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The Gulf Coast Voice • September-21- September 27, , 2017
Gentrification comes to Escambia County
Our Bible says much about
prayer. It informs us about
how we are to address God
and that we are to pray in
the name of Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Lord. We
are also directed to pray
with and through the
guidance of and in the
power of the Holy Spirit. In
Psalm 88, however, we
read that the writer tells us
what he does when he
prays: “I call to You, O
Lord, every day; I spread
out my hands to You.” Not
a day went by in his life that
he literally did not cry out to
the Lord.
The writer of this Psalm
was in constant contact
with his Lord - Yahweh. He
identified Him not as a god
who was removed from his
life, who lived in a distant
location, who may or may
not be available when he
faced difficult times or
wanted to worship Him.
Indeed not. His God was a
personal, present and
powerful God who was
always by his side. And his
God was a God whom he
could speak to as though
he were speaking to a
friend and companion who
was beside him waiting to
be involved in a
conversation.
What an impressive
picture for us to place
deeply in our minds.
Wherever we are, whatever
we are doing and whatever
time it may be - day or night
- Yahweh is by our side and
we can call upon Him as
our friend.
Notice, however, his body
language when he prayed:
“I spread out my hands to
You.” Hands that were
“spread out” because when
he prayed he expected God
to respond immediately as
any friend would do to a
friend in need.
And he did this “every
day.” As Jesus would one
day say, “Give us this day”
what we need for “this day.”
Visit us at: SowerMinistries.org
PS 209
By Tamara Harden
Our foundations are being uproot-
ed. And not just the foundations
made up of concrete pillars that
once held up the shot gun houses
in our neighborhood. The homes
have gone silent, abandoned, and
overgrown. You know, the homes
that were built or owned by our
parents, grand and great grand-
parents. The shot gun houses or
lean-to homes that we grew up in
may not have looked like much
from the outside, but inside there
was love and integrity. Board-
ed windows and crumbling front
porches are a beacon for the influx
of skilled and amateur flip artists
that have invaded the neighbor-
hoods of East Hill, North Hill,
East and West King tract, Maxent
Trace, Belmont Tract, and more.
Say “Good-bye” to the abandon
shotgun homes in our familiar
neighborhoods. Welcome the well
past introduction of “Gentrifica-
tion”. Many of our citizens don’t
know the face of gentrification.
It is beautiful; it stands tall and
firm with new siding, terracotta
roof shingles, and red front doors.
Gentrification is that movement
that is supposed to save a dying
neighborhood, by turning old into
new and vibrant. The real estate
process encourages the movement.
It is a buyers’ market and let’s
pause for a moment to think who
created it.
We’ve created the epidemic of
loss properties due to liens, aban-
donment, deceased heirs, and the
uncompromised arguments of
the many surviving heirs. I have
personally witnessed the argument
of sibling or relative rivalry over
“mama’s house”; that old house
that grand mama used to live in, but
everybody wants to own and no one
wants to take care of it.
These homes are diamonds left
behind. It is in fact, a diamond
shining in that very large beacon of
light that these real estate investors
see when they come to our neigh-
borhood. I see them when they
come, tripping over each other’s
feet, notebooks and portfolios in
hand, and their wallets to pay the
cost for the liens and fines that are
left behind. That property that had
a $3000 tax bill that was left un-
paid now holds a property value of
$300,000.
“Well who’s your neighbor
now?” I ask sincerely. Especially to
those of us whom live in the pre-
dominately black neighborhoods of
downtown Pensacola. The implant
of gentrification is acceptable and it should be embraced. But why have
we waited to allow transplants, out
of towners, and other real estate
enthusiast to come into our neigh-
borhood and start a movement of
beautification that we should have
started ourselves? Perhaps lack of
knowledge; meaning the old saying
“you don’t know what you’ve got
until it’s gone”, lack of resources,
and surely many other detrimen-
tal issues that have allowed these
homes of old to go wasteful.
Now is not the time to sleep!
Amid the rapid sweep of property, it
sells in our neighborhood regardless
if classified urban or suburban. The
hour to point fingers and self loathe
is over. Look around your neigh-
borhood. Where ever you may live,
con sider that old shanty property
that has been forgotten and execute
a master plan to redefine it in your
own rights and your own name.
The real estate catalogs that lay
free near the newsstands in our
supermarkets and business offices
show beautiful homes that have
been crafted in our neighborhoods.
The lean-to homes that were con-
sidered affordable are now ex-
pensive homes worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
I recall looking at a real estate
Continue page 4
John Carlos talked about it and other
Black athletes and Blacks in sports
media have voiced their opinions about
white racism, white nationalism and
white supremacy in every aspect of
American society!
Before ESPN became a dream
in somebody’s mind, Lucius Gantt
covered sports on an international,
not national, basis as a sports reporter
for The Associated Press in New York
and Atlanta. In 1973, I wrote three
of the top sports stories in the world
including “baseball’s unbreakable
records” (that is imitated every year)
and one about brothers Jesus, Matty
and Felipe Alou playing in the same
major league baseball game at the
same time at Yankee Stadium.
Did I talk about racism and dis-
crimination while at AP? Yes! I talked
about white supremacy before 1973
and God knows I’ve talked about it
all of my life.
I applaud Jamele Hill’s thoughts
about bigotry and also thoughts shared
by Colin Kaepernick, Michael Bennett
and others.
But I think there is a difference
as it relates to Hill.
When you apologize for say-
ing the right thing it says something
about you!
Even when some people that
say truthful things, they can’t handle
the truth, so to speak!
You don’t have to go back on
social media when you are correct
and say I’m sorry or any comment I
made was just “my opinion” unless
you feel a need to cover your ass or
save your job! None of the athletes and sports
media people listed above felt a need
to apologize about truthful descriptions
of their feelings about racism.
Just like me, they said what
they thought was the truth and they
didn’t care whether their employers
liked it or not.
The problem with today’s media
folk is this, they know who they are
and the people that hire them know
who they are hiring.
Any Black person that gets hired
by ESPN is expected to have opinions
that ESPN likes.
Yes Bill Rhoden, who also works
for ESPN, is an exception but Jamele
Hill is no Bill Rhoden.
There certainly are white suprem-
acists, white segregationists, white
nationalists and white racists here
and everywhere else in the world
but there are also devils and beasts
around every corner.
I want you to know if you read
something I write in The Gantt Report
or hear something I say about racial
bias, discrimination, supremacy, nation-
alism, animus or misconduct, I write
what I mean and say what I meant!
Thank God there are Blacks and
other people of color that will never ever
apologize for telling the truth! (Buy
Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead
Man Writing” on Amazon.com and
from bookstores everywhere. Contact
Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.
net. And, if you want to,“Like” The
Gantt Report page on Facebook.)
The Gantt Report
Lucius Gantt
By Lucius
Gantt
ESPN Sports
Anchor Jamele
Hill used a
social media
account recent-
ly to describe
President Don-
ald Trump as
a “white su-
premacist” and
a “bigot”.
Good for her!
She should know very well about
racists and racism because she works
at a company and in an industry that is
permeated with company owners and
employees that have historically hired
staff members with racial attitudes
and opinions in mind and also have
covered sporting and news events
somewhat based on race.
If you don’t know, more than a
third of ESPN’s audience and viewers
happen to be people color but a third
of the events they cover are not about
events that interest Blacks, Hispanics,
Native Americans and other so-called
minorities.
For years and years and years
there have been Black people in sports
and in sports media that have stood
up and spoken out about racism in
politics, society and in everyday life.
Jim Thorpe talked about it, Jack
Johnson talked about it, Jackie Rob-
inson talked about it, Muhammad Ali
talked about it, Jim Brown talked about
it, Curt Flood talked about it, Craig
Hodges talked about it, Bill Rhoden
talked about it, Tommie Smith and
Should the Democrats
Trust the Snake Because He Spoke?
On a hot microphone, Sen. Chuck Schumer, but as a woman and a person of color, I have
By Roger Caldwell
Eight months into his presidency and the president
has not worked with the Democratic leadership
to pass his agenda, because he expected to get his
policies across the finish line with just his own
party. This mindset did not make sense because
Republicans were disorganized, dysfunctional,
and not a unified party.
As a result of Republicans being disorganized,
President Trump has decided to work with the
Democratic leadership who appear to have
control of the members in their party. With the
first major bipartisan bill passed in Trump’s
administration, it seemed that another deal was
being brokered by the Democratic leadership,
and the president.
But somehow the lines of communication be-
came confusing, and the Democratic leadership
was saying one thing, and Trump had a totally
different interpretation of what was discussed.
This comes as no surprise to most Democrats
because Trump is famous for changing his stories.
From the very first day when Sean Spicer’s’
claim that Trump’s inauguration crowd was the
largest in American history was a fabrication,
people knew what to expect. After that claim,
fabricated stories never ended and citizens could
not believe anything the president said.
Despite the many lies the president has told,
many Trump supporters still believe him.
the head of the minority party in the Senate is
caught saying that Trumps likes him. That is
like telling someone that my good friend was
caught taking the knife out of my back, but he
still likes me immensely.
Trump and his administration has violated the
rule of law so many times that people from his
own party are starting to a sk the question ”Why
has he not been impeached?”
Finally, it was time for the truth to be told about
racism and President Trump. A series of tweets
by ESPN reporter Jemele Hill last week calling
out Donald Trump’s White supremacist behavior,
has the president and his administration upset.
Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, the White House
Press Secretary, is calling the veteran journalist
actions “inappropriate and offensive.” She is
also asking for an apology and asking ESPN to
fire Ms. Hill for her statements.
Ms. Hill has not issued an apology for her
tweets, and made it clear that raising social
issues on her public platform is not off-limits.
President Trump has a record of discriminating
against Black people in New York in his rental
properties, and his treatment and statements of
other people of color has been racist and mean.
On a Sports Illustrated Media Panel last month,
Ms. Hill asserted, “I know there are sports fans
looking for me to provide them with an escape,
no escape from the fact that there are people in
charge who seem to be either sickened by my
existence or are intent on erasing my dignity in
every possible way.”
When Blacks in positions of public influence
speak truth to power, they are denigrated in a
derogatory manner, and forced to apologize.
Many times their position is eliminated or their
role is diminished.
On the other hand, when a White reporter says
the exact same thing, they are considered an ag-
gressive investigative ground breaking reporter
who exposes the truth. Racism is a subject that
more White people are starting to talk about
more, and America needs a national conversation.
“White supremacy is about maintaining power
through the politics of division and oppression
– and it impacts everyone, Black, Brown, or
White” says Rev. Barber – The Poor People’s
Campaign. America must dig deeper to address
structural racism, and understand why Trump
openly used White rage, racism, and hatred to
get elected.
The Democratic leadership must continue to
resist Trump’s policies, and remember a snake
is always getting ready to attack, even when it
appears to be your friend.