VOLUME 97 - NUMBER 34
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2018
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
In this Jan. 19,1993 file photo, singer Aretha Franklin performs at the inaugural
gala for President Bill Clinton in Washington. Franklin died Thursday, Aug. 16,
2018, at her home in Detroit. She was 76. Throughout Franklin’s career, “The Queen
of Soul” often returned to Washington - the nation’s capital - for performances
that at times put her in line with key moments of U.S. History. (AP Photo/Amy
Sancetta, File)
Aretha Franklin came to
Washington to sing
and for history
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS
Associated Press
As a 21 -year-old Aretha Franklin worked on her singing voice in New York during the summer of 1963,
her father, Rev. C. L. Franklin, raced to finish the final touches on the planned March on Washington.
Nearly five decades later, Franklin found herself in Washington and performing "My Country 'Tis of
Thee” at the inauguration of the nation’s first black president.
It wasn’t the first time she sang to a Leader of the Free World.
Throughout her career, the "Queen of Soul” often returned to the nation’s capital for performances
that at times put her in line with key moments ofU.S. history. She sang for diplomats, welcomed emperors
and brought one president _ Barack Obama _ to tears. Franklin accepted many honors and performed for
charities and civil rights groups in Washington. She even got in one heated argument at the White House
with another unnamed diva that resulted in the two performers reportedly exchanging obscene gestures
toward each other.
For the Memphis, Tennessee-born, Detroit-raised Franklin, it’s not surprising she found herself in
Washington late in her career. Franklin surrounded herself with the politics of the day and often referenced
her experiences alongside episodes of U.S. history in speeches, interviews and her 1999 autobiography,
"Aretha: From These Roots.”
She noted in her book, for example, that she was born three months after Pearl Harbor and her father
backed Democrat Adlai Stevenson for president in 1956. "Daddy was a staunch, lifelong Democrat, as
I am,” she wrote.
Franklin also mentioned that family passed down tales about the historic treatment of African-
Americans, from slavery to sharecropping _ something she’d never forget. "My grandmother, whom we
all called Big Mama, had worked the fields herself and told us stories of those difficult days,” Franklin
wrote in her autobiography. "No matter how much cotton you picked, you always owed the man.”
J After Franklin found success, she began to make money. "I was intent on enjoying it,’-’ she said.
^I tithed and gave to many charities, including Jesse Jackson’s Operation Breadbasket, the NAACP,
Operation PUSH, UNICEF, and Easter Seals.”
, Franklin hit the scene as soul and rhythm and blues had supplanted jazz as the preferred music of
young African Americans. Performers like Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, Lena Horne, and Ella
Fitzgerald, though respected and admired, were falling out of favor among the younger generation. As
4 leader in the new soul movement, Franklin gain credibility and Democratic groups and civil rights
organizations sought her out for performances that eventually landed her in Washington or near political
Centers of power.
In 1968, Democrats asked her to sing the national anthem at the Democratic convention in Chicago.
As she prepared to sing, police and anti-Vietnam war protesters clashed in the street. Franklin performed
although she famously forgot a few lines.
- Then the disco era came, and sales of her albums fell. Like soul singers Ray Charles and Nina Simone,
She performed overseas in places like Paris and London.
; Franklin returned to the spotlight in 1977 during nationally broadcast "Jimmy Carter’s Inaugural
Gala” in Washington. In her first performance for a president, she sang "God Bless America.”
But it was through the election of President Bill Clinton that Aretha Franklin’s career experienced
4 resurgence. Both Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton told Aretha they grew up on "Respect” and
loved soul. "To have a fellow baby boomer _ a bubba and a saxophonist to boot _ in the White House,
well, let the party began,” Franklin said. In a violet-tulle-and-silver Bob Mackie evening gown, Franklin
performed at two inaugural balls and on the inaugural telecast. It was during the Clinton celebration that
Franklin said tempers flared over an "innocuous statement” she made about another diva’s escort and the
pair of singers got in a heated argument under "one ofthe great works of art in one ofthe historic rooms”
Qf the White House, Franklin wrote.
“ "As we sashayed away from each.other, our parting gesture was the finger,” she said.
While Clinton was in the White House, Franklin sang in the Rose Garden during a visit by the emperor
and empress of Japan.
’ In 1994, Franklin returned to Washington, becoming the youngest artist to receive a Kennedy Center
honor. Fellow honorees included actor Kirk Douglas and folk singer Pete Seeger. Fellow diva Patti
LaBelle performed in Franklin’s honor.
President George W. Bush, a Republican, awarded Franklin in 2005 the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
tlie highest civilian award.
, Four years later, the Queen of Soul was back in Washington, performing for Obama, the nation’s first
black president. Her grey outfit and supporting grey hat dotted with Swarovski crystals, designed by Luke
Song, became an Internet sensation and an early meme.
North Carolina police charge
man officers struck with baton
RALEIGH, (AP) - North Carolina authorities say a black man seen on video being
struck by police faces charges of assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.
Media organizations report 44-year-old Frederick Hall of Raleigh was arrested
Sunday, Aug. 19. He did not have a listed phone number where he or relatives could be
reached.
Video of Friday’s altercation with police was posted on Facebook and had more than
50,000 views by Sunday, Aug. 19. Images show the shirtless, barefoot man swinging his
fists at a half-dozen officers in the middle of a road before being taken to the pavement.
One officer is shown striking the prone man repeatedly in the back with a baton as the
struggle continues.
Members of the local NAACP chapter and other civil rights groups said they didn’t
think Hall’s treatment was justified.
NAACP To
Meet
The monthly general
body meeting of the Dur
ham Branch ofthe NAACP
will be held Sun., Aug. 26
at 4 p.m. at Mt. Vernon
Baptist Church, 1007 S.
Roixboro St.
The public is invited to
Meet and Greet the new
President Pastor Rachel H.
Green and the Executive
Board.
The public invited to at
tend.
For more information
call 919-952-0798.
REP. JIM CLYBURN
South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn Says that
Democrats that Want to Win in November
Must Advertise in the Black Press
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) says that President Trump has a deep-seated hatred for people of color that
manifests itself every day.
August 20, 2018 NNPAFreddie Politics 0
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) says that President Trump has a deep-seated hatred for people of color that
manifests itself every day. In this photo, ahead of the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act on March 23,
2012, House Democratic leaders held a press conference to highlight the benefits of the Affordable Care
Act for America’s families and small businesses. (Wikimedia Commons)
By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)
While there’s at least a perceived growing number of Democrats who say they want to replace
California Rep. Nancy Pelosi as the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, South Carolina
Rep. Jim Clyburn has emerged as a favorite among his peers to become the first African American to hold
that position.
In an exclusive interview with the NNPA Newswire, the 25-year congressman said that, while he’s
ready for the challenge, Democrats currently have much bigger fish to fry.
“The first order of business is to win the [midterm] elections on November 6,” Clyburn said. “That’s
what I’ve been concentrating on.”
Clyburn and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Cedric Richmond each told the NNPA Newswire that
they’ve identified 37 districts across the country they believe can be won by Democrats this year, which
would wrest control ofthe House from Republicans.
“We feel, with the right kind of effort, we can win,” Clyburn said.
Clyburn listed three keys to success this November.
The first key, Clyburn said, is to prioritize the Black vote; Democrats can’t afford to take the African
American vote for granted.
Second, the Democrats shouldn’t rely on an anti-President Donald Trump wave to get put the vote.
Finally, Clyburn said that candidates must advertise in the Black Press, if they want to win in November.
“We are also talking about districts where Barack Obama won twice and where Hillary Clinton also
won, but these voters don’t turn out for the so-called ‘off-year elections,’” Clyburn said. “We can’t let
these voters feel like we’re taking them for granted.”
Clyburn, 78, said he was recently taken aback by one candidate, who said that he could win the Black
vote by running on an anti-Trump platform.
“Wait one second,” Clyburn said that he told the individual. “We can’t just go around being ‘Republican-
light.’ We have to be out there putting forth an alternative message, for our base, and we have to reach out
to Black voters and let them know we’re not taking them or any of our base for granted.”
To that end, Clyburn said advertising campaigns must largely include the Black Press.
“It’s very, very important...Chairman Richmond and I have had candidates in and we’ve been telling
them that one of the best ways to demonstrate that you’re not taking the Black vote for granted is to
advertise in the Black Press,” Clyburn said.
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) is the oldest and largest trade group
representing the Black Press, comprised of more than 200 Black-owned newspapers operating in the
United States.
“I’ve been in [the Black Press]. My daughter and I ran a newspaper down South, so I know that
candidates tend to take Black media for granted,” Clyburn said. “They tend to judge Black media the
same way they do other media and you just can’t do that, because the business model is totally different.”
Each Sunday after attending Morris Brown A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C., Clyburn said he and
other churchgoers habitually pick up the local Black-owned newspaper.
“People tend to pay attention to the headlines, the stories and the ads in the Black Press so it’s vitally
important that candidates know this,” Clyburn said.
A former history teacher, Clyburn said Trump’s obsession with dismantling Obama’s legacy is
reminiscent of tactics employed by Andrew Johnson to demean his predecessor, Abraham Lincoln.
Johnson, who was impeached by House in 1868, had a vision of America as a White man’s government,
according to historians.
“If you remember, it’s the same kind of reaction Johnson had to Lincoln and I remember sitting alone
once in the Oval Office with Obama and I told him that this would be the kind of reaction he could
expect,” Clyburn said.
“[Obama] was never going to get the kind of respect for his presidency that was shown to presidents
before him,” Clyburn said. “The narrative that exists in this country is that there are certain things that
Black folks are not supposed to do and one of those things is becoming the president of the United States
and [President Trump] and his administration, feel they have to do whatever they can to wipe out any
semblance that Barack Obama was ever president of the United States.”
Clyburn continued: “[Trump] has a deep-seated hatred for people of color and it manifests itself every
day.”