Defending women’s rights

    Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA) has been in a defensive posture ever since a series of undercover videos surfaced in July that implied the health care provider is harvesting fetal body parts for profit.

PPFA is now fighting back. On Jan. 14, the nation’s leading provider of reproductive health care services for women filed a civil lawsuit in San Francisco against eight defendants PPFA deems responsible for secretly filming the five videos.

One of the defendants is David Daleiden, director of the nonprofit Center for Medical Progress (CMP), reportedly a “biomedicine” or “bioengineering” organization. On Jan. 25, a Houston grand jury indicted Daleiden for making false claims in the videos. He’s now facing a felony charge for tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count in connection with buying human tissue. 

The grand jury had initially investigated accusations of criminal misconduct against Planned Parenthood but pivoted to investigate Daleiden and one of his employees, Sandra Merritt, who also was indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record.

Ashley B. Coffield

Ashley B. Coffield, president and CEO of the nonprofit Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region (PPGMR), one of 60 independent affiliates operating nearly 700 health care centers in the United States, said Daleiden and other anti-abortionists spewed lies and misinformation to distract people from their real goal, “which is to end the right to safe and legal abortion in the United States.”

 “The videos were an effort on behalf of anti-abortion extremists in our country to tell lies about Planned Parenthood [and] to distort the truth with the purpose of ending a 100-year-old organization in this country that provides compassionate care for women,” Coffield said.

All seven affiliates in California are plaintiffs in the lawsuit – PPGMR is not included – which seeks restitution of actual damages, compensatory and punitive damages, and triple damages for violations under the civil RICO (Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization) act, as well as attorneys’ fees.

The lawsuit charges that the “nonprofit” CMP attempted to show PPFA representatives in a criminal act of discussing fetal tissue procurement for stem cell researchers and “that its doctors follow an abortion procedure that violates the so-called ‘partial birth’ abortion ban.”

Coffield is angry that anti-abortionists would have the gall to infiltrate Planned Parenthood, use fake IDs and false business documents and create a “fraudulent” narrative in order “to present information that wasn’t accurate.”

“I’m also sad about the physicians who were in the videos and how their security was placed at risk by filming them without their consent,” she said, “and by editing the things that they said to make them appear to be engaging in something that was wrong.”

Rabbi Micah Greenstein, the Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel – the oldest and largest Jewish congregation in Tennessee – called the videos “dangerous.” They jeopardize the health of millions of women in the United States, he said.

“That fabricated video[s] may have been a political stunt, but it’s not funny when lives are at stake. In this case, it’s the lives of millions of women who depend on Planned Parenthood for their health care.”

The videos ignited a firestorm that permeated mainstream media, which led to several state investigations and four congressional committees investigations that were spearheaded by members of the House and Senate – many of them Republicans – who have since called for Planned Parenthood to be defunded.

If the politicians at both state and federal levels succeed in defunding Planned Parenthood, the affiliates would be ineligible for reimbursement for services they provide to patients enrolled in federal health care programs, such as Medicaid, which is called TennCare in Tennessee.  

“It’s a moral outrage that Planned Parenthood is under attack,” said Greenstein. “Not a dime should be cut from funding breast cancer screenings, Pap smears and other [services]. It’s easy to try to stop legal abortion. It’s harder to face the truth that Planned Parenthood is fundamentally about health care for women, women who don’t have what the people who are attacking Planned Parenthood have – basic health care.”

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), representing the 7^th District of Tennessee, doesn’t see it that way. In the “Blackburn Report,” for example, she stated that “new documentation of the heinous practice of harvesting the body parts of babies as part of the abortion process have raised serious questions about the possible systematic and repeated violation of state and federal laws.”

“The fact that of the 700 health care centers, only six gave mothers who terminated their pregnancy the choice of using the fetal tissue for research to prevent future diseases and other tragedies,” said Greenstein, referring to the health centers that had actually been involved with fetal tissue research.

“We’re talking less than 1 percent,” he said.

Blackburn, who is vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led a floor debate on H.R. 3134 – the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015 – that passed the House 241-187. State Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) introduced the bill, which would impose a one-year moratorium on all federal funding to Planned Parenthood and its affiliates while investigations are being conducted unless the health care provider certifies it will not perform abortions or provide funds to other entities that perform them. Restrictions apply in cases of rape, incest or a woman’s health concerns.

There have been at least 11 attempts in the House to defund Planned Parenthood. Ninth District Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, and Blackburn’s counterpart in the House, voted “no” each time.

During a hearing in September, for example, Cohen used the bully pulpit to speak out against dogged efforts by anti-abortion extremists to defund Planned Parenthood in response to “several heavily edited and discredited videos....”

“Today’s hearing is another effort in a long-running and sustained campaign to restrict women’s constitutional rights,” Cohen sounded off. “It’s showboating for a political base that won’t be happy until Planned Parenthood is shut down.”

Cohen noted with enthusiasm the services that Planned Parenthood provides when he helped the affiliate here to secure federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2012 ($395,000) and 2013 ($265,000). He vowed to stand with women to make sure their right to reproductive choice is protected.  

On the Senate side, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) jumped into the fray and co-sponsored S.1881, a bill that Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced that would redirect federal dollars currently allocated to Planned Parenthood centers in Tennessee to other health care centers providing services for women. The legislation failed to garner the necessary votes (47-52) to advance.

The videos and subsequent investigations prompted intense scrutiny against Planned Parenthood and generated persistent media attention. But there is no evidence of the onslaught having a negative effect on the health care provider.

However, in spite of ongoing investigations, some talking heads on TV and in print media have reported that the videos contradict the allegations against Planned Parenthood based on results from forensic analysis.  

Even after the indictment of Daleiden, Planned Parenthood is fighting back to restore its reputation and validity as a bona fide health care provider for women. PPGMR is doing its part too on the local level all the while anti-abortionists parade outside PPGMR’s facility on Poplar Avenue with picket signs.

The debate continues to rage – whether Planned Parenthood should continue to operate as usual or be stripped of federal funds. And anger is seething as well. For example, a disturbed gunman in November attacked Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs and left three dead and others wounded. 

Coffield is keenly aware of the hostility and the potential for violence against Planned Parenthood and its patients. But that hasn’t stopped her from carrying out PPGMR’s mission: “to improve health and well-being by providing high-quality, non-judgmental sexual health care, honest and accurate sexuality education, and reproductive health and rights advocacy.”     

“For our community to lose a health care provider that focuses on contraception and well-woman care, and cancer screening and STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections) testing, and treatment and access to abortion would be a tragedy,” she said.

AT A GLANCE:

Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region (PPGMR) supplied the following information and data to justify the need for its myriad services:

• Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. serves 2.7 million patients annually. Cecile Richards is the president.

• The number of patients served at PPGMR is 9,000 of 13,000 visits annually.

• PPGMR is nearly 75 years old and serves patients in West Tennessee, North Mississippi and East Arkansas. At least 65 percent of those served are from the Memphis area.

• Planned Parenthood’s education and outreach programs reach 1.5 million people each year – 1,500 of them in Memphis alone.

• PPGMR utilizes dozens of “sex-perts” on college campuses and a comprehensive sexual education program (JustUs) for middle school and high school students.

• PPGMR issued 650,000 condoms, and other safer-sex products were distributed through its “Free Condom Memphis” program last year.

• Six million people visit Planned Parenthood websites each month for health care information.

• PPGMR accepts commercial insurance and TennCare for its services. A 40 percent discount is offered to patients without insurance. Teens 18 and under are free for some services.

• 50 percent of PPGMR’s revenue comes from patient fees, 25 percent from donors, 22 percent from insurance, and about 3 percent from government grants. 

The Bible Patrol Man

     

The Rev. Mark Hyde established himself as the Bible Patrol Man in 2003 and
travelled around in a Ford Crown Victoria to minister to people in the community.
(Courtesy photo by the Rev. Mark Hyde)

     “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1 (KJV)

The words that John wrote eons ago are crystal clear and evident to the Rev. Mark Hyde that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and that His Word will live forever – and in man’s heart as well when man surrenders to God’s authority.

Hyde has done just that – surrendered it all. Now he’s exegeting the Word of God – as did John and other men of God in their day – trying to win souls for the “Kingdom.” And he’s doing all this and more as the “Bible Patrol Man,” a moniker that defines his ministry.

 “I explain the Word of God on a kindergarten level and try my best not to offer an opinion,” said Hyde, who came to the United States in 1987 from the Caribbean island of Jamaica. “Once you accept the truth, you find a church to go to.”

Hyde’s story began once he settled in the U.S. and acclimated himself to the culture here and a different kind of democracy, which differs from the parliamentary democracy of Jamaica. Ten years later, he married the former Angela Miller and bore a son, Joseph Hyde.

Hyde started his ministry after meeting his wife at a Bible retreat for singles. Afterward, he matriculated at South Dakota Mission College of Evangelism, a small, personal college for “those who want to be soul-winners for Christ.”

The direction Hyde was headed kept him focused on his mission: to win souls for Christ. After graduating from college, he served a stint in ministry in Colorado, where his mother-in-law, Annie Miller, touted his ministry to the Rev. Joe Crider, then the pastor of Mallory Heights SDA Church of Memphis.

Crider urged Hyde to come to Memphis. He explained that his innate talent for winning souls was greatly needed here. Shortly thereafter, Hyde relocated and picked up where he’d left off in Colorado – winning souls.  

With Bible in hand, Hyde started knocking on doors, determined to spread the same “Good News” that he’d been afforded. But his work in evangelism at the onset was anything but good news to those who saw him coming and going with some trepidation.

“I didn’t get a good response from anyone,” he said. “Someone would look out the window and say, ‘Mom…the police.’” That’s because Hyde was driving a Ford Crown Victoria, which was mistaken for a police cruiser.

Hyde was gifted the 4-door sedan in Colorado and used it daily to travel to and fro exegeting Scriptures. Then it dawned on him that the police cruiser that was widely used in law enforcement was seen as a threat to people in low-income communities where the police was unwelcomed.

“I prayed and asked God to show me what I could do to reach the people,” said Hyde, trying to find an unencumbered way to connect to the community. “That’s when it happened. The Lord gave me the name Bible Patrol Man.”

It had hit Hyde like a “Damascus Road” experience and suddenly his prayer was answer. He purchased a magnetic sign and placed it on the cruiser, and the problem of mistaken identity was solved. The sign read: “Got Questions? Who You Gonna Call? Bible Patrol Man.” A telephone number was imprinted as well.

“It’s a play on words,” said Hyde, referring to his moniker. “It’s still a patrol car, but a patrol car for a different reason.”

That was 12 years ago. Now the 48-year-old Hyde is making headway as the Bible Patrol Man, claiming since his arrival in Memphis in 2002 that as many as several hundred “souls” were baptized as a result of his ministry.

But it was Janis Fullilove’s talk show on radio station WLOK 1340 AM that rocketed Hyde as the affable Bible exegetist, which, he said matter-of-factly, endeared him and his mobile ministry to her listening audience.

“Janis Fullilove had invited me to come on the radio station around 2004 or 2005, and that thing took off,” he said. “[Afterward] when they saw the car, they would say, ‘That’s the guy on the Fullilove show.’” 

Since then, Hyde has ridden the crest of support from followers who look to the gospel preacher, teacher and evangelist to imbue them with the Word of God and point them in the direction leading to the “Kingdom.”

Pansy Ray noted her appreciation of Hyde’s ministry in a Q&A that was printed in a souvenir booklet honoring his 12^th anniversary. She responded to all questions with frankness, but her response to one of them was affirmation that Hyde had made the right decision when he took on the moniker Bible Patrol Man.

“My faith in God became stronger once I met Pastor Mark Hyde. I became a bolder witness for Christ…I want to be more like Jesus just like the Bible Patrol Man,” said Ray, responding to the question What did you find as a result of having the Bible Patrol Man experience?

Hyde has traveled as far away as the West Coast to answer the call of ministry, including mission trips to other countries. He also has provided food, clothing, furniture and air conditioning – making sure one’s spiritual needs and physical needs are met – and lends a helping hand at times to charitable organizations.

“I travel all over the city whenever the need arrives,” he said. “I go out there and patrol. I visit people in the hospital, pray for them and anoint them. My main thing is small group Bible study, or one-on-one Bible study.”

The ultimate goal, he said, is for people to have a true understanding of the unadulterated truth of God. “I get satisfaction when I see someone accept the truth and go to a watery grave (baptism). I want to enlarge the kingdom, de-populate hell, and expose the devil for who he is.”

Sometimes Hyde’s wife and son go out on patrol with him. For the most part, Angela and Joseph take their cue from Hyde and patrol when their schedules permit. But not in the Ford Crown Victoria; the engine, he said, died in 2014.

“I’m deliberating on putting the magnetic sign on another car,” said Hyde. “If I put it on anything, it has to have that same look. I want it to look like a police car.”  

Mayor Jim Strickland makes it clear that it’s a new day in Memphis

     

"The people of Memphis called for a change, and that call has not gone unheard,"
Mayor Jim Strickland told a capacity crowd after he was sworn in on Jan. 1 at the
Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. (Photo: Wiley Henry)

      Now that Jim Strickland has been sworn in as the new mayor of Memphis, he’s working posthaste to effectuate change in city government that he’d promised to do on the arduous campaign trail.

The campaign was intense, but Strickland had promised to shake up government if the electorate would send him to city hall to govern from the seventh floor suite overlooking downtown Memphis and the Mississippi River.

 “You are looking at the biggest shakeup in Memphis city government in a quarter of a century – and we are just getting started,” said Strickland, speaking to a capacity crowd at The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 1, the day he was sworn in as mayor of Memphis.

Strickland was given the oath of office by his law school ethics professor, Judge Bernice Donald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She also gave the oath to Kay S. Robilio, the new City Court Clerk, and all 13 new and re-elected members of the Memphis City Council. 

Kemp Conrad, the incoming council chairman, compared the New Year to a blank page that could be filled with “a better government…more open, more responsive, more cooperative…and more focused on results.”

 “Let us set aside ambivalence and misunderstanding,” he said. “Let us put away indifference and division and let us cast out isolated concerns. Let the next chapter be about cooperation. We’re greater as a sum when all of us work together.

Strickland recognized his predecessor, mayor A C Wharton Jr., before laying out his agenda for the next four years. “Mayor Wharton, you are, and have always been, a credit to your family, the profession of law, and the city you love,” he said.

Strickland beat the incumbent 2-to-1 in the no-holds-barred mayoral contest and won the favor of voters who tapped him as a change agent who could lead Memphis to fiscal responsibility while curtailing violent crime.

 “The people of Memphis called for change, and that call has not gone unheard,” Strickland said.

Wharton had served as Shelby County mayor for seven years prior to being elected mayor of Memphis. He served six years, but lost a second term in the Oct. 8, 2015, election, presumably, because he’d reduced the city’s pension plan and increased the city’s health benefits plan.

Wharton drew the ire of Memphis policemen and firemen in particular who vehemently protested the revamped pension plan and health benefits. As a result, 10 percent of the police force called in sick in what was known then as the “Blue Flu.” The mayor would grow battle-weary and find himself mired too deep in debate.

Memphis is approximately 65 percent black and nearly 30 percent white, comprising a total population of 646,889, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. However, there are 364,669 registered voters – and 101,679 of them split the votes between 10 candidates.

Elections, past and present, have been racially polarizing, but Strickland is the first to break the color barrier since Dr. Willie W. Herenton beat Richard C. “Dick” Hackett in 1991 by a mere 142 votes. Wharton would succeed Herenton, who’d served five terms.

After assembling a 150-member transition team, Strickland began moving people into key positions. He replaced many of the holdovers from the Wharton administration with his own team to build his administration.

“On Election Night, I told the people of Memphis that on Jan. 1, we would have ‘new eyes to solve old problems.’”

Strickland kept his eyes on the prize (City Hall), promising to reduce and restructure city government. He reiterated that point in his address, saying, “We have restructured government in an unprecedented way to save tax dollars.”

He also said more women will be brought into his administration in leadership positions than ever before.

Charles Nelson, an employee with Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), who stumped for Strickland on the campaign trail, could be heard between applauses shouting, “Go, Jim, go!” He seemed to relish every word.

Strickland continued, revving up his address and punctuating it with key points.

“Over the next four years,” he said. “I will do everything in my power to restore trust where it is broken and hope where it is lost.  I will work every day to make our streets safer and our city stronger – to create jobs and increase wages – to provide better roads and transportation, and to improve the quality and service of city government.”

He noted that public safety is at the forefront of rebuilding Memphis. “We will focus on the goal of retaining and recruiting quality police officers and firefighters,” he said, promising to bring both departments up to their full complements.

He also said families should feel safe and children should have a chance. “It is unacceptable that because of a child’s circumstance or station in life, they too often become the victims or perpetrators of crime; and we know of them only through a mug shot or memorial – a child we failed to reach.”

The problems are too vast to be solved by government alone, said Strickland, and too big to be solved overnight. The solutions, he added, rest with each of us, doing our part, and that the responsibility is now ours – Memphians.

The mayor said he’ll work with public and private partners to expand early childhood programs, provide greater access to parks, libraries and community centers, and increase the number of summer youth and jobs programs to help young people.

Strickland will announce this month a partnership with the State and the West Tennessee Drug Taskforce to target and remove gang leaders from the streets and to force those who are threatening and recruiting kids out of the neighborhoods.

He also plans to introduce a legislative package that will include enhanced sentences for repeat domestic violence offenders, and will allow law enforcement to seek immediate emergency orders of protection for victims.    

 “Let this be crystal clear; it is a new day in Memphis,” the mayor said matter-of-factly. “We will no longer tolerate those that violate the safety of our citizens.”

Nelson approved.

“Go, Jim, go!”   

A jazz jam celebration for Johnny Yancey

Jazz musicians young and old gathered at Circle Music Center to pay tribute to
their mentor, Johnny Yancey, who celebrated his 60th birthday. (Photos: Wiley Henry)

      Jazz trumpeter Johnny Yancey walked into Circle Music Center at 5124 Poplar Ave. Monday evening and heard a chorus shout “Happy 60th birthday, Johnny Yancey!” with jazz music teeming in the background.

“I don’t think I deserve this!” said Yancey, who actually turned 60 on Dec. 14. His wife Marcquinne, her mother Earlice Taylor, and Mike Kelley, a music historian and photographer, could not have disagreed more. The trio invited Yancey’s longtime friends and a cadre of jazz musicians that he’d jammed with over the course of 30 years to a combination birthday party and jazz jam celebration.

“I was totally surprised,” said Yancey. “My son Nygel told me that we had a gig to do. That’s what I thought I was going to.”

Old guys, young guys and new guys were all together.

Johnny Yancey prepares to cut his birthday cake. From left:
3-year-old Ari Yancey, Alaina Yancey, Nygel Yancey, Annese
Yancey and Amir West.

“We got people of all ages, diversity, high school, co-workers, friends and family,” said Marcquinne Yancey, who sang a silky smooth love song to her husband later on in the evening and then threw him a kiss.

The audience approved.

W. J. Michael Cody, former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, listened intently while Yancey and his band-mates played syncopated beats on the drums and riveting chords on the piano. The wind and string instruments – saxophones, a trumpet, trombone and bass – moaned and whimpered.

 “I’ve known Johnny his entire life. His mother was a dear friend of mine,” said Cody. “I watched him grow up. I watched his career. And now I’ve seen his son Nygel come alone. He’s (Johnny) a wonderful person.”

The band played for four hours – totally unrehearsed yet in sync – with occasional vocal accompaniments from Taylor, a noted jazz, blues and gospel singer; Kellie Hurt Parker, a resident of Little Rock, who was accompanied by her husband Chris on piano; gospel artist Annie Ivory, director of Urban Family Ministries CDC, Inc.; and Todd Allen, a former Memphian now living in Atlanta.

The Rev. Renardo Ward, senior pastor of Greater Harvest Church of God in Christ, who also plays drums, called the assembled talent the “underground institution of jazz” and credited Yancey with birthing it in his home.

“Johnny has had a profound impact in Memphis for generations. I learned a lot from the University of Memphis, but I declare I learned a lot from Mr. Johnny Yancey,” he said.

The birthday host committee: Marcquinne Yancey, Mike
Kelley, a photographer and music historian, and Earlice
Taylor, a noted jazz, blues and gospel singer.

“I’m still learning myself,” said Yancey, giving props to his late brother, a saxophonist, who inspired him to play saxophone as well while in elementary school. At Southside High School, where he graduated in 1973, Yancey was introduced to jazz music and excelled.

Between then and now, he honed his jazz skills and learned to play other genres – gospel, classical, blues, reggae, and rhythm and blues – with relative ease and proficiency. He has performed with Alvin Baptiste, Billy Pierce, Donald Brown, Terri Lynn Carrington, Javon Jackson, James Williams, Herman Green, Zaid Nassar, the late Emerson Able Jr., Joyce Cobb, and Floyd Newman, who was in attendance.

“Floyd Newman was a great inspiration for me,” said Yancey, recalling the jam sessions with Newman at the old Bill’s Twilight Lounge, once a hub for African-American artists and writers on North Parkway before the building was razed in 2009.

Thad Jones, a jazz band conductor and trumpeter, also influenced Yancey, who formed his own jazz orchestra, The Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra, in 2002. That inaugural performance was a tribute to the late great composer, pianist and bandleader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.

Yancey and his orchestra have performed at a number of venues in Memphis and surrounding areas and accompanied Taylor in a benefit concert at Bridges of Memphis for mission charity relief in the Republic of Haiti.

Ward sees Yancey and his orchestra as a lynchpin that connects the Memphis jazz music scene to the world. He played with Yancey in the early days and said the bandleader was integral in shaping mindsets such as his own and bridging cultures with jazz music.

“He’s had people in the band from Haiti, Germany, Puerto Rico,” he said. “It’s international. It’s multicultural. The group spans generations from 9 years old and up. And he didn’t have a grant to fund the orchestra.”

Yancey said playing with the orchestra makes him feel happy.

“It’s an institution,” he said. “It’s no stress. They’re not obligated to do this. They do it because they love it.”

He loves it too – immensely – adding that his life-long mission is to pass the culture down to the younger generation, people who otherwise may not know that jazz is an integral part of African-American music history and the predecessor to other genres.

Quoting Art Blakey, a jazz drummer and bandleader who jammed with the likes of Fletcher Henderson and Billy Eckstine, Yancey said, “Jazz is the highest art form in the universe, because it comes from within and it tells a story, like an artist painting a picture or an actor playing a different role than his own personality.”

AT A GLANCE

·         Johnny and Marcquinne Yancey have been married 32 years.

·         They have three children: Annese, Alaina and Nygel, a freshman at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville majoring in Engineering. He also plays drums in his father’s band.

·         The couple has three grandsons: Ari, Demarrius and Amir.

Grim obesity rate prompts health conscious advocate to launch weight loss initiative

     

Anniece Robinson and the youngest team members of UBABY (U Be A Better
You) prepare to show Channel 24's Mary Jo Ola how to do "The UBABY Shuffle."

     It was difficult – but not altogether impossible – but Anniece Robinson managed to drop from a 28 dress-size down to a 14 in a year and a half and gained control of a weight problem that had tugged at her for quite some time.

The weight was a constant reminder that Robinson needed to take the necessary steps to avoid the potential threat of a medical malady on down the road. So with a diet change and a razor focus on health and wellness, she shaved off a whopping 130 pounds.

The euphoria was short-lived, though. Why? Because Robinson gained 40 of those pounds back over the course of a few years after she quit smoking. She also went up another dress size or two – 16 or 18, one or the other – which she has maintained since.

“I picked the weight back up because I digressed in my behavior. I lost my way,” said Robinson. “Now I have to fight my way back.”

Robinson is not alone in her fight to lose weight and to keep it off. There are countless men, women and children in the United States grappling with this widespread problem. In Tennessee alone, the adult obesity rate is 31.2 percent, according to a 2015 report, The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America.

Dozens of UBABY team members and others from the audience
performed "The UBABY Shuffle" amid a throng that came out for
The Tom Joyner Morning Show at the Liberty Bowl Memorial
Stadium on Sept. 11. (Photos by Wiley Henry) 

That percentage, which reflects the combined effort of Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), has Tennessee saddled with the 14^th highest adult obesity rate in the nation.

Tennessee has struggled with its adult obesity rate over the years – up from 20.9 in 2000 and from 11.1 percent in 1990. The obesity rate fluctuates from state to state. According to the report, Arkansas tips the scale at 35.9, the highest percentage in the country, while Colorado comes in at the lowest – 21.3 percent.   

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of RWJF, and Jeffrey Levi, executive director of TFAH, stressed in a letter accompanying the report that obesity remains “one of the biggest threats to the health of our children and our country.”

By 2030, it is projected that 68 percent of Tennesseans will be obese. That grim forecast is the precursor to a number of deadly diseases and chronic illnesses on the horizon, which is troubling and often leads to a shortened lifespan.

Obesity is expected to cause 939,564 new cases of type 2 diabetes; coronary heart disease, 1,896,993; strokes, 1,714,690; hypertension, 1,117,321; and arthritis, 260,360. The current tab in Tennessee for obesity related illnesses and diseases is more than $6 billion annually.

“There are no quick fixes,” said Robinson, who didn’t hesitate to hit the reset button to get her weight-loss regimen back on track. “You just got to psychologically make those adjustments; then you have to do it.”

Robinson is doing just that. She’s trying to unyoke the heavy burden of carrying around too much weight. But not all people with weight problems have the resolve to “trim the fat” or the dogged determination to keep it off.

In 2013, Gov. Bill Haslam launched the statewide “Healthier Tennessee” initiative “to encourage Tennesseans to be more physically active, to eat nutritious foods in healthy portions, and not to use tobacco products.”

Robinson was appointed the health ambassador for the Shelby West Tennessee area. She was one of 22 individuals who completed 14 weeks of training in the whole person wellness model across Tennessee, which tied as the second fattest state in the nation according to the “F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America” 2010 report.

With those dismal facts in the forefront of Robinson’s mind, she founded UBABY, Inc. (U Be A Better You), a community-based, 501c3 corporation that promotes and facilitates wellness via “edutainment-formatted” opportunities. She is the organization’s executive director.

The goal, said Robinson, is to encourage individuals and organizations to practice and sustain healthy lifestyles in an effort to reduce health disparities in minority communities. She essentially wants individuals to “keep it moving.”

“Gotta Keep It Movin,’” in fact, is a catchphrase Robinson is using to brand a new six-month health and wellness campaign called The WOW (Wisdom of Wellness) Challenge. Three churches in the Memphis area have accepted the challenge. Others are pending. Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI), a global health service company, is sponsoring the “Challenge.”

A number of activities are slated throughout the six-month campaign, including weigh-ins, a culinary challenge for chefs, a red carpet showcase production and other activities that will coincide with the participating churches’ in-house wellness program.

Keeping the body in motion is important, but changing or adjusting the portions of one’s diet is just as important, said Robinson, adding, “We are the fun and fresh side of fitness and the delicious side of nutrition.”

During the early morning of Sept. 11, Robinson and the UBABY team introduced The WOW Challenge on The Tom Joyner Morning Show at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in conjunction with the 26th Annual Southern Heritage Classic.

Robinson and her team challenged the audience to keep it moving to avoid a sedentary lifestyle and to make better nutritional choices. Dozens rose from their seats to perform “The UBABY Shuffle,” an original line dance Robinson created specifically to get people moving.

The UBABY Shuffle is a rhythmic form of exercise designed to increase flexibility and motor movement. It keeps the body in motion without the use of heavy equipment. Everybody can participate, Robinson said.

“I want people to be better than they were in terms of their health. We want people to take ownership in improving their health. When you lose weight, it decreases chronic diseases,” said Robinson, noting that not all people taking the challenge are overweight or obese. But everybody, she said matter-of-factly, needs to take care of their “earth suit,” a term denoting the human body.

“If you adopt a healthy mindset, eat healthy, and get the required physical activity, you’re going to achieve optimum health,” said Robinson, taking incremental steps to get the obesity rate lowered in Memphis and Shelby County and subsequently in Tennessee.

“We’re building a wellness community,” she said. “We’re going to keep everybody engaged.”

Gospel singer anchors ‘Redwood’ in Bartlett and expects to tower over the competition

     William Ross Jr. has a penchant for music – all genres. He sings gospel – tenor, baritone and bass – and entreats his audience to worship the Lord and serve Him gladly. In church, his voice resonates throughout the sanctuary at Greater Community Temple Church of God in Christ. And resonates in the community, where he sings with various choral groups sending up praises to the Lord for his continual blessings.

Ross is also a businessman. On Nov. 21, he was aglow and counting his blessings when Redwood Music Group, a concept he finally brought to fruition since childhood, opened its doors to aspiring singers, songwriters or musicians seeking to improve his/her vocals, musicianship or business affairs.

William Ross Jr. (left) launched Redwood
Music Group to help aspiring singers, songwriters
or musicians seeking to improve his/her vocals,
musicianship or business affairs. Ben Salter will
teach clarinet and saxophone and Inho will teach
classical piano. Janice Hall is Redwood's executive
administrator. (Photo: Wiley Henry)

 “I had a passion and wanted to help. I wanted to give excitement to the music industry. And as time passed I’m now able to go into…and invest in a music company,” said Ross, Redwood’s CEO and president.

Ross named the music group after the sky-scrapping Redwood tree, a species native to the forests in California. “It’s very strong and deep,” he said. “And I just want Redwood Music Group to be just that – as a strong company, tall and rising above the rest of its kind. And also just to have a deep legacy.”  

Located at 5154 Stage Rd., Suite 101, in the Primacy Oaks business district in the Bartlett community, Redwood offers vocal and instrumental development, branding and management to help artists “reach for perfection.”

The company’s philosophy is “making musical dreams a reality” – which means any artist, skilled or unskilled, can apply or call in for an interview to become a Redwood partner, said Ross, or a part of the group.

The coaches or consultants on staff at Redwood are contract professionals with a degree in their field. They are prepared to teach individuals five and up. “They are very versed in their music capabilities,” Ross said.

• Inho Yang will teach classical piano and other genres of music.

• Ben Salter, a Shelby County Schools band teacher, will teach students how to play the clarinet and saxophone and other instruments as well.

• Kenya Nichols, a vocal trainer, will also teach piano, particularly to the very young students.

• Tamara Hart Louis, a vocal trainer as well, will teach beginning piano.

Other coaches and trainers will be added to the roster as well, said Ross, who has two musically gifted siblings. His brother, Tony Ross, is a recording artist. And his sister, Dominique Ross, is a vocalist. Their mother, Elnora Ross, also sings; and their father, the Rev. William Ross Sr., is an avid supporter and pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Somerville, Tenn.

“I want Redwood to become a household name,” said Ross. “I learned from some of the best to watch the industry and I’m trying to make the right steps, do the right thing, to make sure Redwood is a company of integrity and also known for its professionalism. We actually help and not just talk.”

Ross also envisions Redwood as the catalyst to help students in public schools yearning for a more music-and-art-based curriculum, particularly when the often-wielded budget axe is used to cut away music and art programs from public schools.

“Hopefully, Redwood will be able to partner with the local school system,” said Ross. “We definitely would want to contract with them to bring music into those schools that don’t have music.”

Unlike Stax Music Academy – which “inspires young people and enhances their academic, cognitive, performance, and leadership skills…with an intense focus on the rich legacy and tradition of Stax Records” – Ross said Redwood is a one-stop shop, a boutique, designed to leverage success in the music industry.

“I look up to Stax,” he said. “We would actually like to think that Redwood is going to customize the training for those that may not be as talented to get into Stax, but they can come here and we’ll actually nurture them.

“I know they’re doing similar things like Redwood, but this has been a dream from childhood up. Stax is definitely a great facility, a great organization, and they have some of the most popular, famous, individuals there at Stax.”

Fame just may be the final outcome of Ross’ efforts to position Redwood in the forefront of the music industry. If it happens, he hopes to heap much of it on the artists who walk through the doors and leave with a professional makeover.

“We are starting today with the legacy of Redwood,” said Ross, showing friends and supporters at the “open house” the journey the music group is about to embark on.

For more information about Redwood Music Group, visit www.redwoodmusicgroup.com or call Janice Hall, the executive administrator, at (901) 379-8120.