Author: Carma Henry

     President George Washington proposed creating the Supreme Court. It was  then established as law by the Judiciary Act of 1789. Washington nominated to the Court one chief justice and five associates. Of the six, four were slave owners; thus,  the Supreme Court  was enshrined with the white supremacy ideology. In 1869, the court was set at nine.

     All of the Black escaped slaves did not use the Underground Railroad to migrate North. From 1700-1850, most of the slaves in Alabama and Georgia fled to the safe haven of Florida. At this time Spain owned Florida and they abolished slavery in 1693. Florida became a land of respite for our Black forefathers. Several hundred families of the Black Seminoles still remain in their nation. After the abolishment of slavery in 1864, these families continued to live in their camps and homes deep in the Everglades.

     This theme of some white person becoming a god is repeated throughout the history of art in Western civilization. “The Apotheosis of Homer,” “The Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius” and “The Apotheosis of Hercules” are just a few. The concept of deification was a great tool for myth building that exalted cultures and religions. But in all these representations of man becoming God-like, there is one common thread: They are all white.

     On Dec. 1, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of a Mississippi abortion ban. That law was written by a right-wing legal group. It was part of a long-term strategy to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that recognized that pregnant people have a constitutional right to make decisions about whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.

     Yet another extreme communist regime of China’s President Xi Jinping arbitrarily decides to conduct mass incarceration of over million Uighur Muslims with force labor, under surveillance, and forced sterilization.

     For more than a decade, the nonprofit CORE Services Group has been an effective partner to New York City’s Department of Homeless Services. It runs dozens of emergency or transitional housing centers, where clients receive skills training, substance abuse treatment, shelter and other critical services. Time and again, the city has turned to CORE to help fight the chronic problem of poverty and homelessness.

Frederick Isasi, the executive director of Families USA, called the Mississippi case – known as Dobbs v. Jackson – unconstitutional and an orchestrated attack on the ability of women to make their own decisions about their health and their reproductive freedom. “By asking the Supreme Court to gut or even overturn Roe v Wade, it will deny women abortion services and fundamentally jeopardize the lives and health of women in the state,” Isasi asserted.

     The partnership is part of HCA Healthcare’s broader commitment announced earlier this year to give $10 million over the next three years to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in order to advance diversity in health care.  

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), the largest organization representing the Black College Community, has partnered with Truist to launch a new scholarship program to meet the needs of students at historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and those from marginalized and underserved communities. A $3 million grant from Truist Financial Corporation through its Truist Charitable Fund, a donor-advised fund at the Winston-Salem Foundation, will establish a Truist scholarship program, providing $1 million a year over the next three years to HBCU students in Truist markets and financial support to complete college. Over 300 students will receive scholarships through the Truist scholarship program.

     From ballet to hip-hop, to jazz, modern day R&B, calypso, African dance, and music from around the world, there was something that you heard, that you loved. On Saturday, November 27th, at 7 p.m., 150 dancers primarily children and youth lit up the stage with brilliance, hard work, dancing genius, discipline, and pure African American funk. Under the vision and leadership of the creator and Executive Producer Beverly Page, and Artistic Director Jere’ James, Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts came alive.