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VOLUME 93 - NUMBER 23
] Magic Johnson to join push
to help minority boys
By Jesse J. Holland
WASHINGTON (AR) - Basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson will help lead a White House
push to get more Americans involved in reversing underachievement among young minority men, Presi
dent Barack Obama said May 30.
Johnson, along with Joe Echevarria, chief executive of accounting and consulting firm Deloitte LLP,
will help lead an “external push to get more folks on board,” Obama said as he met with stakeholders in
his “My Brother’s Keeper” program.
The president initiated the program in February to
help try to reverse some of the challenges facing black,
Hispanic and Native American boys and young men.
Obama discussed an initial “My Brother’s Keeper”
progress report with his Cabinet on May 29 and met
with members of the task force on May 30.
Obama said he was pleased with the task force’s
progress so far, and the final goal will be to “really put in
place not only an all-hands-on-deck effort on the federal
level, but a partnership with the private sector so that we
can see some concrete outcomes.”
Johnson was a Hall of Fame player in college and
• “Al • ” I h with the Los Angeles Lakers. Since retiring from bas-
Vin Magic Johnson ketball, he has been successful in business, investing in
Maya Angelou (Courtesy MayaAngelou.com
Maya Angelou remembered
At Wake Forest University
By Katelyn Ferral
WINSTON-SALEM
(AP) - In the quiet book-
store at Wake Forest Uni
versity, student Mazella
Sloan reads out lines from
her favorite Maya Angelou
poem, “Phenomenal Wom
en.” With a song-like cheer
of sass and empowerment,
the rhyming lines begin:
“Pretty women wonder
where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built
to suit a fashion model’s
size.”
“Isn’t that awesome?”
Sloan says.
Angelou, 86, died May
28. It was the first day of
lectures for the summer
classes at Wake Forest, the
poet and American Stud
ies professor’s creative and
academic home.
“I felt like she was de
scribing me and her, and it
made me feel like she was
talking about me,” said the
rising junior from Laurel
Hill. “Every woman thinks
she has flaws, but every
woman is phenomenal.”
Angelou was known
throughout the world as a
literary pioneer and cham
pion of civil rights. At Wake
Forest University and in
Winston-Salem, where she
lived, students and profes
sors remembered her as a
hero on campus, a gracious
mentor and friend, a warm
hostess, and a beloved and
inspirational teacher.
Her poems put a strong
voice of insight into the
American, African Ameri
can and human experience,
showcasing themes of ris
ing up, of survival, said Dr.
Mary DeShazer, a Wake
Forest professor of English
and Women’s and Gender
Studies who worked with
Angelou.
The intimacy with which
Angelou wrote resonates
with all kinds of people,
even those who have no
background in literature or
poetry, DeShazer said.
Angelou cultivated that
intimacy with her students by teaching a class at her home
in which students would first memorize, then perform po
ems.
Every student who took her class said it was a remark-
able experience, said DeShazer, who described Angelou
as “very down to earth.”
“She was generous, warm, funny,” DeShazer said.
Angelou began teaching at Wake Forest University
in 1982, after she first visited the university to read her
work. In addition to teaching students, she mentored oth
er professors and faculty at the university, DeShazer said.
Angelou also took the time to read DeShazer’s book as
it was getting published and wrote a foreword for it, she
said. (Continued On Page 3)
10 Things to Remember about
Author Maya Angelou
By The Associated Press
Ten things to remember about poet and writer Maya Angelou,
who died at age 86:
1. HOW SHE GOT HER NAME
“Maya” was a childhood nickname bestowed upon her by her
brother. “Angelou” was inspired by the last name of her Greek-
American first husband, Tosh Angelos.
2. SHE WAS IN LOVE WITH LANGUAGE, BUT SPENT
YEARS IN SILENCE
After being raped by her mother’s boyfriend at age 7, she stopped
talking, because she thought her words had led to his death (the man
was found beaten to death shortly after being sentenced to prison).
3. HOW SHE LEARNED TO USE HER VOICE AGAIN
A family friend. Mrs. Flowers, took Angelou under her wing and
gave her poems to memorize and recite. She was writing her own
poems by age 9.
4. SHE WORKED WITH MALCOLM X, MARTIN LUTHER
KING JR.
Angelou helped organize Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-
American Unity, though it dissolved soon after his death. She also
served as the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference, headed by King.
5. WHY OPRAH REMEMBERS HER AS A MENTOR
“She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confi
dence, and a fierce grace ... She will always be the rainbow in my
clouds.”
6. A POET OF THE PEOPLE
Angelou’s poems “And Still I Rise” and “Phenomenal Woman”
regularly made the rounds of social media, and she collaborated on a
collection of greeting cards and gift items with Hallmark. “Ifl’m the
people’s poet then I ought to be in people’s hands - and I hope in their
heart,” Angelou said in a 2002 AP interview.
7. POET LAUREATE OF PRESIDENTS
Angelou was only the second poet to perform at a presidential
inauguration when she read at Bill Clinton’s ceremony in 1993. She
also read a poem at the White House’s Christmas tree lighting in
2005 under George W. Bush and was given the Presidential Medal of
Freedom by President Barack Obama.
8. “I’M NOT A WRITER WHO TEACHES. I’M A TEACHER
WHO WRITES.”
Angelou described herself this way in a 2008 USA Today inter
view. At Wake Forest University, she taught courses like “Race in the
Southern Experience” and “Shakespeare and the Human Condition.”
9. SHE CREATED FOOD FOR THE BELLY AS WELL AS THE
SOUL
Angelou’s oeuvre includes two cookbooks, both of them incor
porating anecdotes from her life. She said food was central “in my
desire to understand who I am and where I am.”
10. HER RULE TO LIVE BY
Angelou was known to quote the Roman poet Terence: “I am a
human being. Nothing human can be alien to me.”
theaters, a production company and restaurants. He has also been an activist in the fight against HIV
after being diagnosed with the virus in 1991.
Echevarria worked with Obama on the White House Forum on Women and Economy in 2012. He has
served on the Corporate Advisory Board of the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Ac
counting, which named him Executive of the Year in 2007, and chairs the University of Miami’s business
school board of overseers.
Obama unveiled the “My Brother’s Keeper” program at the White House in February. Under the ini
tiative, businesses, foundations and community groups coordinate investments to come up with or sup
port programs that help keep young people out of the criminal justice system and improve their access
to higher education.
Several foundations pledged at least S200 million over five years to promote that goal.
Obama also signed a presidential memorandum creating a government-wide task force to evaluate the
effectiveness of various approaches so that federal and local governments, community groups and busi
nesses will have best practices to follow.
The progress report noted several areas that the initiative should focus on, including mentorships, get
ting better data on minority boys, making sure young boys enter schools ready to learn, reducing violence
and reforming the juvenile justice system.
“This report really reflects the beginning of the work that we’re undertaking and we’re very much
looking forward to seeing where it leads,” said Cecilia Munoz, White House director of domestic policy,
on TMay 29.
Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report
MORAL MONDAY DEMONSTRATORS
Even as North Carolina General Assembly Locks Its
Doors on Moral Monday, 11 Protesters Arrested
Yesterday for Sit In at Gov. McCrory’s Office
Statement by the NC-NAACP
RALEIGH - People from all across North Carolina rallied at the General Assembly May 26 for the
latest Moral Monday protest of harmful legislation passed last year by Gov. Pat McCrory and the legisla
ture. Despite the legislature locking the doors in an attempt to keep petitioners out, a group of II people
- everyday North Carolinians impacted by a lack of heath care access and environmentally polluting poli
cies - staged a sit-in at the governor’s office.
The 'McCrory 11’ were arrested and charged with second-degree trespassing around 7 pm Monday
after refusing to leave until McCrory agreed to meet with them about the impact of his policies on the
health of the land and people of North Carolina.
Yesterday’s Moral Monday went on despite the Senate’s decision to hold a midnight session on Friday,
allowing them to avoid returning to the General Assembly until Wednesday and miss the demonstration.
The group changed plans by instead focusing on the governor, to whom they also delivered a letter calling
on him to repeal the extreme policies; repent for the impact they are currently having on North Carolina’s
poor and working class and to restore a legislative commitment to governing for the betterment of the
state.
“Speaker Tillis and Senate Leader Berger knew we were coming, and they locked the doors to the
General Assembly building to prevent us from coming in,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president
of the North Carolina NAACP. “But we would not be moved from our purpose - calling upon them and
Gov. McCrory to repeal these disastrous policies that are hurting the very people God loves - the sick,
the poor, the women and children, the elderly, the least of these. Our eleven moral witnesses would not
be moved from their attempts to petition the governor directly. If we expand Medicaid in our state, we
would save 2,800 lives. If we cleaned up coal ash and blocked fracking in our state, we would save lives.
That is what this moral witness today was about. To our governor and our state lawmakers, we say: if you
are going to engage in premeditated political ideology that hurts the least of these, then we will give no
quarter. These are matters of life and death, and the blood will be on their hands.”
(Continued On Page 3)