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Features
Local DJ Celebrates 34 Years On The Air
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
For 34 years, Steve Williams has been the voice of “The Soul Party” broadcast on WMNF 88.5FM. His fam- ily, friends, and other DJs thought it was time that a tribute be paid to the “Old School DJ,” and salute him for still being around.
Williams is a Tampa na- tive and grew up in the Col- lege Hill Public Housing Complex. His son, Derrick, said music has always been a part of his dad’s life, and it was something he related to growing up among all the chaos in College Hill.
“After graduating from Chamberlain High School, he started playing music at local parties. He did that from 1979 to 1980, and in 1981, he landed the job at WMNF.
“I can remember always hearing music from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s when I was growing up. It was great music then and still is today.”
Steve had been em- ployed with the City of Tampa for 17 years until an accident left him disabled. However, the father of 9 had no problem returning to his first love, and that’s always been playing music.
DJ STEVE WILLIAMS
“Growing up during his era, you couldn’t help but like a lot of music,” said Der- rick.
“He listened to them all, and just fell in love with the sound and the artists. He was also impacted by a lot of neg- ative things he experienced as a student at Chamberlain.”
Derrick, who is also known as “Pimp City,” said he’s the only one of his fa- ther’s children who has fol- lowed his footsteps and has a great passion for music.
“My dad is close to all the
legendary DJs, and today he takes time to mentor a lot of the young guys. He also visits correctional facilities to em- power the young people there to be better people.”
Public Invited To Muslim Community Iftar
With the sighting of the new moon, Muslims around the world began their annual month long fast from sunrise to sunset. This fast takes place in the month of Ra- madan and is based on the lunar calendar. Fasting is an obligatory pillar in Islam which allows the followers to practice self restraint and strengthen their relationship with God.
Hakim Aquil said at this occasion, they encourage the general public to fast and join the Muslim community as they break their fast and partake of a delicious meal together for the eighth time since this event started in Tampa.
“In a diverse society, we need to come together and ‘share a meal’ to get to know each other and not isolate ourselves or despise each other based on misconcep- tions. It is interfaith father- ings like this that promote unity and brother among mankind.”
If you intend to fast on that day, you are advised to get up before sunrise and eat a small meal and drink liq- uids. You must not eat or drink anything after sunrise, nor engage in any type of misconduct or physical inti- macies. At sunset, the fast is broken and one can resume eating and drinking, but avoid overindulgence.
Inmates Try To Reconnect With Family Members
For many inmates, their in- carceration has cost them their friends, family, and others close to them. Being incarcerated, es- pecially for long periods, has left these men and women desper- ate for contact.
Many of the inmates write letters to reporters in the area with hopes of getting a re- sponse, and others reach out through other inmates who still have contact with their families.
Thanks to organizations like Abe Brown Ministries, these in- mates are now more capable of maintaining contact with family members and their children.
“It’s painful to go to prison and your children are small, and when you get out, they now have children of their own,” said one inmate who didn’t want to be identified.
“Sometimes, it feels like we’ve been forgotten and since we’re going to be out of circula- tion for a while, our friends, children, and parents just stop talking and writing to us.”
Most of the young men serv- ing lengthy prison sentences were convicted under the mandatory minimum sentenc- ing guidelines for drugs. Adding to that number has been the number of young women con- victed of tax fraud.
“This is a sign that things need to change,” said Andre
ANDRE HILL
Hill, a community activist. “There is a big priority on es- tablishing some kind of eco- nomic recovery for these young brothers and sisters so they will have something to look forward to when they are released. With- out that, a lot of them feel com- pelled to repeat the acts that got them locked up in the first
place.”
Hill is proposing the cre-
ation of an office that will facili- tate contacting inmates for family members.
“We will get a photographer to take pictures to send to the inmates, and once we get a fund started, we will make sure they get a lot of the things they need.”
Hill said in the next two weeks, he will be sending out letters to community leaders asking them to join him in this venture.
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