Cruiserweight Title — Not Andre Dirrell Fight — In Badou Jack’s Immediate Plans

zenger.news
-
0
Cruiserweight Title — Not Andre Dirrell Fight — In Badou Jack’s Immediate Plans

Badou Jack was set to avenge what many boxing insiders felt was an unjust split-decision loss to Jean Pascal on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s June 6 exhibition bout against YouTuber Logan Paul.

Instead, Jack was notified at the end of May that Pascal had tested positive for several performance-enhancing drugs and the fight was canceled. Jack went on to knock out undefeated late replacement Dervin Colina in the fourth round.

Jack has seemingly put Pascal and the light heavyweight division in his review mirror as he prepares to move up to cruiserweight in hopes of capturing his third world title in as many divisions.

Jack opens up to Zenger about the disappointment of not being able to avenge the Pascal loss, shoots down a potential bout against Andre Dirrell and talks about the Badou Jack Foundation.

Percy Crawford interviewed Badou Jack for Zenger.

Zenger: Before our last interview could appear, Jean Pascal tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and your anticipated rematch with him was off the week of the fight. This seems to be the Badou Jack playbook where you just roll with the punches.

Jack: Yeah, I mean there have been so many bad things that have happened in my career, bad decisions, and bullshit, so it’s nothing new to me. And the same thing with drug testing happened before when I fought Lucian Bute.

Zenger: Your career seems to be a Hollywood producer’s dream, so maybe that’s the silver lining (laughing).

Jack: (Laughing). Right!

Zenger: You put a lot into landing that rematch. Obviously, you don’t want to fight a drug cheat, but in the same breath, that had to be devastating news.

Percy Crawford interviewed Badou Jack for Zenger. (Heidi Malone/Zenger)

Jack: It was really sad. First of all, they robbed me the first time, then I had to wait 18 months for the rematch. I was actually on my way up to cruiserweight before I was offered the fight with Pascal. Floyd [Mayweather] asked me if I could make the weight, and I said, “Sure!” I had a little time, four months, so I said, “Yeah!” I was up to 220 pounds and then I had to cut all that weight to fight at 175 and got robbed.

Floyd called me a couple of days after and said I had to fight him [Pascal] in April in LA. Then the pandemic happened, and then he wanted more money, excuses, excuses. Then the week before the fight, I was in the best shape of my life mentally and physically. I was so ready to stop him this time.

Zenger: It seems like you always felt that something wasn’t right about Pascal in terms of being a clean fighter.

Jack: Yes. Before the first fight, we asked for VADA [Voluntary Anit-Doping Association] testing, and there was no testing. We were begging for it. It didn’t happen. And then this time we asked from the beginning. It didn’t happen for the full camp, but it was the last five weeks. That was better than nothing.

Badou Jack held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2014–2017, and the WBA light-heavyweight title in 2017. (Courtesy of Team Jack)

Zenger: It served its purpose because it caught him. I’m sure you have moved on from any potential fight with Pascal. You have talked about moving up to cruiserweight for a long time. However, Andre Dirrell respectfully said he would like to test his skills against you at 175. Is that something you would entertain?

Jack: No, definitely not. He’s not in my plans. But you’re right, at least he was respectful. … At the stage where he’s at right now, he brings nothing to the table. He has no title, he’s ranked way below me, there is no money in a fight like that. I have nothing to gain, other than his name, but his name doesn’t mean nothing right now to me. He’s not a part of my plans. My plan is to become a three-division world champion. If it’s a crazy money fight, I will stay at 175, like a Canelo [Álvarez] fight or something. Other than that, he’s not a part of my plan.

Zenger: From light heavyweight [175 pound weight limit] to cruiserweight [200 pound limit] is probably the biggest gap in between weight divisions in boxing. How do you plan to properly put on the weight and grow into the division?

Jack: It takes time to put on real muscle. Also, I’m cutting a lot of weight to make 175. I was cutting at least 30 pounds. We’ll see. I will grow into the weight class. I’m about to be 38, I’m tired of cutting weight. Who says that cutting 30 pounds is better than gaining 30 pounds? Plus, I want to make history. I want to challenge these bigger guys. And stylistically I have an easier time with the bigger guys.

Badou Jack’s record is 24–3–3. (Courtesy of Team Jack) 

Zenger: Do you feel like the speed advantage that one would think you would have at cruiserweight will play a factor in your success in the division?

Jack: Yeah definitely. And I came from super middleweight. I’m not even the biggest light heavyweight. Canelo has conquered a lot of weight classes, Floyd did it, so there is no reason why I can’t try that. Just to be big and heavy, that’s easy. You can just eat and lift weights. It’s gotta be functional strength. I’m going to keep my speed, and it’s going to be fun.

Zenger: Given the time needed you would need to do everything you just mentioned of growing into your cruiserweight frame. When can we expect to see you make your official cruiserweight debut?

Jack: I’m not sure. I hope to be back before the end of the year. It might not be for the title in that fight, but never say never. I’m going to talk to my team and see what’s next.

Zenger: You always have so much more than boxing going on. You are very active in other countries with philanthropy work, and your foundation. Is that the perfect balance for you during your fighting downtime?

Jack: Yeah. Right now, during the pandemic, it’s been kind of slow with the foundation as far as visiting refugee camps and stuff. We still got a lot of stuff done though. My fight before last, we donated a lot to my foundation. I just came back from Dubai. That’s when I saw that Andre Dirrell had called me out.

Badou Jack with a Syrian refugee. His foundation is working with Palestinian and Syrian refugee camps and plans to start working with foster children in the United States. (Courtesy of Team Jack)

Zenger: Tell me a bit more about the Badou Jack Foundation.

Jack: We are trying to make it one of the biggest foundations in the world, especially for refugee kids and orphans in those poor countries. The focus is mostly where my dad is from, West Africa, Gambia and the Middle East. We’re working with a Palestinian refugee camp, a Syrian refugee camp, and we’re going to start with foster kids here in the states, as well.

Zenger: You are an amazing man and fighter, Badou. Continue fighting the good fight, and I wish you the best of luck. Is there anything else you want to add?

Jack: Hopefully, I will have some good news soon. Thank you, Percy.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Matthew B. Hall



The post Cruiserweight Title — Not Andre Dirrell Fight — In Badou Jack’s Immediate Plans appeared first on Zenger News.

Biden’s Push To Ban Employers’ Non-Compete Clauses Draws Mixed Reaction

zenger.news
-
0
Biden’s Push To Ban Employers’ Non-Compete Clauses Draws Mixed Reaction

WASHINGTON — As part of his overall goal of promoting competition to help keep the economy on track, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is pushing for a ban or limits on employers’ non-compete agreements.

Three states and the District of Columbia already ban these agreements, while a dozen other states ban their use for low-wage employees.

“Roughly half of private-sector businesses require at least some employees to enter non-compete agreements, affecting some 36 to 60 million workers,” states Biden’s July 9 executive order.

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. delivers remarks on the May jobs report at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center in Delaware on June 4. (Official White House Photo/Adam Schultz)

While the ban is seen as a boon to workers’ freedom to change jobs, some employment lawyers caution any ban should be carefully considered.

After the executive order, which “encourages the Federal Trade Commission to ban or limit non-compete agreements,” more than 50 trade lawyers signed an open letter to the FTC on July 14 asking it to go slow on developing policy.

The letter aims to emphasize “the severity of one of the key issues that small and large businesses seek to address through the use of noncompetition agreements: 59 percent of ex-employees admit to stealing confidential company information when they leave their job.” The writers cite a 2009 study by Symantec Corp. and the Ponemon Institute for this data.

“While taking no position on whether the FTC legally can regulate this area of law, we suggest the FTC act judiciously, if at all,” Clifford R. Atlas and Erik J. Winton, both of the Jackson Lewis law firm and signatories on the letter, wrote in a July 30 article.

“We believe that more modest regulations can be designed to balance competing interests of employers and employees, especially in light of the state-specific legislation, common law history, and the very capable job courts have done to enforce what is reasonable under the facts of the cases presented.”

In the past, non-compete agreements were applied largely to executives or salespeople — “people who can go out and go after the customers or prospective customers of the former employer” — or those privy to sensitive information, such as workers in finance and accounting, marketing or new products, said Harvey Linder, a partner at the Culhane Meadows law firm in Atlanta. He was not one of the signatories on the letter to the FTC.

“Non-competes generally don’t work to the benefit of the individual employee.”

Adam Shah, director of national policy for the nonprofit  Jobs for Justice in Washington, D.C., said, “For most working people, there’s no there’s no advantage to it. The only reason you agree to it is because to work, you need money, you need health insurance, and other benefits. And so the employer says, ‘You have to sign this.’”

For the worker who may have faced long-term unemployment, “you just sign whatever they say,” Shah said.

“It’s a relatively recent innovation that companies have come up with the non-compete agreements for people that aren’t executives and have no job protection,” Shah said.

A case that drew national attention in 2016 involved the Jimmy Johns chain of sandwich shops, which settled a lawsuit brought by Illinois and New York. The suit objected to Jimmy Johns prohibiting any current or former employee from working at other places that derive more than 10 percent of sales from sandwiches, within 2 miles of any Jimmy Johns in the United States for two years.

Shah said cases like that “show the long-term decrease in worker power and increase in the power of companies and Wall Street hedge funds behind them … to dictate terms so much, and to have workers so in need of jobs, that they’re willing to accept things” not in their interest.

Biden’s executive order also aims at easing “overly burdensome occupational licensing requirements that impede worker mobility” and asks the FTC and the Department of Justice to “enforce the antitrust laws vigorously and … to challenge prior bad mergers.”

Non-compete agreements generally forbid a worker from going to a rival firm within a specified time range, and in some cases also specify a geographic limit. Businesses see such agreements as critical to protecting their competitive position, said Mark Kruthers, director of the employment and labor practice group at the Fennemore law firm in Fresno, California.

Non-compete agreements are unenforceable under Oklahoma, North Dakota and California law. Kruthers said the measure “places a company in a situation where it needs to limit access to information and customers to a few trustworthy individuals as a means of protecting against future competition. That, in turn, often has a dramatic negative impact on profitability and efficiency. It most certainly limits company growth.”

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a ban on non-compete agreements in January. The measure, which also affects workers starting their own businesses and blocks employers from forbidding moonlighting, wouldn’t take effect until the city passes its next budget, expected in October. But Councilmember Elissa Silverman proposed an amendment in May that would allow business to identify conflicts of interest, and also recommended pushing implementation to April 2022.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a sweeping ban on non-compete agreements in January, though the measure has not yet taken effect. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“The D.C. ban is one of the most all-encompassing, worker-friendly laws regulating non-compete agreements in the country,” the National Law Review said in a March 31 article.

Kruthers said removing non-competes is not good for the workforce overall.

“While proponents of eliminating non-compete agreements claim doing so will provide individuals with greater access to employment, the opposite effect is more likely,” he said. Employers in some fields will be wary about hiring, which “will make it much harder for younger individuals who are more prone to ‘job hop’ to secure employment.”

Shah said non-competes are detrimental to employees in abusive work environments who are blocked from using their skills at a new site.

“So it’s why these places like D.C. and California are cracking down on the idea that employers get to control the worker, not just at work, but off-work hours, after-hours moonlighting or when they quit their job with a non-compete agreement,” he said.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



The post Biden’s Push To Ban Employers’ Non-Compete Clauses Draws Mixed Reaction appeared first on Zenger News.

USA Men’s Basketball: The Dream Renewed

zenger.news
-
0
USA Men’s Basketball: The Dream Renewed

If Team USA men’s basketball can pull out a win at the Olympics, nobody will remember the exhibition losses to Nigeria or the tournament opening loss at the hands of France. The real quest for the gold medal begins with an elimination game as the U.S. men prepare for the defending World Cup champions from Spain early Tuesday.

Despite their flaws, Team USA finds itself three victories from its fourth consecutive gold medal, which just a month ago seemed anything but certain. A disjointed team that was struggling to find its chemistry seemed poised for a collapse that would spin the basketball world off its axis.

According to FIBA, the governing body of international basketball, the United States is still the No. 1 team in the world while Spain is ranked No. 2. Spain will not be in awe of the Stars and Stripes, either — they are led by Pau and Marc Gasol, who have won NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn Nets all-star Kevin Durant has rebounded in this tournament and become the all-time American Olympic scoring leader after his 3-for-10 shooting performance in the loss to France. Against the Czech Republic, Durant scored an efficient 23 points and played a solid all-around game. Durant’s versatility was center stage as he also chipped in with eight assists and six rebounds. In 19 Olympic appearances he has scored 354 points and grabbed 119 boards. Given the lofty standard he’s set playing in the world’s best league, his brilliance has been almost an afterthought on the international stage.

“It’s still pretty weird for me to do stuff like this because I play a team sport, and I try my hardest to make it about the group,” said Durant after the win over the Czech Republic. “But it is special to do something like that. Scoring is something I’ve worked on my whole career and expanded my whole career. To consistently do it is pretty cool.”

After the opening loss to France, which sent shock waves throughout the basketball world, this group of puzzle pieces is beginning to fit together. Jrue Holiday, the Milwaukee Bucks point guard who joined them as the tournament began, has seemed to bring the entire team together. When he was given the task of running the offense there was a rhythm they couldn’t find during a truncated training camp and exhibition games in Las Vegas.

If Team USA wins its next three games to win the gold medal the understated Holiday will join elite company. He would join Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the only players in history to win an NBA Championship and Olympic gold medal in the same year. He would also join his wife, Lauren, who won two gold medals as a member of the USA women’s soccer team.

Holiday has brought to Tokyo the same championship-caliber defense that was a catalyst for the Milwaukee Bucks’ 4–2 victory over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals. He has been able to take advantage of international basketball rules, which allow him to be more physical when guarding the top backcourt weapon of the opposition.

However, he is seamlessly directing an offense that needs a maestro. Holiday is only averaging 12.3 points per game, but he’s made 54.3 percent of his three-point attempts, which was a concern for a team whose perimeter scoring was a problem until he arrived.

“I definitely wanted to be a part of the USA team and win the gold medal,” Holiday said. ”It’s late in my career, so me making it now has been awesome, and I’m super excited about it.”

Holiday’s matchup against Spain’s starting point guard Ricky Rubio figures to be key if the United States is going to reach the semifinals. Rubio is an international veteran with NBA experience and has been a part of Spain’s core for as long as the Gasol brothers. His constant defensive harassing of Rubio while trying to keep him out of the paint will go a long way toward determining whether Team USA will have a chance to leave Tokyo with a medal. Holiday finished their game against Slovenia and Dallas Mavericks all star Luka Doncic with 18 points, but it wasn’t enough to earn them a victory.

Spain and the United States are familiar with each other after meeting in major international competition for more than a decade. Team USA has won 16 of their last 18 matchups. In 2008, they met in one of the greatest gold medal games in Olympic history. The “Redeem Team” led by the late Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, DeWayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony were pressed to the last five minutes before pulling away for a 117–108 win.

While the Americans won the gold medal, that was a seismic shift in the landscape of international basketball. Team USA is regarded as the best team in the world, but the air of invincibility was no more.

Spain is projecting confidence despite heading into the knockout round matchup scheduled for 12:40 a.m. ET Tuesday morning. France’s victory over the United States gives the remaining challengers hope against the three-time defending Olympic gold medalists.

“If you’re going to get that gold medal, you’re going to beat everybody,” said Spain center Marc Gasol. “At that point, it doesn’t matter, the order.”

Holiday’s influence on the team’s chemistry can’t be overstated. He is giving prolific scorers like Durant and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics a chance to flourish in coach Gregg Popovich’s perimeter-oriented system. These scorers have been able to play off the ball which suddenly turned the Americans into a prolific scoring unit that resembles what the five-time NBA championship coach wants to run.

Tatum is entering the quarterfinals coming off his best game of the tournament. He scored 27 points to lead the Americans in the final game of pool play, including 21 in the second half.

“We obviously had a slow start, but everybody just picked it up on defense and got stops, and the game just opened up in the second half,” said Tatum. “The way we were moving [the basketball], obviously, we’re starting to shoot the ball a lot better now than we did the first game, and we are getting more comfortable.”

Edited by Kristen Butler and Bryan Wilkes



The post USA Men’s Basketball: The Dream Renewed appeared first on Zenger News.

Real Steele: A Behind-The-Scenes Look At ‘The Gangster Chronicles’ Podcast

zenger.news
-
0
Real Steele: A Behind-The-Scenes Look At ‘The Gangster Chronicles’ Podcast

Norm Steele had a vision to share the stories of respected street figures in a manner that could be used as a teachable moment rather than glorifying the lifestyle. Mission accomplished.

His podcast, “The Gangster Chronicles,” serves as a platform for people who once lived the street life, currently live the street life or have ties to that life.

Steele is the host/moderator,  flanked by former Death Row Records muscle James McDonald and MC Eiht of gangsta rappers Compton’s Most Wanted who has also created his own lane as a solo artist. The show consistently ranks high in podcast lists, and Steele believes the best is yet to come.

“The Gangster Chronicles” takes listeners through some of the toughest ‘hoods in America without leaving their comfort zone.

Steele tells Zenger how he came up with the podcast’s concept, explains why he would love to interview Suge Knight, and much more.

Percy Crawford interviewed Norm Steele for Zenger.

Zenger: I’m loving the content from “The Gangster Chronicles” podcast. When you took over as the moderator/host, did you envision this level of growth?

Steele: I knew with the changes that we made were going to force the show to go in a different direction. I didn’t know how the audience would react to what I did, but it turned out they have received it well.

Percy Crawford interviewed Norm Steele for Zenger. (Heidi Malone/Zenger)

Zenger: From the outside looking in, it seems like this idea should not have worked. James McDonald has always had Bloods gang ties; MC Eiht has always had Crips gang ties; and James admitted to taking DJ Quik’s side in the beef with Eiht. Yet they are co-hosts and work well on one of the most popular podcasts on the air right now. How?

Steele: It’s all about respect. I think what people need to do, instead of looking at people as Crips or Bloods, black or white, or whatever, look at them as a man. They are another human being. We all get along. We are all like brothers. A big part of that is James’ growth. Everything through James’ eyes ain’t about Crips or Bloods. Same with Eiht. We’ve actually got a lot more in common than what people may think. I’m going to always commend him on this — James has grown tremendously. He was always a great man, good person, but he is borderline incredible now. I have a lot of fun.

We wanted to give a voice to the voiceless. Even though we’re interviewing entertainers and different people, everyone that we talk with comes from some element of the streets. “The Gangster Chronicles” ain’t never going to be the show that you come on if you wanna talk about your album or this or that. Even though I love having those conversations, that’s not what we’re about.

Zenger: Which guest would you say that you learned the most about once they came on the show?

Steele: I loved the Geto Boys interview that we just did. Scarface is one of favorite rappers. I also like Willie D, but for different reasons. He always represented the common Southern man that would whoop your ass.  Scarface’s lyrics are just in depth and visual.

I would also say Too $hort. I have been listening to $hort since I was a kid, and I’m an old cat now. It’s crazy to me that he is still up and doing his thing. I knew that he had to be a hell of a businessman for him to have the longevity and the career in a business where the average stay is only two-and-a-half years. He’s been around almost 40 years. I never really thought about that prior to us doing our research for the interview. He’s maintained a level of success for a very long time, and he is still cracking.

“The Gangster Chronicles” crew, from left, MC Eiht, James McDonald and Norm Steele. (Diamonique Noriega/The Gangster Chronicles Inc.) 

Zenger: I love the diversity of the guests, from a street guy like Pistol Pete to learning how much of an entrepreneur TQ is to an interview with Mac Minister from prison. Is that intentional?

Steele: Yeah, it is. It’s supposed to be to inform and educate. I don’t mean to highlight no negative s..t. It’s really to let people know, you sell dope you’re going to jail. You kill somebody, more than likely you will get killed, you reap what you sow. It’s really to inspire, inform and educate. Even though we’re starting to have more artists on the show, and that was something we wanted to do from the beginning, there will always be a place on there for that dude that’s fresh out of prison or been to prison or may still be in prison.

You mentioned the Mac Minister interview. That had an impact on me because the way the media puts his case out there, they make it look like he went and bodied [killed] this cat in Vegas in retaliation for the Mac Dre death. The dude got railroaded. It opened my eyes to his case, and we’re making it our personal mission to put that story out there as much as we can. We got some continuing stuff that we’re going to do with that. We are kind of his only lifeline.

A lot of people will tell me that they didn’t realize the show was as big as it is because our audio numbers are way bigger than the numbers we get on our YouTube channel. YouTube numbers are cool, but we get a million downloads on the audio side. It can always be better and grow more, but we’re not using the platform we got to put any negativity out there. We want to put all positive stuff in the universe.

Zenger: I ask everyone who is doing radio or in that podcast world this question: Who is your bucket list guest?

Steele: I’ve already talked to everybody that I really wanted to talk to. I always wanted to get one with J. Prince. We sat down with J. Prince and chopped it up with him. I always wanted to sit down with the Geto Boys, and we did that. Suge Knight would be my bucket list guest. Suge kept a whole bunch of people out of jail, he changed a whole lot of people’s lives. He brought us the biggest rap star in the history of rap, Snoop Dogg. He had arguably the best lineup ever. He perfected the perfect label. It’s a shame that it went down the way it did. You gotta give Suge his genius. You may think his methods were kind of out there, but he made things happen.

I think what Suge, Irv Gotti and J. Prince had going was genius. Whenever you get some black people talking about starting up their own distribution thing, that can be a very powerful move. I’m working on something right now that’s probably going to shift the culture. It’s going to be one of the biggest things done in media in a long time. I can’t talk in detail about it, but I’m going to definitely come to you first. I’m really about empowering people. James [McDonald] don’t have a standard podcast deal, dog. James is terminally supplanted in everything that I do because he’s such a big reason why. I never came on the show with the pretense of coming from behind the scenes. I wanted to be a behind-the-scenes executive.

Zenger: I know there were some things said about that.

Steele: That’s why I’m glad I’m doing this interview. I could erase a bunch of BS, and I didn’t have to, but I felt the need to. You come up with this idea, and the premise of the show is based on what you wanna do. I talked to Glasses Malone, who I manage. Me and Glasses was in my living room one night, two years before “The Gangster Chronicles” came out. I said, “Bro, I’m going to do a show called ‘The Gangster Chronicles’ and it’s going to really be about the streets. We’re going to interview some different entertainers, but you’re liable to see somebody that used to be a burglar, used to be a drug dealer, or somebody that’s out of their mind.”

But I wanted it done from an angle where we’re not glorying stuff, but we’re going to get to the meat of how and why. People don’t just become who they are for no reason. We’re all born crying and naked. There is always something that happens that makes people who they are. I always felt if people could get a better understanding of each other, then we could make this a better place. Not everybody is gonna get along, but we could all respect each other and understand where we’re all coming from.

Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Judith Isacoff



The post Real Steele: A Behind-The-Scenes Look At ‘The Gangster Chronicles’ Podcast appeared first on Zenger News.

MNPS Board to Meet and Discuss COVID Protocols

Articles Submitted
-
0
MNPS Board to Meet and Discuss COVID Protocols

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Metro Nashville Board of Education Chair Christiane Buggs has called a special meeting for Thursday, August 5 at 11am to meet and discuss the COVID mitigation protocols in place for the 2021-22 school year that starts on August 10.

“Students will be arriving at school in just a week, and with the rise of COVID cases throughout Davidson County and the new guidance released by the CDC, it is important for the Board to discuss our existing protocols in time to make any changes before the start of the year,” said Chair Buggs.

The Board will convene to discuss and potentially take action on the COVID protocols, specifically face-masks, in light of new CDC guidance and the delta variant. Currently, the protocol in place for the 2021-22 school year is that masks be highly encouraged but not required for all students and staff in MNPS facilities. Board Members will have the ability to propose alternative protocols at the meeting, but no proposals have been formally made at this time.

WHO: Metro Nashville Board of Education
WHAT: Specially-called Board Meeting to discuss COVID Protocols
WHEN: Thursday, August 5 at 11:00AM
WHERE: MNPS Board Room, 2601 Bransford Ave, Nashville, TN 37204. The meeting will also be streamed via the Metro Nashville Network.

Darnelle Beckford Gets Real About Epilepsy And Other Limitations In His New Book

zenger.news
-
0
Darnelle Beckford Gets Real About Epilepsy And Other Limitations In His New Book

Darnelle Beckford was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 2 and has been fighting the disease’s effects all his life.

How he’s choosing to deal with it can serve as an inspiration to others. He refuses to let the seizure-causing malady beat him. Setting his sights on graduating from college — and going in with a bit of a chip on his shoulder — Beckford surpassed even his doctors’ expectations.

He made Berkeley College’s Dean’s List last year. And earlier this year, he released an inspirational and motivational book “Let’s Be Realistic: Battling Epilepsy and Other Limitations,” which details how he coped with the numerous doctor visits and overload of medications following his diagnosis.

Beckford opens up to Zenger News about his battles with the disorder, how he dealt with the doubters, what it was like writing his first book and more.

Percy Crawford interviewed Darnelle Beckford for Zenger.

Zenger: Congratulations on your new book. How did it come together?

Percy Crawford interviewed Darnelle Beckford for Zenger. (Heidi Malone/Zenger)

Beckford: The process was quite simple. I was in college writing an essay for one of my classes. After I was done with the essay, I just started thinking about what I’ve been through and how far I have come, and I just started writing. In no time, I had 25 pages. I showed it to my dad. He read it and was like, “This is too good; you need to turn this into a book.”

I never had the thought of a book. I was just going to write and store it on my computer. I took my parents advice to see how far it can go. He introduced me to Michael Wright and his company, MawMedia Group LLC. So, me and Mr. Wright went back and forth, and I shared my stories with him. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Zenger: How special of a moment was it for you to make the dean’s list at Berkeley College?

Beckford: It was huge! A lot of people never thought I would make it this far, as far as doctors that diagnosed me as a baby. They were telling my parents that I wouldn’t be equipped to process things at an adequate rate like the other kids. I planned everything out. People thought I couldn’t go to college, and I just started to work because I wanted better for myself. I convinced myself that I was going to go to college. Both of my parents are from Jamaica. They were both teachers there, and education is important in our family and our culture.

I started at a community college [and] made the Dean’s List about 10 or 12 times, exceeding everyone’s expectations anyone had for me. I set my own standards. I had to push through and prove everybody wrong. I went to college with a chip on my shoulder. I had a point to prove. I did all the research while looking for college; the high school I came from didn’t offer the proper resources to really help out with that.

From there, I went to Berkeley College, where I continued to excel. The icing on the cake for me was to graduate with honors. I graduated from community college with a 3.03, which is B average, but that wasn’t good enough for my standards. At Berkeley, I was Student of the Month. I had a good relationship with my professors. I graduated from there in 2020. Due to the pandemic, I wasn’t able to walk [in a graduation ceremony], but I graduated with honors, summa cum laude. I set my mind to it, and I did it. I did that for me. For the people that doubted me, I proved them wrong.

Zenger: You mentioned doctors diagnosing you at an early age. Tell us about that.

Beckford: I was diagnosed with epilepsy, so I had seizures. That was at an early age, like 2 years old. I have to live with this the rest of my life. I was on so many medications. They all had different side effects. I was having a lot of seizures to the point where it hindered my development. So I wasn’t able to grasp certain things as fast as the other kids. I needed extra help, but once I got it, I got it.

By the time I reached college, I knew I would never be treated like the rest of the students asking for handouts. I didn’t ask for any handouts. If the time was up for taking the test, it was up for me, as well. It was a difficult road. I have been to so many doctors trying to figure out what’s going on with me, and what we can do.

Author Darnelle Beckford, who was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 2, has surpassed even his doctors’ expectations. (Courtesy of Darnelle Beckford) 

Zenger: What do you want readers of “Let’s Be Realistic: Battling Epilepsy and Other Limitations,” to take away from it?

Beckford: Never give up. If you are in a situation that you feel like you can’t get out of, this book will definitely connect with you. I talk about so many things that the average person can relate to. This book is not just about me battling epilepsy, but it’s also about other major things that happened to me. I feel like this can connect with different people that have gone through some type of fight, whether it be mental illness, domestic violence issues or cancer.

This book is for you if you have any type of addiction or illness. There’s a lot of different advice I give on how to overcome such obstacles. It’s especially important to surround yourself with people who are really down for you and really care about you. A lot of people say they are down for you and will be there for you, but that’s not always the case. The biggest message is about inspiring others. Not only people with disabilities or illnesses, but anyone trying to survive any situation.

Zenger: Congratulations again. I can’t wait to read the book, and I wish you the best of luck with it. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Beckford: I just want to tell everybody to keep fighting the fight. We have to continue to speak up and use our platforms to voice our opinions. No matter what the fight is, keep fighting the fight, and I promise you we will get through all of this. I am working on some great things, business ventures and things like that. I hope everyone stays tuned. I want everyone to see that if I can make it out of a difficult situation, a lot of hardships, they can do it too.

Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Judith Isacoff



The post Darnelle Beckford Gets Real About Epilepsy And Other Limitations In His New Book appeared first on Zenger News.

Texas Democrats Tell Congress Democracy Is Under Attack In The Lone Star State

zenger.news
-
0
Texas Democrats Tell Congress Democracy Is Under Attack In The Lone Star State

WASHINGTON — Texas Democrats told Congress on Thursday that state Republicans were carrying out an attack on the voting rights of minorities to stop the onetime GOP stranglehold from trending any further purple — or even one day falling to the Democrats in an election.

Amid shifting demographics in Texas, which has not voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976, Democrats have grown increasingly hopeful of a return to electoral relevance.

Testifying before the House Sub-Committee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in Washington, D.C., the state lawmakers, who fled Texas earlier this month to forestall a vote, said that new electoral laws being pushed by the Republican majority in the state, led by Gov. Greg W. Abbott, were an effort to circumvent that.

Texas State Reps. Senfronia Thompson, Nicole Collier and Diego Bernal arrive at a hearing before the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of House Committee on Oversight and Reform on July 29. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“Some of you may be asking why did we ring the alarm — why are we raising concern about what’s going on in Texas?” said Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier, the chair of the Texas state legislative Black Caucus at a press conference. “Well, it’s not just happening in Texas, it’s happening across our country.”

“We have seen a concerted effort in various states to pass legislation that would limit access to the ballot. It would not expand access, it would reduce access. What is happening in Texas is no different.”

More than 50 Texas House Democrats fled the state on July 11 after Gov. Abbott called a special session of the state legislature to pass new election laws, which are part of a nationwide push by GOP leaders to change election laws in the wake of former President Donald J. Trump’s claims of voter fraud.

By leaving Texas and denying the Republicans the two-thirds quorum needed to pass the legislation, the Democrats have forestalled the passage of the new voting laws. They said the decision to flee the state to deny quorum — the first such move by the minority Democrats since a redistricting fight in 2003 — was not taken lightly, and only came after the Texas GOP refused to negotiate.

Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier speaks to reporters in front of Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia listen at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on July 14. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“We tried to work with our colleagues to reduce the harmful impact of this legislation, but we hit a wall,” Rep. Collier said at a press conference after leaving Texas. “There were no more discussions to be had, so we came to find the answer, and that is in Washington, D.C., with our federal counterparts.”

But during the hearing on Thursday, Republicans accused the state Democrats of shirking their responsibilities by fleeing, even jeering at those testifying by telling them to “Go back to Texas.”

Some, like, Rep. Peter Sessions (R-Texas) accused the state lawmakers of inventing elaborate political narratives to prevent legitimate legislation from passing. He noted that Republicans, like himself, were in the minority in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, but still turned up to losing votes.

“The work of the state of Texas is very important and the people of Texas have duly qualified and elected individuals who represent them,” Sessions said. “It has become common that people when they know they don’t have the votes leave, walk out and to not participate.”

“Here in Washington, D.C., we do not have the votes to win a single vote — none — but Republicans don’t walk out,” he added. “We don’t go and accuse people of things because we are losing.”

Rep. Collier, though, defended the delegation’s decision to leave Texas to prevent the laws passing.

“There was mention of the walkout of the quorum,” she said. “That is a procedural method — just as the filibuster is in the Senate. If they don’t like a policy in the Senate, they filibuster.”

“That is just part of the rules.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks alongside former President Donald J. Trump during a tour to an unfinished section of the border wall on June 30 Pharr, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The Democrats are the minority in both chambers of the Texas state legislature.

However, given the GOP does not hold a two-thirds majority in the lower house, even with its majority it cannot pass the electoral bill when the minority Democrats are not present to provide quorum.

The state lawmakers, who opposed the electoral bill due to provisions including bans on drive-through voting and 24-hour voting, arrived in the capital on July 11 and plan to remain until Aug. 7, after the end of a special 30-day sitting of the Texas legislature called to pass the bills.

According to the Democrats, despite no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 elections in Texas, which Trump and down-ballot Republicans handily won, state Republicans are seeking to implement legislation that would dramatically restrict ballot access to voters who tend to vote Democrat.

In particular, they say the legislation targets black and Latino citizens by imposing restrictions on voter assistance, which is often in the form of language help, as well as stricter voter ID requirements.

One of the Democrats, Rep. Senfronia Thompson, a member of the Select Committee on Constitutional Rights and Remedies in the Texas House, told Zenger in an interview on Tuesday that she believed the group’s decision to flee Texas was justified by the severity of the laws being pushed by the GOP.

“This is probably the worst session that we have endured, and what we are doing is going back to a time when they had signs that read ‘No dogs, no Negroes, no Mexicans,” Thompson said.

Texas State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, left, listens to Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier prior to the hearing of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of House Committee on Oversight and Reform on July 29. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

While in Washington, D.C., the Texas state lawmakers have been doing the rounds, meeting with national Democratic Party leaders and other voting rights activists. On Monday, they met with District of Columbia council members and local pastors. On Tuesday, they gathered with Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, driving to the Martin Luther King Memorial for a photo opportunity.

They group says their main goal is to promote the passage of two prominent voting rights bills being pushed by Senate Democrats, which have both been blocked by Republican filibuster threats.

The chair of the Texas Democratic caucus, Chris Turner, said in a statement issued when they left Texas that only the passage of the two bills — the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act — can stop what he termed the “Trump Republicans’ nationwide war on democracy.”

Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier speaks during a press conference in Washongton, D.C. (Hamil Harris/Zenger)

But the Senate Democrats have not made much headway on passing either piece of legislation given the filibuster, which requires the 50 Senate Democrats in the 100-seat chamber to gain the support of 10 Republicans to pass laws.

Meanwhile, the Texas lawmakers can only stay away from home for so long.

Gov. Abbott has said he will have the group arrested and taken to the legislature to reach quorum whenever they arrive back. He has also strenuously denied the new laws are intended to restrict minority voters, and says they are intended only to ensure the integrity of future elections.

“As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done,” Gov. Abbott told KVUE-TV earlier this month.

Many of the lawmakers, though, say the prospect of arrest does not worry them, if it helps their battle.

“My mom and grandmother said that if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything,” Texas State Rep. Rhetta Andrews Bowers told Zenger. “We vote to keep fighting.”

Edited by Alex Willemyns and Kristen Butler



The post Texas Democrats Tell Congress Democracy Is Under Attack In The Lone Star State appeared first on Zenger News.

Medical Marijuana Entrepreneur Sees Racial Reckoning In Connecticut’s Legalization Of Cannabis 

zenger.news
-
0
Medical Marijuana Entrepreneur Sees Racial Reckoning In Connecticut’s Legalization Of Cannabis 

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Focusing on social equity, a black woman whose business certifies residents for Connecticut’s medical marijuana card is taking advantage of measures in a new state law that target the issue most important to her.

Kebra Smith-Bolden, a former nurse and founder of CannaHealth, aims to provide security for people in her community who consume or medicate with cannabis.

A groundbreaking part of the new law, which went into effect July 1, is social equity.

It requires half of all licenses for entry into the state’s marijuana business be reserved for social-equity applicants, those from areas disproportionately affected by the war on drugs, according to the U.S. Census.

For Smith-Bolden, the new law means “righting the wrongs.”

The law will expunge the criminal records of people with certain cannabis crimes within a specific time period. When Gov. Ned Lamont signed Senate Bill 1201 into law on June 22, he stated: “We are helping our state move beyond this terrible period of incarceration and injustice.”

“That, to me, is a positive thing,” Smith-Bolden said, “but what I don’t like is that, if you’re expunging records because you’re acknowledging that those charges were racially motivated — and should be rescinded so that the legislation protects the communities it once criminalized — then why would you not allow for people with criminal histories to engage in the industry?”

State Rep. Steven Stafstrom (D-Bridgeport) said, “The definition of social equity applicant is fairly broad and certainly could include someone who was formerly incarcerated, and I think the definition we have is sufficient.”

Another issue the law addresses the costs associated with dispensaries. Social equity applicants will pay 50 percent of the price other applicants pay. The state’s posted list of prices shows that a retailer in the adult-use cannabis program must pay $25,000 for a license. The social equity fee for the same is $12,500.

A Social Equity Council of 15 people  will develop a cannabis business accelerator program to provide technical assistance to those starting out, as well as a workforce training program for social-equity applicants.

Revenue from the expanded industry will help the state offset some of the costs. Connecticut’s Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates the state will see $75 million from the regulation and taxation of recreational marijuana in the next five years. By mid-2023, it is projected that the state will begin to distribute money to specific funds for equity initiatives and substance abuse prevention.

Kebra Smith-Bolden protesting cannabis arrests. In her home state of Connecticut, in 2011, black people were four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. (Courtesy of Kebra Smith-Bolden)

Mixed response

Despite these positive projections, Smith-Bolden has mixed feelings about the new law, which creates a market for recreational marijuana.

Under the law, for adults ages 21 and over, possession of up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis on their person and up to 5 ounces in their homes or locked in their car, truck or glove box is legal. Smith-Bolden wonders how this will affect her business.

Legalization across the board will lead to the volume of cannabis customers being spread out in different markets. At the same time, there will still be a viable market for people wanting medical prescriptions for justification for its use, she said.

Coming from a community where legislation like this will have a profound impact on her business, Smith-Bolden has concerns. Before this legislation, the only way to securely consume cannabis in Connecticut was by obtaining it with a medical card.

Under the new law, medical marijuana dispensaries can  convert to also serve adult-use, but there is a high cost. They must “pay a fee of $1 million, which can be reduced to $500,000 if they create at least one ‘equity joint venture,’” the law states. “’Equity joint ventures must be at least 50 percent owned by a social equity applicant.”

Broader access

Smith-Bolden views social equity as a multi-tiered responsibility, including ownership in the cannabis industry.  Legalization offers a path for more people to have access to the healing aspects and other uses of the plant, along with a business opportunity.

“In other states, equity in cannabis has been an afterthought, and I think Connecticut was able to capitalize on states like Massachusetts and Illinois to take the positive from those bills but learn lessons from the areas that did not work,” she said.

The law states that users can now buy medical marijuana from any dispensary, even those that have adult-use licenses, rather than exclusively the one to which they are assigned.

“The ability to choose where you can obtain your medicine is vital to ensure we are respecting a patient’s rights. Patients should be able to choose where they would like to spend their money and should not have to stay bound to a provider they no longer want to patronize, due to the bureaucracy of paperwork,” Smith-Bolden said.

She wants people who live and work across the state to access their medicine with the same ease as acquiring prescription pharmaceutical drugs.

Smith-Bolden said CannaHealth’s goal is to implement health care, education, advocacy and protection for her community. People who live in public housing or are on probation or parole, or involved with the Department of Children and Families can be evicted or have their children taken because they consume cannabis.

In Connecticut in 2011, black people were four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

One section of the legislation requires more participation and access to advanced roadside impaired driving enforcement for police officers, a concern for the ACLU.

“We want to be sure the language in the legislation calling for new police officer standards and increased access to drug recognition training is not abused to continue to over-police black, Latinx, and low-income communities,” it said in an open letter to the state.

Kebra Smith-Bolden, a former registered nurse and founder and CEO of CannaHealth. (Courtesy of Kebra Smith-Bolden)

Getting into the business

When Smith-Bolden attended the Northeastern Institute of Cannabis in Massachusetts after 20 years of being a registered nurse, she learned more about how cannabis prohibition led to such over-policing in her community.

“That put together the reality of the war on drugs being a war on my community and how that affected my community. I immediately started thinking about ways to enter the cannabis industry and use it as a form of reparation for me as well as a way to provide access to safe plant-based medicine for people in my community who hadn’t been looking at cannabis like that,” she said.

Her grandmother, who suffered an aneurysm, was the one who inspired her to start researching the plant. After medicating with cannabis, she saw a remarkable turnaround in her overall health, mood and ability to move.

Kebra Smith-Bolden smelling a cannabis flower inside a lab. (Courtesy of Kebra Smith-Bolden)

One of Smith-Bolden’s first clients was a 94-year-old woman with a broken hip who was terrified of taking opioids.

“I was able to medicate her and keep her safe from an opioid overdose and addiction …,” Smith-Bolden said.

One of the most prevalent diagnoses that Smith-Bolden sees is patients with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“I get people who are post imprisonment, have PTSD, and need to medicate, but because of their post-prison statuses like probation or parole or any type of monitoring service, they need CannaHealth to be able to medicate with the plant without being arrested… which is ridiculous,” she said.

But with the proper enforcement of this new law, she said, this will no longer be an issue.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Fern Siegel



The post Medical Marijuana Entrepreneur Sees Racial Reckoning In Connecticut’s Legalization Of Cannabis  appeared first on Zenger News.

Former Olympic Track Star Brings Gold Medal Effort To Inner City Kids

zenger.news
-
0
Former Olympic Track Star Brings Gold Medal Effort To Inner City Kids

Sporting her Olympic pink blazer and silver medal from the 1992 Summer Olympics and her gold medal from the 1996 Summer Olympics, track star Rochelle Stevens was ready for a 6 a.m. TV live shot of her watching the opening ceremonies of the 2020 Games in Tokyo last week.

She was not only ready, but focused — just like she was when Team USA walked into the stadium in Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Historians say the women’s 4×400 relay was one of the greatest moments of the 1996 track and field events.

“It was the proudest moment of my life to represent Team USA,” said Stevens. The team won gold in the relay, in which Nigeria was the favored nation.

Rochelle Stevens (right) finishes a close second to The Unified Team racing under the Olympic Flag represented by Olga Bryzgina in the women’s 4×400 meters relay during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. (Professional Sport/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Stevens was also part of the team that won a silver medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona Spain, though they were considered the underdogs in a field of 15 contenders.

“I had to do my best because there was no room for excuses, no cramps because of dehydration. No false starts. I had to go hard because you are racing the best people in the world,” Stevens said.

Decades later, Stevens is an ambassador for the sport, whether she’s a running a track camp for children in Memphis or speaking at her alma mater, Morgan State University, where she holds many of the women’s track records.

She also has a foundation that helps young athletes and raises money for scholarships.

Track star Rochelle Stevens during the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. “No Pain, No Fame” is the title of a song she recorded and released, and the motto she uses as part of her inspiration for young athletes. (Eileen Langsley/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Mother as coach

Stevens’ mother, Beatrice Holloway-Davis, a pastor in Memphis, says she was her daughter’s best coach.

“First of all, she started in church. With my four daughters, I talked to them a lot about the Lord and about life in general, I tried to prepare them for life, the disappointments and the victories,” Beatrice Holloway-Davis said.

Tommy Washington, a childhood friend and a college track star, said Stevens always showed up ready for a run when they were growing up in Memphis.

“I was inspired by watching the Wilma Rudolph [world-record-holding Olympic champion] story. I started racing other children light pole to light pole,” Stevens said.

In high school Stevens won many records, and at Morgan State University she still holds the records she set in 1987 in the 100, 200 and 400 meters. School officials are planning to name the stadium track after her.

Morgan State alumna Rochelle Stevens was awarded a marker from the university’s School of Global Journalism & Communication’s Garden of Fame in 2019. (Hamil Harris/Zenger)

Stevens graduated from Morgan State University in 1988, but failed to quality in the Olympic trials that year. That just spurred her motivation.

“My motto became ‘no pain, no Spain,’” Stevens said, referring to the 1992 Games in Barcelona. “The athletes striving to be the best are about dreams that don’t come true unless you work for them.”

“There are lots of kids in the inner city who don’t have the support,” said longtime friend Washington. “Rochelle is always giving back. A lot of us didn’t have a lot. I grew up in North Memphis in the projects. But people gave us a lot, and I ran four times a day. Rochelle would come over and say, let’s go running.

“Today, the kids believe in what they see. In my day, we believed what we heard…,” said Washington, who became a track star at Arkansas State and now runs the Memphis Thoroughbreds track club.

Rochelle Stevens dressed up as a superhero at her track camp for children. She said that during her heyday, she had wanted to bring fashion to her sport. (Courtesy of Rochelle Stevens)

Stevens started a new track and field combine in June.

“More than 30,000 inner-city youth have taken part in our track meets and programs [overall],” she said.

“My goal is to be able to motivate and inspire the next generation of athletes through academics,” said Stevens, who holds a doctorate in Christian education.

Performance and prayer

Before the 1996 Games, her mother said, Stevens trained in Florida. While they were there, they met a bishop from Nigeria at a church service and asked for prayer.

“We asked him to pray for Rochelle that she would just make the Olympics, but he said not only is she going to make the Olympics, but she is going to get the gold medal,” Holloway-Davis said. “When we got to the Games, Nigeria was projected to win the gold, and the U.S. was predicted to win the bronze.”

Each relay runner had to run a lap. Stevens started the race, and Olabisi Afolabi from Nigeria pulled out in front.

Maicel Malone brought Team USA into second place, and on the third lap, Kim Graham ran past Russia’s Yekaterina Kulik and separated from the pack to hand off to anchor Jearl Miles with a 4-meter advantage.

Nigeria’s Ogunkoya’s gained ground on the anchor lap, but Miles shifted to lane 2 and held on for the team’s victory.

The four women celebrated by wrapping themselves with the American flag. That moment was unforgettable, Stevens said. “I got a chance to win for my country in front of a crowd of 85,000 people.”

Now, Stevens proudly dons her pink blazer and figuratively waves the American flag for this year’s Team USA.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Fern Siegel



The post Former Olympic Track Star Brings Gold Medal Effort To Inner City Kids appeared first on Zenger News.

Former Olympic Star Dominique Dawes Brings A New Spirit To Gymnastics

zenger.news
-
0
Former Olympic Star Dominique Dawes Brings A New Spirit To Gymnastics

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland — Three-time Olympian Dominique Dawes still maintains her focus and dedication to what’s important in life — including laughter.

During her performances, Dawes says she rarely smiled. But today, as a wife, mother of four young children and owner of a gymnastics academy, she encourages the girls she trains to express emotions that would not have been acceptable during her career.

It’s part of a shift in the cutthroat culture of American gymnastics that was brought to the fore at the Tokyo Olympics by the decision of Simone Biles — considered the “Greatest of All Time” in the sport — to pull out of the team event final due to mental exhaustion.

“She needs to do what is best for Simone,” Dawes told Zenger in an interview.

“At the end of the day she is the one who has to live her life. Just like [Japanese world tennis No. 1] Naomi Osaka, who made the decision to not partake in a press conference because she was concerned about her mental health, athletes need to be able to say no,” she said.

“If they feel that it’s unhealthy for them, they need to be able to step away.”

Dawes was a member of the “Magnificent Seven” team that won gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. She was also the first black person — male or female — of any nationality to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics, and the first African American to win an individual Olympic medal in the floor exercise.

A lot has changed since then, she said, with her Olympic successors like Biles more empowered to stand up for their own interests.

“When I think about the Olympic Games, it brings me back to the level of sacrifice and commitment and what it took to earn a spot on that Olympic stage,” Dawes said. “We did what was told of us. Back in the ’90s, gymnasts were literally trained to be to robots.”

“It is very much a breath of fresh air to be a 44-year-old mom and to listen to my inner voice now.”

A different focus

Dawes said her views on gymnastics changed after she became a mother.

“I think it is important for our kids to enjoy their childhood,” said Dawes, who started in gymnastics when she was 6 years old.

In the 2020 documentary “Art of the Athlete,” Dawes talks about moving away from her parents and siblings when she was 10 to pursue her dream of being a world-class champion. While she later would be nicknamed “Awesome Dawesome,” her journey was not easy.

“Everything that came out in 2016 regarding [former USA Gymnastics national team doctor and convicted sex offender] Larry Nassar … it was the culture that allowed that to go on,” Dawes said. “He abused so many young girls, and now we are shining a light on a culture that has some horrible, physical and psychological abuse.

“I want to make sure that we are focusing on building and not tearing kids down, building them up to be champions in life.”

“I want people to have a healthy introduction to the sport of gymnastics,” says Dawes.  (Courtesy of Dominique Dawes)

Dawes said she doesn’t have a competitive team at the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics and Ninja Academy in Clarksburg, Maryland, and that is by choice.

Her academy “is all about creating a healthy environment and being honest about the journey that I had, back in my career. While I love sports, it can be a very grueling environment. What I am offering is quite different. I want people to have a healthy introduction to the sport of gymnastics. It is not about building champions. It is more about happy and healthy kids growing up to be healthy adults.

“As a mom of four, I see life differently,” she said. “Everyone has different strengths and abilities. I see every kid there as gifted and talented. That’s how my facilities run, as opposed to a highly competitive facility.

“It can be a very grueling environment, but I want people to have a healthy place. We are planting positive seeds, and it is really about building the self-esteem and the emotional psychology of smiling and laughing and caring about [children] as people.”

Changing the “spirit of gymnastics”

“We are really striving to change the spirit of gymnastics. It was the culture that allowed the abuse of so many young girls,” she said.

Dawes, who spoke with Zenger before Team USA began their performances in Tokyo on Sunday, said she and her family would be watching.

“I feel like everyone in the globe is going to be watching, being what we have been through over the last year and a half,” she said. “We are cheering for them.”

Dawes married Jeff Thompson, a teacher in Potomac, Maryland, in 2013, and today they are parents of a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old and 3-year-old twins.

When she was asked what name she goes by, she said: “It is still Dawes. But my husband gets on me to change it to Dominique Thompson.”

Her husband, a former professional basketball player, said of Dawes: “She is amazing. I want to elevate her as a mother, wife and businesswoman.

“I see the business as a calling. I look at her all the time, and as a man, I have to put the ego aside because she is so well-loved, and let her be the mother and the wife. It is often a complicated road to navigate,” he said.

Dawes celebrates with a student at her gymnastics academy. (Courtesy of Dominique Dawes)

A trailblazer

Milton Kent, a professor at Morgan State University, said Dawes was clearly a trailblazer for modern athletes because at the time she was competing, the Eastern Europeans set the standards in gymnastics and the Americans were not serious contenders.

“They were controlled by Béla Károlyi, the Hungarian [coach] who had a big influence in the U.S.,” Kent said. “Dominique had her own private coach, Kelli Hill.”

Kent said Biles and other present-day Olympic gymnasts owe much to Dawes. But now Dawes wants to chart a new course for her students.

“In terms of some parents, they don’t really [understand] the journey and the level of sacrifice it takes for a young child,” she said.

“I want to be part of the change by creating a healthy environment. I see life different now that I am a mother of four kids. I now see things in terms of my children and as a protective parent. … I am going to be part of the parents who really care.”

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Fern Siegel



The post Former Olympic Star Dominique Dawes Brings A New Spirit To Gymnastics appeared first on Zenger News.

1...717273...194Page 72 of 194