4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial Rethinking Who We Revere


checks and balances in that scenario? There are none.


What is the harm in not having BY ANGELA JONES While attending a business


conference in Winston-Salem, NC recently, one of the speakers pointed out that we do not revere the true role models in our communities— small business owners. We look up to athletes, like Steph Curry, singers like Beyoncé and actors like Denzel Washington; however, we do not hold at high enough esteem -- the people in our community who provide much needed goods and services and jobs for ourselves, our family members, our friends and our neighbors -- local entrepreneurs and practitioners.


Let us consider where we would


be without our community grocery stores. Actually most of the community grocery stores that existed before “desegregation” are now closed. They lost business when we decided that we would prefer to shop at larger grocery chains. The cost of food has increased, since there is less competition from smaller grocers now.


Where would we be without


community hospitals and doctors who are in private practice? Some people did not appreciate the quality of care that was given by our community hospitals and they are now closed. We now have to travel across town to be seen by doctors who are not familiar with our families or our community. These doctors work for the hospital and some hospitals even own the insurance company who pays the doctors and hospital for our care. Where are the


checks and balances when it comes to patient care, one may ask? The answer to that question can be found in a recent study that determined that medical errors are now the third leading cause of death in the United States. According to the analysis, 251,000 lives are lost every year in hospitals and other health care facilities due to “medical errors.” That’s more than the number of lives lost from respiratory disease, accidents, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.


Many of our local heroes,


medical doctors in private practice, have had to sell their practices to hospitals because they do not have the support to remain in private practice from the community they intended to serve when they entered medical school. We are obviously not getting a better standard of care from the hospital-owned practices. We need independent doctors who understand our unique medical concerns such as hypertension, diabetes, sickle cell disease, post-traumatic stress disorder. Dental practices in our community seem to be faring better than those of medical doctors. We need to continue to support them. Trusting the person who takes care of our teeth is just as important as trusting the person who takes care of the rest of our bodies, if not more important, since many diseases start in our mouth.


Before “desegregation,” we had


vibrant bustling communities filled with great role models at every turn. These role models were providing a roadmap for successful communities for generations well into the future.


We owned banks, insurance


companies, gas stations and a plethora of other businesses that could sustain our community with great health, wealth, opportunity and employment. Let us hold on to and support the entrepreneurs who remain in our community and give them the reverence they deserve. God bless the child who has his own.


Volume 10 Number 10 Muhammad Ali FROM PAGE 1


Sonny Liston in 1964 to become the world heavyweight champion. Clay proclaimed in the ring after the bout that he “shook up the world!”—and provided more evidence the next morning, when he announced that he had joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.


A year later, Ali knocked


out Liston in the first round of a controversial rematch, but he would face far greater controversy—and one of his biggest battles—in 1966 after he stated that he would not serve in the military, citing his religious beliefs and declaring himself a conscientious objector. “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. No Viet Cong ever called me n–ger,” he reportedly said. At his scheduled induction into the armed forces in 1967, Ali refused to step forward when his name was called. Even after being told that he was committing a felony, Ali stood his ground—and was arrested.


The New York State Athletic


Commission immediately suspended his boxing license and revoked his heavyweight champion title. Ali, at the height of his physical powers, had been banned from boxing; it would be more than three years before he returned to the ring. The Justice Department, which had denied his conscientious-objector status, also pursued a court case against him, and he was convicted of refusing to be inducted.


While his case was being


appealed (a federal appeals court would uphold the conviction but would be overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971), Ali was allowed to return to the ring in 1970, first in Georgia, where he knocked out Jerry Quarry. But in a career first for Ali, he lost in 1971 to Joe Frazier in a 15-rounder in New York that was dubbed “The Fight of the Century.” (He would go on to fight Frazier two more times, defeating him in both encounters. Their final confrontation, the “Thrilla in Manilla,”


June 2016


was in 1974.) Another legendary bout, against


the mighty reigning champ George Foreman, took place in 1974. Promoter Don King, who held it in Kinshasa, Zaire, billed it as the “Rumble in the Jungle.” Ali won the title back in a battle that lived up to its hype. He utilized a strategy that was later termed the “rope-a-dope,” in which he leaned against the ropes and invited Foreman to hit him. Foreman obliged and eventually punched himself into exhaustion.


By the late 1970s and early


1980s, Ali’s career was in decline. He lost his last fight, to Trevor Berbick, in 1981 and retired the next day. Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984, although he had been experiencing symptoms for several years, including tremors and changes in speech and walking. The link between his development of Parkinson’s and the beatings he took in the ring is still disputed.


Ali was married four times


and had nine children. Laila Ali, a daughter from his third marriage, to Veronica Porsche, forged a successful boxing career—although her father frowned upon female boxers. His last wife, Yolanda “Lonnie” Williams, whom he married in 1986, first met her future husband in 1963, when she was 6.


In retirement he dedicated


himself to philanthropic work, raising money for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix. He also supported the Special Olympics and the Make a Wish Foundation. In 1996 the world watched a trembling Ali light the Olympic Flame at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.


Ali was appointed a United


Nations Messenger of Peace in 1998, and in 2005 the man whose racial, religious and political beliefs had so polarized a nation received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush. Ali once said, “I’m an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself and I believe in the goodness of others.”


Established 2006 Angela Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


Rae Willis, Graphic Designer Ida Davis, Contributing Writer


PO Box 10414 ● Norfolk, VA 23513


Sales and Information 757-575-1863 info@hamptonroadsmessenger.com


Copyright pertaining to contents of this edition. All rights reserved.


Reach further. Advertise.


Call the Hampton Roads Messenger at 757-575-1863


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16