new majority

Arguably no presi-dential candidate in the history of Ameri-can politics has perked the attention of young voters (18-29) more so than Barack Obama. Beginning in the Iowa Caucus where Demo-crats experienced a 135 percent increase in the youth vote com-pared to 2004, Mr. Obama outpaced his nearest competitor at a 4 to 1 clip.

The presidential election of 2004 saw 49 percent (up 9 per-cent from 2000) of all 18-29 year-olds cast a vote. Of those, 56 percent voted for John Kerry. Many pundits believe as many as 60 percent of young vot-ers will punch a bal-lot in the 2008 presi-dential election which bolds well for Mr. Obama.

A July Pew Poll gave Mr. Obama a 66 to 23 percent edge against Republican presiden-tial candidate John McCain amongst reg-istered Latino voters. Registered African American voters are favoring Mr. Obama at least 90 percent in all national polls. And a recent Gallup Poll showed that 81 per-cent of Hillary Clinton primary voters will vote for Mr. Obama in

the general election.Mr. Obama’s stance

against the Iraqi War in 2003 affi rms him with the majority of Americans. His ability to use internet tech-nology to raise money has changed the game when it comes to po-litical donations.

But more than any-thing else, the Illinois senator has given insight into how an Obama presidency will be run; with unprec-edented organization and effi ciency unpar-allel to any which has come before.

A little more than 4-years ago, Mr. Obama was an un-known state legis-lator from Illinois. Today, he is one elec-tion victory from be-coming not only the fi rst African Ameri-can president of the USA, but also the fi rst non-White national leader of a European (or descendant) domi-nated country. (Note: It is well established that Mr. Obama had a White mother and was raised by his White grandparents. But Mr. Obama has affi rmed his racial identity as African American. And The New Major-ity will follow his lead. Similar, The New Ma

Continued on p(3)

THE" H O U S T O N ' S M I N O R I T Y N E W S R E A D E R "

Upon initial glance, John Rudley comes off as some pe-tite soft spoken English teacher whose demeanor suggest he’s barely “president” of him-self, yet alone leader of one of America’s largest Historically Black Colleges or University’s (HBCU). But as New Major-ity Editor Paul Fitzgerald Ben-nett discovered in a recent in-

terview, Mr. Rudley’s second layer features a man who is achievement oriented and could care less about pleasing every-one. In two words, TSU’s 11th president might be described as “Politically Incorrect.” And if that interpretation is a true as-sessment of TSU’s latest Czar,

Continued on p(4)

TSU: MAYBE DR. JOHN M. RUDLEY IS YOUR SOLUTION

By Paul Fitzgerald Bennett

The candidate of change is having lots of illegitimate fi scal “change” made off him and his family during his historic run for the presidency.

Democratic Presidential nom-inee, Senator Barack Obama is a clothing bootlegger’s dream. There’s T-shirts with his image, hats with his name, and stick-ers featuring both.

There were even shirts with images of his wife and children. How much of the loot is actu-ally going to his campaign?

“I don’t know,” said one

bootleg merchant at Kings Best Market, 5110 Griggs Road where The New Majority found

bootleg merchandise at several storefronts during an under-cover investigation. A typical

Asian based Obama tee shirt sold anywhere from ten to $25.

One store owner said he pur-chased his Obama supply whole sale from another supplier and that he should not be held re-sponsible to insuring that the gear had a direct relationship to the Obama campaign.

“If you buy a name brand do you check the whole thing? They had a sale on it, and I just bought it,” he said.

Shortly after, another Obama clothing bootlegger chimed that those who purchase the bootleg gear should be held respon-sible.

Continued on p(3)

By Paul Fitzgerald Bennett Because she tossed her

support behind Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Presiden-tial Primary race and they voted overwhelmingly for Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Ba-rack Obama in the Texas Primary some of the good folk of the 18th Congressional District want to give Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee the “heave-ho.”

Voting someone out of politi-


Because she tossed her sup-port behind Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Presidential Primary race and they voted overwhelmingly for Democratic Presidential nomi-nee Senator Barack Obama in the Texas Primary some of the

good folk of the 18th Congres-sional District want to give Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee the “heave-ho.”

Voting someone out of po-litical offi ce should be made of much sterner stuff. If anything, Ms. Jackson-Lee’s support of a long time friend, no matter the consequence should be hon

Continued on P(4)

v o l . 2 • n o . 6 • O c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 • w w w . t h e n e w m a j o r i t y . n e t • 7 1 3 - 4 3 4 - 0 3 7 4

ANGER OVER JACKSON-LEE SUPPORT OF CLINTON IS OBTUSE

OBAMA AND FAMILY: A BOOTLEGGER DREAM

WHY SENATOR BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, WILL BECOME PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

Sheila Jackson-Lee and Marcus Davis with JesseJackson during happier tim

New Majority Editor Paul Bennett with TSU President John Rudley

The New Majority: Houston Press Club 3rd Place Award Winner For Texas Print Journalist Of The Year

METRO POLICEMAN PLAYS ROLE OF KEYSTONE COPsee page3

PRE-ELECTION EDITION

Second ReleaSe in papeRback!

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THE NEW MAJORITYOctober 20082 | NEWS

AWORD FROM THE PUBLISHERSince The New Majority’s

April 2007 birth, we have

received daily calls from

readers who have

expressed their enjoyment

of our (your) publication.

You have told us that The

New Majority is as issue

oriented and well written as

any publication in Houston

and we thank you for the

kind words of encourage-

ment.

The New Majority is not a

politically correct publica-

tion. It is our goal to give

praise where it is deserved

and point out inadequacies

when merited. Anyone who

has read this publication

since its inception knows

that the accomplishments

and failure of New Majority

persons (historical minori-

ties) and Old Majority

persons (Anglo Americans)

have each been covered

with the same subjective

pen.

In our first few months of

operation support from

advertisers has grown

significantly and we are

confident this trend will

continue. At the same time

The New Majority is strug-

gling similarly to a lot of

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porations when it comes to

receiving advertising

dollars. We at The New

Majority view this as a slap

in the face, not only to this

publication, but to our

readers as well.

BUT THE NEW MAJORITY IS NOT INSIGNIFICANT AND NEITHER ARE YOUTherefore, we are asking your help friends in the continuation of The New Majority’s five year goal of

becoming a national publication.

We are inviting our readers to support their publication with a check or money order. Any amount

that you are able to give will be appreciated. In return, The New Majority will list a personal ad

displaying your picture and amount given in a new section called

“Supporters of The New Majority.”

The New Majority refuses to become a member of the heap of publication past.

Please make checks and money orders to The New Majority.

Our address is 2656 South Loop West, Suite 585, Houston, Texas 77054

jority believe that others who are in a similar racial make-up should be called White Ameri-can or Bi-racial American if it is their choosing).

Mr. Obama’s community or-ganization background, though belittled by some political op-ponents, is the key factor to his success. Having fi rst hand knowledge of the inner workings of the smallest cogs of the politi-cal machine was a gift that none of his opponents possessed. It’s the reason he performed so well in the caucus states during the Democratic Primary. It’s the reason he gained more delegate votes to Ms. Clinton in Texas, while losing the popular vote.

And when he obtains the pres-idential seat in January, his very name will afford him the oppor-tunity to reach out to professed

enemies of America, while at the same time bolstering the prom-ise of America.

Avowed American haters such as Syria and Iran will hear a name they can relate to in Ba-rack Hussein Obama. America’s light may give cause to pro-fessed democracies like Israel to judge its would-be leaders based solely on substance rather than religious or ethnic make-up. The possibility of a Christian assum-ing the presidency of Egypt may no longer be fanciful thinking.

There is a precedent. When Manmohan Singh be-

came Prime Minister of India in 2004, he became the fi rst Sikh leader of the Hindu dominated country. Mr. Singh’s rise to the leadership role in India may have more miraculous designs than Mr. Obama’s obtainment

of the American guidance helm. India has a longer history of skin tone based judgment igno-rance than America. And when one adds in the religious percep-tion that Sikh’s were once (and still are in some circles) looked upon by the majority of Hindus in India with total disgust and distain because of their beliefs, Mr. Obama’s achievement is nothing new on the total world stage. Mr. Singh is largely cred-ited with India’s economic boom which began ironically when he was its Finance Minister during the early 90ties.

Such events are not hap-penstance when persons are judged solely based on content and character. President Barack Hussein Obama will add a san-dy brown hand to this American stir.

OPINION

“WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH…”Is an attempt to simultaneously poke fun at, as well as offer serious food for thought at humans and their institutionsWHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH…By Paul Fitzgerald Bennett

…all the “so called expert journalist” (and others) who are not admitting they were wrong when many of them tried to pressure Hillary Clin-ton into abandoning her run for the presidency during the Democratic Primary cit-ing that her presence would harm eventual Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama’s chances at winning the presidency. At a Houston Association of Black Journalist workshop in April, radio talk show host and CNN contribu-tor Roland Martin suggested that Ms. Clinton’s insistence on remaining in the primary race would hurt Mr. Obama down the road after he became the nomi-nee. He said Mr. Obama needed to begin focusing on Republican Presidential nominee John Mc-Cain. At the same workshop I suggested that Ms. Clinton had the right to remain in the race if for no other reason that she and Mr. Obama were in a vir-tual popular vote dead heat for their party nomination. In ad-dition, I told workshop partici-pants that more debates against Ms. Clinton (who was defi nitely Mr. Obama’s superior in every debate they had) would proba-bly help Mr. Obama against Mr. McCain (who was defi nitely the superior of Mr. McCain in every debate they had). Finally, I sug-gested the fact that Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton were still bat-tling in April for their party nomination was nothing new. Historically, most Democratic nominations have been de-cided at the party convention. Mr. Martin’s response was that history also gave us silent mov-ies and now we have sound. To which I quipped that many of the silent movies were a lot bet-ter than this junk we watch and hear today. Maybe, it’s time for speaking heads like Mr. Martin to follow the likes of Charlie Chaplin and keep quiet.

…people coming down so hard on Sarah Palin, say-ing she is not qualifi ed to be President (or Vice Presi-dent) of United States. (Yes, she is) These fools act like a national leader or politician needs special intelligence (No, they don’t). Remember, George “Dubya”? Ignorant. Dan Quay-le? Ignorant. How about Ron-ald Reagan? Ignorant. What about Adolph Hitler? Evil and Ignorant (and in case some of you don’t know, Mr. Hitler and the Nazis was ELECTED to pub-lic offi ce in Germany. Hell! He actually garnered more votes than any of his opponents as opposed to “Dubya” in 2000). In order to serve as vice presi-dent one must be a natural born American citizen, 35 years of

age or older, have lived in the country at least 14 years, and not have served two terms as president. That’s it folks! Noth-ing else! By this defi nition, Sarah Palin or any “freakin” restaurant owner is eligible to be vice president of the United States...the number of people driving on our city streets who simply can’t drive? Folks, here is the unadulterated truth; most humans are non-driving morons who need their licenses taken. And I’m including my-self in the mix. My problem is the total lack of patience I have when I come across organisms who drive 40 mph in the fast lane (far left) on the highway when the speed limit is 60 plus. Numbers suggest that young men are involved in most acci-dents. What the numbers don’t tell you is that young men are impatient when they come across non-driving fools. And listen people; STOP SIGNS AND RED LIGHTS ARE NOT PAUSE SIGNS AND PAUSE LIGHTS! When you come to a stop sign or a red light, your donkey needs to come to a COMPLETE STOP! I can’t count the num-ber of people I’ve seen talking on cell phones and holding up traffi c. Pull your donkey to the side of the road and continue your conversation...teaching administrators who say they are looking for more Black men to teach.

No they’re not. I’m currently enrolled in the Region 4 Alter-native Certifi cation Program. In August I passed the English grade 8-12 curriculum which would allow me to teach until I become certifi ed.

Unfortunately for me, all the English jobs in HISD were gone by then. So I’ve applied to what’s called Teaching As-sistant gigs in an effort to both familiarize myself with the in-ner workings of the teaching fi eld and to determine if I even want to teach. Now in order to be a teaching assistant a degree is not necessary. In fact, it’s a glorifi ed substitution job from what I can see. So even though

I have a degree, several years experience as a professional journalist, publisher-editor of my OWN publication, and child volunteer efforts coming out the “ying-yang”, I’ve only interviewed for TWO teaching assistant jobs. At Ryan Middle School, the principal there kept referencing my journalism ex-perience for some reason. And at Pilgrim’s Academy, I noticed that the interim principal didn’t seem to appreciate when I cited my love and appreciation for the so called “mean” teachers that I had during my years as a grade schooler and that I would use them as examples of what a teacher should be. I told the lady I didn’t want to be my stu-dent’s friend but their teacher. I also told her I would expect excellence from every student I came across, regardless of social-economic backgrounds. I guess those values are not pro-moted at Pilgrim’s Academy.

And I’m not the only one, I know several Black men who share my predicament who are NOT teaching (or assisting). All have professional experience in other fi elds which would only add to the table of what they could offer to students. So let’s stop the facade folks. The truth is that if you are a Black man in today’s society not too many folk want to hire you regard-less of your experience and/or morals; and this includes other Blacks…inner city politicians (and others) who are always talking about the importance of public schools but who send their kids to private schools. Let’s stop the bull! If you send your kid to a private school, it’s because you think public schools suck! Don’t try and act like you are down with the “homies” in the hood. We are inundated with hypocritical morons who with one mouth speak about how a public school education helped shaped their morals, but then escaping from the southern part of their body with similar ease is the advent of their own children having their morals shaped by “Sister Margaret.” Here’s a clue bone-heads! It’s not the school that determines what sort of edu-cational success a student will have; it’s the reinforcement of education at home which deter-mines what sort of educational success a student will have…people who keep saying John McCain has a chance to be-come president.

To hell with former Los Ange-les Mayor Tom Bradley and his effect (look it up). I’m writing with bold contention and sev-eral days before the election that Barack Hussein (dammit, it’s his name) Obama IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES…END OF STORY!

“How stupid American people are?” she said. “They see the sale. And they buy it. So.” she said.

“So you call them stupid, but you do the same thing,” retorted The New Majority re-porter. “You get a good deal on whole sale clothing and you just buy.”

“No, if they (Americans) stop buying, we will stop selling,” said the store owner. “Custom-ers see it, they like, they buy.”

To insure that purchased Obama gear is supporting his campaign directly, Houston Obama campaign spokesperson Angel Gayden said there are several offi cial campaign out-lets available.

Not every one was on the Obama bootleg tip. Chris Wil-liams, manager of POW Cloth-ing said some people will do anything to make a dollar.

“They probably aren’t even voting for him,” said Mr. Wil-liams.

WHY VOTING MATTERS

Paul Fitzgerald Bennett

continued from p(1) Why Senator Barack Hussein.......

continued from p(1) OBAMA AND FAMILY: ...

THE NEW MAJORITYOctober 2008 NEWS | 3


Recently, my 97 year old un-cle, Floyd Shackelford departed this life.

During Uncle Floyd’s time on the planet, the most signifi -cant events in human history took place. Three years after his August 27, 1911 birth in Huntsville, Texas came the “Great War” or World War I from 1914-1918. World War II would follow from 1940-1945 and Uncle Floyd answered the call of his country by serving in the United States Air Force.

But it was the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s which he said had the biggest affect on his life. While growing up in Huntsville in the 1920s and 1930s, Uncle Floyd recounted numerous stories of racial injustice against the town’s Black populace. As a

worker for a local Huntsville drug store during the Great De-pression, Uncle Floyd witnessed a White Walker County peace offi cer hit an elderly Black lady because she dared to walk on the side walk.

“If I had had a gun I would have killed him,” he told me once.Thank God he did not.

If such an event would have taken place, Uncle Floyd would not have had the opportunity to strengthen his personal re-

lationship with Jesus Christ which spanned his entire life culminating with his member-ship at Christian Faith Mission-ary Baptist Church in Hous-ton, Texas. He would not have married his soul mate, and my

aunt, Elnora Archie in Decem-ber of 1931.

And though, Uncle Floyd greatly admired Black Ameri-cans who participated in the Civil Rights struggle, like most Black Americans he was not a direct-active participant.

“I had a wife to take care of,” he said one day when I chal-lenged him on the subject.

But he more than did his part. Because of money earned at the drug store in Huntsville, Uncle

Floyd helped pay for the college education of several siblings. He and Aunt Elnora did their part in administering a blow to racial ignorance with the pur-chase of a home in 1953 in the then dominated White Jewish community of Third Ward. The couple was the second Black house hold to purchase a home in their immediate Truxillo Street community.

The victory of Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic Pri-mary and his likely elevation to the American presidency gave my uncle uncommon pride. It’s the reason that he looked for-ward to casting a vote on No-vember 4th for Mr. Obama and had voted in every presidential election since 1936 when Jim Crow forced Black Americans to pay racist poll tax.For as long as I can remember, the decorated World War II Air Force veteran kept his voter registration card

underneath the glass petition on his coffee table.“You gonna have to push me in this wheel chair to vote for Obama,” he told me shortly after the Demo-cratic Convention. “Boy, this is a day I thought I would never live to see.”My uncle did not live to see Mr. Obama become our nation’s leader. He did not get the opportunity to pull the lever or maneuver the voting booth mechanism which deter-mines such things.

THAT OPPORTUNITY IS AFFORDED TO YOU; VOTE!

Floyd Shackelford

METRO POLICEMAN PLAYS ROLE OF KEYSTONE COPBy Paul Fitzgerald Bennett

Recently, Joe Crosby played a real life supporting acting role to a Metro offi cer’s Keystone Cop moment. All Mr. Crosby did was pull the bell for his Old Spanish Trail Metro Bus to stop near its Scott Street exit. Offi cer “Inept” did the rest.

“We heard a loud boom,” said Mr. Crosby. “I got off the bus and the policeman’s car was pinned in back of the bus.”

Terrance Woods and Ira John-son had a view Mr. Crosby was not privy to. They were in the car next to the non-attentive cop right before Mr. Crosby’s descriptive “boom” took place.

“The lawman had his head down, working on the comput-er. The bus stopped and he ran

right into it,” said Mr. Woods.“The hood popped, the air

bags came out, and the tires went fl at. He simply wasn’t paying attention,” added Mr. Johnson.Both Mr. Woods and Mr. Johnson said they were happy that no one was seri-ously injured.

But…“If one of us did that you’d

hear about reckless driving,” said Mr. Johnson. “The cop turns around and does the same thing. What does that tell you?”It tells us all that the spir-it of the Keystone Cop is alive and well.PS…for those of you unfamiliar with the term Key-stone Cop, look it up.

TSU: MAYBE DR. JOHN M. RUDLEY IS YOUR SOLUTION Continued from p(1)it’s about time!Bennett: What’s your goal for

this university?Rudley: I would like for TSU

to be one of the fi nest public universities in Texas. I want our students to be competitive when they enter the work force like they did in the 60s and 70s when we produced people like Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Craig Washington, Rodney Ellis and a host of others.

Bennett: You talk about the way it used to be; the reality is that a whole bunch of nega-tive things have happened in America since the 60s and 70s when it comes to minor-ity youth. Young Blacks and Latinos make up the majority of persons in our nations pris-ons. High school test scores are down. One would think that there has to be something extra ordinary to get things back to the way it used to be?

Rudley: Well not necessarily. People overlook the fact that most of our young people are not in jail. Most of our young people do not drop out of high school. There are students out there who are quality students and we’re going to make sure that we are here for them. Part of that process is to make sure that we have admission stan-dards so that the crop of stu-dents who come here are the kind of kids that we want.

Bennett: Well, let’s talk about some of the students who are here now. I’m a graduate of this school and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. When I was here, we may have been broke, but one thing about my particular fraternity is that we always dressed well. I vis-ited campus one day last year and was about to approach the Kappa bench. What I saw were several young men who looked like they were in a low budget rap video. I kept walk-ing. There’s a part of me that loves our young folk in terms of what they have been able to overcome. But there’s also a part which almost hates them in terms of how they present themselves. How are you going to change that?

Rudley: I was on this cam-pus last year also and it was something I didn’t appreciate. But you have to realize they are still children. They have to be taught. You have to understand that the images they see were taught to them. I’m not criticiz-ing the Hip-Hop culture, but our young kids need to have duality. They can enjoy them-selves on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but on Monday when they come to TSU, it’s time to go back to work. We are going to teach the young freshmen who come here what’s appro-priate when it comes to dress. This is a new day at TSU. When they step outside this cam-pus they are still representing this school. They have to real-ize they are not in high school anymore. My solution is to start with the 1200 or so new stu-dents. I think you will fi nd all

of them to be people that you will respect. Each year we will add a thousand or more stu-dents. And they in turn will see the students who came before them as examples of what a college student should look like inside and outside the class-room. Eventually the culture will change.

Bennett: The new Academy you had this summer seeks to give potential freshman stu-dents who do not satisfy the new academic standards at TSU a chance to prove themselves. How did that go?

Rudley: We had roughly 300 students in the program this summer. And out of that 300, about 200 matriculated to the university.

Bennett: What about the oth-er 100?

Rudley: Well, they did not want to get up early in the morning and do the things necessary to stay in the pro-gram which means they really were not committed to coming to Texas Southern and gradu-ating in four to fi ve years. In the past, those 100 kids would have come here, dropped out, and really made our statistics look pretty poor. Now we do not have them; they have made a decision to do something else. Hopefully, they will go to community college. But at least they won’t be here messing up our statistics.

Bennett: Now personally; I love that answer. But come on, you know that answer you just gave is politically incorrect. We live in a society that says, “You have to love everybody. You have to help everybody. You have to please everybody.” Sir, I have to tell you that answer you just gave is not an “every-body” answer.

Rudley: No sir, it’s not. We ig-nore the fact that students have to make some decisions on their own. And college is not for ev-eryone. Here’s some straight talk; some students would come here just to get the fi nancial aid. They had no intention of gradu-ating whatsoever. That was not fair to TSU. Now, before pro-spective students even step on this campus we are challeng-ing students on several fronts. Do you want to graduate from Texas Southern in four or fi ve years? That means you have to go to the library to study. You have to go to class. You have to be on time. And yes, you have to dress appropriately. You have to learn how to walk and talk so that when you do graduate you can be a valuable member of the work force.

(EVA ONE FOLLOW UP QUESTION BELOW)

Bennett: There’s that be a valuable member of the work force thing again. A criticizing of some like Robert Muham-mad of the Nation of Islam here in Houston is that folk like you are too busy teaching students how to be a member of the work force and not teaching them to become their own boss?

Bennett: What makes Dr. John Rudley uniquely qualifi ed to

lead TSU to this promise land? You were the interim chancel-lor at the University of Houston which is basically the same as president. But they didn’t hire you to lead UH.

Rudley: That also means they did.

Bennett: But you didn’t get the job full time. Why are you good enough to lead TSU?

Rudley: I agreed not to apply for the job at UH. An interim job holder is usually someone who is not going to apply for the job.

Bennett: So then what makes you uniquely qualifi ed to get TSU successfully to the next decade?

Rudley: I understand aca-demia. I’ve been in this busi-ness 21 years. I have a business background. Besides serving as the Vice Chancellor and Vice President for Administration and Finance at the University of Houston, I was Vice Presi-dent for Business and Finance at the Tennessee Board of Re-gents which is the sixth larg-est postsecondary education system in the country. I also had the opportunity to go to Washington DC and work with former Education Secretary (Lamar) Alexander. To add to that, my background as a col-lege student in the 70s is simi-lar to many of these students. My parents were not well off fi -nancially. But I made a goal for myself to go to college. I needed some helping hands every now and then. And we are going to do the same thing here. When you add that all together, that makes me qualifi ed to lead this university.

Bennett: Let’s talk about some of the people who are going to help you take this university to a higher level. The board of re-gents comes to mind. I did a lit-tle internet research, and what I found is that not one TSU board member had anything to do with TSU academically. But when I checked UH, the Uni-versity of Texas (Austin), and Texas A&M, with the exception of one person at each school, all had board members who had at least one degree from that school. Many had multiple degrees from the same school. Now, I’m sure TSU’s board is going to do a fi ne job. But doesn’t it just make common sense to believe that a person who went to a university will have a little bit more concern about a particular university than someone who didn’t? The fact that UH, UT, and A&M have board members who went to those schools suggest that to be the case, right?

Rudley: I have met all of the board members and have worked with them. They all have their hearts in the right place. They want to see this university be a success. I have spoken to them individually. They are motivated as much as I am to make sure this uni-versity is viable. You should ask yourself this question; why would they want to come in the aftermath of what’s happened

to this university in the last few years? Many come from Dallas and other cities. Quite frankly, this could be a career-ender for them. But I don’t think that’s going to be the case. Look at what we are doing. We passed one of the best budgets we’ve ever had at TSU at the last board meeting. And not only that, we passed a 4 percent increase in salary for faculty.

We have 14 or so construc-tion projects going on simul-taneously so that this campus is conducive to teaching and learning. So, in the short time that I’ve been here this board is doing some good things.

Bennett: You bring up con-struction; a past complaint is that many of the construction vendors who have worked at TSU have not been Black or minority. How many of the cur-rent vendors are minority?

Rudley: I believe we have over 40 percent representation from the minority community serving as vendors. We are new here, but I promise you that you won’t see those low statistics of the past.

Bennett: I don’t want to get into some of the past scandals at TSU. After all, you didn’t have anything to do with that. But it goes without saying that TSU has historically been under fi nanced by the state of Texas. Now, the state of Texas has the audacity to criticize TSU for its shortcomings when it’s played a big role in those shortcom-ings. Don’t you think Governor Rick Perry and the state are out of line?

Rudley: It is a legitimate com-plaint that no matter what state you are in, in the South, that if you are a Black college, I can guarantee that you have been under-funded. I want to confi rm to you as a CPA and as a person who has worked on the fi nance side at several colleges that you are right. For example, there was a discrepancy between the sorts of fi nances received by a school like Middle Tennes-see State compared to Tennes-see State. The formula used by states to fi nance Black colleges which is the same formula they use to support majority White colleges always leave Black col-leges in the hole. You can’t fund a university like TSU based on 10,000 students. It has to have additional funding in order to keep up.

And that’s what I would like to see the state do in the future. The state needs to ignore the formula which is what they did with the Offi ce of Civil Rights (OCR) money. The OCR money was $12.5 million a year for TSU and Prairie View.

That’s a good start. But it needs to be more than that. The other part of that is that alumni have to give back. What I have noticed at Black colleges is that the fi nancial contribution at these colleges can be vastly im-proved. We as a people need to come back and embrace these universities with our check-books.

Bennett: Let’s talk about the

Kevin Granger episode. Here’s a man who is a TSU graduate. He was the best basketball player on inarguably its best team, notwithstanding Harry “Ma-chine Gun” Kelly and the squad which won a national title. He has coaching experience at the high school level where he led his team to the playoffs. He was an assistant coach at TSU. He had gained the support of several NBA players who had promised to support TSU fi nan-cially.

Rudley: And they never do.Bennett: Okay, but why did

you pass him up for Tony Har-vey, an individual who violated NCAA rules while at Missouri which included giving players money?

Rudley: Well, let’s talk about giving players money. You can give a player 5 dollars and you will be in violation of NCAA rules. You have a situation were a kid wants to go home to see their parents and they don’t have the money. You see, I was one of those athletes.

I played basketball at the Uni-versity of Toledo. When I came out of the low income housing projects and didn’t have all the money I needed, people would just help me. So you can get in violation of the NCAA in a hur-ry. When I look at Tony Harvey and the Missouri program, he took the bullet for them. He’s like most Black people who are always good soldiers.

Basically he protected the in-stitution. But also I looked at the fact that he was from a big time program. If you know any-thing about me I expect to win at whatever I do. When I looked at the basketball record on this campus it was abysmal. In a big time basketball program, I don’t think people waste their time discussing about who you hire. You just try to get the best people for the job. If an admin-istration comes

in and sees there is no per-formance there, the coaches are gone. And the same thing is going to happen on my watch, we are going to perform. The people who were here be-fore did not perform. And you should also ask me why did I change the provost? Why did I change the Vice President for Institutional Advancement? I’ve changed a lot of people on the academic side as well. It’s the same mantra; we need to get better at everything we do. And by the way, Kevin Granger still works for the university.

Bennett: What does he do?Rudley: Kevin Granger is

athletics operations manager. We believe in giving everyone a chance. We dismissed all the people who were not perform-ers. The fact of the matter is when Kevin started campaign-ing for the job, which I thought was inappropriate, I didn’t have any animosity towards him. If I did he wouldn’t be working here. I’m all about winning.

Bennett: But let me get back to Mr. Harvey. You’re not mak-ing light of the fact that he gave students 5 or 500 dollars are

you? Surely, you don’t want him to repeat that same mis-take?

Rudley: And he’s not going to repeat that mistake, that’s why we hired Charles McClelland. I’m not going into this situation with a blind eye. Johnny Cole, you didn’t mention him. He had a lot of NCAA violations. I guess you like him?

Bennett: No, it’s something I didn’t know.

Rudley: Well, Johnny Cole has more NCAA violations than Tony Harvey. The point is that I’m giving both of these young men a chance, but I have a su-perlative athletic director who is great at NCAA compliance. We hired the guy who can keep a watchful eye on the Tony Harvey’s and the Johnny Cole’s. We’re asking Tony Harvey and Johnny Cole to win on the fi eld, but do it the right way.

Bennett: How is TSU doing fi -nancially? A while back some-one sent me some documenta-tion which suggested TSU was in the black during the 2007-2008 school-year. I didn’t use it, because I couldn’t substanti-ate it. But how goes it at TSU when it comes to money?

Rudley: Well, it could not have been in the black last year if the state had to give you $12.5 mil-lion. I think everybody is wast-ing a lot of time criticizing this university without the facts. One thing I’m going to do in my administration is avoid all of the bloggers who really don’t have all of the information. The fact is that this university was facing a solvency question from May through July. If we had not received that $12.5 million we were facing insolvency.

Bennett: So how is the school doing right now?

Rudley: We’re good. We passed a balance budget at the last board meeting; a budget that makes sense. It’s a budget based on 9,052 students and we expect to have about 9,200 students. We know what we’re doing with this budget. Any-body who asks you how we’re doing, just tell them to come talk to me.

Bennett: Speaking of money, what’s the update with the Tav-is Smiley donation?

Rudley: I had a conversation with him and told him that I would come out to California and we will revisit that issue. He was up front with me and told me how that whole situ-ation transpired. There was a misunderstanding between him and the previous administration about what he was supposed to do. But I’m going to see him September 12th or the 15th. And we will talk about how to restart this relationship.

Bennett: What’s your two year and fi ve year plan for TSU?

Rudley: My 2-year plan is my day to day plan. I want to see progress everyday. If we have progress on a daily basis, I don’t worry about 2 to fi ve years. When I come here daily, I expect to move TSU forward in all respects.

ored. Others would do well to follow her example.

Many of the same 18th district residents, who are now angry with Ms. Jackson-Lee, elected her to offi ce in 1994; re-elected her in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. But according to Marcus Davis of The Breakfast Klub restau-rant, Ms. Jackson-Lee’s time as leader of the 18th is up.

"The past few years have been about show, more than substance," said Mr. Davis in a recent Houston Chronicle article. "These things became more evident as a result of her support for Clinton."

Mr. Davis’ former assessment is shared by some. His latter appraisal lacks good judgment and unfortunately fi nds com-pany with many previous Jack-son-Lee supporters.

Is Mr. Davis and those like him upset with Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy who endorsed Mr. Obama while the state he represents overwhelm-ingly supported Ms. Clinton? When he suggest that the last

few years of Ms. Jackson-Lee’s tenure as representative has been “about show, more than substance,” then why didn’t Mr. Davis and others come out in 2006 in an attempt to oust Ms. Jackson-Lee? Remember, the defi nition of the word “few” means two or three; meaning those in the anti-Jackson-Lee camp should have reared their dissatisfi ed heads in 2005 or 2006. They did not. And Mr. Davis is wrong and so is anyone who shares his thought process concerning Ms. Jackson-Lee’s decision to side with Ms. Clin-ton.When Ms. Jackson-Lee de-clared her support for Ms. Clin-ton in May 2007 there was no major uproar in the 18th; may-be because many current Black Houstonian Obama supporters shared her view.

As late as October 2007 a national AP-Ipsos Poll gave Ms. Clinton a 46 percent to 25 percent edge over Mr. Obama. A CNN poll taken during the same period among registered Black Democrats had Ms. Clin-ton garnering 57 percent of the

vote to Mr. Obama’s 33 percent. The same CNN poll concluded that Black female Democrats favored Ms. Clinton at a clip of 68 percent to 25 percent for Mr. Obama; some 22 percentage points greater than the nation-wide AP-Ipsos poll and three percent greater than the same poll nationally for all registered Black Democratic voters.

Meanwhile, Black men like Mr. Davis were in a virtual dead heat in deciding who they would choose to be the Demo-cratic nominee with 42 percent favoring Ms. Clinton and 46 percent favoring Mr. Obama in the CNN poll. By the way, the sampling error for that par-ticular poll question was plus-or-minus 8 percentage points, meaning that Ms. Clinton could have been favored by Black men as well.At its root, Mr. Obama’s apex to the Democrat-ic presidential nomination can be traced to one group; young White voters from Iowa who in January helped him win a state which is 93 percent White.

It is to them that Mr. Obama

owes his candidacy and not the sort of Black support of Mr. Da-vis’ ilk. In recent presidential elections Blacks have voted at least 85 percent for the Demo-cratic ticket. The seven to ten percent surge of Black support is not the reason Mr. Obama will be the next president of Ameri-ca. With that written, was their a solid reason why Ms. Jackson-Lee should have reneged on her pledge to Ms. Clinton?

No!The virtual dead heat in the

national popular vote (and de-pending which scale is used, Ms. Clinton actually garnered more votes than Mr. Obama) between Ms. Clinton and Mr. Obama suggest Ms. Jackson-Lee’s support for the would-be fi rst female president was not an anomaly.

The almost identical stance on issues (save for the Iraq war) between the two proposes Ms. Jackson-Lee was not off base. The monthly whippings that Mr. Obama endured from Ms. Clinton during their numerous debates suggest Ms. Jackson-

Lee was on point if the goal was to choose a president based solidly on the ability of one to articulate their positions. Ad-mittedly, I fail out of love with Ms. Clinton’s candidacy when some began questioning Mr. Obama’s intelligence and expe-rience for the nation’s head job. I found her response to such ac-cusations wanting. In the end, I decided to forgive Ms. Clinton (but still support Mr. Obama) and former President Bill Clin-ton for this mishap, focusing instead on their body of work in the minority community compared to others.If the goal of Mr. Davis and others like him is to focus on Ms. Jackson-Lee’s body of work in the 18th, then that is an objective that should be welcomed by everyone in-cluding Ms. Jackson-Lee. Judg-ing Ms. Jackson-Lee because of her support for Ms. Clinton makes no sense, when a great argument can be made by the objective or subjective eye that she was the better candidate. Meanwhile, Ms. Jackson-Lee is the same representative today

as she was when beginning her fi rst term in offi ce in 1995. Take one look at her liberal re-cord and there’s no doubt that she makes some liberals say “Damn! You’re liberal!”

But if she is declared guilty by the voters of the 18th in 2010 (Mr. Davis decided not to de-clare his candidacy in 2008, but there are politically “ill” winds which suggest he made make a run in 2010) and is ousted out of offi ce because of her record, what does that say of the intel-ligence of 18th district voters (like Mr. Davis probably) who re-elected her in 1996, 1998, 2000, and so on, and so on, and so on...

continued from p(1) ANGER OVER JACKSON-LEE SUPPORT ....


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By MAHMOUD SALEM

CAIRO, October, 2008 (ME-NASSAT) – It was one of the more memorable moments of the US presidential campaign. At a campaign rally for Repub-lican nominee John McCain, a woman supporter voiced her mistrust of Democratic nominee Barack Obama by saying, "He's an Arab."

McCain, shaking his head in disapproval, said, "No, ma'am. He is a decent family man that I just happen to have disagree-ments with on fundamental is-sues and that's what this cam-paign is all about."

McCain's well-meaning com-ment led to much humorous speculation on the late night talk shows about the possibility of a person being of Arab de-scent yet still somehow loving his family.

Ironically, if John McCain had been addressing an audience in the Middle East, the comment might well have been, "He's black."

'Better them than us'While in America it is con-

sidered uncouth to mention the "race" factor in the elections, there are some in the Middle East who have no qualms about opposing Barack Obama's can-didature simply because he is black.

In that camp falls Ahmed Roshdy, an Egyptian business-man in his fi fties, who seems to harbor the view that Barack Obama is unqualifi ed to be the President of the United States

solely because of the color of his skin.

"I just don’t see how he will be able to be president of America. The Americans would never vote for a black guy, especially not in the middle of the mess they are in right now. He would ruin everything", says Roshdy, while reclining in his seat at the exclusive Heliopolis Sporting Club in Cairo.

He concedes, however, that he would ultimately prefer an Obama presidency to a McCain one, if for no other reason than that he would rather see the US continue to "sink in chaos" than

to have any more turmoil in the Middle East, which he believes a McCain Presidency would bring. "Better them than us," he chuck-les.

While this level of racism may come as a shock to the average American voter, for people liv-ing in the Middle East it comes as no surprise.

Racism against black people has been alive and well in Arab countries for a long time, with Saudi Arabia ending its own private brand of slavery only at the beginning of the sixties and Mauritania still maintaining a very active slave trade until this

day. Even in countries in which the practice of slavery never existed, the view of blacks as inferior has been prevalent for many years, and carries its own brand of prejudice culturally and politically.

Black = slaveIn old Egyptian movies, the

servants of the house were all black, either Sudanese or Nu-bian. The Egyptian government still carries out discriminatory policies towards Egypt's Nubian population, and the idea of hav-ing a suitor for one's daughter who happens to be dark skinned is grounds enough for the par-ents to disapprove of the mar-riage in many Arab countries.

One of the highest selling type of cosmetics in Egypt, Sudan and the Gulf today are skin-whit-ening creams that carry names such as "Fair and Lovely," "Ultra Fair" and "B-White," and whose advertisements send the mes-sage that girls will get the job/ men/look of their dreams if only they were whiter.

"Most westerners do not have an idea of how racist a place the Middle East can be," said Antho-ny Badran, a Lebanese Fellow for the DC-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "They are completely unaware, for example, that in many Arab countries, the word still used to refer to a black person is 'abed' or 'slave.'"

While he believes that such a view is reprehensible, he ac-knowledges that it is shared by many people, and that the world-wide goodwill that the av-erage American Obama support-

er hopes an Obama presidency would bring, might not translate very well in Arab countries, or even with Arab leaders. Many people expressed amusement at the notion of the fi rst time either the Egyptian president Muba-rak, or the Saudi King Fahd, who are both in their eighties, would have to meet with Barack Obama – an African-American half their age – as the president of the most powerful country in the world.

Ahmed Gamal, an Egyptian political analyst, holds a differ-ent view.Although he admits that some Arabs may harbor racist views, he says it ultimate-ly doesn't matter because they would welcome an Obama presi-dency if for no other reason than the change it promises to bring, whether to the US or the region. "After eight years of Bush, any change at all is welcome," he said.This view is also shared by Zaghloul Rabee', a newspaper salesman in the luxurious Cairo neighborhood of Mohandeseen. "His skin color doesn't matter to me. My skin tone is tanned, and so are the majority of Egyptians, with many being very dark-skinned. We were never really white people."

Pro-Israel?But Rabee' has a different

reason to oppose an Obama presidency."I heard he was a Muslim named Hussein, but since the Jews who control America would never allow a Muslim President, he stopped being a Muslim and changed his name to Barack [like former Is-raeli PM Ehud Barak,] to make

them happy. Why would I be happy to see someone like that being the President of the Unit-ed States?"Indeed, the American view that if some Americans at-tack Obama for being an Arab, then the Arab world must cer-tainly support him, is not nec-essarily correct. As Robert Lane Green and Josie Delap, both writers for The Economist, ar-gued in an article for the con-servative journal, The New Re-public, Arab pundits "have been arguing that [Obama] is not so unconventional an American politician when it comes to the Middle East, and that the peo-ple of the region have reason to be worried about an Obama presidency."The souring of Arab opinion-leaders against Obama has primarily revolved around his Israel platform, say Green and Delap. "His recent speech to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, caused particular dismay. He promised to maintain billions in military aid to Israel, and said that "undivided" Jerusalem must remain Israel's eternal capital."

The recriminations from Arab opinion pages were swift, Green and Delap note. In Al Sharq Al Awsat, journalist Nazir Majali noted that "Obama's words were more biased towards Israel than the speeches you hear at Likud conferences." In Al Masri Al Yawm, an Egyptian newspaper, Wahid Abdul Majid predicted that Obama's rhetoric on Israel will become more belligerent be-cause "Obama feels he is weak as a result of the suspicions raised around his affi liations, his fam-ily, and the Muslim identity of his father."

By Anthony Obi Ogbo

INTERNATIONAL GUARD-IAN

As the country battles to put behind it the dark history of a Black race devastated by the controversial dehumanization and battery that defaced its existence during the 18th cen-tury, ugly but similar incidents perpetrated by persons of the same Black race ridicule the entire healing process. In fact, such events make the long-time reparations battle seem most ri-diculous.

Today it appears that the slave traders, keepers, hawkers, rearers and human traffi ckers are no longer the Portuguese, other Europeans or early mis-sionaries. The truth is far more embarrassing; a revelation that could result in shocking up-dates to an already shameful history.

Adding to the documented timeline of recent stories re-lated to human traffi cking all over the nation, the latest inci-dent which occurred in Hous-ton, a massive city, and one of the most diverse in the United States, has thrown its 100,000 African residents into a sea of shock, causing a heated battle between rights groups and lo-cal socialite, Mrs. Beatrice Nwakego Ikeakor. The crime? Ikeakor is accused of holding a 10-year old traffi cking victim captive for more than 19 years.

As of press time, the following groups, Africans In America, Inc., Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc. in collaboration with YMCA International, have exchanged indignant communication with

Board of Immigration Appeals, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Honorable members of the United States Congress and the Attorney General of the United States to halt deporta-tion of one immigrant, Celes-tina Ifeacho Joseph, alleged to have been shipped into the country for labor purposes to Mrs. Ikeakor in 1984.

International Guardian in-vestigations reveal other agen-cies including the Texas State Department of Aging and Dis-abilities, U.S. Department of State, Offi ce of Traffi cking in Persons, and the World Orga-nization Against Torture, USA have been put on alert to se-cure a petition to grant this victim unconditional amnesty and to prosecute the captor. It was gathered that Mrs. Celes-tina Ifeacho Joseph, who hails from an impoverished family in Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State of Nigeria was just a 10-year primary school scholar when she was brought into Houston in 1984.

According to Celestina, "I did not know much, but my par-ents told me I would be going to America to live with my rich Auntie and go to school.”

Celestina, however, was re-cruited by a Nigerian-based infl uential civil servant, Mrs. Josephine Nwosu, who falsely claimed her as a daughter dur-ing the visa application process at the United States Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria. Then she was transported to the new planta-tion - the home of Nwosu's sis-ter in Houston, Mrs. Ikeakor.

It was gathered that her al-leged traffi ckers secured a two-week US visa bearing Celes-tina Ifeacho Nwosu for the sole

purpose of shipping their hu-man merchandise. According to Celestina, "I was so excited as everybody talked about the wonders of America and how I would fi nish school and start helping my poor family."

How far did Celestina's ex-citement go? As soon as she arrived in the United States, her dream, without a moment's notice, turned into a total nightmare. Poor Celestina was welcomed into her new dream home with a long list of do-mestic duties, which gradually metamorphosed into denial of rights and physical and men-tal abuse. Ultimately, she was confi ned to her plantation-like home for more than 19 years.

She told International Guard-ian that "the fi rst day I came, they started me with babysit-ting some kids, and then clean-ing the house and doing laun-dry. I was surprise that, from then on, nobody mentioned school."

But this story did not soon end for the girl forced to per-form petty domestic chores. The following is taken from power-fully worded documents fi led by Africans In America, Inc., and Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc. to the Board of Immigra-tion Appeals, Department of Homeland Security, and copied to the Attorney General of the United States and all honorable members of the United States Congress - o Celestina worked as a live-in housemaid from 1984 to 1999 without pay. o Forced/coerced to raise the 4 children during the same pe-riod, without pay. o Worked at a Nigerian restaurant owned by her mistress without pay. o Sexually abused by Mr. Gabriel Ikeakor, Beatrice's husband. o Denied primary and secondary school education as was prom-ised. o Worked at her mistress' assisted living homes without pay. o Immigration status was not adjusted as promised due to suspicion that it would guaran-tee her an escape from a life of labor.

The petition has since gotten the attention of the US Sec-retary of State, YMCA Inter-national, World Organization

Against Torture, USA, Hous-ton Area Women Center and U.S. Department of State, Of-fi ce of Traffi cking in Persons. It is agreed that Celestina was totally unkempt and medically neglected. According to the document, " whenever the vic-tim became seriously ill, due to injuries sustained during inci-dents of abuse, she was smug-gled to clinics run by Nigerian doctors, or public health centers with Nigerian staff as part of the cover-up.

Though some of the allega-tions sound stranger than fi c-tion, Celestina cried as she confi rmed these incidents that devastated her life, leaving her mentally and psychologically distressed. She wept loudly as she narrated an incident where she was forced to sleep in the wash room for almost one year.

Said Celestina, "When I turned 13 and started seeing my peri-od, I did not know what to do. Then they said I have body odor and Auntie Betty [referring to her mistress, Beatrice] made me sleep in the washroom ev-ery day for almost one year." Kimberly Washington of the Guardian newsroom, contacted the alleged captor but could not get a response. Mrs. Ikeakor, following orders from her at-torney declined an interview. A brief dialogue ensued:

Kimberly: I am doing research for a story, let me get my ques-tions

Betty: SureKimberly: Do you know Ce-

lestina IfeachoBetty: YesKimberly: What is your rela-

tionship to Celestina IfeachoBetty: She is my cousin, why

are you asking me this.Kimberly: I am doing research

for a story, I am calling on be-half of Guardian News

Betty: Kimberly, my lawyer says I shouldn't answer any questions

Kimberly: Would you like for us to speak to your lawyer

Betty: No, I will call him and see if he wants to talk to you. What she is saying, it is false.. it is all lies and anyone who writes a story about it will be

sued for libel. It is all lies.Kimberly: I understandBetty: Yes, so I cannot talk

about it, it is all lies. Kimberly: I understand, that

is all I need thenBetty: OkKimberly: Have a good dayBetty: byeProof of Celestina's years in al-

leged captivity may have helped her case, providing investiga-tors with sustainable evidence that could detain her deporta-tion process. In 1999, at the age of 25, Celestina demanded her freedom and payment for forced labor. At that time, she was logging unpaid hours at one of her traffi cker's assisted living homes for persons with disabilities. But the defi ant Madame Ikeakor threatened to hand her over to im-migrat ion if she ever mentioned that again.

A c c o r d -ing to Ce-l e s t i n a , "she would a l w a y s t h r e a t e n to harass my family back home or threaten to hand me over to the law for immediate d e p o r t a -tion." Her years in active slav-ery could have been

cut short and horrible mo-ments avoided if those ac-quainted with her captors had intervened. "Everybody tried to take advantage of me," she said as she narrated multiple incidents of sexual molesta-tion she suffered from Gabriel, husband to her mistress, who passed in 2004. Previously, she had vowed never to reveal any sexual misconduct because, according to her, "Nobody was going to marry me if they knew I had been raped.

Shortly before she escaped, another family friend, Emeka Nzewi, initiated an arguably consensual affair with Celes-tina.

"He would sneak into the house to take advantage of

Continued on p(6)

OBAMA: TOO ARAB FOR SOME AMERICANS, TOO BLACK FOR SOME ARABS

HOUSTON SLAVERY SCANDAL!GROUPS FIGHT DEPORTATION OF 33-YR-OLD WOMAN ALLEGEDLY HELD CAPTIVE FROM THE AGE OF 10 BY HOUSTON SOCIALITE WITHOUT ANY EDUCATION. IT'S SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST! READ

THE NEW MAJORITYOctober 2008 NEWS | 5

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BY MARY MITCHELL

Sun-Times Columnist

When you step on a pig's tail, it squeals. Rush Limbaugh is a squealer.

And why is he squealing? Because John McCain and Sar-ah Palin are losing ground in a contest that they thought was theirs. And they are losing it to a black man.

Of course, Limbaugh won't say that. Instead, on Thursday he spent his time berating me for saying Palin needs to apol-ogize for inciting crowds that hurled racial epithets at black members of the press.

I'm a 'wuss, wimp colum-nist,' Limbaugh says.

So why would a multimil-lion-dollar squealer use his air time on a 'wuss and a wimp?' The reason Limbaugh is squealing like the pig he is, is because he's the epitome of white privilege.

Feeds off angry crowdsHe can't wrap his small mind

around the fact that Barack Obama is kicking McCain's butt in the polls. To make mat-ters worse, how dare a black woman ask a white woman who is on the GOP ticket to apologize for the inappropriate behavior of her supporters?

But my position is really a no-brainer. Whenever a crowd gets whipped up to the point that they turn ugly and start hurling racist insults, it is common sense that the can-didate moves to rein it in. But McCain is so desperate to win, he's feeding off of those angry crowds.

Come on.The squealer was among

the fi rst to demand that Ba-rack Obama (Barack, Rush, not Barry) denounce his for-mer pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, for comments deemed offensive to white people.

I repeat. Had Obama fans acted a fool

the way McCain fans did, ev-ery pundit -- with the squealer leading the way -- would have demanded he offer some kind of apology.

I'm the 'racist nutball,' but the squealer is the one who has made a fortune ridiculing black people at every opportu-nity.

I confess. I don't listen to Limbaugh. Another journalist called me and told me he was on the radio tearing me limb from limb.

But just in case you don't recall who Limbaugh is, he's the fat guy who got hooked on painkillers and had to go to rehab -- sort of like my girl, Amy Winehouse.

As I noted in a column I wrote in 2003 (the real source of the squeals I'm now hearing, since Limbaugh didn't address a single issue I raised in the column he attacked), despite Limbaugh's drug addiction, he was still allowed to return to his popular radio show.

That, my friends, is white privilege.

Limbaugh likes to rant about the 'liberal media.' What does he call me, a 'drive-by jour-nalist?' Well, maybe I should have driven by his studio in 2003 when he was using his hired help like a common drug mule, and broken that story.

Like most people who get drunk on white privilege, Lim-baugh likes to project his big-otry on others. So now I'm the racist, and he wants me to lose my job. Well, stand in line.

There are people ahead of you who can't stomach the idea that I can say Sarah Palin makes me sick. She does. The potential elevation of Palin into the second-highest posi-tion in the country shows that we have fi nally sunk as low as we can go.

Bully tactics won't workWhile conservatives like the

squealer can't get enough of ridiculing black youth for hon-oring bling bling over intellect, what did they think McCain was doing when he tapped Palin for VP?

It didn't matter that she is probably the most inarticu-late politician ever to step up to the microphone. She had the right amount of quirki-ness and naughtiness to draw in the 'American Idol' and re-ality TV crowd.I get it. But I have a voice, too. And all of Limbaugh's bluster and all the calls of his rabid followers won't be enough to silence me when bigoted bullies are run-ning amuck. Besides, I'm not running for VP. Limbaugh's sorry-ass Palin is.

If Limbaugh wants to spend his time trying to bully me, as they say in my neighborhood, bring it.

Continued from p(5) her," confi ded a source. According to Celestina, "I

thought he was going to get me out of my situation and marry me, but when I found out he was just taking advantage of me, I stopped seeing him.”

Nzewi admitted to a consen-sual relationship with Celestina, according to him, "when she was already an adult." When asked why he did not report Celestina's situation, or even render any aid, Nzewi did not elaborate. Similarly, the Guardian uncov-ered, a Catholic father very close to the family knew about Ce-lestina's ordeal but maintained silence. Sources gathered that Rev. Romanus O. Muoneke, an administrator with St. Francis of Assisi Church in Houston plays a much more signifi cant role in the Ikeakor house than the late head of household, Gabriel.

"I know that the Father even has the key to that house and I'm wondering why he did not do anything for this child," queried a Houston registered nurse who claimed to be one of Celestina's benefactors when she was try-ing to get her life back. Since the Catholic Community plays such a major role in both providing and advocating safe grounds for refugees, immigrants and vari-ous victims of social discrimi-nation, International Guardian confronted Father Muoneke for comments, but came away with very little.

Muoneke admitted being close to the family and knowing the alleged victim "very well," but declined any further comments, saying he could not discuss the matter on the phone.

Celestina confi rmed Muoneke did not play any signifi cant role that "I knew of but was like a household member. I only saw him sometimes when I was serv-ing food."

However, a reverend sister visiting from Nigeria proved to be more observant and, in fact, more "Catholic". Celestina said "she asked why I had not re-ceived Holy Communion and why I was not confi rmed in the church." The Sister confronted

her hosts, the Ikeakors, and made sure little Celestina re-ceived both communion and confi rmation. This was the only education she received in the 19 years she was separated from her parents.

Celestina made several at-tempts to escape but could not get help. In 2003, however, the victim made her way towards freedom as she fl ed the harsh world of the Ikeakor home. Un-fortunately, there was to be no counseling or therapy to affi rm her sense of normalcy. Vulner-able, timid and hopeless, Celes-tina rushed into marriage in the vain hope of a secure life. But misfortune kept raining in. In-ternational Guardian gathered that with her husband came challenges that jeopardized Ce-lestina's dogged attempt to settle into regular life. At this point, the need for professional help became unavoidable. It was an idea she had always rejected for fear of punitive retaliation from her former captor.

Chief Eric Ufom, Chairman of Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc. told International Guardian that "We met Mrs. Celestina Ifeacho Joseph who married Mr. Joseph, in about February 2003, when a fellow Nigerian introduced her to our organization. After lis-tening to her predicament, we accepted her as one of our mem-bers, opened up a case and be-gan verifi cation and high-level advocacy on her behalf.

According to Ufom, "We re-ferred her to Houston Area Women Center, National Alli-ance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Depression and Bipolar Sup-port Alliance and others. "We fi led motions for amicus curiae (friend of the court) to recom-mend that the court to reopen and reconsider her case as a vic-tim of human/child traffi cking, violence against women, sexual abuse, rape, slavery, child labor, torture, etc.

This group contacted the United States Department of Health and Human Services for Celestina's certifi cation as a victim of these unfortunate crimes. According

to Ufom "we had to go through this route based on advise given to us by the United States De-partment of State, Department of mentoring of Human traffi cking, who also referred us to the De-partment of Homeland Security to request an immediate inter-view for us in certifying her.

"We contacted all members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, to in-clude different committees. We also contacted the United Na-tions, Africans In America, Inc, IDC, IDA , RI and 100s of other organizations," Ufom said. Bo-naventure N. Ezekwenna, Ex-ecutive Director, and Co-Chair of the Board of Africans in America Inc. said "there is really not much I can do because we are based in New York, however, we have expressed support and provided lots of information based on our experience with these types of cases."

He continued, "we are not in-volved in day-to-day case man-agement of this issue, because it is outside our jurisdiction. How-ever, whatever support Equal Rights for Persons with Disabili-ties International, Inc. needed, we were able to provide." Ms. Veronica Zeitlin, Director of Of-fi ce of the United States Depart-ment of States, Washington, DC, referred our newsroom to one Robin Jones, who was said to have been following this case.

Jones, who works with the United States Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC, was out of town and could not be reached at press time. As time runs out in Celes-tina's deportation process, Inter-national Guardian gathered that agitating groups have vowed to maintain their demands for jus-tice regardless of the outcome of Celestina's case. Around March 27th, Mr. Ezekwenna of Africans In America, Inc. wrote a detailed letter on behalf of Celestina to President George Bush stating that "deporting this victim at this moment will only serve to protect her still-living traffi ckers and their associates."

Celestina is not giving up alContinued on p(7)

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though her ordeal may have turned her into a villain. She has revealed that she is fi ghting both a battle for survival and yet an-other to free herself from an at-torney she claimed "has wrongly represented me."

According to Celestina, "he came here and told me that Auntie [Mrs. Ikeakor] is his good friend, and as a result, he will not do anything in this case that will incriminate her. She said "This attorney also told me he was referred by my sister in Nigeria, only to fi nd out she was sent by Auntie Betty to set me up for deportation. So I asked him to withdraw."

International Guardian ob-tained a notarized contract ter-mination letter addressed to one Attorney Ike Nweze and Associ-ates. The letter states, "I will no longer be needing the services of your law fi rm. I believe that Mr. Ike Nweze is not representing me to the best of ability due to confl ict of interest on my case." Calls to this law offi ce have not been returned as of press time, but International Guardian is informed that his services are being contested and may end up as a complaint at Texas Bar As-sociation.

Celestina now relies on Nweze's camp, human rights groups and a benefactor as her only hope towards obtaining justice. A 'Ce-lestina Ifeacho Defense Fund'

has been established by the Africans in America Inc. solic-iting fi nancial assistance to aid their progress. Although there are some who are determined to support Celestina's fi ght for justice, the Guardian newsroom has been recently informed that there is much debate among members of the Houston branch of an organization based in Ce-lestina's very own hometown of Enugu Ukwu as to whether or not they will come to her aid in this matter. Members of the or-ganization could not be reached for comment.

Child traffi cking is no small matter in the today's world as it competes with drugs in hol-lowing a serious dent in social stability. Its magnitude can-not be overstated. For instance, State Department data "esti-mated 600,000 to 820,000 men, women, and children are traf-fi cked across international bor-ders each year, approximately 80 percent are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The data also illustrates that the majority of transnational victims are traffi cked into commercial sexual exploitation."

Due to the felonious nature of traffi cking and differences in methodology, the exact ex-tent is unknown.Furthermore, an estimated 14,000 people are traffi cked into the United States each year. Human traffi cking has

been increasing tremendously in Africa, South Asia and into North America.

Children from Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana are traffi cked to Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Gabon. Children are traffi cked both in and out of Benin and Nigeria. Some chil-dren are sent as far away as the Middle East, Europe or America. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country is a recognized source, transit, and destination country for traffi cked women and chil-dren. From there, victims are traffi cked to Europe, the Middle East, and other countries in Af-rica for the purposes of punitive labor, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation. Females are frequently smuggled into Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Cote d'Ivoire, and South Africa for forced prostitution. Other children are traffi cked for invol-untary domestic labor and street hawking within Nigeria and to countries in West and Central Africa. The statistics gets worse. In fact, States Department con-fi rmed that the Nigerian gov-ernment does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of traffi cking, and places the West African Nation on what it called "Tier 2 Watch List" because of the continued signifi cant complicity of its secu-rity personnel in traffi cking, and the lack of evidence of increas-ing efforts to address this com-plicity. The criminal provisions in the comprehensive anti-traf-fi cking law passed in June 2003 in Nigeria remain untested, US Government clarifi ed, although the government created the Na-tional Agency for the Prohibi-tion of Traffi cking in Persons (NAPTIP), as the law mandates, in August of the same year.

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ALZHEIMER’S ERASING HAND


Despite tears unanswered from Heaven’s Gate,

The Brave Warrior refuses to accept her fate.

She speaks to make sure Her voice is still there,

Topics unrelated, She does not care.

Her feet move quickly to an unknown place,

Desperate eyes search intense-ly to recall a son’s face.

On a day when these word’s purveyor was at his work,

His mother sat down next to him with a strange look.

At fi rst he ignored the familiar incisive wanting plea,

But story deadlines weakened when soft words said “Paul, please help me.”

He turned to his left and looked into her eyes.

And She was there.

The same Woman who deliv-ered him birth,

The same Person who gave him mirth,

The same Spirit who caused him pain,

The same Human who taught him how to curse,

The same Cook whose food he once did eat,

The same Bail Bondsman who released him from jail,

The same Overseer who beat him with a switch after he dared to roll his eyes at Her…

The same,The same,The same,She was there.

My Mama was there.

I took Her hand and stroked Her hair.

“Oh! Mama don’t worry, I’ll always be here. You have done so much for me, and I promise to now do the same for you. Do you understand?” I asked just to make sure She was still there.

“Yes, Paul,” was Her reply.

With the same desperation Her three year journey had tak-en her,

I sped up unrhymed words to make sure they would never es-cape Her.

“Mama, there’s not a person I love more in this entire world. There’s not anything that I wouldn’t do for You. You mean

everything to me. Don’t You know how much You mean to me?”

(Gotta, speak fast! Faster! Be-fore She leaves me again!)

“I love You Mama. You have nothing to worry about, Mama. Whatever you want I’ll get it. All you have to do is relax. If some-thing’s upsetting You, don’t worry about it. I’ll tend to it. If there’s something You need, I’ll get it. I know You love westerns, Mama. Gunsmoke is Your favor-ite show, remember?”

“Yes, Paul. I do,” She says. “That’s good, Mama. We can

watch it together on the West-ern Channel. And look here Mama?”

I quickly turn away to the computer to pull up You Tube on the Net. I type in the name Jack-ie Wilson. That’s Lula’s favorite singer. The words “Lonely Tear Drops” explode from the mouth of Michael Jackson’s idol.

“There he is Mama. The only man Daddy is jealous of.”

I laugh.

She does not.

I turn to look at Her. But she is staring back at me.

“Mama, Mama.”

I force her to look at Mr. Won-derful.

“What’s his name Mama?”

She searches frantically. She fi ghts to remember. My heart tells me She knows.

She knows.She knows.She knows.

her mouth says, “I don’t know who that man is.”

POETRY CORNERcontinued from p (6) HOUSTON SLAVERY SCANDAL!

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