January 3, 2021
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
Vol. 25, Issue 50
“Our vote and our money are the two most powerful things we have. Be careful who you give them to.” - Roy Douglas Malonson
“Addressing Current & Historical Realties Affecting Our Community”
By: N.L. Preston
The highs and lows of 2020 ranged from the rage surrounding murders of innocent Black folks, to the giddiness of discovering the availability of toilet paper. Overall, it was a year of learning how to truly count your blessings, embrace loved ones and feed families on a pot of beans, rice and cornbread. Here is look back at a year the world will never forget. KAMALA HARRIS MAKES HISTORY Former Vice President Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election, and will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on Jan. 20, 2021. His running mate,
2020 YEAR-IN-REVIEW
former California Senator Kamala Harris has made history, soon-tobecome the first Black and South Asian person, and the first woman, to be vice president of the U.S. The 2020 presidential election made history with the highest voter turnout since 1900, with each of the two main tickets receiving more than 74 million votes, surpassing Barack Obama’s record of 69.5 million votes from 2008. Biden received more than 81 million votes, the most votes ever cast for a candidate in a U.S. presidential election. The Democratic ticket of Biden and Harris defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent president Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Trump became the first U.S. president
since George H. W. Bush in 1992 and the 11th in the country’s history to lose a bid for a second term, and Biden won the largest share of the popular vote against an incumbent since 1932. COVID
In March, the COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, came about and knocked the world to its knees. The ongoing disease, which was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic
in March 2020, shutting down businesses, travel and recreational activities. Panic buying became a major international phenomenon in February and March 2020, when stores around the world were depleted of items such as face masks, food, bottled water, milk, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, antibacterial wipes, painkillers and toilet paper. As of December 2020, more than 79.9 million cases have been confirmed, with more than 1.75 million deaths attributed to COVID-19. Statistics show that one in 1,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. VACCINES
As the year drew to a close, the world breathed a collective (and cau-
tiously optimistic) sigh of relief as both Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were developed and approved, both with a nearly 95 % efficacy rate. Millions of the vaccines were shipped around the world with a Black registered nurse, Sandra Lindsay of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, becoming the very person in America to be vaccinated, and Robert Luckey, a Black registered nurse who works in the Memorial Hermann COVID-19 ICU in the Texas Medical Center, becoming the first to get vaccinated in Houston. SPORTS Patrick Lavon Mahomes II, a graduate of Texas Tech University, led the Kansas City Chiefs to Super
Bowl LIV, their first Super Bowl appearance in 50 years, where they defeated the San Francisco 49ers for their first Super Bowl victory since 1970. At 24 years old, Mahomes was awarded the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, becoming the second African-American quarterback to win the award, and youngest overall. He is the third African-American quarterback and the second youngest quarterback to win the Super Bowl. NEGRO LEAGUES In an attempt to right the wrongs of past racial inequality, Major League Baseball (MLB) added players from the Negro Leagues to its official re-
2020 cont’d page 2
2 AFRAMNEWS.COM
January 3, 2021
2020 cont’d President/Chief Editor
Tristar
Griselda Ramirez: Production
Office: (713) 692-1892
cords in December. This decision was long overdue and Black baseball players are finally getting the “recorded” recognition they deserve, in comparison to white athletes whom many of the Negro players - like Willie Mays, Josh Gibson, Leon Day and Satchel Paige - top in statistics.
Wednesday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
GONE TOO SOON The year kicked off with devastating news that rocked the sports world as NBA Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were tragically killed when Bryant’s personal helicopter slammed into a fog-covered hillside in Calabasas, California on Jan. 26, 2020. On Aug. 28, fans across the globe were mourning the death of our first Black superhero, actor Chadwick Boseman, who died at age 43 after a four-year private battle with colon cancer. The Black Panther’s legacy will never be forgotten.
LIVES LOST FOR NO REASON
DEATH OF CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS
On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old black man, was fatally shot while jogging near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia after being pursued by a racist father and son duo, and their neighbor, who allege they thought Arbery was committing burglaries in the area. Breonna Taylor, a 26-yearold African-American EMT, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment on March 13 when white plainclothes officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) forced entry into her, did not announce themselves and shot Taylor six times. None of the officers involved in the raid has been charged directly in Taylor’s death. On May 25, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who graduated from Houston’s Jack Yates High School, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. During the arrest, Derek Chauvin - a white police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department - knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly minutes after he was handcuffed, lying face down, begging police to stop and calling for his deceased mother. Even after Floyd stopped speaking, Chauvin refused pleas from a crowd of onlookers to lift his knee until medics told him to.
John Robert Lewis, known as the “Conscience of the Congress,” died on July 18 after a six-month battle with cancer. He was 80. Lewis, the son of sharecroppers who survived a brutal beating by police during a landmark 1965 march in Selma, Alabama, became a towering figure of the civil rights movement and a longtime US congressman. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was revered by millions as a legal, cultural and feminist icon, died Sept. 18 from complications from metastatic
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION cancer of the pancreas. Ginsburg died at her home in Washington, D.C., surrounded by family. She was 87. DEFIANT TRUMP The House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump, the 45th President, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on December 18, 2019. Trump became only the third president ever to be impeached, joining Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, after Democrats raised concerns about his alleged attempts to seek foreign interference in the 2020 election and to hamper their investigation In September, veteran
journalist Bob Woodward dropped a bomb on the Trump Administration and the world when he released tapes in which President Donald Trump admitted he had knowledge that the coronavirus was highly contagious and dangerous, but wanted to “downplay” it for Americans because he didn’t want to create a panic. In an April 13 interview, Trump admitted to Woodward the virus is a “plague” that “rips you apart,” also telling Woodward that the virus is “so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t even believe it.” This further added scru-
2020 cont’d page 3
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
A/C & HEATING
January 3, 2021
MARKETPLACE CHURCH
CHURCH
SHOE REPAIR
Willie Wright Jr. Ministries, Inc.
AFRAMNEWS.COM 3
and wash hands, possibly saving tens of thousands of American lives. Trump has shockingly tried to ruin Democracy as
A Ministry Committed to the Worth of the WORD and Energetic Evangelism
ARTS & GIFTS
“Christ-centered, Bible-based, and Prayer-minded”
www.williewrightjr.com
2810 Rosedale St. Houston, TX 77004
OPEN Wed., Thurs., Fri.
FLOWERS
10am – 4pm
PLEASE WEAR MASKS
713.692.1195
6130 Wheatley St. Houston, Texas 77091
OPEN
Wed., Thurs., Fri. 10am – 4pm
713.692.1100
CHEMICAL
PLEASE WEAR MASKS 6130 Wheatley St. Houston, Texas 77091
www.shirleyannflowershop.com
2020 cont’d tiny that the president failed to protect the people, because if, instead of playing down what he knew in early February, Trump could have acted decisively with a strict shutdown and a consistent message to wear masks, social distance
we know it, challenging election results and is seemingly hell bent on starving out America, sabotaging the stimulus packages and much-needed unemployment benefits for Americans. - AANI
LANDSCAPING Landscaping by the Jelks COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL
Services: Mowing, Landscape Renovation, Edging, General Lawn Clean Up, Shrub Trimming and Removal, Brush Clearing, Lawn Fertilization, Flower Bed Installations
CHURCH
CHURCH
Terrence Jelks
6030 Pebble Ln., Houston, TX 77087
Cell:832.713.0102
jamesbond6030pebble@gmail.com
MAILING
E-Z MAIL
MANAGEMENT WE OFFER QUALITY SERVICE AT A COMPETITIVE PRICE
Services: Direct Mail Consulting, 1st Class Mail, Standard/NonProfit Mail, Mail Merge, Folding/ Tabbing/Inserting, Mailing Lists, Postcards, Political Mail, Bulk Mailing, Courier Services
CALL US TODAY
713-780-9804 ezmailhou@aol.com
Put 2020 in the past. Register now for Spring 2021. LoneStar.edu/Start
4 AFRAMNEWS.COM
January 3, 2021
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
THRU 2/28
FREE $5
Limited time at select locations. Online prices may vary from ad/in-store. See heb.com for details.
©2021 H-E-B, 21-2180