Posted on Monday, January 23, 2017

19-Year-Old Grammy Nominee Jekalyn Carr Heads to the Super Bowl Along With the Atlanta Falcons!

super-bowl

Hello World,

Now that the home team, the Atlanta Falcons of the 5th Congressional District (Shout out to Congressman & Civil Rights Hero John Lewis), is headed to the Super Bowl in Houston on Sunday, Feb. 5, of course, I had to let y’all know about some of the Gospel-themed activities during the celebration!

19- year-old GRAMMY® nominated teen sensation Jekalyn Carr has been added to the performance line-up for the 19th Annual NFL Sanctioned Super Bowl Gospel Celebration. Carr will join top Gospel and Christian artists Yolanda Adams, Lecrae, Natalie Grant and CeCe Winans and R&B superstars Lalah Hathaway, Anthony Hamilton and BJ The Chicago Kid to name a few for a star-studded event that will be hosted by David and Tamela Mann. The event will take place on Friday, February 3rd at Lakewood Church in Houston, TX at 7:30pm and will be taped in front of 16,800 attendees. The show will air on Sunday, February 5th at 10a/9a CST on BET/CENTRIC.

j-carr Carr earned 5 Stellar Award nominations including top honors for Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for “You’re Bigger.” Additionally, Carr also recieved nominations in the categories of Albertina Walker Female Vocalist of the Year, Traditional Female Vocalist of the Year and Praise & Worship CD of the Year (“The Life Project”). Carr is also slated to perform her chart topping single “You’re Bigger” on the award show which takes place on March 25th in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena.

“I want to thank my team, radio, media and my supporters for their love over these last couple of months and to eOne for being a vehicle for my latest project,” says Jekalyn. “None of this would be possible without you and I’m forever grateful.”

Last month, THE RECORDING ACADEMY® announced that Carr, who is an independent artist, received a GRAMMY® nomination in the category of Best Gospel Performance/Song for “You’re Bigger.” This is Carr’s first GRAMMY® nomination, and it definitely caps off a remarkable year of firsts for the 19 year old prophetic powerhouse singer. The 59th Annual GRAMMY AWARDS® will take place on Sunday, February 12th in Los Angeles and will air live on CBS.

Any thoughts?

GO DIRTY BIRDS!!!

Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2017

What We Can Learn from the Life & Death of Bishop Eddie L. Long…

bishop eddie long book cover Hello World,

Do we deserve to be judged by the best of what we accomplished in our lives or by the worst of what we did or did not do?

This is a question I’ve been asking myself since I heard V-103’s Larry Tinsley, host of Sunday Morning Praise, announce the death of Bishop Eddie L. Long while I drove to church Sunday morning. While I took part in my church’s service in which the focus was racial reconciliation and honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I knew that a corner of my mind was pondering the life and death of Bishop Eddie L. Long. And once church was over, my mind was free to organize my random thoughts about what had I heard.

For many, Bishop Eddie L. Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a black megachurch in Decatur, Georgia that once reportedly boasted 25,000 members at its zenith was a man who not only transformed his church through his pastorate but the city of Decatur and beyond through various programs assisting prisoners, drug addicts, the homeless and more. Over the years, many of my friends and associates were once members of the church. I remember hearing him on V-103 years ago when he delivered empowering messages during the “Inspirational Vitamin” of The Frank and Wanda Morning Show, and I interviewed him once for a magazine article I wrote about domestic violence in the church.

But what about the convincing allegations of four young men who accused him of targeting them through the black church’s now defunct LongFellows Youth Academy and cultivating sexual relationships with them 7 years ago in 2010? As we all know by now, the allegations were never aired out in a courtroom but instead a settlement out of court was reached between Bishop Long and these men. A settlement does not necessarily denote guilt but given the egregious actions Bishop Long was accused of and his declaration that he was going to fight these allegations, guilt does not seem like an unlikely conclusion in this case.

So what lives matter more? All of the lives of people Bishop Eddie L. Long positively influenced during his life or the lives of the four young men whose lives will be forever linked to Bishop Eddie L. Long?

Now there will probably be some who read this blog post and say, Who are you to judge? Only God can judge? And to those I say, yes, I agree. Only God can decide if you go ascend to the glory of Heaven or sink to the abyss of hell. But there are many verses in the Bible that encourage us to make assessments and act accordingly…Below are a few…

Even small children are known by their actions, so is their conduct really pure and upright. Proverbs 20:11

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

I’m not putting these verses out there not to condemn Bishop Long. I’m simply putting them out there to say that God encourages us to assess and act which is a form of judgment but not the same as the judgment in which God determines our final home. Life is nothing if not a series of lessons and we would be wise to learn from those who have completed their journey ahead of us.

In pondering what I have learned from the life and death of Bishop Eddie L. Long, I have come to a few conclusions…

The gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to impact an entire community and beyond. As my father, who is a pastor, says, “People really do need the Lord.” There are some out there who think that what happened with Bishop Eddie L. Long is an indictment of the black church or church in general. I say to you as long as you judge (or assess) the Word of God by imperfect human beings, there will always be a reason to doubt the Word of God. Pastors are sinful people. Christians are sinful people. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23…And here’s the thing, I haven’t seen sins ranked in the Bible …Anyone from a murderer to a student who cheated on a test has committed a sin and yet is still eligible for entry into Heaven if God has forgiven them. (Although we all know that some some sins naturally have more consequences than others.)Don’t get it twisted. Judge the Word of God by the Word of God. A pastor may lead you to God, but he or she is not God….
All lives matter. All of the people who continue to sing the praises of Bishop Long to those who cannot see past the sexual allegations of the four young men matter. The paradox of this statement is that whatever group you find yourself in or even if you are somewhere in the middle, each person is valid and should be treated as such. If you were helped by the ministry of Bishop Long, who am I tell that help did not matter. And on the other hand, you absolutely cannot disparage the young men who claim they were victimized by Bishop Long. The word of God says that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents in Luke 15:10. If we believe in the God of the Bible, we see that each and every person is valuable.
Bishop Eddie L. Long is dead, but you are still alive. For all of our commentaries on Bishop Eddie L. Long whether on social media or in whispered conversations, Bishop Eddie L. Long is only God’s business now. In Luke 9:60, we are told to, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. What I interpret that verse to mean is that if you are alive, you have to get on with your life. If you are a Christian, what are you doing to proclaim the Word of God? As my father said when we briefly discussed Bishop Eddie L. Long on Sunday, “we are only here for a brief time.”

So as far as the answer of my original question is concerned, I guess it is truly up to to the person who is making the judgment…What say you?

Any thoughts?

Posted on Monday, January 16, 2017

Discovering Atlanta Through the Eyes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Driver Tom Houck…A Repost…

(me and my hubby & Tom Houck and another tour goer)

Editor’s Note: I originally wrote this post in 2016, but in honor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday today, I thought I would share it again. Enjoy 🙂

Hello World,

Last week my husband Robert and I were thinking about what we could do to celebrate the sixth anniversary of our first date yesterday. As I was listening to 1380AM WAOK on the way home from work on Wednesday, I realized I had a fun and educational option. Derrick Boazman host of “Too Much Truth” was interviewing Tom Houck whom I had never heard of before. Tom, a white man, was the driver of Dr. King and his family for several months. In a gruff, hearty voice likely emboldened because of the precious history he possesses, Tom described how being kicked out of high school in Jacksonville, Florida for merely participating in a Selma march in 1965 eventually led to being in the inner sanctum of the very leader of the Civil Rights Movement as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s driver.

In 1966, Tom’s civil rights activism brought him to Atlanta to work for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In one of those fortuitous moments that forever changes someone’s life, Dr. King saw Tom across the street from the SCLC where he had gone to make a call on the pay phone and invited the 19-year-old to have lunch with him and his family. That lunch led to him being asked to drive for the King Family. Tom describes his experiences as their driver as a part of his Civil Rights Tour, a bus tour in which Tom takes people to see the historic sites in Atlanta that provided the landscape of the capital of the Civil Rights Movement.

At the end of the conversation, Tom offered two tickets to the first person who e-mailed him the answer to this question: What was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s real first name. I was literally pulling into my driveway when I heard him ask the question. I parked, unlocked my front door and ran to my computer, hurriedly e-mailing him the answer: Michael. For the first five years of Dr. King’s life, his name was Michael. However, when his father Michael King Sr. changed his name to Martin Luther King Sr. after becoming inspired by Martin Luther, his son, who was Michael King Jr., became Martin Luther King Jr. I nearly fell off of my bed when I received an e-mail later that evening from Tom letting me know that I had won the tickets! I told my husband we could celebrate our history as a couple by celebrating the history of our beloved city. He agreed that it would be a great way to celebrate our first date anniversary!

Tom Houck beginning his tour…

My hubby focusing on Tom…

Dr. King’s first home is in the Old Fourth Ward area of Atlanta which was once known as Shermantown after General Sherman took over the area during the Civil War. The home is on Auburn Avenue known as Sweet Auburn, but I didn’t know that Auburn Avenue was once Wheat Street. However, the name of the street was later changed because Wheat Street was thought to be too rural of a name for a metropolitan street. Yes, Sweet Wheat doesn’t sound as cool for sure! But that explains the name of the historical Wheat Street Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue. Wheat Street Baptist Church was the site of the church scenes filmed in the movie “Selma,” Tom told us.

In the beginning of the tour, we went by Dr. King’s elementary school Howard Elementary School. The school building, which is vacant, later became a high school which has notable graduates including Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first black mayor; Walt Frazier and Vernon Jordan. Tom also took us to the SNCC Freedom House. Freedom Houses were designated places where civil rights workers could retreat and reside.

The site of the pay phone where Tom met Dr. King…

Tom met Dr. King across the street of the SCLC headquarters, which I took a picture of from the bus…Not the best picture, but you get the idea hopefully…

Morris Brown College, the only HBCU founded by black people, was organized in the basement of Big Bethel AME Church, which is located in the Sweet Auburn district…Civil rights leader Hosea Williams and Derrick Bozeman are Morris Brown College graduates…

See that blue sign? It is the sign for the original site of the Atlanta Daily World, the oldest black newspaper in the city…It was once a Republican newspaper as blacks were mostly Republican years ago since most segregationists were Democrats…

A Loss Prevention Hero series mural honoring Congressman John Lewis…

The second The Loss Prevention Hero series mural honoring Mrs. Evelyn Gibson Lowery, the deceased wife of Rev. Joseph Lowery. Mrs. Lowery founded SCLC/Women’s Organizational Movement for Equality Now, Inc.

Although it wasn’t an official part of the tour, Tom told us that Citizens Trust Bank, which was founded by black businessman Heman Perry, on Auburn Avenue, was where he received his first car loan! AND Daddy King, who was on the bank’s board of directors, co-signed the loan!!!

Before we left the Sweet Auburn district, we learned about John Wesley Dobbs, a rail clerk who was unofficially named the mayor of Sweet Auburn because of his work to achieve equality for black people…Seemingly in homage to Dobbs, Atlanta’s public schools were integrated on the day of this death, August 30, 1961, Tom told us…Above is a statue honoring Dobbs, who is the grandfather of Maynard Jackson…All of his six daughters graduated from Spelman College. They are reported to be the largest group of sisters to graduate from the school…Incidentally, I interviewed Dr. June Dobbs Butts, the youngest of the sisters and a sex therapist, for an UPSCALE magazine article I wrote years ago…

We rode by the now defunct Terminal Station, which was once a prominent train station in the city. Atlanta was once named Terminus which I originally learned after watching “The Walking Dead,” which is back tonight!!! Yay!!! And before Terminus, Atlanta was known as Marthasville. I cannot see Atlanta residents calling ourselves Termliens or Marthaaliens so I’m glad we changed to Atlanta because ATLlien is so doggone cool…

We passed through the Castleberry Hill District, which was revitalized by Herman J. Russell, a construction magnate…I had the opportunity to meet him just months before he passed away in 2014. He attended the National Book Club Conference while promoting his book Building Atlanta: How I Broke Through Segregation to Launch a Business Empire.”

Tom took us to Dr. King’s last home before he died which is located at 234 Sunset Avenue…

Daryl, a recent graduate of Clark Atlanta University, sang freedom songs as we passed by some of the historical stops…

Along the way, we passed by Washington High School where Dr. King graduated from when he was 15 years old to attend Morehouse College. I did not know that Lena Horne also attended Washington High School!

One of the stops was the home of Alonzo Herndon, who was once Atlanta’s wealthiest black man. Herndon built his fortune on his barbering business. His stately home is across the street from the home of Grace Towns Hamilton, the first black woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly. Unfortunately, her home was barely visible due to the overgrowth of weeds as well as the overall decay of the structure…We also passed through the Atlanta University Center and by the original Paschal’s Restaurant location as well as Busy Bee Café.

One of our final stops was South-View Cemetery, which is located on Jonesboro Road and was designed “to provide a respectable place for Christian burials” for all people including black people who were once not allowed to be buried in certain cemetaries. It opened on April 21, 1886. It began as 26 acres and is now over 100 acres. 80,000 people are buried there including Herman J. Russell and the wife of John Lewis, Lillian Miles Lewis. Below are pics of the graves of other important people who are also buried there…

The grave site of John Wesley Dobbs

The grave sites of Daddy King and his wife Alberta King…

If you look at to upper left of the grave marker, you can see this tiny picture of Daddy King….

Dr. King was originally buried in South-View cemetery before his body was moved in 1970 to its current location alongside his wife at the King Center. One the way back to Auburn Avenue where we started the tour, we passed by Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Tom told us that Marcus Garvey was imprisoned there which is interesting to me as the daughter of Jamaican immigrants.

We learned much more that I wasn’t even able to include in this already lengthy blog post!

And hopefully, you will be inspired to take a Civil Rights Tour with Tom Houck, the driver of Dr. King and his family. For more information, go to civilrightstour.com.

Enjoy your Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday!

Any thoughts?