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R.I.P. To ‘The Greatest’
t looks like 2016 is turning
out to be a year that we'll look back on as one for the record books when it comes to the number of iconic figures we've lost to the essence. And, unless something unbelievably tragic occurs in the next six months, I don't think a bigger name could be stripped from our presence before 2017 than that of Muhammad Ali.
The death of Ali is, ar- guably, the biggest loss the sports world has ever seen. That is mainly because his transcendence above his cho- sen profession made him a beloved and admired individ- ual for far more than his phys- ical prowess.
If you needed a textbook example of what manhood was expected to look like in mo- tion, Ali was the prototype. He was tough, charismatic, ath-
letic, well-respected, tall, handsome (prettier than a girl as he put it) and most of all principled. Everything that a male child would want to grow up to be, Ali encompassed.
The word “hero” gets thrown around a lot when it comes to describing sports leg- ends. But Ali was really that guy, a true to life super-man whose only kryptonite came in the form of a debilitating dis- ease called Parkinson's.
What made him so special didn't have as much to do with what he was able to accom- plish inside of the ring as it did with his actions outside of the squared circle. His faith-based decision to refuse enlisting into military service during wartime made him the ulti- mate face of defiance in the eyes of oppressed people everywhere. The fact that he
was willing to sacrifice his ca- reer, fame and fortune be- cause of his firm stance on his beliefs is still unprecedented.
While he was definitely no joke wearing a pair of boxing gloves (his status as a 3-time heavyweight champ is evi- dence to that alone) his strength of character is the main reason why he'll always be in my top five of the bad- dest dudes who've ever lived.
Along with men like Shaka Zulu, Nat Turner, Mal- colm X and Nelson Man- dela, his legacy will forever be rooted in courage and un- breakable fortitude.
I guess it goes without say- ing that we'll never see anyone like Muhammad Ali, at least in our lifetimes, again. But, if we could get more people to follow his recipe for achieving greatness, not only would the world be a much better place, it would be like he never left.
R. I. P. Champ. Your contri- bution to mankind will never be forgotten.
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President Obama Kept Promises To Veterans
o, the next time you hear someone say President Barack
Obama doesn’t care for American veterans, dig into your pocket, purse, or knapsack, fish out and read them a copy of this editorial. For, indeed, we hate to say it, but too often, people readily accept and repeat untruths about President Obama’s accomplishments told by his opponents and detrac- tors.
But thanks to records kept by organizations like Politi- fact, the White House, and by veterans themselves, President Obama’s commitment to and actions of support for veterans as promised during his political campaigns are numerous over the past seven years of his administration.
For instance, among our President’s accomplishments for veterans include an increased budget to recruit and retain more mental health experts, increased access to health care for 7 million more appointments, increased assistance to homeless veterans reducing veteran homelessness by 36 per- cent, increased staffing of the Veterans Health Administra- tion by 1,400 doctors, 3,800 nurses, 116 psychiatrists, and 422 psychologists as well as implementing electronic-based processing of a 610,000 disability claims backlog that re- duced the backlog to current less than 76,000 claims.
Under President Obama, veteran joblessness decreased to 3.9 percent (a seven-year low) from a 12.1 percent in 2011. Indeed, more than 850,000 veterans and military spouses have been hired by government business partners, and vet- erans’ centers were expanded to rural areas while an unfair ban on health care enrollment of certain groups of veterans was corrected or deleted.
Space doesn’t permit the listing of all the changes this cur- rent administration has made to improve the quality of lives for our military veterans. And much more needs to be done. But now you know the truth: President Obama did not aban- don America’s military veterans. Pass it on!
Nyree Holmes’ Fight To Wear Kente Cloth
ongratulations to all of
our recent high school and college graduates in the Tampa Bay Area. I was blessed to attend three graduations and to observe the lone Black female graduate who wore a Kente cloth stole for her Arm- wood High School graduation, and who inspired me to write about how important it is for us to educate the world about African traditions that influ- ence Black choices, including what we wear.
Unlike Consumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove, Cal- ifornia, Armwood officials ap- peared not to have been bothered by the student who wore her Kente cloth stole. Many of you may not have heard about the student, 18 years of age, Merit Scholar Nyree Holmes (who I de- scribed as a modern-day Kunta Kente) and who re- cently was escorted out of his high school graduation cere- mony by three Sacramento County deputy sheriffs.
The altercation began when another student com- plained to a teacher after Nyree refused to honor the student’s demand that he re- move his Kente cloth stole. Nyree explained what the stole was and why he was wearing it. Yet, the teacher in-
sisted he take it off. Nevertheless, Nyree
marched wearing his Kente cloth stole. However, after re- ceiving his “diploma” and exit- ing the stage, he was confronted by three deputy sheriffs who promptly es- corted him off the premises.
Nyree was quoted as say- ing it was important to him to wear the traditional African print because “as a descendent of slaves, I have no firm con- nection to my roots in Africa. I wanted to wear my Kente cloth as a representation of my pride in my ancestors; and to display my cultural and reli- gious heritage... As my partic- ular cloth was made by Christians in Ghana where the cloth has been worn by royalty and during important cere- monies for hundreds if not thousands of years.”
Indeed, the school teacher’s ignorance created a mountain out of a molehill and leaves me wondering if a Jewish student wearing a yarmulke would have been treated in such a fashion.
Kente cloth (also known as Nwentoni in the Ashanti lan- guage, meaning woven cloth) is the best known of all African textiles and has been entwined with the history of the Ashanti people for nearly four cen-
turies. Historically, the cloth has been made by men of the Asante and Ewe people of what is now known as Ghana.
The cloth has evolved from being made totally of silk to modern day silk and cotton blends. Today, Kente cloth is mostly made of cotton and rayon to make it affordable by a larger population. The cloth is largely made in the capital of Ashanti (Kumasi) and is used to make clothing, shoes, bags, decorative furnishings as well as other uses. Kente means “basket” in Ashanti language, to describe the multi-colored woven patterns of bright col- ors and geometric shapes. Each pattern and color has symbolic meaning.
Likewise, each color repre- sents a concept as indicated by a few examples as follows: Black: maturity and spiritual energy Blue: peacefulness, love, harmony; Green: spiri- tual renewal; Gold: royalty, wealth, spiritual purity; Grey: healing and cleansing rituals; Maroon: color of mother earth; Pink: female essence (usually worn by women); Purple: feminine aspects of life; Red: political and spiri- tual moods, bloodshed; Silver: serenity, purity, joy; White: purification, sanctification rites (and]) Yellow: precious- ness, fertility, beauty.
Nyree and his Armwood High School counterpart stood their ground by insisting that they be allowed to wear their heritage. By doing so, they have become our teachers, and we, their students, honor him. Harrambee!
A Lesson We Better Learn
ou remember Karl Hagan. He’s the self-styled “neo-
conservative” writer who was knocked off his high horse by lightning and when he came to himself, would for- ever call Donald Trump “an egomaniac, simply and quite lit- erally.”
Well, that’s not all he said. Thundered this new convert to common sense, “The phenomenon (Trump) has created and now has become something larger than him, and something far more dangerous.”
Now, what could Hagan have meant? Ask Andy Hallman.
Hallman owns a gun shop in Inverness, Florida. And in that gun shop, one of Andy’s best-selling items is a line of shooting targets featuring faces of President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. But guess whose mug is missing? Hopefully, no one subscribes making a target out of anyone, but when asked why Donald Trump’s portrait wasn’t among his store’s popular bull’s eyes, Hallman replied he didn’t have a big demand for Trump targets.
“Besides, I have a Constitutional right to sell my bull’s eyes as long as I’m not hurting anybody, directly,” he smiled. If questioned a bit further, Hallman no doubt, would have admitted that his prank seemed simply a “spirit-of-the- times” . . a zeitgeist, no doubt, brought about by Trump’s bel-
ligerent opening up of Pandora’s Box, spilling out the most racist, sexist comments since Pres- ident Calvin Coolidge let the KKK march down D. C.’s Pennsylvania Avenue.
So, that’s what the journalist meant: a “phenomenon” which was no more than a sly sug- gestion . . . a subliminal push into mayhem by simply bending to certain white Americans’ basic nature, such as what Adolf Hitler did in Germany that cost the lives of more than six million fellow human beings. And if we’re not very careful, such is the same way Nazism and Fascism will come to America . . .on the quivering lips of a signifying fool. “Sieg Heil!”
TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5
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