The Greene County Democrat

Tag: youth

  • Dollarhide Health Fair reminds us “Health is Wealth”

    Dollarhide Health Fair reminds us “Health is Wealth”

    Above, Wille Esther Austin and Dollarhide Community Health Fair Presenters

    by Maya Quinn, managing editor

    On Saturday, April 18th, Dollarhide Community Center was full of vendors and city representatives who gathered to address a myriad of concerns in the community for their Annual Health Fair. The event was hosted by Pine Grove CME Church, Macedonia CME Church, and the Dollarhide Volunteer Fire Department. The invited presenters focused on the well-being and safety of its citizens as well as the need for higher community engagement from constituents. 

    Dollarhide’s community is upheld by its citizens’ dedication to one another, as many initiatives are operated on a volunteer basis. From storm relief to community resources, the citizens of Dollarhide and neighboring cities such as Boligee and Forkland strive to meet the needs of their community through benevolent commitments to one another. By working with organizations such as Greene County Community in Action Coalition, Greene County Sheriff’s Department, and the Rural Alabama Prevention Center, citizens collaborate to create programs that address concerns ranging from underage drinking to high blood pressure management. This health fair is only one of many events hosted within Greene County to better the everyday lives of all those who reside within. 

    A group of diverse individuals, including adults and children, gathered on a stage in a community center. They are wearing matching yellow t-shirts with a church logo, posing for a photo with smiles.
    Pine Grove CME and Macedonia CME church members at the event

    The event’s program was led by Mrs. Willie Esther Austin, a member of Dollarhide’s Volunteer Fire Department and Pine Grove CME Church. Mrs. Austin welcomed guests and gave a quick summary regarding the purpose of the fair, to supply the community with health and safety resources. The program listed presenters from local governments, health organizations, and the Red Cross disaster relief. Prayers and scripture were intertwined with the program, reminding attendees that physical fitness and spiritual maturity are worth more than gold. “We do this every year,” Mrs. Austin told The Democrat. 

    After a prayer for good health, the fire department began the presentations with a demonstration on how to properly use an extinguisher and the importance of smoke detectors in the home. Fire Chief Keith Young reminded attendees that home fires often begin in the kitchen, so having a fire extinguisher nearby could prevent the loss of life or a home. Attendees were given the acronym PASS: Pull the pin, Aim the hose, Squeeze the trigger, Sweep the flames side to side. 

    Two men posing beside a mounted fire extinguisher in a room with beige walls.
    Dollarhide Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief

    The fire safety demonstration was followed by the EMS Board Director and CEO of Hills Hospital, Mrs. Loretta Wilson, giving a call to action for community members to support the ambulance services. Due to the financial and operational negligence of the previous administration, the EMS services of Greene County are threatened with closure. Wilson explained that there is only one operational emergency vehicle that serves the entire 647 square miles of the county. “We all own the emergency services,” she stated before asking for community members to offer assistance in reaching out to their commissioners and mayors. The EMS services are a nonprofit organization, meaning all proceeds and donations go directly to operating its services.

    Shawn Jackson, born and raised in Forkland, AL, gave a presentation on oncology, the branch of medicine that specializes in researching and treating cancer. Jackson graduated from UAB and has been working in radiation therapy for the last 25 years. “We used to equate cancer with death,” Jackson stated before explaining that medicine has advanced in such a way that early detection is a critical factor in treatment outcomes. “The most important thing is to get your screenings,” he explained. Jackson also encouraged attendees to support members of their communities with reminders for screenings and organizing carpools so appointments are not missed or delayed. “When you hear cancer, there is no need to be afraid…remember hope.”

    Special guest US Marshall and Officer Jeremy Rancher encouraged community elders to be watchful of vaping paraphernalia, as it is often masked by sweet scents that target teens and children, and underage drinking. Officer Rancher implored citizens to use him as a resource in their schools and gatherings. “Invite us out,” he began, “You never know whose life you’re gonna save.” Rancher states that his team can provide demonstrations on the dangers of drunk driving by letting teens wear impaired vision goggles while riding in ATVs. Greene County’s Sheriff Department and the Greene County Children’s Policy Council echoed the sentiment of using them as a resource as well. 

    Transitioning to health and wellness, Mr. Nathaniel Jones gave a testimony on the horrors of addiction. Jones explained that he was a first-generation college graduate and had a loving family, with children who excelled in school, but addiction “cares nothing about demographics” and is mind-altering. “I was in a prison mentally,” he began, “You do not want to mess with this…” Jones is now 7 years clean and talks to the youth in his community about the dangers of addiction to illegal and prescription drugs, alcohol, and smoking. Jones received roaring applause for his stories and reminded attendees to seek help from God and the church.

    An elderly woman with glasses standing alongside a man, both smiling and posing for a photo in a community center setting. The woman is using a cane and wears a light-colored blouse, while the man is dressed in a 'Proud Dad' t-shirt.
    Legendary Dollarhide Volunteer Fire Department member Ms. Quinnie and Mayor Jeff Quinnie (son)

    Dollarhide invites community members and friends to attend the community meeting every third Monday of the month at Dollarhide Community Center, located next to the fire department.

  • Jamaica seeking $10.6 Billion in slave trade reparations from Great Britain 

    Antique photograph of Cane cutters in Jamaica

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    Jamaica has put a price tag on slavery and is sending the British government the bill. State officials of the Caribbean nation said they are asking Great Britain to pay $10.6 billion (USD) in reparations.

    The former British colony served as the center of the slave trade, where Africans were kidnapped, enslaved, and forced to work on sugar cane, bananas, and other plantations. That free and inhumane labor greatly enriched the slave owners.

    “We are hoping for reparatory justice in all forms that one would expect if they are to really ensure that we get justice from injustices to repair the damages that our ancestors experienced,” Olivia Grange, Minister of Sports, Youth, and Culture, told the Reuters news service.

    “Our African ancestors were forcibly removed from their home and suffered unparalleled atrocities in Africa to carry out forced labor to the benefit of the British Empire. Redress is well overdue.”

    In the U.S., Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee has pushed H.R. 40, a bill to form a commission to study reparations for African American victims of the transatlantic slave trade. “Has anyone addressed the question of slavery and its comprehensive impact on Black Americans in this country? This is what H.R. 40 will do,” Jackson Lee remarked.

    While H.R. 40 doesn’t place a specific monetary value on reparations, it does focus on investigating and presenting the facts and truth about the unprecedented centuries of brutal enslavement of African people, racial healing, and transformation.

    The bill would fund a commission to study and develop proposals for providing reparations to African Americans.

    The commission’s mission includes identifying the role of federal and state governments in supporting the institution of slavery, forms of discrimination in public and private sectors against freed slaves and their descendants, and lingering adverse effects of slavery on living African Americans and society.

    Congresswoman Jackson Lee, who sits on numerous House committees, including the Judiciary, Budget, and Homeland Security, has made the reparations legislation her top priority during the 117th Congress.

    “I think if people begin to associate this legislation with what happened to the descendants of enslaved Africans as a human rights violation, the sordid past that violated the human rights of all of us who are descendants of enslaved Africans, I think that we can find common ground to pass this legislation,” Congresswoman Jackson Lee pronounced.

    In Jamaica, officials displayed shackles, coffles, slave collars, cotton screws, bear traps, branding irons, and other items used to control slaves as stirring evidence for the case for reparations.

    “We need a sense of outrage directed at those who could do such things to other human beings,” Verene Shepherd, a Jamaican resident, wrote in a petition on the Facebook page of the country’s National Council on Reparations.

    According to the National Library of Jamaica, about 600,000 Africans landed in Jamaica during the slave trade. “Seized from Spain by the English in 1655, Jamaica was a British colony until it became independent in 1962,” the Reuters report noted. 

    “The West Indian country of almost three million people is part of the Commonwealth, and the British monarch remains head of state.” Britain prohibited trade in slaves in its empire in 1807 but did not formally abolish the practice of slavery until 1834.

    To compensate slave owners, the British government took out a 20-million-pound loan – or $27.7 million U.S. – and only finished paying off the subsequent interest payments in 2015.

    Slaves and their descendants have never received compensation. “I am asking for the same amount of money to be paid to the slaves that were paid to the slave owners,” Mike Henry, a member of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, told Reuters.

    “I am doing this because I have fought against this all my life, against chattel slavery, which has dehumanized human life.”

  • 21st Century youth presents prelude music at Unity Breakfast

    alfonzo

    21st Century Youth Leadership Movement (21C) participated in the annual Bridge Crossing Commemoration and Jubilee held March 4-6, 2016 in Selma, AL.  21 C Chapters represented included Greene County, two chapters in Wilcox County, Macon County, Tallapoosa County, Lee County, Dallas County and New Orleans Chapter.
    The youth participated in the Jubilee Parade; the Turn up Youth Summit; the Freedom Flame Awards Gala; the Martin & Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast as well as the Jubilee Festival. They also were part of the thousands in the commemorative march from Brown’s continuing Chapel across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
    Muhammad Ali, a junior at Brooker T. Washington High School in Tuskegee, represented 21C at the Unity Breakfast as the youth voice bringing remarks on unity and the role of youth leaders. The 21C Leaders also provided the prelude music at the Sunday morning Unity Breakfast which consisted of the original leadership inspiring songs created at the various leadership training camps by Attorney Faya Rose Toure and 21st Century youth.