The AC Phoenix: More than a Newspaper, a Community Institution -- Issue No. 2018, December 2014

Page 4 December 2014 The AC Phoenix
Media Should Treat
Marion Barry Like it
Treats Bill Clinton
By Raynard Jackson
10 Secrets to a
Joyous Season
Don’t be surprised or feel guilty if
your holiday is stressful — and don’t
entertain the fantasy that everyone
else’s season is picture-perfect. Some
moments will be memorable, some will
not, and some you’ll want to forget, but
remember: We’re all in this together!
If you can learn to take the holidays
one moment at a time, you’ll survive
and thrive. To help you, here are ten
holiday mantras to repeat to yourself
and to practice throughout the season.
8. I will be my own best friend. Be on your
own side. Listen to yourself. Pat yourself
on the back when you do well. Forgive
yourself when you don’t. You teach this to
your kids and grandkids — now apply it
to yourself.
9. I won’t wait for permission to take care
of myself. You don’t have to make yourself
so exhausted with holiday preparations
that your children and grandchildren
have to beg you to rest. That sets a bad
example. Show them that you value
yourself and your time by putting your
feet up or taking time off for a movie. And
if you can’t give yourself permission, then
I do!
Raynard Jackson
[continued from page 1]
These actions were unprecedented in D.C.
and have never been duplicated since,
though every D.C. mayor has been Black.
So, by the time Barry was set up in a sting
operation by the FBI smoking crack cocaine
in 1990, he had established himself as a
political powerhouse in D.C.; he had 20 years
of being an advocate for good before he had
his first negative blip as an elected official.
This is why I found the media’s behavior so
offensive when, upon Barry’s death, they
immediately began mentioning his arrest
for smoking crack. Is it a legitimate part of
Barry’s life’s narrative? Of course, but not in
the immediate aftermath of his death. Could
the media not allow his body to grow cold
before they talked about his personal flaws?
Whenever the media interviewed or
discussed Barry, they somehow seemed to
always find a way to interject his crack arrest
into the story. But somehow this same
media never mentions former president Bill
Clinton’s many dalliances with women when
they interview him or discuss his legacy; they
hardly mention his admitted sexual affair
with a White House intern, Monica Lewinski.
How many of you are aware of 60 Minutes
correspondent and CBS News chief foreign
affairs reporter Lara Logan admitted to
having sexual affairs with two American
men simultaneously in Iraq that led to
the two men getting into a fist fight over
her (I guess she took her CBS News title
literally). U.S. State Department contractor
Joe Burkett and CNN correspondent
Michael Ware fought a battle royale over
Logan in a Baghdad safe house which
put innocent people’s lives in jeopardy.
How many of you are aware that NBA
broadcaster and TNT announcer Marv Albert
was accused of raping at least two women
and agreed to plead to lesser charges.
He was suspended for two years, but his
personal issues are rarely, if ever, mentioned.
I would just simply say, pull up a picture of
each of these people and make your own
conclusions.
Barry, without question, has created more
Black millionaires in this area than all
other people combined. Without Barry,
there would be no Bob and Sheila
Johnson, co-founders of BET, America’s
first Black billionaires.
Without Barry, there would be no R.
Donahue Peebles, head of Peebles
Corporation, the largest Black-owned
real-estate development company in
America. At the age of 23, Barry appointed
him to the Board of Equalization and
Review, the real estate tax appeals board;
at the age of 24, he was made chairman
of the board, one of the most powerful
boards in D.C.
To my dismay, even Black-oriented –
but not Black owned – media outlets,
including The Root (owned by the
Washington Post) and The Grio (owned
by NBC) have been no better than the
White media’s portrayal of Barry.
To White folks who seemed to be
confused by the love affair average Blacks
had with Marion Barry and are always
asking me why Blacks seem to almost
worship him; to those with that question,
I say for the same reason average Whites
seem to almost worship Ronald Reagan.
For all of Barry’s personal demons, like a
candle, he used himself up to lighten the
path for others. That is why people called
him “Mayor for Life.”
__________________
Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of
Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a
Washington, D.C.-based public relations/
government affairs firm.
1. I will put myself on my list of loved ones.
If you take care of yourself even half
as well as you parent and grandparent
everyone else, you’ll be way ahead
when the holidays are over. Watch
your sleep, nutrition, and exercise —
and make sure you’re having fun, too.
2. I will practice saying no sometimes.
It’s okay to deny your grandchildren
what they demand once in a while. The
kids will appreciate the extra TV time,
special snacks, and new toys more if
you give them a little less often. And
you’ll get to see that they love you
even when you’re not a pushover.
3. I will play with my grandchildren, not
just supervise. Your grandchildren will
never remember all the laundry you did
for them — but they’ll never forget the
time you all went down the slide together.
So don’t just supervise, participate.
4. I will not keep my grandchildren
entertained every minute. Downtime
is an opportunity for imagination, and
children need that more than they need
yet another activity. Don’t feel guilty if
you take them along to run errands, or if
you let them entertain themselves with
some holiday coloring sheets, or simply
leave them alone for a while to read or
relax.
5. I will underschedule myself (and I’ll still
have too much to do). We tend to forget
to budget our time and energy during
the holidays and instead loan ourselves
to our extended families as cheap labor.
Try to pace yourself for the long season.
And when an emergency or another
essential task arises, cross something off
your “To do” list before you add the new
item.
6. I will break the guilt habit and stop
should-ing myself. Replacing thoughts of
this is who I should be with thoughts of
this is who I am will help you get through
the holidays with less stress and more
fun. You don’t expect your grandchildren
to be perfect — why should you have to
be?
7. I will expect the best. Make positive
prophesies for the holidays. They could be
self-fulfilling. Besides, anxious worrying
never helps — it just adds stress even
before anything negative happens.
10. I will treat my family the way I treat my
friends. You know who your friends are
and you know what they’re like. You don’t
expect them to change overnight and you
probably don’t take everything they say
or do personally. You ask them questions,
listen to their answers, and give them the
benefit of the doubt. If you can do the
same with your family, you’ll be a great
role model for your grandchildren.
UAPB Alumna Vinita
Hegwood Addresses
National Controversy
Over Ferguson
Tweets
Vinita Hegwood
Vinita Hegwood, a graduate of the University
of Arkansas – Pine Bluff resigned
her position as a teacher at Duncanville
High School in Dallas last month, following
public reaction to a series of tweets from
Hegwood on the Michael Brown murder
investigation in Ferguson, Mo.
Hegwood, who issued an apology for
the tweets, took to her personal website
to offer more insight on the pressure she
faced from the public, and from her former
employer. From her blog:
I informed my principal of my tweet, and
that it may or may not be problem. His reply
to me was to “stay off Twitter.” It was at THIS
point that my account was made private,
and subsequently deactivated. Not out of
fear of any keyboard coward, but from a
professional directive.
By Sunday, I was nationwide news; only
I had no clue. I was disconnected, trying
to complete a graduate school paper. The
only other communication I’d had with my
school district was a text from my principal
asking if my tweets had been deleted.
Sunday night, I got an automated phone
call from the school district informing me
(and everyone else who got that call) there
was a statement on the district’s website
regarding ME. This was the first inclination
I had that there was an issue.