Author: Carma Henry

Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

       There are some songs that stay with you, even when life pulls you in different directions. “It Is Well With My Soul” is one of those songs for me. I’ve heard it growing up in church, but I’ve also returned to it later in life, during seasons when I needed something steady, something familiar, something honest. This song has met me in moments of faith, and it has met me in moments of doubt. Either way, it always seemed to know what I needed.

   She was a tall, skinny, bespeckled Black girl that walked up to me back sometime in 2016, I recall. We were in the Community Room of the building I’ve lived in since 2004 and she was a member of a health screening crew belonging to some state or local non-profit group.  She knew my involvement in environmental justice and conservation. She also knew my involvement with the South Florida Water Management District. I didn’t know who she was, but, clearly, she had done her homework.

  A cane once carried by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune in her later years soon will take its place in history again. Curators from the Barack Obama Presidential Center recently visited Bethune-Cookman University to prepare the artifact for transport to Chicago, where it will be displayed as part of an exhibit highlighting historically Black colleges and universities and the broader civil rights movement. Opening in June 2026, Dr. Bethune’s cane will remain on display through 2028 before returning home to Daytona Beach’s B-CU campus.

       More than fifty years ago, The Temptations gave us a warning wrapped in rhythm with Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today). It was a song about chaos, contradiction, and a world that felt like it was spinning out of control. 

The Black Press has sustained itself, keeping the mission alive even when faced with a variety of weapons formed against it. Early Black media professionals faced intimidation, sabotage and even death for the words and images they printed. The AFRO, for example, was founded August 13,1892 just months after The Free Speech and Headlight, a publication co-owned by teacher and activist Ida B. Wells, was burned to the ground on May 27, 1892.

        As ethics findings against Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.-20) dominate headlines, questions emerge about timing, power, and the future of a key Black access district. In an exclusive interview, the focus was not solely on Cherfilus-McCormick’s ethics hearing, but on examining a deeper issue: Are these allegations part of a legitimate ethics process and the search for truth, or part of a larger historical pattern of targeting Black political power?

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, South Atlantic Region, demonstrated its leadership in service and scholarship during the 73rd South Atlantic Regional Conference (SARC) in Orlando, collectively raising more than $40,000 in minutes, awarding scholarships to dozens of students, and convening influential HBCU leaders for a critical dialogue on institutional sustainability.

Broward Education Foundation (BEF), in proud partnership with Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) and Bridge2Life, has been awarded a transformative $1.1 million grant from Helios Education Foundation to support Postsecondary Success for All — a bold initiative designed to strengthen post-secondary readiness and access to college and career pathways for more than 24,000 students annually in grades six through 12.