Water and Legal Horrors Continue at Garden Walk; Owners Stand to Lose Property Over Water Bill

EDITORIAL

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

Mr. Avan Campbell owns his condo in the Garden Walk Complex. Paid for in full with hard-earned money. His property taxes up to date. He pays his utility bill. Now he stands to see it mowed to the ground by city bulldozers or closed for so long that more deterioration will set in. Either way he along with other homeowners of Garden Walk will be just ripe for the vultures to swoop up the property without Campbell or other homeowners being compensated for even one cent!

The Memphis condominium complex stands to be demolished for what? A $30,000 MLGW water bill. We wrote about this last month when the Garden Walk Complex had its water supply cut off because of the $30,000 bill. The water portion of the utility bill is supposed to be taken care of by the manager of the complex; however, something went awry when a centralized water pipe became damaged and was not fixed. Now as we reported earlier, Mr. Campbell’s daughter, Shakeena Campbell, contacted Councilman Myron Lowery over the matter, because tenants have had no water since January 2013.* Even when Ms. Campbell on behalf of her father tried to see what was going on with the water, MLGW denied her access as well as other tenants because their names were not on the water bill; yet, MLGW is fully aware that this central pipe is for each and every individual condo. MLGW certainly has no problem sending each and every tenant a monthly utility bill for electricity and gas.

In addition, each and every tenant is subject to paying his or her own property taxes.

Councilman Lowery called for an investigation. On April 16, the City Council MLGW committee met and there seemingly was some solution to the problem that would make it possible for the complex to pay off the bill in installments and for homeowners to receive individual water bills by placing a single meter on each unit.

  Any happy ending fell apart on May 8 when Shakeena Campbell received a phone call from MLGW representative, Mark Baskin, telling her that MLGW would neither accept installments nor full payment and would, in fact, make no arrangements for homeowners to get to a point of restoring water. (Again, more details are in previous editorial*).

 Now let’s go back to the April 18^th court hearing in which Judge Larry Potter changes his mind on tenants and MLGW trying to work problems out. Prior to this the Good Judge had seen fit to try to evict the homeowners for the water bill ‘before’ giving them another court date in which they could plead their case. The eviction action was delayed because Lowery called for an investigation.

At the April 18^th hearing, it seemed the judge started to warm up to tenants finding some type of solution then he decides that he himself would go out to Garden Walk to inspect the place but only after a representative from the District Attorney General Office steps up to the bench to speak to him. Makes you want to go, “mmmmm.”

Thus, he did on April 22 taking along with him a Memphis Division of Public Works Code Enforcement Department representative and a Health Department representative. However, there was no representative for the homeowners while this inspection was going on. Shakeena Campbell later reported that her father said the Good Judge told him that he shouldn’t waste his money on the water bill or try to fix what needed fixing on his condo.

Now, remember Avan Campbell owns outright his home; and one has to wonder that if the judge had been told that his mortgage-free home would be demolished for a water bill, if he could accept it without any hope of compensation.

The next court hearing is scheduled for May 21, 2013. Keep this date in mind. Let’s continue.

 As stated earlier, on May 8 Shakeena Campbell received a phone call from MLGW representative Mark Baskin. Campbell followed up his phone call by sending an email to Councilman Lowery in which she states: “He [Baskin] stated that Mr. [Jerry] Collins said that there were legal issues that he did not want to overstep anyone. I further voiced to him that MLGW was denying the citizens of Memphis the rights that they have. He [Baskin] further insisted that they would no longer take payments and was sorry stating don’t shoot the messenger and that he was only doing what he was told to do.”

When Lowery asked MLGW to respond to Campbell’s memo, MLGW president Collins got back to him with the following: “…MLGW is happy to help the residents as I previously stated. However we have been advised by a court representative that irregardless (sic) of whether or not they have water service the judge is likely to order the complex demolished because of larger issues. I just don’t want the customers to spend their good money today and then have the complex torn down or ordered closed in the near future. A rock and a hard place.”

 Okay, take a deeper breath and take in this Jerry Collins memo. This memo was written on May 8, 2013. The court date is scheduled for May 21, 2013. Got that?

Now during all these court hearings, there has yet to be an MLGW representative present and/or called to testify. And MLGW has yet had to be named as a party to anything. In fact, MLGW has all the benefits of being the invisible man without being there. Why is this? Why has not the Good Judge called in MLGW to render testimony, opinions, or anything? But then again, maybe he just wants to keep his lights on. Yet—now this is a big YET—Collins knows WHAT the judge’s decision is going to be on May 8^th before judge rules on May 21^st. Now how would Collins know the decision? Now remember this is the same judge who was gong-ho to evict homeowners for an MLGW water bill before they could be heard. Then now there are these “larger issues” and MLGW has “been advised by a court representative” that the “judge is likely to order the complex demolished because of larger issues.” A “court representative” can advise MLGW but MLGW has yet to make an appearance in court. MLGW did not even let Shakeena Campbell on behalf of her father examine Garden Walk’s water bill or any other tenant because the tenants did not have their names on the water bill. Also, no one has yet to explain and/or define what these “larger issues” are.

Now what time is it? Set up time. 

Okay, let’s lean back. Now again what time is it? Set up time. When one looks closely one can see that there are various real estate and property development companies that already have a piece of Garden Walk property action. Documentation will show that they are: White Owl Family Trust, Federal Way, WA 98023; J & P Philip Properties LLC, Medford, OR 97501; Memphis Investment Homes LLC, Memphis 38128; Equity Trust Co., San Jose, CA 95120; Garrett Land Development Co. LLC, Memphis 38103; Giffnock Properties LLC, Memphis TN 38118; and Home Enterprises LP, Memphis 38134.

Does one think these real estate and land development entities will not receive compensation for their stakes in Garden Walk? If so, there is this Bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

Of course, there is this little tiny teensy weenie issue known as “Due Process” which the Good Judge seemingly has ignored. Now the last time we looked this “Due Process” clause was part of the Constitution.  That in itself may give this case a federal component. And who knows maybe the larger issue of denying water to property-paying-home-owning citizens as a means to make them abandon their homes and/or be evicted is up for scrutiny.  That certainly could be a civil rights violation.

And still one has to wonder why on May 8 specifically a “court representative” has already advised MLGW on how the judge will rule on May 21. Gee whiz, a “court representative” can come to MLGW, but MLGW can’t come to the court. Must be nice.

Yes, it must be nice to live in a city where the Ku Klux Klan’s freedom of speech rights are protected with thousands upon thousands of dollars in police escorts and MATA buses can be used anytime it feels the whim to come into Memphis to espouse its hate speeches for African American and Jewish citizens; but Mr. Campbell and the Garden Walk homeowners have yet to receive Due Process for their property rights.

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*This editorial and the previous editorial are on the Editorial and Memphis lanes and blog on the Black Information Highway at www.blackinformationhighway.com

Boston Marathon: Not Again!

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

Not again. How many ‘not agains’ will Hate listen to?

 Hate is a person who lives in a land called Rage. All Haters reside there, and they have this joy called pain which they don’t mind inflicting on others for no reason, some reason or any reason.

On the morning of April 15, 2013 when Boston Marathon runners and spectators got up, they did not imagine Hate getting up at the same time. They did not imagine Hate walking among them looking innocent, knowing that he was about to ruin lives and yes, even take away the life of an eight-year-old boy who was denied even a decade to live as long as Hate has.

Hate didn’t care, because Hate could only see rage as he set about destroying peace of mind. He couldn’t stand the sight of people having a good time. He couldn’t stand the sight of seeing strong arms and legs race to cross the finish line.

Hate didn’t care that he could maim and kill, because Hate loves fear. And please don’t think that Hate can’t live with himself, because he can.

So, we say to you, Hate, the Boston Marathon will be run again and yet again. And still yet again.  Because, you see, Hate, in the ‘long run’ life is a marathon, and Hate never crosses the finish line.

Water Denied to Residents of Garden Walk

Editorial

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

How do you get evicted for a water bill? Granted this is a $30,000 water bill which was issued by Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW), but the eviction notice came from the Memphis Division of Public Works Code Enforcement Department. Tenants have until April 11, 2013 to get out. And since they have not had water since January of this year, denying them water has been a means to force them out and to possibly take their homes. For a water bill.

 Memphis City Councilman Myron Lowery was prompted to take action when one of the tenant’s daughters, Shakeena Campbell, wrote him of her frustrations when MLGW would not allow her to look at the history of the delinquent water bill.

 Campbell was told by MLGW that she could not have access because she was not a tenant of the Garden Walk Condominium complex. When she explained that she was doing this on behalf of her father, a tenant of Garden Walk, she still was denied. And from most accounts, it seems that other tenants have been denied as well.

According to Campbell, condo tenants pay the water bill through the Garden Walk Association, which is managed by Mary Jones.

On March 26, 2013 the matter went to court and was further complicated by Judge Larry Potter who informed the tenants that they had until April 11, 2013 to vacate their homes. At that March 26 hearing, Potter turns around and gives tenants yet another court date on April 18, 2013 to continue Due Process, which left tenants even more frustrated wondering why should they return on April 18 if they have been told to get the hell out of Dodge by April 11?

 Now let’s back this situation up some to get a fuller scope of how ‘life’ happens.

 Now Garden Walk is a condominium complex in which each tenant receives a utility bill each and every month like clockwork. Now break this on down. Each and every month an MLGW bill is in their mailbox.  Stick with me here.

Okay, condo owners of Garden Walk have an association (managed by Mary Jones) in which they pay fees to take care of the water which, according to a memo from MLGW to Councilman Lowery, comes from a common pipe which provides water to each condo. Simple? Right.

 Some way or another the water bill hits $30,000 in delinquency at MLGW.  And Mary Jones was dragged into court for the March 26 hearing. Other tenants who were in jeopardy of  losing their condos came, too, only to be told, according to Campbell, that they were there to be cited individually for the running water which forced code enforcers to shut off the water supply.

 Let’s see now:  Individual tenants can be cited ‘individually’ for running water but individual tenants cannot view a $30,000 delinquent water bill ‘individually’ because their names are not on the water bill portion of the MLGW utility bill. But—no, let’s make this a big BUT, MLGW knows that these individual ‘individuals’ live in Garden Walk; otherwise the ‘individuals’ would not be getting a utility bill ‘individually’ each and every month like clockwork.

 Now let’s pause a bit and back up further —as far as we can go at this point.

 According to court documents, on January 17, 2013, the City of Memphis Division of Public Works inspected the Garden Walk complex, located at 3910 White Owl Square.  The complex’s council of co-owners association was cited through Mary Jones for having running water because of pipe problems.  Jones was given an “environmental citation in lieu of arrest” as stated on court documents.

It appears the water was turned off on or about January 17, 2013. An additional inspection was made on February 8, 2013, and apparently the common water pipe had not been fixed. Water stayed off. Bewildered tenants are wondering what’s going on believing the water bill is being paid each month.

 City of Memphis Division of Public Works filed court papers on February 18, 2013. On these documents is Mary Jones’ signature attached to a statement which reads thusly: “I hereby affix my signature with the understanding that such is not a plea of guilty, but to certify that I received a copy of this citation and agree to appear in court on the indicated date and time. I understand that failure to appear in court can result in my arrest.”

Jones was scheduled to appear in court on February 26, 2013.

 Okay, let’s back up again—just a tad bit. There is an outstanding $30,000 water bill that’s increasing because of a corrupt common pipe which supplies water to all the condos; yet, it appears that MLGW did not come out to inspect the pipe but the pipe ‘problem’ somehow or another got into the City of Memphis Division of Public Works department. So one wonders if the broken pipe line was a city problem and that’s why they came out or an MLGW problem or a tenants’ problem—tenants who have no access to the MLGW water bill???

 Okay, let’s lean back just a little bit more concerning the April 11 deadline for all tenants to get the hell out of Dodge. According to Shakeena Campbell, her father, Avan Campbell, received a notice of eviction on or around February 25, 2013. However, that notice was dated February 12, 2013. Mr. Campbell is owner of his condo and according to his daughter has faithfully paid his water fees to the association.

 Now, the initial court date was scheduled for February 26, 2013.

 Let’s try this again: The City of Memphis Division of Public Works sent a notice dated February 12, 2013 to all tenants via the U.S. Post Office which is located in the same city. Now if one were to look at what Shakeena Campbell is saying, one has to say that it took approximately two weeks for a notice dated February 12, 2013 to reach tenants on or around February 25, 2013 in the same city.

On that February 12^th  dated notice, tenants were told that they had 15 days to vacate; HOWEVER, it seems that most did not get the notice until on or around February 25, 2013, which, theoretically speaking, in ‘actuality’ gave tenants 24 hours or 48 hours to vacate their homes.   All of which meant that  homeowners had to start moving furniture, clothes, pets, children, etc. either the day before or on the actual  court date of February 26.

 Now however which way this thing was being allegedly orchestrated, set up, delivered or ‘whatever’ another court date came about which was March 26, 2013.  So to continue this saga, tenants show up along with manager Mary Jones all of whom stand to be hauled off to jail because code enforcers turned off the water. To repeat, tenants are showing up thinking the matter is about saving their property; yet, according to Campbell, they are told by Jones’ lawyer that they are in fact there to be individually cited for the water being cut off. At this hearing, according to Campbell, Judge Larry Potter informs them that they have until April 11, 2013 to vacate their homes because they are being evicted because there is no water. At this point there are some tenants who have already moved because there was no water and they had been waiting to get back into their homes. The code enforcers who cited the council of co-owners association through Mary Jones, according to Campbell, did not bother to board up vacant condos; thus, Garden Walk has become a magnet for crime, vandalism, and property devaluation.

On top of Potter making it clear that tenants are to vacate on April 11, he gives them yet another court date of April 18, 2013 for further Due Process. This leaves tenants frustrated and wondering why should they even bother to show up for the April 18^th court date, seeing that they have until April 11 to get out. One has to wonder why would a judge give an order for tenants to vacate their homes on April 11 because of no water, but sets a court date of April 18 to discuss why there is no water. Now remember the water has been off since January of this year. So, why wouldn’t he wait for the April 18^th   court date to continue and why would he not involve MLGW on that $30,000 water bill and find out why tenants have not been allowed access to that bill?

 Something’s rotten in Denmark.

  On April 1, Councilman Lowery asked for the City Council to look into the matter after Shakeena Campbell got in touch with him, gravely concerned about her father’s predicament.

  On April 2, an MLGW memo to Lowery stated: “…The complex has numerous private property water leaks that are of large magnitude. Most of the water used by the complex is water leaking from their common area plumbing. No one within the complex or representing the complex is willing to take the responsibility to repair these private property leaks. There is no way to turn the water on to the complex without these large leaks becoming active again. In fact if we turn the water on to the complex, then the damage from the leaks could be catastrophic.”

            One has to presuppose that tenants losing their homes would be less catastrophic than bad pipes or that they could be arrested for having NO water. But if the good judge had bothered to include MLGW in any type of hearings then maybe a representative from MLGW could have at least stated such for the record if not for humane reasons.

            Something downright stinks in Denmark.

            The MLGW memo continues: “We have agreed to allow individual homeowners to pay for an individual water meter and service from our water main to the complex property line. They would need to hire their own plumber to then run the water line from their individual water meter at the property line to their individual unit. Unfortunately, very few of the home owners can afford this expense.”

            Again, had the good judge allowed and/or ordered MLGW to be involved in this case, MLGW might have had the opportunity to put forth this common-sense solution which they have now been pressed to offer due to Lowery’s asking for an investigation. But still, let’s break down MLGW’s last paragraph. First of all, if one can hook  up an F—- ing “individual water meter and service” from their (MLGW’s) “water main to the complex property line,” then why didn’t MLGW make this humane gesture before cutting water  off since January to aid and abet in forcing homeowners off their property? Common sense or natural law would dictate that people just don’t let a water bill go up to $30,000 without good reason. Instead, what these tenants like so many others got  was a system that demanded $30,000, threatened arrest and jail time, a total cut off of water, ordered off their property, non-descript court dates, a judge who chose not to include all parties concerned, and other S—t that flies won’t even go near.

            Memphis has had a series of extreme bad weather in which Mother Nature uprooted trees and damaged pipe lines and caused other costly infrastructure on private properties, not to mention Father Economics has caused hardships on many in a city where there is more poverty than wealth. MLGW should have in place some plan whereby they work on a reasonable basis with citizens who are caught between a rock and a hard place of a water bill escalating when they cannot afford to fix pipes and/or hire plumbers. A human being has to have water to live, especially in a city which in the past has shown more compassion for dogs in the animal shelter than for human beings in their homes.

 Even the MLGW memo Lowery received makes this assertion regarding hardships: “This is a very unfortunate and difficult situation. We were able to help another condominium complex that found itself in a similar situation. The other complex, however, owed a lot less than $30,000, was 60% occupied and was willing to take responsibility to repair their private property water leaks.”

 And to that, one should add that even if another complex’s bill was less than $30,000 and was 60% occupied and had the funds to take responsibility to repair their private property water leaks does not mean their good fortune would fit every person’s circumstance. Such a statement is made with either sheer stupidity and/or with a naïveté which assumes that since Mr. Rockefeller can afford to fix his water problem Mr. John Doe should be able to fix his.

 Due to Lowery’s intervention and Shakeena Campbell’s concern for her father, the MLGW memo concluded that MLGW is “open” to a way of fixing the Garden View dilemma. Let’s hope they mean it. Hell, even a dog deserves water!

Kudos to Councilman Lowery for taking up the issue; and kudos to Ms. Shakeena Campbell for asserting her rights as a citizen and daughter.

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 This editorial is also on the Editorial and Memphis lanes on the Black Information Highway at www.blackinformationhighway.com . Email: MSTnews@prodigy.net or BlackInfoHwy@prodigy.net .

Victoria Rowell vs. CBS Daytime Drama and 40 Years of the Young & Restless

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher

The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

www.blackinformationhighway.com

 Victoria Rowell was one of the most popular figures on America’s premier daytime drama, “The Young & the Restless” (Y&R), which is presently celebrating its 40^th Anniversary. Not only that, Victoria Rowell was one of the most popular African American figures in daytime drama; and herein lies the problem with her. She was (and still is) African American and she had the audacity to attempt to cross over into the scriptwriting realm as some white actors in her genre have done. In fact, it had been highly rumored that she was coming back to reprise her role as the feisty “Drusilla” until she had the nerve to ask for an equal opportunity to try her hand as a scriptwriter for the Emmy-laden series. 

 Apparently, this desire made her a troublemaker, and there’s nothing like a Black troublemaker when it comes to making trouble. Ask too many questions and make  demands to break the black ceiling, and that’ll pretty much do the trick in getting you labeled a troublemaker and  in her case ‘killed off’ as a leading character.

 Now we’ll   give Y&R this much: They do hire Black actors and do give them ample storylines.  Three new faces are there now. But lest we forget, integrating the soap genre in the first place was an uphill battle. One only has to ask pioneer Ellen Holly who integrated ABC’s “One Life to Live” in 1968.  In spite of looking whiter than most whites, Ms. Holly was still an African American and still subjected to disguised Jim Crow treatment. (Read her book for more insight).

 Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg recently has been all over the map talking about her new book, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead”, and how women shouldn’t apologize for being assertive about climbing the corporate ladder.  But you see there is a striking difference between a Black woman who wants to “lean in” and a white woman such as Nina Tassler who obviously has ‘leaned in’ to ascend to the presidency of CBS Entertainment.  I’ve not read Sheryl Sandberg’s book (I plan to and to review it), but I doubt very seriously if she even attempts to look into the schism between Black women and white women in Corporate America. If so, I stand corrected.

 When we looked at the CBS Entertainment department media page there were nice headshots of  Tassler along with  photos of ONLY white females and white males; thus, depicting that state of the white female getting what she wants in a fight that  Blacks initiated in the Civil Rights Movement. It was a Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and other Angry Black Women who laid tracks to the 1964 Civil

Rights Bill that ultimately included white women by default.

 When we asked Ms. Tassler back in February to tell us if there were African American scriptwriters and/or producers on the Young & the Restless, we received no response. We even pointed out in that memo that all the photos of top-notched executives on the Entertainment front were white women and white men. We put in our request twice. Still no response.

 You see, Nina Tassler has learned how to ‘lean in’ to insert the first rule of Corporate America in dealing with Blacks: First rule, if you ignore a Black long enough, he/she will just go away. That didn’t happen with Ms. Rowell who has had a long row to hoe in trying to let Y&R viewers and others know that here it is the 21^st Century and 40 years into a Number One daytime drama which has yet to hire a Black producer and/or Black scriptwriter. Now if we are wrong, why couldn’t CBS head honcho – or rather honchoette answer?

 For the record, ABC crossed that hurdle in the last century when it hired an African American scriptwriter for “All My Children.” Y&R has yet to budge.

 Its teeth have been clamped like an alligator that just ate a swamp rat—and those rats are African American longtime and loyal fans who are no more than consumers who really don’t count except in CBS’s daytime Nielsen’s ratings to leverage its clout to gain big time advertisers such as P&G.  And speaking of Nielsen, we have used such stats as the following in  other editorial and commentary pieces to demonstrate how the African American as a collective is a powerful buying (consumer) market on which Corporate America can make big bucks; yet do little else when it comes to promoting African Americans beyond that black ceiling:

 “…With an overall aggregate household income level of $695.6 billion, African-Americans continue to be viable consumers with a collective buying power estimated to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015.” (Nielsen 2012)

 We watched one afternoon to see who some of the Y&R sponsors were. Of course, P&G, McDonald’s, Weight Watchers, Dove, S.C. Johnson, Macy’s, Hershey, Progressive, Restasis — all of whom have put in their bid for the transient black dollar via Y&R.

 Years ago we covered the Coke discrimination allegations which ended in a class action settlement. This Coke lawsuit stemmed from the very argument that Victoria Rowell is on a mission to rectify in that when Blacks sought to be promoted beyond the black ceiling at Coke they were allegedly duly punished and/or retaliated against. It did not matter to the company that these Black professionals had Ivy League degrees and ample experience: They were deemed ‘un-promotable’ based on skin color, according to the lawsuit (which we printed in its entirety and covered the story in-depth). Here, we still call it the CCS (Coca-Cola Syndrome) because the Blacks there could not believe that this was happening to them in the 1990’s.

 Be that as it may. But let us make this statement now: We don’t intend to beg CBS for answers. We don’t intend to beg Ms. Tassler for answers. Because you see there is that other steadfast rule of Corporate America that if you send a Black-anything around the mulberry bush enough times, that Black will soon tire out and still go away. We won’t be doing that either.  So here we are back into that Black and white decision-making schism. And back into that Black woman and white woman schism. Even in the Women’s Movement Black women complained about being relegated to “the Help” category.  Tassler seemingly has gone this route. Let us say, amen or ‘awomen’ to that and move on to reality.

 CBS’s daytime drama genre operates much like the NFL did when it propagated the myth that Black football players could not hold the position of quarterback because Blacks could not think.  CBS daytime drama holds the theory that Blacks cannot hold the position of scriptwriter and/or producer because they cannot think.

 One has to wonder what was the big deal in giving Victoria Rowell the opportunity to be a scriptwriter when she has contributed largely to making Y&R popular among African American viewers (consumers) and mainstream viewers?  To reiterate, many white actors have transitioned into the writing area without all the fracas. Now be it understood that if CBS daytime drama department were to get a Black scriptwriter and/or producer it will more than likely not be Victoria Rowell, because Ms Rowell like most Black troublemakers would have to be punished and hung out to dry as an example to other Blacks in the industry of how not to be promoted. Along with this comes an invisible blackball. Then the usual will follow which long has been practiced: When Black troublemakers dare make a demand it is incumbent upon the company to hire a palatable Black in the position the troublemaker paved the way for to further make an example of him or her. After all, this is the way of the plantation.

Oh yes.  And the other implicit rule is that CBS will probably beef up those donations to buy more  banquet tables at the annual NAACP event to further shut up Ms. Rowell who by the way has received numerous Image Awards from the venerable organization. But as of late, the NAACP doesn’t seem to be bothered much with Ms. Rowell’s situation or other Blacks who are out there craving for an alleged affirmative action opportunity to be promoted to non-acting positions in the industry, because white women such as Ms. Tassler will make sure of that by denying those on whose Black backs they rode to get their prima donna titles and designer shoes. Now remember this is the same network that let Charlie Sheen run around loose acting like a proverbial spoiled brat then welcomed him back with open arms before he went off the deep end again. This, of course, dovetails with CBS’s white female/white male Entertainment department.  Face it. Even in the 21^st Century, ‘Miss Ann’ still has privileges at ‘Mammy’s’ expense.

This issue is bigger than Victoria Rowell. Because of her and other Blacks who had to do the “Hollywood Shuffle”, this subtle discrimination is being brought to the forefront in the daytime drama arena.  This is about economics and opening the ranks in the executive and writing suite which still has a ‘White Only’ and now ‘White Woman Only’ sign hanging on the door.

 Bottom line is that this is a cause in which Black women organizations such as the venerable National Council of Negro Women (the oldest Black women organization founded by Mary McLeod Bethune and brought further by the late Dr. Dorothy Height whom I had the pleasure of meeting as a member and one for whom I shall have everlasting respect). Every Black sorority should involve ‘herself’. Victoria Rowell has not only proven herself as an award winning actress but as a dedicated philanthropist in the Black community. She deserves R-E-S-P-E-C-T if not kisses from CBS’s Number One daytime drama. 

It’s enough to make us restless.

The History of Black History

Editor’s Note:  “The History of Black History” was originally published in The Mid-South Tribune and on Black Information Highway on March 9, 1996. The late Vernon E. Ash was a Senior Correspondent, columnist, and historian for The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway. We truly miss Vernon E. Ash, one of our most prolific writers and a man with a vision.

Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher

 By Vernon E. Ash

    So that the contributions of African Americans would be properly represented and observed, the first observance of Negro History Week was spearheaded in 1926 by the “Father of  Black History,” Dr. Carter G. Woodson.

            Dr. Woodson is the author of the popular book, “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” published in 1933 and still viewed today as an important source and guidebook on the behavior and mental condition of African Americans. He was born in 1875 and died in 1950.

            Other African Americans who supported Dr. Woodson’s idea collaborated with the black history scholar to choose the second week of February as the week to observe the special Negro History Week. This month and week were selected because it is the week of the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, both highly respected at the time.

            In 1915, Dr. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) and began publishing The Journal of Negro History a year later. In the October 1927 edition of the Journal, Dr. Woodson wrote passionately about the significance of observing Negro History Week.

            “The celebration tends not to promote propaganda, but to counteract it by popularizing the truth. It is not interested so much in Negro History as it is in history influenced by the Negro; for what the world needs is not a history of selected races or nations but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice,” Dr. Woodson wrote. “There has been, therefore, no tendency to eulogize the Negro, nor to abuse his enemies. The aim has been to emphasize important facts in the belief that facts properly set forth will speak for themselves.”

            With the strong support of educators, ministers and community leaders around the nation, the first Negro History Week proved to be a tremendous success. Each group and institution took responsibility to initiate its own programs and forums to fit their particular needs in their local communities.

            The popular use of the word “Negro” was replaced in the 1960s with “Black” and “Afro-American”. This new trend also forced a change in the name of the ASNLH. During its 1972 convention, delegates changed its name to the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH). Negro History Week was then changed to Black History Week.

            During the nation’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976, the ASALH joined the focus on American history and decided to expand the observance of Black History Week to include the entire month of February. This was done to afford more time for activities focusing on the broad contributions of African Americans to the rich history of America and the world.

            Black History Month has survived several decades and continues to grow throughout the U.S. with a variety of activities and commemorations that place the great contributions of Africans (being the original human creation) and African Americans on center stage.

            This month in addition to local community celebrations and activities observing Black History Month, numerous television specials, movies, books, magazine articles and other features will focus on the “stolen legacy” of Black History.

 

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            This article can be found on the Black History Lane on the Black Information Highway and The Mid-South Tribune ONLINE at www.blackinformationhighway.com

Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton in K.M.A. Performances – And, Oh Yes, John Kerry

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher

The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

To forego my Emily Post training and to be unashamedly politically incorrect, the one thing I can say about both Susan Rice’s and Hillary Clinton’s congressional hearings performances is that they were K.M.A. (Kiss. My. Ass.) performances. Of course, Susan had the added bonus of K.M.B.A. (Kiss. My. Black. Ass.)  performance.

 

I can also say that I wasn’t at all surprised when Susan Rice dropped out because it simply wasn’t making any sense how she even got into the race for Secretary of State to replace Hillary Clinton in the first place. Not that Rice wasn’t qualified, because she was more than that, but because I believe to my little pea-picking heart and brain that the seat was already reserved for Sen. John Kerry, the esteemed senator from Massachusetts.  

 

            When Rice’s name first surfaced, I thought it was no more than a trial balloon and/or diversion at best. And boy did it surface to the top so fast that I went “huh, what, whoooaaa! What’s happening here?” The reason for my suspicions was that once Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed that she wasn’t coming back, John Kerry’s name emerged and sticking on the heel of it like gum was Susan Rice’s name. I’m using ‘heel’ for a reason here. Stick with me (pun intended).

            From that point on, the focus was solely on Susan Rice. The next thing you know is that El Presidente in a press conference was telling reporters that if the Republican Gestapo wanted to pick on anybody then they should pick on him. Ooooo! How gallant! How chivalrous!   Then there was the parade of Susan Rice being marched in and out of meetings (a.k.a. the woodshed) by bad boy-former-presidential-loser John ‘Mad Man’ McCain who wanted her to apologize for alleged misstatements on Benghazi.

 

 When McCain and the Republicans couldn’t whip Rice into apologizing (submission), they were devastated.  Those woodshed moments were more about humiliating President Obama and Rice than getting answers over an incident that we all wished had not happened.   

Anyway, an apology shouldn’t have mattered: Rice wasn’t going to get this position. Period. She didn’t have a snowball chance in a 2 million-watt Easy Bake Oven. Black women organizations jumped on her bandwagon all for naught, because it was looking to me as if El Presidente was trying to appease Black women by just looking like he was rallying behind her. Besides, he couldn’t take the wrath of Angry Black Women coming after him. So why not stand there with those elephant ears (a nod to Republicans) sticking out as if you really were listening? Rice was his trial balloon and/or diversion and he knew it. Yep! At the end of the day you can imagine that the White House sent Rice a nice little Emily Post post-it-note or thereof equivalent telling her to gracefully step down as they underhandedly aided and abetted the Mad Man McCain gang in squashing her name under Kerry’s heel like year-old gum and proceeded to stump her in the ground with the precision of a Flamenco dancer in flaming red male heels.

 

            Republicans also got to use Rice to flex their flabby muscles to show that they had the power to stop a nomination that never was made and had no intention of being made.

            After all the fighting and macho posturing, El Presidente was delighted to accept Rice’s letter, note, or whatever to be yanked out of consideration for the seat. And it’s just as well, because Rice didn’t have to take the brunt of McCain being so angry at himself for choosing Sarah Palin—a woman—and losing the highest office in the land to a Black man and blaming ‘the woman’ for it. He and Mitty can commiserate over that over a shot of cactus juice. (Now ask me if I care about being politically incorrect in that race does matter to angry white males).

            Besides, Susan will survive and will be able to go home and pay the utility bill, unlike so many in the Black community at large—which brings to me to what I do respect about white boy, John Kerry. He’s paid his dues like any slave who worked the fields and got no respect for it.

            You see during the trial balloon period, John Kerry sat back and theoretically called in some I.O.U.’s. And justifiably so. The Vietnam vet is not getting any younger. Boyfriend needed to flex his fighting muscles and swing back that white mane of hair that looks like a white man’s Afro.

 

What I respect about Kerry is that when he served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, he called for public congressional hearings on SBA discrimination and other discrimination on minority and Black-owned businesses. The hearings were held on May 22, 2007, and to my knowledge there had never been one on this topic and hasn’t been one since. Kerry dared to call attention to just how badly minority-owned and especially Black-owned businesses were being treated and threatened by those entities (e.g.  the U.S. Department of Agriculture against Black farmers) which are supposed to help eliminate economic-ownership disparity in the most neglected area in discrimination–even worse than housing discrimination because it remains an area that most Black business-owners know about, scream about—but nobody is listening. Even the one with elephant ears.

Kerry went further by acknowledging that those Black-owned businesses which dared to complain about discrimination were and could be blackballed. And I’ve said it all along and will say it until I hit the grave that Blacks need to concentrate on Black-owned businesses and Black entrepreneurship to begin to hire their own as well as others and get beyond the voting booth in 21^st Century America. You cannot grow economically when your economic model is based on consumption (consumerism), and now even more so when America is forging into Africa more boldly than ever—but I digress a tad bit.

            One of those participating at the 2007 hearing was Anthony W. Robinson, president of the Minority Business Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MBELDEF), founded by Cong. Parren Mitchell in 1980. Robinson made the following statement in his testimony*: “I would like to give you some examples of real business owners who have confronted discrimination. It is critical that the Committee understand how very difficult it is for these businesspersons to come forward and share their experiences. By coming forward they are putting their businesses in jeopardy of being blackballed and frozen out of future business opportunities with larger companies that dominate their market or industry. I hope that you will all carefully consider the sort of courage and commitment to justice required to take those kinds of risks…”

            While traditional Black groups are jumping on the bandwagon to secure the future of certain Black individuals (which is all fine and good and needed), they need to also jump on the bandwagon to fight for Black-business ownership, especially seeing that billions and billions were given outright to corporate welfare; whereas, a Black-owned business couldn’t get a bent penny during the era of the Great Bailout. Not even now. And you can bet your bottom dollar that as America lays out a neo-economic plan to plant good old-fashioned capitalism in the blackest of African nations that African American-owned businesses and African American entrepreneurs will be left out in what could and what will become neo-Colonialism if Black Americans are blocked off from participating and laying down economic stakes. Even China sees Africa as fertile economic grounds and is positioning herself to make her own brand of Yellow-Colonialism.

 If America continues to turn her back on and discriminate against African American-owned businesses and African American entrepreneurship, her venture into Africa will be a neo-Colonialism that would make both Tarzan and Adam Smith proud for the mere fact it will continue to thump African Americans with its Hidden Hand into a more severe economic slavery. As Tarzan would say, ‘oooumm Gawa!’

            Again, I digress a tad bit.

            Anyway, Kerry also acknowledged the achievement of women and Black women in his 2005 eulogy to the indomitable Mrs. Rosa Parks, when he stated: “It is our time, now more than ever, to defend the right of women to live in a world where the mountaintops are no longer reserved for men. Our time to remember that after the Pope blessed her and placed rosary beads around her neck, Rosa Parks wrote to him in gratitude. She said ‘my lifetime mission has been simple, that all men and women are created equal under the eyes of our Lord.’ For Rosa Parks and for our country, it is our time to oppose prejudice not appease it; to dispel the fear of some towards others, not exploit it; to lift up the many – not the few, and to uphold the true patriotism that does what is right, not which justifies injustice or past errors.”

            So all in all, Kerry isn’t a bad choice; and let’s not forget that Susan Rice played a bit role, too, in helping him get there. And seeing how important Africa is going to be in future U.S.  foreign relations, Kerry at least has some sense of working with people of color.

 

Both Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton can pat themselves on the back with their highly intellectual and professional K.M.A. performances. And as for Susan Rice, she can hold her head up high and glance back at the haters and users with the extra bonus of K.M.B.A.

 

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*Full text testimony on the Kerry Small Business Testimonies lane at http://blackinformationhighway.com/Kerry testimonies.htm or Testimony lane at http://blackinformationhighway.com/Testimony main.htm on the Black Information Highway and The Mid-South Tribune ONLINE. Also, of interest are the Katrina Letters by Cong. Bennie G.  Thompson on the  Katrina Letters lane at http://blackinformationhighway.com/Katrina letters.htm and Letters and Statements Lane at http://blackinformationhighway.com/Letters main.htm.The Katrina Letters encompass complaints about Black-owned businesses not being part of the Katrina clean-up. Please travel on the Black Information Highway and The Mid-South Tribune ONLINE at www.blackinformationhighway.com

A Look into Sandy Hook and the N.R.A.

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher

The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

www.blackinformationhighway.com

     As terrible as the events were at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, it showed that such events can happen anywhere. Even in a state that personifies wealth and sophistication and at a school setting that seemed idyllic and safe.

Outside of the tragedy and immense sadness, it also showed how a society through its mainstream media can zero in with a simplistic mind mode to blame one entity for it all: the N.R.A. (National Rife Association). Every time there is violence of this magnitude, cries go out to dismantle the N.R.A. and to blame totally the N.R.A. For the record, I am neither a proponent nor an opponent of the N.R.A. I am probably in the company of many who cannot understand why weapons of such destruction are sold to the public anyway. I mean it’s not as if this much fire power is needed to annihilate Bambi.

I am just trying to figure out if minds have gone back into some type of caveman simplicity that it cannot comprehend that when these unimaginable (and ironically,  now more imaginable) events happen that the problems also stem from the ‘home’—inside the family.

With this type of reporting, one would have thought that the N.R.A. had given physical birth to Adam Lanza and babysat him every night.  As the story unfolded, the media delivered a rash of information that turned out to be misinformation, mistaken identities, and what have you. And with my being a journalist, I know this happens when a story is unfolding. It is the nature of the beast, and still we need to be grateful to live in a society where information can get out quickly albeit sometimes flawed as we journalists are only humans, too. 

The latter on miscommunication is not contention. My contention remains that not once in nearly two full days of coverage was Adam Lanza’s home life brought up as a glaring factor in the senseless killings. For heaven’s sake, this young man shot his mother in the face several times reportedly while she slept! It was her guns that he used to slaughter innocent children. She had dotted her I’s and crossed her ‘T’s’ to secure these weapons of children mass destruction.

 If a Black woman or Black man had purchased the type of weapons Adam Lanza’s mother was purchasing, the S.W.A.T. team would have been called in before he or she could get out the front door.

Had this event happened in an inner city school and 20 small Black bodies had been slaughtered, it would have made a slight headline for a nana-second. Because you see, incomprehensible violence has been happening for a very long time in inner city neighborhoods and schools. Several months ago, there was nil coverage of Black parents, clergy and concerned citizens who took to the Chicago streets to protest the crisis of gun violence in their neighborhoods and schools.  Black parents grieve like white parents. Grieving is universal.

 Had this happened at an inner city school with children of color, it would have been viewed as ‘normal’ because these disadvantaged children are from ‘bad homes’ anyway and they live in ‘bad neighborhoods’ anyway, and their schools are quasi-prisons anyway.  

 Again, it is interesting to note that the N.R.A. is only brought up when slaughter results in mostly white victims. Witness any event from Columbine to Virginia Tech to the Colorado theater Batman shooting, to upscale mall shootings, to Sandy Hook.

 Seldom if ever has the N.R.A. been singled out as the lone bad boogie man in these ‘Black’ instances, or even brought up for that matter.

 It should not have made any difference what color the victims were; it should have made no difference what color the children were. But it did and it does. That’s the reality of violence which is that children of color remain throw-aways.

 But when the chickens come home to roost and 20 white babies are slaughtered, then they get it! But not really, because as I pointed out earlier, the focus has totally been on the N.R.A. and not on the fact that most of the time crime starts ‘at home’, but because white Adam Lanza was from a white family then something else must be held accountable for his actions: namely the N.R.A. Granted there are parents and guardians regardless of race, color, or creed who do their best or at least try to and still something goes horribly awry. But that’s besides the point because from day one, mainstream media has yet to blame Adam Lanza himself, or possibly his gun-toting mama, or his absentee father who hadn’t seen the boy in nearly two years. If one were to do a two-day content analysis of the coverage, it becomes quite clear that Adam Lanza came from a perfect Leave It to Beaver family until the N.R.A. visited them as the mean old uncle.

       What is really so morally wrong and warped is when a society no longer makes a family accountable for what happens to their children, especially if the family is white?  Again, I have to ask whatever happened to that thinking of ‘it starts at home’?

      Whatever happened to individual responsibility? And let us go further: Why was it nearly two days and a tad more into coverage before the issue of mental health was even brought up? And I don’t care how politically incorrect I sound, but any fool who looked at Adam Lanza’s picture could tell something was off about him. Way off!

     Why aren’t cities and states blamed for some of this violence when many of them have either discontinued or cut to the bone facilities that treat the mentally ill of the poor and people of color?

      Why? Yeah, yeah, because these facilities benefited throw-away people.  The N.R.A. did not make these decisions (though this would be a good project on which to spend some of that lobby money they have floating around in the millions).

      Maybe mental health should be part of the dialogue in all this new health care legislation and other gobbledygook on only physical health care.

      And then (and you can call me crazy), I believe there are simply some people who are just plain evil. They know it and they don’t care. I mean was Adolf Hitler mentally ill? Would that explain why so many everyday working German non-Jewish citizens sat about and let Hitler march German Jewish citizens into gas chambers? Were the killers of Emmett Till mentally ill as they dismembered him? Were the D.C. snipers mentally ill as they aimed specifically at random targets? Was Charles Manson mentally ill as he methodically got others to carry out his deeds?  Were the everyday white citizens of the United States who sat around and let thousands of Black men and boys be lynched to an epidemic proportion mentally ill? Or are the Black citizens of a neighborhood mentally ill when they accept random killings and maiming of their children as ‘normal’?

     Or is a nation holistically mentally ill when it creates schools in the inner city as quasi- prisons and don’t expect sooner or later that the chickens will come home to roost in their idyllic middle-class and upper middle class neighborhood schools? Or is it that they are just evil? Or is it a combination of problems thereof that they view some children expendable? Or is it the damned-if-you do and damned if you don’t media that has to report this type of violence and hold its breath that copycats don’t come out of the woodworks?

   Who is the blame? What is to blame?

     And getting back to mainstream media white bias: You look at the Columbine killings—this was ‘white on white crime’. Probably like many, I can’t even understand where those white teen boys found these guns? I can’t even phantom where they even got that much money to make the purchase for this type of ammunition! Most Black kids couldn’t even begin to purchase the weaponry these spoiled brats had.  Did their parents dish out that type of allowance for them to make such a buy of machine guns and other firearms I can’t even name? These were parents who laid down big cash for expensive cars and other indulgences for their kids who went to yet another idyllic upscale school in an idyllic setting to kill.  And again, the N.R.A. was singled out as being the lone boogie man. Yes, because it was a tragedy that involved mainly young white victims, their white parents were not focused on—not like the N.R.A. was. To this date, I’ve yet to hear that something terribly was wrong in the Columbine boys’ homes.  The parents of these young killers—young monsters—were given their privacy and left blameless while the N.R.A. was (justifiably or not justifiably) crucified.

     People, something was wrong at home! Adam Lanza’s home was screwed up. This is where it started, and you have a media that just won’t say it, because it remains under the allusion that if it happens in white suburbia idyllic upper upscale America allegedly so sophisticated that only the ‘rednecks’ of the N.R.A. can be responsible when mommy and daddy could have possibly screwed up . And who’s to say that mama Lanza wasn’t dogging her son out to a point of no return? Or that this 20-year old misfit decided he wanted to sit down, plot, plan and eventually execute his plan with young innocent lives instead of having the decency of just killing only himself if he was this mad at the world.

      Maybe it is high time that some white parents accept the responsibility and blame for their children’s actions, and for the mainstream media to make these parents part of the first paragraph of a story instead of a disappearing afterthought, which is happening in the Adam Lanza case.

           And maybe as kids go into high school parenting courses should be mandatory more so than sex courses, which just might be a step in getting families back on track—as humanly possible.  Because no matter how sophisticated a society thinks it’s getting, the family still remains the core of society’s mores.

      Yes, there should be gun control. But this propensity and this need to blame the N.R.A. for whatever ails society borders on self-inflicting wounds that make for the same suicidal-murder pact that Adam Lanza had in his sick ass mind.

    As of this writing, I have yet to see a mainstream news story which has begun to delve into Adam Lanza’s home life; and, to reiterate, if there is one, it’s buried under the allusion that white families are civilized and perfect.  Why everyone knows that white families don’t have drug pushers, drug addicts, murderers, thieves, drunkards, shoplifters, juvenile delinquents, mentally disturbed, etc. But they do have the N.R.A. to blame.

     We offer our condolences to the families of the Sandy Hook massacre just as we continue to offer our condolences to so many other families regardless of race, color or creed that have endured such cold-blooded violence for no reason.

     Sandy Hook showed that school violence can happen anywhere, but the thing is that it should not have happened anywhere.

 

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