Volume-124_No-02_January_11_2024

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Vol. 124, No. 2 | $1.50

January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024

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

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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

JANUARY 15, 1929 – APRIL 4, 1968 INSIDE: ...see AREA MLK EVENTS, see page 8A

Honoring MLK: Finishing Journey To Eco. Freedom

By Charlene Crowell

National Speakers Coming To Area HAMPTON ROADS Among national speakers who will be in Hampton Roads to keynote the area’s MLK Observances are Dr. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Dr. M.L. King, Jr. and the late Coretta Scott King, and also, the acclaimed author Clint Smith. King will be at ODU on Jan. 23 and Smith will highlight this year’s Urban League of Hampton Roads Breakfast on Jan. 15.

Keynoting the Metro Ministers Conference of Virginia is Rev. Dr. Gregory M. Howard, Dean for the Shaw Divinity School. The Ministers Conference is observing

(TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM) This January 15, our nation again will observe the only national holiday designated as a day of service. The Martin Luther King, Jr. federal was first observed in 1986. But it took another 17 years for all 50 states to recognize the holiday, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.

While Rev. King dedicated his life to the pursuit of freedom, peace, and justice for all Americans, too many economically marginalized people are reduced to fighting over scraps while others enjoy the nation’s economic bounty.

In 2022, 37.9 million people – 11.5 percent of the nation – lived in poverty, according to the Census Bureau. Additionally, Black

Social equity cannot be sustained without economic parity.

Charlene Crowell individuals made up 20.1 percent of the population in poverty in 2022 but only 13.5 percent of the total population. Black individuals made up 20.1 percent of the population in poverty in 2022 but only 13.5 percent of the total population, according to the Census Bureau.

The federal minimum wage, currently at $7.25 an hour, has not increased since

King Accepts Nobel Peace Prize In 1964 OSLO, NORWAY

Dr. Bernice King

Clint Smith

its 36th Annual MLK Day program at the First Baptist Church on Jan. 15.

Colonel David C. Hyman, Chief of Staff of the Fleet Marine Force of the Atlantic

and Northern Commands, will speak at the Attucks on Jan. 15 for the City of Norfolk’s annual MLK event. ...see Events Listing, page 8A

SENATOR LUCAS SEEKING TOLL RELIEF FOR COMMUTERS

By Leonard E. Colvin

Chief Reporter Emeritus New Journal and Guide William B. White has been commuting to his job at a medical facility from his home in Broadcreek for five years.

Each morning and later in the day, he and many other commuters returning home to Norfolk use the Downtown or Midtown tunnels and are automatically tolled.

Along with gas, car tax, and expenses, the toll takes a big bite out of his household budget.

Real Estate agent Portia A. Reeves lives in the Craddock section of Portsmouth, and for the past three years, there

July 2009, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Standards.

And despite increases that take effect in many states in 2024, workers still earn only $7.25 per hour in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

On December 10, 1964, Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee presented its Nobel Peace Prize to Dr. King. ...see King, page 2A

Sen. Louise Lucas have been calls for her to use the tunnel to Norfolk to show homes.

She said she would go to and from Norfolk for four or more days. Despite using toll discounts, the mother of two said she, too, is seeing a large

chunk of her income going to pay the tolls.

So when both heard that Portsmouth State Senator Louise Lucas would be seeking to negotiate a reduction or abolition of the tolls Virginia commuters pay to use the tunnels, they expressed full support.

Now that the 2024 General Assembly is underway.

Lucas says she will lead the charge to secure toll relief for commuters using the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels.

A week before the legislature was gaveled into session on January 9, Lucas said during an interview with local media she would seek toll relief. ...see Tolls, page 2A

Back To Eden Retreat Welcomes Guests HENDERSON, NC – Kenneth Spellman wants Back To Eden to be a place of peace. He has created a place where guests can enjoy what was once a slave plantation. ...see ... see page 7A

Photo: Courtesy

In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Dr. King said, “I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.”

THREE YEARS AFTER CAPITOL SIEGE INVESTIGATIONS, PROSECUTIONS MOUNT

By Stacy M. Brown

One hundred forty police officers were assaulted on January 6.

NNPA NEWSWIRE The United States Attorney’s Office is marking the third anniversary of the unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol which shook the nation and much

of the world. Supporters of the twice-impeached and now four-times indicted former President Donald Trump stormed the building on January 6, 2021 and disrupted a joint session of Congress where members were attempting to affirm the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“In the wake of this historic event, the U.S. government has been tirelessly working to investigate and prosecute

Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

those responsible for the breach,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a release.

In October 2022, officials pegged the approximate losses resulting from the Capitol siege at a staggering $2.8 million. The sum accounts for damages to the Capitol building and grounds, both inside and outside, along with costs incurred by the U.S. Capitol Police. ...see Capitol, page 2A

New Journal and Guide

2A | January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024 “The tortuous road which uncertainties of the future,”

A true tribute to Dr.

Those tolls has led from Montgomery, added Dr. King. “It will King would be a renewed Tolls King Alabama to Oslo bears give our tired feet new groundswell of advocacy have caused city to this truth,” Dr. strength as we continue our that ensures our march Continued from page 1A Continued from page 1A witness King continued. “This is a forward stride toward the towards full freedom refuses businesses to road over which millions of city of freedom…Today I to go back; but instead Negroes are travelling to find come to Oslo as a trustee, moves forward in the lose revenue from This, in exchange for the He said in part, “[D] a new sense of dignity… I inspired and with renewed same determination of his state funding to build a sports commuters from iscrimination will still have the audacity to believe dedication to humanity. I life’s work. Social equity arena sought by Governor persist in the economic field that peoples everywhere accept this prize on behalf of cannot be sustained without Glenn Youngkin other parts of and in social intercourse. can have three meals a day all men who love peace and economic parity. in Alexandria, Virginia.

Realistic as he is, Martin for their bodies, education brotherhood. I say I come as As a people and as a Lucas told WAVY’s 10 the region. LowLuther King knows this.” and culture for their minds, a trustee, for in the depths of nation, let us confront these On Your Side in an exclusive Accepting the Nobel and dignity, equality and my heart I am aware that this and other challenges in his interview: “No toll relief income people Peace Prize in 1964, Dr. freedom for their spirits. prize is much more than an memory. for Portsmouth tunnels, no King said, “I am mindful I believe that what self- honor to me personally.”

Charlene Crowell is arena in Northern Virginia – have been hit that debilitating and grinding centered men have torn Dr. King would urge a senior fellow with the period. afflicts my people down men other-centered Americans to remain vigilant Center for Responsible hard despite the poverty “I said when I got reand chains them to the can build up.” and vocal in fighting attacks Lending. She can be reached elected, and I became chair toll relief. If they lowest rung of the economic “This faith can give against diversity, equity, and at Charlene.crowell@ of the Senate Finance and ladder.” us courage to face the inclusion. responsiblelending.org.

Appropriations Committee are paying $1,000 [that], it is time for Hampton Roads to get its fair share, in tolls, that could and I want to start with those The FBI continues to seek public assistance in be used for car tolls, plain and simple.”

Capitol Last December, Governor identifying individuals believed to have committed Glenn Youngkin announced insurance, gas Continued from page 1A violent acts on Capitol grounds. a new $2 billion public- utilities, or other private partnership to build an entertainment district in living costs.”

“Under the continued on January 6, with Approximately 718 sentences, with 467 sentenced Alexandria at Potomac Yard.

According to a release from Youngkin’s office, the entertainment district will be developed by JBG Smith and cover 9 million square feet.

It will feature the global corporate headquarters for Monumental Sports and Entertainment. It will also feature an arena for the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards, a Monumental Sports Network media studio, the Wizards practice facility, a performing arts venue, and an expanded esports facility.

Lucas is Pro-tempore of the Senate and chairs its powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

She has an ally in Portsmouth State Delegate Don Scott, who is now the Speaker of the House, who has a strong hand in budget affairs and could help exert leverage to secure approval of her plans.

Along with other supportive members of both parties concerned about the tolls, she may have support from state Secretary of Transportation Shep Miller from Virginia Beach.

Democrats have only a 2-seat majority in the House and Senate and could not overturn any Veto by the Governor.

Scott told the GUIDE in previous issues that he is open to bipartisan legislative efforts on taxes and state budget and said, “Everything was on the table.”

Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover said he endorses Lucas’ proposal.

Glover cited a study by Old Dominion University shortly after the tolls were set in place, which said they negatively impacted low-income residents of the region and the city.

“Those tolls have caused city businesses to lose revenue from commuters from other parts of the region,” said Glover. “Lowincome people have been hit

NEW JOURNAL AND GUIDE P.O. Box 209, Norfolk,VA 23501 Phone: (757) 543-6531 Fax: (757) 543-7620 PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Brenda H. Andrews ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Desmond Perkins ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Rosaland Tyler CHIEF REPORTER EMERITUS: Leonard E. Colvin STAFF REPORTER: Melissa Spellman PRODUCTION: Tony Holobyte New Journal and Guide (USPS 0277560/ISSN 8096) is published weekly on Thursday for $50 per year, $30 per year for six months by New Journal and Guide Publishing, Incorporated,5127 East Va. Beach Blvd., Suite 100, Norfolk, VA 23510. Periodicals Postage Paid at Norfolk, VA 23501. Postmaster: Send address changes to New Journal and Guide, P.O. Box 209, Norfolk, VA 23501. The New Journal and Guide is not responsible for any unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or related materials.

– Portsmouth Mayor leadership of the U.S. approximately 80 from the individuals pleaded guilty to periods of incarceration and Shannon Glover Attorney’s Office for the U.S. Capitol Police and 60 to federal charges, with 213 154 received home detention.

hard despite the toll relief.

If they are paying $1,000 in tolls, that could be used for car insurance, gas utilities, or other living costs.”

Glover said he and other council members will be lobbying for passage of some form of relief during the current session.

Glover and some other officials believe the state could bargain to restructure the debt with the Tunnel operators, Elizabeth River Crossing, using state bonds and allowing taxpayers to share the burden of reducing or settling it.

In late December, Elizabeth River Crossings announced increased toll rates for the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels effective January 1.

District of Columbia and the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the investigation has progressed at an unprecedented speed and scale,” officials declared, adding that the Department of Justice remains steadfast in its commitment to holding those who committed crimes on January 6, 2021, accountable.

In an overview released on Friday, January 5, the Justice Department noted that more than 1,265 defendants from almost all 50 states and the District of Columbia have faced criminal charges.

Four hundred fifty-two defendants were charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, including 123 individuals charged with using deadly or dangerous weapons.

One hundred forty police officers were assaulted

from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Eleven individuals were arrested for charges related to assaulting members of the media or destroying their equipment.

Of those charged, 1,186 were indicted for entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds, 116 for entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon, 71 for destruction of government property, and 56 for theft of government property.

Additionally, prosecutors charged 332 individuals with obstructing an official proceeding and 57 for conspiracy counts related to obstructing a congressional proceeding, obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder, or injuring an officer.

pleading guilty to felonies and 505 to misdemeanors.

Eighty-nine individuals who pleaded guilty to felonies faced federal charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, and four individuals pleaded guilty to the federal charge of seditious conspiracy.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office tried 139 individuals who were found guilty, including three in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Further, 32 individuals were convicted following an agreed-upon set of facts, and 76 were found guilty of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers and obstructing officers during a civil disorder.

Finally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported that approximately 749 federal defendants have received

This figure includes 28 who also received time behind bars.

Trump, who has also been found civilly liable for sexually assaulting the writer, E. Jean Carroll, and ordered to pay her $5 million in damages, faces four criminal indictments, including federal charges of inciting the January 6 attack, which led to the deaths of five law enforcement officers.

The DOJ said they’re still seeking more January 6 perpetrators.

“Citizens from across the country have played a crucial role in aiding the investigation,” DOJ officials said.

“The FBI continues to seek public assistance in identifying individuals believed to have committed violent acts on Capitol grounds.”

From The Guide’s Archives

Archives taken from the pages of the (New) Journal and Guide January 11, 1975 Edition of the Guide Young Nightriders Riders Haunt Family

By Martha Germann and Felix I. Clarke NORFOLK In a quiet residential area of Tarrallton Elementary School, kids are bussed from Diggs Park, comprising over 60 percent of the school enrollment.

Yet a Black family, the only one in this middle claas neighborhood, has been harassed and their home vandalized by neighborhood youths.

“It started November 11, four days after we moved in.

A white youth in a car called me to tell me he used to live in the house. He told me we did not want to live here because the landlord was an S.O.B,” explained Mr. Smith.

At first, Smith thought it was neighborhood kids playing pranks, but now he realizes it is a gang of white youths around 17 or 18.

“On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, the ‘night riders,’ we call them now, drag up and down the street using our front lawn for U-turns. It is like watching an obstacle course race. They slow down, screeching their brakes, and circle our mailbox. Usually, it is a red Vega; the driver who used to live here seems to be the ringleader,” said Mr. Smith, looking out the window.

The front picture window is divided into sections and has one pane of glass knocked out. “The other night, police came through the window.

We were asleep when it happened. There is no way the pole could have come through that window without some help – like a good healthy shove,” Mr. Smith said as he demonstrated.

When asked if the police had been contacted, Mrs. Smith said: “We’ve called the police three times and asked for the police to patrol the area. I was told nothing could

be done until a crime was committed. One occasion, a policeman came to the door when the family complained about rocks being thrown against the house. The officer just said there was a lot of rock throwing going on.”

Daddy King To Retire

volumes Five and Six of the books and requested they be read aloud during the meeting.

They declined.

“I would prefer not to take them out of context,” Middleton stated.

“I object to those sentences, and I won’t repeat them.

They use the Lord’s name in vain,” Wilson said. “It is not the purpose of the Board or the school system to teach profanity or take the Lord’s name in vain.

“No one is required to read these books,” Middleton said.

ATLANTA, GA Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr., 75, father of the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta for 44 years, will retire from the ministry in August.

Savings And Loan “Daddy King,” as he is known Opens Another Site to many, became pastor of Ebenezer in 1931. His wife’s VIRGINIA BEACH brother, the Rev. Adam Daniel Mutual Federal Savings Williams, formerly held the and Loan Association broke position. ground Friday to construct its newest office in the Pembroke section of Virginia Beach. The Mother Renews Fight to groundbreaking immediately Ban School Texts follows the January 2 opening of Mutual’s third Virginia

By Less Lehigh Beach location at Hilltop North Shopping Center.

NORFOLK The association’s newest The School Board has again rebuffed Olga Wilson in her branch will be located at continuing drive to remove the corner of Pembroke and the controversial Ginn and Independence Boulevard.

Company Responding Series Construction of the of textbooks from the city’s office is scheduled to start public schools. immediately, with completion “From some of the stories projected for June 1975.

I read, if I were a Black The establishment of the person, I would hate the white Pembroke office will give man,” Wilson told Board the now seven decades old members during their January Mutual a total of eight offices 2 meeting. She is a white in the Tidewater area, with mother of a student in the four in the city of Virginia public schools.

Beach.

Wilson said she had read portions of volumes Five and Black Press As A Six of the series and asked Vehicle For Unity the board members to vote whether the books would WASHINGTON (NNPA) remain in the schools. “It was How unequal are job not brought to this body that opportunities for Blacks, and we should vote for or against ... what is the rate of catchup the matter,” Board Chairman areas? That will be answered E. George Middleton Jr. told in an address by Chairman John H. Powell Jr. before Wilson.

“Unless one of the board the National Newspapers Association’s members brings it up, nothing Publishers will happen,” Middleton Winter Workshop on January continued. “In other words, 22-25.

His address, said NNPA the books will remain,” Wilson asked. “As it stands President Carlton B. Goodlett now, yes,” Middleton replied. this week, is scheduled for the Wilson supplied board luncheon session on January members with portions of 24 at the Mayflower Hotel texts she said were taken from where the workshop is being

held.

Congressman Charles B. Rangel, Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Dr. Goodlett will address other highlights of the threeday meeting. Also scheduled is a White House briefing and panel discussion on circulation, advertising, and problems of Black publishers.

increasingly possessive of her.

He exerted total control over her by inflicting a mixture of physical and mental abuse.

Gus and Odessa Smith, her parents who live in the Richmond area, say they were ignorant of their daughter’s relationship with Hall and the physical and emotional turmoil she was experiencing.

January 2, 2001 Edition of the Guide

CIAA Games Hold Promise of Return of Popular Tourney To Norfolk

Kemba Smith Pardoned

By Leonard E. Colvin Five years after she was sentenced in a Norfolk Federal Court to 24 years and six months for drug trafficking, Kemba Smith was among 59 people pardoned by President Bill Clinton on December 22.

The actions were a clear victory for Smith, her parents, her five-year-old son, and the various groups seeking her release.

It was critical Clinton issue the pardon since the incoming Republican Administration of George W. Bush would be appointing right-leaning operatives in the Justice Department who may not be sensitive to her plight.

Smith, whose sentence was under stringent federal “Mandatory Sentencing” guidelines, received support from across the nation and world as an example of how unfairly the sentencing guidelines imposed long sentences on nonviolent African-American participants in a large illegal drug operation.

She was indicted in 1995 when Drug Enforcement Agency officials brought down the drug ring run by her now deceased boyfriend Peter Hall. Smith met Hall while attending Hampton University. She admitted she knew little about his managing a vast East Coast cocaine distribution ring.

Smith became part of popular Hall’s circle of friends at the school and his girlfriend. But she said that he had become violent and

By Shevin Spruill NSU Intern

Former students, athletes, and friends of the conference are being asked to support a fundraiser to support a CIAA fundraiser on January 7 at the Norfolk SCOPE arena. That is when Saint Paul’s College will play Virginia Union, and Elizabeth City University will play Virginia State University, providing money for the modern Technology Center at the Southside Boys and Girls Club.

Coach Elwood Williams, Executive Director of the Southside Club, has worked with the youth at this location since 1973. He feels that bringing the CIAA back to the area is very important.

‘It’s important to bring the CIAA back to Norfolk,” Coach Williams said.

Williams said the CIAA provides not only sports but also a more quality education for the youth. “It is not just a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club, but we want to make it an added event for the city of Norfolk,” Williams said.

The goal is to attract more students to CIAA schools because of the sports programs. Williams also spoke of how he was helped to succeed outside of sports.

“When I went to school, I was interested solely in education and used sports to challenge me to get an education. It was a vehicle I used to get my education,” Williams said.

New Journal and Guide

January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024 | 3A

New Journal and Guide

4A | January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024

In the Gap Between Jan. 6 and MLK Day, History Offers Hope

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY VIRGINIA TECH

THE ECONOMY UNDER BIDEN

By Wornie Reed, Ph.D.

Perhaps surprising to many citizens, Biden is continuing the record of President Biden can run on his record as well as against previous Democratic presidents.

Trump and the Republican’s authoritarianism.

The Democratic presidents Biden, Clinton, economy has done quite well during his years in Carter, and Obama created many office. What do the data say?

Biden’s presence more jobs per month than any of the boosted the economy. For example, the Bureau of four Republican presidents during Labor Statistics reported that period. in December that the U.S. economy added 199,000 jobs in November of 2023, and the unemployment rate was inching even lower, from 3.9 percent to 3.7 percent. Further, U.S. manufacturing construction spending, an indicator of the economy’s expansion, increased nearly 60 percent last year.

Trump frequently claims that before he became president, the American economy was in shambles, unemployment was at an alltime high, the stock market was in the dumps, and few people could find a job. But then, according to Trump, he stimulated new job creation, brought unemployment way down, lowered AfricanAmerican unemployment to near-record lows, and created a booming stock market.

A close look at the data shows that this was just another set of Trump’s lies. President Obama presided over the drop in unemployment in general and African-American unemployment in particular.

Between 2007 and 2020, the employment rate dropped from 10.1 percent down to 4.7 percent, the rate that Donald Trump inherited when he became president.

Although AfricanAmerican employment

continued to decline under Trump as president, almost all of the decline in the rate of African-American unemployment occurred under President Obama.

Also, the economy created some 14.6 million jobs since January 2021, more than double the combined total of Donald Trump’s first three years in office. Further, the budget deficit snowballed under Trump. After many Americans lost their jobs as many companies went out of business due to the recession of 2008, the result was the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars in tax revenue. This caused the federal budget deficit to balloon to 1.4 billion dollars in 2009.

As the economy improved each year and millions of people returned to work, the deficit got smaller throughout the Obama presidency.

However, during Trump’s four years in office, the annual deficit grew rapidly, from 700 billion in 2017 to nearly 1100 billion in 2020.

According to the Department of Labor reports, the economy added a little over 8 million new jobs during Obama’s last three years as president. Yet during Trump’s first three

years, the economy created only 6.5 million jobs. That means 1.5 million more jobs were created during those three years under Obama than during the three years under Trump.

To put it another way, the rate of job creation over Obama’s last three years in office was 23 percent better than the rate of job creation while Trump was president.

Looking at the average number of jobs created each year of a presidential term, Biden has created more than twice the number of any president since and including Jimmy Carter.

Perhaps surprising to many citizens, Biden is continuing the record of previous Democratic presidents.

Democratic presidents Biden, Clinton, Carter, and Obama created many more jobs per month than any of the four Republican presidents during that period.

But the Republican propaganda machine tells a different – and false – story.

Their story is so consistent and strong that many citizens do not believe in their economic circumstances.

Half of Americans think the economy is worsening despite months of more robust economic news.

By Ben Jealous (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM) Even Ron DeSantis had to admit, when pressed at a CNN townhall, January 6 was a bad day for America.

Invariably, following this past week’s anniversary of the insurrection, we’re forced to ask ourselves: Will we ever be able to pull this country back together again?

It’s a reasonable question.

The fissures run deep.

For the answer to that big, terrible question, I turn to the history books. And to the history of our country that was long kept out of those books.

In the wake of the Civil War, America was still a tinder keg. In 1867, two years after the Civil War had ended and nine years before another almost erupted, Frederick Douglass laid out the argument for why, as Americans, we should remain optimistic about our future and our ability to come together.

In “Our Composite Nation,” Douglass explained, a nation’s character is defined by that nation at its best, not its worst. And America’s character (at our best), our geography, and our already diverse population “all conspire to one grand end” … to make us the most “perfect national illustration of the unity and dignity of the human family, that the world has ever seen.”

It seemed a tall order in those tough times, as it does now. And yet close to 15 years after he gave that speech, a new movement erupted in Petersburg, Virginia that swept across the old Commonwealth uniting freedmen and former Confederate soldiers

In “Our Composite Nation,” Douglass explained, a nation’s character is defined by that Ben Jealous nation at its best, in a shared quest to save the not its worst. public schools.

The Readjusters Party emerged amid an attempt by the old plantation owner oligarchs to reassert their influence, following the Hayes-Tilden Compromise.

The Compromise – which both prevented the possible outbreak of a second civil war and unleashed the terror of the Ku Klux Klan – resolved a bitter dispute over the election of 1876 and re-enfranchised former Confederates.

With the Confederates’ votes restored, the old oligarchs presumed their political power was assured. But they made a fatal mistake. They tried to dissolve the free public schools created by Black-led Reconstruction governments, claiming war debt made them unaffordable.

With the Readjusters offering a haven, workingclass white former Confederates fled the Democratic Party of the plantation oligarchs to defend their children’s schools. At the same time, sparked by both President Hayes’s betrayal of Black communities in the South and the same concern over public schools, my grandmother’s grandfather,

America’s Anti-Immigrant Past Never Died

Haley’s Ideology Shows She Is By David Eager To Defend White Supremacy W. Marshall

By Marc H. Morial

As a presidential candidate, she “The Lost Cause mythology was more than bad history.

(Haley) has It provided the intellectual justification for Jim Crow proved that – not just in the former she is eager to Confederacy, but everywhere systemic racism denied Black defend white citizens equal citizenship and economic rights ... That’s why supremacy the recent retreat to Lost Cause mythos is troubling. One Marc H. Morial by distorting would think that a Republican candidate for the presidency history and might be proud of the party’s answer would alienate voters roots as a firmly antislavery who have embraced a false presenting racial organization that dismantled version of history.

In the Declaration of the gaps. the “Peculiar Institution”

(TriceEdneyWire.com)

and fomented a critical constitutional revolution during Reconstruction – one that truly made the country more free.”

– Joshua Zeitz ◆◆◆ When she was inaugurated as South Carolina’s first woman and first non-white governor in 2011, Nikki Haley said “it would be wrong to mention our greatness during the revolutionary period without noting the ugliness of much that followed. The horrors of slavery and discrimination … remain part of our history and a part of the fabric of our lives.”

It would be wrong.

That didn’t stop Haley, now a presidential candidate, from flagrantly pandering to racists by lying about the cause of the Civil War during a town hall in New Hampshire.

When she told her questioner that answering him wasn’t “easy,” it wasn’t because she didn’t know that slavery was the cause of the Civil War. It was because she knew that giving the correct

Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union, issued December 24, 1860, the government of South Carolina explained its reasons for seceding from the United States. Those reasons bear no resemblance to Haley’s cowardly blather about “the freedoms” and “the role of government.”

Unlike Haley, South Carolina’s lawmakers were honest about their reasons for seceding. “An increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery has led to a disregard of their obligations” to return people who escaped from enslavement back to their enslavers.

All eleven states who seceded – and the prosecession minority of legislators in Missouri and Kentucky – cited slavery as their reason.

Haley does not claim to be ignorant of this history. The day after her craven response in New Hampshire sparked national outrage, she declared,

“Of course the Civil War was about slavery,” but quickly returned to her vague talking points about “the role of government” and “individual liberties.”

Haley’s pandering on the issue of slavery in New Hampshire appears to contrast with her comments in 2015, after a white supremacist who draped himself in symbols of the Confederacy murdered nine Black worshippers at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston. Announcing the removal of the Confederate flag from the State House grounds, she called it – for some – “a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally offensive past.”

But she has long been willing to overlook “the horrors of slavery” in discussing the cause of the Civil War. In a 2010 interview with an activist group called Palmetto Patriots, she said the war was a conflict between “tradition” and “change,” never mentioning that the tradition was slavery. ...see Haley, page 5A

Edward David Bland led an exodus of Blacks from the Republican Party to join them.

The math of democracy necessitated that if they were going to save their children’s schools, they would have to join up with the white parents who shared their same fears.

The new Readjusters Party quickly took over the state and won the governorship, control of both houses of the legislature, and would appoint both U.S. senators (state legislators still appointed U.S. Senators back then).

In four years, the Readjusters succeeded in saving the free public schools. They radically expanded Virginia Tech to make the college the working white person’s answer to the patrician University of Virginia, and aided the creation of what is now called Virginia State University – the first public university for the training of Black teachers. They also abolished the poll tax and the public whipping post, and even pushed the state out of a deficit into a surplus. ...see Hope, page 5A

(TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM) The Statue of Liberty stands proudly in Upper New York Bay as a symbol of freedom and a welcoming beacon to the “huddled masses” and “those yearning to be free.” Originally conceived as an emblem of the friendship between the people of France and the United States, it is a sign of their mutual desire for freedom. It was also meant to celebrate the abolition of slavery.

People enthusiastically embrace the Statue of Liberty as an iconic symbol of America. Unfortunately, many of the same individuals will refuse to hold the symbol’s deep meaning of compassion, humanity, and inclusion.

The U.S. has always maintained a deep antiimmigration sentiment.

We want the benefits of the immigrant’s cheap labor, but white supremacy doesn’t always allow the immigrant worker to be accepted as a true American or even as a person with basic human rights.

Chinese immigrants struggled with this double standard during the 1860s. They were able to escape the famine and political turmoil within their homeland to settle on the West Coast of the U.S. After arrival, many were recruited to build the transcontinental railroad system since American laborers showed an unwillingness to do the work. The Chinese laborers were eager to work on the multi-state transportation project and did it for lower wages. Overall, the issue of wage reduction and the competition for jobs

The targets of hate and hostility would often change, but an immigrant is still an immigrant.

David W. Marshall became a sticking point between anti-Chinese groups and labor unions on one side pitted against the Chinese workers on the other.

The increasing hostility and resentment whites developed toward the Chinese ultimately resulted in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which became the first immigration policy based on race. The law banned skilled and unskilled Chinese workers from entering the United States for 10 years. It was renewed for an additional 10 years and later extended indefinitely.

With the flow of cheap Chinese labor slowing to a halt, American labor recruiters turned their attention to the Japanese.

The Japanese eventually faced the same fate as the Chinese.

Throughout different eras, the degree of hostility and resentment toward immigrants would often fluctuate. At times, it became aggressive and intense.

During other periods, the level died down almost unnoticed. Former President Obama remarked that racial advancement doesn’t proceed in a straightforward-moving line. Instead, moments

of progress give way to regressions.

The targets of hate and hostility would often change, but an immigrant is still an immigrant.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, when Italians, Greeks, Poles, Hungarians, Slavs, and other European groups arrived in the U.S., they were not considered “white.” Economist Robert F. Forester wrote in 1924, “… in a country where the distinction between white man and Black is intended as a distinction of value ... it is no compliment to the Italian to deny him his whiteness, but that actually happens with considerable frequency.”

Today, the U.S. Border Patrol and several states have found themselves overwhelmed by the thousands of migrants coming from Mexico every day. As the U.S. is amid a major immigration crisis, Donald Trump has given the American voters a lot to think about. During a speech at a recent campaign rally in New Hampshire, it was not the first time the Republican frontrunner echoed rhetoric from Adolf Hitler. “When they let – I think the real number is 15, 16 million people into our country – when they do that, we got a lot of work to do. They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” he said of immigrants coming into the United States. ...see America, page 5A

New Journal and Guide

January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024 | 5A

OP-ED

REVIEWING OUR PAST

(Second In A Series From The Teaching our Own History Task Force)

By Berthony Napoleon and Rey Robinson The “Teaching Our Own History (TOOH) Task Force” tasked my organization, Five and Two Solutions Group Inc. (FTSG) to write this article “Reviewing Our Past.” I accepted the task as a privilege and honor. This came about after a briefing that encompassed pre-slavery to present day, provided to the Task Force on the “Five and Two Solutions’ New World African (NWA) Studies, A Primer to Decision Making Process.” NWA is also an Ayisyen (Haitian) word which means Black.

The New World African (NWA) concept highlights the peculiarity of the Africans captured in Africa, sold, shipped in chains and scattered within the Americas and the Caribbean in slavery under the whip of the Christian Empires of Europe, sanctioned by Pope Nicolas V. The program’s critical thinking, and historical analysis within the context of security, economics, diplomacy, information, and immigration stimulate the imagination of the AfricanAmerican Youth, to dig into the functionality of history.

Reviewing our past critically, helps AfricanAmerican Youth: • To know: Who, what, where, why, when and how of slavery (to develop a never again attitude).

• To acknowledge as

Haley Continued from page 4A Interestingly, the reason why Palmetto Patriots asked the question of Haley, who is of South Asian ancestry and none of the other candidates for governor, is rooted in racism. The other candidates were “Southerners whose families go back to beyond the war between the states, back to antebellum times,

Hope Continued from page 4A However, at the end of the one term any governor is allowed in Virginia, the Readjusters would be swept out of power by a political movement built on disinformation, ruthless violence, and a call to white supremacy. The new political regime of Jim Crow then took steps to ensure that the history of the Readjusters would never make it into the lessons taught to Virginia school children. Jim Crow politicians knew how much of a threat that example was to

America Continued from page 4A “That’s what they’ve done.

They’ve poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world – not just in South America, not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They’re coming into our country, from Africa, from Asia – all over the world. They’re pouring into our country.” Hitler often referenced the words “poison and blood” as he wrote about the Jews in his book Mein Kampf.

In 1988, former President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized for the internment of Japanese Americans. Later, in 2011, after 129 years, the U.S. Senate apologized for the Chinese Exclusion Act. While advancements have been made in the past by rescinding

We will not sit idly by and allow any governor, to erase the accurate teaching of Black history.

Berthony Napoleon

Rey Robinson

Africans, we were once sovereign, many were royalties, and to discover the scattered Africans in the New World, increasing AfricanAmerican’s worldview to enable vision for critical decision making.

• To cultivate a common consciousness amongst the NWA’s; an identity to advance our narrative and testimony, in order to tell our own story.

• To get wisdom and understanding to rebuild our Spiritual, Educational and Entrepreneurial systems.

• To understand the status quo, and to take appropriate actions favorable to our community.

• To develop informed visionary leaders who can in turn build their people selfsufficiently and self-reliantly.

Conclusion: AfricanAmerican Youth in the aggregate are not grateful to their ancestors, and are not prepared to make informed decisions that are beneficial to their self-interest.

The education system

is inadequate to prepare African-American youth. To reverse the trend, we need to “Teach Our Own History (TOOH).” Make “NWA” history part of the learning regiment of our community, to develop visionary leaders with authentic belief systems in their People.

We have launched a statewide task force in conjunction with the Florida General Baptist Convention, Inc., Reverend Dr. Carl Johnson, President, to demand that the governor of Florida and the State Department of Education, teach Black history accurately, factually and forthrightly.

In the spirit of Dr. King,

and they would have a deeper appreciation of Southern thinking and mentality,” a spokesman said.

As the daughter of Sikh immigrants from India, Haley’s loyalty to the false “Lost Cause” interpretation of history could not be assumed when she was running for Governor. As a presidential candidate, she has proved that she is eager to defend white supremacy by distorting history and presenting racial gaps as the result of ‘merit” and “hard work” instead of systemic oppression.

News Analysis

their power structure, built on lies and hate.

The story of Frederick Douglass’s optimism and confidence in America’s destiny, and the Readjusters’ courage in pursuing it, is a reminder that the people of our country were always more resilient and greater than most politicians were ever willing to bet on.

It also begs the question: If they could unite then in the interest of all their children, what is actually keeping us from uniting now in the interest of all of ours?

Ben Jealous is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club and a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

America’s Anti-Immigrant Past Never Died previous discriminatory laws, Donald Trump fully understands what he is doing by following the Mein Kampf playbook and stoking fear and hatred toward foreigners.

Combined with his vow to only be a dictator on “day one,” Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric is giving the voters a preview of what a future Trump administration would entail. In following the model of history’s most notorious dictator, a second Trump presidency will tap into America’s dark antiimmigrant history without addressing the true root causes behind this growing humanitarian crisis.

While Trump’s words and behavior are disturbing, what’s more alarming is how it is being received and accepted.

David W. Marshall is the founder of the faithbased organization, TRB: The Reconciled Body, and author of the book God Bless Our Divided America.

He can be reached at www. davidwmarshallauthor.com.

in the State of Florida, we organized a task force labeled, “Teaching Our Own History.”

Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Negro History Week, encouraged us to not sit idly by and allow this system to “mis”-educate Black people.

Our Task Force will present to the government, a comprehensive curriculum that correctly and effectively teaches Africa and AfricanAmericans history to students in Florida’s public schools.

Moreover, we will develop forty (40) plus “Freedom Schools” by 2025. We will not sit idly by and allow any governor, to erase the accurate teaching of Black history.

The Objectives of “The Teaching Our Own History” Task Force are as follows: 1. To encourage the accurate and unbiased teaching of African-American history, culture, experiences and invaluable contributions in the state of Florida and this

nation 2. To develop strategies and solutions to support and strengthen public education in marginalized communities 3. To develop and adequately support 40 Freedom Academies across the state of Florida 4. To create significant after school programs for students in Title One schools in marginalized communities across the state of Florida, using an age appropriate African-American History Curriculum to strengthen reading, writing and mathematics skills 5. To create summer “Freedom Schools” to teach youth the importance of African-Americans contributions, self-respect, personal responsibility, and African-American contributions 6. To empower and encourage the three private HBCUs in Florida to develop laboratory schools on their

respective campuses by 2025 7. To cultivate and create partnerships with foundations, businesses and philanthropists to support programs and events that consistently celebrate the contributions of African-American history, culture, literature, faith and heritage We all must redouble our efforts to fight for social justice, voting rights, civil rights, diversity, equity and inclusion. The dismantling of programs of diversity, equity and inclusion are shameful and insulting.

Over the next several weeks, selected members of “The Teaching Our Own History” Task Force will publish articles for dissemination through The National Black Press, addressing the critical components for teaching our own history. I encourage our readers to enthusiastically engage in meaningful discussions in their various constituent groups and organizations as we speak “truth to power.”

Berthony Napoleon is chairman and founder and Rey Robinson is CEO of the Five and Two Solutions Group, Inc.

SAD CIRCUMSTANCES OF FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN’S DEATH – FAR TOO TYPICAL Attorney Alleges Malpractice At Medical Rehab Center

By Dr. Barbara Reynolds (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM) Once in a private moment after I had finished producing her weekly cable show for her Dallas district as her communications director, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson shared with me what really mattered. “I really love compassionate nursing because nurses can do anything. Keep your eye on them.” In that one sentence she was sharing what a tough job it was becoming the first registered nurse in 1997 to be elected to Congress, but nurses could manage that and more.

To learn from Rep. Johnson’s lawyer that she recently died a “terrible, painful death” in a rehabilitation center without receiving the kind of compassionate nursing from the profession she loved that could have saved her life was sad and shocking. Yet, it was a reminder that AfricanAmerican women, no matter who they are, are all often disrespected by the medical profession, a barrier that even Johnson, one of the most recognized and honored women in Texas could not dispel.

The Congresswoman’s death resulted from a September back surgery that became infected when she was left to lie in her own feces in her bed at a rehab medical center while she repeatedly pleaded for help that didn’t come, according to Les Weisbrod. He is a malpractice attorney for the family who is threatening to sue the Dallas Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation for medical negligence.

After undergoing more surgery to treat the infection, Johnson, 89, died from a spinal infection while in hospice care at her home on New Year’s Eve. She retired from Congress last year.

As horrible as the

Dr. Barbara Reynolds Retired Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson situation that denied one of the most visible personalities in Dallas with powerful friends in Texas and in the nation’s capital to die with dignity and unnecessary pain, her plight is not uncommon, according to Weisbrod. “It can happen to anybody, whether they’re a Congressperson or not,” he said. “I’ve probably represented clients suing every major hospital in North Texas.”

Two problems contributed to the demise of Johnson. First, are how the medical profession shows an institutionalized disregard for people of color, especially women, and how understaffed most nursing facilities are, which calls for patients to enter hospitals with their own medical advocate that will skillfully monitor their nursing care.

A recent Pew Research study revealed that 49 percent of those studied say a major reason why Black people generally have worse health outcomes is because health care providers are less likely to give Black people the most advanced medical care. A roughly equal share (47 percent) says hospitals and medical centers giving lower priority to their well-being is a major reason for differing health outcomes. Another often heard complaint is the unfounded belief that Black women can stand more pain than whites resulting in their denial of requested painkillers, Dr. Rhoda Alale is an

Many health professionals are also urging patients to have a medical advocate, preferably a family member or a private nurse within the medical institutions to scrutinize the nursing care.

Ohio registered nursing consultant and a former faculty member of the Howard University School of Nursing. She charges that the death of Rep. Johnson is a stark reminder of how Black people are treated by health care institutions nationwide. She argues that health disparities for people of color are at an all-time high, citing recent personal observations.

“My 15-year-old granddaughter received a letter canceling her insurance because they say she had seen too many specialists.”

Why does sickness disqualify you from insurance? And she also pointed to another patient who consulted her for help when he went into the hospital for a minor illness but came out with a major illness because of an open wound infection, an alltoo-common malady.

Many health professionals are also urging patients to have a medical advocate, preferably a family member or a private nurse within the medical institutions to scrutinize the nursing care. Alale

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

says that nursing must change and should adopt the pediatric care model with families as inpatients, like some pediatric wards that have an extra bed, and shower in the room.

Adding to the systemic problems within nursing are reports of a desperate shortage of nurses resulting from the COVID epidemic where so many nurses were victims or became burnt out and did not return to the profession.

Dr. Carthenia Jefferson, RN, an official of the National Black Nurses Assn. which Rep. Johnson was also a member, said she hopes the terrible treatment of the congresswoman will bring national attention for the need for the improvement of quality care in rehabilitation and other health care institutions.

“I am saddened beyond words.”

Dr. Jefferson is so right. If Rep. Johnson’s painful premature death will turn the spotlight on the sickness within the medical profession, her love for the nursing profession will deserve her affection.

New Journal and Guide

6A | January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024

CHESAPEAKE STUDENTS TO VISIT FORMER SLAVE PLANTATION

By Melissa Spellman Staff Reporter New Journal and Guide

On January 19, 2024, students from Indian River High School in Chesapeake, Virginia will travel to Henderson, North Carolina to visit a former slave plantation turned family retreat grounds and tourist attraction. Kenneth Spellman is a native of Chesapeake, Virginia. He is the owner of 23 acres of land formerly a slave plantation which he named Back to Eden located at 451 Satterwhite Point Road in Henderson, North Carolina.

The name Back to Eden symbolizes a rebirth and revitalization of the spirit.

Tracy Spurlin-Saravanan, an English Teacher at Indian River High School, heard about Back to Eden, its historical relevance, and purchased the book A Tribute written by Kenneth Spellman.

The book provides records, discusses the history of the land, the Wortham Family, the whites, who owned the land, as well as the enslaved persons who were bought and sold during the time of enslavement.

Saravanan decided to visit Back to Eden with her family and take a tour. Her visit prompted the educator to return to the historic lands with her students allowing them to share in her experience.

In September 2020, Kenneth Spellman acquired the property when he and his wife Laurece were looking for a house in Henderson, NC. “I bought the house

BACK TO EDEN

Located In Henderson, N.C. Chesapeake native Kenneth Spellman owns 23 acres of land formerly a slave plantation which he named “Back to Eden” The name symbolizes a rebirth and revitalization of the spirit.

Photo: Courtesy

(L-R) Terrance Afer-Anderson and Kenneth Spellman at Back To Eden.

Entry Sign sitting on 2.5 acres of land.

I could see a structure next door, but the trees had grown to the ground,” said Spellman. Next to Spellman’s 2.5 acres set 14 more acres where Isabella Worthem lived. She was the last Worthem to live in

Photo: Courtesy

the house that sat amongst overgrown trees and foliage.

“Ms. Worthem was under 24-hour care. Her sons were going to sell the property to a developer,” shared Spellman. “Their family cemetery was on the land.

They saw what I had done

with my two acres with the gardens, the nature trails, and the treehouse. So, they asked me if I was interested in purchasing the additional acres,” Spellman recalled.

Seeing the work that Spellman put into his own 2.5 acres and with the hope of preserving their family cemetery, in October 2021 the Wortham family sold the 14 acres to Spellman with the vague mention that a slave was buried somewhere on the property. Unbeknownst to Ken Spellman was the deep history of pain that saturated the land and the spirit of the ancestors that lay beneath the soil.

Spellman is the owner of Ken’s Construction and with the newly acquired lands he and his crew got to work. Spellman recounted, “While cutting trails we discovered six graves and then we discovered 30 or 40 more.” Spellman said the men were overwhelmed by the discovery as tears welled their eyes. Armed

with a desire to know who these ancestors were and to honor their lives he began the work. “That’s when I started researching,” said Spellman.

He contacted the Vance County Historical Society

who visited the property and provided census records, maps, articles, and documents from the 1800s. These documents validated that the Wortham family owned the land, as well as slaves, and that the house located on the property was built in 1820.

An archaeologist from the University of North Carolina came to authenticate the findings. Spellman also sought out a genealogist to trace the history of the Black Worthams. This research was compiled and is included in Spellman’s book called A Tribute: Slaves of Select WORTHAM Families in Warren, Granville and Vance County, North Carolina, 1625-1865. The book is dedicated to the ancestors who lived, died, and were buried on the plantation. ...see Eden, page 7A

New Journal and Guide

January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024 | 7A

Several events have been held at Back To Eden since its inception such as back to school giveaways, family reunions, birthday parties, women’s outings, Halloween/harvest fests with as many as four churches in attendance.

Eden Continued from page 6A When people hear the name Back To Eden it sparks an interest and they want to know what this place is all about.

Spellman shared, “Before I discovered the plantation or slave graves, I just wanted a place where I could plant gardens and have chickens and fish.”

“I have gardens, apple trees, pear trees, and plum trees. I have all the fruits and veggies I need,” Spellman continued.

“I plant veggies all year round. I plant a spring garden, a summer garden, and a winter garden. The pond is stocked with fish. I have bass, crappy, brim, and catfish. Chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, turtles, and goats,” said Spellman.

A family man, a visionary, and a man of faith Spellman wanted Back To Eden to be a place of peace. “I wanted to make it personal and make it a place of peace.

A place that kids could come and have fun. But I didn’t want to relate it to the turmoil and stress of the things that happened here,” he explained. Back To Eden has a basketball

Photo: Courtesy

The Spellman House court, eight swing sets, two ponds with ducks, geese, and fish, trampolines, gokarts, ziplines, and a tree house.

Born and raised in Chesapeake, Virginia, the local son wanted to find ways to recognize his own heritage and family by incorporating them into Back To Eden. The various activity areas at Back To Eden are named in honor of Spellman’s deceased family members.

In November 2023

Spellman acquired an additional 6.45 acres with a major vision and undertaking ahead. He plans to build a hotel with a gift shop and restaurant and possibly a small senior living facility for seniors.

Already his crew has cut out camping grounds for tourists to park their campers. Plans include a go-kart track and building 10 to 12 tiny houses. He also aspires to devote a half-acre to solar panels that will power the entire

WIN TICKETS TO SANCTUARY ROAD New Journal and Guide will award 10 sets (two admissions each set) to the acclaimed African-American opera “Sanctuary Road” coming to the Harrison Opera House Jan. 26, 2024 and Jan. 28, 2024.

QUESTION: Where was abolitionist William Still headquartered?

Send Your Answer To njguide@gmail.com by January 15, 2024.

E-mail your answer to the question by midnight on January 15, 2024 to enter the contest. Winners will be selected randomly and notified by return e-mail on January 16, 2024. Contest answer will be posted in our January 18, 2024 issue.

23 acres.

Several events have been held at Back To Eden since its inception such as back to school giveaways, family reunions, birthday parties, women’s outings, Halloween/harvest fests with as many as four churches in attendance.

Back To Eden hosted a Millennials Matter event featuring entrepreneurs, publishers, singers, and dancers as well as fourday revival, and a 70 and over event which had live entertainment and a formal dinner.

The June 2023 Juneteenth celebration attracted over 3,000 visitors over the course of the four-day celebration.

People came from as far as California, Texas, Arizona, Mississippi, Georgia, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Washington DC, Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee Virginia, and Florida. The festivities included free food, live music, gospel choirs, praise dancers, a fashion show, food trucks, guest speakers, and a Black history play.

There were performances

by Jazz singer Rose Bullock

and professional singers DeVone and Thomas Henderson.

During Juneteenth a ribbon cutting ceremony marked the official opening of “Back To Eden.” In attendance were the elected Sheriff, House of Representatives Frank Sossman, the President of the Chamber of Commerce and 10 chamber members, the president of Vance County Tourism, four City Council members, the President and Vice President of the Vance County NAACP, film maker and playwright Terrance Afer-Anderson, film producers Michael LeMelle and Keith Downing. Also in attendance were local minister Mark Hargrove and Robert George the genealogist who conducted the research on the Black Worthams for Spellman’s book.

Coming soon a movie is set to film at Back To Eden and a documentary about Ken Spellman’s life.

In January of 2023 Terrance Afer-Anderson, another Virginia native and playwright, visited Back to Eden, and knew the location was perfect for his own film project.

The two men discussed working together. Spellman would go on to share with Afer-Anderson about his prison time, writing the program M.M.E.A.T. Ministry, Management, Entrepreneurship, Accountability and Training, and buying 22 properties in two years.

This sparked the discussion

of Afer-Anderson filming a documentary about Spellman’s life, his journey through 19 years of incarceration, and how his faith in God brought him into the favor and success he has today.

The Indian River High School students visiting Back To Eden are in store for an eye opening walk through time. They will get a full tour of the grounds, see artifacts, tour The Spellman House with its preserved history, visit the slave cemetery, see the whipping post, tour slave cabins, and walk the paths and trails. Students will get to preview a clip of the movie Hiram and Nettie that will be filmed on the property. The day will conclude with a catered lunch.

Spellman anticipates the arrival of the students and all guests with the hope that more schools and visitors from all over the country will come to see the history for themselves. “I hope that not only will they have an opportunity to come, relax, have fun, and put their cell phones down, but they will also learn some true history,” said Spellman.

Stay tuned for what’s next for Kenneth Spellman and Back To Eden. Prepare early to attend the 2024 Juneteenth Celebration by calling for more information.

To book a tour or plan an event with Back To Eden contact their office at (252) 572-2358. Reserve your date now and ask about overnight accommodations.

New Journal and Guide

8A | January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024

MLK EVENTS IN HAMPTON ROADS Norfolk Ceremony To Honor Montford Point Marines, Jan. 15

concert is free and open to the public and will feature Maestro Everett McCorvey, as conductor.

Noted musicians on the program include Summer Littles, Alicia Russell Tagert, Amanda Quartet, Patrick Riddick & D’Vyne Worship Choir.

The VSO will present its annual Dreamer Award to Captain Janet Days, the first Black woman commanding officer of the world’s largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk.

Calvary Revival is located at 5833 Poplar Hall Drive, Norfolk, 23502.

to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” in conjunction with the City of Portsmouth on Sunday, January 21, 2024 at 4 p.m. at I. C. Norcom High School, located at 1801 London Blvd. at 7 p.m. at Calvary Revival Church. This concert is free and open to the public and will feature Maestro Everett McCorvey, as conductor.

The VSO will present its annual Dreamer Award to Dr. Darlene Spears Washington, who since 2016, has served as the executive director of Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless.

NORFOLK The City of Norfolk will host a ceremony on Monday, January 15, 2024 at 10 a.m. at the Attucks Theatre. Doors open at 9 a.m.

This year’s event will honor the Montford Point Marines, the nation’s first Black men to desegregate the U.S. Marines during World War II. Colonel David C. Hyman Chief of Staff of the Fleet Marine Force of the Atlantic and Northern Commands will be the keynote speaker.

Colonel Hyman enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in NEWPORT NEWS 1993. He then attended PORTSMOUTH FEEDING 5000 (TM) Officer Candidates School The Virginia Symphony honoring Dr. Martin Luther and was commissioned will present a second King Jr. in partnership with a Second Lieutenant performance “A Tribute New Beech Grove Baptist upon graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1997.

Following the ceremony, the public is invited to march to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial at the intersection of Church Street and Brambleton Avenue for a wreath-laying ceremony.

Virginia Symphony King Concert In Portsmouth On Jan. 21

FEEDING 5000 To Honor MLK With Meals, Jan. 15

Church and the Newport News Branch NAACP will offer free meals in honor of the MLK Holiday. This will take place on Sunday, January 14th, 2024, from 1:30 p.m. 3 p.m. while supplies last.

New Beech Grove Baptist Church is located at 361 Beechvont Drive, Newport News, Virginia where Dr. Willard Maxwell, Jr. is the Pastor and Host.

The dinners are FREE and Open to the Public.

For more information, call (757) 877-0792.

Metro Ministers To Host 36th MLK Day, Jan. 15 NORFOLK The Metro Ministers Conference of Virginia will host its 36th Annual MLK Day program at the First Baptist Church at noon on January 15.

This year’s guest Douglas Wilder, Nykita preacher is Rev. Dr. Doggette, and Lisa Wise Gregory M. Howard, Dean Chapman. for the Shaw Divinity School.

ULHR Hosts 40th Annual Breakfast, Jan. 15 NORFOLK The Urban League of Hampton Roads will present eight awards during its 40th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Leaders Breakfast.

The event will be held on Monday, January 15, 2024, at 8 AM at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. The Keynote Speaker for the event is writer Clint Smith.

The MLK 2024 Award Recipients are: Charlie Hill, Peter Blake, Harry Lester, Alexis Swann, Norfolk Redevelopment Housing Authority (NRHA), Governor

Alpha Team Readies MLK Monument For Holiday

Virginia Symphony To Present Annual King Concert At Calvary Revival, Jan. 14 NORFOLK The City of Norfolk and The Virginia Symphony will present its annual concert “A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” on Sunday, January 14, 2024 at 7 p.m. at Calvary Revival Church. This

NORFOLK Representatives of three Alpha Phi Alpha Chapters – Alpha Phi Lambda, NorfolkVirginia Beach and undergraduate chapters from Norfolk State and Virginia Wesleyan – were on duty last Sunday morning to clean up the MLK Monument

through the Keep Norfolk Beautiful Adopt-ASpot Program. About 40 volunteers were on hand for the quarterly community service which the Alphas have been doing since 2000. As the men were working on the clean up, Brother George Bowman of Alpha Phi Lambda was conducting

Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander (center) paid a surprise visit to the clean-up site to thank the Alphas for their service. a voter drive with people attending a lunch giveaway in the nearby MLK Monument Park. He succeeded in registering a man who just got his

voting rights back. Alpha Phi Lambda’s Committee for this project is chaired

by Brother Ken Sutton who provided the story and photos.

ODU To Feature Dr. Bernice King, Jan., 23

NORFOLK Old Dominion University will observe its 39th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance on January 23 featuring a keynote address

by Dr. Bernice A. King.

Dr. King, the youngest daughter of the slain civil rights leader and the late Coretta Scott King, is a lawyer and minister.

The event includes a special presentation of the Hugo Owens Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Award, which is given annually to an outstanding individual or organization.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

New Journal and Guide

January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024 | Section B

SECTION B

Virginia Symphony Orchestra Concerts, Dreamer’s Awards Will Honor Dr. King HAMPTON ROADS The Virginia Symphony Orchestra will present its annual concerts paying homage to the life of visionary civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on January 14 and 21, 2024.

A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be held on Sunday, January 14, 2024, at 7 p.m. at Second Calvary Baptist Church, located at 2940 Corprew Ave in Norfolk, VA. A second performance

will be held on Sunday, January 21 at 4 p.m. at I. C. Norcom High School, located at 1801 London Blvd. in Portsmouth, VA. These concerts are FREE, but registration is encouraged.

Presented in collaboration with the City of Norfolk, and the City of Portsmouth, these concerts will feature Conductor, Dr. Everett McCorvey, Patrick Riddick and D’vyne Worship, the

Amandla Quartet, and soloists including youth soloist Summer Littles, and vocalist Alicia Russell Tagert.

Dr. McCorvey is the founder and Music Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, and his selections for these performances focus on music that celebrates African-American compositions and the people who helped it thrive through the centuries.

The programs also

includes a movement from Antonin Dvorák’s Violin Concerto, William Grant Still’s “Festive Overture,” and a preview of Paul Moravec’s opera, Sanctuary Road, which will be performed later this month by the Virginia Opera. William Grant Still is a descendant of William Still, an abolitionist, and conductor of the Underground Railroad, whose writings inspired Sanctuary Road. ...see Concerts, page 3B

HRT TO HIGHLIGHT ROSA PARKS’ LEGACY WITH FREE FARE ON TRANSIT EQUITY DAY NORFOLK Hampton Roads Transit will be observing Transit Equity Day on Monday, February 5, by offering free fare on all bus, light rail, ferry, and paratransit services. This is the second year HRT has offered free fare on Transit Equity Day in honor of the late civil rights activist Rosa Parks, whose birthday is February 4.

On Thursday, December 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat in the “colored” section of the bus to a white passenger after the “whites only” section became full. “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true,” Parks said in her autobiography. “I was not tired physically ... no, the only tired I was, was tired of

Parks’ actions on December 1, 1955 resulted in the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, inspiring other initiatives, and advancing the civil rights movement.

Rosa Parks giving in.”

Parks’ actions led to her arrest, resulting in the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, inspiring other initiatives, and advancing the civil rights movement. In November 1956, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment ruled bus

segregation unconstitutional, later ending the bus boycott.

Hampton Roads Transit will honor the enduring legacy of Rosa Parks by keeping bus headlights on all day. In memory of her contributions to public transit, a seat will be reserved at the front of all buses with signage honoring her courageous acts.

Public transit plays an important part in providing access to quality jobs, education, and essential

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(2X2)

services. Transit Equity Day is a National Day of Action to bring attention to the importance of investing in public transit for the benefit of all citizens.

Transit Equity Day is one of four free fare days offered this year, including Earth Day (April), Juneteenth (June), and Election Day (November).

Hampton Roads residents are encouraged to join HRT and experience the convenience of public transit on us.

New Journal and Guide

2B | January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024

IN MEMORIAM

A Tribute To Rev. Dr. James E. Murray, Jr. Aka, “Spock”

By Rev. Glenda Murray-Kelly

Photo: Courtesy

NJG Chief Reporter Emeritus Colvin Awarded HAMPTON ROADS On December 30 at the Virginia Beach Central Library, the Connectional Ministries and Mission 2000, Inc. and G Paris Media Groups honored living and deceased radio pioneers and personalities as well as many leaders, activists, noted politicians and clergy with the Presidential Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Awards for their work. Leonard E. Colvin, the former Chief Reporter of The New Journal and Guide Newspaper, was awarded for working extensively to deliver a story to the community on the history of not only the Black Radio Announcers but the industry. Colvin received the Presidential Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award 2023.

Shown (R) in photo talking with Honoree Phil Nelson (L).

NSU HOSTING FOOD DRIVE TO SUPPORT MLK DAY OF SERVICE

By Melissa Spellman Staff Reporter New Journal and Guide

Norfolk State University will commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day by participating in this National Day of Service and hosting a food drive from Monday, January 15 to Wednesday, January 31.

This food drive is being held by the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving, NSU Alumni Association, the Office of Housing and Residence Life, and the Robert C. Nusbaum Honors College. All food donations will go to the NSU Food Pantry.

This drive is aimed at providing food and essential items to Norfolk State students that will be available to them when the campus dining is closed. The pantry will offer students quick, easy, and safe access to non-

perishable food items. It is a resource for students who may not have the funds to buy items they may need during the course of the semester.

The public can participate in the MLK Day National Day of Service and support the drive by visiting the Amazon Wishlist and searching Norfolk State University in the gift registry. Make your selections and at checkout have the items shipped directly to the Spartan Pantry’s Gift Registry Address.

Donations can also be purchased and dropped off at the Melvin and Patricia Stith Alumni House or mailed to Melvin & Patricia Stith Alumni House 2426 Corprew Avenue Norfolk, VA 23504 For additional information contact the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving at (757) 823-8135 or email Dr. Khadijah O. Miller at komiller@nsu.edu.

Norfolk Councilman Organizing Community Gathering For Men

By Rosaland Tyler Associate Editor New Journal and Guide

On Feb. 1, plan to join Norfolk City Councilman John “JP” Paige who has organized a community gathering for local men, in an effort to help them conceptualize improvements that they can make in their own neighborhood, as well as the city.

According to the City of Norfolk website, the event is called “Iron Sharpens Iron.” The free gathering will be held on Feb. 1 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum, located at

Councilman J.P. Paige 1 Memorial Place.

The special community event is open to “men of all ages, religious beliefs, and political affiliations

to strategically set the agenda for the future of our community and provide tools for Norfolk’s transformation,” noted Paige, who was elected to serve on Norfolk City Council on Nov. 8, to represent Ward 4.

Paige is a small business owner who operates a bail bonding company in Norfolk.

Paige is an Air Force veteran, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, and a Norfolk State graduate. He and his wife, Djuna, are members of the historic Basilica of St. Mary’s of the Immaculate Conception. They reside in the Middletown Arch community.

Heiress Darby Wins Local Shark Think Tank Business Presentation NORFOLK Twenty-one hopeful small business owners enrolled in a 12-week curriculum-based program teaching the six components of a business plan.

Recently one participant’s business plan presentation earned her a $1,000 first place prize.

Heiress Darby, owner and operator of Heir Salon, LLC, which she founded in 2019, was the winner of the 2023 Aspiring Business Owner’ Shark Think Tank presentation.

The Aspiring Business Owner’s Project was created to assist with increasing the number of African-American businesses in the City of Norfolk and throughout Hampton Roads.

Their mission is to encourage future business owners to create a business plan and make sure their idea is something that customers would be excited about patronizing.

Of the 21 hopeful business owners who enrolled, 10 participants graduated and completed all program mandates. At the conclusion of the program each graduate was required to have completed a written and typed business plan. In addition, each participant was required

Photo: Courtesy

Dr.Tyrone Davis presents check to Heiress Darby. to present a concise, coherent, polished, persuasive argument pertinent to why their business will be a success and why they should win the $ 1,000 grant prize. A panel of judges evaluated each presenter based upon their ability and knowledge of their business.

The program was hosted by the Slover Library’s Roy E. Hendrix Business Center on December 18, 2023.

The second place winner was Suzzette C. Butts of “Affordable Creations,” and third place winner was Latisha S. Little of “Labs4 Little.”

Instructors and presenters

during the Aspiring Business Owners Project were Gail Reynolds, Human Resource Manager with USI insurance, Ken Wooling, CPA, James Hinton of Dollar Bank, Joey L. Barnes, Jr. of Fulton Bank, and Professor Reginald Coles.

The project was funded in part by LlSC Hampton Roads, Tidewater Community College and Educational Services of Hampton Roads, Inc. For additional information regarding the start of new classes, please contact Dr. Tyrone Davis, Project Director at (757) 409-9044.

Reflecting back on the life of our mother Mayrose and her four children, we were blessed. After, the birth of our sister, Vernell in 1952, Mother died. She was revived and was given strict instructions by the doctor to have no more children.

She was a young bride and waited three years to give her husband a son because of her faith. He was born one day before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., January 14, 1955.

We were all products of the Crestwood area of Chesapeake, the home of former city council member, the late Dr. Wilma Spruill Bazemore.

His nickname was “Spock” because of his demeanor and personality. He was named after his father and was very brilliant.

He attended Crestwood Elementary and Middle School, Indian River High School, Chesapeake.

We came from a large family background; the Buffalow family were the oldest. My mother’s sister aunt Betty with Delena Buffalow, being the first grandchild born on our grandfather Walter’s birthday, November 15th.

We were trained and disciplined by our grandmother Hattie Mae Lloyd Goodman.

She was an honored outstanding community and church leader. Our grandparents lived in the South Hill area of Chesapeake, the home of former city council member Dwight Parker. These were the good old days.

As time passed, we moved to Broadlawn for over 13 years, the hometown of the former Senator Lionell Spruill, Sr. This goes to show you the power and influence that we were raised under. Every neighborhood had great leadership.

He preached his initial sermon at New Mount Olive AME Church, Chesapeake, VA in 1977, with a subject “It’s Going to Rain.” In 1978, he was accepted into the AME Church Virginia Annual Conference where he traveled on weekends as much as he could while on active military duty.

Mother Mayrose, Vernell and my brother Michael graduated from Norfolk State College together in 1978. I chose to attend Virginia State College in 1976.

In 1979, we moved to one of the most prestigious African-American community, known as the area where Blacks were allowed to purchase a home, Providence Square, and became neighbors to the Late Judge Joe Jordan’s brother.

Our uncle, mother’s brother was an Army Officer who also attended NSC, Col Thaddious L. Goodman, Sr., former Chief of Staff of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In total we have over 15 graduates of NSU in our family.

He was the first son and was named after our father; he studied at Norfolk State.

Yet because of his zeal for leadership, he decided to leave Norfolk State in his senior year to join the United States Army. He was stationed at Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty Army Military Base.

He was assigned to the 82nd Division of Airborne where he met his first wife Christine D. Johnson. He finished his undergraduate degree after leaving the military and studied at Regent University, School of Divinity among other schools.

It was amazing, he used to practice

Rev. Dr. James E. Murray, Jr. jumping out of the second floor bedroom window. His passion became his career. He was named “Soldier of the Year” on various occasions. He was stationed at Fort Belvoir, Alexandria, VA and was stationed in Seoul Korea for 2 years.

This gentleman was an outstanding leader throughout elementary, junior high and high school. He was named “Who’s Who” among junior high school students by William and Mary College Youth Leadership Conference.

My siblings were a bit older than I and were my mentors. My sister, Vernell, was one great dancer and was a clothing designer. She died in 1995 from diabetic complications. However, when the doctor told her to stop school, she continued.

Rev. Dr. Murray was a very talented and loving man of God that was loved by many.

He married at an early age to Christine D. Johnson Murray and had two sons, Gershom and Ishmael. He had six grandchildren and one great grand and another that is due this month. In 1995, he married Yuolanda D. Smith of Pittsburgh, Pa., and had a stepson Charles.

He was ordained an Elder in the AME Church in Pittsburgh, Pa. He loved the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He was my big super hero. I traveled with him from Chesapeake, Va., to Fayetteville, N.C., to Washington, D.C. to Charleston, West Virginia to Steubenville, Oh., to Pittsburgh, Pa, Indianapolis, In., New York, N.Y., Atlantic City, N.J. and Cleveland, Oh. to name of few.

We did ministry within the community and the states.

On Saturday, January 6, 2024, our ministry together ended. Yet, this is the beginning of “The MGM & JEM Association” to be established to care for those who suffer from diabetes, hypotension, kidney failure, dementia and stroke patients.

I write this tribute as a gesture to those who suffer in the community with underlining medical conditions. Rev. Murray preached his first sermon “It’s Going to Rain” and on January 6, 2024, it rained. An historical date, January 6th.

The African-American community is at high risk for these conditions and we must show consideration and love for our fellow community. I am proud to say, that I took care of my family. God first, family second, and career third.

Rest in Peace, our dear brother in Christ, The Rev. Dr. James E. Murray, Jr.. Well done.

Funeral arrangements in Cleveland, Oh. are being made and memorial services are pending at this time.

New Journal and Guide

January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024 | 3B

In Tribute To CHURCH STREET JAZZ SERIES KICKS OFF Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. THE NEW YEAR WITH GERALD ALBRIGHT

By Randy Singleton On His 95th Birthday Community Affairs

I Want To Know My History/Reciprocity

By Melissa Spellman I want to know my history.

What makes my skin so brown?

Why my hair so kinky?

Why my lips so round?

I want to know the story of me and how I came to be in a world of Kings and Queens with no identity.

Tell me who can free us from this mental slavery?

Kemet created all that is now.

Royalty, crown, and kingdom.

Roots were dug up Chains, they bought us Cross the oceans Seas divided Families split up Humanity stripped of Identity deleted We need Reciprocity!

Freedom denied Women defiled Bodies broken Men were tokens Natives slaughtered Sons and fathers Nature altered We need Reciprocity!

Sailed the seas Smiled and greeted Upon native shores Took more land than needed Kind gestures wrapped in greed We need Reciprocity!

Pitted Black against red Mother Earth cried then bled with blood from natives, enslaved Africans Now dead Killers called conquerors We need Reciprocity!

Correspondent New Journal and Guide

NORFOLK The Church Street Jazz Series kicked off its 2024 season with a energetic performance by legendary saxophonist Gerald Albright at the Harrison Opera House on Saturday night (Jan. 6).

Series promoter and host Jay Lang presented public school student Kia Wiggins with a violin on behalf of his foundation. Lang also announced that teachers would be honored during the first of each month with special discounted tickets.

Lang recognized New Journal and Guide publisher Brenda H. Andrews as well as Congressman Bobby Scott before the start of the concert.

Veteran saxophonist Gerald Albright brought the crowd to its feet several times with his upbeat jazz tempo and inviting musical style. The New Journal and Guide is one of the principal sponsors of the Church Street Jazz Series.

Concerts Continued from page 1B Additionally, nationally recognized choral director Patrick Riddick and his powerhouse choir D’vyne Worship will perform “The Best is Yet to Come,” by Donald Lawrence, and more.

The Amandla Quartet will also perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Photo: Randy Singleton Photo: Randy Singleton

Saxophonist Gerald Albright

Publisher Brenda H. Andrews shares a pose with Congressman Bobby Scott.

Photo: Randy Singleton

Student Kia Wiggins (center) displays her new violin presented

by Jay Lang of the Jay Lang Foundation.

The VSO will present its annual Dreamer Award to Captain Janet Days at the Norfolk, VA performance and to Dr. Darlene Spears Washington at the Portsmouth, VA performance.

Capt. Janet H. Days, a native of Chicago, is the first Black woman commanding officer of the world’s largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk. She also previously served as the first Black woman executive officer.

She graduated summa cum laude from Old Dominion

University with a Bachelor of Science in Business and received her commission through Naval ROTC via the Enlisted Commissioning Program.

Days’ sea assignments include tours that have taken her all over the United States, abroad, and then back again.

Dr. Darlene Spears Washington is a Portsmouth native, and, since 2016, has served as the executive director of Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless. A graduate of I.C. Norcom High School,

Dr. Washington attended Hampton University, where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology.

After earning her doctorate at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine, she moved back to Portsmouth and taught personal and community health at Norfolk State University. She also volunteered and then worked for the Red Cross for nearly 20 years.

To learn more, visit virginiasymphony.org or call (757) 892-6366.

LOCAL VOICES

What We Know 45 Would Do The 2nd Time

By Sean C. Bowers He will again wrap himself in the American flag as he simultaneously tells and shows the world why he hates that very same America he is hell bent on burning down to the ground. In his own burnt orange fiery afterglow image of hostility, rage, and childish naiveté; 45 is America’s ADD/ OCD toddler on steroids (not of power) more opioids of the mind for him.

When those whom 45 now targets are gone, who do Americans think are NEXT? Clue one, option one, the

only 45 option that has ever existed in his (limited mental capacities) mind is SAVE OPTION 1 (defendant #1) at all costs. No matter the debt, the mountains of over 30 thousand documented lies averaging an UNCOOL 21-lies-per-day, 45 will sacrifice anyone and anything to try and save himself, and his own ORANGE HIDE. Those in his circle on his supposed team, in his encampment of the incompetent, irretrievables need to look at every outcome of every interaction 45 has ever had with everyone as base case evidence. Police call it modus operandi, or how one operates patterns.

The fact is that nearly every person who serves Captain Kayo’s nightmare orange circle cycle has ended in crimes, lawsuits, convictions, jail time, misdemeanors or felonies as far back as the eye can see. The art of 45’s steal is not just to rip off others. It is to get others’ buy in to mentally surrender TRUTH and to rip themselves off willingly. Rest in peace(lessness), America.

The retribution he promises to be, 45 cannot spell, pronounce, or articulate past, the supposed crimes done against him by a non-existent deep stated hatred for him to ever be held accountable (like the rest of us) in his entire existence.

When the levers of democracy are wielded by an obviously insane egomaniacal imbecile, the simple math shows us 45’s desired conspired perfect ending.

With the above levers that protect free speech, freedom of choice, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free will, being demolished because 45 sees everything and everyone except him (45) being destroyed validating his own mentally deranged power simplex complex.

As Napolean was a short, small man, so to is the littlehanded 45, with a Horton Hears a Who shrunken deformed heart, that is infinitely too small to ever show or demonstrate any human empathy or remorse.

Pathetic is as close as 45 comes to ever showing the simple act of caring for others or another,

With the levers that protect free speech, freedom of choice, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free will, Sean C. Bowers being demolished because 45 sees just one, other than 45. Apathy is 45’s stock and trade weapon everything and of mass distraction.

Notice the countless everyone except conspiracy theories he traffics which never prove him (45) being him correct or come true, but most importantly neither can destroyed. they be fully disproven to be believed by the deceived, by 45 the one they were disseminated by and patently conceived. That leaves every American with the simple choice. Be NEXT on 45’s HIT (JOB) List or render him the loser he is, fired yet again, and finally dismissed.

Because we can’t have both 45 and the rule of law; since 45 destroys the rules of law every time he opens his mouth spouting and pouting his White American grievance lunacy. Coming from a guy who has had every break in life, wealth, status, privilege, riches, and power it all was still never enough. 45’s grievances are concocted deep-seeded self (chronic)doubt morphed into the moth-ball-“O”-fire.

As the world burns down around 45, we know he will say “it is everyone else’s fault but mine” and “I told you so.” 45 tells us exactly how exacting he will be in his desired future ugliness (see 2023 Christmas Tweet).

Christian Right, YOU enabled this proven heathen.

He got you your three Supreme Court Justices with help from his Republican Right flunkies, and Mitch McConnell. Now 45 proudly proclaims he brought down Roe VS Wade’s 50-yearRIGHT. Now your White Christian daughters (of your Confederacy) will have to buckle under never to find fair women’s health care, you will come to see the clock

can’t ever be turned back, as 45’s slogan Make America Great Again, implies (via lies).

“Make America Greedy Gangsters Again” is more apt for what 45 represents and the continued future threat he poses to America, the world and to every American.

Worth is never decided by 45. He isn’t worthy. He is the first United States President people can’t allow their kids to watch or for their children to emulate. That fact alone should give everyone pause.

Or else this ending is only 45 left, in an empty life boat, stocked full of KFC boxes and McDonalds, all for him, the last Salamander and Queef. 45’s final (denial) sailing into the sunset, of humanity, of America.

Sean C. Bowers has written the last 26 years, as a White Quaker Southern man, for the nation’s third oldest Black Newspaper, The New Journal and Guide, of Norfolk, Virginia, about overcoming racism, sexism, classism, and religious persecution. Some of his latest NJ&G articles detailing the issues can found by searching “Sean C. Bowers” on the NJ&G website. Contact him directly on social media at Linkedin.com or by e-mail V1ZUAL1ZE@aol. com NNPA 2019 Publisher of the Year, Brenda H. Andrews (NJ&G 36 years) has always been his publisher.

New Journal and Guide

4B | January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024

MOMENTS of MEDITATION

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

ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME Read: Deuteronomy 8:1-5 One day Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn writer, desperately needed five dollars. She took her need to the Lord in prayer. Soon a stranger came to her door and gave her five dollars that she needed. As Fanny marveled at the Lords’ leading, she began to praise Him for His goodness and provision.

This experience led her to write the following words: “All the way my Savior leads me – what have I to ask beside?” This song is based on the experiences of the Israelites as they wandered through the wilderness.

The unfaithful generation had died and their children were preparing to enter the Promised Land. Just before his death, Moses spoke to the group reminding them of what the Lord had done for their fathers and exhorting them to remain faithful: (Deuteronomy 8:1-5).

The book of Deuteronomy is the book of remembrance.

At least 16 times in this book you find Moses using the word ‘remember.” In addition, he used the word “forget” nine times in warning them of commands they should not forget.

The new generation had a new leader – Joshua. They

were facing a new challenge – conquering the land.

Along with this challenge came a new peril – success.

Whenever we are involved in a new endeavor, it is often easy for us to take credit for our success, forgetting the Lord’s help along the way.

For this reason, it is important to remember not only our past experiences but also the experiences of others. Thus, we can learn a great deal from the example of the Israelites. By remembering their choices, we can possibly avoid repeating the same mistakes: (1 Corinthians 10:6).

GOD HAS A WAY FOR US TO WALK. The Israelites pilgrim journey in the wilderness not only points out the mistakes we should avoid, but it also offers us encouragement for our Christian walk. In Deuteronomy 8:2 we find three assurances of the Lord’s leading and protection in our lives. When we lay hold of these promises, we can have comfort, peace and hope even in the most troubled times.

The first assurance we find in this passage is that God has a way for each of us to walk. While the Lord has laid out in His word a general

road for us to follow, He also has a specific path for every individual to walk. The fact that God has a specific plan for each person’s life can be seen by looking at our birth (see Psalm 139).

Our salvation also proves that the Lord has a specific way for each one of us to walk (see Ephesians 2:10). Not only do our physical birth and our new birth demonstrate God’s plan for every believer, but this can also be seen in the variety of spiritual gifts given to Christians.

GOD HAS A PURPOSE FOR WHAT HAPPENS. Since the Lord has a specific way for each of us to walk, we can also be assured that He has a purpose for everything that happens. Moses reminded the Israelites that they had been forced to wander in the wilderness for a special reason.

Deuteronomy 8:2 tells us what that purpose was.

The Israelites wilderness experience was a time of testing. In addition to testing them, the Lord allowed the wilderness experience as a time of teaching. Besides teaching the people to rely on His Word, the Lord allowed them to go through these circumstances so that they might know what was in their hearts.

In allowing the people to be tested, the Lord not only wanted to teach them but He also wanted their wilderness experience to be a time of trusting. The people needed to learn to lean on the Lord rather than trusting in their own power. In order to do this, they first had to be humbled.

They discovered that they needed the Lord’s provision and guidance (Deuteronomy 8:3). ...see Savior, page 6B

The Sacredness of Rest

By Velda Love

Minister for Racial Justice United Church of Christ Rest is not optional.

Resting one’s whole self is necessary. Closing your eyes and being still is not an elusive privilege. “Rest is as natural as breathing and waking up.” (Hersey, page 82).

Rest does not always come easy for those who are living in fear, filled with anxieties, and worried about daily bread, steady paychecks, and sufficient housing. Realities persist that oftentimes keep our central nervous systems working well beyond healthy levels.

I am a minister and educator doing racial justice work to dismantle prescribed notions that some people are superior and others (notably those who do not look, act, worship, or behave the same) are less than and/ or inferior. This work has been a deep passion of mine for thirty-plus years – and it is exhausting.

Sharing best practices with diverse communities and encouraging them to develop policies and behaviors to do no harm oftentimes feels futile.

What will it take to implement and maintain practices of equity and full inclusion for all God’s people in the 21st century?

When I no longer had the energy or spiritual strength to pursue the answers to this question, I was able to remove myself from the world of work and take a

sabbatical rest with the blessing of my employer.

I was free to unwind from “grind culture.”

I restricted my own technology use. I chose not to ingest messages and voyeuristic images of the ongoing violent offenses perpetuated against my siblings domestically or globally.

Turning off gadgets, stepping away from daily routines, and disengaging from political rhetoric is not an absence of caring for people. Self-care is sacred and necessary. Dr. Chanequa Walker Barnes gave me new practices for self-care from her book, Sacred Self-Care.

Takeaways were: 1. I am a divine creation; 2. Being created in the image and likeness of the Creator is God’s gift to us; 3. I was reminded that I am beautifully and wonderfully created by God. Rest is especially sacred for Black bodies globally.

Too many economic and power structures are built to overwork Black bodies in particular and working class, poor, and oppressed bodies generally. Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry and author of Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, writes, “In a society built on a slaveholding economy in which every person’s worth is determined by their productivity, prioritizing wellness is a subversive act.” Hersey’s book strives to “disrupt and push back against

capitalism and white supremacy by connecting to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice.”

During my sabbatical, the impulse to be still and listen to my spirit outweighed habits of being busy, doing something, and working toward productivity. I made space for nothing but deep and uninterrupted rest, naps, walks, and daydreaming on my deck while sunshine bathed my body in warm fall temperatures.

I was on a journey of daily practices to honor my body as sacred. “Rest is a meticulous love practice.”

As my sabbatical journey moved toward completion, my inward transformation remained, with a holistic awareness of how to show up as sacred and rested. I am sauntering into spaces. As I enter, I am not in a hurry.

My mood is relaxed, and I resist the powers and principalities of a hypercapitalist system.

May rest be your subversive act of selfcare. May you nap regularly and often. And see your whole self as sacred because God’s gift to us is rest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rev. Dr. Velda Love is the Minister for Racial Justice and Lead for Join the Movement Toward Racial Justice Campaign for the United Church of Christ.

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New Journal and Guide

January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024 | 5B

New Journal and Guide

6B | January 11, 2024 - January 17, 2024

BOOKWORM REVIEW

CLASSIFIEDS

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

PUBLIC NOTICE

WHO GOT GAME? BASKETBALL

A

little less than two feet.

That’s how far you can get your two feet off the floor if you’re an average kid doing an average vertical jump. Not quite twenty-four inches, but don’t worry: the taller you grow, the higher you could be able to jump. Practice some, dribble a little, shoot more three-pointers, and you might jump right into a book like “Who Got Game?

Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Jez Tuya.

Here we are, football season’s almost over, and your mind has turned to other things – namely, hoops set high over your head, and a round bouncy basketball.

Kids like you who “got game” have had it for more than a century. Yes, the game of basketball was created by Dr. James Naismith in 1891 in Massachusetts.

In the years since, basketball has changed a lot, thanks to what Derrick Barnes calls “pioneers.”

Savior Continued from page 4B The Lord often allows us to be tested for these very same reasons. Many times He uses suffering and difficulties as a means of

Photo: Courtesy Workman

“Who Got Game?

Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Jez Tuya ©2023, Workman Publishing $16.99, 172 pages Julius “Dr. J” Erving improved the dunk. Before that, in 1950, the NBA first allowed Black basketball players on the teams.

There have been super-tall players (Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muregan were both seven feet, seven tall) and smaller b-ballers – fivethree Muggsy Bogues had a vertical jump of nearly four feet! – and just two teaching us and of humbling us so we will learn to trust in Him. God wants us to walk by faith and not by sight.

Seek to discover what the Lord is trying to teach you in that experience and trust Him to see you through it.

GOD WILL GUIDE US ON OUR WAY. Since the Lord has a specific plan for each of us and a purpose in

years after the game was invented, America had its first women’s team.

A lot of off-court people poured themselves into the game, too. Barnes writes, for example, about Pat Summitt, hoopster, leader, and “one of the greatest coaches in all of sports history.” Her record of 1,098 wins ranks her at firstplace in coaching women’s basketball, and as the coach with the second-most wins overall.

You can probably guess that in a book about buckets, there are bucketfuls of stats.

Barnes includes a list of NBA players who jumped to a team right out of high school. He writes about the greatest basketball park ever, he explains why winners cut down the net, how Title IX changed the game, why backboards rarely break into a zillion pieces anymore, high scores, bad injuries, “hoops movies,” and where in the world you can pick up a game today.

So your 9-to-13-year-old our experiences, we can be certain that He will reveal His will to us. We can also rely on Him to help us make decisions that affect our lives. Of course, it is important that we use our common sense as we make decisions in life. It is also vital that we seek godly counsel and pray for the Holy Spirit’s direction in

FUN PUZZLE FOR YOUR LEISURE

loves basketball so much that they dribble a ball in their sleep? They think their favorite jersey is churchwear? Then you’ll be the hero of the day when you bring home “Who Got Game? Basketball.”

But first, there’s one big thing you need to know: this is not a how-to book. There aren’t any instructions inside here, no rules or plays to follow. Instead, author Derrick Barnes makes young b-ballers happy by sharing little-known info about the game they love so much, short lists, great stories about great players, wins and losses, and phrases they should know to talk the talk. All this knowledge is supported by colorful illustrations by Jez Tuya that kids will enjoy alongside the facts.

This book is for die-hard young b-ballers, but don’t be surprised if an adult finds a thing or two to learn here. “Who Got Game?

Basketball” is a book any fan will want to jump on. our lives.

God has brought you this far. He is not going to forsake you now! The Lord will continue to lead you because He always finishes what He starts. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (see Revelation 22: 13). Keep your eyes on Him, trust Him and He will open the way for you.

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Suffolk Public Transit (SPT) is seeking information about vendors and contractors for the goods and services the agency purchases. SPT is partially federally funded and is attempting to build our Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) program aimed at helping socially and economically disadvantaged companies complete in procurements that use federal funds.

SPS would appreciate input from the public and DBE firms in particular. We are seeking information concerning the availability of disadvantaged businesses, how we can facilitate relationships with DBE companies, and assistance in expanding opportunities for DBEs. SPT will be hosting a meeting on January 23, 2024, at 10 AM in Suffolk City Hall, Human Resources Training Room, 442 W. Washington St., Suffolk, VA 23434 To provide a wider forum for comments, the meeting can also be attended virtually.

Written comments and inputs will be also accepted until January 23, 2024.

To register to attend virtually, or to provide written comments, contact Jay Smigielski, Purchasing Agent at jsmigielski@suffolkva.us

INVITATION FOR BIDS

INVITATION FOR BIDS PR2159-159-24

The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority will receive bids for the “NRHA Oakleaf Forest Window and Roof Replacement Phase I.” The scope of work furnishes all labor, materials, and equipment necessary to construct the renovations and window replacements at Oakleaf Forest VA6-12 Norfolk VA. 23523. The work includes but not limited to: demolition, wood roof trusses, carpentry, asphalt shingle roofing, vinyl windows, security screens, access doors, gypsum board, window blinds, plumbing vent piping, bathroom exhaust fans, and related finish work.

A pre-bid meeting will be conducted on January 25, 2024 at 11 AM outside of 1701 Greenleaf Dr. Norfolk VA. 23523 (Oakleaf Forest Rental Office).

All prospective bidders are strongly encouraged to attend.

Please contact Nathan Harden, NRHA Construction Project Manager (nharden@nrha.us) for any related questions. All questions must be received on February 8, 2024 at 1 PM. Sealed Bids will be received, publicly opened, and read aloud on February 21, 2024, at 11 AM local prevailing time at the office of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, 910 Ballentine Boulevard, Norfolk, Virginia.

Contract documents will be available for review by appointment only at the NRHA Office of Economic Opportunities, Calvert Square Envision Center, 975 Bagnall Road, Norfolk, VA (please call (757) 314- 2026 to schedule); Builders and Contractors Exchange, Norfolk, VA; and on the Virginia Procurement Website (www.eva.virginia.gov). A thumb drive will be available from NRHA, 910 Ballentine Blvd., Norfolk, VA for the non-refundable price of twelve dollars (Company Check Only).

NRHA provides equal housing and employment opportunities for all persons.

NRHA does not discriminate against any applicant, resident or employee on the basis race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status, disability, source of funds, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, personal appearance, marital status, political affiliation, matriculation, place of residence or business in the admission or access to or operations of programs, services or activities.

NRHA complies with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. An internal grievance procedure is available to resolve complaints. If you feel you have been discriminated against, you have the right to file a complaint of discrimination with the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity by calling toll free (800) 669-9777.

Qualified individuals who need communication aids, services or other accommodations to participate in programs and activities are invited to make your needs known to 504/ADA Coordinator Corey Brooks at (757) 623-1111, TDD: (800) 545-1833. Please give NRHA seven business days advance notice to meet your needs.

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