Hanley and Aspire mesh at barbeque and registration

It may have been stifling hot last Saturday (April 13) evening for grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and for fun and games, but Alexius Wilson didn't seem to mind. The 9-year-old gallivanted around the school grounds at Hanley Elementary and jumped in and out of inflatable bouncers, all while her mother, Veronica Black, kept a vigilant watch in the shade.

Black was one of several dozen parents who attended the family barbeque and registration drive hosted by Aspire Public Schools, a nonprofit organization operating 34 high-performing, open-enrollment and neighborhood charter schools in California. Aspire was assigned the operations of Hanley in 2012 to begin managing the school in the fall of 2013.

"My baby wanted me to come up here to see what was going on. So I signed her up (for the 2013-14 school year)," said Black, 41, the mother of seven girls, including Alexius. "I want her to learn more about technology. She's a good student. She even shows me stuff that I don't know."

Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival, No. 27

This year marks the 27th Anniversary of the Africa In April Cultural Awareness Festival, which is scheduled for Wednesday through Sunday (April 17-21).

The festival, which unfolds downtown at Robert R. Church Park (Fourth Street at Beale Street), will showcase the Republic of Senegal from an international perspective using a various mediums – education, economics, culture, fashions, arts/crafts, music, history and cuisines.

A host of African dignitaries and other celebrities are scheduled to attend.

Angel Ray shows ‘a heart to help others’

iTEEN REPORT: Many people think that teens only think about themselves. Well, I'd like those people to meet one teen that doesn't fit that description at all.

Angel Ray is a 17-year-old Southwind High School student with a heart to help others. Recently, Angel hosted a fashion show in the Hickory Ridge Mall that featured several teen models. Designed to motivate youth through something positive, the fashion show was also to benefit the community. The proceeds from the show went to the Memphis Family Shelter.

Angel says she wanted to do an event to help a charity that wasn't widely known and doesn't get as much recognition as some of the more popular events. After locking in on the idea, the next step was finding sponsors for clothes, food and decorations. One of her sponsors was Belle of the Ball Consignment, which provided several of their dresses for the fashion show's prom sequence.

TV’s Judge Joe Brown jumps into Juvenile Court Clerk race

Television star Judge Joe Brown attended a fundraiser recently at the Bruce Turner Law Office to kick off the campaign of Shelby County Commissioner Henri Brooks, who is running for Juvenile Court Clerk.

Brown is also supporting the expected candidacy of current City Court Judge Tarik B. Sugarmon, who confirms there is a "99.9" percent chance that he will seek the Juvenile Court Judge position.

Voters will make the final selection for the offices in the next general election scheduled for 2014. No primary has been scheduled so far. It is up to officials for the Democratic and Republican parties to request a primary if necessary to choose a candidate for each.

Rose Jackson Flenorl will keynote TSD’s WOE gala

Rose Jackson Flenorl represents the heart of the FedEx Corporation and she will deliver the keynote address at The New Tri-State Defender's Women of Excellence gala on April 27.

Manager of Social Responsibility at FedEx Corporation, Flenorl will speak at the Women of Excellence (WOE) Champagne Brunch and Awards Celebration at the Memphis Botanic Gardens, 750 Cherry Road.

A previous WOE honoree, Flenorl is among 250 outstanding African-American professionals and community leaders who have been honored by the TSD. All are distinguished by their civic contributions and career achievements.

Women’s Foundation taps 6 for Annual Legends Award

Six women whose work embodies the mission of the Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis will be honored at the group's Annual Legends Award Reception on Tuesday (April 16).

The Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis (WFGM) was founded 18 years ago. It's mission is to "encourage philanthropy and foster leadership among women and support programs that enable women and children to reach their full potential."

This year's honorees are:

Community Awareness Day at Greater Lakeview MBC targets information gap

Joyce Glasper has a sense of what families want and need when a loved one nears the end of life. She shares that information regularly, just as she did at Greater Lakeview Missionary Baptist Church's Community Awareness Day last Saturday (April 6).

Glasper reaches out to those in need through Crossroads Hospice. She was among the service providers extending information during the awareness event held at the church at 191 East Holmes Road, where the Rev. Joe E. Hayes is pastor.

In her exchanges, Glasper emphasized the importance of making hospice patients comfortable. She also talked about helping families understand the need to let relatives in hospice choose to do things that are really special to them.

Achieve! Town Hall probes school choice, collaboration

The Achieve! Town Hall was a first step in an effort to bridge the gap between those facing decisions about school choice and the information they need to make good decisions. It included a panel discussion that probed issues related to school choice. (Photo: Shirley Jackson)

by Karanja A. Ajanaku

Some see school choice as a new arrival. Others see it as old as education itself. The extremes suggest the need for dialogue and that’s what the Achieve! Town Hall delivered at The Magnet in the Soulsville community last Saturday, March 30.

 Hosted by The New Tri-State Defender, in partnership with New America Media, the forum featured a panel of school leaders, educators and advocates. They were guided through a discussion moderated by TSD President/Publisher, Bernal E. Smith II.

The panelists were: Kevin Woods, commissioner, Shelby County Board of Education; David Hill, director of Academic Operations, Diocese of Memphis Catholic Schools; Ginger Spickler, communications coordinator, Memphis Opportunity Scholarship Trust (MOST); James Alexander, director, Memphis Academy of Health Sciences Charter School; and Keith Williams, president of the Memphis Education Association.

Memphis center stage as world reflects on Dr. King

A billing for the evening read: "Mountaintop Speech Commemoration." It was a summons to gather back at Mason Temple, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his last oration – often simply called "The Mountaintop Speech" – on April 3, 1968.

Forty-five years had elapsed since Dr. King gave the prophetic speech that eerily seemed to foreshadow his death. That came the next evening after he was felled by an assassin's bullet while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

So the Memphis-area community – joined by numerous others from various places around the nation – showed up Wednesday night. They answered the call amplified by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the union that long has represented Memphis's sanitation workers, the group that Dr. King died supporting.

A view of 1968 Memphis 45 years after Dr. King

Where were you in 1967 and on April 4, 1968? We must not ever forget our history, and if you are young, then put the stress on this notion: "We must learn of history."

Many of our leading ministers – both black reverends and white reverends – were maced downtown in 1967 while supporting the strike by sanitation workers. Even at that time we had some people who tried to do what was right and just for all the people.

The Memphis sanitation workers were an integrated group. There were some white workers who drove the trucks and supervised the black workers. The black workers could not go into the sanitation barn where the white workers ate lunch. They had to stay outside in the rain on rainy days and sometimes they would take shelter in the trucks to eat their lunch and keep the rain off.

TSD selects 2013 Women of Excellence

As arduous tasks go, selecting only 50 honorees for the 6th annual presentation of The New Tri-State Defender's Women of Excellence ranks right up there.

The selections now have been made and the list of honorees for 2013 is complete, with the Women of Excellence (WOE) Champagne Brunch and Awards Celebration set for 10 a.m. Saturday, April 27 at the Memphis Botanic Gardens, 750 Cherry Road.

"We had another phenomenal response from the community this year with over 100 nominations," said Bernal E. Smith II, President/Publisher of The New Tri-State Defender.

The Soulsville Charter School Class of 2013 is college accepted

At The Soulsville Charter School, the shared focus is on preparing the students for success in college and beyond.

Acceptance letters – dozens of them – help build the case for mission accomplished. This year, each senior in the graduating class has just such a letter. It's the second consecutive year that every senior has been accepted to college, all of them to four-year programs. The details show many of the students headed to some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the country, and many with substantial scholarships.

"Each of the school's classrooms is themed around a college or university and on most mornings this time of year, we announce college acceptance letters over the intercom," said NeShante Brown, executive director of The Soulsville Charter School (TSCS).