Liberty City leaders debate legalization and other hot topics

Just over 200 people gathered at the Joseph Caleb Center last Saturday morning for a heated conversation led by professionals and experts on the impact of increased marijuana usage by adults and youth in the Black community. And with Florida among a number of states where the legalization of marijuana is currently being debated, opinions voiced during the summit ranged from nonchalance to total outrage.

The community conversation was sponsored by the Urban League of Greater Miami [ULGM], Inc., in collaboration with the Jessie Trice Community Health Center, Concerned African Women, Gang Alternative, Inc., and Urban Partnership Drug Free Community Coalition. As the sponsors stated in a written overview, the purpose of the summit was “not to take a position pro or against legalization, but more about starting factual/evidenced dialogue on the impact and [to] prepare [the] community should legalization be proposed.”

Morris Copeland, director, M-DC Juvenile Services Dept. and board member, ULGM, provides leadership to a department whose mission is to serve arrested juveniles, those at-risk of being arrested and their families. His facility, the former Juvenile Assessment Center, has served over 180,000 juveniles in M-DC since its opening in 1997. He says the goal is to find out “what went wrong in a young person’s life and to find ways to help.”

“We are beginning to see real progress as it relates to the number of juveniles facing marijuana charges but they are still way too many kids that look like me,” he said. “Many of our youth in trouble come from four areas: Liberty City, Homestead, Florida City and Miami Gardens. As we talk to those youth that have been arrested, they’re telling us that the primary reason for their troubles are family issues. They are facing either mental or physical abuse, or both. We don’t advocate locking youth up because they have a drug problem. We believe the solution is to put youth into substance abuse treatment centers instead not prison.”

Morris emphasized that the increased use of marijuana and other drugs can be seen in all kinds of communities.

“We have kids in trouble that come from families that are fragmented, wealthy, two-parent, single-parent, rich or poor. But in the urban core, we lack the kind of infrastructure that can really help kids and keep them getting caught up in the legal system.”

It will take a village to invoke real change

Major Delrish Moss, City of Miami Police Department says he fears more people have accepted the use of marijuana as “nothing special.”

“I was recently driving in my car with my uniform and stopped at a light,” he said. “In the car next to me was a man smoking a joint. He acted as if I wasn’t even there. Years ago, he would have attempted to hide it or something. But now, it’s like smoking weed is no big deal. Whether one is for legalization or not, right now it’s still against the law.”

An older Black man from the community, Hasan Shabazz, asked, “Why can’t the police keep drug dealers off the corners like they do in white neighborhoods?”

Copeland

Moss replied, “The police can’t help unless you call us and then once we show up, we need the backing and support of the community. Often what happens is the community turns its back on us and says we’re harassing the same youth that were just standing on their corners. We can’t do it alone.”

Hasan Covington, 68, was a former drug user who has been clean for 21 years. He says the focus is too often on “the little man.”

“We don’t bring in guns and we don’t distribute or produce the drugs,” he said. “Why isn’t the focus on the people who are really profiting on our misery — people who are not Black?”

Officer Steven Rogers from the City of Miami Police Department, has been assigned to Edison Senior High School for the past two years. He believes that young people would choose a different path if they had the proper guidance at home.

“Parents need to encourage not discourage, they need to lift up not put down,” said the father of seven. “We can talk legal or not legal all we want but for me this is about how we can help kids have brighter futures. What matters to me is not how many arrests I make but how many young people I can keep out of the justice system.”

Michael Nozile, executive director, Gang Alternative, Inc., says he and his staff have saved lives and can save more with the kind of dialogue that he witnessed last Saturday.

“Schools tend to send us their worst children and that’s okay because we have the skills to handle and to help them,” he said. “In our focus groups, the majority of them admit that they’ve used marijuana on multiple occasions. We have a problem with youth and marijuana and it’s going to take a collective effort to turn things around.”

Final words . . . for now

T. Willard Fair, president and CEO, ULGM, said he decided to organize the summit after receiving some “troubling news.”

“I was in a staff meeting last year and was told that in two of our neighborhood junior high schools, our kids were using and selling marijuana,” he said. “They told me it was obvious that these kids were doing this. And every Saturday, I walk with a group of other Black men in Liberty Square where we talk to people and ask them about life and their concerns. That’s what today was all about — talking to people and giving them a chance to share their hopes and their fears.”

By D. Kevin McNeir
kmcneir@miamitimesonline.com

Outgoing Mayor Andre Pierre has said that “[North Miami is] way overdue for a serious conversation about race — but that requires compromise.” But resolving the decades-long racial feud that has ebbed and flowed in North Miami could be tantamount to a mission impossible.

In the waning days of the recent election, there were slogans that included: let’s take back our City; and let’s clean up City Hall. Such statements might cause one to ask: who is taking back the city from whom and was City Council candidate Joseph Haber being comical, employing irony or just keeping it real when he passed out bars of “city soap” to voters.

The impasse between Blacks — although the more accurate description would clearly be Haitians — and whites in North Miami, can be seen in the way officials and residents talk with, or in some cases talk at, one another. In some instances, so called innocent statements have become like daggers. Take for example a recent mayoral forum where candidate Kevin Burns included an analogy about Haitians and drinking that infuriated the audience. And the tension is not just between the two races that make up the majority of North Miami residents. No, it’s more than just a fight between the East and the West. Even Haitian candidates in this election have squared off against one another and in very public venues.

We would like to believe that once the Board of Elections certifies the results, that we could anticipate seeing more civil, mature action with leadership that transcends race. We would like to believe that it doesn’t matter who wins as mayor. But the track record in North Miami’s political arena suggests otherwise. Still, we’re going to cross our fingers and be hopeful.

But in a growing number of cites across the U.S., including Miami, Black youth have taken up arms against other young adults, killing with reckless abandon and with little or no remorse. It is the mothers of these murdered youth who must somehow remain strong in the face of tragedy. It is the mothers of these murdered youth who must often pick up the pieces and care for their other children as the family mourns. Yes, the same hands that rocked the cradle must now see the lid of the coffin closed on a young man or woman who died way before their time.

In our reflections on Mother’s Day featured last week in our Faith and Family section, several mothers from Miami talked about their children whose lives were snuffed out due to senseless violence. One boy, 15, was shot by a 14-year-old robber while in his own home. Another young man, had recently graduated from high school and was anticipating the birth of his first child when he murdered in a drive-by shooting. Then there was a talented football player with dreams of stardom before him, that was shot and killed by an unknown assailant one day after practice.

The stories of pain could go on and on. In fact, they do. But what strikes us as so amazing is the spirit of forgiveness that is so evident in each of the mothers’ lives.

Some say they went to private counseling while others turned to their pastors or to members of their church. Some mothers have even gone on to become anti-violence advocates. But all of them have endured the cycles of grief. They have all cried until no more tears were left. Somehow, through it all, they have continued to survive.

Greg Moody, 54
Hialeah, entrepreneur

“No, I don’t care [about the Dolphins] one way or another.”

Cecil Claire, 51
Liberty City, property manager

“Yes. It’s a lot of Blacks who work at the stadium. That little income helps them — it did for me.”

James Whitehead, 52
Liberty City, security

“Yeah, it’s a good team. . . as long as they’re down here, I don’t care.”

Tavaris Betts, 21
Liberty City, lawn service

Yeah, [the Dolphins are] my favorite team and we’re the only ones who’re supporting them.”

Woody Newkirk, 71
Liberty City, motivational speaker

“Yeah Blacks should care; Don Shula made history here at that stadium. Miami made the Dolphins.”

Apon Nichols, 40
Miami Gardens, stage technician

“I care, I’m a fan; however I don’t mind driving to Palm Beach for a game either.”

Authors combine to pen alluring book, “The Color Complex”

This month, you’ve decided you need a whole new look.

Your hair and wardrobe are out of date, so you’re getting a cut-and-style and a fresh wardrobe, shoes and all. You’ve got an appointment for a mani-pedi, a dermatologist, dentist, and — no more glasses! — you’re getting some of those colored contacts.

But there’s one thing you can’t alter. And in the newly updated book “The Color Complex” by Kathy Russel-Cole, Midge Wilson, and Ronald E. Hall, you’ll see how much it still matters.

The more things change, the more they remain the same . . .

In the last two decades, America has seen a revolution when it comes to issues of race. The generation that was born and has grown up in that time is “much more racially diverse than any other before it. . . ” Economic powerhouses in India, China and Brazil have emerged, mixed-race relationships barely make us blink, even the government has added multiracial categories on census forms.

There’s been a lot of change, but “colorism” — a word referring to prejudices surrounding skin-color differences, particularly within the Black community — remains. What’s worse, it’s infiltrated popular culture with a subtler, seemingly-nastier effect on its victims.

Though “. . . skin color has maintained an intimate relationship with class” since “the earliest times,” the issue of colorism has its American roots in the early 1500s when “mulatto” offspring of white men and Black women gained power through education and social bridging between Black and white populations. Later, preference was shown for lighter-skinned individuals as “house slaves,” who largely disparaged darker-skinned field workers.

Today, several decades after discrimination based on color was made illegal, colorism still exists. Some blame it on music videos and Black songwriters. Others accuse fashion and movies. The authors also point at politics and world policy, yet they say that there are things you can do to “lessen colorism’s pernicious effects.”

Contact television networks if you notice a lack of Black journalists or actors. Let editors know that you won’t purchase their magazines until they stop Photoshopping pictures of models of color. Use the power of social media to further your cause, state your opinions, and gather support.

These days, it seems that we like to pretend we live in an enlightened world that’s on its way to being “color-blind.” We have a Black president, after all, and today’s youth are more accepting of racial differences. Some think we’ve gotten past skin color, but reading “The Color Complex” shows otherwise.

With great dismay and a surprising amount of quietly cynical humor, authors Kathy Russell-Cole, Midge Wilson, and Ronald E. Hall re-examine the divisiveness of colorism today, in contrast to what it was two decades ago. New, eye-opening research and fresh information show readers that though there are gains in some areas, colorism is far from a dead issue; in fact, with the rise of globalism, it actually spread.

This is a fascinating, albeit quite uncomfortable book that I recommend for audiences both Black and white. Newly updated, “The Color Complex” deserves a whole new look.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Miami Times writer
bookwormsez@yahoo.com

In 1988, HIV/AIDS was more commonly referred to as the “gay disease.” But that was before the public

Adrian Humphrey-Brown

became aware of Ryan White — a middle school student that was infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment. And while men who have sex with men [MSM] continue to account for more than half of the more than one million people currently living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., heterosexuals can now claim the highest rate of infection. In fact, heterosexuals between the ages of 14 – 23 represent 34 percent of all new cases.

As for Blacks, while we make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, we account for the highest proportion of HIV infections at all stages of the disease — from new infections to death.

That’s why education, prevention and medical treatment are so critical to the survival of the Black community in particular and other ethnic groups in general.

Walking towards a world without HIV/AIDS

One agency whose mission is to save lives by treating and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS is the Hope & Health Center [HHC], founded in 1988. Since then, the Orlando-based organization has continued to open its doors and its hearts to thousands of Central Floridians. And on Saturday, May 18 in downtown Orlando, thousands of walkers and supporters will converge at Lake Eola for AIDS Walk Orlando 2013. The event kicks off at 7:30 a.m. with registration and 8:30 with the actual walk.

“Our mission has been the same for 25 years,” said HHC Executive Director Marilyn Carifi. “We want to end the spread of HIV/AIDS. Although our agency is proud of how proactive we have been by implementing programs and services to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, our work must continue.”

Health AIDS Walk preparation.

June Marie Ings, HHC’s development director, says that with the rising costs associated with the medical treatment needed for those living with HIV/AIDS [estimated at $3,200/month], financial support for organizations like the HHC and their clients is essential.

“We have to continue to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and raise funds to stop the devastation of this disease,” Ings said. “Our donors are to be heralded for their years of financial support. It is because of them that Hope & Help Center has been able to serve the community for 25 years.”

However, the Center still has a lot of work to do. Consider the following:

* In 2011, Florida ranked second in the U.S. for the estimated new cases of HIV.

* As of 2013, almost 100,000 Central Floridians were known to be living with HIV/AIDS with an additional 2,500 presumed to be infected but unaware of their status.

* As of 2013, Orange County ranks third in Florida for the most HIV cases.

* Orlando has the 11th highest prevalence rate of HIV among the most populous 103 cities in the U.S., outranking San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Adrian Humphrey-Brown, prevention director for HHC, says she’s been committed to educating her community and providing treatment for those living with HIV/AIDS, especially children.

“I first became interested in HIV/AIDS education and prevention when I began serving as a volunteer in my community,” she said. “I met a young girl who was 20, had one child that was two and was pregnant with another — all three were HIV-positive. As the years have gone by, I have seen the face of AIDS change from gay white males to Black women, Black youth and transgenders. I couldn’t rest without doing my part. We have to get people tested regularly and if they become HIV-positive, get them into treatment right away. That’s the way to help people live longer and healthier lives.”

With 10 locations, the Center serves Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola counties. For more information go to www.hopeandhelp.org.

By D. Kevin McNeir
kmcneir@miamitimesonline.com

Pastors Honored: Rev. Eddie Lake (l-r) of Greater Bethel AME; Father John Cox of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church; Father Richard L. Marquess-Barry of St. Agnes Episcopal Church; Rev. Dr. George E. McRae of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church, Brother Luc Joliecoeur, BGS, of Brothers of the Good Shepherd and Rev. Dr. Ralph Ross of Historical Mount Zion Baptist Church. —Photo courtesy of Camillus House

Camillus House honors seven of Miami’s Black churches

“Can’t stop praising his name” was one of many selections performed by the Mt. Tabor Missionary Baptist Church choir at Camillus House’s celebration of Black Culture, which focused on the role of the Black Church, on May 9.

The beginnings of the Black Church in America are as old as America itself. To many the church has always been the social center of Black life and in Miami many of the first Black churches started more than 100 years ago.

Each year, Camillus House seeks to chronicle and showcase various aspects of the rich Black experience. According to a press release, the organization has seen firsthand how the Black church cradles, understands and strengthens Black families, often being the turning point for many from homelessness to becoming productive members of society.

The churches that were honored at the event included: St. Agnes’ Episcopal, Historical Mount Zion, Brothers of the Good Shepherd, Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Mt. Tabor Missionary Baptist Church, Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church and United House of Prayer For All People.

Fred Mims, director of the direct care ministry at Camillus House who has been a member of Mt. Tabor all of his life, said the annual Black Culture recognition events, also allows the community to see that the organization is “not just a homeless shelter, but a service provider.”

By Malika A. Wright
mwright@miamitimesonline.com

Troop Leader Tiffany Willis-Gilmore (second left) is photographed with girls and volunteers of Troop 215. The girls received certificates for being charter members of the Troop.

Teams battle it out in competitive scrimmages at FIU

In other parts of the nation spring is a time for cleaning, revamping and rejuvenating in preparation for the summer months. But in Miami-Dade County, spring marks the beginning of workouts and practices for gridiron stars from Homestead to Hialeah and locations in between. It is the time when teams begin to field-test their artillery before the imminent fall season battles.

Last Friday and Saturday, more than 30 football teams from Miami-Dade and Broward high schools gathered at Florida International University in the sweltering 86-degree heat for the South Florida Officiating Camp Scrimmages. While referees from around the nation were being trained and corrected by Conference-USA personnel, South Florida high schools capitalized on this opportunity to test-drive their teams.

Several local coaches, whose teams do not have an additional spring game scheduled, said that this scrimmage was critical in figuring out their approach for the remainder of the summer.

Coaches use scrimmage for strategizing

“The scrimmage gives us a chance to go against a different face,” said Norland head coach, Daryle Heidelburg, whose team could not get an opponent for a spring game. “I’m happy with the level of play I’ve seen so far and can see that we guys really competing for spots.”

Pat Burrows, head coach of Homestead, made similar observations.

“The discipline of the kids was the most positive,” said Burrows, entering his second year at Homestead. “We didn’t have to force the kids to give a 110 percent — they want it for themselves.”

Like Norland, Homestead does not have a spring game scheduled but Burrows said the scrimmage will show the staff what they need to work on before next season’s opening game against a competitive University School (Broward) team.

“We have the drive to reach the playoffs this upcoming season,” he said.

Not all of the local powerhouses participated, including Northwestern and state champions Booker T. Washington and Central, but others with impressive win-loss records did take advantage of the chance to return to the field. Killian, who lost in the Region 8A Finals last season, will have an almost entirely new starting lineup, according to Head Coach Cory Johnson. With only four returning starters, Johnson said he will rely heavily on rising seniors Jakari Bolton (offensive lineman) and Matthew Colominas (defensive end).

“Every team has its own identity,” he said. “These guys are naturally tough and that’s hard to come by.”

Heidelburg, reflecting on last season when they fell short of a repeat for the state championship said, “We have to finish.”

Carol City has struggled for several seasons, according to Head Coach Harold Barnwell, but believes they’ll show great improvement this year. They will face Blanche Ely on Thursday, May 23rd at 7 p.m. He says seniors like Eugene Richardson and Raquan Williams, both offensive linemen, will make a difference.

“We finally got some big bodies up front on the offensive line,” Barnwell said. “So the kids are going to continue where last year’s team left off.”

Meanwhile, Homestead will rely heavily on rising senior receiver Ermon Lane, who was their dominant offensive and defensive threat last season. Burrows also has high expectations for rising junior Quarterback Maurice Alexander.

“We had a lot of young players,” Burrows said. “[But] we want to be competitive in the district [and] the kids are taking ownership.”

Killian will take on Ronald Reagan High on May 23rd on their home field.

“There’s no football like Miami football.”

By Akilah Laster
Miami Times writer
akilahlaster@gmail.com