Issuu

November 8, 2020

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

Vol. 25, Issue 41

We Won

“Addressing Current & Historical Realties Affecting Our Community”

DIVIDED COUNTRY By: Roy Douglas Malonson

President Donald Trump has brought racism back to the forefront, with white supremacists no longer hiding under hooded cloaks and the cover of darkness, they are wearing police badges, judge robes, teaching our children, and -- if we let them - signing our paychecks with a smirk while convincing you to keep working for lower wages than you deserve. Then there are some who are straight up hillbillies. Just look at the Trump rallies and see them proudly speaking to news reporters.

Shouting messages of hate, waving Confederate flags and barely able to speak a clear sentence while going against all medical advice and common sense - because their president told them to -not wearing masks and putting themselves and others at risk. These are the types of folks Johnson was referring to. Trump has brainwashed these people for his own agenda. People who the mega-rich businessman would never even take a second look at if they approached him on a street -- or even in

one of his ritzy hotels. Yet, because they are his captive audience, he feeds them what they need in order to keep them doing his bidding; voter suppression, anarchy, chaos -- a perfect distraction for an America under siege. Right now ... the distraction is Blacks versus Whites ... Democrats versus Republicans… and let’s not forget... Trump versus Mexicans or anyone else who does not “suit his pedigree.” Yet, many people don’t see what is happening right underneath their noses, even though the “revolution IS being

televised.” (Shout out to Gil Scott-Heron) Legend says that President Lyndon B. Johnson said after signing the Civil Rights Act, “We have lost the South for a generation.” Many don’t realize he was a ruthless politician who made “political decisions” to serve his own agenda. While History Class teaches our children that Johnson was a “hero” who is responsible for passing the monumental bill, it fails to Divided cont’d page 3

A. - Eric Fagan, B. - Christian Menefee, C.- Teneshia Hudspeth, D. - Dedrick Johnson, E. - Bridgette Smith-Lawson

BLACKS MAKE HISTORY!

By: N.L. Preston

HOUSTON – There was plenty of political Black excellence happening around the country as African Americans won several contests, making history. Locally, there were plenty of “firsts” in just about every city and county in our area. First Black female Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth has made history, be-

coming the first African American woman to be elected Harris County Clerk. As a 15-year member of the Harris County Clerk’s Office, serving under three Administrations, Hudspeth has held a variety of positions, including Administrative Aide of

History cont’d page 6

2 AFRAMNEWS.COM

November 8, 2020

EDITORIAL

President/Chief Editor

Tristar

Griselda Ramirez: Production

Partin’ the Waters By Omowale Luthuli-Allen

Office: (713) 692-1892 Wednesday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On Nov. 3, you decided Third Ward Houston Blues Great Lighting Hopkins didn’t wear a watch. Lightning decided what time it was. On Tuesday, November 3, you decided what time it was and you decided to stand on the right side of history. On November 3, you decided that humanity and country was more important than party. On November 3, your diligence to remain in a long line and stare down COVID-19 to cast your vote was confirmation that you believed that free and fair elections were more important than your candidate winning. On November 3, your conviction meant that you were in support of counting every vote and saying no to intimidation and new poll

tax schemes in different garb. On November 3, WIN-LOSE-DRAW, you decided that democracy and the soul of America was at stake. On November 3, your voter participation spoke loudly that pre-existing conditions for health insurance must not be rolled back. On November 3, your participation meant that you could sleep well with a pure conscience, and your head on a soft pillow that continues the tradition of supporting children and future generations. On November 3, you were part of the push back to repudiate the Grand Ole Party’s attempt to throw out 127,000 legitimate drive-thru ballots. On November 3, you were part of tens of millions who were a teeny-weeny bit tired of the pandemic and crazy. If you went to sleep on November 4, you can rest knowing that when the call was given, you answered. - AANI

A Revival of God

Consciousness Bobby E. Mills, PhD

LIFE, DEATH … & Dixiecrats “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” The Trump Presidency has empowered a virus of hatred; unlike any level of confusion America has experienced in modern times. Trump has a death oriented lying-tongue, and a graveyard mentality. A ditch digging mindset is not a bridge building mentality, and lying is the way to hell in a hand basket. Consequently, COVID-19 has killed over 225,000 bodies, and the leadership style of Donald Trump is killing the soul (spirit/mind) of America. There is a huge difference between dumbness and stupidity. Dumbness is when individuals do not know, because they have not been taught. Even the Bible speaks of watchmen who are blind “dumb-dogs” who will not bark. Stupidity is when individuals know better,

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

but refuse to be better. Trump knows better, because he has been exposed to the truth. Trump witnessed firsthand the administrative Presidential leadership competence of President Barack Obama when he sat in awe in the Oval Office, and was briefed on foreign and domestic policy issues. Trump left the Oval Office amazed at the knowledge and intellect of Obama, and immediately dismissed it, because it was a Black man giving it. Yet, a large percentage of Whites are willing to forgive President Trump for administratively mishandling the COVID-19 crisis, and at the same time, taking absolutely no responsibility for the tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. The question is why? Does the answer lie in their desire for White Privilege (institutional racism)? We statistically know that the overwhelming majority of individuals who are dying from COVID-19 are Black and Brown. Question: is the social-fact that the healthcare issue of preconditions is primarily associated with Black and Brown individuals the reason why so-called Obama Care is under such brutal GOP partisan political attacks? It is no secret that the GOP Party is no longer the Party of Lincoln, but

has become the White Privilege Party of the ole Dixiecrat South. Thus, the Trump Presidency is a colossal leadership failure. There were some Whites who for ungodly reasons thought they were electing a successful businessman to the Presidency, but instead elected a pathological liar. Now, America is spirituallymorally upside down, and the clown-show of the world community, because of Trump’s deceptive tongue, and leadership ineptitude. Pretensions of good works will always be exposed as evil, because an individual’s best works are not good enough to outweigh his/her sins. Jesus always talked about God’s true children, and this is why he emphatically stated: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8: 31-32). Trumpsters are in spiritual bondage to President Trump, because sin has a way of enslaving individuals, and dictating actions. Hence, too many Trumpsters are enjoying being slaves, and in bondage to wrong doing, and the sin of hatred towards other Americans. Shameful! - AANI

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION Divided cont’d tell them Johnson used the word “nigger” a lot. In fact, he referred to it as the “Nigger Bill,” according to his biographers. Longtime Jet Magazine correspondent Simeon Booker wrote in his memoir, “Shocks the Conscience,” that Johnson once told him he should “thank” him for all he’d done for black people. Sounds like anyone we know today? And Johnson biographer Robert Dallek wrote, when asked to explain his decision to nominate Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court rather than a less famous black judge, Johnson replied, “when I appoint a nigger to the bench, I want everybody to know he’s a nigger.” But even with his RACIST views, Johnson still did things to advance those he did not even respect. This all may be surprising to you. But it is not surprising to my generation or me. Like Johnson said, in the beginning, it’s about knowing WHO to pickpocket. So back to what is going on today. This country is divided! And some presidents have possessed the

November 8, 2020

ability to bring it together for the greater good, while others have been hell bent on tearing it apart. Pulitzer Prize winning presidential historian and author of “Leadership in Turbulent Times.” Doris Kearns Goodwin, spoke to CNN’s Anderson Cooper recently about past triumphs and mistakes of other commandersin-chief. “We remain a deeply divided polarized nation, more than at any time in our recent history. Teddy Roosevelt once warned that the greatest threat to democracy would come when

paraphrase Old Abe Lincoln, history will look with honor or dishonor on how the parties and how these two candidates handle this divided moment.” So what does that all mean? On one hand, you have President Trump claiming ahead of poll results that he had already won the election and him losing would only be due to fraud, stoking division. On the other hand, former

there is a crisis occurring, the leader’s handling of that crisis is the way they will gain or lose the confidence of the people. James Buchanan, who was president before Abraham Lincoln, is ranked as the worst

AFRAMNEWS.COM 3 world -- Dr. Anthony Fauci-- helped to sabotage his own campaign. How does the US bounce back? It’s all about leadership. At the time of President Lincoln’s second inaugural address, the United States had just come through a war where 600,000 people had died, and the country was split in two. He focused his message on reconciliation, just six weeks before he was murdered. “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” -- Lyndon B. Johnson people in different sections, religions or classes are so cut off from one another that they no longer regard each other as common American citizens, they see each other as the other.” Goodwin went on to say, “Old George Washington warned about the spirit of party and the spirit of sectionalism that was in his farewell address. We are seeing that right now,” adding, “to

Vice President Joe Biden spoke of the importance of being president of all the parties and listening to the other side, not stoking division. The responsible, mature transfer of power will be a real test of the Republican Party and its leaders. The last four years has been an embarrassment to the nation. WE NEED REAL LEADERSHIP! Most of the time when

president of all time for his inept leadership during the years leading up to the Civil War. President Herbert Hoover lost the faith of Americans when he said of the Great Depression that the “tide has turned,” when it had not. And likewise, Donald Trump’s mishandling of COVID-19, mocking it at times and publicly denouncing the advice of one of the top medical experts in the

right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations,” Lincoln said in one of his best speeches ever. That is the message that Joe Biden is going to have to convey in or-

der to get us moving in a different direction. We need a common agreement. “If the bully pulpit is used to mobilize that spirit within us, I believe that somehow we will get there. Nobody wants this level of division to be the way it is. It is only hurting us as a country; it makes us vulnerable to other countries, that’s what old George Washington warned against. If fear of the factionalism gets so great, then we will be vulnerable to influence by foreign countries.” Goodwin pointed out. “Our standing in the world needs to be improved. We need to show that we are common American citizens. We were once isolationists, and before Pearl Harbor we began to come together and once we did, nothing could compete with the productivity of America. Business and government came together; a plane every four minutes, a tank every seven minutes, a ship every single day. What we could do with getting a vaccine together. We have to envision a different way from what we’ve lived in the last couple of decades, and we can!” Can we? Only time will tell.

- AANI

4 AFRAMNEWS.COM

November 8, 2020

POLITICS

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

WHAT IS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? By: AANI Staff

The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The Founding Fathers established it in the Constitution, in part, as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. What is the process? The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. How many electors are there? The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your state has the same number of electors as it does members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two senators. How are the electors chosen? Each candidate running for President has his or her own group of electors (known as a slate). The slates are

generally chosen by the candidate’s political party in your state, but state laws vary on how the electors are selected and what their responsibilities are. Which states have the most electoral votes? • California - 55 votes • Texas - 38 votes • Florida - 29 votes • New York - 29 votes • Illinois - 20 votes • Pennsylvania - 20 votes • Ohio - 18 votes • Georgia - 16 votes • Michigan 16 votes • North Carolina 15 votes What happens in the general election? The general election is held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in Nov e m b e r. When y o u vote for a Presidential candidate, you are actually voting for your candidate’s preferred electors. Most states have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all elec-

tors to the Presidential candidate who wins the state’s popular vote. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation.” What happens after the general election? After the general election, your Governor prepares a Certificate of Ascertainment listing the names of all the individuals on the slates for each candidate. The Certificate of Ascertainment also lists the number of votes each individual received and

shows which individuals were appointed as your state’s electors. Your State’s Certificate of Ascertainment is sent to The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as part of the official records of the Presidential election. The meeting of the electors takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, after the general election. The electors meet in their respective states, where they cast their votes for President and Vice

President on separate ballots. Your state’s electors’ votes are recorded on a Certificate of Vote, which is prepared at the meeting by the electors. Your state’s Certificate of Vote is sent to Congress, where the votes are counted, and NARA, as part of the official records of the Presidential election. Each state’s electoral votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on the 6th of January in the year following the meeting of the electors. Members of the

House and Senate meet in the House Chamber to conduct the official count of electoral votes. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, presides over the count and announces the results of the vote. The President of the Senate then declares which persons, if any, have been elected President and Vice President of the United States. So there you have - AANI it, now you know. Be ready to do this all again in 2024.

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

November 8, 2020

HAPPY 100 BIRTHDAY MALONEY COATES JOHNSON!

AFRAMNEWS.COM 5

COMMUNITY

By: Donna R Harris (Photo credit: Katrina Watson)

On November 10, 1920, 100 years ago, baby girl Maloney Coates was born in the great state of Texas. She grew up eating Texas “bar-b-que,” of

course. At the time of Maloney’s birth, the first-ever commercial radio broadcast connected the north, south, east, and west United States. Maloney was born in the

year women legally gained the right to vote in the U.S. From a child, she was rooted in acaJohnson cont’d page 7

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November 8, 2020

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

History Cont’d Public Affairs, Special Projects Coordinator, Voter Outreach Coordinator, Public Information Officer, and Administrator of Communications & Voter Outreach. With over 17 years of political experience, Hudspeth began her political career with work on Capitol Hill as a Mickey Leland Congressional intern for the Office of Congressman Chet Edwards. Hudspeth graduated from the School of Communications at Texas Southern University. She is also a graduate of Leadership Houston (Class XXXIV) and the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University-the most exclusive campaign school for women in the nation. First Black Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee has become the youngest and first-ever African American elected Harris County attorney. Menefee is the son of veterans and attended the University of Texas at San Antonio. His early education was in the Klein and Alief Independent School Districts. Menefee is a civil litigation attorney, recently recognized as a 2019 Texas Rising Star by Super Lawyers. He currently lives in Houston with his wife

Left to Right: Eric Fagan, Teneshia Hudspeth, Christian Menefee, Bridgette Smith-Lawson, Dedrick Johnson

and two rescue dogs. Texas City elects first Black mayor Dedrick Johnson is currently an associate pastor at Greater Saint Matthews Church in Hitchcock. The University of Texas graduate was a math teacher in his hometown of Texas City for 15 years, a city commissioner for nearly 20 years, and has worked at Marathon Oil Refinery for the last decade. The new mayor-elect is replacing Mayor Matt Doyle and says he has some big shoes to fill. He is no stranger to hard work, however, and reminds the youth that he’s done a little bit of everything. Johnson says he’s mowed lawns, shelved books at the library and has even worked at pizza place. First black female county attorney in Fort Bend Bridgette Smith-Lawson has become the first African American female county attorney in Fort Bend. She is the Managing Attorney for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, overseeing two

regions consisting of up to 23 counties in the Southeast quadrant of Texas. Smith-Lawson graduated cum laude from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in May 2003 and was licensed in November 2003. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Houston in 2000 with a major in Political Science and a minor in English. The wife and mother of two also has an impressive community and mentoring background. She has served as a USA Track and Field and AAU Track Coach for a kids’ summer track club and is an active member of Jack and Jill of America, in which she is currently vice president of the Sugar Land chapter. Fort Bend County elects Black sheriff after more than 100 years Fort Bend County has some news that’s been a long time coming. Democrat Eric Fagan defeated Republican Trever Nehls in the race for sheriff. Fagan is a former HPD officer and Pct. 4 Constable. He earned both

a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Science degree in Juvenile Forensic Psychology from Prairie View A&M University. Fagan says he plans to enact initiatives to help “end police brutality and misconduct and bring more transparency to the sheriff ’s office.”

He also plans to have deputies trained to recognize signs of mental illness and learn techniques for de-escalating encounters with citizens, as well as requesting body-worn cameras for deputies who interact with the public. Fagan is the second Black sheriff elected in the county, dat-

ing back to the reconstruction era. The first sheriff, Walter Moses Burton, held that position more than 150 years ago. Congratulations to everyone and we are excited to see what’s to come! Go out and do something RIGHT for the communities in which you serve. - AANI

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Johnson cont’d demic excellence making all A’s in grade six, as shown on her Bellville, Texas report card. Maloney walked over five miles to get to and from school back in the 1932. There were no yellow school buses during Maloney’s Bellville Elementary school days. Before U.S. integration, Maloney graduated with honors from Yates Colored High School in Houston, Texas. Destined to maintain a higher education, in 1943 she earned her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics, from Prairie View State Normal Industrial College of Texas, now Prairie View A&M University. In 1949, she obtained a Masters’ degree in Education from the Texas State University for Negroes, now Texas Southern University. Maloney retired from the Houston Independent School District, serving as a long-term substitute teacher for 27 years. Maloney’s family life, cooking skills, community service, and travels have been exemplary. The 1943 Harris County marriage records confirm she married Herman Johnson, and

the couple had four children: Herman Jr, Elwaine, Deidre, and Denise. If you want to taste some good down-home southern cooking, stand in line for Maloney’s gumbo; yep, it is “that” good! Like many Texans, Maloney is an avid football and basketball fan. Feeding Houston’s hungry by volunteering at a local pantry for many years and splashing water aerobics through age 90 are two of her regular recreations. She is regularly known for sporting a brim lady’s hat at the South Union Church of Christ. In her 100 years, Maloney traveled to the Caribbean (i.e., Barbados, Curacao, Grenada, Nassau, San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands). In recognition and celebration of Maloney’s 100th birthday anniversary, her family will gather remotely for her special day via Zoom teleconference to commemorate her Coats roots. The family will also honor the 2020 Yates High School valedictorian with a $100.00 scholarship in commemoration of Maloney Coates Johnson’s 100th birthday. - AANI

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