Half Billion Raised for Haiti; 6 Homes Result

Vernon Jordan Urges Black Journalists to "Stay on the Case"

"Trouble is a-comin' like it used to did,"Vernon Jordan said Sunday of the current racial climate, repurposing a statement from a 90-year-old black man in the early days of the civil rights movement. Jordan was speaking at a breakfast in Washington with 24 journalists of color known as the Journalists Roundtable.

It's important for black journalists to "stay on the case," Jordan said, referring to the plight of African Americans. Jordan is a lawyer, presidential confidant and former civil rights leader whose yearly compensation is in the millions of dollars. He told the group, "Most black people aren't having this kind of breakfast, and don't have the kind of jobs that we are blessed to have." Jordan added, "Somebody laid a hand on me, and that's what we have to do with these young people."

When it was pointed out that leaders of the civil rights era such as Roy Wilkins of the NAACP and Whitney Young Jr. of the National Urban League are unknown to most Americans today, Jordan, 79, added his own anecdotes about people who should have been familiar with the late historian John Hope Franklin, but weren't.

Part of the problem with some in recent generations is that "they somehow believe they got there all by themselves," Jordan said. In addition, preachers "preach from Isaiah, but they don't say anything about what's in the newspapers."

Stephanie Rochon, Va. Breast Cancer Advocate, Dies at 50

"Longtime WTVR CBS 6 anchor Stephanie Rochon passed away Wednesday after a battle with cancer,"Mike Bergazzi, Bill Fitzgerald and the Web staff of the Richmond, Va., television station reported Wednesday. "Stephanie was an honored journalist whose broad intellect, natural curiosity and captivating personality opened hearts across Central Virginia."

They also wrote, "Her compassion was evident when she covered the topic she was most passionate about — the fight against breast cancer.

"Stephanie, whose mother survived breast cancer, used her Buddy Check 6 reports to shine a spotlight on the courageous women and men on the front lines of this battle — the patients, doctors, nurses, family members and their friends. . . ."

Referring to those Buddy Check 6 reports, Michael Paul Williams added in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, "The monthly segment spotlighted women on the front lines of the breast cancer battle. Ms. Rochon worked especially hard to reach people in Richmond's underprivileged communities, since black women are more likely to die from the disease than those of other racial and ethnic groups." Williams was quoting Sheryl Barnhouse, WTVR news director.

The station report continued, "In Stephanie’s final Buddy Check 6 report, which was broadcast in August 2014, she told the story of a woman who said her faith was tested when she was diagnosed with cancer. Cancer would soon become Stephanie's cross to bear, the disease took her life just after her 50th birthday. . . ."

Williams wrote, " Her colleagues were reeling Wednesday at the news of her death. . . ."