THE WESTSIDE GAZETTE POST OFFICE 5304 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33310
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID FT. LAUDERDALE, FL 33310
PERMIT NO. 1179
South Florida Mourns The Loss Of Leading Photographer Photographer,, Hobbie 'Sule' Johnson
PAGE 2
The Significance Of Million Man March Tour In Miami
Suffering And Smiling PAGE 8
PAGE 12
Broward County's Oldest and Largest African American Owned and Operated Newspaper VOL. 44 NO. 25 50¢ A Pr oud PPaper aper ffor or a Pr oud PPeople...Sinc eople...Sinc Proud Proud eople...Sincee 1971 THURSDA Y, JUL Y 30 - WEDNESDA Y, AUGUST 55,, 2015 THURSDAY JULY WEDNESDAY
Without addressing disability we’ll never make Death of a Black woman meaningful progress in ending police violence Author unknown
CARTER-LONG
COKLEY By Rebecca Cokley and Lawrence Carter-Long Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Kajieme Powell, James Boyd, and Ethan Saylor were all killed in controversial and ultimately tragic interactions with law enforcement. Odds are the first
four names are more familiar to most people, but what these individuals share in addition to the troubling ways they died might come as a surprise. It’s not race. All five individuals were disabled. Freddie Gray, who died in the custody of Baltimore police, was reported to have an intellectual disability due to lead poisoning. Eric Garner died at the hands of Staten Island po-
lice, and was asthmatic. Kajieme Powell, fatally shot by the St. Louis Police Department, had a history of mental illness. James Boyd, shot and killed by Albuquerque Police, also had a history of mental illness. Ethan Saylor, who had Down syndrome, died of asphyxia after an incident with off duty officers moonlighting as security guards in Frederick, Md. The medical examiner ruled Saylor’s death a homicide though no charges were filed. “Disability is the hidden variable in so many of both the day-to-day and worst-case violent interactions between citizens and law enforcement in the United States. Looking at disability allows us to see the intersections among incidents otherwise divided by race, class, gender, weapons used, and outcomes,” said David M. Perry [http://www.thismess.net/p/ about-me.html], who has dropped more words on the topic of police violence and disability than any other journalist. “If we don’t get a handle on disability issues,” Perry concludes,
“we will not make meaningful headway in solving the problems of police violence and lack of trust in law enforcement in America.” A September 2014 review of San Francisco officer-involved shootings between 2005 and 2013 by KQED found that a whopping 58 percent of people killed by law enforcement had “mental illness as a contributing factor.” A year before the Bay area investigation, a 2013 report by the Treatment Advocacy Center and National Sheriffs’ Association estimates that half of the people shot and killed by police in the U.S. “have mental health problems.” Much like how racial disparities in educational discipline reveal implicit biases that show how disability discrimination contributes to the School to Prison Pipeline, it is critical that we look deeply into disability issues within communities of color as they relate to law enforcement.
22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:22-24 (NASB)
This came to me via an email and it made me think how the mother of civilization could be so victimized to the point of destruction. How could we allow this to continue? If the Black woman dies, so does the civility of life as we know it to be. It is so apparent that civilization is headed down a slippery slope to a fertile death filled with improper instructions and examples to how we should treat our women. From 2013 to the present, 15 Black women were killed during police encounters. Haram militants kidnapped 276 young girls from northeastern Nigeria last year. (Cont'd on Page 5)
Legacy of ‘First Lady of the Black Press’ still relevant today
(Cont'd on Page 3)
Black male STEM story By Michael H. Cottman Urban News Service BALTIMORE, MD. — Ayooluwakiitan Oluwafemi, 13, proudly displayed a rubber smart-phone case that he designed on a 3D printing machine. “It’s a prototype,” the Baltimore middle-school student said softly during a July 14 event at Morgan State University. College officials here announced an unprecedented partnership with Verizon Wireless. The Minority Male Makers Program (MMMP) will introduce young Black men to opportunities in the STEM field. That’s short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Math. Oluwafemi wants to be an entrepreneur. He refuses to accept any of his mother’s money to go to the movies — or any social events. He aspires to earn his own cash and become a selfmade millionaire by developing and selling cutting-edge 3D apps. And he’s not alone. This initiative is a first-ofits-kind, two-year program that offers 700 Black male students hands-on experience in advanced technology, critical thinking, and problem solving. These skills should help these young Americans compete in a digital, fast-paced, global marketplace.
Ethel Payne still relevant today. Oluwafemi,proudly shows his rubber smart-phone case that he designed on a 3D printing machine. From May 2015 through December 2017, according to Verizon executives, MMMP will provide boys of color at 15 middle schools access to a range of STEM disciplines including
app design, app development, basic decoding, 3-D-Modeling, 3-D-Design, 3-D-Printing, and Robotics. (Cont'd on Page 5)
Funeral services held for George Cooper, a lifelong advocate for HBCUs By Freddie Allen, NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent
George Cooper, longtime supporter of HBCUs.
Pleading Our Own Cause
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Funeral services for George Cooper, the 10th president of South Carolina State University in Orangeburg and executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, were held Monday, July 27 at The Peoples Community Baptist Church in Silver Springs, Md. He died on Sunday, July 19. In a statement on the death of Cooper, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that Cooper made tremendous contributions that benefited countless students in a full and extraordinary career. “Throughout his life, Dr. Cooper was committed to promoting excellence, innovation and sustainability across our nation’s HBCUs,” said Duncan. “Dr. Cooper provided the wisdom and direction needed to form important partnerships between HBCUs and the federal government.”
WWW.
Duncan continued: “This Administration has truly benefited from Dr. Cooper’s leadership and will continue our service and advocacy for HBCUs in a manner that follows his passion, persistence and humility. Although he will be sorely missed, his legacy will live beyond him.” Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G. K. Butterfield called Cooper “a lifelong supporter of higher education” and HBCUs, in a statement from the group. “As a former president of South Carolina State University and the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, George Cooper understood well the role that HBCUs continue to play in providing access to higher education for many African American and minority students,” said Butterfield.
By Jazelle Hunt, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON, D.C. (NNPA) – When James McGrath Morris set out to write his latest book, he didn’t know how timely it would be. When Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, The First Lady of the Black Press hit shelves, Essence magazine had just released its Black Lives Matter issue. The Justice Department had closed its investigation into Trayvon Martin’s murder, with no charges. Mainstream media was scramling
Four reasons you should be tested for hepatitis C. Man gets tested for hepatitis C. (Read full story on Page 3)
(Cont'd on Page 7)
Westside Gazette Newspaper
@_Westsidegazett
thewestsidegazette.com
(954) 525-1489
to report on police violence and systemic racial ills, and Black Americans took much of this coverage to task for its racist, shallow, or negligent portrayals. “We get these events filtered through the mainstream media. The mainstream media is still very white. I don’t mean they don’t hire people of color… it’s a perspective issue. The fact the media had a debate over the use of the word ‘terrorist’ [for Dylann Roof] in South Carolina is an indication,” said Morris. (Cont'd on Page 5)
Thewestsidegazettenewspaper
MEMBER: National Newspaper Publishers Association ( NNPA), and Southeastern African-American Publishers Association (SAAPA) Florida Association of Black Owned Media (FABOM)