Priceless Vol 14 Number 6


Personal and Professional Empowerment www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


Serving Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach since 2006


Hampton Alum Has All the Answers About Pets


Pages 2


MEAC Tournament Brings Basketball Excitement Back to Hampton Roads


Remembering Hampton Roads Media Professional Byron Burney


Page 14


Opinion: Black Folks Are Leading the Vegan Revolution


Page 5


Katherine Johnson Leaves Legacy to Inspire Generations


Free March 2020


Norfolk State University point guard Chanette Hicks / Courtesy of NSU BY ANGELA JONES AND CHANCE MEETING


From March 10 through March 14, the 2020 Mid-Eastern Conference


Athletic (MEAC)


Basketball Tournament will be held at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, VA. The MEAC conference, whose member schools are historically black colleges


and universities


(HBCUs), has enjoyed automatic qualifying bids for NCAA postseason play in men's basketball since 1981 and


since 1982.


in the conference. A Norfolk native, Hicks was ranked 15th best point guard by Collegiate Girls Basketball Report while still in High School. She played for the Virginia Tech Hokies for her first three years of college


before making


women’s basketball The Norfolk State


University Spartans will be competing in the tournament with their female point guard, senior Chanette Hicks, who has been hailed as one of, if not the, best female player


the transfer to NSU, where she was red-shirted for the 2018-19 season. She returned for the 2019-20 season that is approaching its culmination in the form of the 2020 MEAC Basketball Tournament. In addition to NSU, the


other schools competing in the tournament are Bethune-Cook- man, Coppin State, Delaware State, Howard, Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina


THIS EDITION’S HIGHLIGHTS


Health Opinion


The Real Perpetrators of Discrimination Coronavirus Update


Opportunity Hampton Roads Upcoming Events Scholarships Watch


Job Fair in Suffolk Daughter of Evelyn Butts in Norfolk


Women's History Celebrated at VBPL AFSA Scholarship


11 4


14 12 12 10


BY CHANCE MEETING Katherine Johnson receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a kiss from President Obama. Photo


by NASA/Bill Ingalls Katherine Johnson, a renowned


mathematician and physicist who passed away Monday, February 24, 2020 at the age of 101, was a significant part of American history. Without her calculations of orbital mechanics while working at NASA, Americans may have never made it to space, let alone the moon. She played an important role as one of the first African American women to work for NASA. In addition to her contributions in


the early manned space missions and Apollo missions, her work has been essential to the genesis of the Space Shuttle Program, as well as the future missions to Mars. Born in White Sulphur Springs, West


Virginia in 1918 as the youngest of four children, Johnson had a brilliant mind from an early age. She finished high school at the age of 14 and enrolled at West Virginia State University, a historically black college, where


KATHERINE JOHNSON PAGE 10


Mortgage Closing Scams: How To Protect Yourself And Your Funds


Central, and South MEAC TOURNAMENT PAGE 4


BY CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU


Closing on a new home can be one of your most memorable life moments. It’s the final and one of the most critical stages in the home-buying journey, but with the exchange of key paperwork and a sizable down


payment, it can also be a stressful experience, especially for first-time homebuyers. The FBI has reported that scammers are


increasingly taking advantage of homebuyers during


the closing process. Through a MORTGAGE SCAM PAGE 4


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