Sex Offender Registration Program

Houston Department of Public Safety creates the Sex Offender Registry Program to keep track of offenders and help Houstonians and students in the third ward area protect themselves.

Inside the 610 loop and southeast of downtown Houston, Third Ward has become center of the African American community. With colleges and schools in the area the community is filled with thousands of students who attend and need protection from the not so obvious dangers surrounding them like sexual predators.

Convicted sex offenders are required to register with local law enforcement in the jurisdiction where they live. That information also is provided to the Department of Public Safety, which maintains a public database of names, crimes and addresses.

Sexual offenses happen at or around colleges and universities more often than reported. When sexually based offenses occur, victims often feel ashamed or embarrassed to relive the traumatizing experience.

A helpful defense in protecting oneself against being a potential victim is knowing your surroundings and utilizing tools to familiarize yourself with the neighborhood.

“ I would tell people to be more aware of their surroundings, watch what they are doing and be careful of the people as they approach Greystone or Frenchy’s or anywhere in the campus area and if they have kids make sure they are protecting their children as well” said Curtis, a Junior attending Texas Southern University

The Texas Sex Offender Registration Program has gone viral and access to registered offenders and their location has been granted by this website.

“I do applaud TSU because they do have the extra security and that’s a start, but they could work a little bit harder use more protection behind the dorms because that is where a lot of the problems are” said university housing senior Kimonesha Thomas .

According to TXDPS, all information on individual registrants is based on registration information submitted by Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Youth Commission, or various local criminal justice agencies.

Using this site requires account set up and is free to use to search registered offenders by name, address, county, nationally, and even by zip code.

“I know that there is a website that you can use , but I am also aware that not all sex offenders are registered” said Victoria Lewis , a art major grad student.

TSORP website also provides you with the Top Ten Most Wanted Sex Offenders and a Subscription Service which is a notification system that allows the public to subscribe to e-mail notifications regarding database changes relating to registered sex offenders.

This site is open to anyone who has an inquiry about their community and information retained should not be used for malicious intent. Doing so can result in criminal prosecution or civil liability.

Texas Southern Founders Day

Texas Southern celebrates first annual Founders Day with political and social commentator Jeff Johnson September 14, 2010

At 10 a.m. students, faculty , and staff gathered in the H& PE arena for the celebration of Founders Day. Separated by the different schools but combined as one university, everyone grew knowledgeable about the history of TSU.

In 1927, segregation was very much alive and African Americans were fighting for their rights to do everything. Work, where to live, where to eat, and even receiving a college level education were only dreams for African Americans.

On September 14, 1927 the Houston Public School Board agreed to fund two junior colleges one for Whites and one for African Americans. “American Dream not yet need be deferred “said Barbara Jordan from the screen displaying the video presentation.

Political and social commentator Jeff Johnson took the stage to articulate to us the legacy of the university. Johnson challenged the students to think about what it was like to be black back in 1927 and what efforts would you have made. He talked about the integrity of the school and students taking initiative to continue invoking the Tiger pride.

“ I am not concerned about if you like what I have to say…. I am wondering how intellectually gangster are you going to be?” said Johnson.

He also talked about being influential in the community and encouraged the students to redefine the letters of TSU and to think about the history of the school. He simply stated that if students were going to have to be just as powerful as those students who came 83 years ago.

T for training S for submit and U to represent unmovable. He then explained the importance of your hands and how you must use them to get what you want.

“What are you going to do with your hands, will you sit on them and ignore the God given talent you have inside of you?... We want to use these hands to life up the founders of TSU” said Johnson.

The Founders Day program ended with the school song sung by the TSU Jazz choir as student and staff headed to the plaza where the celebration continued.

Many gathered in the plaza to enjoy festivities and converse about the first annual Founders’ Day. Even though classes were not cancelled, President Rudley encouraged all professors to

“Jeff Johnson was amazing! I have seen him before on BET but it was long ago. He was very encouraging today and he is very motivating” said Vanya Gamble an Internship Coordinator for the School of Communications.

The plaza was filled with several booths representing the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, School of Business, the School of Science and Technology and many more schools. There were many educational and informational activities.

There was also free food , drinks, and even a scavenger hunt for a scholarship. TSU police department officers were even in attendance to share their safety precautions they are taking to secure the campus.

“I like what President Rudley is doing with the campus and I believe this was a successful first annual Founders Day” said Ashley Bradford a junior at TSU.

FOR COLORED GIRLS

For Colored Girls is a drama filled, tear jerking, truth telling play turned movie told through a series of poems about women considering suicide when the rainbow isn’t enough.

In this movie you find women who stare down the barrel of life’s shot gun, praying and hoping that issues in their lives would just get better and even go away. Abortion, abuse, rape, and complete chaos will have you reaching for tissue and a bible, to cry for those who have lost all hope and pray for those who have no more strength.

Gilda (Phylicia Rashad) , the mother hen of the complex ,keeps tabs on everyone in her apartment building. Including neighbors Crystal (Kimberly Elise), a mother of two with a vet husband who has a temper and a drinking problem and Tangie ( Thandie Newton) , a promiscuous , self loathing bartender who has a troubled little sister and a born-again abusive mother Alice(Whoopi Goldberg).

Tangie has a feisty attitude and is stubborn about helping out her sister in an all too familiar situation. Social worker Kelly ( Kerry Washington) is in charge of looking after Crystals kids, while struggling to start her own family. Juanita (Loretta Devine)is keeping her fingers crossed while taking one last chance at love. Then, there is Yasmine( Anika Noni Rose) , a dance instructor who has a new man in her life who seems too good to be true. Jo ( Janet Jackson) is the epitome of a boss, while in charge of her own magazine but is quite the contrary in trying to figure out her marriage and just what her insecure, secret keeping husband is up to.

Knowing Tyler Perry’s works , For Colored Girls is an outcome of his colorful, mouth dropping , eye opening portrayal of the truth. Perry losses “Madea” for this film and takes Ntozake Shange’s Obie Award winning play to another level by using familiar faces to tell the truth about real life situations and shines light on making it through those tough times.

With an all star cast, Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls is more than believable. The audience is captured by the real life stories and the real emotions that come from the aftermath of subjects touched on in this movie. The poetry recited was well written and delivered a powerful message to women who are going through these struggles. This movie will touch you directly and indirectly if you know someone going through the triumphs these women face. Of course, tears were expected in this movie, but with secrets, lies, anger, life, and suicide For Colored Girls brings out all emotions.

**A women commits suicide every 90 minutes in the U.S but is estimated that one woman attempts suicide every 78 seconds.**

Down but not out, MY VOTE WILL COUNT!

Tuesday morning November 2, 2010 I proudly exercised my right to vote  at Bethel’s Place in Houston, Texas.

The morning started off great as I left the house at 7:30 a.m. As I coasted down the 610 freeway ,I could hear the radio giving out information on locations for voting. I heard that there was an open voting poll with no line; so I made my way there. I was more than devastated when the precint  judge said that I could vote but it would not count because I was not registered for the area. I thought back and realized I had no idea where to go because I had moved a few times following the elections of 2008.

Back on 610, I was all fired up to vote when suddenly, I received a text message informing me that I could find where I was registered through text message. You could find your precinct by following the instructions and replying back with the word “PLACE”. To further expand my voting poll knowledge I received a link http://pollingplaces.RaiseYourVote.com/pollingplaces/find that was also very useful.

After utilizing all my resources and being turned down from two voting polls, I found my way to Bethel’s Place serving as Precinct 680 at 12525 Fondren . There I was greeted by eager volunteers and was quickly sent on my way to cast my ballot. Smiling ear to ear, I took my exit and released a great sigh of relief.

Exercising your right to vote is very important and if you don’t vote and gain knowledge of politics in your community and the nation, then complaining is not where you should start to help fix issues.  Get registered and become equip with the voting voice!

Texas Southern celebrates Pink Day in honor of breast cancer awareness month and acknowledgement of those who have lost the battle and survivors

On September 29, 2010 Texas Southern was overflowing with students looking to gain knowledge about Pink Day . With pink as the international color for breast cancer awareness hundreds of students wore pink shirts with logos, gave away strawberry cupcakes, and even make pink foot prints down the tiger walk.

There were booths filled with pamphlets , worksheets, guides, and instructional on how to check yourself for anything that may be going on with your body that can be a sign of breast cancer. Even a pink mobile was parked on the yard to offer some advice.

“This bus educates us on the steps we need to take when or if you find out you have breast cancer” said Taje Wright the Vice President of University Program Council.

Komen Houston Race for the Cure affiliates were also in attendance. The Race is a powerful pink event that serves as a vehicle for spreading the message early detection to participants and had a sign- up sheet filled with participants.

The most significant risk factor for breast cancer is being female, getting older, and having family history of the disease. Breast Cancer is more common in Caucasian women and is normally found too late in African American and Hispanic women.

Two TSU students and Mary Carroll who survived breast cancer spoke at the event to share with people their personal stories and the importance of taking care of your body and knowing when it’s time to get help.

“Don’t wait, we wait too long and by the time you reach your doctor it’s too late,” said Carroll. “We take care of everyone else instead of ourselves. We as women need to start saying wait I need to take care of myself.”

A ceremony took place at the pool in the Recreation Center at TSU where the pool was “painted pink”. During this celebration pink and white balloons with messages written on them were spread throughout the pool to represent those individuals affected by breast cancer.

Even professors at the university encouraged there classes to attend the event and the importance of gaining information on breast cancer.

“This is a wonderful story because all of us have been affected by breast cancer in one way or another” said Serbino Sandifer-Walker a successful journalist and Professor at the University.

The Student Government association and Health Services felt Breast Cancer Awareness was important to acknowledge and when the opportunity for others to help came along many people came out to support.

“I think this was a very successful event and I was happy to see Greeks and other students involved. I was able to invite students to the mobile and register people to vote with Hip Hop politics.” said Reggie Williams the UPC president.

The event lasted well into the afternoon and eager students and organizations spent valuable time continuing to spread the word.