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Black media underutilizedStudy: companies ignore Black consumer power

BY GEORGE E. CURRYNNPA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Companies that fail to advertise with Black media are missing an opportuni-ty to effectively reach nearly 43 million African-Americans whose $967 bil-lion annual buying power is projected to exceed $1 trillion in three years, ac-cording to the new study released by Nielsen and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).

“Still the largest racial minority group in America, with a projected buying power of $1.1 trillion by 2015, Black consumers remain at the fore-front of social trends and media con-sumption,” the study found.

The findings were released last week at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Sharing info“Our collaboration with the NNPA

has been successful,” said Susan Whit-ing, vice chair of Nielsen, a premier global information and measurement company.

“NNPA’s insertion of the report into its 200 publications allows Nielsen ac-cess to millions of African-American consumers, and allows us to share vi-tal information that will help increase the awareness of Blacks’ consumer power.”

And according to the report, that power is considerable.

“Since 2000, the total U.S. popula-tion only increased by 11.3 percent, while the Black population increased by 17.9 percent, a rate that is 1.6 times the greater overall growth,” the Niels-en study said. The report noted that the U.S. Black population is larger than 163 of the 195 countries in the world,

See MEDIA, Page A2

CAMPAIGN 2012 / REP. PAUL RYAN

JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

Republican vice president candidate Paul Ryan delivered remarks during a rally at the University of Central Florida in Orlando last week. He’s the latest of the presidential campaign’s candidates and surrogates to crisscross Florida for

votes during the race’s home stretch.

Less than 800 hours till voting starts

IMPROVING – BUT STILL BADCOMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

A new report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education finds

that only 52 percent of Black male and 58 percent of Lati-no male ninth-graders grad-uate from high school four years later while 78 percent of White, non-Latino male ninth-graders graduate four years later.

The report suggests that without policies that cre-ate opportunity for all stu-dents, strengthens supports for the teaching profession and strikes the right balance between support-based re-forms and standards-driven reforms, the U.S. will become increasingly unequal and less competitive in the global economy.

Some improvementAccording to “The Urgen-

cy of Now: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males,” the nation-al graduation rate for Black males has increased by 10 per-centage points since 2001-02, with 2010-11 being the first year that more than half of the nation’s ninth-grade Black males graduated with a regu-lar diploma four years later.

Yet, this progress has closed

the graduation gap between Black male and White, non-Latino males by only three percentage points. At this rate, it would take nearly 50 years for Black males to achieve the same high school gradua-tion rates as their White male counterparts.

Bottom threeAmong the states with the

largest Black enrollments, North Carolina (58 percent),

Maryland (57 percent), and California (56 percent) have the highest graduation rates for Black males while New York (37 percent), Illinois (47 percent) and Florida (47 per-cent) have the lowest. Ari-zona (84 percent) and Min-nesota (65 percent) were the only states within the top 10 ranked states, in graduation rates, with over 10,000 Black males enrolled.

Which large school systems most successfully graduated Black males on time? Mont-gomery County, Md. and New-ark, N.J. – both at 74 percent. These two systems served as the benchmark for graduation rates of Black male students for states enrolling more than 10,000 Black students.

Far shortThe Black male graduation

See REPORT, Page A2

Florida ranks near the bottom of 50 states graduating Black boys from high school. Pinellas County (St. Petersburg) is identified again

as one of the worst large school systems in America with regard

to educating Black boys.

SCHOTT FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

The latest Schott Foundation report – the title is taken from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream speech’ – says that the racial academic achievement gap between Black and White male students will take 50 years to close if it improves at the current rate.

SNAPSHOTS

BY BRANDON LARRABEETHE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

The war over early voting in Florida ahead of November’s presidential election appeared to wind down Monday, with a federal court refusing to block a portion of the state’s controversial 2011 elections law.

In a ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan denied a request from Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown and other Black voters to issue an injunction to keep the state from reducing the number of early-voting days ahead of the Nov. 6 elections – when Florida could

play pivotal roles in decid-ing which party wins the White House, the U.S. Sen-ate and the U.S. House.

Hours vs. daysThe voters had argued

that the changes, which would reduce the number of early-voting days from at least 12 to no more than eight, would disproportion-

ately affect minority voters, who are more likely to take advantage of early voting than White voters.

The state had countered that elections officials were allowed to offer more hours on each of those days, and that the changes applied equally to all voters.

Corrigan relied heavily on evidence that many counties would offer as many as 12 hours a day in early voting and would re-quire some Sunday voting, a potential opening for the “souls to the polls” get-out-the-vote efforts of some Black churches.

“Because Florida’s Early Voting Statute al-lows early voting during non-working hours, as well as voting during the weekend, in-cluding one Sunday, voting times which are important to African-American voters, as well as to (get out the vote) efforts, the Court cannot find that the 2011 Early Voting Stat-

See VOTING, Page A2

POLITICS | B1A glance at Obama’s promises

FLORIDA | A3Report scrutinizesFAMU College of Law

Displaced Haitians get extension to stay in US

FINEST | B3Meet Marissa Corrine

Brown

Early voting battle appears over

A2 SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 4, 2012FOCUS

including Argentina, Po-land, Canada and Austra-lia.

“The average income for African-American households nationwide is $47,290 with 35 percent earning $50,000 or more,” the report stated. Ten per-cent of Black households earn $100,000 or more each year. The study not-ed, “The Black population and its aggregate buying power is overall more geo-graphically widespread and more diverse than other ethnic and racial segments.”

Missed opportunities

Cloves Campbell, chair-man of the NNPA and pub-lisher of the Arizona In-formant newspaper, said, “Marketers underestimate the opportunities missed by overlooking Black con-sumers’ frustration of not having products that meet their needs in their neigh-borhoods. And companies that don’t advertise using Black media risk having African-Americans per-ceive them as being dis-missive of issues that mat-ter to Black consumers. This report demonstrates what a sustainable ad in-fluential economic force we are.”

Benjamin Jealous, pres-ident and CEO of the NAACP, stated that Af-rican-American readers

give more credence to ads placed with Black media than those that appear in the general interest pub-lications. And the Niels-en research supports that view. According to the re-port:

• Ninety-one percent of Blacks believe that Black media is more relevant to them;

• Eighty-one percent believe that the products advertised in Black me-dia are more relevant to them;

• Seventy-eight percent would like to see more Black models/actors used in ads (51 percent said they would purchase a product if the advertising portrayed Blacks positive-ly);

• Seventy-seven percent of African-Americans said Black media has a bet-ter understanding of the needs and issues that af-fect them;

• Seventy-three percent believe Black media keeps

them in touch with their heritage;

• Sixty-eight percent want to see more com-mercials directed specifi-cally to Black audiences;

• Sixty-seven percent of Blacks want to see more advertising targeting Black consumers.

‘We cover ourselves’

NNPA President and CEO Bill Tompkins said Black media plays a unique role in the African-American community.

“The general media does not cover us as well as we cover ourselves,” he said. Tompkins noted that Black media receives only 2 percent of the $120 bil-lion advertising dollars spent with general media.

Top companiesThe top 10 compa-

nies advertising with the Black media were Proc-tor & Gamble ($75.3 mil-

lion), L’Oreal ($39.9 mil-lion), McDonald’s ($34.9 million), Johnson & John-son ($27.7 million), Ve-rizon Communications ($26.3 million), Nation-al Amusements ($24 mil-lion), Hershey ($23.5 mil-lion), Comcast ($23.4 mil-lion), General Motors ($23.1 million) and Berk-shire Hathaway ($23.1 million).

The top advertisers by categories in the first quarter of 2012 were au-tomotive, quick restaurant service, motion pictures, wireless telephone ser-vice, pharmaceutical, auto insurance, insurance, di-rect response service, res-taurant and department stores.

The top insurance/fi-nancial advertisers in the first quarter of 2012 were Berkshire Hathaway ($6.9 million), Allstate ($6.2 million), State Farm ($3.4 million), Progressive ($3.3 million), Bancorp ($2.3 million), Wells Fargo ($2 million), Nationwide ($1.7 million), PGC Holdings ($1.7 million), Zurich Fi-nancial ($1.5 million) and JLL Partners ($1.4 mil-lion).

The top 10 restaurant advertisers in the first quarter of this year were McDonald’s ($8.2 mil-lion), Yumi Brands ($3.1 million), Doctors Assoc. [Subway] ($1.9 million), Domino’s Pizza, Darden Restaurants, Wendy’s, 3G Capital (all $1.7 mil-lion each), DineEquity ($1.4 million), 3G Capi-tal Papa John’s ($1.2 mil-lion) and AFC Enterprises

($796,000).In the first quarter of

2012, the top 10 health and beauty advertisers were Procter & Gamble ($10.9 million), L’Oreal ($9.6 mil-lion), Unilever ($5.4 mil-lion), Johnson & Johnson ($4.4 million), Kimberly-Clark ($2.4 million), Pfizer ($2.4 million), Estee Laud-er ($2.3 million), Artal Luxemborg ($2.1 million), Eqyss International ($1.8 million) and NAC Market-ing ($1.7 million).

Missing from listsThere were some glar-

ing omissions from the Top 10 lists. Among banks, for example, only No. 4 Wells Fargo, with assets of $1.3 trillion, and No. 5 U.S. Bancorp, with assets of $340.12 billion, were top advertisers with the Black media. Missing from the list were JP Morgan Chase, with total assets of $2.27 trillion, Bank of America ($2.13 trillion), CitiGroup ($1.8 trillion), Bank of New York Mellon ($325.25 billion), PNC Financial Services ($271.21 bil-lion), State Street Corp. ($216.3 billion), Capital One ($206.02 billion) and SunTrust Banks ($176.86 billion).

Also missing from the Top 10 insurance and fi-nancial list were Liberty Mutual, Travelers Group, American Internation-al Group (AIG), Farmers, USAA, Hartford, Chubb, American Family and Met Life.

MEDIAfrom A1

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

NNPA President and CEO Bill Tompkins gives re-marks about the latest Nielsen-NNPA study.

When I was in the pro-cess of reading and writing about Nielsen and the Na-tional Newspaper Publish-ers Association’s report on African-American buying power for this week’s Black newspapers, I was remind-ed of how many top com-panies continue to take ad-vantage of Black consum-ers while providing little, if anything, in return.

They are not the only ones at fault – so are we. People treat you the way you allow them to treat you. The same can be said of corporations, though they are not, as Mitt Rom-ney contends, people.

The Nielsen report notes that Black spending power, which totals $695 billion a year, is expected to soar to $1.1 trillion by 2015. And very few of those dollars are reinvested by advertis-ing in the Black media.

It’s a matter of respect. As Black publishers point out, if a company advertis-es in the Washington Post or the New York Times, it could be speaking to any-one. However, when it ad-vertises in the Black media, we know they are speaking directly to our audience

and are taking us seriously as valued consumers.

Big names missingFor the most part, that’s

not happening. When Nielsen lists the top com-panies advertising with Black media, some familiar names are nowhere to be found. Eight of the top U.S. 10 banks are not on the list of top 10 financial/insur-ance companies advertis-ing in the Black media.

JP Morgan Chase has overtaken Bank of Amer-ica as the top bank in the U.S., with assets of $2.2 tril-lion. Don’t shed any tears for second-place Bank of America, which has assets of $2.13 trillion, or Citi-Group with $1.8 trillion. Neither of them is among the top 10 entities advertis-ing with the Black media.

But African-Americans hold checking or savings accounts at all three banks. Let’s put them on notice

by sending them a copy of this column and my sto-ry, which is carried in this week’s NNPA papers and is posted on BlackPres-sUSA.com. Tell them that by the time the next Niels-en report comes out a year from now if they are not on that list, they will be add-ed to one of our lists – not the one people brag about. If banks can disregard us, we can disregard them by closing our accounts and moving them to a bank that shows its appreciation.

If you have accounts at either JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank (CitiGroup), Bank of New York Mellon, PNC Finan-cial Services, State Street Corp., Capital One or Sun-Trust Banks, put them on notice today that they will lose a valuable customer if they continue along this path.

Contact themIn terms of a national

campaign, I suggest first focusing on the three larg-est banks. Let the “bank-sters” know how you feel about their actions. Here’s contact information for

their top officials:

Mr. James DimonChairman and CEO, JP Morgan Chase270 Park Avenue, 39th FloorNew York, NY 10017Phone: 212-270-1111Fax: 212-270-1121Email: jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com Mr. Brian T. MoynihanCEO, Bank of America Corporation100 N. Tryon St.Charlotte, N.C. 28255Phone: 704-386-5681Email:Brian.T.Moynihan@banko-famerica.com Mr. Vikram PanditCEO, Citibank399 Park AvenueNew York, N.Y. 10022Phone 212/793-1201 or 212/559-1000Email: vikram.pandit@citi.com

To add insult to injury, $182.5 billion of our tax dollars went to bail out American Internation-al Group – or “Notorious AIG,” as comedian Bill Ma-

her calls them – but they have not reciprocated with the Black media. AIG, the largest insurance company in the world, is MIA-Miss-ing In Action.

You can’t turn on the television without seeing one of those horrendous man/ape commercials about GEICO. Yet, GEICO is monkeying around with us by also being absent from the list of top adver-tisers.

African-Americans over-index on mobile phones. Verizon is a top advertiser with the Black media but not AT&T, Sprint or T-Mo-bile. If they haven’t joined the list by next year, we should pull the plug on them.

Let’s unifyAt various times and

to varying degrees, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the NAACP, among others, have had a public grad-ing system for Corporate America. But that measure-ment has been abandoned. It’s time to reinstate it.

Instead of competing with one another, this is an excellent opportuni-

ty to prove that our civil rights organizations have what they call “operation-al unity” and join together to produce an annual Eco-nomic Report Card. Given its ties to Corporate Amer-ica, perhaps Marc Mori-al and the National Urban League can take the lead on this.

As Jackson said at the press conference releasing the Nielsen report on Black buying power, perhaps we should stop boasting about our spending power and closely examine what com-panies spend with us. And based on those findings, we should do what the lady who reads the church an-nouncements each Sunday admonishes – to govern ourselves accordingly.

George E. Curry is edi-tor-in-chief of the Nation-al Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and editorial director of Heart & Soul magazine. Contact him via www.georgecurry.com. Follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.

Companies continue to insult Black consumers

rate of most of Florida’s largest school systems im-proved greatly, but are still far short of Schott’s 74 per-cent benchmark.

They are as follows: Palm Beach/West Palm Beach (55 percent, up from 22 percent in 2008); Broward/Fort Lauderdale (52 percent, up from 39 percent); Miami-Dade (49 percent, up from 27 per-cent); Orange/Orlando (49 percent, up from 33 per-cent); Hillsborough/Tam-pa (47 percent, up from 35 percent); Polk/Lakeland (46 percent, up from 29 percent); Duval/Jackson-ville (36 percent, up from 23 percent); Pinellas/St. Petersburg (34 percent, up from 21 percent).

Though Pinellas is the worst large system in Flor-ida with regard to Black boys, it’s not the worst. The Rochester, N.Y. system is the worst, graduating only 9 percent of its Black male students on time. Other poor performers in-clude Detroit (20 percent),

Philadelphia (24 percent), Cleveland, Ohio (28 per-cent), Jackson, Miss. (28 percent) and Norfolk, Va. (32 percent).

‘Willful neglect’Founded in 1991,the

Schott Foundation for Public Education’s mis-sion statement is “to de-velop and strengthen a broad-based and repre-sentative movement to achieve fully resourced high quality pre-K-12 pub-lic education.”

“These graduation rates are not indicative of a character flaw in the young men, but rather ev-idence of an unconscio-nable level of willful ne-glect, unequal resource allocation by federal, state and local entities and the indifference of too many elected and community leaders. It’s time for a sup-port-based reform move-ment,” said John H. Jack-son, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation.

Who succeeds?Three of the four states

with the highest gradua-tion rates for Black males were states with a rela-

tively small number of Black males enrolled in the state’s schools: Maine (97 percent), Vermont (82 percent), Utah (76 per-cent). This seems to indi-cate that Black boys, on average, perform better in places and spaces where they are not relegated to under-resourced districts or schools. When provid-ed similar opportunities, they are more likely to produce similar or better outcomes as their White male peers.

The report cites the need to address what the Schott Foundation calls a “pushout” and “lockout” crisis by reducing and re-claiming the number of students who are no lon-ger in schools, and im-proving the learning and transition opportunities for students who remain in school.

Blacks and Latinos face disproportionate rates of out-of-school suspen-sions – effectively being pushed out of opportu-nities to succeed. Many who remain in schools are locked out of systems with well-resourced schools and where teachers have

the training, mentoring, administrative support, supplies and the facilities they need to provide chil-dren with a substantive opportunity to learn, ac-cording to the report.

Stop suspensionsTo cut down the alarm-

ing pushout rate, the Schott Foundation is supporting the recently launched “Solutions Not Suspensions” initiative, a grassroots effort of stu-dents, educators, parents and community leaders calling for a nationwide moratorium on out-of-school suspensions.

Schott also calls for stu-dents who are perform-ing below grade level to receive “Personal Oppor-tunity Plans” to prevent them from being locked out of receiving the re-sources needed to suc-ceed. The report also pro-vides the following recom-mendations for improving graduation rates for young Black and Latino men:

• Expand learning time and increase opportuni-ties for a well-rounded education, including the arts, music, physical ed-

ucation, robotics, foreign language, and apprentice-ships.

• States and cities should conduct a “redlin-ing” analysis of school funding, both between and within districts, and work with the commu-nity and educators to de-velop a support-based re-form plan with equitable resource distribution.

“Black and Latino chil-dren under the age of 18 will become a majority of all children in the U.S. by the end of the current de-cade, many of whom are in lower-income house-holds located in neigh-borhoods with under-re-sourced schools,” said Mi-chael Holzman, senior re-search consultant to the Schott Foundation.

“We do not want our young Black and Latino men to have to beat the odds; we want to change the odds. We must focus on systemic change to provide all our children with the opportunity to learn.”

For the full report, in-cluding detailed state da-ta, log on to www.flcouri-er.com.

REPORTfrom A1

CORRECTIONSThe Sept. 14-20 issue’s front-page headline cited the date of the destruc-tion of the World Trade Center as 2011 rather than 2001.

The Sept. 21-28 issue’s front-page headline, ‘DEPENDENTS, VICTIMS AND BUMS,’ was incor-rect. Mitt Romney never mentioned ‘bums’ in his videotaped comments, so the word should not have been in quotations.

Please forgive the errors.

ute denies equal access to the polls,” he wrote.

Wanted two SundaysBrown and others had ar-

gued that the Sunday re-quired for early voting, near-ly a week-and-a-half before the election, was not as good as the Sunday immediately before Election Day, which some supervisors used for early voting under the old law.

“I had really hoped that the judge would allow coun-ties to restore voting on the Sunday immediately before Election Day, but at least we will have one Sunday of ear-ly voting guaranteed,” Brown said in a statement issued by her office following the rul-ing.

Brown vowed to hold a pair of voter-registration drives Tuesday and Sunday in an effort to counter what she portrayed as an effort by the GOP to suppress the Black vote.

Fight could continueBrown and the voters

could still push forward with the remainder of their law-suit against the changes, but Corrigan’s ruling means he doesn’t believe they have a good chance of winning the case. And the sides aren’t supposed to let him know whether they want to move forward until December – after the elections.

Corrigan’s order comes a few days after state Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, and a pair of voting-rights organizations abandoned an administrative case chal-lenging the implementation of the law in 62 of the state’s 67 counties. That fight cen-tered over whether Secre-tary of State Ken Detzner could require some counties to follow the new law while five counties that must gain federal approval for any vot-ing changes held elections under the old law.

But federal officials even-tually green-lighted the ear-ly voting change, making the challenge moot.

VOTINGfrom A1

GEORGE E. CURRy

NNPA COLUMNIST

A3FLORIDAseptember 28 - OCtOber 4, 2012

Orlando-based program has improved but lags in academics, other areas, report statesbY DeNIse-mArIe OrDWAYORLANDO SENTINEL (MCT)

ORLANDO – Florida A&M University’s law school in Orlando is “well positioned to thrive” but still falls short in academic quality and a number of other areas, ac-cording to a new report from the American Bar Associa-tion.

One key conclusion from the report: More than 30 percent of the students entering FAMU’s College of Law do not graduate or pass the Florida Bar ex-am, even after multiple at-tempts. And those who borrow money to pay for their educations leave with about $96,000 in debt, on average.

FAMU’s law school al-ready ranks last among Florida’s 11 law schools in the percentage of students who pass the bar exam on their first try.

Significant improvement

Last week, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners an-nounced that 68 percent of FAMU students passed the most recent exam the first time around, compared with 91 percent of students at the University of Flori-da and 89 percent at Flor-ida State University, two of the more established state-funded law schools.

While the 68 percent passage rate is low, it does indicate significant im-provement. Just three years ago, when the law school in downtown Orlando earned full accreditation from the American Bar Association, the rate was less than 53 percent.

The 84-page report re-leased by the American Bar Association offers in-sight into how the school

has grown and changed. A team of experts who visit-ed the program earlier this year compiled the report as part of a regularly sched-uled review of its accredi-tation.

The bar association’s Ac-creditation Committee will meet in January to discuss the report and FAMU’s ac-creditation.

Criticism of FAMUIt’s tough to say whether

the report could impact the law school’s accreditation, but longtime FAMU trust-ee Bill Jennings of Orlan-do thinks the program’s ac-creditation is not in jeop-ardy. Jennings, who helped lead the push to bring the law school to Orlando, hes-itated to comment further because the report was not supposed to be released to the public.

The American Bar As-sociation would not com-ment on the report or the accreditation process. But its report contains a lot of

criticism of FAMU.The report, obtained

by the Orlando Sentinel through a public records request, also cites as con-cerns the school’s low fac-ulty morale and continuing cuts to funding.

In addition, at the time the report was written, two of the four associate deans were planning to leave and several administrative po-sitions were either vacant or had been eliminated to reduce costs.

No violations reportLeRoy Pernell, the law

school’s dean, pointed out that the American Bar As-sociation’s report is a gath-ering of facts — not find-ings related to violations or a lack of compliance to ac-creditation standards.

He also stressed that such reports are designed to highlight weaknesses as a way to help law schools improve.

“The reports are often very helpful in pointing out

areas we will need to work on,” said Pernell. “The ac-creditation standards are quite extensive and we want to make sure that the (FAMU) law school is do-ing everything it can to meet those.”

Pernell added that FA-MU officials are continu-ing to check the accuracy of the information includ-ed in the report and that improvements have been made since the team of ex-perts visited in March.

Changes comingFor example, starting

this fall semester, first-year law students are re-quired to take two cours-es designed to help them bolster the analytical skills they will need to be suc-cessful in law school and on the bar exam. Previous-ly, only struggling students were required to take those classes.

Pernell said he expects such changes to help boost the law school’s bar exam

passage rate.The American Bar Asso-

ciation, however, suggests there is a link between the low passage rate on bar ex-ams and the law school’s admissions policies.

Lower GPAsThe FAMU law school

admits students with lower grade-point averages and scores on the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, than many other schools. But administrators stand by the school’s mission of offering educational op-portunities to minority students and others who otherwise might not have them.

For example, the median GPA was a 3.10 for students admitted to FAMU’s law school in 2010-11. Mean-while, the median GPA at UF’s law school was a 3.64 and the median at FSU was a 3.47, according to the Law School Admission Coun-cil, which collects a variety of data annually from law

schools nationwide.

Life experiences weighed

The median LSAT score for students admitted to FA-MU’s law school in 2010-11 was 148. The median score among students at both UF and FSU was 162.

The American Bar As-sociation report stresses that while the law school is allowed to consider fac-tors such as a student’s background and life expe-riences when determin-ing who to admit, it is not clear whether FAMU is ad-mitting students who can graduate law school and pass the bar exam even af-ter multiple attempts.

“Certainly, it is admit-ting students who, by nu-merical predictors at least, could easily be identified as being at risk of either failing to graduate or fail-ing the bar exam,” the re-port says.

Rigor lackingFAMU already has been

sharply criticized in re-cent months for the large number of lower perform-ing students it admits to undergraduate programs at its Tallahassee campus. State officials recently re-quired the university to submit a plan to drastical-ly reduce those numbers in the coming years as a way to boost its low graduation rate.

Only 12 percent of stu-dents who enter FAMU as freshmen earn bachelors’ degrees within four years, according to data from 2010-11.

The Bar Association re-port also says that although faculty size has increased steadily at FAMU’s law school and faculty mem-bers continue to improve their teaching and schol-arship, the “rigor in the classroom and on exami-nations is sometimes lack-ing, a problem particularly important given the low-er entering credentials of the students and difficul-ties passing the bar exam of many graduates.”

An examination of FAMU’s law school

LeRoy Pernell, above, is dean of FAMU’s law school. He said the American Bar Association’s report is a gath-ering of facts — not findings related to violations or a lack of compliance to accreditation standards.

State to help some who lost homes to foreclosureNEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Claim forms are be-ing sent out to more than 167,0000 Florida residents who lost their home to foreclosure between 2008 and 2011 who may be eli-gible for payment under a national settlement, At-torney General Pam Bondi announced Monday.

The nation’s five largest mortgage servicers, Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, agreed to the $25 billion national settle-ment to settle charges the servicers routinely signed foreclosure-related docu-ments outside the pres-ence of a notary and with-out knowing whether the facts they contained were correct.

bY JACQUeLINe CHArLesTHE MIAMI HERALD (MCT)

MIAMI – Secretary of Home-land Security Janet Napolitano has extended temporary protect-ed status for Haitians living in the United States for another 18 months, beginning Jan. 22, 2013.

The Department of Homeland Security is expected to publish a notice in the Federal Register this week announcing the decision, which will allow about 60,000 Haitian citizens to remain in the United States until July 2014. Hai-tians will have 60 days to re-regis-ter from the day that the notice is published.

Haitian advocates and immi-gration activists welcomed the news and said they were grate-ful, but complained that a dou-ble standard and discrimination against Haitians continue.

“We had no doubts that TPS would be extended given the in-country conditions right now. We just were not sure if it was go-ing to happen before or after the elections,” said Marleine Bastien, founder of Haitian Women of Mi-ami.

“We are grateful that it’s extend-ed even though it is with the same failings that we have brought to the attention of the Department of Homeland Security.”

Many concernsBastien said students who ar-

rived in South Florida after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti cannot go to college because they are being charged prohibitive out-of-state tuition. Some who are in nursing school cannot sit for their nursing exam because of their TPS status.

She also said Haitians continue to be deported to Haiti despite the sluggish recovery from the earth-quake and a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 7,000 and infected more than a half mil-

lion people.Also of concern for Bastien and

other activists is what they say is DHS’ refusal to approve a Hai-tian family reunification parole for thousands of Haitian families who have already been approved to join their U.S.-citizen and legal-resident family members in the United States.

According to the department’s own statistics, there are 112,000 Haitians in the pipeline.

“These people have been wait-ing two and a half to 11 years,” said immigration activist Steve For-ester, noting that about 15,800 of those waiting are minors. “These petitions have already been ap-

proved by DHS. It’s senseless giv-en the conditions in Haiti that people should have to wait for so long. At least make a start some-where, beginning with some of the most vulnerable. It just takes DHS’ decision.”

Isolated protestsIn Haiti, the number of people

still in tents has dropped from 1.5 million to just under 400,000. And while donors and the Haitian gov-ernment have been highlighting the improvements in recent days, it comes as the country has been rocked by isolated protests in some of its major cities. Protesters

are complaining about rising pric-es and government corruption.

Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, responding to the crises last week on a local Haitian radio station, urged the population to remain calm, saying “You have a government that’s working on be-half of your interest.”

In recent days, however, Lam-othe has come under criticism by protest organizers for referring to protesters as “mercenaries.” Seek-ing to clarify the statement, he told Haitian journalist Nancy Roc in an email that the reference was to those looting and burning tires and not the protesters per se.

Displaced Haitians will be allowed to stay in Us an extra 18 months

mIKe stOCKer/sUN seNtINeL/mCt

Shown on Jan. 7, 2011, Suze Lubin, right, of Haiti, received temporary protected status and applied for TPS for her mother Marie Toussaint. Here, they pose for portrait in Lubin’s North Lauderdale, Florida home.

september 28 - OCtOber 4, 2012A4 EDITORIAL

One of the most insidious forms of racial discrimination and injustice is the growing man-ifestation known as racially moti-vated “economic segregation.”

Across the United States dur-ing the eight years of the Bush administration between 2001 and 2008, banking and mortgage companies were systematically deregulated.

Black Americans, in particu-lar, were disproportionately tar-geted and segregated for sub-prime, high interest mortgages and housing loans that were far beyond acceptable lending prac-tices. The result was massive fi-nancial devastation and loss in the Black American community with the highest foreclosure and bankruptcy rates in the nation.

Today, Black Americans are still reeling from the housing cri-sis coupled with a debilitating

unemployment rate beyond 14 percent. But we are entering into a questionable period of Ameri-can history and politics when it is not popular or politically cor-rect for those who have been tar-geted for exploitation, discrimi-nation and economic injustice to speak out publicly for fear of be-ing perceived or mischaracter-ized as mere irresponsible “vic-tims” or “freeloaders” in our na-tional society.

Blacks are victimsWhat former Massachusetts

Gov. Mitt Romney said about the

47 percent of Americans who in his view do not pay taxes and who see themselves as “victims” is only touching the surface of the serious economic and social realities for millions of Ameri-cans.

What should be deeper at is-sue is why Black Americans and other people of color in America are economically segregated and discriminated against in the U.S. economy?

Economic segregation is the deliberate premeditated tar-geting and separation of peo-ple based on race, class or on some other social factor that de-nies equal access to econom-ic opportunity and justice. De-cades ago there were many un-just public policies and laws that attempted to justify education segregation .

Redlining not newThe Supreme Court ruled in

1954 that separate and unequal public schools were unconstitu-tional. Economic segregation, like education segregation, is a vi-olation of civil rights and should also be declared unconstitution-al. “Redlining” is not a new phe-nomenon when it comes to sys-tematic racial discrimination in the housing marketplace. The 1968 Fair Housing Act made it a federal law for sellers and land-lords not to discriminate against buyers and renters.

Yet, it is important to note the recent proactive work and prog-ress of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) concerning the economic impact of the housing crisis on Black America.

During the Annual Legisla-tive Conference of the Congres-sional Black Caucus Founda-tion (CBCF) held in Washington, D.C., NAREB sponsored a forum on the “State of Housing in Black

America.” NAREB President and CEO Julius Cartwright empha-sized, “It is urgently important that we mobilize and take action to address the myriad of criti-cal issues that we have identi-fied documenting housing-relat-ed disparities for African-Ameri-cans across the nation.”

We need to raise up a new generation of freedom fighters and entrepreneurs who are nei-ther afraid nor ashamed to call out and fight discrimination and economic segregation in all of its forms.

Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is pres-ident of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and Education Online Services Corporation. He can be reached at drbenja-min.chavis@gmail.com. Click on this story at www.flcouri-er.com to write your own re-sponse.

Stop economic segregation

Charles W. Cherry, Sr. (1929-2004), Founder Julia T. Cherry, Senior Managing Member, Central Florida Communicators Group, LLC

Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Cassandra Cherry- Kittles, Charles W. Cherry II, Managing Members Dr. Glenn W. Cherry, Chief Executive Officer Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher Dr. Valerie Rawls-Cherry, Human Resources Jenise Morgan, Senior Editor Lynnette Garcia, Marketing Consultant/Sales Linda Fructuoso, Marketing Consultant/Sales, Circulation Angela VanEmmerik, Creative Director Chicago Jones, Eugene Leach, Louis Muhammad, Lisa Rogers-Cherry, Circulation James Harper, Andreas Butler, Ashley Thomas, Staff Writers Delroy Cole, Kim Gibson, Photojournalists

MEMBER National Newspaper Publishers Association Society of Professional Journalists Florida Press Association Associated Press National Newspaper Association

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Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.

THE CREDO OF THE BLACK PRESSThe Black Press believes that Americans can best lead the world away from racism and national

antagonism when it accords to every person, regardless of race, color or creed, full human and legal

rights. Hating no person, fearing no person. The Black Press strives to help every person in the firm

belief...that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.

Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 155

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: SACKED

ChristOpher Weyant, the hill

Schott Foundation report – Florida has shown improvement in educating our state’s Black boys, but it’s moved from ‘F’ status to a ‘D.’ Thus, I won’t congratu-late Florida’s educational leadership for improving the system from “disgracefully abysmal” to just “poor,” because educa-tion in many of the predominately Black schools many of our children attend have always been underfunded and under-re-sourced. And that willful neglect was by deliberate design as a consequence of race and class, and of targeting teachers’ unions for destruction and public educa-tion for corporate takeover...

Obama’s ‘four corners’ offense – Bas-ketball fans know the “four corners” was a pre-shot clock stall tactic to hold the basketball and retain a lead until the game ran out. Most polls now have Bro. Prez leading by 5 to 10 points, with early voting starting next week in some states.

Bro. Prez’s strategy is now to get through the debates without a major mistake, stay away from major controversies, do no press conferences or interviews with real journalists, hope the Middle East doesn’t blow up, wait for Mitt Romney to again open mouth and insert foot, and air mil-lions of dollars of anti-Romney TV at-tack ads. Next week, I’ll tell you why that strategy won’t pull Black Floridians to the

polls and how Obama’s folks are still run-ning a risky 2008-style campaign in 2012. Bro. Prez, do you really want to continue to take Black Floridians for granted? If so, ask Alex Sink and the Florida Democratic Party what happened in 2010...

Nielsen report – Nielsen’s research verifies the economic power of Black America as well as its connection to the Black Press – something we’ve known about for years. I’ve read the full report (downloaded from www.nielsen.com; click on Reports and Downloads), and it tells so much about who we are. I’m using it to determine goods and servic-es I buy; if they don’t support the Black Press, I won’t support them. Look for a list next week of who’s a friend and who’s a pimp...

Contact me at ccherry2@gmail.com; holler at me at www.facebook.com/ccherry2; follow me on Twitter @ccherry2.

PUBLISHER

ChARLEs W. ChERRy II, Esq.

quICk TAkEs fROm #2:sTRAIghT, nO ChAsER

The Chicago teachers strike got national attention, much of it presuming that the biggest issues are pay and evaluation.

But the Chicago Teach-ers Union (CTU) has stated that the two sides have in fact been very close on pay. And union members have no objection to evaluation. They just want a system not so skewed to standard-ized, high-stakes testing. These tests aren’t particu-larly good ways to measure teacher performance and, even worse, have the per-verse effect of forcing teach-ers to teach kids to take tests rather than to love learning.

But the big issues for these schools and for the teachers aren’t talked about because they are officially “off the ta-ble.” CTU teachers are most concerned about class size, about adequate facilities, about wrap-around servic-es from social workers to nurses, about well-rounded curricula including art and music and languages, about early childhood education that helps children come to school ready to learn.

Schools not safeThis isn’t fancy stuff. One

concern is that classrooms reach temperatures of up to 98 degrees in summer; yet only 29 percent of schools are air-conditioned. Anoth-er is about textbooks for the first day of school. Many of Chicago’s elementary and middle schools have no safe place for recess, and few have age-appropriate play-ground equipment. There

are 160 elementary schools without a library; 140 are in the poorer South Side of the city.

Even though a stagger-ing 80 percent of inner-city teen boys are exposed to vi-olence, 675 schools share about 205 social workers. Schools often must choose between art and music, if they are lucky enough to have either.

Too often, Chicago is not providing the basics in pub-lic education for its most needy children. The CTU published a report detailing these concerns. But under state law, they can’t negoti-ate about them unless their employer agrees -- and nei-ther Mayor Rahm Emanu-el nor school officials will consent to enter into nego-tiations about these crucial conditions.

Teachers can’t negotiate

When the teachers strike ends and children return to class, teachers will get the blame for the performance of the students. But they can’t negotiate about crush-ing poverty, broken families and hard streets that impact the hearts, souls and minds of the children they teach. And teachers can’t even ne-gotiate about the quality of the facilities and the educa-

tional opportunities provid-ed by the schools where they teach.

It’s not surprising that teachers react when a con-tractually agreed 4 percent pay raise is revoked or the school day and school year are lengthened without ne-gotiations. They are frustrat-ed at the lack of respect paid to the needs of the children they teach. And they are bound to be frustrated at the lack of respect paid to their own contracts.

Impoverished schools

No one likes when teach-ers strike. But teachers are on the front line. In a time of spreading poverty and rising hunger, with harsh exploita-tion of the poor by landlords and payday lenders, poor children too often come to impoverished schools.

Teachers take the rap for poor student performance without having the pow-er to change what gets in the way of learning. Grad-ing teachers on the basis of a machine-graded test can-not substitute for schools with playgrounds and social workers, classes with man-ageable numbers, or roofs that don’t leak.

Poverty, inequality, vio-lence, race and investment matter. They must be a part of any long-term solution

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is president and CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Co-alition. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Important school issues are ‘off the table’

TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

REv. JEssE L. JACksOn, sR.

Occupy the vote: No bullies at the polls

“Eligible Americans have a civic duty to vote, and gov-ernment at the federal, state, and local level has a respon-sibility to protect voters from illegal interference and in-timidation.” - Bullies at the Ballot Box report

Last week, a new report by Common Cause and Demos, entitled “Bullies at the Ballot Box,” took direct aim at Jim Crow-like tactics designed to challenge and intimidate voters at the polls.

The report especially notes the campaign of in-timidation that is currently being waged by a Tea Party affiliated group called True the Vote, which has set a goal of training and deploy-ing as many as one million poll watchers “to challenge and confront other Ameri-cans as they go to the polls in November.”

Voters face dangerTrue the Vote has said

they want to make the expe-rience of voting “like driving and seeing the police follow-ing you.” Earlier this year, we saw what happened when an overzealous citizen de-cided to follow and confront a teenager with a hood-ie whose only “crime” was walking while Black. As the new report states, “There is a real danger that voters will face overzealous volunteers

who take the law into their own hands to target voters they deem suspect.”

These mostly conserva-tive groups claim their pur-pose is to protect against voter fraud – a solution in search of a problem, since the incidence of voter fraud in America is miniscule. The only fraud is their real intent, which is to gain political ad-vantage for their preferred candidate by disenfranchis-ing, suppressing or bullying progressive voters who tend to be people of color, the el-derly, students and people with disabilities.

Poll stalking intimidation

The Bullies at the Ballot Box report raises awareness about this threat and out-lines what is legal and per-missible when it comes to challenging a voter’s eligibil-ity both before and on elec-tion day. It also assesses the ability of ten key swing states to protect the rights of vot-ers who may face this type of poll-stalking intimidation.

The intimidation tactics by True the Vote and oth-ers, along with new voter ID laws in at least 30 states, and the elimination of early and weekend voting in several others, could seriously im-pact the outcome of the No-vember election.

Stephen Spaulding of Common Cause, a co-author of the report put it this way: “We’re concerned about this well-organized, well-fund-ed effort to suppress the vote by challenging voters in the run-up to the elections and on Elections Day, and foster-ing a climate of intimidation. The issue is their techniques are just throwing up barriers to eligible Americans, who just want to cast their ballot.”

We agree. That’s why the National Urban League has devoted this year to remov-ing those barriers through our “Occupy the Vote” cam-paign.

To read the full Bullies at the Ballot Box Report vis-it: http://www.demos.org/publication/bullies-ballot-box-protecting-freedom-vote-against-wrongful-chal-lenges-and-intimidation

Marc Morial is presi-dent/CEO of the Nation-al Urban League. Click on this story at www.flcouri-er.com to write your own response.

TRICE EDNEY WIRE

mARC h. mORIAL

DR. BEnJAmIn f. ChAvIs, JR.

NNPA COLUMNIST

A5EDITORIALSEPTEMBER 28 - ocToBER 4, 2012

Now that the so-called Arab Spring has sprung, we are be-ginning to feel the recoil, and it hurts. Who knows how much more it’s going to hurt in the next few months or so? All of the coun-tries that sprang up against their leaders, which resulted in thou-sands of deaths, subsequent cha-os, and geopolitical upheaval, are now trying to figure out what their next move will be. And what are the implications for the United States in this aftermath of the Ar-ab Spring?

Initially portrayed as a beau-tiful and much-needed change in the political landscape of the so-called “middle east,” the Ar-ab Spring conjured up notions of springtime, a new beginning and roadmap to nirvana in nations that have suffered under corrupt, evil, greedy despots for decades.

Forgot about recoilNow, with the latest news of up-

risings, bombings, riots, and as-sassinations of Americans, even a diplomat, many are wondering what the “spring” was all about. We forgot about the recoil.

In full context, the touting of the

Arab Spring made some folks feel that the lockdown of the “middle east” was coming to an end. De-mocracy would take hold and re-lations between the West and its long-time enemies, even though we had financially supported most of them, would be changed forever. So much for that scenar-io.

Now that the recoil has come, this nation is faced with even more of our young people dying on bat-tlefields with no victory in sight. We are entertaining doomsday predictions of more wars, even nuclear wars. There is the very real probability that our “best friend” in that part of the world, Israel, will launch a strike against the “evil empire” of the east, Iran, which may start world war III. At a minimum, it will cause a spike in gas prices the likes of which we have never seen. Talk about the

tail wagging the dog.

Party over hereRussia, China and the U.S. are

at odds over the whole mess, and who knows where that relation-ship will go? Embassies are clos-ing, diplomats are on alert, reli-gious doctrines are at odds with one another, even to the point of non-believing “infidels” being killed; cartoons and films are be-ing promoted, no doubt to incite more unrest and chaos, and all the while we are sinking further in debt and facing hyperinflation. This gives new meaning to the old school refrain, “Party over here!”

Less than two months from the presidential election, our can-didates are spending more time raising money at swank ven-ues, hobnobbing with those who can afford to pay the $50,000 per plate for the privilege of exchang-ing a few words and shaking a few hands.

We see them on various TV shows talking about the most ri-diculous things, laughing and hamming it up with hosts who want to know what the candi-dates wear when they go to bed,

or how their dogs are doing, or what their favorite food is, or who their favorite TV personality is, while never mentioning the war in Afghanistan and soldiers who are being killed by folks who are supposed to be their friends. As a citizen of first-century Rome must have said, “I smell smoke.”

All out warHow much more do we have

to see before we realize that this country, this world, is on an eco-nomic kamikaze mission? Even more serious is the ever-present danger of all-out war, started by Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s concern over Iran developing a nuclear weapon, despite the fact that Israel and other countries have nukes. And Pakistan’s nukes may soon find their way into the hands of its young U.S.-hating ri-oters.

Get your wheelbarrows ready; you’ll need them to carry all of the dollars it will take to buy a loaf of bread.

Practically speaking, young people are being gunned down and murdered in the streets of Chicago at record rates; some

parts of Detroit have become ghost towns; folks on the West Coast are paying more than $4 for a gallon of gasoline; several cities have filed bankruptcy and others are on the verge of doing so; vet-erans are not treated fairly when they return home; and poor peo-ple are so far off the political radar screen they may as well not even exist.

With all of that going for us, the final result from the Arab Spring will be a recoil that impacts and exacerbates oil prices, foreign aid, diplomatic relations and, most important, more young people dying in vain in wars that will nev-er lead to victory.

Economically, the recoil from the Arab Spring will propel us in-to the ionosphere of higher pric-es, national debt, and even more poverty.

James Clingman is founder of the Greater Cincinnati Afri-can American Chamber, He is an adjunct professor at the Uni-versity of Cincinnati and can be reached through his Web site, blackonomics.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Weathering the Arab Spring recoil

NNPA COLUMNIST

JAMES CLINGMAN

African-Americans will cast their votes for President Barack Obama again despite what his presidency continues to cost us. As President Obama seeks a sec-ond term there is no expecta-tion of any change in Blacks’ vot-ing patterns. Though Blacks are no better off under Obama than during either of the Bush presi-dencies, Blacks will certainly give Obama strong support on Nov. 6.

The Republicans’ nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has little history with African-Americans. Anti-Afri-can-American segments with-in the GOP make Republican of-fice-seekers’ outreach appeals to Blacks difficult, if not impossi-ble. Romney’s Mormon faith puts many African-Americans off be-cause for much of their history. Mormons considered Blacks to be inferior to Whites.

Don’t support RomneyThe Romney-Ryan campaign

illustrates that the divide that ex-isted between African-Americans and the Republican Party in the

past has now become a chasm. It’s being reported that Obama currently has 94 percent of Black American voters’ support. There’s little effort on the part of Romney-Ryan to cut into that lead.

According to the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted in August, zero percent of Afri-can-Americans support Romney, though he has made overtures that include comments he made to the NAACP in Houston: “I am running for president because I know that my policies and vision will help hundreds of millions of middle-class Americans of all rac-es, will lift people from poverty, and will help prevent people from becoming poor. My campaign is about helping the people who need help. The course the presi-dent has, has not done that – and

will not do that. My course will.”

What hope and change?Actually, the course Obama is

on has caused Blacks’ conditions to worsen over the past three years. There is no need to ask “have Blacks’ lives gotten better” under Obama’s presidency; the disproportionately poor employ-ment rates among African-Ameri-cans is worse; the economy under Obama has increased people’s need for federal assistance, such as food stamps. In their pledge “to guard Obama’s back,” Blacks have accepted a level of leader-ship the majority of Americans see as subpar.

What has Obama & Co. done to deserve an encore? Too many Blacks are still seeking “hope and change” that will never come. Most African-Americans miss the fact that the majority of Ameri-cans are “mad as hell and not go-ing to take it anymore!”

As a candidate, Obama said we needed to reckon with race and with slavery, America’s original. But as our first Black president, he

has avoided mentioning almost entirely. In having to be twice as good and half as Black, Obama illustrates the false promise and double standard of integration.

Obama mediocreObama’s presidency has been

mediocre at best. Barack has had three years to apply his remedies to the problems facing us and the best he and the Democrats can do is continue to blame the GOP and a president who left office four years ago. The Democrats had a veto-proof Senate and a majority in the House during Obama’s first two years in office.

Republicans took over the House as a direct result of vot-ers’ dissatisfaction with Obama’s first two years in office. Bush left us about $4 trillion in debt. Un-der Obama, that debt is now $16 trillion. When Obama became president, the unemployment rate was 7.7 percent. Now it’s 8.1 percent. And, federal gov-ernment’s business contract-ing with Black-owned firms de-creased under Obama.

Black voters need to recognize the Democrats as derelict as the Republicans in discussing issues of concerns to African-Ameri-cans, such as strengthening fam-ilies; unemployment/econom-ic empowerment; urban training programs; violence in our com-munities; institutional racism; AIDS and health issues; unequal justice; drug use and incarcera-tion.

How dumb are we? Where are our demands for representation? Despite a “Blackout” on dissent-ing opinions about Obama’s pres-idency, some Black Americans feel their best interests haven’t been served and won’t be over the next four years – no matter who sits in the White House.

William Reed is head of the Business Exchange Network and available for speaking/seminar projects through the Bailey Group.org. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

Blacks’ lives not better under President ObamaWILLIAM REED

BUSINESS EXCHANGE

47 percent has made extraordinary contributions So, welcome to Romneyville, an

evolving plutocracy where the su-per-rich have convinced itself by birthright or wealth-right that it is their manifest destiny to gov-ern the rest of us by their self-in-dulgent rules. Through outright insults or innuendoes they clear-ly have divided the nation into: makers vs. takers, the counted vs. the discounted, the greater beings and the lesser beings and those not worth bothering with at all.

Romney’s inelegant language concludes that 47 percent of his fellow Americans are not worth bothering with because they don’t pay federal income taxes. That was not a gaffe, nor a misspoken phrase. It is a state of mind that sees the non-rich as belonging on the wrong side of the track and the government as the personal valet of the rich to transfer wealth by limiting the survival resources of the so-called weak and unfit—a cross between laissez faire and social Darwinism.

It is obnoxious that GOP pres-idential contender Mitt Rom-ney made such selfish comments at a $50,000- a- plate dinner, an amount three times as much as millions of the working poor net in a year, if they are lucky enough to still have a job.

Moreover, the secretly recorded event was held at the tony Bridge-hampton mansion of Marc Led-er, who like Romney is known for heading a private equity firm with a reputation for taking over busi-nesses, squeezing profits through closures which send workers into the unemployment lines, where they join the ranks of those criti-cized by the Romney crowd for not working.

Lesser species labelI find it galling that Romney’s

crowd who have played such a role in tanking the economy through lobbying for de-regulation, fuel-ing the subprime housing crisis,

the breaking up of corporations and outsourcing of businesses get on their high-horses and label us as a lesser species that somehow enjoy being dependent and need-ing help-- not for buying more yachts or private planes – but for basic food, shelter and employ-ment.

Why can’t this crowd under-stand that millions of those who they berate have made extraordi-nary contributions to this coun-try? Included in their unworthy “47 percent” are soldiers whose pay is exempted from federal in-come taxes while serving in or hospitalized while serving in ac-tive combat zones. Some are stu-dents who are future taxpayers, those who work every day but don’t make enough money to pay federal taxes and seniors living on limited incomes.

I have worked two or three jobs since I was 16 years old, worked my way through college to earn three degrees. So at 70 years old I receive Medicare and Social Se-curity something I have paid into through payroll taxes for 50 years. I still work and constantly seek more work to fill in a substantial gap that Social Security does not cover. I volunteer and serve with-out pay for many social causes. It is disheartening to see how Rom-neyville paints people like me as undeserving moochers.

Punishing the needyI am angry not at the rich for

being rich, but for the disdain people like Romney and side kick Paul Ryan hold for those not in their country-club existence and

their insistence of punishing the needy. How else do you explain their zeal to kill Obama’s Afford-able Care Act, which could be the difference between life and death for those who couldn’t afford health care?

They act like arsonists who burn down your houses and scold the occupants for being home-less, which eerily describes how a plutocracy operates. While the right defines the left as socialists, the left must examine the work-ings of a plutocracy.

In a 2010 lecture at Boston University journalist Bill Moy-

ers described how a plutocracy is chocking out democracy. He said that certain conservative groups have created a “shadow party” de-termined to be the real power in Washington just like Rome’s Opus Dei in Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code.”

In this shadow party the plu-tocrats reign. “We have reached what former Labor Secretary Rob-ert Reich calls ‘the perfect storm that threatens American democ-racy: an unprecedented concen-tration of income and wealth at the top; a record amount of secret money, flooding our democracy; and a public becoming increas-ingly angry and cynical about a government that’s raising its tax-es, reducing its services, and un-able to get it back to work. We’re losing our democracy to a differ-ent system’ It’s called plutocracy.”

Clean money neededMoyers said the fraction of one

percent of Americans who now earn as much as the bottom 120 million Americans includes the top executives of giant corpora-tions and those Wall Street hedge

funds and private equity manag-ers who are buying our democra-cy.

What can make us whole again? Moyer warned: “Our government is being bought. Until we get clean money we’re not going to get clean elections, and until we get clean elections, you can kiss goodbye government of, by, and for the people. Welcome to the plutocracy.”

The problem with a plutoc-racy, the one percent does not have a welcome mat out for the 99 percent or the 47 percent, the rebuked and the scorned outsid-ers. No one concedes power with-out a demand, abolitionist Fred-erick Douglass once said. So it is up to the 1 percent to find a way to crash the party.

Dr. Barbara Reynolds is a lec-turer at universities and semi-naries, an author of six books, and a book coach. Contact her via www.reynoldsworldnews.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: VOTER ID DELAYS

John colE, ThE ScRanTon TiMES-TRiBunE

REV. BARBARA REYNOLDS

TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

Romney’s inelegant language concludes that 47 percent of his fellow americans are not worth bothering with because they don’t pay federal income taxes. That was not a gaffe, nor a misspoken phrase. it is a state of mind that sees the non-rich as belonging on the wrong side of the track and the government as the personal valet of the rich to transfer wealth by limiting the survival resources of the so-called weak and unfit—a cross between laissez faire and social Darwinism.

TOjA6 FLORIDA sepTember 28 – OCTOber 4, 2012

bY mICHAeL peLTIerTHE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Flori-da’s August jobless rate re-mained unchanged from July, standing at 8.8 percent as the economy’s jerky re-covery continues, the De-partment of Economic Opportunity reported last week.

The August rate was 1.2 points lower than in Au-gust 2011 and represented an increase of 77,800 non-agricultural jobs over the year. Total non-agricultur-al employment grew by 23,200 from July, a net in-crease that included a loss of 5,200 government posi-tions.

“The month of August showed that 28,000 more Floridians found employ-ment in the private sector and are able to provide for their families,” Gov. Rick Scott said in a prepared statement. “This increase in new jobs is proving that the decisions we’re making here in Florida are pointing our state in the right direc-tion.”

Construction still lags

Nationally, the unem-ployment rate in August fell to 8.1 percent from 8.3 per-cent in July, a drop attrib-uted to more people giv-ing up job searches instead of finding jobs, the U.S. Bu-reau of Labor Statistics re-ported earlier this month. The figure was 1.2 percent-age points below an adjust-ed 9.3 percent rate in Au-gust 2011.

Florida’s non-agricul-tural workforce topped 7.3 million in August, an in-crease of 77,800 jobs from a year ago, or 1.1 percent, the agency reported.

The business and profes-sional sector led the pack, increasing by 4.0 percent, or 42,700 jobs from August 2011. Construction contin-ues to lag, falling 2.6 per-cent, or 8,500 jobs, from a year ago.

Florida’s civilian work-force fell by 10,000 from Ju-ly but showed an increase of 9,000 employees over the year, according to figures adjusted for seasonality.

Lowest rate in Monroe

Hendry, Flagler and St. Lucie counties had the state’s highest unemploy-ment rates at 15.3 percent, 12.4 percent and 12.2 per-cent respectively.

Monroe County had the state’s lowest jobless rate at 5 percent. It was followed by Walton 5.5 percent and Okaloosa at 6.1 percent.

The Florida August job-less rate is the latest in a series of economic indica-tors that show the state’s recovery has been far from seamless.

Median income drops

On Aug. 20, the U.S. Cen-sus Bureau released a re-port that showed median income in Florida dropped 2.9 percent in 2011.The state’s median income dipped from $45,609 in 2010 to $44,299 in 2011, ac-cording to the American Community Survey. The national median income is $50,502.

The survey also found that 17.3 percent, or about one in six Floridians, live below the poverty level, which is about $23,000 for a family of four.

That’s up from 16.5 per-cent in 2010. National pov-erty rates also went up to 15.9 percent. Both state and national rates have climbed for the past four years.

Florida existing home sales in August rose 10.8 percent from a year ago, ac-cording to data released by Florida Realtors earlier this week. The number of con-tracts signed but not closed upon jumped 40.2 percent over the same period.

Home prices riseThe median price of

homes sold also climbed but not as dramatically.

Half of the homes sold in August were sold for more than $147,000, a 5.8 per-cent increase from a year earlier.

Nationally, single-family

home sales rose 9.3 percent in August from a year ago.

In August, the Legisla-ture’s Office of Econom-ic and Demographic Re-search released an eco-

nomic analysis that attrib-uted a large portion of Flor-ida’s falling unemployment rate – about 70 percent – to a reduction in the labor force and not to people get-

ting back to work.A Florida International

University study released earlier this month report-ed that Florida in 2011 led the nation in the number

of long-term unemployed, with 53 percent of jobless workers still looking for work after six months com-pared to 43 percent nation-wide.

State’s jobless rate remains at 8.8 percent; jobs added

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www.flcourier.com

BSHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE | SECT ION

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LIFE/FAITHT

Harry Belafonte among artists coming to Florida See page B2

SuN coAST / TAmPA BAY

September 28 - October 4, 2012

Roundup of HBCU football See page B3

By STeven Thomma and LeSLey CLarkMcClatchy Newspapers

romises, promises. They are the stuff of presi-

dential campaigns, flowing from the candidates lips at every stop.

They’re bold and simple, delivered with absolute certainty that they will be fulfilled.

Once in office, though, presidents often find it difficult to deliver. They find that Congress and the Supreme Court have a say. Circumstances change. A war erupts. The economy stumbles.

Presidents can break some of their promises and survive.

Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 vowed to balance the federal budget. Instead, he launched a series of gov-ernment programs to ease the pain of the Great Depression, ran up defi-cits and won a landslide re-election.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan said he’d

cut taxes and spending. He deliv-ered on taxes. He couldn’t deliver on spending, and stuck the country with soaring deficits. Still, the economy started growing, and Reagan coasted to a landslide re-election.

Not every president has had the same experience.

George H.W. Bush vowed in 1988 to resist any effort to raise taxes. “Con-gress will push and push ... and I’ll say, ‘Read my lips: No new taxes,’” he said to cheers on his way to victory. He broke the pledge to reach a budget deal, lost support from conservatives and went on to lose in 1992.

George W. Bush pledged in 2000 never to commit the U.S. to nation-building elsewhere in the world. Af-ter the 2001 terrorist attacks, he in-vaded Iraq, then spent the rest of his presidency nation building in Iraq. He survived to win re-election, but the drain of Iraq cost him political capital.

Barack Obama so far has a mixed

record, delivering on some of his big promises, striking out on others and struggling with many more in the face of a Re-publican takeover of the House of Representatives.

The non-partisan website Politi-Fact.com keeps a running score of more than 500 Obama promises, and said he’s kept 37 percent of them. Another 14 percent are considered a compromise, 23 percent are “in the works” and 26 percent are either “stalled” or “broken.”

The following is McClatchy’s scorecard on 10 high-profile prom-ises, half of them domestic, half deal-ing with foreign policy or national security.

As the 2012 election cycle hits full-steam, we look back at the promises President Obama made in the 2008 election

President Barack Obama

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The promise: To close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The quote: “I will close Guantanamo, reject the Mili-tary Commissions Act and ad-here to the Geneva Conven-tions. Our Constitution and laws... provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists.”

— Barack Obama, Aug. 1, 2007

The facts: Two days after he took office, Obama signed an executive order to force the closure of the Guantanamo Bay facility within a year. His plan met with fierce opposi-tion in Congress from law-makers, including Democrats, who opposed transferring sus-pected terrorists to U.S. pris-ons. Obama changed course in 2011, signing another execu-tive order, this time allowing military trials to continue at the camp. The administration insists it “remains committed” to closing the facility, but Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who faces the death penalty in al-Qaida’s suicide bombing of a U.S. Navy warship in a Yemen port a de-cade ago, and is currently on trial there before a military tri-bunal.

The promise: Send more troops to wage war in Afghani-stan

The quote: “As president, I would deploy at least two addi-tional brigades to Afghanistan to reinforce our counterterror-ism operations and support NATO’s efforts against the Tali-ban.”

— Barack Obama, Aug. 1, 2007

The facts: Obama on Feb.17, 2009, ordered two additional brigades to Afghanistan, say-ing it was necessary to stabi-lize a “deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.” On Dec. 1, 2009, he announced he was sending another 30,000 troops. He’s pledged to “wind down the war” with U.S. and NATO combat troops remaining there through 2014, but with Afghan-istan’s security forces taking a lead role in 2013 in defending the country.

The promise: “He will make a sustained push — working with Israelis and Palestinians — to achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestin-ian state, living side by side in peace and security.”

— Obama’s “Blueprint for Change”

The facts: Days after tak-ing office, President Obama named George Mitchell, who helped broker peace in Northern Ireland, as a spe-cial envoy to the Middle East in hopes of reaching a deal to an issue that has proved vex-ing to U.S. presidents for de-cades. But Mitchell stepped down in March, followed months later by Dennis Ross, one of Obama’s key Middle East advisors. Peace talks have stalled, and Obama last year failed to convince the Palestinians not to seek rec-ognition at the United Na-tions. Given domestic politi-cal considerations, analysts don’t expect any movement on the front between now and the election.

The promise: Get terror mastermind.

The quote: “If we have Osa-ma bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out. We will kill bin Lad-en; we will crush al-Qaida. That has to be our biggest na-tional security priority.”

— Barack Obama, Oct. 7, 2008.

The facts: Late on May 1, 2011, Obama announced from the White House that the leader of the al-Qaida terror organization had been killed in Pakistan by U.S. operatives. He said then that shortly af-ter he took office he had di-rected then-CIA director Leon Panetta to make the killing or capture of bin Laden “the top priority of our war against al-Qaida.”

The promise: End U.S. in-volvement in Iraq.

The quote: “I will begin to remove our troops from Iraq immediately. I will re-move one or two brigades a month and get all of our combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months. The only troops I will keep in Iraq will perform the limited missions of protecting our diplomats and carrying out targeted strikes on al-Qaida. … Let there be no doubt: I will end this war.”

— Barack Obama, Oct. 2, 2007

The facts: In August 2010 – 18 months after taking of-fice – Obama declared the combat mission in Iraq over. On Dec. 18, 2011, the last American combat troops left the country, nearly 9 years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hus-sein. The U.S. is still assist-ing the country on a variety of fronts, including law en-forcement and security.

ForeiGn PromiSeS

The verdict: Promise broken.

The verdict: Promise delayed.

The verdict: Promise kept.

The verdict: Promise kept.

The verdict: Promise kept.

The verdict: Promise broken.

The verdict: Promise broken.

The verdict: Promise broken.

The promise: End Bush tax cuts for individual incomes above $200,000 and family in-comes above $250,000.

The quote: “One of the things I think we are going to have to do is reverse some of those Bush tax cuts that went to the wealthiest Americans ... and invest in infrastructure, invest in education, invest in health care for all.”

— Barack Obama, March 31, 2007

The facts: Rather than let the Bush tax cuts for higher in-comes expire as scheduled on Dec. 31, 2010, Obama agreed to extend them for another two years. He had to do that to win Republican agreement in Congress to also extend the Bush tax cuts for lower in-comes. He has vowed again to let the taxes on the wealthiest expire at the end of this year.

The verdict: Promise broken in part, kept in part.

The verdict: Promise kept.

The promise: A “cap and trade” plan that would limit the emissions that contribute to global warming.

The quote: “As president, I will set a hard cap on all car-bon emissions at a level that scientists say is necessary to curb global warming, an 80 percent reduction by 2050.”

— Barack Obama, Oct. 8, 2007

The facts: The House of Representatives passed the plan while Democrats still controlled it. But it was blocked in the Senate. And the Republican takeover of the House and gains in the Senate in 2010 killed the idea. Said Obama after the 2010 elec-tions: “It’s doubtful that you could get the votes to pass that through the House this year or next year or the year after.”

The promise: Save or cre-ate millions of jobs and keep unemployment below 8 per-cent if able to enact stimulus package.

The quote: “A package in the range that the President-Elect has discussed is expect-ed to create between three and four million jobs by the end of 2010.”

— Obama advisers Chris-tina Romer and Jared Bern-stein in a report on the ben-efits of the proposed stimu-

lus, Jan. 9, 2008. Report included a chart

showing unemployment peaking below 8 percent if the stimulus were enacted.

The facts: Unemployment topped 8 percent the next month — at the same time the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was being passed — and remains above 8 percent three years later.

The CBO concluded last year that the $830 billion stimulus did have a positive effect on jobs — increasing the number of jobs by 1.6 million to 4.6 million over what it would have totaled, and decreasing the unem-ployment rate by 0.6 to 1.8 percentage points.

The promise: To cut health care premiums by as much as $2,500 a year.

The quote: “I have made a solemn pledge that I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover ev-ery American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.”

— Barack Obama, June 23, 2007

The facts: The average pre-mium for families with em-ployer-provided insurance went up by 9 percent this year over last year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average premium for an individual shot up 8 percent. The White House said only about 1 to 2 percentage points of the increase could be tied to the new law. Longer term, the prospects are mixed. The Congressional Budget Office last year said premiums will be “somewhat higher” but that “many people will end up pay-ing less for health insurance” because they’ll get help from the government.

The promise: Health care for every American.

The quote: “Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, ac-cessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don’t, you’ll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.”

— Barack Obama, Aug. 28, 2008

The facts: Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in July, after the Supreme Court up-held the law, that about 92 percent of legal, non-elderly Americans will have cover-age by 2022, when the law is fully implemented, com-pared to 82 percent without the law. That wouldn’t cover “every single American” as promised, but it is close.

Tax cuts Cost of health care Jobs EnvironmentUniversal health caredomeSTiC PromiSeS

Guantanamo Bay Osama bin Laden Mideast peace AfghanistanWar in Iraq

TOCALENDAR SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 4, 2012B2

St. Petersburg: Enjoy an evening of jazz with Victor Wooden at the State Theater on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.

Orlando: Tyler Perry’s “Madea Gets a Job’’ makes a stop at the University of Cen-tral Florida Arena in Orlando on Nov. 8 and the American Airlines Arena in Miami Nov. 9-10.

Tampa: A Heritage bid whist-spade tournament will be held Oct. 6 from 10 a.m. - noon at the Heritage Isles Golf and Country Club, 10630 Plantation Bay Drive. A portion of the proceeds will generate a scholarship fund to promote the arts. Cost: $36 individual, $67 team of 2 or $124 team of 4. Register by Oct. 1. More information: tampablackheritage.org. Jacksonville: Jennifer Holi-day will perform at Edward Waters College during its 11th Annual Fine Arts Schol-arship Benefit Concert at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 14 at 8 p.m.

Orlando: Senator Gary Siplin is hosting a health and social services fair Oct. 20, at Evans High School, 4949 Silver Star Road. Children ages 11 through 18 years old, living in Orange County and uninsured, may register for a free physical medical exam by Teen Express of Orlando Health. Information on Medicaid/Medicare, the WIC program, child support collection, breast cancer prevention and more will be available. For more on free physicals for children, call 407-297-2071.

Kissimmee: The Freestyle Legends Tour returns to the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissim-mee for its fourth flashback into the ’80s and ’90s Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. The old-school line-up features Lisa Lisa, Sugar Hill Gang, Sweet Sensation, Brenda K Starr, C&C Music Factory, Trinere, Charlie Rock, Debbie Dee, Clear Touch, Nayobe, Noel, Corina, Soave and Giggles.

Tampa: The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival will host the Seventh Annual Heritage Golf Classic Fundraiser on Oct. 6 at Heritage Isles Golf and Country Club, 10630 Planta-tion Bay Drive. Teams and individuals interested in par-ticipating can register at 813-205-2466. Golf tournament fees are $100 for individual participants and $350 for a foursome, which includes lunch. Registration begins at 7 a.m. and the tournament will begin at 8 a.m. Trophies will be awarded.

Orlando: Frankie Beverly & Maze will be at the House of Blues Orlando Oct. 5 for a 7:30 p.m. show.

Orlando: Sen. Gary Siplin will

host a free housing workshop on Sept. 29 at the Pine Hills Community Center, 6408 Jennings Road. More infor-mation: 407-207-2071. Orlando: Comedian Sinbad will be at the Hard Rock Live

Orlando Oct. 12 for an 8 p.m. show.

Jacksonville: Comedian and actor Kevin Hart performs at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts Oct. 12 for a 7 p.m. show.

St. Petersburg: First Fridays are held in downtown St. Pe-tersburg at 250 Central Ave. between Second and Third Avenues from 5:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. More information: 727-393-3597.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM VISITSOn Sept. 29, museums nationwide will open their doors for free. For a list of participating museums in the Florida area and to download tickets visit Smithsonian.com/museumdaylive.

TRINATrina, Melanie Fiona and Cash Out are among the performers scheduled at Bethune-Cookman University’s Homecoming concert on Oct. 6. The show starts at 8 p.m. More on Homecoming: http://homecoming.cookman.edu/LegacyHomecoming/Home.html.

HARRY BELAFONTE“An Evening of the Arts in Celebration of Mr. Harry Belafonte’’ is scheduled Oct. 6 at The Mahaffey, 400 First St. South, St. Petersburg. The Harlem Renaissance-themed event, which begins at 8 p.m., will feature performances from a number of artists.

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The Charmettes, Inc., of Broward County will pres-ents its Sixth Annual “Men and Women in Religion Luncheon’’ on Sunday, Sept. 30 at 2:30 p.m.

The organization will honor people “who gra-ciously work and help make a difference in the church and community.’’

The event will be held at The Signature Grand, 6900 State Road 84, Davie. Cost of the luncheon is $60.

To RSVP, call 954-581-6185 or 954-735-0352. Pro-ceeds from this event will benefit The Charmettes’ Cancer Research and Scholarship.

Broward Charmettes to honor men, women in religion

Standing: Rev. Olivett Johnson, Deacon Anthony Moultry, Arthur McDonald and Deacon James Jones.

Seated: Rev. Cheryl Wilcox, E. Pearl Maloney, Dr. Dorothy Orr, Sarah Blanchard and Minister Vicki Flournoy.

TAMPA – Fifth Third Bank (Tampa Bay) and Derrick Brooks Charities recent-ly launched the “Brooks Bunch Business Bootcamp,” a two-year financial litera-cy program for 10th grade students at Brooks DeBar-tolo Collegiate High School. The school is a public char-ter high school with a goal of preparing students for postsecondary success in a small, safe learning envi-ronment.

“We are delighted to work with Derrick Brooks Chari-ties in a partnership that will be very valuable for their students and our communi-ty’s future leaders,” said Bri-an Lamb, president of Fifth Third Bank (Tampa Bay). “The skills they will acquire will help them make sound financial decisions long in-

to the future – whether it’s saving for college, buying a home, or investing.”

The curriculum, designed by Dave Ramsey – person-al finance expert and New York Times best-selling au-thor – is titled “Foundations in Personal Finance.” Stu-dents will learn about sav-ings, investment options, debt, budgeting, mortgag-es, insurance and other fi-nancial empowerment top-ics. Tony Sasso, member-ship banking officer at Fifth Third Bank (Tampa Bay), will lead the biweekly class-es, along with local business leaders who will often guest speak.

Classes start Oct. 2“Brooks DeBartolo pre-

pares its students for post-secondary success in a small

learning environment, fo-cusing on each student and their educational accom-plishments,” said Brooks, a former NFL linebacker for 14 seasons founder of the Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School. “This program will provide another way for our students to succeed while preparing for college and other important life ac-complishments.”

At a kickoff event hosted at the high school, the par-ticipating students enrolled in the program had the op-portunity to meet Brooks and receive an autographed money box, along with $5 from Fifth Third Bank to en-courage them to start sav-ing early. The Brooks Bunch Business Bootcamp classes will begin Oct. 2.

Fifth Third Bank, Derrick Brooks Charities launch ‘Business Bootcamp’

Derrick Brooks signs a football money box for a student at a kickoff event for his “Brooks Bunch Business Bootcamp.’’

B3FINEST & SPORTSSTOJ SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 4, 2012

COMPILED BYANDREAS BUTLERFLORIDA COURIER

Tennessee State holds off Bethune- Cookman

In the battle of the two top-ranked HBCU teams, Tennessee State University (TSU) came away with a 21-14 win over Bethune-Cookman University.

B-CU came in ranked No. 1 last week in all the HBCU polls while TSU was No. 2 in three and tied for third in another poll.

Tennessee State (4-0) struck first on a nine-yard touchdown run from Travis Ward to take an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The drive was set up by an 80-yard pass play from Michael German to A.C. Leonard.

The Tigers led 21-0 in the sec-ond quarter behind another touchdown run from Ward and a 40-yard touchdown return by Daniel Fitzpatrick after Anto-nio Harper blocked Sven Hurd’s 33-yard field goal attempt.

Bethune-Cookman (2-2) got within 21-14 late in the half as Quentin Williams connected with Preston Cleckley from 10 yards out and LaBrandon Richard-son’s 44-yards fumble return for a score.

Ward finished with 154 yards on the ground with two scores to lead TSU.

The Tigers outgained the Wild-cats 357-287 in total offense while both teams had two turnovers and combined on 17 penalties for 177 yards.

Williams had 116 total yards (75 passing, 41 rushing) with a touch-down pass and Broderick Waters 66 total yards (41 rushing, 12 pass-ing) for B-CU.

German added 157 yards pass-ing, Telvin Hooks 67 yards rush-ing, Leonard 101 yards receiv-ing and Travis James 45 receiving yards for the Tigers.

Isidore Jackson ran for 65 yards and Rodney Scott 53 yards for the Wildcats.

Defensively, Jarkevis Fields had 14 total tackles, Richardson nine with two fumble recoveries, Nes-ley Marcellon nine tackles and D.J. Howard an interception for B-CU.

Nick Thrasher had 13 total tack-les to lead TSU defensively while Fitzpatrick added an intercep-tion.

Florida A&M edges Delaware State

Damien Fleming threw for 399 yards with three touchdowns to lead Florida A&M University to a 24-22 win over Delaware State University (DSU).

FAMU racked up 519 yards of total offense, including 405 in the air. DSU had 351 yards of total of-fense while their defense forced two turnovers.

Delaware State (1-3, 0-1) drew first blood taking a 7-0 lead when Dae-Hon Cheung scored from 10-yards out in the first quarter. Florida A&M (2-2, 2-0) tied the game at 7-7 on Fleming’s eight yard touchdown pass to James Owens in the first quarter.

Fleming threw a pair of touch-down passes to Travis Harvey to push the Rattlers lead out to 21-10.

The Hornets fought back and got within 24-22 after Nagee Jack-son’s five yard touchdown run with 6:39 to play. The two-point conversion failed when Jahmel Bashir was tackled short of the end zone by FAMU’s Brandon Denmark.

The Rattlers were able to run out the clock from there. The Hornets finished 0-for-2 on two-point conversions. Harvey added 11 catches for 122 yards with two scores for FAMU.

The Rattlers also got 79 yards receiving from Lenworth Len-non, 78 receiving from Dewayne

Harvey and 74 receiving from Fe-lix Admasen.

Chueng finished with 135 yards rushing with two touchdowns to lead the Hornets. Nick Elko added 194 yards passing and Travis Tar-pley 129 yards receiving for DSU.

North Carolina Central tops Savannah State

A 28-point third quarter helped North Carolina Central Universi-ty (NCCU) beat Savannah State University 45-35.

Jordan Reid threw for 241 yards with three touchdowns and An-dre Clarke ran for 117 yards with two scores to lead NCCU.

The Eagles outgained the Ti-gers 545-428 in total offense, in-cluding 278-96 on the ground. The game also was filled with penalties as the team combined for a total of 239 yards.

Savannah State (0-3, 0-1) start-ed the game with a bang when Antonio Bostick threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to Simon Hey-wood to take a 7-0 lead.

The Tigers led 14-3 in the second quarter after Bostick’s 15-yard touchdown run.

North Carolina Central (2-2, 1-0) took its second lead of the game, this time for good at 24-20 on Clarke’s 10-yard score with 9:28 to go in the third quarter.

The Eagles pushed their lead out to 45-20 after Reid found Marvin Poole from 20 yards out with 14:05 to play.

Bostick threw for 332 yards with two scores and two interceptions while running for 74 more with

two scores to lead SSU.Poole finished with seven

catches for 93 yards and two scores for the Eagles.

Heyward added seven catch-es for 220 yards with a score and Kris Drummond three catches for 85 yards with a touchdown for the Tigers.

Southern tops Jackson State

Southern University got its first win of the season by beating Jack-son State University 28-21.

Dray Joseph threw for 249 yards with three touchdowns for South-ern.

Southern (1-2, 1-1) led 7-0 after Jaleel Richardson took the open-ing kickoff 86 yards for a touch-down. Southern led 14-0 after Jo-seph found Michael Berry for a 25-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.

The Jaguars led 28-0 when Jo-seph hit Berry again this time for a 60-yard touchdown pass with 12:27 to play in the third quarter. Jackson State (1-3, 1-1) battled back in the fourth quarter scoring 21 points.

Dedrick McDonald threw two touchdown passes to Rico Rich-ardson and ran for another score to get the Tigers within 28-21. Berry finished with 117 yards on five receptions with two scores for the Jaguars.

McDonald threw for 230 yards with two touchdowns while Rico Richardson had 11 receptions for 161 yards with two scores for JSU.

The Tigers did outgain the Jag-uars in 378- 337 in total yardage.

Jackson State was only 6-for-

16 on third downs but converted 4-of-5 fourth downs. It was an-other highly penalized game as the teams had a total of 25 penal-ties for 254 yards.

Other scoresEdward Waters-59, New Or-

leans-12; Arkansas State-56, Al-corn State-0; North West State-45, Mississippi Valley State-14; Al-abama A&M -42, Texas South-ern-13; North Dakota State-66, Prairie View A&M-7; Ohio-44, Norfolk State-10; Texas A&M-70, South Carolina State-14; Chow-an-49, Shaw-35; Livingstone-48, Lincoln (Pa.)-44; Johnson C Smith-28, Virginia State-21; Eliz-abeth City State-20, Fayetteville State-13; Fort Valley State-33, Benedict-10; Winston-Salem State-35, Virginia Union-6; Con-cordia-22, Clark-17; St Augus-tine’s-38, Bowie State-22; Lane-37, Morehouse-34; Stillman-27, Ken-tucky State-8; Miles-41, Albany State-6.

This week’s top gamesBethune-Cookman (2-2, 1-0) at

Hampton (0-3, 0-1): B-CU is look-ing to rebound from the Tennes-see State loss. They have the fire-power and are favored. Hamp-ton is desperate for a win, which makes them more dangerous.

Florida A&M (2-2) vs Southern (1-2): These two are familiar with each other having played each other in recent years. They again square off in this Atlanta Football Classic. FAMU is better and fa-vored.

Edward Waters (3-2) at Valdosta State (2-2): The NAIA EWC Tigers face a tough Division II opponent in the Blazers. If they can mix it up on offense and make stops on defense, they have a chance.

Norfolk State (2-2, 0-1) at South Carolina State (1-3, 0-1): These two teams were picked to finish 1-2 in the MEAC, respectively, so it’s a must win game for both.

Grambling (0-3, 0-2) at Ala-bama A&M (4-0, 3-0): The Gram-bling Tigers badly need a win. They were picked to win the SWAC but have struggled losing two close conference games. The Bulldogs on the other hand are playing very well.

Arkansas Pine Bluff (3-1) vs Tennessee State (4-0): Tennesse is now ranked No. 1 in all the HB-CU polls and are favorites to win. This is their fourth and final game against HBCU teams as they play in the Ohio Valley Conference. Arkansas is also playing well.

Penalties continue to plague favored teams

HBCU FOOTBALL ROUNDUP

B-CU SPORTS INFORMATION

Bethune-Cookman’s Presley Cleckley (12) goes up to catch a pass for a touchdown as he gets behind Tennessee State’s Ronn Vinson (5).

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest? E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier.com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.

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Meet some of

finestSouth Florida native

Marissa Robinson is the eldest of five children

and considers family and the love of God the first priority in her life. The 25-year-old model is a

graduate of the University of Tampa and says her most important goal in

life is to one day open an adult facility catering to the geriatric community.

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Contact Perrish at www.facebook.com/

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marissa

perrish

STOJTOJB4 SEPTEMBER 28 – OCTOBER 4, 2012

AfricAn-AmericAn consumers: still vitAl, still growing 2012 report

nATionAl generAl MArkeT MeDiA Buys

Media Type AAGeneral Market

(Total - AA) 2011

Business to Business NA $2,439,867,500

Cable TV $907,006,937 $20,124,471,063

FSI Coupon NA $374,696,375

Local Magazine NA $452,814,094

Local Newspaper NA $9,528,492,000

Local Sunday Supplement NA $38,774,566

National Internet NA $9,132,402,000

National Magazine $334,809,250 $15,563,489,750

National Newspaper NA $1,519,057,250

National Sunday Supplement NA $1,211,739,875

Network Radio NA $1,040,818,562

Network TV $7,793,410 $21,092,720,590

Outdoor NA $3,543,337,000

Spanish Language Cable TV NA $513,354,969

Spanish Language Network TV NA $3,674,157,000

Spot Radio $757,479,438 $4,823,606,062

Spot TV NA $23,039,266,000

Syndicated TV $89,615,570 $2,330,946,180

Total $2,096,704,605 $120,444,010,836

Jan.1,2011–Dec.31,2011

visited a retail site or app

38%50%

61%

64%

68%

57%or app

Total dollars spent with African-American media ($2.10 billion) is just under 2% of total advertising dollars spent with general market media ($120 billion) during the same period.

91%believe that Black media is more relevant to them

81%believe that products advertised on Black media are more relevant to them

78%would like to see more Black models/actors used in ads

77%believe that Black media has a better understanding of the needs and issues that affect them

73%believe that Black media keeps them in touch with their heritage

68%want to see more commercials directed specifically to Black audiences

67%want to see more advertising targeting Black consumers

BlACks’ perCepTions of BlACk MeDiA

Source:Burrell40,2011

Many companies assume that because there are no language barriers, there is no need to advertise to Black audiences through african-american media outlets. this is a missed opportunity for companies, who can use such outlets to reach Black consumers in trusted environments where Blacks see themselves most often reflected. Consider the following facts on Blacks’ perceptions on advertising.

Many african-american consumers have conducted research on mobile phones before making a purchase.

Copyright © 2012 the nielsen Company.

HIGHLIGHTS FROMAFRIcAn-AMeRIcAn cOnSuMeRS: still vital, still growing2012 reportthe following four pages are excerpts from a full 26-page report produced collaboratively by nielsen, the global information and measurement company that measures what consumers watch and what consumers buy, and the national newspaper publishers association (nnpa), a 72-year old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers. to download the full report, go towww.nielsen.com/africanamerican.

in 2012, the african-american consumer population continues to be a vibrant and dynamic market segment, providing both emerging and mature market attributes. still the largest racial minority group in america, with a projected buying power of $1.1 trillion by 20151, Black consumers remain at the forefront of social trends and media consumption. Companies that seek to better understand the unique lifestyles, habits and shopping patterns highlighted within can enhance their chances of creating better connectivity with Black consumers. similarly, african-american consumers and entrepreneurs will find information that can be helpful in making informed decisions about which products or services to buy and have a better understanding about the companies that provide them. the disparity in advertising dollars spent with african-american media is mapped out, suggesting a need for more fair methods of administering advertising spending to better reflect and align with Blacks’ preferences and the media environments most trusted by Black consumers.

• Blackhouseholdsare127%morelikelytoinclude a single parent, most often a woman.

• 48%ofBlackgrandparentswholiveinthesamehousehold with their grandchildren serve as their primary caregivers.

• 10%ofAfrican-Americanhouseholdsearn $100,000 or more.

• 35%ofAfrican-Americanhouseholdsearn $50,000 or more.

eXeCUtive sUMMarY

1 the Multicultural economy 2012 by the selig Center for economic growth* the U.s. government does not recognize taiwan as a country.

12

34

5

6

7

8

9

10

24% Washington Metro

12% Chicago

14% Baltimore

16% Boston

16% New York

12% Atlanta

11% Houston

15% Los Angeles

19% San Francisco

11% Philadelphia

Top 10 DMA’s for HigHesT ConCenTrATion of HigHer inCoMe AfriCAn-AMeriCAn HouseHolDs

The U.S. Black population is 43 million strong. Larger than 163 of the 195 countries in the world including Argentina, Poland, Canada and Australia.*

Copyright © 2012 the nielsen Company.

Pages B4 and B5 are excerpts from a full 26-page report produced collaboratively by Nielsen, the global information and measurement company that measures what consumers watch and what consumers buy, and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a 72-year old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers. To download the full report, go to www.nielsen.com/africanamerican.

B5SToJ SEPTEMBER 28 - oCToBER 4, 2012

AfricAn-AmericAn consumers: still vitAl, still growing 2012 report

% of AAPopulation

Millennials 0–17

Generation Y 18–34

Baby Boomers 45–64

Generation X 35–44

Greatest Generation 65+

AfriCAn-AMeriCAn generATionAl Age Dispersion

Viewing Source

Live TV 5:12 7:53

DVR Playback 0:18 0:21

DVD Playback 0:13 0:12

Video Games 0:20 0:03Total use of TV 6:03 8:29

AfriCAn-AMeriCAn generATionAl TV usAge

Baby BoomersGen-Y

Baby Boomers Generation Y

HoW BlACks spenT TiMe By generATion

91%

96%

64%

47%

70%

47%

TV

RADIO

COMPUTER

GAMECONSOLE 7%

MOBILE43%

60%

16%

PRINT 28%14%

3%TABLET

4% EBOOK 1%1%

OTHERDEVICE 38%

32%

MEDIA CONSUMPTION

source: Usa touchpoints study, 2012.1

AnnuAl sHopping Trips ACross AfriCAn-AMeriCAn generATions

All African-American Shoppers

163Greatest

Generation

185

Baby Boomers

175Generation X

150

Generation Y

128

the Black population is not a homogeneous group. a deeper understanding of the unique lifestyles, viewing habits and shopping patterns can help companies create better connectivity with Black consumers. Here we show how behavior and shopping patterns differ by generations..

Daily in Hours:Minutes, May 2012

Copyright © 2012 the nielsen Company.

AfricAn-AmericAn consumers: still vitAl, still growing 2012 report

Top 10 progrAMs WATCHeD By AfriCAn-AMeriCAns ToTAl DAy

Originator Program nameViewers Ages 2+

1 FOX American Idol Audition Special 3.00

2 ABC New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Part 1 2.97

3 BET The Game S5 2.86

4 Disney Channel Let It Shine 2.56

5 CNN Whitney Houston: Her Life 2.43

6 ABC Scandal 2.15

7 CBS Judge Judy 2.07

8 ABC Dancing With The Stars 2.06

9 FOX American Idol-Wednesday 1.95

10 BET Celebration Of Gospel 1.90

12/26–6/24/12,TotalDay,Live+7Days,Persons2+

viewers shown are in millions.

Top 10 progrAMs WATCHeD By AfriCAn-AMeriCAns priMe TiMe

Originator Program nameViewers

Ages 18-49

1 BET The Game S5 1.93

2 VH1 Love And Hip Hop S2 1.83

3 VH1 Basketball Wives S4 1.39

4 VH1 Single Ladies S2 1.39

5 VH1 T.I. And Tiny 1.38

6 BET Let’s Stay Together S2 1.26

7 CNN Whitney Houston: Her Life 1.13

8 VH1 La La’s Full Court Life S2 1.09

9 ABC Scandal 1.02

10 WE: Women’s Entertainment Braxton Family Values 0.90

12/26-6/6/24/12,PrimeTime,Live+7Days,Persons18-49 excludes specials, sporting events and award shows

viewers shown are in millions.

MosT populAr AfriCAn-AMeriCAn MoVies

You may download a full copy of this report by going to www.nielsen.com/africanamerican. we are optimistic that it will empower you to value your role in the economic infrastructure of the United states. each purchasing decision, viewing opportunity, mobile phone activity and digital experience you have impacts a company’s bottom line. we encourage you to use that power wisely and with care. whether you are a single mother, Baby Boomer or Millenial, your consumer dollars matter. You Matter!

snap here to download full report or download at:www.nielsen.com/africanamerican

sept. 2011 – June 2012

Copyright © 2012 the nielsen Company. all rights reserved. nielsen and the nielsen logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of CZt/aCn trademarks, l.l.C. other product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

TTOjB6 FOOD SEPTEMBER 28 – OCTOBER 4, 2012

FROM FaMily FeatuRes

To help families trans-form ordinary meals in-to fresher versions that the whole family will feel good about eating, Ziploc Brand has partnered with best-selling author and TV personality Rachael Ray to bring healthier food choic-es to tables with the Great American FreshOver Proj-ect, a fresh food makeover made easy.

Rachael is an expert at creating quick meals. She aims to motivate families to swap their tradition-al recipes for versions that contain healthier ingredi-ents and taste just as good.

“According to a Ziploc Fresh Eating Survey, 72 percent of Americans feel like a good parent when their family eats fresh food, but only 47 percent eat fresh foods on a daily basis. To make eating fresh easi-er, Ziploc and I are sharing recipes and tips on how to incorporate fresh ingredi-ents into favorites like piz-za and mac ’n cheese,” said Ray. “Anyone can get start-ed on their FreshOver Proj-ects in their own kitchen.”

For more recipes from the Ziploc Brand and Rachael Ray, visit the Ziploc Brand Facebook Page at www.fa-cebook.com/ziploc.

The Only Pizza yOu’ll ever WanT again

Yield: 4 servingsPrep Time: 15 minutesCook Time: 20 minutesCrust1 16-ounce package pizza �dough, brought to room temperature2 teaspoons extra virgin �olive oil2 tablespoons grated �Parmigiano-ReggianoToppings1/3 pound broccoli from �trimmed broccoli bin in produce section, 1/3 head1 tablespoon extra virgin �olive oil, 1 turn of the pan3 cloves cracked garlic�

1/2 pound chicken breast cut �for stir fry, or chicken tendersSalt and freshly ground black �pepper1 cup part skim ricotta �cheese10 sun dried tomatoes in oil, �drained and sliced1 cup shredded mozzarella �cheese, available on dairy aisle12 to 15 leaves fresh basil, �torn or stacked and thinly slicedPreheat oven to 500°F.On 12-inch nonstick pizza

pan, stretch out dough and form pizza crust. Drizzle olive oil on crust and spread it with a pastry brush over the dough to the edges.

Sprinkle crust with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

In a small covered saucepan, bring 2 inches water to a boil. Separate broccoli tops into florets, discarding lower stalks or reserving for soup. Salt water and add broccoli florets. Cook, covered, 3 to 5 min utes. Drain broccoli and set on cut ting board. Chop broccoli florets into small pieces.

Heat a small nonstick pan over medium high to high heat. Add oil, cracked garlic and chicken. Season with salt and pepper.

Brown chicken until lightly golden all over, 3 to 5 minutes.

Chop sautéed chicken and garlic on a cutting board into small pieces.

To assemble pizza, dot crust with broc coli and chicken. Dot crust with spoonfuls of ricotta, spreading gently with the back of spoon. Add sliced sun-dried tomatoes, scattering around pizza to edges. Complete assembly with a thin layer of shredded mozzarella.

Place pizza in oven on middle rack and lower heat to 450°F.

Bake 12 minutes, until cheese is deep golden in color and crust is brown and crisp at the edges.

Remove from oven and let stand 5 min utes. Top with lots of torn or shredded basil.

Cut pizza into 8 slices using pizza wheel and serve.

BrOCCOli and CauliflOWer graTin MaC ’n Cheese

Yield: 6 servingsPrep Time: 20 minutesCook Time: 1 hour1 small head or bundle �broccoli, trimmed into florets1 small head cauliflower or �half a large head, trimmed and cut into florets1 pound whole-wheat �macaroni or penne or other short cut pasta2 cups sour cream or �reduced-fat sour cream1 tablespoon Dijon mustard�

1/3 cup finely chopped �chives2 cloves garlic, peeled and �grated or crushed into pasteA few drops hot sauce�

Salt and freshly ground black �pepper2 1/2 cups grated extra-�sharp cheddarBring large pot of water

to a boil over medium heat. Salt water and add broccoli and cauliflower florets. Boil vegetables for 5 minutes, then remove with a spider or a strainer and drain.

Add pasta to water and undercook by about 2 minutes, drain.

Meanwhile, combine sour cream in large bowl along with mustard, chives, garlic, hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste.

Add pasta and cauliflower and 2/3 of the cheese. Stir to combine, then transfer to a casserole dish or Ziploc VersaGlass con tainer and cover with remaining cheese. Cool and chill for a make-ahead meal.

To heat and eat, put casserole on baking sheet and bake in the middle of a preheated 375°F oven until deeply golden and bubbly, about 40 to 45 minutes.

sTreTCh a BuCk Turkey and Bean BurriTO Burgers

Yield: 4 servingsPrep Time: 20 minutesCook Time: 16 minutes1 cup cold leftover white or �brown rice1 pound ground turkey�

1 (15-ounce) can pinto �beans, rinsed and drainedPalmful chili powder�

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin, half �a palmful 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander, �half a palmful1 tablespoon grill seasoning, �(recommended: Montreal Seasoning by McCormick)1 tablespoon canola oil�

1 ripe avocado�

1 clove garlic, grated or finely �chopped

1 lime, zested and juiced�

1jalapeño or serrano pepper, �seeded and finely chopped1/2 small red onion, finely �chopped1/2 cup sour cream�

4 red leaf lettuce leaves�

1 ripe tomato, sliced�

4 crusty rolls, split�

Combine rice, meat and beans with spices and grill seasoning. Form 4 big patties,

then heat 1 tablespoon oil (a turn of the pan) in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Cook patties 7 to 8 minutes on each side.

While burgers cook, combine avocado with garlic, lime zest and juice, jalapeño and red onion.

Mash to roughly combine, then stir in the sour cream.

Place burgers on buns with lettuce and tomato, and top with sour cream guacamole.

Rachael Ray’s

FreshOver

Recipe Guide

offers delicious,

healthier meal

options

1 Tampa General Circle • Tampa, FL 33606 www.tgh.org

Minority Business Owners: Learn How to Do Business with Tampa General Hospital

Thursday, October 18, 2012, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.Tampa General HospitalMacInnes Auditorium, 2nd Floor, East Pavilion

Learn …

which minority business certifications are accepted by TGH

what products/services TGH sources (general goods and services, professional goods and services, construction, medical supplies)

about the policies and procedures for doing business with TGH

how the Request for Proposal (RFP) process works

about the contracting process

Special Guest Speaker

Gregory K. HartManager, Small/Minority Business Development Office of the Chief of Staff, City of Tampa

RSVP required by Friday, October 12, 2012

Please RSVP and direct questions to jbrown@tgh.org or (813) 844-3474.

Event is free. Parking is $3 in the visitor parking garage on campus.

tgh_25617_03_6.62x10_FLC_M.indd 1 9/21/12 4:26 PM