MIAMI — Betty Wright, the Grammy-winning soul singer and songwriter whose influential 1970s hits included “Clean Up Woman” and “Where is the Love,” has died at age 66.
Wright died at her home in Miami on Sunday, several media outlets reported. Steve Greenberg of S-Curve Records told the New York Times Wright had been diagnosed with cancer in the fall.
Wright had her breakthrough with 1971′s “Clean Up Woman,” which combined elements of funk, soul and R&B.
Recorded when Wright was just 17, the song would be a top 10 hit on both the Billboard R&B and pop charts, and its familiar grooves would be used and reused in the sampling era of future decades.
The youngest of seven children, Wright was born Bessie Regina Norris in 1953 in Miami, the city whose funk and soul sounds her music would always be identified with.
She started singing with the family gospel group, Echoes of Joy, and released her solo debut album, “My First Time Around,” at age 15 in 1968. The album yielded a top 40 hit, “Girls Can’t Do What the Guys Do.”
After “Clean Up Woman,” written by Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke and later sampled by Afrika Bambaataa and Mary J. Blige, she would have her first hit she wrote herself with “Baby Sitter,” a 1973 hit that showed off her so-called “whistle register” vocals, an ultra-high singing style later employed by Mariah Carey and others.
With members of K.C. and the Sunshine Band, she co-wrote her 1975 proto-disco hit, “Where is the Love,” which would win her a Grammy for best R&B song.
A career lull in the late 1970s and early 1980s prompted Wright to start her own label in 1985, leading to a gold album, “Mother Wit,” in 1987 and the comeback hit “No Pain (No Gain)”
She spent much of the rest of her life as a producer and mentor to younger artists, many of whom were singing her praises after her death.
“Thank you for being a master teacher, a friend and one of the greatest female soul singers in our industry,” Ledisi said on Twitter. “You were so much more than your music. We were blessed to be around royalty.”
John Legend tweeted that Wright “was always so loving and giving to younger artists. Always engaged, always relevant. She will be missed.”
People react during a rally to protest the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Brunswick Ga. Two men have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
By Aaron Morrison and Russ Bynum —
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Many people saw more than the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery’s life when a video emerged this week of white men armed with guns confronting the black man, a struggle with punches thrown, three shots fired and Arbery collapsing dead.
The Feb. 23 shooting in coastal Georgia is drawing comparisons to a much darker period of U.S. history — when extrajudicial killings of black people, almost exclusively at the hands of white male vigilantes, inflicted racial terror on African Americans. It frequently happened with law enforcement complicity or feigned ignorance.
The footage of Arbery’s death was not the only thing that rattled the nation’s conscience. It took more than two months for his pursuers — who told police they suspected he was a burglar — to be arrested and taken into custody. That is fueling calls for the resignation of local authorities who initially investigated the case and reforms of Georgia’s criminal justice system.
“The modern-day lynching of Mr. Arbery is yet another reminder of the vile and wicked racism that persists in parts of our country,” said the Rev. James Woodall, state president of the Georgia NAACP. “The slothfulness and inaction of the judicial system, in this case, is a gross testament to the blatant white racial privileges that permeates throughout our country and our institutions.”
The case appeared frozen as it was handled by police in the small city of Brunswick.
After the video emerged on social media this week, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took one day after launching its probe Wednesday to arrest Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34. They are jailed on murder and aggravated assault charges and did not have lawyers as of Friday who could comment on their behalf.
Several hundred people crowded outside the Glynn County Courthouse on Friday to mark what would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday, with many saying it’s too soon to celebrate because the case must still go before a grand jury that will decide whether to indict the McMichaels.
Ahmaud Arberry
Arbery’s killing reminds some of Emmett Till, a black teen from Chicago who was kidnapped in 1955 in Mississippi, lynched and dumped in a river after he was falsely accused of whistling at a white woman. An all-white jury acquitted the white men accused of killing Till, who was 14. His death helped fuel the civil rights movement and brought about the eventual passage of federal civil rights protections.
During Friday’s protest, demonstrator Anthony Johnson said he sees echoes of Till and others. Arbery “died because he was black like the rest of them did. For no reason,” Johnson said.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was jogging for exercise before he was killed.
Gregory and Travis McMichael told police they suspected Arbery was the same man recorded by a security camera committing a break-in. When they saw Arbery running on a Sunday afternoon, the McMichaels grabbed guns, got into a pickup truck and pursued him.
Video footage shows a runner grappling with a man armed with a shotgun. Shots are fired and the runner staggers and falls. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation statement said the McMichaels confronted Arbery with two firearms and that Travis McMichael fatally shot Arbery.
Arbery’s death has drawn sharp reactions and expressions of sadness across the U.S. A Change.org petition calling for justice hit over 700,000 signatures on Friday, President Donald Trump called the video “very disturbing” and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said it was like seeing Arbery “lynched before our very eyes.”
The Players Coalition, a racial justice group made up of professional athletes, sent a letter Friday to the FBI and prosecutors requesting a federal investigation into Arbery’s death.
“The absence of justice is ever present,” said Malcolm Jenkins, a safety for the New Orleans Saints and the foundation’s co-founder. “Another black life has been taken by a bullet and the slaying justified by white fear.”
Others joined demands from Arbery’s family for the resignations of local law enforcement authorities. Before the case was turned over to special prosecutor Tom Durden, Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson and Ware County District Attorney George Barnhill recused themselves because of their connections to the McMichaels. Gregory McMichael was an investigator for Johnson’s office before retiring last year and before that served as a local police officer.
Johnson and Barnhill “must be held accountable for their shameless dereliction of duty,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and a former head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division during President Barack Obama’s administration. She also called on the Justice Department to investigate Arbery’s killing under the federal hate crimes statute.
While likening Arbery’s death to a lynching may seem like an apt comparison, doing so isn’t sufficient for understanding why the man’s death is a tragedy, said Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative. The organization has cataloged more than 4,400 racial terror lynchings in the U.S. that took place between Reconstruction and World War II.
“Law enforcement did nothing about lynchings for a century,” Stevenson said. “It should be a national priority to eliminate this kind of racial terror so that we do more, not less, when someone like Ahmaud Arbery is killed in this manner.”
He added: “Our nation continues to underestimate the painful burden that has been placed on black people and the traumatic injury we continue to aggravate when our justice system refuses to hold accountable perpetrators of unnecessary violence if they are white and invoke some public safety defense.”
The shooting of Arbery has also been compared to the 2012 case of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black Florida teenager shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
The shooter, George Zimmerman, who is white and Hispanic, suspected without evidence that Martin was casing the area for burglaries. Zimmerman was not charged initially after claiming self-defense under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which provides immunity to people who use lethal force out of fear for their lives.
Phillip Agnew, an organizer with the Movement for Black Lives, said vigilantism involving black victims has been “driven by hate, resentment and generations-old racial anxiety.”
“We need to make people afraid to do something like this to other people,” Agnew added. “And until we do that, this is going to continue to happen.”
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(Morrison reported from New York and is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.)
Arieale Munson in the front yard of the home she purchased with the help of the Rise Foundation. Two weeks lat- er, it caught fire and now she is get- ting help to rebuild. (Courtesy photo)
by Amelia Ables —
Arieale Munson was 16 years old when she became a mother. Since then, she has founded a non-profit, written a book and become a motivational speaker. With motherhood as the priority, she vowed to provide her two sons with their own home to feel safe, and she recently purchased her first home through the RISE Foundation’s Save Up Program.
Two weeks after closing on her first home, the house caught fire, destroying all of her family’s possessions. Material possessions, said Munson, aren’t the most important.
“People say to me, ‘You lost everything, but you’re still smiling.’ But I didn’t lose everything,” she said. “I still have the gift of life. My sons and I are still standing strong. Sometimes God tests your faith, but I know something good will come out of this.”
Arieale Munson and her sons, Nyigel Turner, 14, and 8-year-old Steven Cole Jr. (Courtesy photo)
Rather than celebrate Mother’s Day in their new home, Munson’s family is living in a nearby apartment. They are in good spirits, and are prepared to move forward in rebuilding and repairing their home.
The Save Up Program is a matched savings account program that teaches participants to create a budget based on their income and expenses and to establish a bank account and purchase assets, such as homes and vehicles.
Within 10 months of beginning the program, Munson had saved enough money paired with matching funds from RISE for a down payment for a home.
“The program gave me a refresher on different things, such as how to increase my credit score and save money,” she said.
RISE provided Munson with the tools to purchase a home, but she said her sons are the motivation for her accomplishments.
“A lot of people counted me out when I got pregnant as a teenager, but God pushed me through. I’ve experienced domestic abuse and being a teenage single mother,” she said. “Now, I want to be resourceful and useful to the community, and I take a lot of pride in giving back.”
Munson founded her non-profit, Operation Taking Back 901, in 2016. Three years later, she published her first book, “When Pleasing Has No Purpose,” which tells the story of how misery connected her to her ministry.
She continues to live out her story despite the home-destroying fire. What she learned in the Save Up program, she said, “is helping me balance my budget and still save. I’ve been working from home, bought a home, lost a home, and now I’m re-building a home, but I’m still advocating for my community through my non-profit.”
This Mother’s Day is also her youngest son’s ninth birthday.
“Our plans are to have a cake and just be together as a family. My greatest gift is seeing my kids grow up and knowing I can give them things I didn’t have.”
(To learn more about the RISE Foundation and their Save Up program, visit http://risememphis.org/.)
TSD iMom columnist Brittany Holst enjoys a pre-Mother’s Day moment with her daughter, Niah, and her mother, Shirley Jackson. (Photo: Shirley Jackson)
by Brittany Holst —
I am so used to spending Mother’s Day with my grandmother, mother, aunt and the rest of my family.
However, due to COVID-19, things will be a little different this year. We have to be creative as we continue to practice social distancing.
Although Mother’s Day is not considered a national holiday, it is a special day to honor the special woman or even women in our lives. I’m looking forward to video conferencing with my loved ones while spending time with my husband and our daughter, Niah.
TSD iMom columnist Brittany Holst with her mother, Shirley Jackson. (Photo: Shirley Jackson)
My mother has been a blessing to me. I look at her and think, “Wow! Where would I be now had I not been catered with all the unconditional love and knowledge she has provided me?”
I tell her all the time that I hope I am just as great of a mom to my daughter as she has been to me. I would not be the person I am today had it not been for my mom.
Growing up, I did not always understand my mother’s reason for doing things. But as I got older, I understood why there were times when she wouldn’t allow me to go here and there and do other things I wanted to do.
From a very early age, she put a lot of emphasis on education, community service, faith, being creative and having a competitive spirit in sports and other activities.
I remember when my mom was helping me learn to tell time on a clock. She did fun things like driving near the airport and parking the car to watch the airplanes come in. We would use the directions of the planes landing as imaginary hands on the clock. I would say, “it’s coming in at 9 o’clock” or “it’s coming from 3 o’clock.”
We would laugh and give “high fives.” That’s when she knew I understood the workings of the clock and how to tell time.
We did everything together. I gained my entrepreneurial spirit from her. Mom told me, “You can do anything you want to do and you can be whatever you want to be in life. She said, “it takes hard work and determination to make it happen”.
Though gentle and loving, she also was not one to play with. If my mom said to do or not do something, she meant it.
She would say, “If you don’t believe me, try me.”
I tested her a few times to see if “fat meat was greasy” and she did not hesitate to show me that it was. After that, I got my act together because I knew my mama did not play games with me.
iMom Mother’s Day Music Vibe:
Now, I look at my own daughter and find joy every time she smiles. She is so precious and I recognize with her, a love like no other. I have discovered a more patient and compassionate side of me that I’d never known.
I can share experiences with her that my mother shared with me — being the first teacher, nurturer, providing loving guidance to help mold her to be successful in life.
Whitney Daniels with her children, Paris and Paul. (Courtesy photo)
Whitney Daniels, mother to Paul and Paris, said, “Being a mother means the world to me. I always hear people say, ‘I don’t know where I would be in like’ or ‘I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have my kids.”
Those statements have never made a difference to her because “nothing means more to her than being a mom.” It has completely changed her life for the better!
“Being a mom means loving myself so much more than I have before. That same love is magnified so much more because it grows rapidly every day for me to give to my children.
You would think that love can’t possibly be greater but it doesn’t stop there,” said Daniels.
The relationship between mother and child is so pure and innocent.
“My children reciprocate the same love unconditionally to the point it has become an everlasting circle of love. It’s selfless. It’s the most comforting when the times come that I don’t feel deserving of it and it’s assuring that, although, I’m not a perfect mother, I’m exactly the one they need,” Daniels said.
Legendary composer, singer and musician Stevie Wonder said it best:
“Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.”
Mother’s Day is a day of celebrating the living and a day to acknowledge special loved ones who has passed away.
However you decide to celebrate, do so with love and appreciation.
From the iMom — Being a mother is not always easy, but it is one of the greatest gifts from God. We are our child’s first teacher. We’re strong and wise. We are nurturers and providers. We are the definition of love, patience, compassion and forgiveness. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and thank you for your unconditional love and sacrifices.
Joanna Lewis Walton and her husband, Andre Walton Sr., will celebrate Mother’s Day with their two-year-old “A.J” and their newest addition, Journey Gracelynn Walton, who was born Feb. 26. (Courtesy photo)
On Feb, 26, when Joanna Lewis Walton gave birth to Journey Gracelynn Walton, the delivery was relatively uneventful.
Shortly after they came home, COVID-19 changed life as they knew it, including the fact that she will not be able to traditionally celebrate Mother’s Day – church and dinner – as new mother because COVID-19 related restrictions.
When Walton and her husband, Andre Walton Sr., brought their baby daughter home, their family felt complete.
A.J was getting to know Journey, but a bout with the flu forced A.J. to be separated from his mom and sister.
After his father nursed him back to health, little family settled into a daily routine. But by the time Journey was turning 6 weeks old, everything changed.
“The school children were released early that week when spring break was starting,” said Walton. “I had been in the house with my children since leaving the hospital. That’s pretty normal for a new mother. I was rebuilding my strength and trying to get Journey into a good feeding and sleeping routine.”
More and more, there was talk about a “novel coronavirus,” and Walton took some interest in keeping up with the growing numbers of new cases in America.
For a time, none had been confirmed in the state of Tennessee, or in Shelby County. When that changed and the number of local cases began to rise, they were unrelated cases of people who had traveled, or come in contact with someone who had recently traveled.
“We were just nesting while my husband continued to work,” Walton said. “But when community spread hit Memphis and Shelby County, I understood just how dangerous this COVID-19 was.
“I have kept my children isolated from everyone, except their grandparents. With the safer-at-home orders, we continue to shelter in place. The four of us have created our own little world inside the house.”
Walton graduated from the University of Memphis with a bachelor’s degree in professional studies. She marked her fourth wedding anniversary on March 19, her birthday on April 20, and now, Mother’s Day on Sunday — all celebrated inside the house.
“All of my special days come in springtime each year,” she said. “My anniversary, my birthday, and Mother’s Day — it feels strange not being able to celebrate them like we had planned. There will be no special date nights or family trips.
“On Mother’s Day every year, we were always in church. Life has changed so drastically, and I don’t know when things will return to normal — or if they ever will,” she said.
Andre Sr. has used this time of “nearly unlimited overtime” to build a nest egg that will come in handy when the family moves to a large house this summer, if things are a bit safer.
“I would love for my children to play outside,” Andre Sr. said. “I would love to run around the yard with my son and toss a ball to him. But he is young enough that staying inside won’t affect him so much. I thank God he will have very little memory of this time.”
Walton has been optimistic as a new mother caring for two, young children. She has been home-schooling A.J. since his first birthday. Walton has gotten accustomed to the rambunctious 2 year old tearing about the house. He has a lot of energy, but he can’t play outside.
“We have been blessed, and I can really see an end to this virus,” Walton said. “As a mother, it is my job to prepare our children for a bright future. My son will be three in the fall, and already, he can count to 60, recite the alphabet, and name his colors.
“I am now teaching him to read. Our children emulate what they see. They are hopeful because we remain hopeful. Mother’s Day is going to be a wonderful day. God is still in control.”
Evan Fields with Ayden Christopher, 2, and Taylor Christopher, 7. (Courtesy photo)
It was back in December that Evan Fields and fiancé, Christian Christopher, got a new gift in their household: six-year-old Taylor Christian. Now, on her third Mother’s Day celebration, she is mother of two, instead of one.
“Right before the Christmas holidays, Christian and I asked for full custody of Taylor,” Fields said. “The court granted it to us, and Taylor came to live with us that same day. He is home now, and not just for the weekend.”
That first Mother’s Day, Fields was mother of four-month-old Ayden Christopher, born January 6, 2018. Mother’s Day last year, she had a one-year-old. This year, she will celebrate with two sons. Not even the COVID-19 threat and safer-at-home directives have dampened her anticipation for Sunday’s celebration.
“We know everything is opening back up, but we will be inside until it’s really safe,” said Fields. “Before everything got shut down, we had planned a trip to Nashville so the boys could see their Aunt Chris. But when Taylor came home for spring break, that all changed.”
Fields thinks there may be some unexpected, positive effects from families staying inside together. Being in close proximity naturally brings parents and siblings closer, she says. Fields is a working mother, but has no idea when she might be called back to her bartending job at one of the large, downtown hotels.
She was laid off, along with thousands of other bar and restaurant employees who make their living in the service industry. Some have relied on unemployment, while others are still waiting for payments to begin. Some service workers went to work for B.R. Distilling Company in April. The distillery, which normally makes bourbon and whiskey, now produces medical-grade sanitizer.
When all the bars closed, B.R. Distilling tried to keep their employees working by switching gears to a product in high demand. Enough supplies came in to make the sanitizer, but there weren’t enough employees to produce the sanitizer in high quantities. Out-of-work service people were offered jobs at the distillery. Fields declined.
“Being a stay-at-home mom is totally new to me,” she said. “But, we have grown closer as a family. This pandemic is frightening for children, and they don’t really understand. We are here to assure our boys that one day, they can play outside again, and things will be better.”
The family has no special plans for this Mother’s Day. They won’t be getting out to church or going to a restaurant. Since being in at home, they have eaten no fast food, or brought in takeout from a restaurant. There has only been home cooking.
“We eat healthier now, and that’s been good,” said Fields. “Always picking up fast food is one thing we won’t go back to. Staying in has been good for us. Taylor has settled into his place in our family. We feel blessed and complete.”
“Stepson” or “step-child” are not terms used in their household.
“Our sons are brothers, and we are their parents,” said Fields. “They know we love them, and that is enough.”
Little Richard playing in March 2007. (Photo: Anna Bleker/ Public Domain...wikimedia.org)
NASHVILLE (AP) — Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday. He was 87.
Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. Minson said he also spoke to Little Richard’s son and brother.
Minson added that the family is not releasing the cause of death.
Born Richard Penniman, Little Richard was one of rock ‘n’ roll’s founding fathers who helped shatter the color line on the music charts, joining Chuck Berry and Fats Domino in bringing what was once called “race music” into the mainstream. Richard’s hyperkinetic piano playing, coupled with his howling vocals and hairdo, made him an implausible sensation — a gay, black man celebrated across America during the buttoned-down Eisenhower era.
He sold more than 30 million records worldwide, and his influence on other musicians was equally staggering, from the Beatles and Otis Redding to Creedence Clearwater Revival and David Bowie. In his personal life, he wavered between raunch and religion, alternately embracing the Good Book and outrageous behavior.
“Little Richard? That’s rock ‘n’ roll,” Neil Young, who heard Richard’s riffs on the radio in Canada, told biographer Jimmy McDonough. “Little Richard was great on every record.”
It was 1956 when his classic “Tutti Frutti” landed like a hand grenade in the Top 40, exploding from radios and off turntables across the country. It was highlighted by Richard’s memorable call of “wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom.”
A string of hits followed, providing the foundation of rock music: “Lucille,” “Keep A Knockin’,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Good Golly Miss Molly.” More than 40 years after the latter charted, Bruce Springsteen was still performing “Good Golly Miss Molly” live.
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney imitated Richard’s signature yelps — perhaps most notably in the “Wooooo!” from the hit “She Loves You.” Ex-bandmate John Lennon covered Richard’s “Rip It Up” and “Ready Teddy” on the 1975 “Rock and Roll” album.
When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened in 1986, he was among the charter members with Elvis Presley, Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke and others.
Few were quicker to acknowledge Little Richard’s seminal role than Richard himself. The flamboyant singer claimed he paved the way for Elvis, provided Mick Jagger with his stage moves and conducted vocal lessons for McCartney.
“I am the architect of rock ‘n’ roll!” Little Richard crowed at the 1988 Grammy Awards as the crowd rose in a standing ovation. “I am the originator!”
Richard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, during the Great Depression, one of 12 children. He was ostracized because he was effeminate and suffered a small deformity: his right leg was shorter than his left.
The family was religious, and Richard sang in local churches with a group called the Tiny Tots. The tug-of-war between his upbringing and rock ‘n’ roll excess tormented Penniman throughout his career.
Penniman was performing with bands by the age of 14, but there were problems at home over his sexual orientation. His father beat the boy and derided him as “half a son.”
Richard left home to join a minstrel show run by a man known as Sugarloaf Sam, occasionally appearing in drag.
In late 1955, Little Richard recorded the bawdy “Tutti Frutti,” with lyrics that were sanitized by a New Orleans songwriter. It went on to sell 1 million records over the next year.
When Little Richard’s hit was banned by many white-owned radio stations, white performers like Pat Boone and Elvis Presley did cover versions that topped the charts.
Little Richard went Hollywood with an appearance in “Don’t Knock the Rock.” But his wild lifestyle remained at odds with his faith, and a conflicted Richard quit the business in 1957 to enroll in a theological school and get married.
Richard remained on the charts when his label released previously recorded material. And he recorded a gospel record, returning to his roots.
A 1962 arrest for a homosexual encounter in a bus station restroom led to his divorce and return to performing.
He mounted three tours of England between 1962 and 1964, with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones serving as opening acts. Back in the States, he put together a band that included guitarist Jimi Hendrix — and later fired Hendrix when he was late for a bus.
In 1968, Richard hit Las Vegas and relaunched his career. Within two years, he had another hit single and made the cover of Rolling Stone.
By the mid-1970s, Richard was battling a $1,000-a-day cocaine problem and once again abandoned his musical career. He returned to religion, selling Bibles and renouncing homosexuality. For more than a decade, he vanished.
“If God can save an old homosexual like me, he can save anybody,” Richard said.
But he returned, in 1986, in spectacular fashion. Little Richard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and appeared in the movie “Down and Out in Beverly Hills.”
A Little Richard song from the soundtrack, “Great Gosh A’Mighty,” even put him back on the charts for the first time in more than 15 years. Little Richard was back to stay, enjoying another dose of celebrity that he fully embraced.
Macon, Georgia, named a street after its favorite son. And Little Richard was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In August 2002, he announced his retirement from live performing. But he continued to appear frequently on television, including a humorous appearance on a 2006 commercial for GEICO insurance.
Richard had hip surgery in November 2009 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, and asked fans at the time to pray for him. He lived in the Nashville area at the time.
“I am happiest when I know I am helping,” said RN Deborah W. Mwazi. (Courtesy photo)
Deborah W. Mwazi is an RN at Methodist South Hospital in the Medical Surgical Unit on the 4th floor. The 12-hour grind taking care of both isolated COVID-19 and regular patients is grueling.
“Our job as nurses is to administer treatment and medication,” said Mwazi. “We want to alleviate distress and make patients as comfortable as possible. I am happiest when I know I am helping.”
National Nurses Week 2020 is being observed from May 6-12. This is one of several stories saluting nurses that TSDMemphis.com will feature during the tribute.
Mwazi recalls wanting to work as a nurse as she grew up in her village back in Kenya with her parents and seven siblings. When Mwazi began working, she landed a job at the Kenya Medical Research Institute as a secretary.
“At that time, HIV studies were being conducted to do research for a cure,” said Mwazi. “Even then, I dreamed of being a nurse, but there were very few opportunities.”
Her workload now includes demanding work with COVID-19 patents. Wearing the extra protective equipment, the stress of keeping COVID-19 patients stable and running almost nonstop on 12-hour shifts – all of it is fulfilling to Mwazi as a healthcare professional.
It was in 2004 that her dream of becoming a nurse felt possible. Mwazi won the green card lottery and came to America with her son. Almost immediately, she enrolled at Southwest Tennessee Community College (SWCC) to complete her prerequisites for nursing.
Mwazi worked in a warehouse to care for her son. Childcare was a challenge, but she made the adjustment.
“See, it’s different in the village,” Mwazi said. “When you go to work or school, there are many people who can watch your children. When I came here, there were childcare expenses. It was very strange, very different.”
Mwazi finished SWCC and took a year off and began working at Methodist Hospital. She visited her home village during her break from school and found her mother ailing.
“My mother had been complaining about pain for some time,” Mwazi said. “She was diagnosed with liver cancer and given six months to live. I didn’t go right back, but stayed two months longer.”
When Mwazi returned to Memphis, her mother passed three weeks later. She went back home to bury her.
Mwazi was accepted into the Christian Brothers University nursing program and continued to work fulltime at Methodist Hospital. She graduated with a BSN, landed her dream RN job, and has been employed as a nurse since that time.
Every other year, Mwazi visits her five sisters, who still live in their village. She has also traveled extensively to Germany, Italy and throughout Africa. Mwazi had plans to travel some this year, but those, of course, have been put on hold, indefinitely.
As one who has seen the ravages of COVID-19, firsthand, on both young and old, Mwazi has some advice for residents of Memphis and Shelby County.
“Be cautious when you go outside. Please wear a mask. This thing is not over. Take every precaution seriously because people are still suffering. People are still dying. Please take heed.”
I Am My Sister’s Keeper -- founded by Margaret Cowan -- helped distribute food during a giveaway with another nonprofit, Living Grace Inc. {Courtesy photo)
by Jerome Wright —
Getting back to work
Barber William Gandy Jr. is looking forward to getting back to work at his Whitehaven barbershop, Trimmers, on Monday.
William Gandy Jr.
A new health directive for Shelby County allowed hair salons and barbershops to open Wednesday (May 6), under strict guidelines, in the first phase of the Back to Business plan for Memphis and Shelby County.
But, Gandy, his fellow barbers and the owner of the Trimmers shops around the city needed time to prepare.
“We’re going back Monday. We have a whole lot of guidelines to prepare to get ready before we can reopen. You just can’t get back on track in two seconds,” Gandy said.
Those guidelines are:
■ Checking employee temperatures before they enter the work area, and not allowing employees to enter if they have a fever or other COVID-19 symptoms.
■ Stocking the workplace with hand sanitizer, soap and sanitizing wipes.
■ Maintaining an appointment book with customer details.
■ All employees should wear face coverings and gloves when providing services.
■ Items such as capes, smocks and neck strips should be one-time use between cleanings or disposable.
■ Work stations should be at least six feet apart.
■ Customers must be served by appointment, with walk-ins permitted if they wait in their vehicle.
■ Unless a customer is a minor, non-customer companions may not be allowed to accompany customers during a service.
Gandy said the shop’s owner is trying to find disposal capes and thermometers, and he is going to relax the booth-rental fee “to give us a chance to catch up” (on their finances).
Gandy and his co-workers are independent contractors. “We’re in business for ourselves. We just rent the space,” he said.
He plans to schedule customer visits 30 minutes apart, figuring that will give him enough time to finish a haircut and sanitize his equipment before his next customer arrives.
“The most important thing for us is to make sure the customer is safe, along with us,” Gandy said.
Barber shops have long had the distinction of be social gathering spots, as well as a place to get quaffed. That especially is true for shops that cater to an African-American clientele.
For example, the banter between the barbers, or between the barbers and the customers, can be highly entertaining and extremely funny.
When you add the people who constantly pop in and out just to say hello, drop off food to the barbers or to sell various items, the barber shop is a pretty lively place.
Gandy calls it “a big social club,” where all kinds of people come together to get a haircut.
All that will change now, he said, because of the virus.
“We will be keeping the doors locked to keep people from drifting in and out,” he said.
Rethinking who needs help
Margaret Cowan, founding keeper of the nonprofit I Am My Sister’s Keeper, and her three daughters spent Saturday (May 2) helping distribute about 300 bags of food in Cordova.
Margaret Cowan (right) and Sheleah Grace of Living Grace, Inc. at the food giveaway in Cordova. (Courtesy photo)
They represented I Am My Sister’s Keeper to help distribute the food with Living Grace Inc., a nonprofit that advocates for homeless unaccompanied youth and young adults, which had partnered with the Mid-South Food Bank.
Cowan said her initial thought was why would people in Cordova, one of the city’s more well-to-do areas, need bags of food?
“But then you realize these people aren’t working either (because of layoffs and furloughs resulting from the COVID-19 virus). They were really grateful,” she said.
I Am My Sister’s Keeper works with single working mothers to increase their earning potential.
Sticking with drive through
James Cook (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/GSW Enterprises)
James Cook has been cutting grass and working for a Lenny’s franchisee since he had to close his two businesses in Memphis International Airport – Runway 901 Bar & Grill and Lenny’s Grill and Subs – in March because of a lack of airport passenger traffic.
And, although local restaurants were allowed to restart limited dine-in business Monday (May 4), Cook said the franchisee he works for plans to continue allowing drive through only.
“We’re not going into in-house dining just yet,” Cook said. “We’re still successful with our drive through.”
He added, “We’re not going to jeopardize our safety or our customers’.”
Cook said people have been “pleading” with him to reopen his airport Lenny’s to add more diversity to the dining offerings there.
He is still waiting for a significant uptick in passenger traffic before reopening.
(Jerome Wright is deputy editor for The New Tri-State Defender.)
LOC’D IN WITH LOC: An inside view as Memphis’ only HBCU (historically black college and university) navigates through the coronavirus pandemic while maintaining its mission. Featured: Dr. Christopher Davis, who chairs the LeMoyne-Owen College Board of Trustees. (Courtesy photo)
by Dr. Christopher Davis —
Weeks into the pandemic, staggering data was released suggesting that African Americans were hit harder by COVID-19 than any other racial group in the country. In addition to being disproportionately impacted in our health, we are also impacted in employment, education and even day-to-day living.
Our institutions of higher learning, including LeMoyne-Owen College, have been severely impacted by the immediate need for social distance practices, and while the safety of our students, faculty and staff is top priority, following closely is ensuring that our students continue to engage in coursework remotely and providing support for them to be successful during this time.
I’m happy to share that over the past weeks, the Board of Trustees and College leadership have been working to assess our students’ needs to give them targeted support, and we’ve been successful. Our most impactful strategy, however, has been advocating for student financial assistance. While Lemoyne-Owen College has the lowest tuition rate of any of the Private Colleges across the state of Tennessee, nearly 90 percent of our students qualify for financial aid or currently receive Federal Pell Grants. To fill the gaps, we have applied for several streams of funding, including from the U.S. Department of Education, UNCF, Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) and others.
Just last week, the U.S. Department of Education signed the CARES Act to send nearly $600M to HBCUs nationwide. Our partners and friends in the work, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), have lobbied for HBCUs and as a result, distributed funds earmarked for tuition and scholarships to directly benefit students. And, of course, we have received gifts from our dedicated alumni network and friends in the Memphis community.
We’re using those resources to address very specific needs of our students, such as computers, housing, food and technology access, as well as ensuring those who had work study jobs continue to receive pay through the Payroll Protection Act. Our goal is to ensure that our students’ financial needs are met so they can finish this semester successfully and return to school next academic year.
The next phase of work is recovery. We are considering the future, which includes making necessary technology and infrastructure upgrades for blended learning, offering summer courses remotely and creating a comprehensive plan for Fall 2020. Even greater is the need for scholarship dollars to support our current and incoming students, recognizing that some of their families have suffered employment loss.
This pandemic has illuminated an issue that minority institutions and HBCUs, in particular, have historically and presently face: underfunding and a lack of consistent resources. We are grateful for the assistance provided to our institutions and students, but we know it won’t meet every need. To properly address this crisis and its layered economic effects, we simply need more financial aid for students. The UNCF is advocating for additional dollars, and LeMoyne-Owen College, a part of that network, supports this request.
We continue to fortify and advance our institution to serve our students, families and community. In alignment with our short-term goals, we continue to explore innovative practices and policies to retain our current students, boost our enrollment and expand our partnerships.
Although the need is great, the LOC family continues to work together with those invested in providing quality education for our scholars. If you do not currently support an HBCU financially, I encourage you to do so at this pivotal time. We are in a position to strengthen and accelerate what is already a beacon of hope for so many students, and every gift counts. Please consider giving to LeMoyne-Owen College today at www.loccares.org.
