Spectacular Magazine - August 2010

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August 2010

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SPECTACULAR MAGAZINE www.spectacularmag.com

FEATURES EDITOR

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Grace Graham

Gary N. Jones

Contributing Writer

Contributing Writer

April Mial

Valerie Whitted

PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PHYLLIS COLEY

FEATURES EDITOR

HEALTH EDITOR

GRACE GRAHAM

DR. SHARON ELLIOTT-BYNUM

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR GARY JONES

COLUMNISTS

LARRY HALL, ESQ. LAMONT LILLY DEL MATTIOLI IRVING JOYNER, ESQ. REV. JAMES SMITH

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

BRITTANY CHALMERS

APRIL MIAL VALERIE WHITTED

PHOTOGRAPHERS

MEL BROWN - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LAYOUT/DESIGN

PHYLLIS COLEY

LAWRENCE DAVIS III

DISTRIBUTION

LAWRENCE DAVIS III

LELIA ROYSTER

Spectacular Magazine enlightens, empowers and entertains African Americans with features, columns, commentaries and calendars.

Spectacular Magazine is published bi-monthly and distributed free in Durham, Wake, Guilford, Orange, Granville, Vance and Person counties.

Deadline for all submissions is the 18th of each month.

Contact us at: info@spectacularmag.com or by mail at: P. O. 361 Durham, NC 27702 919-680-0465 Mail subscriptions are available for $29.95 per year. Second class postage is paid in Durham, NC. Subscription form available at www.spectacularmag.com

PRESIDENT - CEO Phyllis D. Coley

VICE PRESIDENT - OPERATIONS Gary N. Jones, MBA

In August 2010 Issue Ear to the Streets Entertainment Features Stanley Baird Gerald Hinton Johnny White From The Publisher’s Desk FYI Special Gee Top 20 Playlist Religion Rightchus Truth Unsigned Artist

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COVER PHOTO: Mel Brown

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From The Publisher’s Desk...

FIGHTING FOR OUR CHILDREN, NOT FOR OURSELVES The North Carolina NAACP announced recently that its 67th Annual State Convention will focus on: ONE NATION, ONE DREAM...Jobs, Education and Justice.

The Convention will be held for three days, October 7 - 9, 2010, at the Great Wolf Lodge and Water Park in Concord, just off I-85 north of Charlotte. The leading civil rights organization in the nation will celebrate, contemplate, and get prepared to tackle the most pressing problems facing our society. The NC NAACP is the second largest state NAACP in the country, and the largest in the south.

“The most pressing problems facing our society”… the NC NAACP, under the leadership of its phenomenal President, Rev. Dr.William Barber, has tackled the ugly problem of the resegregation of public schools, the deeply entrenched racism in the criminal justice system, the efforts of the right-wing to suppress and dilute the voting strength of minorities and poor people, economic/job disparity, health care access, and other fundamental problems facing our nation and state.

In a release from the NC NAACP it states that Dr. Barber and the NC NAACP have been leading the fight against the resegregation of the Wake County School system. They raised the stakes in the fundamental struggle for constitutional, high-quality education by confronting the right-wing school board majority in Wake County.

Also Dr. Barber has been leading efforts along with state One Nation field director Rev. Curtis Gatewood, organizers Rev. Michelle Laws, Rev. Kojo Nantambu and Ms. Monica Washington and Ms. Pamela Fox of the AFLCIO in the massive One Nation March in Washington, D.C. on October 2, 2010.

Bill Lucy, the first African American to become President of a major labor union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, who marched with Dr. King in Memphis as AFSCME was struggling to organize the sanitation workers will speak at the grand finale of the convention, the Freedom Fund Awards Banquet on Saturday evening, October 9. Lucy's (and King's) lifelong dream of uniting the labor movement with the civil rights movement - a dream shared by Dr. Barber and the North Carolina NAACP - will take a giant step toward reality just a week earlier, when the NAACP and AFLCIO bring hundreds of thousands to Washington, www.spectacularmag.com

D.C. for the One Nation March.

The three issues that will dominate this fall’s elections —education, jobs, and justice—will also dominate the Convention’s plenary sessions.

People who have studied the interconnection between re-segregation of our public schools and the increasing numbers of young people who don’t graduate Phyllis D. Coley and face lives of disappointment and disaster will lead the delegates in candid, research, and thoughtful discussions about both long and short- range solutions.

The troubling Swecker report outlining—the State Bureau of Investigation’s policy and practice of lying to judges and juries about criminal evidence just to get convictions—will be discussed, and specific strategies to renew public trust will be debated.

A lot of people turn their ear to these issues feeling they don’t affect them. Maybe the issues don’t directly affect you in your gated community in suburbia, in the ivory tower to which you report to work each day, or on the aisle seat of the second pew on the right. But guess what? If the trend continues in the direction it’s going, although you may survive it, your children (and even your grandchildren) will not.

Don’t get it twisted. This fight is not about us, it’s about our children. It’s always been about the children. The Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s and 60’s was about the children of which you were probably one (a child) at that time. Would you be where you are today without the struggle of those that went before us?

The NAACP, now 101 years old, is a multi-racial, nonpartisan organization. For most of its existence, it had to fight to survive in the South. One of the great gains of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s was to open the door in the South to build this Black-White-Brown organization, that so often has served as a conscience for our nation. Its only purpose is to eliminate the structural race discrimination that grew out of slavery and Jim Crow statutory and social policies.

Fight for jobs, education and justice. Will you join the fight? Come to the Convention. (For more information, visit http://carolinajustice.typepad.com/ncnaacp or www.spectacularmag.com ) TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Phyllis Coley

pcoley@spectacularmag.com

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The Rightchus Truth

by Lamont Lilly aka ‘Rightchus’ Just as 2010 was settling in, and Valentine’s Day was peeking around the corner, I was afforded an incredibly life-changing opportunity—an experience that would mildly modify my complete world scope and state of thought. From January 12th-22nd, I was to serve as a Witness for Peace (WFP) International Human Rights Advocate. As a Colombian Delegate representing those of more liberal and progressive minds within The States, the underlying goal was to listen, learn, and gather—to stand in solidarity and share all the brutal truths we observed with our own eyes. Each was to return, and sound the alarm.

As a small close-knit group, we collectively journeyed from the plush halls and top security clearances of the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, to meeting with modern-day slaves of Rubber and African Palm Oil Plantations.

WFP founder, Gail Phares, eight others and I, witnessed first-hand Colombia’s Afro and Indigenous populations’ audacious struggle for cultural preservation and political autonomy. As both sides exchanged dialogue—shared meals and political ideals, we too sat in harm’s way of governmental officials, paramilitary [see: Águilas Negras], multinationals, armed actors, and guerillas. We, however, arrived as U.S. citizens—with homes, neighborhoods, and universities to return to. The true “hell is had” for those who permanently reside in the Pacific Coastal region, who stand as consummate victims of international corporate forces [i.e. Dole, Drummond Company, Chiquita, and Del Monte].

Community leaders, grassroots activists, farmers, labor organizers, and local artists are brutally murdered every day in locations such as Cali, La Toma, Buenaventura, and Suarez—entire settlements savagely displaced in the millions.

Throughout the province of Valle del Cauca, imperial powers continue to mount fierce surges of violence under the auspices and false pretense of economic communal development, freedom, and democracy. Though supposedly protected under Colombia’s 1993 Law 70 (or The Law of the Black Communities), men disappear with more stealth than Lockheed Martin—elders are being maimed—women and children butchered with absolute impunity. Without concern from mainstream press, AfroColombian and Indigenous are being lynched in cold blood for natural resources—for the lands their ancestry has preserved since the early 1600’s. Now that our Earth’s portion has been devoured (due to our insatiable consumerism), we’ve chosen to barricade someone else’s block of natural goodies. In addition, the U.S. imposed chemical fumigation in Colombia, to so-called eradicate cocaine or cocoa leaf production, has been nothing short of a well executed blood-bath. Through Plan Colombia, the aerial spraying of “glyphosate” is annihilating regional crops and food supplies—digestive tracks and eyesight. Our encroachment upon their rightful land must be halted, not only by law, but by action—by policy and The People! In this case, imperialism isn’t asking…it’s invading! You see, up close and personal, there is no media filtration—no corporate conglomerates to mar and distort reality. We saw it with our own eyes: a simple case of the globe’s elite scrambling for more.

I would depart as an American Negro—an angry Black man, innately hostile and cynical toward “The Man,” or as James Baldwin would phrase, “Mister Charlie.” However, high in the Andes Mountains, I would come to conceptualize quite clearly that greed has no color—that the vice of social class affects the poor, hungry, and working, worldwide. I came to understand that the plight of Raleigh-Durham’s public school teachers, D.C.’s homeless, and South America’s displaced, is the same as West Virginia’s coal-miners, Smithfield’s factory-hands, and any Black man simply caught breathing in America. There’s a connection to this thing called www.spectacularmag.com

“THIRD WORLD” WAR: A LETTER TO THE POOR

Lamont Lilly (right) and displaced Afro-Colombians

oppression. It might revel in white supremacy, but viciously constricts the necks of the poor and have-nots whether White, Black, Red, or Yellow.

There is no “Third World!” Who constructed such divisions? And if I may, by whose standards are “First” and “Second” worlds classified? Panama, Cambodia, India, or Peru, we’re all Soledad Brothers—nothing but sheep of the same San Quentin. Sure, I’m a Black man (a damn proud one at that), but there’s just as much reverence to be had for the Young Patriots, Zapatistas, and Weathermen, as for the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)—to Noam Chomsky and Emiliano Zapata, as for Frederick Douglass.

Unknown to most, Martin Luther King wasn’t killed for being a “Negro leader.” He was killed for The Poor People’s Campaign (POCAM as the FBI termed), for addressing racial and economic injustice, just as Malcolm X realized that not all devils are born with blonde hair and blue eyes. We got some Black devils runnin’ around here too. I’ve seen them, [Bob Johnson]. “Coon” Clarence ThOM-as sold his soul a long time ago. So as comrades of the Human Race, if we’re ever to manifest the change we were all so exuberant over two years ago, our dispositions cannot solely be of color or culture—race, religion, or politics. The mounting struggle of labor versus capital must first answer the calls of class and morality.

As El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz stated in The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), [“Civil rights means you’re asking Uncle Sam to treat you right. Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your Godgiven rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by ALL nations of this Earth”]. Power to the People—ALL People! ???

Bro. Rightchus, llilly1@eagles.nccu.edu Poet/Activist, Lamont Lilly is a Master’s Candidate in the Department of Sociology at North Carolina Central University, where he is currently conducting research on “The Black Male Image in Western Popular Media.” He is an active member of the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) of Durham, N.C.

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FOR YOUR INFORMATION JABBERWOCK WINNERS Miss 2010 Jabberwock, Kourtney Barnes (left) and Miss 2010 Jabberwock Princess Court, Miss Chaquoyia Dickerson

NCCU EARNS TOP RANKING DURHAM - For the second consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report ranked North Carolina Central University as the top public historically black university in the nation. In its annual listing of top postsecondary schools, U.S. News placed NCCU 11th among the more than 100 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) founded for African-Americans. All the institutions ranked above NCCU are private schools.

Spelman College, Howard University and Morehouse College claimed the top three spots in this year’s U.S. News rankings for HBCUs. The remaining top 10 are Hampton University, Tuskegee University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Fisk University, Claflin University, Dillard University and Tougaloo College.

With nearly 10,600 students, only Howard among the top 10 has a larger enrollment than NCCU, whose student body numbers more than 8,500. Over 1,400 freshman entered NCCU this fall.

This year, NCCU also was ranked 36th among public Southern regional universities, and 74th overall among schools in the region.

LOCAL ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY CHAPTER PRESENTS SCHOLARSHIP CHAPEL HILL - The culmination of activities that began in October, 2009 for the 2010 Jabberwock sponsored by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Area Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. took place on May 29 at A.L. Stanback Middle School in Hillsborough. Miss Kourtney Barnes, a senior at Hillside High School, was crowned Miss Jabberwock and Miss ChaQuoyia Dickerson; a a first grader at Morris Grove Elementary School, was crowned Miss Princess Court. Other participants competing for the title of Miss Jabberwock were Chanelle Clayton;junior at Southeast Region Magnet High School, Vanessa Anderson; junior at Northwood High School, Della Purefoy;senior at East Chapel Hill High School and Ashley McLeod, a senior at Chatham Central Community College. Imari Simmons, a fourth grader at Glenwood Elementary School, was the other contender for the title of Miss Princess Court.

ACTRESS SHERYL LEE RALPH TO DELIVER CONVOCATION ADDRESS

(Seated L-R) Brother President W.T. Ramey; Gertrude Henderson Jefferson- Javion's mother; Javion Henderson-Scholarship Recipient; Brother Treasurer Richard Vaughan (Standing L-R) Brother Chaplain James Clark; Brother Corresponding Secretary Jamar PerryScholarship Committee Member; Brother Vice- President Thomas Brown ; Brother Dennis Snead- Scholarship Committee Member.

Submitted Photo

RALEIGH - Actress Sheryl WARRENTON - The Rho Beta Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated recently recLee Ralph will deliver the ognized Javion Henderson as its 2010 Scholarship recipient. Javion, a 2010 graduate of Warren convocation address dur- County High School was a scholar athlete in that he was a member of the football , baseball, and ing Saint Augustine’s basketball teams and finished his high school career with a 4.23 cumulative average. Along with his College 144th Fall busy academic and sports schedule, he achieved perfect attendance for 13 years ( Kindergarten Convocation on Sept 23 in through 12th grade) and was selected for the Tom Suiter Award by WRAL-TV 5. Javion is the son of the campus’ Martin Luther Gertrude Henderson Jefferson and will attend North Carolina State University where he plans to King Jr. Mall area. Ralph major in Engineering. Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek organization organized by has earned acclaim for African Americans, was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The Ralph her roles on stage, televi- Rho Beta Lambda Chapter presents a scholarship each year as part of the fraternity's Go To High sion and film. She is also a passionate AIDS School, Go To College Program. Graduating seniors in Granville, Vance, and Warren counties are eliactivist. gible to apply.

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