Carolina Opera. Virginia Opera’s performances of Sanctuary Road mark not only the Commonwealth of Virginia Premiere, but also only the third production of the opera in the United States.

“At Virginia Opera, we are committed to bringing stories that resonate with the heart and soul of our community. Sanctuary Road

is not only a tribute to our region’s rich history, but a testament to the enduring power of opera to connect us to our shared past and inspire our future,” said Virginia Opera’s Artistic Director Adam Turner.

He continued, “The final words of the opera could not be more powerful and resonant, evoking such a jubilant expression of freedom – ‘Shout from every rooftop. Loud as can be: free.’”

The production will be conducted by Dr. Everett McCorvey, the founder and music director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, the director and executive producer of University of Kentucky Opera Theatre, and the – Dr. Everett McCorvey, Sanctuary Road’s Conductor president of Global Creative Connections. PBS has produced six documentaries marks Dr. McCorvey’s William Still, Laquita featuring Dr. McCorvey’s conducting debut at Virginia Mitchell as soprano soloist, work. This appearance Opera.

Terrence Chin-Loy as soloist, Virginia Kimille Howard is at tenor the helm of this visionary native Adam Richardson landmark production in her as baritone soloist, and Virginia Opera directorial Tesia Kwarteng, graduate Virginia Opera’s debut.

The New York- of Foundation based director, deviser, Herndon writer, and filmmaker has Emerging Artists Program, earned recognition at the as mezzo-soprano soloist. on and Metropolitan Opera, the Commenting Washington National Opera, participating in the dramatic the Virginia Wolf Trap Opera, and the action, Opera Chorus of over Glimmerglass Festival.

Sanctuary Road presents 40 performers promises a collection of songs that to provide a powerfully artfully weave together the dynamic contribution.

This poignant production, themes and stories of the Underground Railroad. The just over an hour in duration, production is a moving is produced in partnership mosaic of narratives, paying with the Virginia Symphony homage to the countless Orchestra, promising an brave individuals who unforgettable and deeply sought freedom through this moving experience for all who attend. clandestine network.

For more information The production features a stellar cast, all making their and to purchase tickets, Virginia Opera mainstage please visit Virginia Opera’s debuts, including Virginia website at https://vaopera. native Damien Geter as org/sanctuary-road.

This production ... reminds us of the enduring relevance of the Underground Railroad’s legacy and the importance of using music to share these stories.”

New Journal and Guide

8A | December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023

ADVOCATE “STOPPED RUNNING” FROM CHILD ABUSE GHOST

By Leonard E. Colvin

Chief Reporter Emeritus New Journal and Guide “I stopped running” Those three words symbolize Juliet Banks’ new reality in life.

She is one of the many adults who were victims of sexual abuse during their childhood and spent a good portion of their lifetime running from the ever-present memories of the emotional pain and strongholds or barriers that deter them from healing.

“One must face their fears,” she said during a recent interview with the GUIDE. “Not holding it in; covering and protecting their abuser because at some point it will rear its ugly head affecting every aspect of their life.”

Banks said for years, she ran down a dark path of low self-esteem, selfhatred, and denial.

She wore too much makeup because she didn’t like who she saw in the mirror; while others would tell Banks she was pretty, she didn’t see it.

She was romantically attracted to abusers of many types, the effect of being robbed of her innocence, virtue, or dignity.

Banks, 58, is the founder of the organization S.S.P.E.A.K. (Stop Sexual Predators Engaging Against Kids LLC) which she started to allow herself and others to face their demons.

Banks has been invited to speak to groups to share her journey of overcoming strongholds, forgiving and healing.

“I decided to stop running from the demonic strongholds and the pain that my sexual abuse caused,” she said. “I want to help others face their demons, stop running, and free themselves by coming forward. That’s how the

Juliet Banks healing begins.”

“There are women, men, and children I know of with many stories they shared with me,” she said. “Like me, they kept running as adults, not confronting the reality of the physical, emotional, verbal, and mental abuse from their relationships with men.”

Banks also owns a mobile hairstyling company serving senior citizens at their homes, and at independent living and local nursing home facilities.

Banks said she fell victim to abuse under the roof of her grandmother’s home which she deemed a safe place.

Her mother drowned in an accident when she was seven, and she and her sister moved in with their grandmother.

It was her stepgrandfather, who would become her abuser after they moved into the house.

Banks said she longed to be independent and was happy the day she could finally exit her grandmother’s home. But the effects of the abuse were baggage she took with her.

At the adult age of 19, during a visit, Banks recalls when her grandmother had gone into another part of the house, the abuser approached her. He pulled out his penis and, with a smirk on his face, said, “What are you going to do

about it?”

That’s when Banks said she began “running.”

“My grandmother always asked me why I was reluctant to visit, why I wasn’t comfortable when her husband was near,” Banks recalled. “I could not tell her. At that time, I was not ready to confront the monster.”

So, she became promiscuous, selfsabotaging with alcohol, and putting herself in abusive relationships.

“I gravitated to what was familiar to me,” she said.

“I learned about sex and relationships in the most negative way. I even tried to commit suicide.”

During another visit, her grandmother was running errands and left her grandfather in Banks’ care.

She heard his voice calling and entered the room to see what he wanted.

He was bedridden and was in his final days of life.

“I entered the room, and he was lying on the bed,” she recalled. “He asked me for a blanket because he said he was cold.”

She got a blanket for him, and suddenly, all of the emotions she had held back came forth in a burst of rage and tears. She threw the blanket at him.

“I looked into his feeble eyes and said, ‘I remember what you did to me, but I will never forget. You changed my life forever.’”

It took years after her step-grandfather died when she was 42 that she could find the peace within herself that she sought for so many years.

Now Banks seeks to encourage others to face their sexual abuse and start a journey of healing.

Her mission is to raise awareness and not to shame those who have been falsely accused, helping those without remorse who refuse to seek help and continue to abuse children.

Juliet Banks, 58, is the founder of the organization S.S.P.E.A.K. (Stop Sexual Predators Engaging Against Kids LLC), which she started to allow herself and others to face their demons. There are counselors, support groups, and other organizations that can assist you or loved ones who have experienced the sexual abuse and trauma as Ms. Banks and others. To start, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Banks advises parents to “have that talk with their children” on the subject.

“Let them know that you are there for them no matter what and prepare them to protect themselves to avoid it,” she said. “They deserve a fair chance to be the best they can be as a child and adult.”

“Be careful of who you entrust to care for your children,” she advised. “As a single parent, if you decide to have a relationship with

someone, ensure you fully know that person and do a background check.”

Banks said if a parent has a suspicion, install security cameras. Anyone with good intentions and nothing to hide shouldn’t have an issue with that, she said.

Pay attention to the signs if your child begins to show abnormal behaviors.

If your child complains of discomfort in their private area, inspect them. Ask your children questions,

and do whatever it takes to protect them because they may be trying to tell you something. There are so many stories untold.

GETTING HELP: There are counselors, support groups, and other organizations that can assist you or loved ones who have experienced the sexual abuse and trauma as Ms. Banks and others.

To start, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

New Journal and Guide

December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023 | Section B

SECTION B

COMMUNITY & MORE ...

HU’S FIRST FAMILY DONATES $100,000 TO UNIVERSITY FOR SECOND YEAR ...see page 3B

LONI LOVE KEYNOTES NSU COMMENCEMENT

By Randy Singleton Community Affairs Correspondent New Journal and Guide

NORFOLK Award-winning host, comedian and actor Loni Love keynoted Norfolk State’s December commencement exercises at Echols Hall, Dec. 9.

Love stepped in for actress Sheryl Lee Ralph after Ralph was called back to work on an acting project shortly after the conclusion of the writers’ strike.

Love, who delivered an inspiring and thoughtful speech to around 400 graduating students, family, faculty, and alumni, told the students to pursue their goals and that they should embrace the journey of change in their lives.

Following her remarks, Love was awarded the NSU Presidential Medallion.

Virginia State Senator and NSU alumnus Lamont Bagby was awarded the NSU Presidential Medallion and a honorary doctorate degree.

NSU alumnus Sen. Lamont Bagby displays his award.

Photo: Randy Singleton

Photo: Randy Singleton

Oh, Happy Day! Among the smiling faces in this photo is that of Doris Taylor (third from left) who received her Master of Arts degree. Ms.Taylor was a New Journal and Guide student intern while attending ODU and got her first career job at the newspaper after graduating.Way To Go, Doris!

VA. NAACP’S 2024 LEGISLATIVE DAY IS JAN. 16 RICHMOND The Virginia NAACP will host its 2024 Legislative Day at the Capitol on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The annual event offers the opportunity for NAACP members to

meet with Legislators, attend Committee meetings, and sit in the galleries during floor proceedings. A continental breakfast and lunch are included.

Registration is required by NAACP Branch and Chapters and available

through Monday, January 9, 2024. The registration fee for this event is $10 and must be received by Friday, January 12, 2024.

For more information, go to naacpva.us

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The Booker T. Washington Class of 1958 Is Staying Connected

By Melissa Spellman Schools closed during the notifications when classmates churches among the members retreats in Wakefield, Virginia class is 83 years old. Some Fall Intern 2023 New Journal and Guide

Booker T. Washington High School’s Class of 1958 may have written the blueprint for high school alumni classes everywhere. The class believes it has set a new standard with their commitment to stay connected spanning 65 years.

The Booker T. Washington High School Class of 1958 celebrated their 65th class reunion earlier this fall, kicking off with a picnic in Lakewood Park in Norfolk.

Their festivities concluded with a Sunday brunch at the Greenbrier Country Club in Chesapeake where their class Chaplain, Jack Johnson, gave an inspirational word to the class.

When most Virginia

fight for desegregation, Booker T. Washington did not. The class of 1958 was the last class to graduate from Booker T. Washington High School prior to the Supreme Court ruling of desegregation.

This class remained dedicated to staying connected. Class Alumna Saundra Fenner believes their deep ties started in their neighborhoods through grade school, from Liberty Park, to Brambleton at John Good to Rufner.

“Our class is like a family.

Many of us have known each other since elementary school.

We all lived in the hood. We all knew each other, and our families knew each other,” said Fenner.

Through a calling committee the class kept in touch and sent class email

or their family members passed away. Traditional high schools host a reunion every 10 years. This class of 1958 did things differently keeping in touch with yearly events and monthly activities.

They formed the Booker T. Washington Alumni Choir which was active for over 20 years before disbanding due to COVID. The choir gave a yearly concert inviting the community to raise money for their scholarship fund.

They awarded two $1,000 scholarships to Booker T. Washington graduating seniors.

COVID would put an end to many of the traditions they upheld for decades. For instance, the 40-year tradition of attending church together once a month. Alternating

of the class, they worshipped together every 5th Sunday and shared a meal after service.

They prayed together, had prayer breakfast, annual pool parties, and even caught the Tide to Nordstrom at MacArthur to have lunch together.

Other activities included traveling to various professional football and basketball games along the East Coast, two 75th birthday

held consecutively, and the only class to have a four-day class reunion. Celebrating their 30th class reunion they conquered land and sea.

Launching the first day in Norfolk then a two-day cruise to the Bahamas and ending back in Norfolk where they hosted a viewing party. This four-day event proved to be one of their most memorable class reunions.

The average age of the

Scenes From The Reunion

HU’S FIRST FAMILY DONATES $100,000 TO UNIVERSITY FOR SECOND YEAR HAMPTON Hampton University President Darrell K. Williams, along with his wife, First Lady Myra Williams, recently demonstrated their commitment to the continued growth of Hampton University by generously donating $100,000 to Hampton for the second year in a row.

In conjunction with the recent National Day of Giving, the President and First Lady’s philanthropic gesture aims to support academic excellence, advance the University’s mission and spark the spirit of giving in others.

“The First Lady and I are delighted to give back to our “Home by the Sea,” said HU President Williams. “We remain both personally and professionally dedicated to delivering the number one student experience in America. We hope this will

members of the class are veterans of the Vietnam War. Their professions range from doctors, lawyers, teachers, to civil servants to name a few.

Booker T. Washington’s class of 1958 has been able to remain a part of each other’s everyday lives. So when they gathered on October 7 - 8, 2023 for their most recent 65th reunion, they were living proof that the ties that bind cannot be broken.

Photos: Courtesy

HANDEL’S MESSIAH WILL FEATURE GUEST PERFORMERS AT THIRD BAPTIST PORTSMOUTH Third Baptist Choirs will present Handel’s MESSIAH, Sunday December 17, 2023, at 4 p.m. in the sanctuary. Guest artist will be Miss Rachell Fillmore, a graduate of Norfolk State University. The choir will be accompanied by Mr. Frank T. Elliott, Instructor of Music at Norfolk

LOCAL VOICES

Photo: Courtesy

President Darrell K. Williams, along with his wife, First Lady Myra Williams inspire others to give.”

Ret. U.S. Army Gen. Williams has completed his first year and a half at the helm of Hampton and during that time has implemented a 10-year strategic plan, “Elevating Hampton Excellence,” completed phase one of a

State University and Music Director for the historic Third Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Virginia. Mr. Terry Butler, instructor in the Music Department of Norfolk State University, will be the organist.

Dr. J. Leon Knight is the Minister of Music/Conductor at Third Baptist Church.

4-4 “Hall of Fame” Nominations For Coach Ronald Jenkins In 46 Days, After 32 years

campus face-lift in which eight buildings were newly renovated, and increased enrollment.

The President and First Lady are both esteemed By Sean C. Bowers alums of the University, both class of 1983, the first On Pearl Harbor Day last alumni couple to serve in week, I was able to drop this capacity. four CONFIRMED “HOF” GOOD NEWS FORMAL NOMINATION bombs simultaneously, thereby raising up and honoring the BEACH DISTRICT’s BEST-EVER COACH to his earned rightful place of unparalleled greatness for consideration and statewide recognition in those hallowed historic halls.

Also formally nominated for the 2024-2025 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame class with Coach Jenkins are his former players he coached to greatness in Virginia and Nationally: They Include 1970s First Colonial AllAmerican’s Jimi Galin, South Carolina; Guy Morgan, Wake Forest; First Colonial’s Barry Mitchell, 1983 Tidewater Player of the Year, NSU player, 7-time CBA Champion; First Colonial’s Darryl Dozier, 1982 Tidewater Player of the Year, leading rebounder in the nation as a freshman at NAIA Gilford College; Bayside’s HS 1990 and 1991 Virginia AAA State Champion, Mario Mullen, ODU; Cape Henry Collegiate Private School Conferences leading scorer 1981 and 1982, David Ford, North Carolina Wesleyan; Mount Vernon HS 1982 Sean C. Bowers, #1 Ranked VIRGINIA AAA (1982), two-time state champion, 1983 Missouri State Region XVI NJCAA Champion, 7th in the Nation at “HUTCH,” Moberly Area CC, Coach 1989 Chief Sealth HS Washington State AA, Seattle Metro Champions, Played at the Nation’s alltime winningest #1 JUNIOR COLLEGE, Moberly Area CC./ Grand View College.

This week we celebrate Coach Jenkins. “Justice is best served, by being of service for others, especially all our sisters and brothers.”

Champions champion others to their own championship accomplished heights as newly formed branches from their former player/coaching tree they grew and guided so that justice shall forever prevail.

Coach Jenkins taught me and all my Virginia Beach Junior High teammates, classmates, faculty, staff, referees, administration, district, region, state,

This week we celebrate Coach Jenkins. “Justice is best served, by being of service for others, especially all Sean C. Bowers our sisters and community, and parents brothers.” those principles in 19761979. He singled-handedly stepped in between two angry racially charged mobs of viewers of the (then recently) released “ROOTS” Television show miniseries, where he defused those ticking time bombs that day by stating loudly and clearly, “No TV show was going to tear apart our school, community, family and team, ever.”

Coach Ronald Jenkins, 52 -years 1972 NSU graduate, task master, mentor, teacher, educator, motivator, malerole-model, father-figure, example, winner, champion, leader, listener, friend, Man, son, brother, comedian, finally now, COACH NOMINATED in 4 X Virginia Halls of Famer 2024-2025, and below myth buster.

History always honors the first, the best and still the only back-to-back, 2-time Virginia AAA state championship winning coach of any of the three major sports, FROM ANY BEACH DISTRICT SCHOOL, TEAM, SPORT, COACH, OF ANY COLOR.

That historical evidence, blows up the MYTH-“ONLY certain ones can coach, or win the big one(s),” back-toback, no matter how long it was they attempted to ignore those historic feats.

Ronald Jenkins DESTROYS that (pale face created narrative) myth, when he will always have been the first, and still, the only Coach to ever do that, in the old Confederacy’s Virginia Beach coaching ranks. That is HOF by ALL definitions.

Congratulations Coach Jenkins all Virginia Beach and the 757-area-code already knew you were HOF, and loved you, TRUE! Justice now accurately means true justice, no longer the old boys’ “just us,” club.

Especially, 32-years after those historic record-setting championships were won.

Sean C. Bowers is New Journal & Guide “Local Voice” for 26 years V1ZUAL1ZE Youth Development Coach.

Young Sean Bowers and Coach Jenkins

New Journal and Guide

4B | December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023

MOMENTS of MEDITATION

By Rev. Dr. Archie L. Edwards, Sr.

LIVING IN LOVE Read: 1 John 4:13-21 John’s first epistle is a statement of the nature of God: God is light; God is righteous; and God is love. This letter is also a statement of the ways in which these divine attributes transform the lives of those who know God. Those who know the God who is light are to “walk in the light, as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7).

Everyone who knows the God who is righteous “does what is right ... just as He is righteous” (3:7). And those who know the God who is love will “love one another, for love comes from God (4:7).

Of these three attributes, John devotes more space to the transforming effect of love than to either of the others. This may have had something to do with his own experience. When Jesus called His disciples, He gave the brothers, James and John, the nickname “Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). One indication of the “thunderous” disposition of these brothers is Luke’s account of Jesus’ journey through Samaria on His way to Jerusalem. When the Samaritans of one village refused to welcome Jesus, James and John became irate and said,

“Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54). Jesus rebuked them, and the group went on to another village where, presumably, they were better received.

GOD’S LOVE FOR US. The life of love begins with God’s love for us.

Were it not for that, we would be totally incapable of manifesting the selfgiving spirit that is the key ingredient of divine love. It is because “we know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16) that we are able, in return, to love both Him and one another.

John points out (v. 13) that the way in which we have assurance that we are alive in God and that He lives in us is through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

God’s love, to which the Spirit bears witness is demonstrated through the life, death and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

God the Father sent God the Son into this world for one supreme purpose: that He might be the world’s Savior (1 John 4:14). This does not mean that everyone will be saved. Everyone could be saved, for Christ’s death atoned for all sin, but there is a condition – “Whoever believes in Him shall not

perish (John 3:16; see 1 John 4:15).

OUR LOVE FOR GOD. According to verses 16 -18, God’s love for believers elicits in return a very special kind of love for God. We easily understand the mutual love that may exist between two human beings who have learned to respect and to like each other. Because of this, we may tend to think of reciprocal affection, without stopping to realize that, however much we may need God, He does not need us. He is, in Himself, totally self-sufficient.

Our love for God, though growing out of His love for us, is a different kind of response than our love for other people who love us. When we live in God’s love, we are living in God, and He is living in us (v. 16). The love that God has implanted within us is being completed, or perfected, both to assure us of His constant love and care during our lives on earth, and also so that we may face with confidence that future time when we shall stand in His presence to give an account of our earthly life (v. 17).

The way to experience fully God’s love for us is to allow the love for Him that He has imparted to us to become so complete that it drives out all fear of facing God in the judgment (v. 18). This does not mean that a Christian becomes flippant or irreverent his attitude toward God. On the contrary, the closer we come to the Almighty, the greater our experience of awe and reverence in His presence (see Isaiah 6:5). ...see Love, page 6B

IT TAKES MORE TO “STOP THE HATE” THAN SAYING THE WORDS

By Dr. John E. Warren

Sometimes, “forgiving” is harder than fighting.

Publisher,The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper “Stop The Hate, Spread The Love” are powerful words that convey the idea that we all should be able to get along. But the reality is that it takes more than just words to bring about the desired change in so much of our national attitudes and consciousness. We know that hate is rooted in the idea that the person or persons or groups hating are “better” than the objects of their hate and that those who are the objects of such hate, must first be dehumanized to justify the less than human feelings and attitudes against them.

Perhaps the answer has always been just in the mirror as we look at ourselves. One of the two golden rules that Jesus taught carries the answer.

Simply that “We should love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” Another way of stating this is that we should treat others as we would have them treat us. How many people do we know who actually hate themselves? We know that some do and that those have been diagnosed with mental problems.

Dr. John E. Warren While many people argue against religion even being mentioned outside of calls for a National Day of Prayer when disaster strikes, because of false assumptions about the Separation of Church and State, the reality is that prayer and prayer gatherings where people pray one for another, offset violent responses to acts of hate and harm from others engaged in such conduct.

The Civil Rights demonstrations in which we saw peaceful gatherings met with dogs and high pressure water hoses as well as violence, revealed that the failure to meet hatred and violence with hatred and violence, won out in the end. Those being beaten were not loving the people beating them, but

they were not giving the desired response to justify the continuation of the inhumane treatment they were receiving.

We spread the love by doing what Jesus did when he said “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing” Sometimes, “forgiving” is harder than fighting. The solution is encouraging the development of personal reflections on the harm and inhumanity that is inflicted on others when we respond in hatred to that which either we do not understand, dislike or have a fear of because of the difference we see in someone else.

Yes, it takes more to “Stop The Hate and Spread The Love” than just saying it. It takes self examination as to how we want others to treat us and realizing we must give that same treatment and respect because the objects of our thoughts are just as human as we are.

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6B | December 14, 2023 - December 20, 2023

BOOKWORM REVIEW

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

The Day After Yesterday: Resilience in the Face of Dementia

S

ometimes, Mom talks a lot of nonsense.

She talks in random syllables, half-jokes, thoughts that come out of her mouth backwards or mixed up. You try, she laughs, you laugh, pretending that you understand but you don’t.

Mom has dementia and there’s nothing that’ll fix it, but you can read “The Day After Yesterday” by Joe Wallace and change the conversation.

Talk about your awkward encounters.

Well into his twenties, Joe Wallace was asked to sit with his “Granddaddy Joe” while Wallace’s mother and grandmother ran errands. His grandfather was once a vibrant man, and he’d been Wallace’s “hero” but Alzheimer’s had put a curtain of sorts between them and Wallace was “so frightened to be left alone with him.”

It didn’t take long for him to realize that day that his grandfather was full of stories and it was “magical.” He applied the same kind of patience when his grandmother began to experience dementia, too, and this all spurred Wallace to tell a

Photo: Joe Wallace 2023 “The Day After Joe Wallace Yesterday: Resilience in the Face of Dementia”

By Joe Wallace, Alzheimer’s can affect ©2023, The MIT Press someone in their early 20s. $34.95, 157 pages Listen, Wallace’s subjects almost always say, story of his own with his and don’t hide a diagnosis of dementia. There’s no camera.

The portraits he captured shame in it. Reach out to eventually became an others who’ve received exhibit, and this book. the diagnosis. Ask for “In the United States,” help. Watch for suicidal Wallace says, “one in thoughts and depression. three seniors suffers with Ask for stories, before Alzheimer’s or another they’re lost, and be honest dementia at the time about what’s going on. You of their death.” Nearly can’t change the diagnosis, $700 billion dollars but you can change your annually is spent caring attitude toward it.

It’s called The Long for people with dementia.

Alzheimer’s, as one of Goodbye for reason – and Wallace’s subjects points yet, your loved one with out, affects Black seniors dementia is still on this more often than it does side of the sod and you whites. For that matter, know there’s still some people with dementia need there there. In “The Day not be seniors: early-onset After Yesterday,” you’ll

get a new point-of-view, for both of you.

In his introduction interview, author Joe Wallace explains how he came to understand that “we could all do so much better” for those with cognitive disabilities including Alzheimer’s, and why eliminating fear and awkwardness is essential. Readers will be quite taken by the thenand-now pictures, and by the conversations Wallace captured.

But beware: this isn’t a book on caregiving or advice-giving. It’s a delightful, heartbreaking, tearful, surprising collection of profiles of everyday people in their own words, people who go with the flow and deal with tomorrow when it comes. Yes, you’ll find advice here but it pales in comparison to the presence that Wallace’s subjects and their families exhibit.

This powerful book is great for someone with a new dementia diagnosis; it proves that life’s not over yet. It’s likewise great for a caregiver, gently ushering them toward grace.

Get “The Day After Yesterday. It’s time for a talk.

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FUN PUZZLE FOR YOUR LEISURE

Love Continued from page 4B OUR LOVE FOR OTHER PEOPLE. John now returns to the matter of love for the brethren (see 1 John 2:911; 3:11-23) and states the logical conclusion to be drawn from this premise: A person who claims to love God but who shows by his actions that he hates his brother is a liar (4:20). You cannot expect other people to accept your profession of love for God as genuine if they do not see you showing love toward God’s children.

Finally, John reminds us that loving others is not optional for Christians. It is a command. This drives us back to one of Jesus’ teaching. When asked which commandment was the most important, He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbors yourself.’ All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Rev. Dr. Archie L. Edwards, Sr., is an Associate Minister at Second Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk.

Jamie Foxx Returns To Spotlight At Critics Choice Celebration

By Stacy M. Brown

doubted his recovery.

“It feels good to be here. I Senior National Correspondent cherish every single minute @StacyBrownMedia now. It’s different,” Foxx In an emotional comeback, said, while also humorously Oscar-winning actor Jamie recounting moments when recognized Foxx took center stage at the strangers Critics’ Choice Association’s him during his low-key Celebration of Cinema & rehabilitation in Chicago. He Television on Monday, told the audience that early December 4, marking his on, he wasn’t sure he’d pull first major Hollywood through. “I wouldn’t wish appearance since a medical what I went through on my emergency in April left him worst enemy because it’s tough ... when it’s almost battling for his life.

Foxx, 55, made a surprise over, when you see the entrance at the event to tunnel. I saw the tunnel – I honor Black, Latino, and didn’t see the light,” he said.

AAPI achievements in the “I want to thank you for all entertainment industry. Anita the prayers.”

Foxx continued: “The Bennett, the creator of Urban Hollywood 411, reported that one thing that I have to get Jurnee Smollett, Foxx’s co- used to now is [when people star in the Prime Video film say] ‘Lord, have mercy, “The Burial,” introduced Jesus. I’ll be driving, and a montage of clips from somebody will pull up and Foxx’s illustrious career hit me with that.” He then and presented him with the recalled undergoing physical night’s prestigious Vanguard rehabilitation in Chicago after being released from the Award.

Bennett noted that as hospital.

Foxx said his family went Foxx stepped onto the stage, the audience erupted to great lengths to protect in applause. The actor, his privacy, and he wore a known for his versatility in face mask so no one would acting and music, delivered recognize him. “No one a mix of jokes, songs, and knew where I was. No one heartfelt moments. However, knew what was going on,” emotions ran high as he he explained, adding that a opened up about his recent woman who worked at the rehab center’s front desk health struggles.

“I’ve been through eventually made him remove something. I’ve been through the mask.

“The Black lady that was some things. It’s crazy, I couldn’t do that six months checking me in ... at one ago, I couldn’t actually walk point she said, ‘Well baby, to ...” Foxx’s voice trailed I’m gonna have to see your off, and he fought back tears, face if I’m going to sign you prompting someone from the in here. I run a tight ship, audience to encourage him to and I’m gonna have to see your face,’” Foxx said while take his time.

“Six months ago, I could doing an impression of the not fathom that I would woman.

As he continued the story, be here,” Foxx continued, alluding to the unexpected he began to get emotional. “I medical emergency that led to took the mask down and she his hospitalization in Georgia saw me ... she said, ‘Lord, on April 11 while filming have mercy, Jesus. I’ve been the Netflix movie “Back in praying for you,’” Foxx Action.” Although he did recalled. “I said, ‘Wow.’ And not disclose the specifics of that indicated that once I did his illness, he shared that get out of all of this, I was there were moments when he going to be alright.”

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