Special edition

news magazine:
Black History

CELEBRATE
HIGHLIGHT

RECOGNIZE PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON

 THE MEANING
BEHIND THE
CO LO R
BLOOD OF INNOCENT

OPTIMISM
BLACK LIVES

AFRICA’S NATURE
RESILIENCE

RESILIENCE
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 7 18 23
- 6
HISTORY
- 14
FEATURE&
ENTERTAINMENT
15 -
SPORTS
19 -
GUEST WRITERS
- 26

PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON

 Letter from the editor
Dear readers,
In this one-of-a-kind special edition news magazine, we wanted to do three things. Cele-
brate Black History Month, highlight Black history and recognize those in our community
who are often not recognized.
71% of Harrisonburg residents are White according to the 2023 United Sates Census
Bureau, which counted all people living in the U.S. Individuals from the Middle East and
or North Africa (MENA) are also counted as white. We faced two truths. 1. There are
plenty of stories that are not told about Black people and their experience in this city. 2. As
student journalists, it is our responsibility to shine a light on these experiences and truths
to the best of our abilities with the resources and time we had.
The issues and topics that are discussed in this magazine are intricately crafted with
transparency, truth and responsibility.
The staff that worked on this magazine was not Black and we do recognize we might not
fully understand the experience of being Black or the struggles and disparities that Black
people will face as we created this magazine. However, we crafted a system of transparency
to make sure our content was reviewed before to ensure sensitivity, respect and consider-
ation for each topic that was discussed.
“Every person has a story” is HHS Media’s motto and through every piece of work that
is created by its staff we ensure that we are meeting this motto to the best of our ability. If
you would like your story or experience to be shared please contact the HHSMedia staff
through the methods provided on this page https://hhsmedia.com/contact/.
We hope you enjoy this special edition news magazine.
Sincerely,

“ “
Some people may not know about
their history. It’s good to learn
about different ethnicities. It is an
opportunity to spotlight and cel-
ebrate achievements that African
Americans have accomplished in
this country despite the history of
racism and oppression.
- Sophomore Jamarcus Mccantes
Black History Month is import-
ant because Black history is
American history, and I think
it should be taught and learned
because it’s the backbone of
American society. People should
take time to learn more about
Black history.
- Senior Eskedar Tesfay
‘Urban Renewal’ intensifies poverty
in Harrisonburg Black community
were to their standard. parts.
JUMANA ALSAADOON

T
The Housing Act of 1949 [stat- In response to the heightened
he smoke from the fires ed three things: clearing of crime in the area that Thomas
that started in the 1950s “slums”, expanding the Federal lived in, she started a neighbor-
and 1960s, destroying Housing Administration mort- hood watch party which would
houses in the Northeast gage insurance program and later turn into the association
neighborhood, remained in the storing funds to create 800,000 that helped revive Black history
atmosphere 74 years later, cover- units of public housing. in Harrisonburg.
ing the community with a smog- The result of the Urban Re- “I founded the Northeast

“
like form of disparity that mem- newal projects was the displace- Neighborhood Association in
bers are trying to ment of mil- 2006, when it was a time of high
clear to this day. lions around the crime and we started off with a
In Harri-
sonburg, one It has always been a country, pushing neighborhood watch program
them to move that the Harrisonburg police de-
neighb orho o d beautiful neighbor- out permanent- partment formed and we worked
is rich in di- hood. ly, and genera- closely with the police depart-
versity, more
than any other - Resident tional poverty as ment,” Thomas said.
a result of losing Thomas had lived her whole
neighborhood, Karen Thomas property assets life in the Northeast neighbor-
the Northeast that they pass hood.
neighborhood. The historically onto their children. “The neighborhood used to
Black neighborhood is also rich The federal policy stated that be considered predominantly
in poverty. it would compensate individuals an African American neighbor-
6% of Harrisonburg residents for their property, such as aiding hood and this is where I grew up
are Black, yet the race that is most them in finding another place to in, because we really couldn’t go
likely to be in poverty is Black. live, but did not keep up with its anywhere past North Main Street
Northeast Neighborhood As- promises. until integration, of course. It has
sociation (NENA) president A project was done by the always been a beautiful neigh-
Karen Thomas reasoned this to University of Richmond’s Dig- borhood. It has beautiful trees,

“
be a result of the Urban Renewal ital Scholarship Lab where they plants and gardens. People did
project, which destroyed homes i n v e s t i g a t e d most of their
in the neighborhood to upgrade the effects of own garden-
areas as the government saw fit. Urban Renew- ing and butch-
To upgrade these neighbor- al projects on It was the dreams and ering and all
hoods, the government needed to cities across the the progress of many those kinds of
remove houses to make space for U.S. In Harri- of the families that things. It had a
the projects they saw fit for the sonburg, 116 were just crushed. lot of business-
location. In terms of the North- families were es and stores,
east neighborhood, it’s a discount displaced, the - Karen Thomas beauty shops,
store on N Main St, Roses and a majority being barber shops
Seven-Eleven on the same street in the Northeast neighborhood. and a lot of insurance compa-
among other small projects. 52% of these families were fam- nies. Just different things that
The Housing Act of 1949 made ilies of color. The project also you needed to live, we were very
it possible for cities across Vir- found that families of color were self-sufficient in this neighbor-
ginia to destroy homes and re- consistently displaced at higher hood,” Thomas said.
place them with businesses that rates than their white counter-

PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON

 BEFORE
CHANGE Pictured before is resident Jennifer Vickers’ grandparents’ home which is now Kline’s Dairy Bar. PHOTO COUR-
TESY OF NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
She was there to witness the
beauty and perseverance of Afri-
can Americans in the neighbor-
hood as they rose from segrega-
tion and enslavement, created
businesses and bought homes,
and she was there to witness the
urban renewal which destroyed
much more than just buildings.
“Urban renewal came and
destroyed the neighborhood.
Things have really changed since
then,” Thomas said. “In the late
50s and early 60s, they took peo-
ple’s homes and burned them
down and they gave them very
little money for their homes for
the ones that owned homes not
enough for them to build again-
so a lot of people went away, it re-
ally destroyed the neighborhood
and divided it.”
Having witnessed the muta-
tion, Thomas called Urban Re-
newal “the worst thing to happen
to this community”.
“It was the dreams and the
progress of many of the fami-
lies that were just crushed. It de-
stroyed dozens of Black homes
and businesses,” Thomas said.
“Slums” and “blighted” were
words used to describe the com-
munities that Urban Renewal
would target. However, accounts
and pictures show that the North-
east neighborhood was nothing
close to that.
“They came into Harrisonburg,
and they did it in our neighbor-
hood because we were the Black
neighborhood. I’m sure that they
couldn’t have done it anywhere
else. They were saying that our
neighborhood was blighted. A lot
of homes that they took away and
burnt down were not blighted, we
have pictures to prove that. They
did it in Black neighborhoods
around the country,” Thomas
said.
Thomas attributed the reason
poverty struck the Northeast
neighborhood the highest to the
destruction the Urban Renewal
has cost the community.
“They took all of our genera-
tional wealth, homes that were
worth a lot of money that people
could have left to their children
and they could have built on that
and other homes, and the genera-
AFTER
tional wealth was destroyed. The
community was destroyed. You
couldn’t get jobs anywhere here
either, so many people just moved
away. The reason the neighbor-
hood is the way it is because of
that because, before that, the
neighborhood was thriving and
very self-sufficient. Urban Re-
newal destroyed it,” Thomas said.
Despite the blighted history,
organizations like NENA work
to restore and celebrate the his-
tory of Black people in Harrison-
burg as well as fix and recognize
the mistakes the city has made
toward the people living in the
community.
“Our mission states NENA
needs an African American res-
toration cultural heritage projects
in Harrisonburg. We shifted away
from the neighborhood watch
thing and started concentrating
on the rich history of this neigh-
borhood, we were able to get the
Newtown Cemetery and the Dal-
lard Newmon House on the Na-
tional Register of Historical Site
Read more at hhsmedia.com
HISTORY | 2
 Project uncovers hundreds of
lynching victims over decades
C
JUMANA ALSAADOON
harlotte Harris was in
custody for being ac-
cused of instigating the
burning of a barn by a
Black teenager, Jim Ergenbright.
Ergenbright would also be taken
into custody.
She was awaiting trial when a
group of 12 disguised men took
her from custody and hung her
to a tree, 400 yards from the pris-
on where she stayed in, March 6,
1878.
She is the only recorded Black
woman who was a victim of
lynching in Virginia.
Through a project directed
by Department of Justice Stud-
ies professor Gianluca De Fazio,
Harris’s story was revealed.
In 2020 with the help of De
Fazio, a marker in her honor was
displayed in Court Square stat-
ing, “About a dozen disguised
people took Charlotte Harris
from the custody of jailers in
eastern Rockingham County on
the night of 6 March 1878 and
hanged her from a tree approx-
imately 13 miles southeast of
here. This is the only document-
ed lynching of an African Amer-
ican woman in Virginia, and it
received nationwide attention. A
grand jury that met here failed to
identify any of the lynchers. Har-
ris had been accused of inciting
a young African American man
to burn the barn of a white farm-
er. This man was later acquitted
on all charges. More than 4,000
lynchings took place in the Unit-
ed States between 1877 and 1950;
more than 100 people, primari-
PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADON
ly African American men, were tims, were developed throughout
lynched in Virginia.” the years,” De Fazio said.
The project that led stories like The database previews the
Harris’s to be uncovered is “Ra- name of each victim, the date
cial Terror: Lynchings in Vir- of the lynching, race and sex,
ginia”. It started as a research job, precise location, method of
project, which turned into a vital death, accusation and mob com-
lynching victim record highlight- position.
ing the predominantly Black vic- “On one hand this was a kind of
tims. scholarly project in trying to col-
“I wanted my students to com- lect this information and make it
pile like a database about dead- available to other researchers and
“
ly lynchings in Virginia because students but it also had a com-
there was very little research munity side to it, providing local
about this and communities
very little docu- across Virgin-
mentation,” De ia, the possi-
Fazio said. “There is this attitude of, bility to access
The usage of you know, forget about what this research
historical re- happened and then just move to access these
cords includ- on, we’ve had the luxury of primary sourc-
ing newspapers moving on because that was es and start
was essential to not their pain. It was not their c o n d u c t i n g
making the da-
tabase.
trauma, but for many, the Af- their own re-
search about
“We estab- rican American community, h i s t o r y , ” D e
lished like a they don’t have the luxury of Fazio said.
small scale proj- forgetting,” De Fazio said. De Fazio
ect in which it pushed the
was just trying -Professor Gianluca importance of
to find as much these records
information as De Fazio to be available
possible about to the public.
this lynching “This is re-
victims, so my students study- ally important because the his-
ing in 2017 collected almost 500 tory of racial terror the issue
newspaper articles in the first of lynching as being very often
year and then the project quick- forgotten and erased, especial-
ly snowballed into more a bigger ly in white communities,” De
size, digital projects, to a database Fazio said. “There is this attitude
with information about their of, you know, forget about what
lynching victims, and their news happened and then just move on,
articles, and then mobs of lynch- we’ve had the luxury of moving
ing victims and short blog posts on because that was not their
for each individual lynching vic- pain. It was not their trauma,
but for many, the African Amer- about a murder, but it had an in- from the community. And so,
ican community, they don’t have timidation component to it,” De of course, women will not fit
the luxury of forgetting,” De Fazio said. within this category and so very
Fazio said. The message was clear: Black few women were lynched,” De
The abilities for these lynchigs people would be deprived of Fazio said. “That was really go-
to take place across not only the their rights in the court system ing against the reputation of the
state but U.S. seemed to be a col as well as the political system and local communities reaching out
collective effort according to De will not have due process. to a sign of barbarity that will be
Fazio from the governments ig- The political purpose of lynch- much harder to justify against
norance, to the people’s compli- ing prevented Black women.”
ance. Black women from being sole It was difficult for lynchers to
“To kindred up the collective targets of lynching which is why paint Black women as aggressive
memory of what happened 100 lynching of women was a rare to capture the support for the
150 years ago, how this violence practice. mob abuse, in contrast
was run just committable was “We have throughout with Black men who
committed with impunity, when the United States docu- were easily painted as
there was a high level of com- mented about dangerous.
munity support and some level 150 cases of Despite
of complicity by authorities and
local sheriff’s local mayor’s local
coroner’s that we just would not
investigate these lynchings,”De
Fazio said.
“The point is that the legal sys-
tem has a duty that the personal
accuser setting the crime is guilty
or innocent. It’s not up to the
mob to decide that. So regard-
less of where they committed or
didn’t committed those crimes
that’s beside the point, this is an
extra type of violence that denies
due process, denies basic rights,
and basically betrays the whole
rule of law and how it’s supposed
to work when someone is ac-
cused of a crime,” De Fazio said.
The lynchings also had a po-
litical purpose according to De
Fazio. women
“This threat of racial violence that were lynched, almost that, Black women would
of course was also kind of send- all of them, African Ameri- face differing forms of abuse.
ing a message that African Amer- can women. It’s important “There were other forms
icans will not just have the rights to understand that the vast of violence and coercion and
denied and that their political majority of lynching victims control against like, Black
power will be denied and they were Black men,” De Fazio women. You can have all
will not be allowed to exercise said. sorts of other types of physical
any form of political control or “The idea of stereotypes punishment from flogging,
political agency in the state of of Black criminals or Black and tarring and feathering or
Virginia. It’s important to un- rapists for lynchers was even sexual assault as a way of
derstand that lynchings were not necessary in order to take punishing Black.
just about killing it was not just care to eliminate this threat Read more at hhsmedia.com

HISTORY | 4
 Passing through downtown Harrison-

spots to tour in Harrisonburg

burg, Hardesty-Higgins House seems
like every other typical brick red
African American historical house. However, this house
holds more history than one
word could ever define. This
location acts as the first step-
ping stone into the history of
the city with its state-certi-
fied Visitor Center filled with
information spanning from
colonial contact to civil war
and more. Inside you can find
the Heritage Bakery and Café,
the Valley Turnpike Museum and
more.

The first ever of its kind, the

Franklin Street Gallery displays
multicultural art that mirrors
the diversity of the city inside
and outside of its building.
One of the pieces is the Furi-
ous Flower Quilt, which hon-
ors African American poets.
The gallery opened its doors to
the Harrisonburg community
to view and enjoy the art pieces
through many events in the past.

Located North of Kelly St, New-

ton Cemetery c.1868 has had
the purpose of primarily
serving the burial of African
American community mem-
bers. The cemetery holds the
graves of emancipated slaves
including educator Lucy F.
Simms. In 2015, the Newton
Cemetery was added to the
National Register of Historic
Places (NRHP) and was regis-
tered as a Virginia Historic Land-
mark.
PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADON
With powerful colors that paint the walls on the side of
a wall in Elizabeth Street Parking Deck, the artist An-
dre Shank reflects the vivid history of the admired and
leading educator, Lucy Simms. Simms was born into
slavery in 1865. Her family was enslaved by the Gray
family. She resided in Harrisonburg at the time of the
Emancipation Proclamation, after which she had the
opportunity to attend Hampton Institute in Virginia.
She returned to Rockingham County, teaching over
1,800 students and becoming a leader in education.
The Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center was
named in her honor.
“I am teaching and working for my race,” Lucy Simms
said.

Located in the middle of the North East neighborhood, the

Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Center seeps with cul-
ture and history. The location has three goals: to teach,
to share, and to illuminate the African American culture
of the valley. Originally founded in 2018, the center
serves as a cornerstone for information and projects
in the Black community. The center created a project
named “ROOTS RUN DEEP” to share African American
history through tours in the Shenandoah Valley.

This park is named after a seven-foot-four-inch basketball player,

Ralph Sampson Jr. He was drafted into the National Basketball
Association (NBA) in 1960. Sampson was born in Harrison-
burg. The park that was named after him sits on the former
Hilltop plantation (c. 1820-1873). The park continues the par-
allel between where African labor was used to produce cash for
plantation owners and a local spot where all races can come to
play and practice basketball.

Harrisonburg Courthouse Square can only be described as an hon-

orary building, with a hidden dark past. The place was first used in
1780 and had served for the auction of slave auctions and the pun-
ishment of enslaved peoples. At the heart of the city, it is a constant
reminder of the plights Black people had to face in the friendly city.

ALL PHOTOS BY JUMANA ALSAADOON

HISTORY | 6

Sweet history
Sweet Joy’s Cakes and Desserts family bakery thrives
from strong foundations built throughout years
S
JIAYI LI
weet Joy’s Cakes and Des-
serts’ owner Naomi Joy
Brazeil begins each week
with 20 cake orders with
each call, each online order, each
in-person visit adds to that list.
Working with a team of five, they
follow through with their prac-
ticed motions of prepping, cre-
ating and delivering the cake. In
one week, seven people may make
50 cakes. However, this small
business began from even smaller
beginnings.
Naomi Joy Brazeil was 16 years
old when she began her business
PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADON
journey in 2016. Learning how to
knit and crochet by her mother
and homeschool teacher Michelle
Brazeil. She sold scarves in the
Valley Mall and created a busi-
ness named Brazzels. Little did
they expect this small business to
be the thread that inspires Sweet
Joys.
“She did great doing that. The
scarves were absolutely beautiful.
They invited us, they wanted us to
come to one of the bridal shows.
And I’m like, ‘Nobody wants a
hat and scarf at a bridal show, so
Naomi was like, ‘Mom, why don’t
we do wedding cakes’,” Michelle
FIRST Naomi
Joy runs a table in
2017 at the Valley
Mall, Harrisonburg.
She got her first two
wedding cake orders
after this. PHOTO
COURTESY OF MI-
CHELLE BRAZEIL
Brazeil said.
Although they never made
a cake for a bride and groom, it
sparked a drive in Naomi Joy Bra-
zeil.
“That year, considering it, she’s
just started studying some of the
best bakers. I mean, digital is
great. Some of the great people
in YouTube and things like that.
She just really became very good
at doing it, and everyone that we
knew got a cake for free bankers
or bankers or hairdressers, any-
body that we had a relationship
with, got free cakes for a year,”
Michelle Brazeil said.
BORN NATURAL Naomi Joy Brazeil’s DELIVERY Naomi Joy delivers a cake STATION Naomi Joy started Sweet Joys
cake she made. PHOTO COURTESY she made during COVID-19. PHOTO in her house. PHOTO COURTESY OF
OF MICHELLE BRAZEIL COURTESY OF MICHELLE BRAZEIL MICHELLE BRAZEIL

COUNTING THE T-YEARS UNDER THE FONDANT

A year later in Honduras, Sweet Joys
made their first commission. Only at
17 years old, Naomi Joy Brazeil and her
mother made enough sheet cakes for a
wedding of over 300 people.
“We knew the young lady. She’d come
out to the States, and it just worked out
great. That was December of 2016. 2017,
we had the bridal show and we took our
first orders and it started from there and
it just has not stopped,” Michelle Brazeil
said. “You get wedding cake orders and
stuff like that is so much fun.”
Sweet Joys received another order af-
ter returning to Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Although this was their second order,
it was Naomi Joy Brazeil’s first order in
Harrisonburg, her first tiered cake order
and her first delivery order. On the day
of, Naomi Joy Brazeil prepared the cake
for the drive to the wedding venue with
her father. A few hours later and minutes
from the venue, the cake starts sinking.
“We scour everywhere, any bakeries,
Martin’s, find cakes that we can serve in.
We get back and we were able to, I think,
save two of the layers…I was ready to
quit, but the bride was so chill. She nev-
er knew because she did get her slice of
cake, but we were like, ‘You get cake free
forever’,” Michelle Brazeil said.
From the 1960s to 1970s, the civil rights move-
ment reached a high point. Born only two years
before Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, Mi-
chelle Brazeil navigated through schools permeated
with the civil rights movement.
“One thing I always had to remember was that
was a time and that’s not this time. I can’t look at
every person that’s not my race and say, ‘You did
this to me’, which a lot of times, that fosters that
type of feeling. You want something that’s like, ‘Oh
my God, look what they did’, but it’s not me person-
ally. That was a time that they went through to help
progress things along, but you can’t harbor hate in
your heart against people like that,” Michelle Bra-
zeil said. “Our kids have friends all intermingle and
probably non-African Americans. They do know
their heritage, but they won’t blame or feel that we
deserve something just because of the color of our
skin.” Read more at hhsmedia.com

A YEAR EARLIER Naomi Joy runs a table in 2016 at the Valley Mall,
Harrisonburg. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE BRAZEIL

FEATURE | 8
Moats navigates Harrisonburg
as African American musician
C
JIAYI LI
lementine Cafe offers
its customers any-
thing they desire from
an American menu:
breakfast, lunch and dinner with
a side of live music. Among the
clinking glasses sits a teenage
boy watching the 5-person jazz
band. With the chatter sits the
boy, seated alone at a table for
two. Among the feelings of awe
within him sits awkwardness, an
uncomfortable awareness of his
darker skin and an afro standing
PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADON
out from the people around him.
Nobody knows him, but every-
body notices him.
“It’s definitely awkward when
I go in there, and it’s, well, it’s a
bar with table seating for people
who want to eat there. It’s kind
of awkward for me to go in there,
first of all, as a high school stu-
dent, but also, an African Amer-
ican with kind of crazy-looking
hair,” junior Isaiah Moats said..
“Everybody who’s playing is
white. Everybody who’s sitting
around me is white, everybody
running the bar and everything
else white.”
When playing to a live audi-
ence, the notes leaving the in-
struments fill the area between
the player and the listener. An
energy fills the musician that
keeps their fingers moving and
the music playing. There’s no
room for self-doubt and no time
for awkwardness.
“Once you kind of get roped
into playing music live, you get
sucked out of being an audi-
ence member. Being an audience
member, like myself, in Clem-
entines and a scenario like that,
for me, because I’m not neces-
sarily a socially outgoing person
all the time. I’m also just not
your average white guy, but as
soon as I went up on stage, it was
like, ‘Alright, well, call the chart.
‘Tenor Madness’. All right, well,
let’s count it off. The audience
turns out to be almost irrelevant.
Playing, as long as you know the
chart and as long as you can play
a solo. I mean, I probably sound-
ed like trash, but just the overall
energy that was going on,” Moats
said.
It was his first and only time
playing at Clementines Cafe,
reaching a large milestone in his
musical journey. He played with
band members Noah Galbreth
and Doug Ritchers, ‘Tenor Mad-
ness.’ He had a solo with Galbreth
where the two traded chords for
four bars before returning to the
head, the main theme of the song.
“That’s one thing that I love.
COLORFUL NOTES Junior Isaiah Moats
plays the saxophone with his band. PHOTO
COURTESY OF ISAIAH MOATS
Jazz is that it’s so improvi-
sational and also so struc-
tured to where it’s like there’s
enough structure to where
you have to know what you’re
doing. But it’s loose enough
where you can connect with
other musicians.”
At Clementine Cafe, he
played the alto saxophone.
But that isn’t his first instru-
ment. He started off by strum-
ming the guitar then picked
the banjo before laying down
keys on the keyboard. Then
he found his way in the Blue
Streak Bands playing the bari,
tenor and alto saxophone.
Moats is a lifelong musician.
“For me, it was always rock
and roll, blues, jazz, all that
stuff,” Moats said.
When listening to music,
Moats distinguishes between
playing the notes of Black and
African American-influenced
music.
“A lot of people focus a lot
more on sounding good in
the context of a live situation
or on a recording. It’s one
thing to sound good, but it’s
another thing to sound good
and hold meaning,” Moats
said. “It’s finding the fine line
between good and great and
that sort of fine line is kind
of where you find the peo-
ple that are like, ‘Yeah, I love
playing this music or this cer-
tain genre of music’...You can
understand not just the lan-
guage used within that solo,
but you understand context
and you can go and start ref-
erencing certain things which
when it comes to jazz, refer-
encing yourself, and also oth-
er music.”
To pass the fine line and
become a ‘great player’, musi-
cians need to dedicate time
not only to practice but
to understand the culture
from where it came. In jazz,
The Lick is commonly ref-
erenced and used as a chord
transition.
“Everybody seems to
cringe at it, when, in reali-
ty, the lick was just a way to
move between a 2-5-1 pat-
tern when it comes to the
chords. You can play the
lick, and it’ll work in con-
text, but it’s another thing
to be able to solo and be able
to reference certain people
like John Coltrane or Miles
Davis. Then, your solo can
be very specific connections
like that as compared to be-
ing like, I can throw Mario
Kart and you can also throw
Coltrane playing over some
kind of blues. It’s very much
not a diamond in the rough,
but it takes somebody who’s INSTRUMENTS Junior Isaiah Moats plays with
been around the music long a guitar when he was younger. PHOTO COUR-
enough to understand and TESY OF ISAIAH MOATS
conceptualize what they’re
playing,” Moats said.
Blues, jazz and other Af- “But you have a couple white
rican American-influenced people, they can cover pret-
music are often played in ty much any bases that they
downtown Harrisonburg really want. To be fair, I’ve
even though only 7.49% of seen great white musicians
Harrisonburg’s population is in Harrisonburg be able to
Black or African American. cover pretty much anything
“The cool thing about Har- from straight-up Mexican folk
risonburg though is that you music all the way up to like very
have all these cultural groups black jazz and blues stuff. It’s be-
and racial groups, they all ing able to find the great people.
work together in some cases, Those people know what they’re
and they all have their own doing and they have taken their
things going on. You got the time to look into the music that
Spanish and Latinos, they got they’re playing. And it’s not just
their own things going on. their reading off a piece of paper
They got Cuban stuff, they got or something like that. It’s more
Spanish music, they got Mex- they understand the context and
ican music, and that’s pret- the culture behind music.” Read
ty fun to play,” Moats said. more at hhsmedia.com
FEATURE | 10
 LOVE In his third recorded studio album,
“Awaken, My Love!” which was released
by Glassnote Records, Childish Gambino,
combines funk, soul music, contemporary
and RnB to explain the feeling of love. Gam-
bino transitions from rap to funk soul, lead-
ing to a Grammy-winning album. He uses
the art of storytelling through music to cre-
ate what can be described as a masterpiece.
GRAPHIC BY JUMANA ALSAADOON
DEATH In the second studio album, Case
Study 01 created by the Canadian singer
and songwriter, Daniel Caesar. Released by
Golden Child Recordings he explores death,
spirituality, and absolution. He uses scientific
metaphors to explain life’s ups and downs.
In this beautifully crafted art piece, Caesar
combines a catastrophic form of structure
to explain life. GRAPHIC BY JUMANA AL-
SAADOON
OCEAN WAVES ‘SZA,’ released the CTRL
album in June 2017 through RCA Records
and Top Dawg Entertainment, produced as
their only female artist. It was a debut solo al-
bum where she also was a writer on the music.
Mixing RnB, this album creates a senseless
feeling of calmness. The album goes further
exploring topics such as love, fear, relation-
ships, and control. GRAPHIC BY JUMANA
ALSAADOON

AFRICAN AMERICAN
INFLUENCE IN MUSIC
B
lack music has
shaped musics
culture.
Many genres
were created by African
Americans. Blues was
born out of the oppres-
sion, struggle, hope, and
resistance experienced
by African Americans in
the late 1800s. Jazz was
first materialized in New
Orleans in the 1920s as a
form of expression. R&B
traces back to African
Americans moving from
the rural south to cities
between 1916 and 1960
reflecting urban environ-
ments through amplified
sounds, social concerns,
and cultural pride ex-
pressed through music.
Soul is a gospel-influ-
enced African American
popular music style that
evolved out of rhythm
and blues in urban ar-
eas beginning in the late
1950s. Soul was popular
in the 1960s and peaked
in popularity in the mid-
1970s during a time of the
civil rights movement and
black power movements.
Hip-hop is a culture
and art movement that
was created by African
Americans and pioneered
by Black American street
culture. Rock and Roll
popularized the idea of
racial integration, a form
of music that is passion-
ate and rebellious. Gospel
music originated in the
Black church and con-
veyed Christian values
and the hardships of slav-
ery. Folk music was Popu-
lar as protest music in the
1960s, and its influence is
still found within hip-hop
today. In the Revolution-
ary war and Civil war, Af-
rican Americans served in
fife and drum corps. Mu-
sicians who played in mil-
itary bands during World
War I and World War II.
Music has a rich culture
that comes from many ex-
periences of people who
can express it beautifully.
African Americans influ-
ence heavily to the music
we listen to now and en-
joy. We would have that
without black people.

PAGEPAGE
DESIGN BY JUMANA
DESIGN ALSAADON
BY JUMANA ALSAADON
Inspired
Artist
Abebe produces and publishes music
S
FARRAH HUGHES
ophomore Sammy Abe-
be started creating music
in seventh grade. Music
is a fun and inspirational
outlet for Sammy. He likes pro-
ducing his music after getting in-
spired by others.
“I started in seventh grade and
it was pretty bad. I was still try-
ing to learn. [Now], I listen to a
lot of music, and I just like creat-
ing my own stuff, so once I hear
a song I like, I want to make my
own. That’s how it started,” said
Abebe.
Friends make great support
systems. For Abebe, his friends
are his biggest inspiration when
producing music.
“[My biggest] inspiration [for
creating music] is honestly my
friends. [They] support me and
tell me that they like it. I also just
want to get better,” said Abebe.
While making music has easy-
going moments, it also has tricky
moments. Abebe shows that
while he is lyrical, he is still learn-
PHOTO BY JUMANA ALSAADOON & GRAPHIC BY JIAYI LI
ing how to make his own beats
from scratch and increasing his
production value.
“The easiest part, for me, is the
lyrics. I [come up with] lyrics
pretty easily,” said Abebe. “The
hardest part is learning how to
make beats for the music. I’m
also trying to start singing more,
and it’s hard.”
Repetition is annoying, but
the final product is always worth
it. Abebe shares his favorite and
least favorite parts of creating
music from the beginning to the
end.
“My least favorite part is when
you’re making a song, [and] you
don’t like how it sounds, you
have to keep redoing [the verse].
You have to redo the verse like
one hundred times,” said Abebe.
“My favorite part is hearing how
it sounds [when it’s finished].”
Versatility at its finest. Abebe
tries a lot of different styles to stay
versatile and continue expanding
what he releases.
“I do Indie, R&B, and rap too. I
try to do everything,” said Abebe.
ENTERTAINMENT | 12
ENTERTAINMENT | 12
 Lovecraft Country
REPRESENTATION SCORE: 5/5
“We’re here, we have every right to be, we’re citizens.
You’re a veteran for god’s sake, our money is spent just as
good as everyone else.”
The beauty of the 2020 TV show, ‘LoveCraft Country’
is that it’s ugly. It’s ugly where it matters. With a predom-
inantly Black cast, the show symbolically points at the
horrors of racism in the Jim Crow era. In one of its kind,
it mixes the creepy feeling of someone watching you with
the creepy feeling of witnessing racism. The show’s plot
surrounds the characters Atticus Black, Letitia, and Un-
cle George as they travel through the South, searching for
Black’s missing father. The show uses American writer H.P.
Lovecraft’s style of ‘weird horror.’
In one scene it cleverly illustrates a racist fictional char-
acter ‘Topsy’ a claim towards Black girls being unruly to
create a horror character. Read more at hhsmedia.com

REPRESENTATION SHOTS REVIEW: HOW BL

Blind Side
REPRESENTATION SCORE: 1/5
“Steve is your family, Michael when you look at him you
think of me, have my back. Are you going to protect your
family Michael?”
A feel-good story to make you feel good. That’s the pur-
pose of the 2009 movie ‘Blind Side’ directed by American
filmmaker John Lee Hancock. Michael is a kid who has no
future, doesn’t go to school, is homeless and failing at life.
Failing until one night, Leigh Anne Tuohy took him into
her home, giving him another chance at life. On the surface,
the Blind Side is nothing but a beautiful story about love,
care, and generosity from one person to another. But it’s
also a story about the white savior, whitewashing the Black
experience and exploitation. It’s not shocking that the only
depiction of Black people in this movie is when they are in
relation to the main character, Michael who is Black. The
depiction of Michael is of someone who is not self-sufficient
and could never be. Read more at hhsmedia.com

PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADON

 Gone with the Wind
“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!”

The 1940 movie, ‘Gone With the Wind’ depicts the cap-
tivating love story of Scarlett O’Hara, a stubborn daughter
of a plantation owner in Georgia. The movie is set in the
Civil War era and the Reconstruction era in the American
South. After it was released the movie would win a count of
awards. From the Academy Award for Best Picture to the
Academy Award for Best Cinematography, the movie won
it all. The movie is in fact still the ‘highest-grossing film of
all time, adjusted for inflation’. In the fragile storm of the
main plot, a character slips by, former slave Mammy (Scar-
lett’s servant) who is played by Hattie McDaniel. McDaniel
was an American actress and singer-songwriter born in
1893. She would be the first Black person to win an Oscar
for her supporting role in ‘Gone With the Wind’. Read
more at hhsmedia.com

LACK PEOPLE ARE REPRESENTED IN MEDIA

The Green Book
REPRESENTATION SCORE: 1/5
“Do you foresee any issues in working for a Black man?”
“No.”
Inspired by a true story, the ‘Green Book’ follows a
world-class African American pianist, Dr. Don Shirley who
hires bouncer Tony Lip who has a heavy Italian accent to
be his driver and bodyguard through a road trip across the
U.S. The movie is set in the era of segregation where at ev-
ery corner Shirley is faced with racism. His own driver, Lip,
has racist views that shift through the movie.
The movie’s name is inspired by a very real concept. In the
segregation era in the heightened time of the use of the car,
cross country travel became a staple for Americans. How-
ever, if a Black person was traveling to another part of the
U.S. they had to consider if the places they will come across
accept Black people. Picking a hotel is like sorting through
a stack of hay, looking for the needle with a blindfold on.
Read more at hhsmedia.com
ENTERTAINMENT | 14
 Black student-athletes share
experiences, expectations in sports

A
JUMANA ALSAADOON somewhat connected to the His- more attention on the white
ccording to the Na- panic people on my team, but players,” Hamilton Valdez said.
tional Collegiate Ath- sometimes I feel a little left out Despite the differences, Ham-
letics Association because nobody understands the ilton Valdez still approached the
(NCAA) demograph- issues and struggles of being a conversation with a level of op-
ics database in 2022, Black stu- black person,” sophomore Linda portunity to educate coaches to
dent-athletes were 16% of the Hamilton Valdez said. be more inclusive.
student-athlete population. Hamilton Valdez also high- “Educate themselves on things
Black athletes continue to be the lighted the difference between to say and not to say. There’s a lot
minority in most sports teams. having a Black person and a of things you can’t say to a black
Being the only Black ath- White person coach- person like, or you can’t do to a
lete in a sport can push the ing her a sport. black person like touching their
student to feel out o f “For basketball, I hair, or you know, saying
place and struggle to had a black coach, like the N-word,” Hamil-
find those they can so I felt I was ton Valdez said. With the
relate to in the always involved experience of being a
sports team, es- and I always minority in sports
pecially if it’s a felt a part of also comes the
team sport. the team, but expectation that
“For my sometimes may oppress
soccer team, I’m I feel out of Black athletes.
the only black sorts, like “Some
person there, when I’m sports,
so sometimes, in my they will
I feel out of soccer say like
sorts, even though team, ‘Oh, that’s
there are Hispan- because for not for
ic people, and I’m the coach colored people
Afro-Latino. I still feel is white. I feel like swimming’.
like she puts

PHOTO BY EMELI ESCALANTE & IMAGE GRAPHIC BY JIAYI LI

PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON

They feel like that stereotype that are times when an athlete feels centered more around your per-
colored people can’t swim and like they’re not good enough or formance, it’s still kind of a team
stuff like that or like the tennis they’re not improving. You just and everyone still works togeth-
team. African Americans feel like have to keep trying. There’s al- er,” Brutus said.
they have to prove something if ways, as long as you keep trying, Going through the sport, Bru-
they do make the team,” sopho- improvements,” Zelalem said. tus didn’t experience any dis-

“
more Leyara Hall said. Hall has also faced off with the crimination, but he did encoun-
Hall has been doing sports expectations that she described as ter casual jokes that could be
since she was prominent for deemed as insensitive.
eight years African Amer- “Sometimes people make
old. She start- You have to stay focused icans. Despite jokes, sometimes people say
ed in gym- and try hard. Try harder. trying to set something, and sometimes it’s
nastics and aside these ex- funny and sometimes it’s not,”
basketball.
- Sophomore pectations she Brutus said.
Now, she also Leyara Hall had to come With a new set of hardships as
does track. to terms that an athlete, Brutus recommend-
Doing track, there was a shadow outsiders look at her in that light ed solving those problems with
of expectation following her due no matter what. hard work and consistency in the
to her race. “I try to focus more on a sport, sport.
“You have to stay focused and not just me being an African “It can be stressful because you
try hard. Try harder, probably, American, but I’d also have to don’t know if you’re going to
because they’re always going to think about that when I’m doing make the team or not. Just work
have doubt in you. I will say, as my sport because that’s just how hard towards your goals,” Brutus
an athlete, but also, the sports the world is gonna look,” Hall said. “Once you get into things,
I’m doing, expect a lot of African said. try your best. A lot of people feel
Americans to do well at it, like Playing the sport like they don’t have to try their
track,” Hall said. Sophomore Tylen Brutus start- best because they got in, putting
Freshman Kaylen De Los San- ed running track because of his little effort or almost no effort.
tos Medina is an athlete in four mother who also did the sport. If you try your best in every-
sports: indoor track, outdoor “My mom ran track during thing you do, it’s a good way to
track, competition cheer and high school, so I got the inspira- go about things. You don’t want
sideline cheer. During her time tion from her and then I started to grow up and be like if I put in
as a student-athlete, she has also running track in eighth-grade my full potential into something

“
seen the expectations placed on middle school and then I was I could have been in this place
Black athletes. just like I did rather than
“I’ve seen people get stereo- it last year so I the place I am
typed and I’ve seen people ex- might as well You don’t want to grow up in now.”
pect Black people to be so much do it now,” Sophomore
better, and that could be a good Brutus said. and be like if I put in my full Na’im Samp-
thing in some ways but that’s A l t h o u g h potential into something I son plays
also like ‘We’re human, too’,” De track is an could have been in this place football and
Los Santos Medina said. “I feel independent rather than the place I am basketball, he
like they get more stressed and sport, he still plays basket-
feel the need to be better than found his
right now. ball at the JV
they should be.”The pressure to team to come - Sophomore level due to an
perform can be intensified for together and injury during
athletes whose bodies act as in- build a com-
Tylen Brutus football sea-
struments. Sophomore Rekik munity. son. He had a
Zelalem explained the feeling “You’re trying to beat your own similar background with joining
and the emotions that follow. time and not focus on beating ev- his sports.
“A lot of ups and downs. There eryone else, and even though it’s Read more at hhsmedia.com

SPORTS | 16
RECOGNIZE
PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON
Students’ athletes were picked based on teammate , coach recommendations and awards won across their involvement in athletics.
“ “
“[Junior Deacon Smith
is] a great friend, a great
teammates. I did like
playing with him this
year at basketball be-
cause he is really funny
And he brings the en-
ergy for the team.”
- Teammate
and junior
Lazaro Valdivia
PHOTO BY ADRIAN KAVAZOVIC
“[Junior] Tiberius Fields is a
student-athlete more impor-
tantly he is a great kid. Leads
by example, he’s a competi-
tor, he wants himself and his
teammates to do well, and he
puts a lot of pressure on him-
self. I know he has aspirations
in playing in college he will
continue to become better.”
- Varsity Boys
Basketball coach,
Don Burgess
PHOTO BY JIREH PEREZ
“ “
“[Senior Rashad Parham
is a] great person, a great
teammate, and a great
athlete. Kind of put it all
together. He was super
talented on the wrestling
mat and then he’s a great
student, and just kind of
overall he’s a great human
being to work with.”
- Assistant wrestling coach
Anthony
Antho ny Marasco
PHOTO BY ADRIAN KAVAZOVIC
“[Junior] Latham Fields is
someone who is cool calm
and collected. He’s the one
that continues to grow as a
player and continues to grow
as a person. A student athlete
but also another great kid.
He’s going to be awesome
leader moving forward as he
continues to grow as person
and as an athlete
- Varsity Boys
Basketball coach,
Don Burgess
PHOTO BY ADRIAN KAVAZOVIC
“
“Alyse [Sheffey] to me is like
a sister. We’ve been friends
for so long. Her character as
a student-athlete is good I
think because she gets to class
on time makes sure her grades
are good and she’s always ask-
ing questions to make sure
everything is right.”
- Teammate
and freshman
Sierra Cain
PHOTO BY EDISON RATTANA
SPORTS | 18
 LISTEN TO

OUR EXPE
PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON
 US SHARE

ERIENCES
GUEST WRITERS | 20
Expression

“Inoculation is the phenomena where two

separate trees combine into one. It’s really
beautiful,” said junior Eliza Malcolm.
Artwork by junior Eliza Malcolm

PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON

QnA with junior D’Shon Green
Q: What’s a hardship you face day to day?

A: “Probably people that don’t take being Black as a serious

thing, especially during Black History Month, like people treat it
as a joke or something that can be mocked a lot.”

Q: What has your experience been in classes with the majority of

students being white?

A: “I’m not gonna lie, at the start, I felt a bit out of place when I
looked around and saw I was one of only few Black kids in the
class, but because I know most of the Black kids in them, I don’t
feel really out of place now, and because the white people in
those classes are nice, it helps with the racial demographic.”

Q: Have you had experiences with discrimination at HHS?

A: Not at HHS, but at Montevideo High School, I did get racial-

ly bullied by white kids. The diversity helps a lot at HHS because
there is a lot more people like me and I don’t really feel like a
minority at this school because I’ve seen a lot of Black kids than
I have in almost other schools, but in Montevideo, it was differ-
ent because I was a minority at that school. I would forgive them
because at the time they were just kids. They were probably 11 or
12. You can’t educate people, but forgiveness is essential because
knowing that there is no remorse or grudges held against some-
body is better for your overall being.

GUEST WRITERS | 22
 GUEST WR
T
MANI STALLWORTH self was going to be wearing stare walked over to me.
here was this one one. I looked through all of I looked up in confusion
day where I had them without understand- with a slight bit of nervous-
been out with my ing any of the keywords or ness creeping up my spine.
mom, my brother, what gel meant. We were He leaned in close, as if
and my sister. We had been all in direct view of the cash we were sharing a secret.
out all day shopping or do- register and they could see “I don’t mean to be mean,”
ing whatever errands my what we were doing with no He said hesitantly, his
mom did on days we weren’t problem. My lips had felt a voice almost condescend-
busy. We had stopped at a little dry and so I took out ingly “But I saw you steal.”
nail place, one that was nes-a tube of chap stick, swiped My eyebrows furrowed.
tled into a corner right be- it across my lips, and pock- Like so many years ago, I
side a gas station. It wasn’teted it afterwards. froze as a wave of discom-
the most beautiful building It wasn’t fort washed over me. I
but it was comforting. It hadlong before looked at him with my
been in my town for so long the owner, a pulse beating fast.
and was a hot-spot for gos- chubby guy He looked at me.
sip and meeting people you with glasses I looked at him
hadn’t seen in forever or and an in- again. “Steal what?
something like that. I nev- timi- I didn’t steal any-
er got anything done there, dat- thing.”
being too young, so I was “That nail pol-
almost always bored. There ish.”
would be some times where “What nail pol-
my mom would let me bor- ish?” I asked.
row her phone to play games “That, nail pol-
and sometimes where I ish.” He said,
would have to sit for almost ing with a tone as
an hour in silence and try if I was being
to entertain myself with my stupid when
brother. This day I specifi- really I was
cally chose to look through just confused.
the nail polishes as if I my-

PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON

RITERS
A feeling of red hot shame
began to pool in my stom-
ach. It was a faucet and
it just kept pouring into
me. The heat was on high
and my body was aflame. I
didn’t steal anything. I knew
that and I so badly wanted to
make sure that he knew that.
How could someone think
that someone like me would
ever steal anything? I was
a good kid. I stayed on top
of my homework, found so-
lace in my books rather than
people, and I expanded my
vocabulary every day so peo-
ple could look at me and say
that I was well spoken. How
could I have possibly said,
I’m a good kid sir. I promise.
He was so adamant that he
wouldn’t have believed me.
I was quiet for a moment
before pulling out my chap
stick, the one that hadn’t
looked much like a nail pol-
ish bottle at all. “You mean
this?” I say.
He looked small at that
moment. If nervousness was
a color then he would’ve
been the brightest in the
room.
He went
quiet,
looked
around
as he
rubbed
his
arms
and
ducked his
head before apologizing.
He wasn’t really sorry, that
much was obvious. I could
tell that he was only embar-
rassed that he hadn’t caught
me doing something sneaky
as he had originally thought.
After that situation I still
was forced to go to that nail
shop whenever my mom
needed to get something
done for her. Every time I
walked in I was reminded of
an issue that had occurred
not so long ago. I knew better
now. I made sure to sit still,
not to laugh too loudly with
my siblings or play around. I
knew to sit there like a por-
celain doll even though ev-
ery nerve in my body was
screaming to be let up. I sat
GRAPHIC BY JUMANA
ALSAADOON
there in hopes to
alleviate the fear
that I would do
something crim-
inal. I didn’t want
to be looked at like a
monster or as someone
that needed to be watched
extra carefully. I just wanted
to breathe.
Sure, I felt as if all of it was
unfair. I could name many
who came in day in and day
out who looked far more
incriminating than I did. I
could count many people
who had stolen what I had
not. I could even point out
those who had pulled out a
tube of chap stick without
the slightest comment to-
wards them. Why was it me
that had stuck out? Why was
I so different? After telling
my family about it they said
the one thing I didn’t want to
hear. They reminded me of
who I was at the root. I was
black and since I was born
I had always been destined
to become a fear-provoking
tool. My skin wasn’t so dark,
but it was dark enough.
GUEST WRITERS | 24
 S
Finding Our Voices Amongst The Silence
weat drips
down his
sunken
cheeks.
He’s been stand-
ing on the road-

BY AIYANA THORNTON
side for hours,
holding up a large
sign with Black
Lives Matter
postered across it,
in hopes to end
police brutality.
A peaceful yet
consequential
act he hopes to
not go unno-
ticed. Black lives
matter T- shirts
cover the bod-
ies surrounding
the street ways
amongst him. Af-
ter being silenced,
suppressed, and
discriminated
against, he wants
to fight for what
is right. Videos
show young
black males and
females being
murdered on the
street but not by
other African
Americans, but
by the police that
took an oath to
protect them. He
stands proud like
the others around
him. He stands
for those whose
heart beats, lives,
and rights were
stolen. Stripped
of all dignity.

BY Z MACLIN
PAGE DESIGN BY JIAYI LI
Night and Day
Hot and Cold
Leave or Stay
These opposite connections hold stories
untold
Although the biggest pair
Who feuds the most
Who beats out earth and air
Are none other than
Water and Fire
Why is their relationship so special
Why does it a carry a certain ring
Well you see their relationship is a funny
little thing
The power and chaos that water bring
The spirit that fire bl eed
When Water is alone
Flows and grows with chaos but
It can also cure
Fire is warmth, pure
Passion and hope that fire carries
Creates love that flurries
But when fire comes near
When water’s actions become clear
The warmth and cure
Completely disappears
Because when fire get close
Water does one of three things
Boil steam
Douse
And you know, you would think that because water is supposed to heal and protect
Water is supposed to be safe to drink
There’s no way that water would chose douse
Right? Right…?
You would think that they would have a conversation to not douse that fire
You would think they that they would call 911 instead of using the camera to not douse that fire
You would think that wouldn’t pull that trigger and douse that fire
But 9 times out of 10, water doesn’t chose to inspire life
No. It chooses to inspire strife, inspire ruin, inspire death
And we can’t come to terms that whenever water get close to fire, fire is holding their breath
Because they are afraid that shining smile, strong voice, their ability to walk down that beautiful aisle, will
all be taken away because of water’s final choice
And yet it will take the voice of millions of fires
To finally inspire the value of that life in eyes of white
So to help create this bright future for our little fires
Water has to strive to not choose douse, boil or steam
But to spark a connection, which can then inspire a dream
And when the gleam and shine in the eyes of a fire stays and that the journey to better days is on its way.

GUEST WRITERS | 26
 UNTOLD TRUTHS At the heart of the city, the
Harrisonburg Courthouse Square represents the
history of Harrisonburg and its treatment of Black
people. At one point in time, this building was the
main place for auctioning slaves. Now it serves
as a historical location. PHOTO BY JUMANA
ALSAADOON

PAGE DESIGN BY JUMANA ALSAADOON