75 CENTS
OMAHA STAR
THE
Celebrating 80 Years
1938 2018
Dedicated to the Service of the People that NO Good Cause Shall Lack a Champion and that Evil Shall Not Go Unopposed
Nebraska’s Only Black Owned Newspaper Vol. 80 - No. 24 Omaha, Nebraska
Friday, November 30, 2018
As We Enter the Holiday Season, Let’s Work to Inspire Humankind to Resist Hate.
75 cents
Author and Political Strategist Donna Brazile to be Featured Speaker at Lunch for The Girls Donna Brazile, veteran political strategist, syndicated columnist, television political commentator and author of the new book “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics,” will be the featured speaker at Girls Inc.’s 18th annual Lunch for the Girls. The luncheon will be held Dec. 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the CHI Health Center Omaha, 455 N. 10th St. Sharing the stage with Brazile will be political strategist and CNN commentator Symone Sanders. Sanders is an Omaha native and is an alumna of the local Girls Inc. program. Sanders will introduce Brazile, who will address the audience. Following Brazile’s remarks, Sanders will facilitate a Q&A session with her and
Donna Brazile
selected Girls Inc. members. Brazile is passionate about encouraging young people, especially women of color, to vote, work for inclusion, and run for public office. Along with Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry and Minyon Moore, she co-authored “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics,” a sweeping view of American history through the eyes of four African-American women who have lived and worked behind the scenes of politics for more than 30 years. Symone Sanders rose to prominence during her tenure as National Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ (no relation) 2016 presidential campaign. Still in her twenties, she has been featured on NPR, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, BET, TV One and CNN for her perceptive analysis on political and social issues. “Both Donna Brazile and Symone Sanders felt a passion for advocacy and civic engagement at a very young age. We are proud that Girls Inc. had a role in fanning the sparks of interest in young Symone into the career she has today,” said Roberta Wilhelm, Girls Inc. Executive Director. “Symone has said of Donna that ‘she is the reason many people like myself have a seat at the table today.’ Both strong, smart, and bold women are real life examples to the girls we serve that the dreams you have as a young girl really do
Local Comedian Carlos Tibbs Inspires Commnuity to Laugh Over Their Sorrows This Holiday Season Local Comedian Carlos A. Tibbs has been inspiring people in the Omaha community to laugh instead of cry this holiday season. Tibbs believes that laughter is the best medicine to help navigate through the tougher times in life. Born and raised in Omaha, Tibbs has always been known to be a jokester. Voted the class clown his senior year in high school, it’s no surprise that Tibbs would venture down the path to becoming a comedian. It began in 2012 when Tibbs started his show on a local radio station. He interviewed politicians and gospel artists, as well as pastors in the community. Tibbs then partnered with Reverend John Lucas on his weekly radio program, which inspires listeners to Carlos Tibbs laugh on their way to church. Once Tibbs finished his time on that show, Karen Mitchell – a friend from church – invited Tibbs to do his first comedic set during her woman’s conference at the College of St. Mary. According to Pastor Dr. Cedric L. Perkins of Pilgrim Baptist Church, “Carlos is an upcoming talented comedian who can reach you on your level with relevant information for life challenges. He has a serious message with a twist of humor enabling you to digest the truth when it hurts.” Tibbs says, “Laughter over sorrow came from a bible verse, Job 8:21, at a time when Job was going through chaos and right before giving up Job was promised by God that He would restore joy and laughter to his life. I believe that God wants to do that with everybody.” According to UNO Psychology Professor Dr. Jessline Anderson, “Laughter is therapeutic because it aids in healing and is an invaluable form of preventative medicine because it provides natural defenses against illness.” (Anderson, 2018) Dr. Anderson also believes that if people laughed more, they’d feel better, as laughter helps us to be positive and teaches us to choose to live and be at peace with others, with our own self and with our current situation. It helps us build resilience to stress and helps us to find meaning in life. For Tibbs, his family and other families across the Omaha area, holidays are set aside to honor and enjoy family. Unfortunately for some, holidays are See Tibbs continued on page 2
Equal Opportunity Day Awards – Dec. 7. See In the Village for details.
matter – that with hard work and perseverance, you can make a seat at the table for yourself and for other women and girls who look like you to follow.” Girls Inc. is honored to welcome Brazile and Sanders to its signature fundraising event. Past Lunch for the Girls speakers have included Malala Yousafzai, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Madeleine Albright, Billie Jean King, Nicholas Kristof, and Warren Buffett. Sanders has appeared at the Lunch before: As a Mercy High School student and “Girls Inc. Girl,” she introduced Bill Clinton at the 2006 event, causing him to remark that she spoke so well that he “really hated to follow her.” Reservations for Lunch for the Girls are now available. Reservations for per-person or patron seating can be made online through the Girls Inc. of Omaha website (https://girlsincomaha. org/events/lunch-for-the-girls), by phoning Girls Inc. at 402-457-4676, or by submitting a downloadable form (available on the Girls Inc. website) by mail or fax. ABOUT GIRLS INC All proceeds from Lunch for the Girls support the educational, cultural and recreational opportunities for girls ages 5 to 18 at Girls Incorporated of Omaha, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit
Symone Sanders
organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be “Strong, Smart and Bold.” Girls Inc. opened its first center in 1975, and currently operates two locations in north and south Omaha. Serving over 2,000 girls through its centers and outreach programs, Girls Inc. provides transportation from more than 50 local schools in the Omaha area. Girls Inc.’s programs cultivate learning and skill development in the areas of academic support and enrichment; career and life planning; self-reliance and life skills; health and wellness; leadership and community
action; and culture and heritage. Curriculum and activities are chosen to be intrinsically appealing to girls and to engender interest and enthusiasm. Athletic and enrichment activities are carefully chosen to complement our academic offerings as well as to develop physical health and fitness and to promote teamwork. In 2016, Girls Inc. collaborated with Nebraska Medicine to open an on-site health clinic, striving to improve the health outcomes of Girls Inc. girls, and reduce barriers to preventative care.
Beware: Phone Scam May Pick Up Over The Holidays Omaha Public Power District continues to receive reports from customers of phony bill collection calls. And those calls are picking up steam over the holidays as thieves get more desperate to bring in money. The con has targeted utility customers across the region and the nation for several years now, with several variations. Generally, callers falsely tell customers they are overdue on bills and that they need to run and purchase a payment card of some sort and call back with the numbers. They threaten failure to do so will result in disconnection of services. If past trends hold true, the calls could increase through the end of the year. The con-artists may be trying to take customers’ money to increase their own
holiday spending budgets, or they could simply be taking advantage of families and businesses that don’t want to be without power during this busy time of year. OPPD stresses these callers do not work for the utility. Authentic call center representatives would never cold call a customer demanding immediate payment in such a threatening manner. If customers were truly overdue on their bills to the point where service could be disconnected, they would receive written notice first. OPPD advises residential or business customers to never give personal or financial information to a stranger during an unsolicited telephone call. If such a person should appear unannounced at your door claiming to
work for the utility, do not allow them to enter. Always ask for identification or verification. OPPD employees always carry identification. Failure to produce identification should always be a tipoff to the customer that something is wrong. Customers with any questions about making a payment or on their account, in general, should always call OPPD directly. Within Omaha, the number is 402-536-4131. As always, any customer service inquiries may be addressed with the local rural offices during business hours, as well. After hours, or outside of Omaha, customers may also call 1-877-5364131.
Will Amber Guyger Be Charged with Murder? By Nigel Roberts The newly elected Dallas County district attorney was probably feeling more than a little pressure to deliver justice in the racially charged case of former police officer Amber Guyger killing Botham Jean in his own home nearly two months ago. John Creuzot, who is AfricanAmerican, recently said “the most appropriate charge” for the white Roberts woman who fired the fatal shot at an unarmed Black man in his own apartment was murder – not manslaughter. But his comments came, admittedly, without being intimately familiar with the investigation into one of the most unusual police shootings in recent history that he will begin overseeing after he’s sworn in next year. Until then, he’s only privy to the same information as the rest of the public. And that’s precisely why one of Creuzot’s predecessors, former Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, said he may want to tone down any rhetoric that might prove hard to back up. Either way, convicting a cop of
anything has always been an uphill battle. “You can’t determine what direction you would go in by news accounts because they don’t have all the information and evidence,” Watkins, Texas’ first elected Black district attorney, told NewsOne in a recent interview. “So it may be somewhat premature and maybe irresponsible to basically make that kind of statement without knowing all the facts.” In case there was any confusion about his comments, Watkins, a Democrat who served from 2006 to 2014, made himself clear: “It’s a precarious situation to make a statement that it should be a murder case without knowing the facts.” Guyger claimed that on the night of Oct. 6, following a long shift, she mistook Jean, 26, for an intruder after walking into his apartment thinking that it was her own home. She actually lived one floor below him. Police consequently appeared to grant Guyger favorable treatment that invited suspicions of a cover-up, prompting demands for transparency and justice from Dallas’ Black community to officials from Jean’s native Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Her arrest was inexplicably delayed and she was fired nearly three weeks later, but not before she was allowed time to move out of her apartment and allegedly try to scrub her social media accounts clean of any See Guyger continued on page 3
NAACP Freedom Fund Look for Holiday Holiday Soiree – Events in the Dec. 14. December 14 Issue. See In the Village for details.