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THE BLACK COMMUNITY - ? ??
by Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo
February 22, 2025
Greetings to every one again! I hope this 3rd article of the month ties together the first two articles and is a stepping off place, into the last article which is very extensive. In these articles, we have been dealing with Black history, African American History, our context, and concepts of living in this community with all that we have gone through, and all we are dealing with now.
This week’s article is entitled, “The Black Community -???.” A good Blues singer of mine named Solomon Burke, in one of his songs he says “sometimes we get what we want and lose what we have. Let me say that again, sometimes we get what we want and lose what we have.” We as African Americans have our communities, sometimes they are very larges and spread out and sometimes they are very narrow. Many times, they were “across the railroad tracks,” even in some of the larger cities they had African Americans in certain places. A friend of mine from New York talked to me about the whole concept of the word ‘Ghetto,’ and how that came about and how they put African Americans in certain parts of town. I don’t want us to forget that sometimes we get what we want and lose what we have.
I remember going to Boston where my Sister-in-law owned a store in the midst of an African American Black community and did very, very well, because that is where we traded with one another. We also had that in my hometown. My uncle Oliver had a store on the street I lived on, Bluebird Road. I don’t know if we had many white residents there. I think I mentioned the story once before, if I did, I will mention it again.
I had a friend, a little white boy, we played and had lots of fun, then one day he told me they were going to have to move; I asked him why and he said his daddy told him that integration has come now and we should not be living out here with black people. So, I said, if you got to go, you just got to go.
We had distinct communities, some of those were designated by us and some were not. In Little Rock in particular, in Granite Mountain, when renewals came in, it put African Americans in certain parts of the city. There is a whole study on that, that deals with how Urban Renewal came in and displaced African-American communities to other parts of town, and it did restrict whites from living in those areas but you could go into those areas and there was 90% of African-Americans living in those communities so that tells you something.
I want to lift up five things on the black Community with all those question marks. I want to lift up location, common interest, social gathering, lifting up one another, and the coloring mesh:
LOCATION - most of the African American communities were on the east side of town. For some reasons, the west part of town was designated for non-African Americans. I lived on the east side of town myself, and we lived in a very close-knit community. My Aunt and grandmother lived next door to me, and I grew up with my first cousins. The other thing about my growing up was, every one up and down the street knew who you were. There was a certain closeness and close-knit-ness in the community. We were not Monolith, I was ME Methodist, that’s a another technial piece, not United Methodist, but ME Methodist. Just to make a quick commentary the ME Methodist, were those who were affiliated with the Northern Church, rather than the Southern Methodist. Some of the friends were Church of Christ, some were Baptist and that’s mostly what we had in the community I grew up in. There was also a Presbyterian Missionary that came, so we had a few Presbyterians. In the early 60’s where I grew up, the Church of God in Christ was not that big and I say that because today, the Church of God in Christ, is the largest African American Denomination, even over the Baptist. We also had some places called Non-Denominational Churches or Spiritual Churches.
We had one called Mother Stanford, and I never shall forget going over there. I‘ll tell a quick story, they always made sure they had their money a certain way, and this is the story daddy told. They were taking up the offering, and they would say, “we need $20.00,” and they would take up about $19.00, and then they would state how much extra they still needed to balance it all out. This would continue until the amount what they needed got way up there. Finally, daddy asked, how much more do you need, to even this out, you just keep asking for more! That was the Pentecostal Church.
Let me go on about Location for a moment. If anyone was coming to town, they would know they could look for African Americans in a certain part of a community, and usually that was the east side of town. On that east side of town, not only were we a close-knit community, but that’s where you had other kinds of things that went on.
For example, my mother was part of the “Bluebird Road Garden Club” and all those ladies worked together it was a nice situation.
COMMON INTEREST - one of the things that was my daddy’s thrust, and was an interest to me was education. I’m a child of the 60’s born in 1948, a Baby-Boomer, and if the Lord blesses me, I’m going to be 77 years-old in a few weeks. Education was a big common interest because you wanted everyone to get an education. Growing up in middle Tennessee there were a lot of good factory jobs in my home town, and in Nashville. If you had a high school education, you made an awful good salary back in those days. A
lot of people, even to this day, when you look at some of the industrial pieces going on, you see middle Tennessee had some good jobs. I even remember, myself personally, when my sister worked for Dupont, and I had quit my job at the Post Office and was working in the local churches, and she was making $18.00 an hour way back then!
Education enabled you to get upward mobility to go to college. The blessing of where I grew up in Lebanon, Tennessee, was Nashville was called the Athens of the South, and what does that mean? At that time, I believe there were about 15 schools of higher education around Nashville. Not only that, but three of those schools were HBCU’s (Historical Black Colleges & Universities), and one of those was Meharry Medical College. At one time in America, ninety-nine percent of all black doctors attended only two medical schools in the nation, Howard University and Meharry Medical College.
I am proud to say Meharry was affiliated with the United Methodist Church, and due to legal requirements, it is no longer affiliated, along with many others such as Syracuse University. At present, there is controversy over Southern Methodist as to who owns it. Meharry not only graduated medical doctors, but also dentist. I found out years later, a friend of mine who was a dental student there would come to my hometown to find people to work with. So, education was a big part of our common interest.
The second part of our common interest was home skills. In other words, if you grew up in the black community, you learned how to clean and how to cook. During that time, when the young men from the north came, they wanted to get a girl from the south because the southern girls knew how to cook! My sister was a pretty good cook, she really loved her fried chicken and could do it well and my mama could cook. The other part of living in the community was you had your specialty. My mother’s specialty was her Prune cake. That’s a long story, but the people who bought them from her just loved them. Some people made chess pies others made a certain kind of cake. So, that was another part of the community, you had your cooking skills, cleaning and washing and ironing skills. This sounds kind of common, but a lot of folks don’t know how to iron a shirt. So, we have location, common interest,and Social Gatherings.
SOCIAL GATHERINGS - In the African American community where I grew up, on the East side, we had a night club. People came from all over to go to that night club, the 101 Wagon Wheel. In the community, we also had events where Dad would hang up lights, people would heat up the oil and cook fish, Uncle Hubbard would play the guitar, and people all up and down the street would come. This was a great gathering that people in the community knew about and would come to. We also knew where in the community the bootleggers were, and we got people to buy from them, for us. So, we had social gatherings. There weren’t many churches on our street. There were some in other communities, but not many in ours. So, have location, common interest, social gathering, and the fourth thing is lifting up one another.
LIFTING UP ONE ANOTHER - I was so glad to be in a community where people thought enough of you to try to encourage you. I have been encouraged by others my whole life. I’ve had people that told me how happy they were when I went off to college. They said they hoped their sons would do like I did and leave home and make it. Some people went off to Tennessee A & I, what we call now Tennessee State University. Another bit of history, many of the African American schools at that time were designated. By that, I mean Tennessee A & I was Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial. Arkansas had AM&N, Arkansas Mechanical and Normal. There was North Carolina A & T, Agriculture and Technology and Florida A&M, Agricultural and Mechanical. So, when people got to Tennessee State, we lifted them up. We were very proud of them.
COLORING MESH - The last thing I want to talk about is the coloring mesh. In our communities now you don’t have the designated community that we used to have, but there has been an influx of black men together with white women and black women together white men. We have a ‘coloring mesh.’ I’m putting that in perspective to say that when you go out now, you have all colors of the rainbow together, and I think that is good. I think it lifts all of us up to know Genesis 1:27: we are all made in the image of God. And I won’t talk much about the mesh because it is going to be here with us, and we are also born in the image of God. When we think about the black community with the question marks, you put your answer to them. I just started some dialogue that will hopefully make you think about what you have gone through. Maybe you’ll talk to your parents about it and your uncles and aunts. Talk to someone and ask about what we have been. As the blues singer said, sometimes we get what we want, but we lose what we have.”
Love,
I Am
Charlie Edward McAdoo
Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo is a retired District Superintendent with the United Methodist Church
opinions
The inhumanity of it all
by Wendell Griffen
February 22, 2025
I am writing to report an incident that four SDPC attendees witnessed last night and notified me about shortly after the invocation was delivered during the BATF gala.
Four SDPC attendees (Jordan Griffin, Laphon Flood-Francis, Donavan Pinner, and Royal S. Tull) were in the lobby of the Marriott and saw an unarmed Black woman be arrested, handcuffed by Little Rock Police Officers, and removed by the officers. Why? Because a Marriott security employee called the police. When the SDPC attendees asked for an explanation, they were told that the woman was unhoused and asking for money.
The attendees asked the Marriott security officer to not have the woman arrested, and offered to pay for a room for the woman for one night so that she would be out of the cold. Their offer was refused. The Marriott security employee told them, and later repeated to me, that Marriott had banned the woman from its premises because she asked people for money.
Freddy Haynes and I were sitting at the same table when the SDPC attendees (three M.Div. graduates of Princeton and a Ph.D candidate attending Vanderbilt Divinity School) told me what they witnessed. Freddy and I left our table and walked with them to the front desk of the Marriott, accompanied by Roger Robinson (a local photographer engaged for our Conference who has served New Millennium Church and my family).
At the front desk I asked to speak with the security officer on duty. He was summoned. I introduced myself, explained that the SDPC attendees had witnessed the woman being arrested for criminal trespassing, handcuffed, and removed by Little Rock Police to a lock-up facility, and asked that Marriott drop the criminal trespassing charge given that the woman was not committing a crime by asking for money and doing so inside the Marriott lobby to get out of the cold.
When the Marriott security officer responded that he lacked authority to have the charge dismissed so the woman could be released from jail, I asked to speak with the head of security, and waited until he returned. However, he did not return with the head of security, but with the manager on duty. I explained the reason for my presence to her and requested that Marriott have the charge dismissed. I had, in the meantime, phoned Mayor Frank Scott Jr's to ask for his help. Mayor Scott received my call while he was at a shelter for unhoused persons, and assured me that he would contact the LRPD and get the woman taken to a shelter rather than be jailed.
The manager on duty and I spoke in the lobby near the front desk. Our conversation was observed and overheard by Dr. Haynes, Damien Durr (who joined us after learning of the situation as we neared the front desk), the four SDPC attendees, and Roger Robinson. I asked that Marriott drop the criminal trespassing charge against the woman. The MOD said she wasn't authorized to do so, so I gave her my card, asked her to have the chief of security contact me, and we returned to the gala. Tyronne Pitts was delivering his acceptance remarks when I returned to the gala.
When I did not receive a phone call or text from Marriott personnel after more than half an hour I remarked to Dr. Haynes that I had not done so, and returned to the front desk alone for a status report. I spoke to a staff member who acknowledged that she was aware of my previous visit and conversation with the MOD. However, she refused to summon the MOD to speak with me and told me that the MOD was no longer available when I asked for her contact number to contact her.
I returned to the gala, observed the presentations and remarks by Ambassador Battles, Dr. Stewart, and Dr. Harris, and left the gala following the closing photographs to reach out again to Mayor Scott for help getting the charges released. This time I went to the M-Club room on the first floor where I updated the attendees, Rev. Durr, Rev. Ayres, and Rev. Marcus Tabb.
While we were talking, Mayor Scott phoned and reported that the woman (whose name he did not know but agreed to determine) had been taken to a shelter. I asked Mayor Scott to contact the LR Marriott and ask that the criminal trespass charge be dropped, assured him that I would not take no further action if the charge was dropped, but told him unless the charge was dropped I would notify Proctor leaders, attendees, and the public about the inhumanity of arresting and charging an unhoused woman with criminal trespass because she asked strangers for money in the hotel lobby while trying to escape the bitter cold.
Mayor Scott told me that he would have Gina Gemberling (CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau) contact Marriott. He later called (at 11:15 PM), told me that Gemberling was trying to reach David Laing (Marriott's security director), but that Laing was traveling and did not answer his call. When Mayor Scott asked that I give him until noon to contact Laing about the issue before speaking publicly, I would not agree to wait until noon. However, I told Mayor Scott that I would mention his intervention to get the woman taken to a shelter rather than kept in jail, and Gemberling's attempt to contact Laing and get the charge dismissed. Mayor Scott then said he would work to get Marriott to dismiss the criminal trespassing charge before the Conference final session commences at 9 AM, and that he would notify me accordingly. As of the time of this email message I have not received a call from Mayor Scott nor been contacted by hotel personnel that the criminal trespassing charge has been dismissed.
I suspect that Marriott does not intend to dismiss the criminal trespassing charge. Mayor Scott, the MOD, and the security employee told me that Marriott has ordered the woman to remain off the premises a number of times in the past. I do not question their freedom to order the woman off hotel premises. But handcuffing a defenseless unhoused woman in the hotel lobby and pressing charges against her for criminal trespassing because she enters the hotel lobby on the coldest night thus far in February (12 degrees and falling) violates her right to seek assistance, and demonstrates callous disregard for her humanity and safety.
Incidentally, the woman is Black. The SDPC attendees who witnessed her mistreatment are Black.
The security employee who refused to allow SDPC attendees to rent a room for her is Black.
The MOD who refused to contact me after I asked that she contact the Marriott security director and have the criminal trespassing charge dropped is Black.
Mayor Scott is Black.
Fortunately, Jordan Griffin, Laphon Flood-Francis, Donovan Pinner, and Royal S. Tull recognized that this was a Jericho Road/Good Samaritan situation. They refused to ignore what they saw. They tried to intervene to prevent the woman from being victimized because of her plight. I am glad they shared what they witnessed with Dr Haynes, Rev. Durr, Rev. Ayres, Rev. Tabb, and me.
I ask that we share what happened with the Proctor Family at the outset of the morning session, denounce Marriott's inhumane response to her dilemma, and call on Marriott to drop the criminal trespassing charge against her.
Wendell Griffen is the author of Parables, Politics, and Prophetic Faith published by (Nurturing Faith, (2023) and
The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope (Judson Press, (2017). He is also an ordained minister and former elected judge.
www.fierceprophetichope.blogspot.com
www.wendellgriffen.blogspot.com
Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Arkansas
pastorgriffen@newmillenniumchurch.us
CEO, Griffen Strategic Consulting, PLLC
www.griffenstrategicconsulting.com
griffenstrategicconsulting@gmail.com
Co-Chair, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
opinions
America Embraces the Dark Side
by Deborah Springer Suttlar
February 22,, 2025
Black History month was designed to recognize the contributions of African Americans and highlight our historical achievements due to the lack of inclusiveness in American History books. At this time, it is not only our history being excluded, but so are the people of African descent.
Since the rise of Donald Trump, he and his followers have embraced ideology of Imperialism, Anti-affirmative Action, Separatism and Colonialism. This country is being culturally divided, and separatism is the reality of the day.
The current social climate has been overtaken by racism, discrimination, exclusion, hate and ungodliness. There is a “spirit of darkness” which has infiltrated human minds and has rendered Americans unable to decipher right from wrong. Our society has become prone to favoring wealth instead of the humane treatment of people. An attitude of bigotry, hate, and greed is being cultivated among us.
While it is expressed “we are Christians,” there is little proof of it. The words and actions exhibited toward those of us who are of a darker hue, or those seeking opportunity in our land are being treated with disdain. America was once viewed as a beacon of hope and a symbol of democracy, but it is no longer. This current administration has tarnished that opinion. We now reflect conceit, isolationism, and bigotry.
America is no longer the example of that “wonderful melting pot” of democracy which made us a beacon of hope for humankind. Instead, many celebrate a racist ideology which not only heightens fears but isolates us from the “Word” of a loving, caring and inclusive God. Our God who created Diversity, the God who commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves is being ignored. There is an African Proverb, which states, “In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams.” The fools are building more dams.
We have just witnessed the audacity of elected officials such as Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Congressman French Hill addressing Arkansas Historically Black College and University officials. Their records reflect that they both support anti-affirmative action and Trump’s Executive Order in which he terminated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in federal contracting, the federal workforce and spending. They come before us playing the game of inclusion and acceptance when they are not, and their actions prove it. Sarah will return to the Capitol, espouse hate, and sign hateful legislation. French Hill will vote and promote laws against our interest. Sarah, where is the money owed to Arkansas HBCU’s? Give us the money due to our HBCU’s! This governor oppresses the poor and gives bonuses to her personal staff. This is ungodly and so is she.
Sarah Huckabee is a devout racist who is following Donald Trump. She emulates in his quest to impose genocidal laws and policies to render Black and Brown people powerless in a country we helped to build. French Hill is the same kind of racist, and his voting record proves it. It was the result of legislation that we forced the Constitution to be applicable to all of those who were intentionally discriminated against. If we had not called out their sinfulness, the Constitution would only be “words on paper.” All races built this country, and we deserve all the rights and privileges that God has given each of us. No white person who thinks they are entitled, has the right to rule over us. I will never be silent about who we are and what we deserve as citizens in this country. As Say McIntosh use to say,” God will have the last Word.”
This is my opinion, and I am going to fight against this racism and racist until the day I die.
The Indigenous people told us, “If the white man want to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace…Treat all man alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance.
Famous quote on power and greed, “But when we crave power over life—endless wealth, unassailable safety, immortality—then desire becomes greed. And if knowledge allies itself to that greed, then comes evil. Then the balance of the world is swayed, and ruin weighs heavy in the scale.
Deborah Springer Suttlar is a social and community advocate, and a long-time supporter of public schools.
opinions
EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY: 6th Week- 95th General Assembly
By Joy C. Springer
February 22, 2025
As the Arkansas House of Representatives enters the 6th week of the 2025 Regular Session, it is noted that over 130 bills have been signed into law. As reported last week, the House and Senate passed legislation that will allow every student in
Arkansas public schools to receive at least one free breakfast every school day.
This past week, Governor Sanders signed ACT 123 making it the law of the state of Arkansas. She also signed ACT 122 requiring school districts to establish rules for students’ use of cell phones and personal electronic devices during the course
of the school day. These rules will become effective during the 2025-26 school year. Finally, Governor Sanders signed ACT 124, the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act designed to expand healthcare access for pregnant women in the state of Arkansas which will cost the State $45.3 million dollars.
There you have it…Arkansas will spend $45.7 million dollars to give public school students at least one breakfast
a day while attending school and another $45.3 million dollars for women’s health care. As I have stated over and over, Arkansas is not a poor state and will spend money on whatever it chooses to spend it on. Once again, these funds are a combination of federal funds and revenue from medical marijuana sales.
The question is: Will the medical marijuana sales in the state of Arkansas led to another crisis? Let us hope it does not. Over 31 million dollars has been collected since 2016 in medical marijuana sales. Another question: How can we ensure that these funds are equitably distributed to ensure all students receive at least one breakfast per day and mothers receive the necessary health, including those who look like me?
I can not end this week’s update without providing you with an update regarding the state of “Education.” The LEARNS Act was signed into law on March 8, 2023. The LEARNS Act is was designed to be a comprehensive education reform package
that included changes to teacher pay, school safety, and student opportunities. It was designed to improve student achievement of all students in the state of Arkansas. We have not received any positive results. In fact, less than 50 percent of all students
in the elementary grades who took Reading assessment last year are reading on grade level.
Since it has only been a year, we should wait, and see? Well, the focus has now changed. In less than two years, the “buzz” word is now “ACCESS.” The Governor has been quoted as saying “The focus is for Arkansas students to graduate with more than just a degree—they should have the education, skills, and training necessary to thrive in the real world.” The Secretary of Education, Secretary of Higher Education and the Governor now introduce HB 1512.
I now share the proposed legislation for your review. At least three rhetorical questions come to my mind:
1) is the legislation focused on giving all students equal opportunity?
2) is this legislation saying students who are already excelling, we are now providing you with increased access to excel?
3) is this legislation saying to other students who you don’t need to have access, it is ok if you do not obtain a college degree, you can obtain vocational skills to operate a fork lift or become a plumber?
Here is the link to the bill:
https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FHB1512.pdf
I encourage you to read it and suggest start reading at pages 58 forward…The Educational Emergency continues…
Rep. Joy C. Springer represents District 76 in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Mrs. Springer previously served on the Little Rock School Board and is a long-time civil rights activist and supporter of equality in public education. She currently serves on the House Public Transportation and House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs committees. Additionally, she serves on the Performance Review committee, and Joint Budget committee as a 1st alternate including Personnel and Special Language, and as a 2nd alternative on the Legislative Auditing committee.
opinions
ARKANSAS BLACK PERSONALITIES 2025
By Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo
February 15, 2025
The following information was taken from a 2019 Black History Study Guide. This Guide’s content has been used all over the state of Arkansas in reference to Black History. Let me lift up for you that the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame has honored many of the individuals I will mention. Basically, what I want to do with this article is to just lift these personalities up; read a little bit about them and go on the internet and look up who they are and what they did and how they have added value. I’m going to ask you to share this with your family, because I think one of the ways we miss out is, we don’t share some of the people that have covered Arkansas and have done a great deal of work.
I have another disclaimer at the end of the article. However, I want to show the front end first and there’s no way in the world that I think I’m getting all the wonderful and outstanding Black personalities in Black History in the state of Arkansas. I’m using someone else’s information, but I want you to know that if someone’s name is not on this list, it’s because there was no bad list, and in working with my Virtual Assistant I did not want myself to start adding names. I want to make it as convenient for her as I can and also for myself. So, let me begin the list:
· Al Green– Soul music legend, best known for hits like "Let's Stay Together" and a smooth, soulful voice.
- Bobby Mitchell – Former professional football player and civil rights activist, known for his time with the Washington Football Team.
- Carl Freeman: A leader in education and Black community development in Arkansas, Freeman worked to promote Black culture and expand educational opportunities for African Americans.
- Charlotte Stevens – The first Black teacher in Little Rock during the Reconstruction Era. Her contributions were so significant that an elementary school in Little Rock, Charlotte Stephens Elementary School was named in her honor.
Cortez Kennedy – Born in Osceola and spent the first 18 years in the small town of Wilson. A Standout NFL player. The Six-time Pro Bowler was also inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2012.
- Daisy Bates – Civil rights leader and newspaper publisher, known for her leadership during the Little Rock Nine desegregation crisis.
- Debbie Turner – A respected activist and community leader advocating for social justice and education.
- Dee Bennett – Acclaimed artist and cultural leader, known for his contributions to the arts in Arkansas.
- Dr. Patricia Washington McGraw – Advocate for education and youth programs, particularly for underprivileged communities.
- Dr. Ruth Patterson – A pioneering educator and author who contributed significantly to African American history and literature. She was the first to teach Black literature in Little Rock’s public schools and authored “The Seed of Sally Good'n,” documenting a Black family's history in Arkansas.
Dr. Samuel L. Kountz, Jr. - Was an African-American kidney transplantation surgeon from Lexa, Arkansas. He was most distinguished for his pioneering work in the field of kidney transplants, and in research, discoveries, and inventions in Renal Science, in 1961, while working at the Stanford University Medical Center.
- Eliza Miller – Early civil rights advocate and community leader in Arkansas, known for her educational and social contributions.
- Emma Hunter Brown: An educator and activist who dedicated her life to advancing civil rights and improving education for African Americans in Arkansas.
- Ernest Jacobs: A prominent businessman and civic leader in Arkansas, known for his contributions to the local community and his efforts in promoting African American entrepreneurship.
- Ernest Joshua Sr. – Community activist and philanthropist, known for his contributions to education and social justice.
- Haki Madhubuti – Renowned poet, educator, and publisher, a key figure in the Black Arts Movement.
- Hubert Ausbie – Civil rights leader and educator, known for his activism in education and advocacy for African-American rights.
- Joe Silas Hunt: An influential lawyer and civil rights leader who worked to secure equality and justice for African Americans in Arkansas, focusing on legal advocacy and education.
- Lenny Williams – Renowned R&B singer, best known for his solo work and as the lead vocalist of Tower of Power.’
- Lou Brock – Hall of Fame MLB player, widely celebrated for his stolen base records and outstanding career with the St. Louis Cardinals.
- Maya Angelou – Renowned author, poet, and civil rights activist, best known for her memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
- Mildred Smith: A pioneering figure in the fight for civil rights and educational advancement, Mildred Smith worked tirelessly for the improvement of African American communities.
- Milton Crewchaw – Community leader and educator in Arkansas, known for his work in advancing educational opportunities.
- Missouri (Big Mo) Arledge – Famous for his contribution to African American culture, particularly in sports and community development.
- Mosaic Templars of America – A prominent African American fraternal organization founded in 1882 to promote social and economic welfare.
- Nathaniel Clifton – One of the first African Americans to play in the NBA, breaking barriers in professional basketball.
- Nolan Richardson: A legendary basketball coach, best known for leading the University of Arkansas Razorbacks to an NCAA championship in 1994 and advocating for racial equality in sports.
- Rickie Henderson – Former MLB player, widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball players and base stealers in history.
- Rosetta Tharpe – Pioneering gospel singer and guitarist, often regarded as one of the godmothers of rock and roll.
- Scipio Jones – Prominent lawyer and civil rights advocate who helped secure the release of African-American men wrongly convicted in 1919.
- Scott Jack - An influential community leader and activist who worked to improve the lives of African Americans through civic engagement, education, and advocacy.
- Scott Joplin – Legendary composer and pianist, often called the "King of Ragtime," famous for his work in early American music.
- The Little Rock Nine - A group of nine African American students who integrated Central High School in 1957, playing a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement and school desegregation.
- Wiley Britton: A significant figure in the African American community, Wiley Britton was an educator, community leader, and advocate for civil rights in Arkansas.
- William H. Brown was a prominent African American leader in Arkansas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was known for his work in education, politics, and civil rights, serving as one of the few Black legislators in Arkansas during Reconstruction.
- William Hare Flowers: An educator and activist who made notable contributions to advancing civil rights and improving educational opportunities for African Americans in Arkansas.
- Willie Roaf – Pro Football Hall of Famer, known as one of the best offensive linemen in NFL history.
Let me say with all sincerity, as I said in the beginning, I know I have not listed all the great personalities in our state. I further ask you to help me help the people who do the study guide and to add any names that we may have missed today. In closing, I ask, as I did earlier, that you share this with your family members, with organization and community members and other persons who may be interested in some of the personalities who have been Black in the state of Arkansas and in the things that they have done in so many different areas. In these presentation events there is always room to explain, but you are now the person who can marshal and make an outstanding accomplishment for yourself and the state of Arkansas and around the world. With God all things are possible!
Love,
I Am
Charlie Edward McAdoo
Dr. McAdoo is a retired district superintendent in the United Methodist Church
opinions
EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY:5th Week- 95th General Assembly
by Joy C. Springer
February 15, 2025
As the Arkansas House of Representatives enters the 5th week of the 2025 Regular Session, several key pieces of legislation have moved forward, addressing issues ranging from maternal health, food insecurity, and education.
One measure that received should receive applause from everyone was the House’s overwhelming approval of Senate Bill 59 (SB59. Senate Bill 59 is an act to provide each public-school student in the state of Arkansas with breakfast at no cost! This bill ensures that every student in Arkansas public schools shall be entitled to one free breakfast per school day, regardless of their eligibility for federally funded meals. This initiative is being funded by tax revenue from medical marijuana sales. Who much money are we talking about?
The total cost including federal funding will be $14.7 million dollars. Did you know that through 2024, the state of Arkansas has collected over 31 million dollars in tax revenue for medical marijuana sales. I am not promoting marijuana sales, however, as I have communicated in the past, our students need nutrition to be productive learners in our public schools. The data show that Arkansas ranks as the hungriest state in the nation based upon 2023 statistics indicating that 18.9% of the state’s households experience food insecurity. Wow! Two strikes that are prevalent in our state: 1) our children are hungry and 2) the probability that will likely will die while being born leads the nation!
Another interesting factor impacting the education of our children that has recently come to light is their use of cell phones during the school day. There appears to be mixed emotions about whether students’ continuous use of cell phones during the school day has impacted their ability to learn.
Another Senate bill passed this week to address this pending concern/ problem. SB142: Bell to Bell, No Cell Act cleared the House of Representatives this week. SB142 mandates public and charter schools shall do the following:
By the 2025-2026 school year, each public school district shall establish a written student discipline policy and exemptions
concerning the possession and use by a student of a personal electronic device during the school day.
There are exceptions, including emergency situations, and schools will be required to create policies in compliance with the guidelines set by the bill. These include allowing for the use of phones for special events, medical reasons, or for students accessing college coursework through two-factor authentication.
Finally, HB1427: Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act represents a major step forward in supporting maternal health in Arkansas. The bill, which is a $45.3 million investment, expands access to healthcare for pregnant women. It establishes presumptive Medicaid eligibility for expectant mothers, creates reimbursement pathways for doulas and community health workers, and broadens Medicaid coverage. Members of the Democratic Caucus wholeheartedly support this legislation as much of it was a part of legislation that had already been filed by Caucus leadership.
In the week ahead, the House expects to address legislation regarding whether the state government can regulate private organizations regarding the production of certain data among other things…. You can watch all House committee meetings and House floor proceedings at arkleg.state.ar.us.
The Educational Emergency continues….
State Representative Joy C. Springer represents District 76 in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Representative Springer previously served on the Little Rock School Board and is a long-time civil rights activist and supporter of equity in public education. She currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee and House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs committees. Additionally, she serves on the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) and the JBC Employee Benefits Division Oversight committee and as a 1st Alternate on the Legislative Joint Auditing committee.
opinions
The Fierce Urgency of Rebuilding U.S. Democracy
by Wendell Griffen
February 8, 2025
Donald Trump has been back in office as President of the United States for less than one month.
In less than a month, thousands of people have been swept from U.S. communities and deposited elsewhere in the world on Trump’s order – reminiscent of Hitler’s Gestapo. Despite the 14th Amendment guarantee that every person has the right to due process of law and equal protection under the law, on Trump’s order, Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents, who swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, are snatching men, women, and children from U.S. communities, holding them, and hauling them somewhere else, based on bigotry against immigrants from Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and nations with large Muslim populations.
The forcibly removed people were not given court hearings, allowed access to legal counsel, and ordered deported by judges. Their family members do not know where they are, how to contact them, and how to reestablish contact with them.
Trump has eliminated federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, placed federal DEI personnel on paid administrative status, and ordered federal employees to snitch on anyone suspected of not complying with his order. The Constitution has a 1st Amendment (since 1791) which guarantees freedom of expression. Trump’s anti-DEI order defies that guarantee.
Trump threatened a hostile takeover of Greenland, a U.S. ally and member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Trump has expressed interest in making the population of 57,000 people a U.S. state over the objection of Denmark.
Mind you, Greenland’s population is much smaller than the populations of Vermont and Wyoming (627,000 and 524,000 respectively), and smaller than the populations in Washington, D.C. (659,000), Puerto Rico (3.5 million), Guam (159,000), and the U.S. Virgin Islands (106,000). However, Greenland’s predominantly white population lives in the Arctic region of the North Atlantic where glacial melting due to climate change has capitalists drooling about the prospects for new shipping alternatives to the Suez Canal and Panama Canal, and hoping to mine precious minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium, and nickel.
Along with threatening to takeover Greenland, Trump imposed draconian tariffs on goods and products from Canada and Mexico. Earlier this week during an interview with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump announced that he wants to re-develop Gaza into an ocean-side resort and depopulate its Palestinian inhabitants.
Trump issued blanket pardons for the insurrectionists who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, caused injuries to Capitol police officers, threatened the lives of members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and boasted that they wanted to kill then U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” He wants to reclaim the Panama Canal from Panama, and falsely claims that China owns or runs the Panama Canal.
Trump has ordered all U.S. passports to use male or female sex designations based on the sex assigned passport holders at birth. That order blatantly violates the rights of transgender persons.
In my September 15, 2023 blogpost Things Are Not As Bad As They Seem, I drew on Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and argued that we must admit that things are worse than they seem (https://fierceprohetichope.blogspot.com/2023/09/things-are-not-as-bad-as-they-seem.html). Unfortunately (and perhaps tragically), that admonition was ignored.
Thanks to the July 1, 2024, U.S. Supreme Court decision in Donald Trump v. United States in which six Justices of the Supreme Court created an extra-constitutional doctrine of absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official conduct by anyone serving as President, the November 2024 presidential election, and right-wing Republican party majorities in the U.S. Congress, Donald Trump is now an authoritarian leader of a fascist regime in charge of the U.S. government.
One should not make that observation lightly, and I don’t do so. However, we should not ignore realities merely because they are unpleasant. As I mentioned in another blogpost, the United States ignored appeals from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to undergo what he called a “radical revolution of values” to the point that we are now well into what amounts to a death vigil for U.S. democracy (https://fierceprohetichope.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-tragic-death-wish-granted.html). Ignoring reality does not make a terminal illness benign, let alone prevent it from spreading to the point that it kills a patient.
The hyper-partisanship that followed racial gerrymandering of state and federal legislative districts in the wake of the 2010 and 2020 U.S. census tallies, misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and fear-based bigotry against immigrants (xenophobia), defined the 2024 presidential election and proves that the United States is a bitterly-divided fascist society. This is an unpleasant truth to write. It is an unpleasant truth to read. That unpleasantness does not make the truth less real.
I am a student of politics, honorably discharged U.S. Army veteran, a retired state court judge, and an ordained pastor in the religion of Jesus. It is not part of my character to hide from painful realities. I recognize the death signs of U.S. democracy, and lament what they mean for our society and the rest of the world.
That sense of political and prophetic discernment leads me to detail how we arrived at this dismal situation. The refusal of right-wing U.S. Senators (led by former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky) to convict Donald Trump after he was impeached twice during his first term as President allowed Trump to run for office in 2024.
The decision by Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barratt in Trump v. United States gave Trump and every future president the power to be despots.
Chief Justice Roberts led the Supreme Court to gut voting rights protected by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder.
The Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission gutted campaign spending limits in federal elections and set the stage for what has become a political campaign spending arms race.
Remember that after the November 22, 2000, “Brooks Brothers riot” by Republican staffers interrupted vote counting by election officials in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the United States Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore upheld the decision of Florida officials to suspend vote counting altogether. That decision resulted in George W. Bush becoming the winner of the 2000 presidential election because tens of thousands of ballots from predominantly Democratic Dade County were not counted. In 2004, Bush nominated Roberts to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Roberts has held that position since 2005.
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks killed people in New York, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon – following bungled handling of available intelligence by U.S. national security and intelligence agencies – Bush and his Vice President, Richard “Dick” Cheney, led the U.S. into what Bush termed a “preemptive global war on terror” that resulted in the military misadventure known as the war in Iraq, followed by invasion of Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden was finally found and killed in Pakistan in 2011, ten years after US forces defeated the Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan at the end of 2001.
For the next twenty years, Taliban fighters waged guerilla warfare in Afghanistan that matched wits and tactics against a US led multi-national military force that was better equipped, had more personnel, and was better financed. A combination of bloodlust, Western hubris, white supremacy and racism, neoconservative Christian nationalist imperialism, and capitalist greed resulted in the longest war in US history. We may never know the true financial cost of that military misadventure that bedeviled the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.
What is clear is that during that twenty-year misadventure, religious and other thought leaders in the United States did not challenge public thinking about the war in Afghanistan the way that Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam challenged thinking when King called on the nation to undergo a radical revolution of values away from racism, materialism, and militarism.
This is the recent history responsible for our current predicament. Instead of a government based on a representative democracy of voters, the 2024 presidential election outcome resulted in the U.S. government now being run by a vicious sociopath (Donald Trump), and a predominantly white male oligarchy of white supremacist, racist, misogynist, and militaristic billionaires. That sociopathic oligarchy is cheered and sacralized by white supremacists who profanely pimp the religion of Jesus, disregard the love and justice imperatives that Jesus taught, and are hateful faith foot soldiers for their fascist regime.
Instead of free and independent media outlets that function as checks on political corruption, authoritarianism, and oppression, so-called legacy media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post function alongside cable “news” operations such as CNN, Fox, and MSNBC to foster what Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky accurately term “manufactured consent” for capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy, and their side effects in their 1988 book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.[1] Henry Giroux accurately calls the result “manufactured ignorance.”[2]
And instead of exercising moral and ethical discernment and warnings about racism, capitalism, and militarism – which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. termed “giant triplets” – religious leaders dismissed obvious dangers posed by sexism, classism, imperialism, techno-centrism, and xenophobia.
The “giant triplets” that King warned about on April 4, 1967, when he called on the nation to undergo “a radical revolution of values,” are octuplets now.
We must rebuild democracy in the United States.
I urge you to read On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder’s 126 page pocket-sized book that he subtitled “Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century.”[3] Snyder is a history professor at Yale University. His little book is a valuable primer on how to confront tyranny and rebuild democracy.
I use the term “rebuild democracy” deliberately. Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. concluded his foreword to Parables, Politics, and Prophetic Faith, the book South African theologian Allan Boesak and I co-authored in 2023, with a parable that Dr. Charles H. Long, a professor of the History of Religions shared with students at the University of Chicago Divinity School. In that parable, Long imagined that someone baked a cake but forgot to include sugar with the ingredients. Jeremiah Wright likened the Constitution of the United States to the resultant “concoction.” He described the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments as tantamount to pouring sugar atop the “concoction” and calling it “cake.”
After the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that recognized the freedom of women to exercise choice over their reproductive health, Jeremiah Wright Jr. questions if the rights enshrined by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution are safe, and wonders if they might be discarded the same way. He contends that Americans must construct “a whole new constitution, this time including the sugar that was omitted in the first concoction.”[4]
I also encourage you to read Democracy Matters: Winning The Fight Against Imperialism, by Cornel West.[5] West foresaw the vicious consequences we face today caused by neoliberal free market capitalism, Constantinian Christian and Jewish fundamentalism, and political and sentimental nihilism pervading U.S. news outlets and the entertainment industry.
Martin Luther King Jr., Cornel West, Jeremiah Wright Jr., and Timothy Snyder foresaw our current plight. Americans ignored what they said and wrote. White voters in so-called “red states” patronized corporate media outlets that contributed to voter misinformation and manufactured consent with partisan politics. Those voters elected Trump, whose 2024 campaign was financed by Elon Musk and other right-wing capitalist mega-donors, because their political knowledge and values were poisoned by Project 2025 and right-wing religious fundamentalist propaganda.
Rebuilding democracy will require that U.S. voters “unlearn” white supremacist, patriarchist, racist, sexist, and neoliberal capitalist theology, reject the myth of American exceptionalism, and embrace King’s call for a radical revolution of values. Rebuilding democracy will be difficult, but the difficulties ahead of us are less than those experienced by Indigenous people, enslaved Africans, politically disenfranchised women, unwealthy white men, immigrants, workers, and LGBTQ persons across U.S. history.
The difficult but attainable work of rebuilding democracy begins by admitting that U.S. society is not teetering on the brink of fascism. Donald Trump’s MAGA/Project 2025 presidency proves that we are well past the tipping point. Once we accept that reality, we can take on the important work of dismantling the policies and politics and dismissing the politicians associated with Trump’s MAGA/Project 2025 fascism. Then we must lay a reinforced foundation based on an education system that respects critical thinking, inclusion, and justice.
Re-building democracy will be hard work. It will not be easy to engage people who are addicted to entertainment and hostile to education. But we must either take on the hard fight to rebuild democracy or we will sink deeper into a fascist state.
In the words of entertainer Arsenio Hall, “Let’s get busy.”
[1] Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, The Political Economy of the Mass Media, (Pantheon: New York, 1988).
[2] Henry Giroux, Pedagogy of Resistance - Against Manufactured Ignorance, (Bloomsbury Academic: New York, 2022).
[3] Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century, (Tim Duggan Books, New York, NY, 2017).
[4] Allan Aubrey Boesak and Wendell L. Griffen, Parables, Politics, and Prophetic Faith: Hope and Perseverance in Times of Peril, (Nurturing Faith, Macon, GA, 2023), 7.
[5] Cornel West, Democracy Matters: Winning The Fight Against Imperialism, (Penguin Press, New York, 2004).
www.fierceprophetichope.blogspot.com
www.wendellgriffen.blogspot.com
Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Arkansas
pastorgriffen@newmillenniumchurch.us
CEO, Griffen Strategic Consulting, PLLC
www.griffenstrategicconsulting.com
griffenstrategicconsulting@gmail.com
Co-Chair, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
Hope fiercely. Love boldly.
Love one another. Jesus of Galilee, Palestine
We will find a way or make one. Hannibal of Carthage
Writing is how I fight. James H. Cone.
The time for pious words is over. Allan Aubrey Boesak
Justice is a verb!
https://fierceprohetichope.blogspot.com/2024/01/this-is-why-donald-trump-is-barred-from.html
opinions
The Samaritan Health Project
by Deborah Springer Suttlar
February 8, 2025
While Trump and the Republican Regime are causing unconscionable damage to American Democracy, on January 24, 2025, many of us witnessed the launch of “The Samaritan Health Project.” This project is a call to action for Health Justice.
A Samaritan is referred to in the Book of Luke 10:30-37, as a person who is generous in helping those in distress. The Samaritan Health Project is the brainchild of Dr. Sandra Bruce Nichols, a former director of the Department of Health in Arkansas and who later became a Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Health Inclusion and Community Engagement at UnitedHealth Group. Dr. Nichols is a survivor of serious health issues, and after her retirement, decided to address the disparities of the underserved in health care. She is passionate about helping others seek the help they need. The pilot project of The Samaritan Health was presented in Little Rock, Arkansas where Dr Nichols was raised on the east side of the city.
At the launch of The Samaritan Health Project, Dr. Nichols chose to honor two people who influenced and supported her desire to address the needs of those underserved and those experiencing inadequate healthcare. She also honored a third individual who is addressing critical rural health needs and collaborating with other healthcare organizations. The following honorees were recognized.
Dr. Jocelyn Elders, the former director of the Arkansas Department of Health, was later named the 15th Surgeon General of the United States under President Bill Clinton. She was the first Black woman to serve in this position. Dr. Elders later worked at the University of Arkansas as a professor of pediatric endocrinology until her retirement. In 2016, the Jocelyn Elders Clinic was established in Kisinga, Uganda. This clinic serves students to promote sex education and treat those students suffering from diseases such as malaria.
Mellie Boagni who serves as the CEO, President, and Founder of the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership and as the University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS) Regional Director of Strategy, Management, and Administration. She has over 23 years of experience in community and organizational networking, grant writing, and program development and implementation. Ms. Boagni has been effective in addressing healthcare needs and access in rural Arkansas.
Rev. Dr. William H. Robinson, (Paw Paw) the founder of Better Community Development, formerly Black Community Developers, Inc (BCD). This organization was founded to address drug addiction and to provide services to eliminate the drug problems in our community. He served as Senior Pastor of Theressa Hoover Memorial United Methodist Church for over 35 years. Rev. Robinson has expanded the operation to include health services to all those regardless of race, creed, or color. He has also expanded operations through BCD’s Affordable Housing department which has taken blocks of dilapidated building and built new affordable homes in the midtown area of Little Rock. These honorees were recognized because of their passionate desire and works in which they have demonstrated a “Samaritan spirit.” In their service to the community.
Dr. Nichols has a Samaritan spirit, and she has stated that the mission is to build a framework for that effectively shift disparities in healthcare among the underserved. Our own Opinion writer Pastor and Judge Wendell Griffen addressed the group and highlighted the need for all of us to be involved to help our community move toward justice and equity for health care.
I wanted to make you aware that there are people looking beyond this mess we are dealing with in this country who have a passion for addressing the real needs of our people. Dr. Nichols is also seeking core partners to strategically partner with us to create a national framework that will empower the underserved. The minority, poor women, and children in need of quality and efficient healthcare. We all know that Black women have a higher rate of maternal mortality and Arkansas’s healthcare system is low including low-income equality, and a lack of health insurance. Arkansas ranks 47th in healthcare. We have problems and adequate healthcare for all is one of them.
I chose to highlight The Samaritan Health Project. Our health is an issue, and we need to take the disparities in healthcare and our health seriously. This project will address a critical need.
Dr. Paul Farmer: “If access to health care is considered a human right, who is considered human enough to have that right?”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought for a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.
Deborah Springer Suttlar is a community activist and longtime supporter of public schools.
opinions
BLACK HISTORY – OUR HISTORY?
by Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo
February 8, 2025
Hello and happy Black History Month! All my articles in February will have a Black History focus. As I begin to try to find a proper way of starting, I saw on the internet a wealth of reading concerning Black History. Rather than just trying to regurgitate what I have been reading I wanted to point my article in two directions. The first direction is to look at the birth of black history in more legitimate and competent ways of education. I believe we as blacks, and the whole community, need to know exactly what has gone on and what is going on in the black community.
My next point will a direct focus on Black American personalities in the state of Arkansas. I will give a brief history of each of them as we mark and lift up those things they have done so we might ponder.
The birth of Black history can also be referred to as African-American History. It has been called this by most scholars and in my opinion was the brain child of Carter G. Woodson. The structure started with the Dr. Woodson “In Association for the Study of the Negro Life and History in 1926.” The 2nd week of February is the focal point, because in that week was the birth of Abraham Lincoln, on February 12th. Just as aside, February 12 is also the birthday of Charlie Edward McAdoo, and I’m glad to be born on Lincoln’s birthday! President Douglas’s birthday is February 14thand that day is also another celebration in America, because that is Valentine’s Day. This week is Black community celebration week, and has been since the late 19th century.
The celebration began in earnest to encourage school systems across the country to place informative content in the standard curriculum in many of our schools. Fortunately, for myself, I grew up taking a class in Tennessee on African-American History and my wife also had a class in African-American History. As I personally grew up, I took that class on Black History at Wilson County High School in Lebanon, Tennessee.
Here is a quick aside that you may or may not know. At one time, African-Americans were not afforded the privilege of a true academic offering. Many of the Black high schools in the South were training schools. Basically, these schools were there to train African-Americans to do menial work and other kind of things. Even though I attended Wilson High School, my older brother and sister attended Wilson County Training School in Lebanon, Tennessee.
The reason behind Dr. Woodson’s push on Black history was to not be content just teaching about the blood access of African-Americans, but to also emphasize the physical and intellectual survival of Black Americans within the borders of the United States.
From that push and many efforts, a week grew into a month. Black educators and black students at Kent State University offered the first Black History program in January of 1969. The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State University a year later from January 2nd to February 28th 1970. An additional last historical footnote: President Ford in 1976 recognized Black History month during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial. He stated, “Let us seize upon the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor through our history.”
This effort and first-hand information has had its ups and downs throughout the years. It has been a growing controversy and is with us today, and I will probably write some later on this. There are some communities in which first-hand accurate information and respect for African-American History has been a slap in the face of the White community because of this word that people use today, “Critical Race Theory”. CRT (Critical Race Theory), is not taught in elementary nor High School in America. It is an academic course that persons can take on a higher education level. It’s not forced upon anyone and is only taught at the higher education level. The legal defense fund in America, a premier legal organization, fighting for civil justice defines CRT in the following way:
“It is an academic and legal framework that denotes that systematic racism is part of the American society- from education and housing to employment and healthcare. Critical Race Theory recognizes that racism is more than the result of an individual’s bias or prejudice.
The five tenets of CRT are: the notion of racism is ordinary and not aberrational, the idea of our interest convergence, the social construction of race, the idea of story-telling and counter story-telling and the notion that whites have actually been hurt by these assumptions.”
I feel this current historical background and the upbringing of these dates, influences me to say that I will not write about Arkansas historical personalities this week. I think we have enough to get started, and I’ll leave it at that.
So, going back to my original notation,” Black History – Our History?” which has been noted down through the years, there would not be any Black History if there had not been whites and others who have cooperated with us in how to get things done. It was a very cooperative effort. However, I just want to go back to Dr. C. Woodson. If you get nothing out of this month’s articles, please remember C. Woodson! Look him up on the internet and have him in your heart and in your prayers for what he had done for our community in the United States of America!
Love,
I Am
Charlie Edward McAdoo
Dr. C.E. McAdoo is a retired district Superintendent in the United Methodist Church.
opinions
EDUCATIONAL EMERGENCY:4th Week- 95th General Assembly
By Joy C. Springer
February 8, 2025
As the Arkansas House of Representatives enters the 5th week of the 2025 Regular Session, several key pieces of legislation have moved forward, addressing issues ranging from food freedom to healthcare access and election policy.
One measure that received House approval, HB1149, ensures that counties and municipalities cannot impose regulations on vegetable gardens located on residential properties. This bill upholds the right of homeowners to cultivate their own produce without restrictions. Similarly, the House passed HB1048, which expands opportunities for small farmers by allowing the sale of unpasteurized milk at farmers' markets or through direct delivery from the farm where it is produced. You can now “grow” your
own!
Healthcare policy also saw legislative action this week. HB1181 allows certified nurse midwives to admit and discharge patients from licensed hospitals, if granted privileges, improving maternal healthcare access. Additionally, HB1309 clarifies cost-sharing requirements for breast cancer examinations. In addition, Governor Sanders had a press conference to announce an omnibus bill to address maternal health in Arkansas. As we already know, the Democratic Caucus of the Arkansas Legislature has already introduced several bills to address maternal health. Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States.
The state's rate is much higher than the national average. The state ranks last in the nation in maternal mortality, with almost 44 deaths per 100,000 births; the national figure is 23.5. The gaps go farther: “Of the 35,000 pregnancies in Arkansas each year, 10,000 women wait until they are after their first trimester to see a doctor.
During the press conference held by the Governor on Thursday, you may have only heard the names of Dr. Sam Greenfield and Dr. Austin Porter. Dr. Greenfield, an African American, is a graduate of Meharry Medical College, an expert in OB-GYN medicine for UAMS Women’s Health Center located at 6119 Midtown, Little Rock, Arkansas and Dr. Austin Porter, another African American and graduate of the Fay Boozman College of Health, is the Arkansas’ State Deputy Director of Epidemiologist. Dr. Porter is a faculty member at the College of Health and has years of experience in data collection and analysis. These men are responsible for providing the data being utilized to address Arkansas’ maternal health crisis.
The House also passed HB1221 this week, which limits the validity of ballot initiative titles and petition signatures to the election cycle in which they are approved and collected. Any separate commentary is forthcoming on this “bad bill.” As stated, this legislation will limit the process regarding the collection of signatures for ballot initiatives. Another “bad” bill!
In addition, possibly the most egregious bill of the session, the House also passed SB3. SB3, a bill that seeks to eliminate affirmative action programs in state government and other entities. The proposed legislation states that the state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in matters related to state employment, public education, or state procurement. A bill full of contradictory statements. Another piece of legislation declared that will soon be declared unconstitutional. Additional commentary regarding this legislation is to come as well!
In the week ahead, the House expects to address cell phone restrictions in schools and free breakfast for students. You can watch all House committee meetings and House floor proceedings at arkansashouse.org.
The Educational Emergency continues….
State Representative Joy C. Springer represents District 76 in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Representative Springer previously served on the Little Rock School Board and is a long-time civil rights activist and supporter of equity in public education. She currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee and House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs committees. Additionally, she serves on the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) and the JBC Employee Benefits Division Oversight committee and as a 1st Alternate on the Legislative Joint Auditing committee.
opinions
DADDY SAID, and SOMETIMES MAMA SAID IT TOO
by Dr. C.E. McAdoo
February 1, 2025
Every house here has a certain protocol, which they want to have in the house at times. The same is true as some general house-ways in our communities. As I look over my life, in a way of my own upbringing and in my present home, let me drop a few McAdoo nuggets in the article. The beauty of these nuggets is that they are my nuggets, and you will surely have your own nuggets in the place where you live and work at this time, in reference to home and auto and community at large.
Ready Room
There should be a room in the house that is great for people to come to, where they can sit and talk. Should the president, (if she/he came to town,) this is the room you would want them to be in. That room is always sparkling and clean. Not everybody goes through the side door, because the side door may have some “this or that’ around, but
that room, the one that is always ready to receive guests, is called the ready room!
Bathroom
Make sure that your bathroom (or if you have more than one bathroom, make sure that you have one in this state) that is neat, clean, smelling good, and looking good and neat at all times for visitors or friends who may come in. If you have a visitor that needs to go to the bathroom, you've got a wonderful bathroom ready for them!
Standing Family Greeting
In our house, whether it's on the phone or in person, email, or text, we ask a person how they're doing. We always check on someone's sensibility. Sometimes someone may be going through some things. There may be some trauma of things that have happened in their lives. It’s not that they resist it, but they may not want to talk about it. When we ask how they are doing we pray, and I pray, that the spirit of the asking moves them to a place that they know you care.
Kitchen
A clean kitchen is a must. It is an open picture of how you feel about your home. It's also an open picture of how you feel about what you would cook for someone in that kitchen. All kitchens have different personalities to them. Some are bigger, and some smaller than others. Some have shelving, some have no shelving and some have unique placement. The bottom line is that a clean kitchen is a place that will really make a good impact on people as they come into your home. We know some people think that there's a verse in the Bible that says cleanliness is next to godliness. Well, I don’t want to blow your mind, but that's not in the Bible! However, cleanliness certainly does make a difference. When you come to someone's home if the kitchen's cleaned up, I think that God would be welcomed.
Throwing trash in your vehicle
Carry with you in your vehicle a plastic bag to dispose of the stuff that you pick up along the way. We go to fast food places so much these days where we accumulate stuff. The cars are like our home once again. Don’t throw things that are in your vehicle on the floor or on the back seat. When your vehicle is clean and neat, the drive seems so much more pleasant.
TV instructions
Our TVs today are so complicated, you just can't give somebody the TV changer. (And I say TV changer. My grandkids say “Granddad that's a remote.” Well, I grew up calling it a TV changer, so that's what I'm going to do. This is my article and not theirs!) The TV changers are so complicated these days that you almost need instructions on how to turn it on! Then, if you accidentally hit something, it goes backwards, and you don't know how to go back to the place where you had it. Then, hit something and it goes to another thing, and if you have some of these premium channels you accidentally get a bill for a movie that you didn't even like because you didn't see it! In other words, have instructions for TV changers!
Electricity
Going back, as a little boy, I remember my dad took me outside one day. “Charlie Edward, do you see this meter?” I said, “Yes sir.” He said, “Well, you see how fast it’s going?” I said “Yes.” He said, “Well, that means that it's running very fast because there must be a light on in the house.” And so that means growing up, he would always tell us to cut the lights off in the house. Thank the Lord, they got these fancy things now that turn off the lights for you when no one is in the room! And so that's what I grew up with. So, if you are not doing something in a room, turn the lights off!
Close it
If you open it, close it, this applies across the board. Close your drawers when you get clothes out in your room and close the closet doors. Close the cabinet doors. Further than anything else, close all the doors in the kitchen. Lastly, close those big doors. Don't leave the front door open to try to cool the whole neighborhood! Don't leave the back door open to try to warm up the world!
Love,
I am,
Charlie Edward McAdoo
Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo is a retired District Superintendent with the United Methodist Church.
opinions
The Pharoah Has Come to America
by Deborah Suttlar
January 26, 2025
We all know the Bible story of the Israelites being subjected to slavery and oppression while enslaved in Egypt. The Israelites were subjected to oppressive laws and actions by Pharoah. Although God sent Moses as a spokesperson commanding their release, he refused and consequently God inflicted many plagues to encourage their release. The Pharoah defiantly refused to release them. However, he finally relented but later rekindled his hate and vengeance to his own peril. That is the Bible story. Now, we have the American version, “The Pharoah has Come to America.”
Donald Trump as president is America’s Pharoah. After his Inauguration on the 20th of January 2025. The Associated Press reported Donald Trump stated he inherited” American carnage,” and the country’s decline will end immediately by him ushering in the “golden age of America.” He vowed to send troops to the U.S. Mexico board, boost domestic oil production and impose tariffs to “enrich our citizens.” He said the former administration (government) protects dangerous immigrants instead of law-abiding citizens, protects foreign borders at the expense of American borders and “can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency.” “All of this will change starting today, and it will change very quickly,” he said. We truly have now entered the Twilight Zone.
Trump’s portrays America as being in its’ worst condition. The insistence that the laws of the Constitution are not to be followed because it relates to those who are immigrants/migrants or refugees. He refers to just treatment based upon the law as being “protection’ versus conducting ourselves within in the law to treat all people humanely. He then alluded to the tragedy of wildfires in California as being the inability to deliver basic services. When it was the result of many factors including climate change, inadequate funding, and an overwhelming system. This critical analysis is due to a Democratic Governor being at the helm. Trump does not view all citizens as Americans, he views them either as supporters/Republicans or as enemies, such as the Democrats, immigrants, and minorities.
This president’s first order of business was to curtail immigration at the southern border and declared national emergency at the Mexico border. He suspended U.S. Refugee Admissions Program resettlements, issued an Executive order to end birthright citizenship for those born to undocumented immigrants, he expedited an order deregulating drilling which specifically targets Alaska and paused offshore wind leasing in federal waters. Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Treaty where the U.S as the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter. There was an order targeting DEI and transgender Americans. Because of the anti-woke ideology, Trump ordered the dismantling of government diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within 60 days. More specifically, he revoked the Equal Employment Opportunity order of 1965 signed by Lyndon B. Johnson. Next, he pardoned most of the January 6thdefendants who participated in the Capitol riot and commuted the sentences of fourteen others. He signed an order withdrawing from the World Health Organization. These are a few of the orders in which he has begun the process of dismantling the Democracy of the United State of America. America has been branded worldwide as a beacon of liberty and justice for all. Now we know that “all” was intended for the “white people.”
I do not have to tell you that this new era has dark connotations, and it is anti-American, or should I say, the America which we said we were. We must remember that Donald Trump was elected by most people in this country who heard him say the worst and now we are seeing it come true. Donald Trump is now the DNA of America.
America is now the reverse of the most noble, welcoming, loving, kind, land of freedom, it has become the land of racist hate. Like Moses in Egypt, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, jr., came to warn them about the oppression of God’s people. The truth is, they wanted Black people to remain as slaves and we continue to be stalked and oppressed. People invaded this country and said it was theirs and the Indigenous people were place on reservations. What will happen next? The Pharoah has come to America. Some people still do not fear God.
God will lead us, and God will avenge us. I think it would be appropriate to return the Statute of Liberty.
African Proverb: He who has done evil, expects evil.
Ephesians 5:15-17 .....Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but was wise. Making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Deborah Springer Suttlar is a community activist and longtime supporter of public schools.
opinions
A Baby Boomer Blessing
by Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo
January 26, 2025
A Baby Boomer Blessing
When you wake up realizing that you have made it to 70, it is amazing how you get a lot of sense in your head! The 70’s for me is 70-plus: 70 plus six more years. Seventy-seven, and what a blessing it will be if the Lord blesses me to make Feb 12, 2025! I can speak only for me as one who is caught up in the “I ams.” When I grew up, I grew up with the I ams. I will talk about them as I go through this, as a blessing of the development that I received growing up. Growing up I remember people saying the I ams. In the world that I grew up in, the highest market of time was somewhat of an 18thcentury carryover in that people understood that thinkers were the greatest folks. I think, therefore, I am!
I know this is going down a deep road for some of us. It may be moving us even to a place where it deals with philosophy more than psychology and sociology. In my day and age, there was a value in being a philosopher. For me, maybe not historically correct, but that was an age of for me, “I ams.” This was part of many of us in the black communities who had the Booker T. Washington mentality: I do, therefore I am. Black people can do. We can do hand and eye coordination. We can do manufacturing. We can do farming. We can do the spit and polish in our community. That was, for many, part of the cultural and social debate between WEB DuBois, the thinker, I think therefore I am, and Booker T. Washington, I do therefore I am.
The irony was, I put this in tongue and cheek, is that the philosopher WEB DuBois continued to push us to philosophize the way Booker T. Washington started, I do therefore I am, and helped build Tuskegee Institute.
Between these two pillars of how we lived as Boomers was our blessing. We were able to live in a society of thinkers and doers. The bottom line is that this was the influence of the civil rights movement, philosophy and doing, which leads us now into the activism of what we are doing today. So, I still believe for us the blessing was in both areas. We boomers have been able to have the blessing and put the mark on the whole world that I think therefore I am. I do, therefore I am; I’m an activist, therefore I am; and it gives us an identity of who we are.
Grace and Peace,
I Am
Charlie Edward McAdoo
Rev. Dr. C.E. McAdoo is a retired District Superintendent with the United Methodist Church.
About Us
Why we must create our own narratives
Perception is reality. How we are viewed and what is said about us matters. It is abundantly clear that here in Arkansas, we as African-Americans don't control many, if any, statewide media groups. On any given day, COUNT the number of positive stories reported by print and television stations KATV, KARK/KLRT-FOX-TV, and KTHV, about African Americans in Arkansas.
In Arkansas, with the exception of KTHV, the media groups and their ownerships are conservative and often often distort people of color and specifically, BLACK families. As black consumers of the news, "that's the part we miss." How on the "regular" we are portrayed by white media groups and their local news stations and print media.
A study from the University of Illinois concluded that at best media outlets (a) promoted racially biased portrayals and myths that pathologize black families and idealize white families with respect to poverty and crime (b) play a dangerous role in spreading debunked stereotypes about black families and (c) at worst, amplify those inaccurate depictions for political and financial gain. We've all seen that type of behavior before.
When media outlets examined in the study reported stories about poor families, they chose to feature black families in their coverage 59 percent of the time, even though only 27 percent of families living below the poverty line are black.
Similarly, in coverage of welfare, 60 percent of families portrayed were black, even though only 42 percent of families receiving welfare are black.
Finally, the article addresses the real-life consequences of the continued distortion of black life by the media. "When the news media constantly associates black people with crime, it increases racial stereotypes among viewers, leading the public including liberal and conservative Arkansan's to disproportionately favor punitive criminal justice policies." As a collateral damage piece, when the poor are depicted as overwhelmingly black, it leads the public to support heavier restrictions on welfare because of a perception that undeserving black people benefit from it. Backers of corporate and right-wing policies gain when the news media blames black families for social conditions, while their own role in destabilizing society remains invisible.
This online publication exists to counter the narrative that constantly depicts African Americans as "less than." It exists to balance the negative view of African American life that is constantly depicted in the local news and information outlets in this state. We are so much more than the lip-service paid to us by those that control the news cycle. It's not about the reporting of the news, it's about the process of manufacturing the news. There is a saying that goes something like this. "If you control the messenger, then you control the message." Let's take some of that control back. As African Americans in Arkansas, let us create our own narratives. Most importantly, let us report and talk about the real issues.................. with our own voices,.... and our own opinions.
meet our contributors
opinion
opinion
opinion
Deborah Suttlar
Deborah is a longtime Community and Civil Rights Activist. Her column appears in the Opinion Section.
Click the link below to read read Deborah Suttlar's column.
https://talkblackarkansas.com/opinion
opinion
opinion
opinion
The Honorable Wendell Griffen
Judge Griffen will comment on the law and its impact on Black Arkansans. He will also discuss and legal and social issues on a state and national level impacting Black Arkansans and Black Americans.
Click the link below to read Judge Griffens column.
Finance
opinion
Religion
Gaining generational wealth is the key to Black economic family wealth and security. We will share strategies from the Association of African American Financial Advisors to help you and your family get there. We will inform you about managing your finances so that you can start your path to financial freedom.
Religion
Religion
Rev. C.E. McAdoo
Rev. McAdoo is a retired District Superintendent with the United Methodist Church. He will provide a weekly column on Religion and Black Arkansas.
Click the link below to read Rev. McAdoo's column.
https://talkblackarkansas.com/opinion .
At the State Capitol
State Representative Joy C. Springer
State Representative Joy Springer is a veteran school an civil rights advocate for African-American children and their families. She will provide a weekly column on state legislative and educational concerns affecting African -Americans .
Click the link below to read Representative Springer's column.
Medicine and health
This weekly column features a listing of top African-American doctors in Arkansas, and their areas of expertise. We will try to connect you with physicians who understand your physical, cultural and mental health needs. One study suggests that African American male patients who meet with black physicians often ask to receive more preventive services than patients who met with nonblack physicians. This study also suggested that black doctors are more likely to provide a comfortable settings to black patients, perhaps because of shared experiences or backgrounds. The study concluded that increasing the amount of black physicians could lead to a 19 percent reduction in the black-white male cardiovascular mortality gap and an 8 percent decline in the black-white male life expectancy gap.
Education
Who to call
Who to call
This weekly column will focus on educational happenings in the state including news from local school districts and the Arkansas Department of Education.
Who to call
Who to call
Who to call
People always have "who to contact questions." Whether it is a local city government office or a state government office, we will try to steer you in the right direction.