Urban Pro Weekly

UPW URBAN PRO WEEKLY

JANUARY 15-21, 2015 VOL. 4 NO. 18

SELMA 1965

The campaign that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965

The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation . . .We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Eddie Bussey 706-772-9800

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Powell Pointe is a neighborhood of 40 units, dedicated to senior housing. The 40 units consist of 16 duplexes and eight single family homes.

Augusta Housing Authority is working with the City of Augusta and other area partners within the CSRA on Powell Pointe.

For more information contact Haley Holmes, Applications Specialist at 706-312-3127 or hholmes@augustapha.org

...in honor and remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr... “...a building is not well erected without a good, solid blueprint...in your life's blueprint, you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. You're going to be deciding as the days, as the years unfold what you will do in life — what your life's work will be. Set out to do it well.”

--- excerpt from speech given at Barratt High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967

UrbanProWeekly • JANUARY 15 - 21, 2015

- named in honor of Mrs. Addie Scott Powell , community activist and historic preservationist. Mrs. Powell was the director and founder of the Bethlehem Area Community Associateion.

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COMMUNITY

FOCUS

Georgia Regents University Department of Kinesiology and Health Science In Partnership With Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Augusta Alumnae Chapter, Chi Eta Phi Sorority And The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of History Health Initiative present:

I’m Fine, And You? Mental Health Summit January 21, 2015; 9:30 AM Check-In 10 AM - 12:30 PM Georgia Regents University Jaguar Student Activities Center Ballroom

The purpose of the mental health seminar is to provide information on issues impacting mental health and raise awareness of the effects of mental illness in our community.

The Mental Health Seminar will be a two hour informational session featuring two experts in the field who will provide vital information to participants on topics that affect one’s mental health. There will be

Dance For Justice!

question & answer opportunities at the end of each presentation.

Resource agencies will be in place to offer additional information to the attendees.

Presenters: Lindsey West, Ph.D., Department of Psychological Sciences, Georgia Regents University Gina Duncan, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior,

On Friday, January 16, 2015, from 8:00 PM to 12:30 AM, The Ballroom Dance Center at 525 Grand Slam Drive in Evans, GA will host the “Dance for Justice” event.

Jeremiah Griffin, a 16 year old high school junior in Evans, coordinated the fundraiser for I’m Aware to help create awareness about the growing problem of human trafficking in the CSRA. I’m Aware, a locally run non-profit, aids the survivors of human trafficking in the CSRA. Proceeds from the

event will help I’m Aware to continue to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking as well as provide education for local first responders, emergency rooms, law enforcement, social workers, and citizens in the area.

The event will include social dancing, refreshments, prizes, a silent auction, Jack and Jills [dance contests], and entertainment. The cover charge is $15.00 per person.

There will be two Jack and Jills: One for $10.00 per person; Two for $15.00 per person.

MLK DAY EVENTS THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION HONORING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR Date: Friday, January 16, 2015, 12 noon; Gilbert-Lambuth Memorial Chapel Each year, Augusta Technical College, Georgia Regents University and Paine College come together to celebrate the life and work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Through this celebration, the institutions encourage the community to reflect upon the teachings of Dr. King and his work for peace and equal rights for all people throughout the world.

This year, Paine College will host the event. The keynote speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Julius Scott, champion of education and social change. Dr. Scott previously served as Paine College president. Having met Dr. King at Brown University in the 1960’s, remaining friends with Martin Luther King Jr. and his family, as well as serving as Director of the Martin Luther King. Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Rev. Dr. Julius Scott has spent a lifetime being an outspoken proponent of peace, nonviolence and civil rights.

Georgia Regents Health Supporters: Counseling Center, Georgia Regents University Georgia Family Crisis Solutions Lighthouse Care Center Serenity Behavioral Health Augusta Center for Psychological Services Counselor Education, Leadership and Research

UPW

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ANNUAL CELEBRATION Date: Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 11:00 a.m.

Carrie J. Mays Community Center located at 1014 11th Ave. This event is hosted & sponsored by Augusta Recreation, Parks & Facilities Department and WKZK Gospel Radio Station 1600 AM & 103.7 FM. Bishop Rosa L. Williams, Speaker. Come out and enjoy the celebration and remember Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream and keep his legacy alive. For more information, please contact 706-821-1754.

URBANPROWEEKLY.COM

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. MEMORIAL OBSERVANCE Date: Monday, January 19, 2015 Roundtree, Fire Chief Chris James, - 11:00 a.m.

Richmond County Superintendent First Presbyterian Church, 642 of Schools Dr. Angela Pringle, Telfair St., Augusta New City Administrator Ms. Janice The Rev. Charles E. Goodman Jackson and Solicitor General Kelly Jr., speaker; guests include Mayor McIntyre Hardie Davis, Sheriff Richard

Executive Publisher BEN HASAN 706-394-9411 bzhasan54@yahoo.com

ANNUAL DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. PARADE Date: Saturday, January 17, 2015, 11:00 a.m. Downtown Augusta The City of Augusta & NAACP Augusta Branch are presenting the event. The event is sponsored by Power 107 & 96.3 Kiss FM and will be featuring church groups, dance groups, floats, bands, civic groups, and schools. The Theme: All In For Justice & Equality Parade Route: Line up and start at

Dyess Park Community Center located at 902 James Brown Blvd., it will proceed from there south on James Brown Blvd, then going west onto Wrightsboro Road, then North onto Augusta Ave. From there the parade will travel east onto Laney Walker Blvd, then North onto 11th street and finally east onto D’Antignac Street. For more information, please contact (706) 821-1754.

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Urban Pro Weekly LLC 3529 Monte Carlo Drive Augusta, GA 30906

Executive Managing Editor FREDERICK BENJAMIN SR. 706-306-4647 editor@urbanproweekly.com Sales & Marketing 706-394-9411 Contributors VINCENT HOBBS Photography & New Media

By Vincent Hobbs The holiday to honor the man who catapulted the Civil Rights Movement into the national consciousness is a celebration for every human being who values freedom, equality and human rights. The impact that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made on this nation is immeasurable, and places as far-flung as Hiroshima, Japan honor his memory on the third Monday in January of each year to celebrate his birthday.

In Hiroshima, the holiday bears equal footing with any other national observance, with a special banquet held by the mayor, Tadatoshi Akibato, to recognize and honor the importance of King’s message of peace and non-violent activism. Other countries with cities that honor Dr. King on his holiday include Germany, Israel, and Canada.

The celebration of Dr. King’s life is personal for many people. King’s message of hope for a world of peace and justice resonates deeply with those who are concerned about the human condition. UPW spoke to sevDr. Martin Luther King Jr. realized that the federal government’s involvement was critical to civil rights suceral CSRA resident s to get their input cesses. Here he meets with President Lyndon Johnson who was instrumental in the passage of the land on what Martin Luther King, Jr. Day mark civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965. means to them.

Earl Grey Summers, author “It represents a day in honor of one of the truly admirable American goals – unity. I think in recent years we’ve begun to get away from the ‘unity’ in our United States, and I think that remembering Dr. King is one day that we can regain our focus. Also, this day stands as a reminder as to what can be achieved through civil disobedience and being willing to suffer and sacrifice. Personally, I would like to at least once make a ‘pilgrimage’ to Memphis to see the room where King was shot, and to also visit FedEx Forum to attend their annual symposium on Dr. King.”

Karlton T. Clay, founder of Victory Productions, LLC “The MLK Holiday means that the work for equality is far from over.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great man. He was a visionary. He was a fighter. He set a great example for us to follow as he marched and fought for justice and equality for African-Americans. Even though we

have made strides, we, as a people, still have a long way to go. While we are continuing in the fight for justice, let’s stop fighting each other. Let’s stop being crabs in a barrel, as some would say. I think if we come together and support one another, we can progress a lot faster as we continue to move forward in the fight for justice and equality. I believe that’s what Dr. King would want.”

Melissa Ayala, artist and performer “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day gives us a chance to celebrate a great man and his great deeds. Especially now, with activism re-emerging in America against income inequality and the Police State, MLK Day is a time to look back and remember the social victories of our past.

Nothing is impossible as long as the desire for change exists.”

Travis Holloway “No matter how imperfect a person we are, we can still reach for the stars.”

Takisha Perry, author “What does the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday mean to me? I am reminded of MLK’s letter penned from the Birmingham City Jail, written in 1963 during a pivotal time in our Civil Rights Movement. MLK wrote “... there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth.” The Observance of MLK Day reminds me that although our people may have aged, it means nothing unless we grow!”

Miche’le Brown Douglass, Professor, Miller-Motte College “When I look at the world we live in today, a world in which racial tension, unjust violence, civil disobedience and political strife are still prevalent, and so many of our youth are infected with the spirit of entitlement, the lack of motivation and the failure of appreciation for the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom, MLK Day reminds me that, although we have made progress, we still have a long way to go as a nation

and a people.”

Kelly Fey-Anderson, Family Y fitness instructor “One of Dr. King’s most important legacies was his commitment to using non-violent protest and choosing to use his powerful words to get people thinking and to change minds and hearts. Because of men like him and Gandhi, we have proof that it doesn’t take bullets to achieve change. I can’t think of anything more powerful than that.”

Alexandria Levy, GRU Augusta student “Even though I grew up in Germany, I still have a sense of the momentous importance of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his speech. His presence and his declaration was a pivotal point in the civil rights struggle. MLK Day is a time when we can reflect on civil rights successes and cast a hopeful look into the future as America continues to (hopefully) improve race relations.”

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A Living Dream: Augustans reflect on the meaning of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday national holiday

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bloody selma March 7, 1965 The Edmund Pettus Bridge The events that led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act began in the remote segregated Alabama town of Selma, Alabama during the first three months of 1965 as blacks organized, tried first to register at the county courthouse, and then planned a march of protest to the Capital at Montgomery. When their unarmed column began to cross Pettus Bridge on March 7, Sheriff Clark’s posse, armed and on horseback, attacked with clubs, whips, and ropes. While the blacks huddled together on the bridge in prayer, they were barraged with tear gas, and the state troopers, wearing masks, waded through the group, flailing at heads with their nightsticks. “Unhuman,” one witness termed their behavior. “An American tragedy” was what the president called it. The atrocity at Selma prodded a foot-dragging Congress into passing comprehensive legislation to protect blacks during registration and at the polls.

six months after the state trooper riot on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965.

Far more enlightening than the gratuitous violence on the part of Alabama law enforcement is an appreciation for the social and economic dynamics that provided the backdrop upon which a small sleepy hamlet like Selma could be catapulted into international infamy.

Selma did not just happen. It was the result of deliberate and sustained coordination between southern civil rights workers and a national network

of attorneys, community organizers, 7 student volunteers, religious organizations and an ‘A’ list of celebrity fund raisers.

In retrospect, the white citizens of Selma, Alabama, had the deck stacked against them. Even those who were familiar with King and his tactics could not realize the monumental shift in power and consciousness that was about to grip every southern town with a vested interest in segregation and subjugation of its African American citizens.

The elements that made Selma the perfect candidate for Dr. King’s civil disobedience Why Selma? The Injunction: Civil rights activities began in Selma long before the arrival of Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in January, 1965.

Most of those activities were carried on by the Dallas County Voter’s League (DCVL) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as early as 1961.

The white citizens, though, had had enough. They fought back by the use of terror, firing activists from their jobs and jailing those who continued to protest.

Finally, on July 9, 1964, Alabama State Judge James Hare issued an injunction forbidding any gathering of three or more

people under sponsorship of SNCC, SCLC, or DCVL as organizations, or with the involvement of 41 named leaders including the SNCC organizers, the Boyntons, Marie Foster, Rev. L.L. Anderson, Rev. F.D. Reese, and others.

In essence, this injunction made it illegal to even talk to more than two people at a time about civil rights or voter registration in Selma, Alabama. And because it is an injunction rather than a law, Judge Hare had the power to jail anyone who — in his sole opinion — violates it. He was able to do so without the fuss, bother, and expense of a jury trial.

Sheriff Jim Clark When it came to suppressing the activities of civil rights workers or just ordinary citizens attempting to register to vote, Selma was ruled by Dallas County Sheriff James G. Clark Jr. Clark was a tyrannical segregationist who fashioned himself after Gen. George S. Patton. Clark was infamous for his racial hostility and violent temper.

Civil rights workers knew that about Clark and counted on him react violently when faced with determined nonviolent

demonstrators.

Clark was well-known SNCC workers to battled him in a 1963 protest and efforts to desegregate Selma’s public accommodations.

Clark’s contribution to modern crowd control was a mounted posse whose equipment of choice was the bullwhip and the cattle prod. This posse was said to include members of the landed gentry, no doubt combining fantasies of the Confederate calvary with the slave patrollers.

Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark could always be counted on to react stupidly and violently. Civil rights workers exploited those traits

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T

o the general public, the events of the first 90 days of 1965 in Selma, Alabama are characterized by the violent confrontations between state and local police against nonviolent protesters attempting to register to vote and demonstrate their grievances. True, it was the national airing of the beatings and brutality that focused the nation’s attention on what was happening in Selma.

That national scrutiny led directly to President Lyndon Johnson signing the 1965 Voting Rights act less than

The blueprint for the Selma campaign of Dr. King and SCLC

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Jan. 18, 1965: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., center, kicks off a voter registration drive at the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma, Ala. With King are the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, left; the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, right; and the Rev. Andrew Young, far right. Photo by Ed Jones, Birmingham News

The Alabama Voting Rights Project (AVRP), centered on Selma, Alabama and Dallas County, was a major campaign to secure effective federal protection of voting rights. That protection had been compromised out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Three of Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) main organizers-Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education James Bevel, Diane Nash, and James Orange had been working with AVRP since late 1963.

In 1963, the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL) and organizers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began voter registration work. When white resistance to African American voter registration proved intractable, the DCVL requested the assistance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), who brought many prominent civil rights and civic leaders to support voting rights.

The Alabama Project would organize people from across the state to protest that denial. Selma’s injunction and racial climate meant that arrests might begin at that first rally, and mass efforts to stimulate black citizens’ interest in winning the ballot would continue.

A statewide steering committee of local representatives would petition Governor Wallace to remove the discriminatory barriers to blacks’ participation, and if no satisfactory response was forthcoming, a “freedom registration” and “freedom election,” just like Mississippi activists had had fifteen months earlier, would be undertaken to protest the exclusion.

This effort would produce representatives who would contest the validity of Alabama’s all-white state legislature when the 1965 session opened on May 4.

The Selma to Montgomery March consisted of three different marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American Civil Rights Movement.

MARCH 7, 1965 BLOODY SUNDAY The first march took place on Sunday, March 7, when 600 civil rights marchers, assembled at Brown Chapel.

King aide Hosea Williams and SNCC chairman John Lewis led a march from Selma to Montgomery to protest the killing of unarmed civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by the police in nearby Marion.

Ironically, King was not present. After meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson, he decided not to endorse the march, but it was carried out against his wishes by the director of the Selma Movement, James Bevel, and by local Civil Rights Leaders.

The marchers didn’t make it past Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. They were brutally beaten, trampled by mounted officers, and doused in tear gas by Alabama state troopers and Sheriff Jim Clark’s vigilante posse.

That evening, ABC interrupted the prime-time premiere of “Judgment at Nuremberg” to broadcast fifteen minutes of footage from Selma to 48 million Americans. There had been ample public outrage over atrocities committed against the civil rights movement, but nothing had the impact of Bloody Sunday.

That day has since become known as “Bloody Sunday”. It was a major turning point in the effort to gain public support for the Civil Rights Movement, the clearest demonstration up to that time of the

dramatic potential of King’s nonviolence strategy.

“Bloody Sunday” inspired sympathy marches in eighty cities, sit-ins at the Oval Office and a constant stream of demonstrators outside the White House.

Eight days after Bloody Sunday, Lyndon Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act (VRA) before a joint session of Congress. In truth, the Johnson administration had already drawn up a voting rights bill before the march, but events in Selma accelerated the president’s timetable and assured swift passage in Congress. Seventy million Americans watched LBJ’s speech. “I speak tonight,” the president said in his opening, “for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.” Even the most battle-scarred civil rights activists were stunned when the president invoked the movement’s mantra: “We shall overcome.”

MARCH 9 - TURN AROUND TUESDAY The second march took place on March 9 it was know as “Turn Around Tuesday.”

The SCLC petitioned for an injunction in Federal Court against the State of Alabama; this injunction was denied and the judge issued an order blocking the march. King was at the head of this march. As they crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge, they were once again met by a phalanx of State Troopers and Jim Clark’s posse.

The marchers were halted. They knelt to pray

before turning around returning to their base so as not to violate the court order. The unexpected ending of this second march aroused the surprise and anger of many within the local movement.

Two days later, following the second aborted march led by King, a Unitarian minister named James Reeb was attacked in Selma by white segregationists when he accidentally entered the “wrong” part of town; he died shortly thereafter.

MARCH 21 - 25, 1965 THE MARCH TO MONTGOMERY Only the third march, which began on March 21 and lasted five days, made it to Montgomery, 51 miles away. On the way from Selma to Montgomery, passing impoverished rural counties where not a single black voter had been allowed on the rolls before 1965. The march grew to 25,000 as they entered Montgomery, where King gave one of his lesser-known but most eloquent speeches that has become known as “How Long, not Long.”

National and international attention of the march highlighted the struggle, the adversity, the violence as well as the determination of the Selma protesters. As a result of the media coverage worldwide, Congress rushed to enact legislation that would guarantee voting rights for all Americans. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965.

Selma the movie

9 UrbanProWeekly • JANUARY 15 - 21, 2015 (Above) Oprah Winfrey, also an executive producer of Selma as she portrays Mrs. Annie Lee Cooper, a local demonstrator who was beaten by Selma Sheriff Jim Clark with a billy club.

(Left) Selma citizens march to the courthouse. Selma highlights some of the many contributions made by Selma residents. Local professionals joined civil rights workers from other parts of the country and risked beatings and incarceration.

In Selma today – they lived the history, now they watch the movie Residents of Selma, Ala., have been attending free screenings of the powerful film and sharing their recollections of those historic days in 1965.

By Sherrel W. Stewart SELMA, AL In 1965, when nonviolent activists in Alabama made that valiant trek from Selma to Montgomery for the right to vote, the Rev. Frederick D. Reese was in the front row, leading the way with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and others. On Saturday the 85-year-old Baptist minister sat in a packed theater in downtown Selma, watching as events from that period unfolded on the big screen.

“I thank the Lord for Him bringing me and others through this and allowing me to see this day,” Reese said after the movie. “Many of those who were with us are gone.”

It was Reese who wrote the official letter to King in 1964 inviting the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to come to Selma and lead the fight for voting rights. The movie brought back memories.

“I think about all the difficulties. So many gave so

much,” he said.

Reese, the former president of the Dallas County Voters League, doesn’t seek recognition for his work in civil rights. Like many ministers who came of age during the days of segregation, he stepped up because it needed to be done, a sacrifice credited with prompting the passage and signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which secured voting rights for millions throughout the South and paved the way for the election of black officials throughout the country.

“The movie focused on the real true meaning of what we were doing at the time,” Reese said. “It helps others understand what we went through and why.”

Reese was among a crowd of 270 people filling Selma’s Walton Theatre on Saturday, during a special free showing of the movie Selma for senior citizens.

Nationwide in its first full weekend of viewing, Selma, starring David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey, played on 2,179 screens and brought in more than $11 million.

Movie Notes Ava DuVernay’s bold and bracingly self-assured new movie Selma is about the march and the events, in Selma and elsewhere, leading up to it.

Ms. DuVernay writes history with passionate clarity and blazing conviction. The cinematographer, Bradford Young, captures its shadows and its glow.

“Selma” hums with suspense and surprise.

Packed with incident and overflowing with fascinating characters, it is a triumph of efficient, emphatic cinematic storytelling. And much more than that, of course: It would be hard to imagine a timelier, more necessary popular entertainment in the year of Ferguson, Mo., a reminder both of progress made and promises unkept. But such relevance is hardly automatic. A timid, pious or dishonest movie about the time-burnished glories of the civil rights era — the kind of soothing fable of awakened white conscience that Hollywood has too often favored — would not do anyone any good.

Instead, Ms. DuVernay has stripped away layers of fond memory and imposed harmony to touch the raw, volatile political reality of the mid-1960s — the courage and the cravenness, the idealism and the calculation, the visible and invisible divisions and rivalries.

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A new vision for a new year Kristie Robin Johnson

Considering the tumultuous start to the New Year, with so much violence and unrest in the international headlines, there could not have been a more meaningful place to be on last Saturday evening than at the feet of a giant for human rights and social justice.

The Progressive Religious Coalition of Augusta held its 8th Annual Interfaith Service of Celebration at the historic Gilbert-Lambuth chapel on the campus of Paine College on Saturday. The service, which was a celebration of the continuing significance of the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., featured the indomitable Dr. Cornel West as the evening’s keynote speaker. Anchored by soulful performances by Wycliffe Gordon and the Davidson Fine Arts Chorale and the courageous oratory of Dr. West, the program served as a most fitting reminder of how we ought to try to live our lives in the year unfolding.

Celebrating the New Year can be as depressing as it is motivating. The beginning of a new calendar signifies fresh starts and the promise of days yet

unseen. A certain optimism fills the air until we are met with a sobering reality that abruptly awakens us from our euphoric slumber. Recent terror attacks in Paris and Nigeria have proved to be 2015’s wake-up call in the most unsettling way. As the world united in grief, mourning, and solidarity, a few hundred Augustans from diverse backgrounds, of all races, creeds, colors, and religions gathered in peace and celebration. As somber as we should have been about the current state of affairs, we were reminded of Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community and the real potential of humanity to come closer to that goal through sincere self-reflection and sacrifice. Every January the world pauses to remember King’s legacy. We often treat his memory as though he were the movement himself.

In our remembrance, we tend to strip him of his fragile humanity and view him as more of a deity than a man. Dr. West painted a picture that portrayed Dr. King as being a part of a rolling wave of humanity that includes every person (past, present, or future) who has contributed to the cause of social

Cornel West at Paine College last weekend. Photo by Vincent Hobbs justice and civil rights. He explained that King’s greatest work came when he understood and accepted the inevitability of death as a way to live an unfettered life—a fearless, courageous life. Perhaps one of the most important lessons that can be taken from King’s legacy is the fact that, by virtue of our common humanity, each of us has the capacity to love unconditionally and be radically tolerant in the face of hate if we are brave enough to examine

ourselves.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day approaches, I would challenge you to not only celebrate his life, but to also deconstruct his legacy. Take everything that you were taught in history books and reruns of Eyes on the Prize and turn it on its head. Consider King the everyday man instead of King the legend. You might just discover that you and King have more in common than you thought.

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.

We honor the birthday of an icon for universal peace and love.

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UrbanProWeekly • JANUARY 15 - 21, 2015

A Birthday Tribute To A King

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BE MORE THAN HIPS

2015

Mini Theatre production is tribute to MLK

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The cast of “Be More Than Hips”

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FOR THE

The Augusta Mini Theatre Community Arts and Life Skills School, and its founder and executive director, Tyrone J. Butler, are restaging his play, “Be More Than Hips.”

The play will be the Theatre’s annual salute to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and will run Friday, January 16, until February 22, 2015.

The production will take place in the Judith Simon Drama Studio located in the Augusta Mini Theatre, Inc., at 2548 Deans Bridge Road, Augusta, GA 30906. Admission for “ Be More Than Hips “is $13 for adults, $10 students/ children (ages 2-18) and $8.50

per youth or senior citizens in a group of 10 or more.

January 2015 Shows Friday, January 16 @ 8PM Saturday, January 17 @ 3PM Saturday, January 17 @ 8PM Sunday, January 18 @ 3PM Sunday, January 18 @ 8PM Monday, January 19 @ 3PM Saturday, January 24 @ 3PM Sunday, January 25 @ 3PM February 2015 Shows Saturday, February 21 @ 3PM Sunday, February 22 @ 3PM To purchase tickets, call (706) 722-0598 or visit our website at www.augustaminitheatre.com.

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BORDER BOWL II: Playing for the Georgia team, defensive linebacker Rico Merriweather from Laney High School watches his opponent during the Border Bowl II football game, held at Lucy C. Laney stadium on Sat., Jan. 10. The event featured top local high school players from both Georgia and South Carolina. With a final score of 12-8 , South Carolina defeated Georgia. Photos by Vincent Hobbs (Left) Matlin Marshall from Evans High School gains some yardage.

(Right) Tyree Stidem from Strom Thurmond High School looks for a receiver.

15 UrbanProWeekly • JANUARY 15 - 21, 2015

Team South Carolina 12 Team Georgia 8

Border Bowl II Farrell Brown Special to UrbanProWeekly A goal line stop on the final drive of the game sealed the win for Team South Carolina at the second annual Border Bowl last Saturday at Lucy C. Laney Memorial Stadium.

After two fourth quarter touchdowns, one for each team, Team Georgia began the final drive of the game from their 22 yard line with around two minutes left in the game.

The key play of the drive saw quarterback Matlin Marshall, representing Evans High School, rip a 34 yard run taking Team Georgia down to the South Carolina 18 yard line. The Georgia would have four plays inside the South Carolina 10 yard line but wasn’t able to make the game winning score.

“We wouldn’t have done anything different,” said Team Georgia head coach Lakeside’s Steve Hibbitts of the last drive of the game. “On that last play, you have a pass called and the pocket kind of breaks down and you’ve got a play maker that wants to make a play. We knew we had only 11 seconds. We wanted to throw the ball to get two plays in if we needed it. They made the play. We were just a little bit short. That’s just the way it breaks.”

The game went scoreless through

the first quarter. Team South Carolina threatened to draw first blood but an interception by Lakeside’s Stephen Houzah ended the drive. Team Georgia was unable to capitalize on the turnover.

Team Georgia would again look to score in the second quarter after getting good field positioning from a bad snap on a punt by Team South Carolina. Team Georgia would begin the drive at the South Carolina 24 yard line. After moving back 36 yards due to penalties, Team Georgia would eventually punt from its own 40 yard line.

“In the first half we were making a couple of mistakes,” Hibbitts said.

“The mistakes would put us behind the chains a little bit and we’re playing catch up and we couldn’t quite do that like we needed to.”

The first score of the game would come from Team South Carolina.

North Augusta QB Trib Reece would connect on a 34 yard pass to Midland Valley wide receiver Kameron Brown that would take Team SC down to the GA 1 yard line. North Augusta running back Cam Mathews would run the ball in for the touchdown capping off a drive that started at the SC 22 yard line.

The first half ended with Team SC being up 6-0 after Thomson’s Chris Tutt was blocked on the extra point attempt.

The big moment of the third quarter started during a Team Georgia drive starting at its own 30 yard line. Marshall would make a couple big plays of 30 or more yards to get Team Georgia within scoring range.

Marshall would them fumble at the SC 2 yard line and North Augusta’s Sebastian Hernandez would recover the fumble and give the ball back to Team SC. Team South Carolina would have their own fumble on the next play and Mathews would recover the ball in the endzone resulting in a safety for Team Georgia cutting Team SC’s lead to four points after three quarters.

Team Georgia scored first in the fourth quarter when Marshall found Lakeside WR B. J. Raymond on a 40 yard touchdown pass. Aquinas’ Justin Thompson was blocked on the extra point attempt. The score game Team GA their only lead of the game.

Marshall finished the game completing 7 out of 16 passes for 132 yards with 1 touchdown and no interceptions. He also had 81 rushing yards and another touchdown off of 10 carries.

“I was blessed and grateful that was able to get a chance to play and quarterback the whole game,” Marshall said. “It was a real honor. I’m real blessed to be able to come out here

and show my talents.”

Team South Carolina took the lead back with a 6 yard running score by Reece. It was the last score of the game. The final score was Team South Carolina 12 to Team Georgia’s 8.

Reece finished the game with 17 completions out of 26 passes for 179 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Proceeds from tickets sales for Border Bowl II went to the Ronald McDonald House charity. Players from both teams wore red and white striped socks to raise awareness for Ronald McDonald House. Profits from the concessions at the game went to help the Lucy C. Laney High School football program.

The McDonald’s Players of the Game for Team GA were Raymond on offense and Houzah on defense.

Raymond finished the game with 3 receptions and 85 receiving yards.

“In a game like this, everybody is here for a reason,” Houzah said.

“So just to have that award is just an honor. I worked hard all season so I’m real thankful to be here.”

The McDonald’s Players of the Game for Team SC were Brown on offense and South Aiken’s Rasool Clemons on defense. Clemons ended Team GA’s first possession of the game with a sack. Brown racked up 125 receiving yards off of 10 receptions.

UrbanProWeekly - JANUARY 15 - 21

2015

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CHURCH

WORSHIP

Everfaithful Missionary Baptist Church BISHOP ROSA L. WILLIAMS 40TH PASTORAL REVIVAL REVIVAL January 22-23 Thursday, January 22, 7 pm • Pastor Wallace Peeples (Magnolia Baptist Church, Avera,Ga.) Friday, January 23, 7 pm • Pastor Patricia Scott (Tender Sprout, Hephzibah,Ga.) Saturday, January 24, 5 pm • Pastoral Anniversary Banquet Gordon Club (Fort Gordon,GA) ANNIVERSARY SERVICE Sunday, January 25, 3:30 pm • Apostle Linda Travett (Temple of Grace Holiness Church, Swainsboro,GA)

Restoration Church MEN’S PRAYER BREAKFAST Saturday, January 17, 2015, 9:30 am.

Attention All Men: Join Dr. Mitchel Mitchell on Saturday, January 17th at 9:30am for our Men’s Prayer Breakfast. This will be a time of prayer as we walk around the prayer track and declare God’s favor on every person and situation in your life. This time of prayer, praise, Word, and fellowship will be followed by a full breakfast in the Cove. Dress Casual, asking for a $5 donation.

Runs Missionary Baptist Church REV. STEVIE BERRY’S 5TH PASTOR ANNIVERSARY Sunday, January 18, 2015 at 8am. Rev. Jona Gaskin (New Exodus Missionary Baptist Church, Hephzibah, Ga.) 717 Williston Rd., Beech Island, SC.

Sunday School 8:30 am Morning Worship Services: 9:45 am Evening Worship Services 6 pm (4th Sunday) Bible Study: 6pm (Mondays) Midday Bible Study: 12pm (Tuesdays) Prayer Services: 6pm (Wednesdays) Celebrate Recovery: 6pm (Fridays) and 12pm (Mondays) 2323 Barton Chapel Road • Augusta,GA 30906 706.790.8185 / 706.922.8186 (fax) Visit Us @ www.broadwaybaptistaug.org • Join us on facebook Dr. C. William Joyner, Jr. Senior Pastor

Start your calling today! Mount Olivet Certified Academic Institution 706.793.0091 • 706.793.0335 • www.mocai-aug.org

Good Shepherd Baptist Church

Rev. Clarence Moore, Pastor 1714 Olive Road / P. O. Box 141 (mailing address) Augusta, GA 30903 706/733-0341- Telephone/706/667-0205 – Fax E-mail address: admin@goodshepherdaugusta.org Web address: goodshepherdaugusta.org Rev. Clarence Moore Church Service: 7:45 & 11:00 a.m.

Church School: 9:45 a.m. / Prayer Service: 11:00 a.m. – Wednesday Bible Study: 9:00 a.m. - Saturday / 7:00 p.m. - Wednesday

Everfaithful Missionary Baptist Church

314 Sand Bar Ferry Road Augusta, Georgia 30901 (706) 722- 0553 Church School Sunday 9:25am Morning Worship Sunday 11am Evening Worship 6pm (1st & 3rd Sunday) Midday Prayer 12pm Wednesday Intercessory Prayer/Bible Study 6pm Wednesday

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Radio Broadcast: Sundays • WKZK 103.7 FM at 7:30 a.m.

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UrbanProWeekly • JANUARY 15 - 21, 2015

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UrbanProWeekly - JANUARY 15 - 21

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Bid specifications may be obtained by contacting Amy Bauman in the Business Office at 706-826-1298, on our web site at www.rcboe. org, or at the Richmond County School System, Central Office, 864 Broad Street, 4th Floor, Augusta, Georgia 30901.

The Richmond County School System reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to waive technicalities and informalities.

COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF RICHMOND COUNTY By: Dr. Angela D. Pringle, Secretary

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