Mid-winter’s gloom
by L. Arthalia Cravin

Over the past two months two men that I know have tried to commit suicide. One was 41 the other 91. Both were Anglo males. During church services yesterday a young man stood up during the welcome of visitors to state that he was a member of the military stationed at a local base, and that the night before a person in his squadron had killed himself.

Suicide is a very troubling issue. When it involves the young it is seen as a sign of serious emotional difficulties requiring psychological intervention. For older individuals, as well as those who are suffering from serious illness, there is that touchy issue of “the right to die.” The 91 year old individual, whom I have known for four years, lives four doors from me. His wife of 62 years died a little over a year ago. Their two grown children now live in Florida and Michigan and the grandchildren are scattered as far away as Australia. He confessed his near suicide after I took him freshly baked T-cakes. As soon as I entered his kitchen he was suddenly overwrought and told me that he had been depressed and just wanted “out.” He took sleeping pills, went inside his closed garage, got in his car and turned on the motor. He was saved by a repairman who heard the motor running inside the garage, left, drove around the block then felt an overwhelming urge to return—just in time.

The 41 year old individual lives 900 miles away. His confession of his near suicide came during a phone call when I inquired about his extreme hoarseness. He finally stated that the hoarseness was due to a tube having been placed down his throat during his emergency trip to the hospital after he took a bottle of potent pills. He too just wanted “out.”

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This is a reprint of an article that was in the
Saturday, January 1, 2005 edition of the Amarillo Globe News.

Man of the Year: Rev. Jesse Cortez
Pastor gave life to the Lord and his efforts to homeless
By KAREN D. SMITH, amarillo.com

A blizzard blanketed springtime as the Rev. Jesse Cortez delivered one of his most eloquent eulogies for the least of his brethren.

A homeless woman’s newborn had not survived, and a handful of mourners had braved the storm.

“In just sitting there and listening to him, you would’ve thought that church was packed with some of the most popular, famous people in the world,” Diann Gilmore, executive director of the Downtown Women’s Center said of the funeral last spring. “For five of us sitting in his congregation, he gave a beautiful service for this child that did not live.”

The act was typical of a man who devoted his life to serving the most downtrodden of society.

The Emmanuel Church of Amarillo pastor, who died Nov. 5 at the age of 67, focused on feeding and clothing the poor, providing job training to the jobless and ministering to those in prison - far beyond his day-to-day responsibilities to his church flock. For all that, Cortez has been selected as Amarillo Globe-News Man of the Year for 2004.

“When a community helps those that are most in need, it makes everyone stronger,” said Amarillo Globe-News Publisher Les Simpson. “Jesse Cortez is one of the reasons why Amarillo is such a great place. He recognized the needs and made a difference in the lives of those who just needed a boost.”

After years of pastoring in Washington, D.C., Virginia and California and conducting evangelistic revivals nationwide, Cortez found what many who knew him said was his passion, helping the homeless. In 1971, he founded Casa de Vida, a homeless shelter at Santa Barbara, Calif., which eventually grew to include facilities on a 50-acre ranch in Buellton, Calif., and two more residence programs in Goleta, Calif.

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Students explain why studying the topic is important
By Bruce Beck, amarillo.com

Not the color of your skin but the goodness in your heart is what should define you as a person. But many people still judge you by the pigment of your skin, and that’s why studying black history is still important, said Amarillo middle-school students.

February is Black History Month and teachers emphasize the contributions made to history, culture, the arts and society by a segment of the population that has had to struggle to gain the same rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

“It’s important for everyone to know what (black Americans) went through (to gain equal rights),” said Idarius Ray, an eighth-grader at Horace Mann Middle School, during a roundtable discussion.

Discovering the many contributions of black Americans “shows we are all equal; that we overcame challenges to succeed,” said Julian Miller, a Mann eighth-grader.

“It also shows we can be educated and accomplish a lot, like our black leaders in the past,” said Chris Coffer, also a Mann eighth-grader.

“Black History Month honors all black people,” said Anthony Salazar, a seventh-grader at Crockett Middle School, during a discussion at the school.

“We’re now trying to respect black people as a community,” said Tristen Johnson, a Crockett eighth-grader.

“(Studying) black history is important because everyone needs to know what happened (in the past) so it won’t happen again,” said Dyonne Luke, a Mann eighth-grader. “Without history, history repeats itself.”

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This is a reprint of an article that was in the
Sunday, February 6, 2005 edition of the Amarillo Globe News.

Breaking Ground
Amarilloans recall their struggle for equal rights
By BRUCE BECK, amarillo.com

Most folks will admit Amarillo is a great place to live and raise a family.

But in the not too distant past, the vile treatment of a segment of its population tarnished the crown of the Golden Spread, some of its residents say.

Life now is better for Amarillo’s black residents but could be so much more if Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream for all Americans is to be realized, Iris Lawrence said.

“We’ve come a long way since the 1920s,” she said. “But we still don’t have a color-blind society.”

Lawrence’s comments were made during a round-table discussion Tuesday at the Black Historical Culture Center on the first day of Black History Month.

From almost the beginning of the city’s history in the late 1800s, people in the black community lived under restrictive laws limiting their movements, their shopping habits, their everyday lives, the group remembered.

The mistreatment went on for years without much opposition, but in the 1950s, things began to change.

Black servicemen returning from World War II saw the injustice of fighting for freedom in Europe and the Pacific, yet be denied those same freedoms at home once the shooting stopped.

“The (civil rights) movement was a postwar effort,” said Charles Warford. Before then, “If you tried to break (segregation) back then you endangered yourself.”

Prenis Williams, president of the Amarillo United Citizens Forum, said the struggle to obtain civil rights took hold “when people were trying to go about their business and couldn’t.”

Black Amarilloans oftentimes lived under harsh conditions. Evelyn Moore remembered that back in the late 1920s, “There was a fence on 12th Avenue north of Ong Street and we couldn’t cross that fence. If we did, all these white folks would show up.” Read more »

Legend in broadcasting

Ruby Lewis as Lady Cool Breeze broke new ground, landing her first job in radio more than 50 years ago. “It was a dream come true,” Lewis said. “I started at KAMQ Radio. It was at Twelfth and Polk Street across from the old Amarillo High School.”

The station, where she worked for about eight years, moved and changed its call letters to KDJW-AM and KBUY-FM. She started at the station working the midnight shift playing what was then called “race music.”

“I am the first one of my race, the first lady deejay in the radio broadcast industry in Amarillo,” Lewis said.

Lewis is better known by her on-air name, Lady Cool Breeze.

Ruby Lewis was the voice of black radio years and years. Lewis believes that some other black disc jockeys were working in the Dallas-Fort Worth market when she began her career here. They also used on-air radio names.

Lewis worked at several other radio stations in her career, KIXZ in Amarillo and KBYE in Oklahoma City. But she always worked either the evening or midnight shift.

At KIXZ, she worked beginning at 8 p.m. at the station’s then downtown office. The DJ booth was visible from the Fifth Avenue window. People could slip requests through the window.

“I was prime time,” Lewis said. Throughout her career, her voice - and her trademark - remained soft and soothing.”Women in radio at midnight were not supposed to talk like they were at home reprimanding,” Lewis said. “So you had to have a mellow voice.”

She retired from radio in 1988 from KGNC, where she worked for 12 years.

Lewis met some of the greatest rhythm and blues artists - James Brown, Dinah Washington, B.B. King and Ike and Tina Turner.

Lewis was a trendsetter in broadcasting, and she says she was fortunate. People always treated her with respect.”I was never treated rudely,” Lewis said. “I have always loved people, and they seemed to love me back.”

Ruby Lewis is a member of The Texas Panhandle Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.

Mother uses natural talent to perform
By Tamara Jones, Globe-News Correspondent

Blood, sweat and tears. Is that what one gets as a Dusters Darlin’?

Not so much the blood and only a few tears, but definitely the sweat.

As a fourth year Darlin’, LaShaundra Thompson can attest to that.

The 23 year-old Dodge City, Kan., native has always loved dancing.

“It’s a passion of mine,” she said. “When I was a child and would hear music, it was very difficult not to dance. In school, I would have to control myself so everyone else wouldn’t laugh.”

Thompson has had no professional training other than a few dance lessons and ballet classes. She was also a member of the drill team while in junior high.

Toward the end of her sophomore year, Thompson’s family moved to Amarillo where she finished the school year at Amarillo High School.

In 2004, a friend asked her to try out for the Duster Darlin’s because they needed more dancers.

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Sherry Lynn Sutton McCullough, 51, of Amarillo, died Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008.

Services were at 2 p.m. Wednesday February 6, 2008 in Temple of Praise with Chris Brown, pastor, officiating. Burial in Llano Cemetery by Warford-Walker Mortuary, 509 N. Hughes St.

Mrs. McCullough was born March 18, 1957, in Amarillo. She worked faithfully at Wal-Mart for 15 years.

Survivors include three sons, Leon Borden and wife Cynthia of Denver, Colo., Dameion Sutton and wife Renata, and Tarron Sutton and wife Lusila, all of Amarillo; four brothers, Richard Luckey, Mike Luckey and Calvin Luckey, all of Dallas, and Terry Borden of Alabama; six sisters, Barbara Prater of Alabama, Beverly Barnes and husband Ozzie, Anita Luckey, Debbie Luckey and Sandra Johnson, all of Amarillo and Linda Ferguson and husband James of Dallas; six grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; and other relatives and friends.

Visitation will be at 2712 Britain Drive, Apt. 8.

“Young Gifted and Black”—so what? Root Hog or Die.
by L. Arthalia Cravin

Last weekend I attended a very informative and worthwhile conference at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The third conference of its kind, sponsored by the College of Education, was entitled, “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Counseling Symposium: Quality Matters in Equity, Access, and Advocacy.” The keynote speakers were two dynamic African American men, one of whom was a Dr. Richard G. Majors. Dr. Majors lives in Great Britain, having gone there almost thirteen years ago for a six month visit to study the problems associated with low educational attainment of young black boys in England. He pointed out a strange parallel with the same problems facing young black boys here in the United States. During his introductory remarks, Dr. Majors showed a MP3 presentation of a montage of black faces with Nina Simone singing “Young, Gifted and Black” in the background. The song first appeared in 1970 on one of Simone’s album and has been performed by numerous artists, including Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, and Elton John. The song also became something of an anthem for the 1970’s Civil Rights movement. “To Be Young Gifted and Black” was also the name of a play, based on Lorraine Hansberry’s writings, which appeared off Broadway in the late 1960s. To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words was also a book. Lorraine Hansberry, who died in 1965 at the age of 34, was also the author of the award-winning play, “A Raisin in the Sun” that first appeared on Broadway in 1959. The play was based on the first lines of Langston’s Hughes poem entitled “Harlem, ”What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”

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How close are we to Dr. King’s mountaintop?
By media release

Houston, TX – Black History Month has an added poignancy this year, as it is almost 40 years to the day, since Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” speech. In the four decades since that momentous occasion, there have been great strides in civil rights and racial relations – the fact that there is a Black History Month at all would have been unthinkable in 1968.

Some of the progress includes Senator Barack Obama winning a presidential caucus in a predominately ‘White’ state like Iowa.

Conversely, there have been recent reminders of America’s deep racial divide with cases like the Jena 6 in Louisiana.

So how far has America really come since MLK declared on April 3, 1968; “I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land”?

“I was 19 when Dr. King made that speech,” recalls Willie Alexander, former NFL Cornerback and author of ‘Entering the Promise Land.’ “Three years later I was in the NFL and I thought I’d escaped discrimination. Turns out I was wrong.”

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