Author: Carma Henry

     One definition of recovery is, “a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.” Another is, “the action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost.” I can’t think of any more appropriate descriptions of the first 20 months of President Joe Biden’s Administration. History records President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the creator of the New Deal, President Harry S. Truman as the initiator of the Fair Deal, and President Lyndon Johnson as the mastermind of the Great Society. I believe historians will one day recognize President Joseph R. Biden as the engineer of the Great Recovery.

     Americans are quick to say, “I don’t get involved in politics,” or “I hate politics.” They are the faithful who recite the doctrine as though it were biblical verse. What they fail to realize is that our love-hate relationship with politics is a consequence of day-to-day life in the greatest democracy in the world.

The Walt Disney Company announced a $1 million grant to Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) School of Journalism & Graphic Communication (SJGC), over the next five years, for the establishment of the Disney Storytellers Fund at FAMU.   

     Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of New York’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, and former president of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, died Friday (Oct. 28). He was 73. The cause of death was not immediately known.

If pollsters believe African Americans are too overwhelmed, distracted or disinterested to vote in the mid-term and 2024 national elections Nov. 8, they have neither heard nor seen the Arc of Justice 22 city votercade that started in Minneapolis on October 8 and recently finished in a celebration village in Jacksonville, Fla. with the goal of Arc registering 10 million more Black voters.

     Black Americans are disproportionately affected by kidney disease compared to all other races. Diabetes and hypertension are the most common risk factors for developing End Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD), with obesity/overweight being an important co-morbid condition. Compared to their White counterparts, African Americans have a higher prevalence of obesity/overweight 76.3% vs 68.5%, diabetes 18% vs 9.6%, including both physician-diagnosed and undiagnosed disease, and hypertension 43.3% vs 29.1%. 

     Becoming Collegiate Academy has become Jacksonville’s first Historically Black College and University-inspired elementary school. 

  Willie Clarington graduated from FAMU in 1962 and remained a loyal supporter of his alma mater. He later continued his education earning a master’s degree in Administration and Supervision. He had a brief stint in the NFL with the New York Giants and later had a tryout with the Denver Broncos. He also played Semi-Pro Football with the Miami Bombers and the Daytona Beach Thunderbirds for a brief period He went on to coach football at Mays High School. He was part of the staff that led the Mays Football team to an 11-0 football season and their first state title.

 Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker said it “looks bad” that there will be no US-born Black players in the 2022 World Series.

The Gantt Report By Lucius Gantt This column will probably be the last Gantt Report column before the 2022 elections. As usual, no matter how many…