UPW Urban Pro Weekly

UPW

Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History’s

Annual Quilt Exhibition FEATURING QUILTS BY THE BROWN SUGAR STITCHERS

URBAN PRO WEEKLY

OCTOBER 26 - 31 , 2017 VOL. 7 NO. 2

The Harlem Hellfighters—heroes in France during World War I, only to be treated as second-class citizens when they returned to New York.

. . . IN PASSING

FATS DOMINO An American Original

1928 - 2017

1917

Upcoming Exhibit Offers Reflections On The Patriotic Response of African Americans to

The Great War

2 UrbanProWeekly - OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

SportsVIEW

ARC’s Lucy Simons during a GHSA Class AAAA playoff volleyball match against Luella at the Musketeers home gym. (Oct. 17, 2017 Augusta) Photo by Vincent Hobbs

UPW Urban Pro Weekly Hephzibah, GA 30815

ARC falls short during GHSA crown run Marist defeats Richmond Academy 3-0 ARC defeated the Luella Lions 3-0 on Oct. 17, advancing to the Elite 8 in the state championship playoffs on Saturday, October 21, in Atlanta against Marist, the top-seeded school for GHSA Class AAAA. In a heart-breaking defeat, the Lady Musketeers fell to the Lady War Eagles 3-0 ending ARC’s hopes for a state volleyball championship.

Lucy Simons, senior and co-captain, has been an integral part of the team’s accomplishment during the season.

“We put hard work and a lot of time into the sport, and it truly paid off with our advancement to the third round,” she shared. “We had fun playing what we love. It’s been an incredible four years and my close attachment to ARC will be a part of its history now.”

URBAN PRO WEEKLY Publisher URBAN PRO WEEKLY MEDIA 706-306-4647 urbanpromedia@yahoo.com

CEO / Sales FREDERICK BENJAMIN SR. 706-306-4647 editor@urbanproweekly.com

Head girls volleyball coach Peaches Stephens reflected, “This season is one of the most memorable in my coaching career, not just because of the success, but also because of the bond this group has developed. Each young lady understood their role and held themselves accountable. I think that’s what makes a real team! God blessed us as coaches with a very special group this season, it was no accident.”

The Lady Musketeers completed their season with a 3-0 record in the region, and 10-4 overall.

Other area high schools that reached the Elite 8 playoff status were Westside and Harlem (Class AA). Both teams were defeated in their third round state playoff games.

Contributors VINCENT HOBBS Photography & New Media KEN MAKIN contributing columnist

Fats Domino

Rock and Roll’s reclusive giant

A recent documentary, “The Big Beat: Fats Domino and the Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll” puts the legendary recording artist’s life in perspective.

r ,

d e s e

Best known for classics including “Ain’t That a Shame,” “I’m Walkin’” and “Blueberry Hill,” Antoine Domino Jr., known as Fats, has put up staggering statistics: He has sold more than 60 million records and, between 1950 and 1963, he made Billboard’s pop chart 63 times and its R&B chart 59 times

By Alan Light Elvis Presley often referred to Fats Domino as “the real king of rock ’n’ roll,” but this octogenarian musical royal has led a relatively sedate life, especially compared with high-flying contemporaries like Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.

Perhaps that’s why this New Orleans piano legend’s impact is often overlooked.

Best known for classics including “Ain’t That a Shame,” “I’m Walkin’” and “Blueberry Hill,” Antoine Domino Jr., known as Fats, has put up staggering statistics: He has sold more than 60 million records and, between 1950 and 1963, he made Billboard’s pop chart 63 times and its R&B chart 59 times — more hit records than Mr. Berry, Little Richard and Buddy Holly combined.

Yet he generally shied away from

the spotlight. “The planet missed out on certain things that Antoine was about,” said the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dr. John in a recent phone conversation. “He’s the one who brought everything to fruition.”

Joe Lauro, a filmmaker and archivist, set out to address this gap with a new documentary he directed and produced, “The Big Beat: Fats Domino and the Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll.”

Mr. Lauro, who has produced documentaries on the blues giant Howlin’ Wolf and on gospel music, said this project began about 10 years ago, when a woman approached him at the premiere of his film “The Wildest!,” about the hard-swinging big band musician Louis Prima, saying that she was a friend of Mr. Domino’s and she wanted to introduce the two men.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Lauro described entering the “parallel universe” of Mr. Domino’s double-shotgun house in the Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans where he grew up. Mr. Domino’s first response when they met, Mr. Lauro recalled, was, “I don’t want to be documented by nobody!” For five years, the producer would visit the singer and they would talk and listen to music.

Still, the story faced some significant challenges. Mr. Domino, who has not performed since 2007, is painfully shy and very reluctant to speak in public. In addition, most of the performance footage that exists — clips from teen shows and early rock ’n’ roll movies — isn’t particularly dynamic.

But then Mr. Lauro unearthed a film of a complete 1962 concert

by Mr. Domino and his original band at the Antibes Jazz Festival in France. “That inspired me to get over the other hurdles,” Mr. Lauro said.

“Everything I needed was in that concert — they lead a second line through the audience, there’s great piano playing. Then I knew I needed

to make the film.”

“The Big Beat” focuses on Mr. Domino’s early years, in an area so poor it still had dirt roads, before he became entranced by the piano and eventually joined forces with the bandleader-arranger Dave Bartholomew. Together, they helped create rock ’n’ roll before it had a name; Mr. Domino’s breakthrough hit, “The Fat Man,” was recorded in 1949 (five years before Presley’s first recording session) and was just inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

“Dave and Fats had the magnetism of opposites,” Mr. Lauro said. “Fats would come up with a simple melody, and Dave would give it an edge or write a bridge. Or Dave brought in a song like ‘Blue Monday’ and Fats would give it a more accessible approach. The combination is where the magic is.”

Don Bartholomew, Dave’s son and a musician in New Orleans who has appeared in the HBO series “Treme,” said that although he grew up thinking of Mr. Domino as a family member, the movie helped him understand the relationship between the two men. “That chemistry was just magical, like hand in glove, a perfect match,” he said. “It was a local sound my dad was producing, but Fats took it to the world.”

Don Bartholomew underlined the importance of bringing Mr. Domino’s story to light: “He put New Orleans on the map, but even people in New Orleans today don’t know who Fats Domino is,” he said. “It’s been lost — nobody really knows what he did in terms of the music, the beginning of rock ’n’ roll, and breaking segregation.”

Dr. John, one of Fats Domino’s greatest disciples, put it in more sweeping terms. “He was always ahead of the times, and spiritually off the hook,” he said. “And when Antoine and Dave got together, they made this city reverberate.”

UrbanProWeekly • OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

s e g , p s s s t

3

UrbanProWeekly - OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

4

Women attend sports event in Harlem, N.Y. during the 1920s.

Paine College to host

Conference of the Harlem Renaissance The Paine College Department of Humanities will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Evelyn G. Etheridge Conference on the Harlem Renaissance on November 1 - 3, 2017 at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. The Conference, founded in 1997

by Dr. Lola Richardson, former chair of the Department and Paine alumna, will examine the national and international impact of one of the most important artistic and cultural movements in history that spanned from 1919 to 1940 and produced notable writers, critics, and artists such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas, Ann Petry, Bessie Smith, and Duke Ellington.

This year’s theme, “After Harlem Was In Vogue: The Harlem Renaissance and Its Legacy”, invites professors, undergraduate and graduate students, and independent scholars to present research that will examine the origins and the legacy of the Renaissance through interdisciplinary collaborations. Special keynote speakers include Dr. Anthony Sean Neal of Mississippi State University and Prof. Kamilah Aisha Moon of Agnes Scott, a nationally acclaimed poet and Paine alumna.

KAMILAH AISHA MOON will be among the presenters at the 20th Annual Conference of the Harlem Renaissance at Paine College starting on Nov. 1.

The recipient of fellowships, awards, and honors, KAMILAH AISHA MOON holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and has taught for many institutions. Her work has been featured widely. Moon’s poetry collection She Has a Name (Four Way Books 2013) was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Audre Lorde Award from the Publishing Triangle.

For more information on the Conference, please contact Prof.

Jeffrey Lanier Jones at 706.414-1883 or by email at JJones3@paine.edu. You can also visit www.paine.edu for more information and a detailed schedule of events.

THE WORLD WAR I SYMPOSIUM • NOV. 9-11, 2017

Troops at Camp Gordon, one of the largest training centers activated during World War I. In the photo above, African American troops gather while a comrade reads aloud. Camp Gordon is not to be confused with Fort Gordon which is currently in the Augusta area. During World War I, Augusta’s miliary post was named Camp Hancock. The 402 Reserve Labor Battalion was one of the black outfits that was assigned to Camp Hancock in Augusta.

Over There: Augusta and the Great War A Symposium featuring Augusta’s involvement in World War I Thursday, November 9 at the Imperial Theatre 1:00 pm: Film screening of The Big Parade 2:00 pm: Film screening of Wings

Friday, November 10 at the Morris Museum of Art Noon: Film screening of All Quiet on the Western Front The Edward J. Cashin Woodrow Wilson Memorial Lecture 6:00 - 8:00 pm: “Send the Word, Send the Word, Over There: The Songs of World War I” Joined by singer Cindy Miller and pianist Alan Jones, music historian and producer/host of NPR’s Peabody Award-winning program Fascinatin’ Rythm Michael Lasser devotes an evening to the songs of World War I

Saturday, November 11at the Morris Museum of Art 9 - 9:30 am: Registration, coffee, and snacks.

9:30 - 10:30 am: “Augusta’s Participation in World War I, At Home and Overseas” presented

by Dr. Russell K. Brown 10:45 - 11:45 am: “Why would a pacifist from Augusta go to war? The American entry into the Great War” presented by Dr. Hubert Van Tuyll 11:45 am - 1:30 pm: Lunch and the ARCHS Veteran’s Day Celebration 1:45 - 2:45 pm: “My Subject is War: Voices of WWI” presented by Dr. James Garvey Thursday and Friday events are all free of charge. The fee for Saturday’s events is $40 per person, which includes lunch. To register, call (706) 828-3867 or email kara.exum@themorris.com

5 UrbanProWeekly • OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

A

lthough World War I had begun in Europe in 1915, the United States had attempted to maintain its neutrality. But in April of 1917, president Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany and, in May, he signed the Selective Draft Act. By June, all of the nation’s eligible men — ages 20 - 21 — were required to register for the draft. Subsequently, more than 2.2 million black men registered over the course of four draft calls. Of those, nearly 370,000 were then inducted into the Army.

The researchers from the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History have been scouring local area cemeteries, courthouse archives, and the possessions of ordinary citizens in an effort to locate the names of African Americans who served during World War I — also known as The Great War. The fruits of their labor will be on display at an exhibit entitled The African American Patiotic Response To The Great War during the Augusta and The Great War Symposium that will be presented at the Morris Museum of Art on November 10 and 11.

Beyond the symposium, the research efforts will continue to supplement future exhibits.

Citizens in the River Region (which includes the CSRA counties) may contact Joyce Law or Corey Rogers at the Laney Museum at 706.724.3576 if they have relatives who served in The Great War

UrbanProWeekly - OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

6

LUCY CRAFT LANEY MUSEUM OF BLACK HISTORY • ANNUAL QUILT EXHIBIT • NOW THRU DEC. 31 ANNUAL QUILT EXHIBITION RECEPTION October 29, 2017, 3 pm - 5 pm Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History The Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild from Atlanta, Georgia has brought twenty exquisitely stitched quilts for a spectacular Annual Quilting exhibition. There will be a reception for the Quilt Exhibition held on Sunday, October 29, from 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm at the Museum.

The Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild of Atlanta, GA is a diverse group of African-American quilters from all over the metropolitan area. The crafters of this guild have gained popularity both regionally and nationally.

Refreshments will be served and members of the Brown Sugar Stitchers will be in attendance.

QUILTS COURTESY OF THE BROWN SUGAR STITCHERS Photos by Vincent Hobbs

A t ( J

AU head women’s volleyball coach SHARON QUARLES advises the team during the annual Jaguars Pink Out volleyball game.

(October 23, 2017 - Augusta, GA) Photo by Vincent Hobbs/Sports Journal

UrbanProWeekly • OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

SportsVIEW

7

AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY’S ANNUAL PINK OUT VOLLEYBALL GAME

AU’s BLAIR BOLTON (center) blocks the ball during the annual Jaguars Pink Out volleyball game, which raises funds for the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University. The Lady Jags crushed the Limestone Saints 3-1 in a non-conference match held at Christenberry Fieldhouse. (October 23, 2017 Augusta, GA) Photo by Vincent Hobbs/Sports Journal PAYTON MURCHIE serves the ball during the annual Jaguars Pink Out volleyball game, which raises funds for the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University.

(October 23, 2017 - Augusta, GA) Photo by Vincent Hobbs/ Sports Journal

MAKIN’ A DIFFERENCE COMMENTARY by Ken Makin

UrbanProWeekly - OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

8

THE POVERTY PROBLEM

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems?

Try No Money, Mo’ Problems I

had a lively conversation with a gentleman in his mid-40s just a few weeks ago. We talked about concerns facing Black people.

I explained to him that the problems among Black people derive from a lack of wealth and resources. His contention was that Black people needed to do for self and needed to have “more discipline.”

Be honest — it’s a commentary that you, the reader, often hear in the media, in the streets, or even in the pulpit.

Wherever you hear it, I am here to tell you, respectfully, of course, that such a commentary is WRONG. We will start with a comparative analysis of poverty rates in Augusta, as well as two nearby cities — Aiken and Augusta.

In Augusta, there is a majority Black population — over 105,000, according to census numbers. Of that majority, 31.3 percent of Black folks are living below the poverty line, compared to 17.1 percent of whites.

In neighboring North Augusta, Black folks make up close to 20 percent of the population — and 22.8 of us are living below the poverty line.

Whites in North Augusta, who make up a significant majority, have a 7.9 percentage of folks living beneath the poverty line.

In the city of Aiken, the numbers are most distressing. Black folks make up just under 30 percent of the population in Aiken — and just under 40 percent of the population lives underneath the poverty line.

Whether we have a Black majority or minority in term of demographics, the problem remains the same — poverty.

Now, some folks will tell you that this poverty is character-based — that the reason why Black folks are so poor is that we’re “lazy.” That we’re shiftless.

Imagine that — the Black folks who built this country during slavery were “lazy.”

The Black folks who banded together to strengthen their political and financial influence during Reconstruction were “lazy.”

The Black folks who worked during the Civil Rights Movement and those who participated in a boycott where they WALKED TO WORK instead of taking the bus were “lazy.”

Today, there are Black folks who

work 50 to 60 hours for minimum wage, barely able to support their families, and they are called “lazy.”

There are more than enough statistics to describe why and how poverty is the problem. What’s sad is that a significant number of you all reading this don’t care about the stats and the facts. You only care about what makes you feel good. You only care about what makes you feel important — feel elitist.

That’s how people can say things like, “If only young men pulled up their pants!” That’s how people can say things like, “If only little girls would stop having babies out of wedlock.” And all the while, never realizing that these are the symptoms of poverty.

Here’s the irony of it all: as much as Black folks hate Trump and his cronies, when you repeat the talking points of respectability politics and Republican strategists, you might as well put on a comb-over with, you little Trumpster!

Fiscal conservatives and neoliberal put policies in place to ensure that rich folks get the big piece of the pie while the rest of us get

the crumbs. And all the while, the “powers-that-be” fool us into thinking the poor and impoverished are the ones taking advantage of the system. It’s sick!

The poverty problem is made up of a lot of issues that most derive from wealth disparities. At some point, though, we as Black people have to acknowledge how we aggravate those problems with preconceived notions about the poor.

“It is time for the Negro middle class to rise up from its stool of indifference, to retreat from its flight into unreality and to bring its full resources — its heart, its mind and its checkbook — to the aid of the less fortunate brother.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos Or Community?” (1968)

Ken J. Makin is the founder of “Makin’ A Difference.” Updates on the show are available via Facebook at facebook.com/makinadifferenceshow. Ken can be reached via email at makinadifferenceshow@gmail. com or via text at (803) 270-2331.

Past and present columns can be viewed at VersesAndTiles.com.

LETTERS

Super-sized classrooms threaten funding

Classroom size is a global problem.

In an Original 106 FM, October 14, 2017 website article, Warning over Scotland’s “super-sized” classroom, it stated, “The number of pupils being taught in classes of 30 or more has increased by 40 percent since 2011.

Promises, pledges, and PR stunts on education cannot hide the Scottish National Party’s record on our schools – 4000 fewer teachers, $1.5 billion cut from local budgets, super-sized classes and a stubborn attainment gap

between richest and the rest.” The same problem exists in America.

In Augusta, Georgia, classes in predominately minority populated schools are super-sized and overwhelmed teachers are on the ropes, holding on, while school leaders promote “promises, pledges, and PR stunts.” Then, what usually happens is what has happened in the city of New York. According to an August 9, 2015 New York post article, Quotas at city schools pressure teachers to pass

failing students, “City teachers say that they are expected to pass a quota of students, and that the pressure gives rise to academic shortcuts and diplomas for the undeserving.”

In Georgia, similar threats roll downhill from the state to local school boards. According to Georgia State Rule 160-5-1-08, Class Size, “Local boards of education not complying with maximum class size requirements shall be subject to a loss of funding for the entire class or

program that is out of compliance.”

Indeed, the pressure to reduce class size and improve academic performance with shrinking budgets is real. Therefore, without funded systemic changes, skepticism must follow any news of academic improvement. There is a cost to politicizing education. Sadly, children pay the ultimate cost.

Kevin Palmer, Martinez, GA,

9

Humanitree House | The Art Dealer | Garden City Jazz presents

UrbanProWeekly • OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

The 2nd Annual ArtGusta Block Party Augusta’s all new urban art celebration!

SUNDAY OCT. 29th live at 8th & Broad St Downtown Augusta

MUSIC | ART | FOOD | VENDORS Free to attend, but first 100 to register on Eventbrite page are eligible for door prizes. https://artgusta2017.eventbrite.com For more info/vendors/sponsors call 404.783.4485

MEDICAL VILLA PHARMACY WE TAKE

• Georgia medicaid • Insurance plans • Charge cards • WIC vouchers

Marshall Curtis, Pharmacist/Owner Baron Curtis, Pharmacist

FREE DELIVERY SERVICE

706-722-7355

Visit us at our NEW location at

816 Broad Street Augusta, GA 30901

706.723.5086

HOURS: Monday - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday thru Friday - 8:00 am - 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, 5 a.m. - 5 p.m.

UrbanProWeekly - OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

10

Bulletin Board 6th Annual Women Empowerment Conference

Terra Carroll

Janet A. Jackson Kellie Spencer

The CSRA Business League, Inc., 6th Annual Women Empowerment Conference will take place on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at the Richmond on Greene. Doors will open at 4:30 pm, the sessions will begin at 5:00 p.m.

The session will present various empowering and motivating speakers. The presenters for the Conference include Janice A. Jackson Augusta, Richmond County City Administrator; Ms. Terra L. Carroll CCEC, President, CEO North Augusta Chamber of Commerce; Lisa Cranford, Wells Fargo Personal Banker and Business Advocate, and Attorney Kellie J. Spencer of Frails & Wilson Attorneys at Law. Tables for vendors are $25.00. For information call 706 722 - 0994 or by email at shaunacassandrawalton@business-league.org. A light meal will be served.

Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/6th-annual-women-empowerment-conference-sponsored-by-ab-beverage-of-augusta-tickets-38779154495 to add your name to the event roster no later than 11:00 am on Tuesday, 14 November 2017. The conference is sponsored by AB Beverage of Augusta, the WalMart Foundation and Frails & Wilson Attorneys at Law.

Arts Industry Legislative Luncheon set for Nov. 9

Learn how Augusta’s Nonprofit Arts Industry generates nearly 58 MILLION dollars annually at this year’s Legislative Luncheon, being held November 9, 11:30 a.m. -1 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Cultural Center.

2017 special guest Randy Cohen, Vice President of Research and Policy at Americans for the Arts, will present the results of the Augusta participation in the Arts and Economic Prosperity 5, an arts survey project that shows the economic impact of the arts nationwide. Cohen will highlight impact of Augusta’s nonprofits art community in both Richmond and Columbia Counties.

This event provides a great opportunity to gain understanding of the importance of arts in Augusta, as well as a chance for attendees to acknowledge Augusta’s local legislators.

Registrations will be taken online until November 8, 2017. Limited seats available, please register early.

You can pay online in advance, mail a check, or pay at the door.

UNITY The 1st Annual Natural Hair Show taking place on November 12, 2017 is creating excitement amongst the natural hair community in the area.

The theme of the show is “UNITY.” Bringing hair care professionals together with consumers of natural hair styles and fashion that celebrates their culture.

Hosted by the talented poet and actress Sa Jules, the Natural Hair Show is a family orientated event coordinated by the stylists of Kreative Kulture. There will be something for everyone of all ages to enjoy while attending the show. The one-day event will take place at the Bernie Ward Community Center in Augusta, GA. There will be live performances by poets Nakia_ Jade and Sky3 High, Hip Hop artist Kidd Justice all of Augusta, Ga. A live hair demonstration will be given by Design Essential GA Regional Educator Ereka Fielding. A discussion panel lead by actor, model, motivational speaker Tyrice Lollis and audio engineer Aubrey Pompey.

Fashion designs by Melanie Caballero of Ashley Victorian. Attendees will also be able to enjoy shopping with vendors and our show sponsors Jewel5 Jamboree (Santana Reddick), SeneGence (Shantrelle Davis), It Works (Miranda and Joshua Webber) 2017 Natural Hair Show will take place on November 12, 2017 at the Bernie Ward Community Center located at 1941 Lumpkin Road. Augusta, GA 30906. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $35 for VIP seating.

No tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets can be purchased at https://2017hair.eventbrite.com

Need help with Medicare open enrollment this year?

This month, 1.5 million beneficiaries in Georgia will review health and drug plans during the Medicare Open Enrollment Period, which began Oct. 15. GeorgiaCares provides individual counseling, education and outreach to Medicare beneficiaries around the state through the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). This program helps beneficiaries identify and understand Medicare health and drug plans, including Medicare Supplement Insurance, prescription drug coverage, Medicare Advantage Plans, longterm care insurance and other health insurance coverage options.

GeorgiaCares-trained counselors offer free help to those on Medicare who are 65 years or older, and to qualified people under 65 with disabilities, so that they do not have to pay someone to help them understand their benefits.

For more information, visit www.mygeorgiacares.org or to sign up for the GeorgiaCares monthly newsletter.

11 UrbanProWeekly • OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

2017 Natural Hair Show

UrbanProWeekly - OCTOBER 26 - 31, 2017

12

Get Homeownership Ready • Don’t Let Credit Stop You!

&Truth Institute Call Now To Discuss Your Options!

706-627-1886