1 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.

NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5, 2012

Rochester, NY VOL 5. NO. 39
july 30 - aug 5, 2012
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inorityReporter VOL 4. NO. 38
July 23 - 29, 2011
Rochester, NY
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NY Mar ks 1 Year of Gay
Mar r i age, I mpac t Unc l ear
July 23, 2011 Edition
2 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5 , 2012
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Reporter
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PHOTOGRAPHY
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COLUMNISTS
Gloria Winston Al-Sarag
C. Michael Tillman
Rev. Michael Vaughn
Vincent Felder
Diane Watkins
Mike Dulaney
Davy Vara
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Minority Reporter, Inc. is a family of publications
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In This Issue:
COVER Pgs 8 - 9
- Remembering Sherman Hemsley
LOCAL Pgs 4 - 6
- Police Keep Man From Jumping
Off Upstate NY Bridge
- Clear Point Credit Counseling
Solutions Opens New Locations
- Summer Food Program Will
Provide More than 100,000 Meals
- Jordan Breaks Ground on New
Urgent Care Center at Holland
Street
FEATURE Pg 7
- NY Marks One Year of Gay
Marriage, Impact Unclear
WORLD Pg 12
- Greece Expels Olympic Athlete
Over Racist Tweets
COLUMNS: Pg 14-15
- Reections: 67 Years on Planet
Earth
By Gloria Winston Al-Sarag
- President Creating Unnecessary
Divide
By Michael Vaughn
- Shep
By Diane Watkins
- Lets Know Freedom Again...
By Hanif Abdul-Wahid

1 :: WWW.0,125,7<5(3257(5.NET - WEEK OF JULY16 - 22, 2012 Rochester, NY VOL 5. NO. 38 july 23 - 29, 2012
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4 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5 , 2012
Police Keep Man From Jumping O Upstate NY Bridge
A state trooper and two police o cers
are being credited with prevenng
a 62-year-old man from jumping o
a bridge over the Genesee River in
Rochester.
State police say troopers and city of
Rochester police o cers responded
around 7 p.m. Sunday, July 22 to
reports of a person standing on the
railing of the Veterans Memorial
Bridge, which carries Route 104 over
the river.
Authories say while O cers Eric
Grillo and Jason Lathrop distracted
the man, Trooper Patrick Hargather
grabbed him and pulled him to the
ground.
The man was taken to Rochester
General Hospital for evaluaon.
Last month, two state troopers
prevented a distraught 16-year-old
boy from jumping o the Frederick
Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Bridge,
which carries Interstate 490 over the
Genesee River in downtown Rochester.
ClearPoint Credit Counseling Soluons Opens
New Locaon in Rochester
Residents will have more local access
to a variety of nancial counseling
and educaonal services including
many that are oered at no cost
to consumers, explains ClearPoint
Credit Counseling Soluons (CCCS)
representaves.
The organizaon, Wednesday,
celebrated the opening of their new
Rochester locaon inside the United
Way Building at 75 College Avenue.
It is important for us to be here for
the people of Rochester in a way that
supports some of the most crical
needs of our community, said Chelsea
Lahna, cered credit counselor at
ClearPoint. Local residents now have
greater access to ClearPoints credit
counselors and educators through
face-to-face counseling and our
outreach iniaves.
With the addion of the Rochester
locaon, the Richmond, Virginia-based
nonprot now has 10 o ces in New
York State. Representaves say they
have been assisng area residents
for a number of years via phone and
Internet.
Free appointments for credit, debt,
budgeng and most housing-related
issues may be made by calling
877.877.1995 or from their website at
www.clearpointccs.org.
(Thursday, July 26, 2012) - Mayor
Thomas S. Richards and Rochester City
School District Superintendent Bolgen
Vargas spent Thursday morning
serving breakfast and interacng
with city youth at the Thomas P. Ryan
Community Center.
Today we are here to bring aenon
to this very essenal program, said
Mayor Richards. It is so important to
many families in Rochester. More than
80 percent of city students benet
from free breakfast and lunch during
the school year, so we are pleased
to have that connue when school is
out.
Feeding childrens bodies is as
important as feeding their minds.
They need both to be successful,
said Superintendent Vargas. Good
nutrion will help jumpstart childrens
academic success in school, which is
just around the corner.
Twenty-eight sites throughout the city
will serve breakfast and lunch thanks
to the support of the U.S. Department
of Agricultures Summer Food Service
Program.
The program, lead by the Department
of Recreaon and Youth Services and
the Rochester City School District
(RCSD), will connue to provide free
breakfast and lunch to children 18
and under through August. More than
100,000 meals are expected to be
served this summer.
RCSD prepares the meals and the
City distributes them to designated
locaons Monday through Friday.
Summer Food
Program Will Provide
More Than 100,000 Meals
( L to R ) Chris Honenberger, CEO, Mary Ann Stark, Regional President, amd
Chelsea Lahna, Credit Counselor
5 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5, 2012
Jordan Breaks Ground on
New Urgent Care Center at Holland Street
Community leaders including Mayor
Thomas Richards, Assemblyman David
Gan, Senator Joseph Robach and
City Council President Lovely Warren
were present last Friday at Anthony L.
Jordan Health Center to celebrate the
groundbreaking for a new Urgent Care
Center at their Holland Street facility.
Renovaons are beginning this week
to convert the rst oor of the facility
to accommodate the center which
promoters say will ease the congeson
of emergency rooms and increase
access to care for paents without an
idened primary care provider.
The overuse of local emergency
rooms is causing extended wait
mes for paents and increasing the
nancial burden to the enre health
care system explained Dr. Bridgee
Wieing, CEO, Jordan Health Center.
People who come to Jordan for
Urgent Care will enter a connuum of
care that seamlessly works for them
at all of our locaons across the city.
Our goal is to have the center open by
December, said Meredith Rutherford,
Director of Communicaon. The
center will be open to the public so
you dont have to be a paent to come
here.
Major funding for the Urgent Care
Center was provided by the Dormitory
Authority of the State of New York. In
addion to basic urgent care health
services, Jordan has partnered with
Highland Hospital, which will provide
sta for x-ray and mammography
services and the Breast Cancer
Coalion of Rochester, which, together
with Highland, will fund purchase of
the new mammography equipment
for Jordan.
Early detecon of breast cancer is
our best weapon against this disease,
said Cindy Becker, vice president and
COO, Highland Hospital. Highland is
proud to partner with Jordan so that
more women in our community will
have access to potenally life-saving
diagnosc services.
Rochester Ranked Top City for Families
Rochester is a top choice for families,
according to a recent naonal report.
Kiplinger Personal Finance ranked
Rochester as the h best place for
families in a recent report, nong
student-teacher rao, cost of living
and aordable housing as perks to
being a Rochesterian.
Weve always known that our city is
a wonderful place to raise a family.
The Rochester area speaks for itself.
We strive to oer programming
and services for families to keep
young people engaged and parents
entertained, said Mayor Thomas
S. Richards. Its no secret that our
cultural and educaonal instuons
are second to none, but we are excited
to be recognized naonally for our
commitment to families.
Kiplinger weighed student-teacher
rao, cost of living and household
income to determine rankings. The
citys ranking is part of Kiplingers Best
Cies for Every Age 2012 report, which
considered 361 U.S. metropolitan
areas. Last year, the company rated
the region No. 1 for commuters.
Despite nong some economic
challengeslike the Kodak bankruptcy,
Kiplingers report focused on the citys
points of pride, such as its substanal
park systems, hiking and biking trails
and aordable housing.
The report added that cultural
instuons such as the University of
Rochester and the Rochester Instute
of Technology are complemented by
kid-friendly assets like the Naonal
Museum of Play at the Strong and
the Rochester Museum and Science
Center and its planetarium.
Rochester consistently ranks at or
very near the top of many presgious
lists that help quanfy the regions
outstanding quality of life. In recent
years, the city has been named the No.
1 place to buy a home and the No. 3
best place to raise a family by Forbes.
In another report, Kiplinger ranks
Rochester 5th of 12 Cies Where
Home Prices have Risen Most. The
report puts the median home price
for Rochester at $114,900, a change of
7.1% from last year.
Le to right: Holly Anderson, Exec Dir, Breast Cancer Coalion of Rochester, Mayor Tom Richards, Dr. Avice OConnell, Director,
Highland Breast Imaging, Senator Joseph Robach, Dr. Buddhi Shrestha, AJHC Board Chair, Dr. Bridgee Wieing, AJHC CEO,
Assemblyman David Gan, Dr. Fredrick Johnson, Pastor, First Genesis Bapst Church, City Council President, Lovely Warren
6 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5 , 2012 , 2012
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Sean Benne Receives Top Clarkson
University Award for Young Alumni
Rochester resident Sean T. Benne has
received the Woodstock Award from his
alma mater, Clarkson University.
Given each year during Reunion
Weekend, the Woodstock Award honors
young alumni who have demonstrated
outstanding loyalty and service to Clarkson
and the Alumni Associaon and who have
used their Clarkson experience to make a
notable contribuon to their careers.
Benne, an assistant dean in undergraduate
academic aairs at the Rochester Instute
of Technology College of Applied Science
and Technology, received his bachelor of
science degree in electrical engineering
from Clarkson University in 1992 and his
M.Ed. in educaon from SUNY Brockport
in 1996.
In 2002, he graduated from Harvard
University with an Ed.M. in administraon,
planning and social policy. Currently, he is
working on an Ed.D. in higher educaon
administraon at the University of
Pennsylvania.
In 1996, Benne accepted the K-12
educator posion for the Rochester City
School District and in 2001 became the
lead administrator/academy director/
assistant to headmaster for Edison Schools
in Boston, Bualo and Rochester. In 2003,
he returned to Clarkson University as the
associate vice president for Instuonal
Diversity Iniaves and Pipeline
Programs where he was responsible for
the successful iniave to enhance the
engagement of minority students with
campus services and programs, such
as the Higher Educaon Opportunity
Program (HEOP), the Collegiate Science
and Technology Entry Program (C-STEP),
Student Support Services, and the McNair
program, which prepares students for
doctoral studies through involvement in
research and other scholarly acvies.
During this me, he was selected for the
Commission on Independent Colleges and
Universies (cIcu) Independent Sectors
2007 Alumni Hall of Disncon.
As an educaon professional with more
than 13 years of combined experience
in business, K-12 educaon and higher
educaon, Benne focuses on increasing
student performance and interest in
science, mathemacs, engineering
and technology along with academic
intervenon and support.
Benne and his wife, Susan Norris, who
graduated from Clarkson in 1991, reside in
Rochester.
Clarkson University President Tony Collins (le) presents the award to Benne.
7 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5, 2012
NY Marks 1 Year of Gay Marriage, Impact Unclear
By Meghan Barr and Michael Hill
One year ago, New York became the
largest and most inuenal state
where gay marriage is legal, raising
supporters hopes that it would boost
naonal momentum and pump money
into the state with a urry of weddings
from Manhaan to Niagara Falls.
As the anniversary nears Tuesday, the
laws eects are noceable if hard to
measure.
Thousands of same-sex couples
have wed across New York, but its
unclear just how many, partly because
marriage applicants arent required
to idenfy themselves by gender. The
wedding business is up, but some
planners in New York City say its not
booming.
And while President Barack Obama
announced support this year for gay
marriage, no state has enacted a
law allowing it since New York. And
opponents note that North Carolina
voters banned it.
California, which is almost double the
size of New York, has been ed up
in court over the issue since at least
2004 when the mayor of San Francisco
ordered city clerks to issue licenses
to gay couples and the subsequent
popular vote in 2008 to ban same-sex
marriages.
One thing is clear: legalizing gay
marriage in the cultural, media and
business hub of New York City amped
up the naonal spotlight on the issue.
Do you know I sll have people come
up to me and congratulate me on my
wedding? said Carol Anastasio, who
was among the rst bouquet-waving,
teary-eyed newlyweds when New York
legalized gay marriage July 24, 2011.
News crews swarmed Anastasio and
Mimi Brown outside the city clerks
o ce in Manhaan.
I work in a public park so Im outdoors
a lot and people will be walking a dog: I
thought that was you! I saw you in the
paper! Thats great! said Anastasio, a
city parks manager. Its really amazing
how it just connues.
New York inked its gay marriage law
with a nail-bing state Senate vote on
the night of June 24, 2011, aer weeks
of intensive lobbying by Democrac
Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Exactly one
month later, New York became the
sixth and largest state to allow gay
weddings more than doubling the
number of same-sex couples eligible
to wed.
The new law was ushered in with a
whirlwind of weddings that started
in the minutes aer midnight from
Niagara Falls to New York City.
When it became a reality in New York,
thats when I think most Americans
started to realize that this is something
well all be dealing with and started
thinking about it seriously, said
Marty Rouse, naonal eld director
for the Human Rights Campaign. The
momentum from New York cant be
underesmated. Aer Massachuses
becoming the rst state, nothing has
had that inuence.
Rouse said that because of New Yorks
size and inuence, people around the
country had to think seriously about
what legalizaon meant for them and
their families.
Even as Obama announced his
support in May, North Carolina voters
that week approved a constuonal
amendment dening marriage solely
as a union between a man and a
woman. State lawmakers in Maryland
and Washington passed same-sex
marriage laws, but voters will have a
nal say in November over whether
the measures will take eect. The issue
is also on the ballot this fall in Maine
and Minnesota, where opponents
are ready to spend up to $20 million
to keep the denion of marriage as
between a man and a woman.
Opponents note that despite legislave
victories in states like New York, voters
have rejected gay marriage in all 32
states where it has been on the ballot.
As it passes, people begin to realize
that its more than two people
standing at the altar, it literally alters
all of society, said Tony Perkins, the
president of the Family Research
Council.
Ahead of its passage, an analysis by
the New York Senates independent
Democrac conference predicted
there would be up to 66,500 same-
sex weddings in the rst three years
that would generate $311 million
in increased revenue and economic
acvity.
A year out, the exact number of gay
couples wed statewide is unknown.
New York City, where most gay
people are wed in the state, did not
immediately have any numbers.
At least 3,424 same-sex marriages
occurred outside of the city by mid-
July, according to state Department of
Health gures.
People involved in New York Citys
wedding industry report only a mild
surge in business. The prevailing
view among vendors is that many
gay couples already had celebrated
their unions before the legislaon was
passed. Now all they really want is the
legal paperwork, not a four-er cake.
The kind of people who were throwing
lavish pares or celebraons were
celebrang with or without the piece
of paper, said Sarah Cohen, owner of
Blossom and Branch, a Brooklyn-based
bouque oral design studio. She
guessed the laws passage translated
to two or three more weddings this
year than she would typically handle.
The Rev. Will Mercer, a New York
City-based Chrisan minister, said gay
weddings now comprise a third of his
total business generally about 150
ceremonies a year. But at least half
of them choose quiet ceremonies
with only about a dozen close family
members or friends.
The wedding is part of their whole
experience during their visit to the
city, Mercer said.
The change was more noceable in
the honeymoon capital of Niagara
Falls where the city clerk issued 459
marriage licenses in the year aer
passage, compared with 382 the
previous year.
Thats business we wouldnt have had
otherwise, said Sally Fedell, whose
Falls Wedding Chapel is one of several
in town.
But proponents say the true impact
goes beyond numbers. New York City
Council Speaker Chrisne Quinn, who
married her longme partner Kim
Catullo in May, said shes been struck
by the goodwill same-sex marriage has
generated around the city, and not just
among supporters.
I go to places where you think based
on the sign over the door: This place
is conservave, theyre not going to
want to see the ring, ask how it was,
congratulate me, she said. Couldnt
be more wrong.
8 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5 , 2012
By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA and JAKE
COYLE
George Jeerson was a bigot. A
loudmouth. Rude. Obsessed with
money. Arrogant. And yet he was
one of the most enjoyable, beloved
characters in television history.
Much of that credit belongs to
Sherman Hemsley, the gied character
actor who gave life to the blustering
black Harlem businessman on The
Jeersons, one of TVs longest
running and most successful sitcoms
parcularly noteworthy with its
mostly black cast.
The Philadelphia-born Hemsley, who
police said late Tuesday died at his
home in El Paso, Texas, at age 74, rst
played George Jeerson on CBSs All
in the Family before he was spun o
onto The Jeersons. The sitcom ran
for 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985.
With the gospel-style theme song of
Movin On Up, the hit show depicted
the wealthy former neighbors of
Archie and Edith Bunker in Queens as
they made their way on New Yorks
Upper East Side. Hemsley and the
Jeersons (Isabel Sanford played his
wife) oen dealt with contemporary
issues of racism, but more frequently
reveled in the sitcom archetype of a
short-tempered, opinionated patriarch
trying, oen unsuccessfully to control
his family.
Hemsleys feisty, diminuve father
with an exaggerated strut was a kind
of black corollary to Archie Bunker
a stubborn, high-strung man who had
a deep dislike for whites (his favorite
word for them was honkies). Yet unlike
the blue-collar Bunker, played by
Carroll OConnor, he was a successful
businessman whose was as rich as
he was crass. His wife, Weezie, was
oen his foil yet provided plenty of
zingers as well.
Despite the characters many
faults money-driven, prejudiced,
temperamental, a boor Hemsley
managed to make the character
endearing, part of the reason it stayed
on the air for so long. Much like
OConnors portrayal of Archie Bunker,
deep down, Hemsleys Jeerson loved
his family, his friends (even the ones
he relentlessly teased) and had a good
heart. His performance was Emmy and
Golden Globe nominated.
He was a love of a guy and
immensely talented, Norman Lear,
producer of The Jeersons and All
in the Family, said aer learning of
his death. El Paso police said the actor
was found dead at a local home where
neighbors said hed lived for years, and
that no foul play is suspected.
When the Jeersons moved in next
door to the Bunkers, I wanted to deliver
the George Jeerson who could stand
9 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5, 2012
up to Archie Bunker, Lear recalled
Tuesday. It took some weeks before I
remembered having seen Sherman in
Purlie on Broadway.
Hemsley read for the part and the
minute he opened his mouth he was
George Jeerson, Lear said. Hemsley
was smaller than OConnors Archie
but he was every bit as strong as
Archie, Lear said.
Sherman Alexander Hemsley, though,
was far less feisty. The son of a prinng
press-working father and a factory-
working mother, Hemsley served in
the Air Force and worked for eight
years as a clerk for the Postal Service.
Having studied acng as an adolescent
at the Philadelphia Academy of
Dramac Arts, he began acng in
New York workshops and theater
companies, including the Negro
Ensemble Company. For years, he kept
his job at the post o ce while acng
at night, before transioning to acng
full-me.
He made his Broadway debut in 1970s
Purlie, a musical adaptaon of
Ossie Davis Jim Crow-era play Purlie
Victorious. (Hemsley would later
star in a 1981 made-for-TV version
of Purlie, as well.) It was while
touring the show that Hemsley was
approached by Lear about playing a
character on the sitcom that would
become All in the Family.
Hemsley joined the show in 1973,
immediately catapulng himself from
an obscure theater actor to a hit
character on the enormously popular
show. Two years later, The Jeersons
was spun o. Among the numerous
All in the Family spin-os (Maude,
Archie Bunkers Place, 704 Hauser),
The Jeersons was the longest-
running.
The character, the owner of a chain
of dry-cleaning stores, was devised,
Hemsley said, as pompous and feisty.
All of it was really hard ... because
rude, I dont like to be that way,
Hemsley said in a 2003 interview for
the Archive of American Television.
But it was the character, I had to do
it. I had to be true to the character. If
I was to pull back something, then it
just wouldnt work.
And he brought some of his hometown
with him. That dance I do (as George
Jeerson), its the Philly Slop, he told
the Philadelphia Daily News in 1996.
Aer The Jeersons was abruptly
cancelled, Hemsley starred in the
sitcom Amen as a ery Philadelphia
church deacon, Ernest Frye. The show
latest ve years, running 1986 to 1991.
Jackee Harry, a longme friend who
made appearances on the show, said
she and Hemsley had planned to tour
in the musical Aint Misbehavin. She
said they had discussed it recently and
that he seemed in good health and in
good spirits.
Its a sad, sad, sad day, she said from
her home in Beverly Hills, Calif.
She recalled when the two of them
were on a Manhaan sidewalk during
the era of The Jeersons, and
passers-by went wild.
He got mauled and mugged, she
laughed. He said, Whats all the
screaming about? He was so popular
and he didnt even know it.
She described him as a very private
person unlike George Jeerson. But
he was very kind and very sweet, and
generous to a fault.
Hemsley frequently turned up as a
guest on sitcoms like Family Maers,
The Hughleys and even, in a voice
role, Family Guy. He twice reprised
George Jeerson, appearing as his
famous character on The Fresh Prince
of Bel-Air and, in 2011, on House of
Payne.
Hemsley, whose lms include 1979s
Love at First Bite, 1987s Stewardess
School and 1987s Ghost Fever,
released an album, Aint That a Kick in
the Head, in 1989.
In an interview with the Gloucester
County Times in 2011, Hemsley said
his show business career actually
began in childhood.
Making people laugh was automac,
he said. I was in a play in elementary
school and had to jump up and run
away. I was nervous and tripped and
fell down and everyone laughed. Their
laughter made me relax, so I pretended
it was part of the show.
I always told my mother I wanted a
job where I could have a lot of fun and
have a lot of me o, Hemsley added.
She asked me where I was going to
nd that, and I said, I dont know, but
its out there.
10 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5 , 2012
A Progressive ndependent like Bernie Sanders!
am for a federal ban on fracking...no 'safe fracking' rhetoric
We need to spend less on military and wars and more on education
and infrastructure
We need to spend less on executives both public and private and
encourage higher wages for working class Americans
There needs to be better screening for gun and ammunition
purchase; buying 4 guns in a week and 4,000 rounds of ammo should
be easier to screen for
We can tax dividend income somewhat higher for those richer
Americans earning $250,000 or more in dividend income. This is not
regular income; this is the 'Mitt Romney' class of Americans 'm talking
about
Kirsten Gillibrand took gobs of gas, oil and nuclear PAC money. Google: 'The Real Donations to Gillibrand'
Senator Gillibrand even took a $5,000 PAC check from Chesapeake and $500 from the Chesapeake attorney and lobbyist,
Thomas West who recently emailed the DEC 'in one last pitch' on how to exclude storm water runoff testing for radioactivity
will write mandatory, strict EPA waterway aquatic buffer zones for any activity that has the potential to contaminate our
lakes, rivers and streams. Right now, EPA is only advisory on this, and Gillibrand has no plans for this. Google: Aquatic
Buffers- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Senator Gillibrand advocated building more nuclear power plants in Western NY to create jobs. There are many initiatives
that could make money, but harm the public. am not for more nuclear power plants, period.
I've actuaIIy written proposed IegisIation for major student Ioan reform; there is a proposed jobs biII in my website
and more
Senator Gillibrand's 'Upstate Works Act' in her .Gov website never made it to committee, and the original co-sponsor,
Senator Al Franken, withdrew his co-sponsorship back in 2011. t is NOT a passed law. Senator Schumer co-sponsored the
bill in February of this year. He is the only co-sponsor and the bill is dead; which means that her claims about what it's doing
for jobs and small businesses is very misleading. She has never authored and passed any jobs legislation.
Wendy Long, also on the ballot, is a drill-baby-drill Republican
Senator Gillibrand was the #1 recipient of Commercial Bank lobby money in the whole U.S. Senate in 2010 and #5 now.
That's not Main Street, but Wall Street backed.
IRU866HQDWH)RU
WKH6WDWHRI1HZ<RUN
I hope you as a registered New York voter wiII 'think outside the box' and go to my website, downIoad a petition
and instructions, and get me on the baIIot in November. The deadline is August 21st and coming up fast. We need
Congressional members to aggressively protect the health, safety and quality of life of those that depend on their decisions
in Congress.
f you believe that an unaffliated Progressive like myself can turn Congress away from large donors with an agenda and
PAC money from corporate 'people' like Senator Gillibrand does so well, then think you'll be proud to carry my petitions.
6FRWW1RUHQ''6
U.S. Senate candidate, 2012 (I)
www.norenforsenate.com
Paid for by Dr. Noren for U.S. Senate
EKd>
DtW^

11 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5, 2012

18 - August 8
Noonme Concert Series
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
Locaon: queduct Park, Main St. at
the Genesse River
A FREE noonme concert series will
be held Wednesdays, July 11 - Aug.
8, from Noon to 1 p.m., at Aqueduct
Park.
Aqueduct Park is a lovely pocket park
(owned by Thomson Reuters Inc.)
located in the heart of downtown
at the southwest corner of the
Main Street Bridge (across from the
Convenon Center). A perfect spot to
enjoy some music during lunch hour.
18
Wednesday Aernoon at the Movies
- Tangled
Time:2:30PM-4:00PM
Locaon: Central Library 115 South
Ave.
Each Wednesday aernoon from
July 11 through August 29, 2012, the
Childrens Center will be showing a
movie at 2:30. This weeks movie is
Tangled, rated PG.
19 - August 9
Party in the Park
Time: 5:00PM-10:00PM
Locaon: Riverside Fesval Site Court
St. and Exchange Blvd
Citys dynamic Party in the Park
concert series to be held Thursday,
June 7 through August 9, 2012, from
5 p.m. to 10 p.m.. Cost: $2.00 per
person facility fee at entrance; 12 &
under free
21
Health Fair sponsored by Lifeme
Care
Time: 2:00-5:00pm
Locaon: Froner Field One Morrie
Silver Way Rochester, NY
Cost: FREE (once inside PR Fesval
premises)
In eorts to connue promong a
healthier lifestyle we will have: on-site
nurses, provide screening, workshops,
discuss results in private, tness
demos, and much more.
25
Wednesday Aernoon at the Movies
- Hugo
Time:2:30PM-4:00PM
Locaon: Central Library 115 South
Ave.
Each Wednesday aernoon from
July 11 through August 29, 2012, the
Childrens Center will be showing a
movie at 2:30.
28
Flower City Looking Good - Rose
Workshop
Time: 10:00AM-11:45AM
Locaon: Maplewood Park and Rose
Garden, corner of Lake and Driving
Park Avenues. Greater Rochester
Rose Society members will provide
expert advice on roses and hands-on
demonstraons. Meet by the fountain
at the Maplewood Rose Garden,
corner of Lake and Driving Park Aves.
This workshop will focus on insects
and fungal diseases.
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By DEMETRIS NELLAS
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Triple jumper
Voula Papachristou was expelled from
Greeces Olympic team Wednesday
for her comments on Twier mocking
African immigrants and expressing
support for a far-right party.
The Hellenic Olympic Commiee
said Wednesday that Papachristou is
placed outside the Olympic team for
statements contrary to the values and
ideas of the Olympic movement.
Papachristou is in Athens and has not
responded to calls from The Associated
Press. The commiee said she was to
travel to London shortly before the
track events start.
Papachristous Twier account ((at)
papaxristoutj) contains several
retweets and posngs of YouTube
videos promong the views of Golden
Dawn, a formerly marginal extreme
right party that entered the Greek
Parliament in the recent two naonal
elecons - in May and June this year
- by polling almost 7 percent of the
vote.
But it was her aempt at a joke
Sunday that went viral. Commenng
on the widely reported appearance
of Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes in
Athens, Papachristou wrote: With
so many Africans in Greece, the
West Nile mosquitoes will be ge ng
home food!!!. Her tweet prompted
thousands of negave comments that
snowballed Wednesday.
Since anyone can access an
unprotected Twier account,
Papachristous YouTube links and
retweets inevitably became known.
Several of her retweets were original
tweets by Ilias Kasidiaris, the Golden
Dawn spokesman and one of the
partys 18 Parliament members, who
became notorious a few weeks ago
for striking a woman Communist
MP in the face and throwing water
at another female MP during a TV
talk show. Papachristou tweeted to
Kassidiaris on his name day, last Friday,
Many happy years, be always strong
and true!!!
Papachristous inial reacon to the
negave comments, on Tuesday, was
to tweet: Thats how I am. I laugh.
I am not a CD to get stuck!!! And if
I make mistakes, I dont press the
replay! I press Play and move on!!!
Her a tude changed completely
Wednesday and she has posted ve
apologec tweets in less than two
hours. The last tweet, a very long one
in English, which she has also posted on
her Facebook account, reads: I would
like to express my hearelt apologies
for the unfortunate and tasteless joke
I published on my personal Twier
account. I am very sorry and ashamed
for the negave responses I triggered,
since I never wanted to oend anyone,
or to encroach human rights.
My dream is connected to the
Olympic Games and I could not
possibly parcipate if I did not respect
their values. Therefore, I could never
believe in discriminaon between
human beings and races. I would like to
apologize to all my friends and fellow
athletes, who I may have insulted or
shamed, the Naonal Team, as well
as the people and companies who
support my athlec career. Finally, I
would like to apologize to my coach
and my family.
Before the publicaon of the last
tweet, Democrac Le, one of the
three pares in Greeces coalion
government, had published a
statement assailing the racist humor
and calling on the Hellenic Olympic
Commiee to expel Papachristou from
the Olympics
Let her make any miserable jokes on
social media while watching the games
on TV. She denitely cannot represent
Greece in London, the Democrac
Le statement said.
Triple jumper Voula Papachristou
Pictured Below
Greece Expels Olympic Athlete Over Racist Tweets
13 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5, 2012
The views expressed on our opinion pages are those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the position or viewpoint of Minority Reporter.
STRAIGHTNO CHASER
Reecons: 67 Years on Planet Earth
Happy 67th
Birthday to me! I
havent seen it all
but I have seen
enough.
At 67, I certainly
you cant serve
two masters in this
world eecvely;
someone or
something is
going to go
missing.
To my readers I apologize for the
watered-down column that appeared
in my space last week. It did not
resemble anything I inially wrote.
What I inially wrote was in total
cricism of an arcle published in
Ganne, one I considered slanted and
racist and more.
But, what I wrote was chopped to
pieces, allegedly edited because of
libel concerns.
I also took to task the neposm that
was highlighted in the arcle, but
none of that was published because of
what I consider the conict of interest
that prevailed.
The last me I check the U.S.
Constuon guaranteed my right to
free speech.
One of the main things I respect
and admire about Dave and Pauline
McCleary is they are not slaves, and
they dont allow others to dictate
policy to them.
One of the reasons I love wring for
them is because of their apparent
respect for my intelligence and for me
and my work.
I am of the opinion that there is
apparently a new sheri in town that
I consider an alarmist who wants to
sterilize the Minority Reporter and
change my wring style. It is not going
to happen. My style is not new and my
readers and fans have supported it for
decades.
I consider my intelligence being called
into queson when anyone suggests
that I dont know how to stay within
boundaries that may cause my
publisher any legal problems.
Some folks have no history in my
community and certainly dont know a
fact from fantasy.
What they need to know is; I win all
spiritual wars. When I come under
aack, I just step aside and let my God
handle it.
At 67, I also thank God and a few
loving, supporve and responsible
humans for bringing me this far.
I am at the point in life where the rst
thing I read when I pick up a paper
is the obituary page to see if I am in
there yet.
I am at the age where the genes in
ones family became more familiar and
more readily available than the name I
used to be able to associate with the
face.
Come on, if you were in my class then
you too are asking: Now, whose child
are you?
I am at the age where I reect on giving
four years of my life to the rst four
years as entertainment coordinator
for Clarissa Street Reunion because
it was about my hood and now
dont recognize 75 percent of those in
aendance.
Mainly because so many have le this
dimension or are too old and red to
travel. I appreciate when folks say to
me, It is GOOD to see you, so I can
respond with It is GOOD to be seen.
At 67, feeling blessed and highly
favored. I sll dont claim ge ng old.
If anything I am ge ng beer.
Lots of things have changed. Society as
a whole completely amazes me. Our
moral ber has eroded compared to
the way things used to be, especially
in our homes.
I believe I was ve or six-years-old
when my dad purchased our rst TV.
It was a Sennel with a wooden cabinet
that was painted annually by my Mom
to give the impression we had a new
one, I guess.
The TV we had for years was at rst
brown, then painted grey, and even
painted black at one me.
It was a black and white TV. I think
there were a total of three staons of
programming to choose from.
I dont recall what me the TV came
on in the morning but I do recall all
staons signed o every night, with
the ag ying and the naonal anthem
being played.
The reason my memory is not so clear
on staons programming, excreta is
because we (my brothers and I) did
not dictate what was watched on the
TV and our viewing me was dictated.
Aer Kate Smith, Pinky Lee, and Howdy
Doody, I dont recall anything else but
homework and/or reading taking place
in my house unl bedme.
If we did get to watch a show aer 6
p.m. it was a luxury but again content
was dictated by my parents.
The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights
was a given because other than Amos
&Andy, and The Jack Benny Show,
there were no other shows on.
I was made aware of that they had
faces the color of mine.
If someone colored was to be a guest
on The Ed Sullivan Show that would be
the hot topic of the weekend among
grown folks.
Everyone with a TV was commied to
watch and I recall my mom and dads
faces beaming with pure pride.
I seem to recall we were close to
being teenagers before we were even
allowed to turn the TV on.
The adults in my house dictated and
controlled any and everything that
would inuence their childrens minds.
That included the telephone.
Children did not answer the phone in
my house, when adults were home.
And if we answered the phone when
they werent home it was expected
we would write down messages not
aempt to serve them to memory.
My mom had the one telephone we
had, perched on its own personal desk
always equipped with paper and pen.
There was no excuse not to get a
message right.
I also recall when adults were in
conversaon, depending on the topic,
the children might be asked to leave
the room and go somewhere else to
play because we did not need to be
privy to grown folks conversaon.
I also remember when elders were
respected, and going to church was
not an opon. In my house you went
from Sunday school, to church service
and then back to church at 5 p.m. for
Bapst Youth Fellowship.
I also remember on Sundays in
parcular when all women wore hats
and gloves to church, and carried
dainty hankies, and powder pus.
Prior to the creaon of play staons,
Xboxes and the Wii, play me meant
being outside in the yard, the back
yard, in parcular.
We played with dolls, doll houses,
jumped rope, shot marbles, pick up
scks, jacks, volleyball, dodge ball and
more.
Funny how the dodge ball appeared to
be trained to avoid your moms ower
beds.
When we cooked out, it was in the
back yard, not the front yard.
The only me we were allowed on the
front porch was when we had clothes
on that we did not want to get dirty or
we had sit down company.
My dad always said he bought a house
with a back yard for his children to play
in.
If you were on the front porch you
were expected to act like you had
some sense. Much has changed in my
67 years but some things also get xed
that arent broken.
GLORIA WINSTON
AL-SARAG
----------------------------------
Gloria Winston Al-Sarag is a Community Activist, Writer,
Communicator, Political Activist. She is a native Roches-
terian and has been involved with numerous community
orgainzations in Rochester.
Contact Gloria at: JazzyG4202@aol.com
We want t o know what YOU t hi nk!
Email us at: Editor@MinorityReporter.Net
LET YOUR VOICE MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
14 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5 , 2012
As I wrote last
week, drugs,
poverty, errant
entertainment
and lack of social
autonomy, is
impeding our
progress. And
now we, as a
c o m m u n i t y
and a race of
people, need
Consanguinity.
Consanguinity is dened as a
relaonship by decent from a common
ancestor or kinship, which is a very
posive and close relaonship.
As a race the lack of consanguinity
is the dening problem we face in
America today. And is a departure
from our own history.
For 350 years trials, segregated laws,
constructed barriers and injusces
imposed by the dominant society
did not slow down our progress; our
forebears did not take one day o
from pursuing jusce.
Our bond, including self-help and
self- determinaon, kept the course of
freedom and dignity in the crosshairs.
Now presently through design and
pracce the last 50 years have sought
to delay and erase that memory of
bond from the minds of our children.
Our eternal adversaries willful vision
is to wipe out the possibility of another
Douglass, King, Malcolm, Du Bois, Rosa
Parks, Ida B. Wells or any other serious
thinker produced by that bond to rise
and lead.
This is playing itself out today in every
major city, town and neighborhood.
No voice of recent insight has been
able to reach the anesthezed mind of
the race on this issue.
No other racial group allows this
with their future. Other groups
celebrate their consanguinity with the
promoon of their culture, history and
struggle. A community reinvestment
in this idea may be the only thing that
can save us.
Our situaon symbolically and
metaphorically can be summed up
with this analogy. On slave ships during
the Atlanc Slave Trade where the
bold decision to stop seeking freedom
through death by jumping over the
side of the ship, was enacted by our so
we can tell the world what happened.
We need to nish that saga by
arculang the meaning and purpose
of that story with insight and clarity.
The decision to ght and survive the
inequalies and become a new people
totally developed by the Creator is
the true desny of a bonded people
disengaging from oppression.
We need to know freedom again and
the real element to the success of that
freedom is a people closely bonded by
condion, circumstances and common
cause.
If we would remember and embrace
our accurate beginning here, our
history in America, we will not
connue as a stasc of illegimacy,
crime, violence, high unemployment,
low high school graduaon and college
admissions, high incarceraon rates,
and sullied neighborhoods.
This destrucon is supported by
despicable aims of a debauched group
of co-conspirators.
Some of those conspirators are in
among us and they work hard to
maintain the status quo. As in the
beginning, our bondage 400 years ago
was fed by a conspiracy of immoral
forces including, sadly, some of our
people; this connues today.
Most of the race today does not know
the fact that they are descendants of
a strong people. To be cut o from
this unique bond and history through
a deep sleep is our eternal challenge.
As a race of people, we are either in
charge of our desny or we are agents
of our destrucon.
No member of our race can escape us
through fame, wealth, educaon or zip
code. No member can consciously kill,
prey, inmidate and not care about
the group they have a bond with amid
consanguinity.
If we fail to bond with God, family, and
community and oblige this to others;
we will connue on the track of ugly in
everything.
Our ancestors came here together and
we are bonded by that!
Lets Know Freedom Again Consanguinity (Part 2)
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Minority Reporter
GUEST EDI TORI AL
Hanif Abudul
Wahid
President Creang Unnecessary Division
As has been my
goal for this year,
I want to bring
i n f o r m a t i o n
to you as we
move towards
the upcoming
elecon.
My goal is not
to promote
one candidate
over another,
but to provide
informaon that you can meditate on
and then make an educated decision.
When we go into the vong booth, we
should not just be vong for someone
because they belong to a certain party
that we think are giving us what we
want.
We need to understand what they
believe, and with data, determine if
they indeed are meeng our needs.
Several days ago, President Barack
Obama made a statement that caused
me some alarm. He said that those
that are wealthy did not get there by
themselves.
While the substance of that statement
is true, the movaon behind it was to
cause division.
There has been a constant aack
against those that are wealthy by
the president and the party that he
belongs to. My queson is, Why
promote this unnecessary division?
The president was implying that since
no one got wealthy by themselves,
they should share that wealth through
paying higher taxes.
If someone has goen wealthy
through legal means and hard work,
why should they be penalized?
The argument is that the wealthy do
not pay their fair share of taxes. I take
issue with that because I do not believe
that those that make those statements
are being honest. If they were not
paying their fair share then arrest
them. If they are not doing anything
illegal, then why bother them?
When someone is abiding by the laws
of the land and do not have to pay a
certain level of taxes, it is not them
that should be persecuted, it is the law
that should be changed.
Let me pose a queson to you: Would
you pay more than in taxes than what
the law requires?
If you do not answer this queson
in the a rmave, then why would
someone who is wealthy answer
dierently or be expected to answer
dierently?
The presidents statement really
bothered me because as the president
he should represent America and what
she stands for.
There was a me in America that
people would be praised for working
hard and pursuing the American
Dream.
Once they obtained that dream, they
would be lied up as an example of
what is possible in America.
The message that the president is
giving is that if you have an idea,
make great sacrices and work hard
and as a result of your hard work,
become wealthy, the government is
going to come in and take more than
you should have to pay in taxes and
disperse it those that did not make the
sacrice, did not pursue the idea, and
were nowhere around when you were
struggling to obtain your dream!
This is not the American Dream. This
would be a nightmare and cause
frustraon, resentment and an
unnecessary division.
His claim is that the roads used were
built by the government, the school
that one aended was funded by the
government, and the teacher that
launched the creave thinking was a
government employee.
Therefore, the wealthy person did
not become successful on their own.
Again, that is true, but he overlooks
a major point in his argument. The
roads, the schools, and the teachers
were all funded by the taxes that have
already been taken from the people.
The people that are in those posions
accepted them and received
compensaon for their work. Why
should they be compensated again,
when someone becomes successful?
The president and his party are being
disingenuous, dishonest, and are
creang an unnecessary division.
My hope is that you at out reject
that argument. If there were no
entrepreneurs in America, where
would this country be?
People do the hard thing because
they have passion and want to make
a dierence and want to be successful.
Everyone that does that by abiding by
the rules should not be penalized for
living out the American Dream.
Shame on you Mr. President for
promong an unnecessary division,
and shame on you if you agree with
him!
C. MICHAEL
VAUGHN
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT...
-------------------------------
Tell me what you think; e-mail me at
mvaughn.seniorpastor@newwineskin.org
The views expressed on our opinion pages are those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the position or viewpoint of Minority Reporter.
15 :: WWW.MINORITYREPORTER.NET - WEEK OF JULY 30 - AUG 5, 2012
Even though its
not Black History
Month, I want to
take a moment to
recollect about us
black folks.
I recently
aended my
Turner family
reunion, here in
Rochester.
This event,
coupled with the fact that I am
working on another rewrite of the
African-American History course for
the Rochester City School District,
caused me to contemplate the history
of local blacks.
People who write history make
conscious choices about the people,
places and events that they focus
on. Most of the me, these choices
exclude the history of certain people.
This week, I want to remind folks about
an important local business person
whose story I fear will be erased from
our collecve Rochester history if it is
not etched in wring.
This person is Ruther B. Sheppard, also
known as Shep.
Shep is one of those people who have
been around family members over the
years, and quite frankly, I am more
than surprised that he isnt related to
the tremendously large Turner clan.
Mr. Shepard is best known as the
owner of Sheps Paradise Lounge on
Clarissa Street.
Many people, who will aend the
Clarissa Street Reunion Fesval in
August, know that Shep is sure to be
there.
I want to remind folks to holler at him
and let him know that we are proud
of his eorts and that he has blazed a
trail for young black men who want to
be entrepreneurs.
Ruther is just one of many local
pioneers of black business ownership
in Rochester. And in the words of
Langston Hughes: Life for me aint
been no crystal stair.
Thats true for Shep and many other
black business owners in America.
Although, his ght to own and keep
his business in the famed Rochester
Broadway is quite interesng, there
is much more to the life legacy of
Mr. Shepard than becoming a black
business owner.
He achieved during an historic period
when most whites didnt want to
be our neighbors much less sit down
and have a cocktail in one of our
establishments.
Shep was the rst African-American
student to graduate from Williamson
Central High School.
Williamson is a town in which members
of my family originally seled as did
many black migrant workers who
traveled from south to north and back
following the harvest seasons.
Many African-Americans did not stay
long enough to enroll their children
into school, or they didnt bring their
children with them at all.
Not only did Shep graduate, but he
excelled in his academic studies,
soccer, basketball and band.
He was proudly the student that came
up with the school mascots name
the Marauders. The name is sll in use
today.
Can you imagine such a thing in 1954?
How it is that our boys, in 2012, have
access to public schools, the ability to
play sports, and other extracurricular
acvies, and en masse are not high-
achieving as we believe they should
be?
Is schooling in the RCSD any more
challenging than it could have been
for a single black boy in all white,
Williamson, New York in 1954?
One thing is clear, Ruther Sheppard
came here as a young man with his
southern manners and charm intact.
And at the tender age of 12, he never
let anyone deter him from believing
that he was excellent at any and
everything he set his mind to.
Even when one of Sheps white
classmates proudly told him that
he didnt care if was a n----r, he
wanted Shep to come to his party.
Shep handled that with style. I would
imagine that a young black man today
would have goen into a ght and
been hauled o to jail.
Shep lived with a real clear memory
about the history of what happened
when blacks got on the wrong side of
the law in America. They dont usually
end up owning a business.
Worse yet, they could end up lynched
and burned like Hayes and Mary
Turner and many other black people
who lived in the towns around the
county that Sheps family le.
Hayes Turner was a real life black
man who got caught up a white
landowner in his Georgia town. This
landowner, just like in August Wilsons
play, Joe Turner has Come and Gone,
perpetuated forced labor upon
black people by using the loophole
in the 13th Amendment to the U.S.
Constuon.
You see, the Constuon ended
forced labor unless one is convicted
of a crime. Hayes had served me
on the chain gang for threatening to
harm this white landowner who had
severely beaten his wife, Mary Turner
on mulple occasions and escaped
jusce. Someone nally killed this
landowner and white mobs brutally
lynched eleven black people in cold
blood in the streets as revenge.
One mob even cut the 8-month-old
fetus out of Marys belly and stomped
the infants head unl dead. Witnesses
reported everything to the proper
authories but no one was punished.
These were the kind of people who
Shep and his family le behind in the
South. Surviving in the North, seemed
like a no-brainer.
Today, Mr. Shepard is doing alright. Like
many black business people, he caught
ts from government authories who
never seemed able to remove the
barriers for black business owners, but
he is sll standing.
He set the example. He played the role
of model. He remembered where he
came from, and he knew where he
wanted to go.
Is there something in his story that
would change the course of a young
black mans life in Rochester today? I
can only hope so.
- - -
The story of the Turner lynching can be
found in the July/August 2000 Edion
of Crisis Magazine.
Shep
The views expressed on our opinion pages are those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the position or viewpoint of Minority Reporter.
DIANE
WATKINS
Baden Street
485 N. Clinton Ave.
Wednesdays, Thursdays,
Fridays: 4-8 PM
Project HOPE
Conkey Corner Park
(Cliord and Conkey)
Sundays: 12-3 PM
Community Place
500 Carter St.
Tuesdays: 2-6 PM
441 Ministries
441 Parsells Ave.
Wednesdays: 2-6 PM
St. Marks and St. Johns
Episcopal Church
1245 Culver Rd.
Saturdays: 9-12 PM
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359 Webster Ave.
Saturdays: 12-3 PM
Charles Settlement House
676 Jay St.
Thursdays: 4-7 PM
Southwest Area Neighborhood
Association (SWAN)
270 McCree Way
Fridays: 4-6 PM
Rochester Recreation Club
for the Deaf
1564 Lyell Ave.
Saturdays: 9-12 PM
Liberty Temple
144 Reynolds St.
Thursdays: 3-6 PM
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