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Inspiring Passion at the Ground Level

NNPA NEWSWIRE — As one of the PGA’s rare Black Professionals – fewer than 1% of PGA Professionals are African American – Demarkis Cooper understands his role in shaping an atmosphere that more people are comfortable in and that changes some of golf’s negative perceptions.
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PGA Professional Demarkis Cooper is working to make golf more inclusive and inspire passion for it in others.

By Anthony Witrado, PGA of America

As a preteen, Demarkis Cooper had dreams of playing quarterback. Maybe, one day, being the face of a franchise, or even the face of the NFL.

But over the span of a few minutes back in June 2008, after hitting a handful of golf balls while on vacation with his family, Cooper made a spontaneous declaration that would change his life.

“I’m never playing football again!” Cooper proclaimed to his father, Derwin, days after Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open on a fractured leg.

With that statement, the 12-year-old Cooper was on his way to becoming a PGA of America Member, one with an influential voice in golf’s developing effort to diversify the sport and make it a more inclusive activity.

He was recognized for that last week at the 2022 PGA Show in Orlando as a glowing example of the Make Golf Your Thing movement.

Cooper is also a part of the 2021-22 PGA LEAD class.

PGA LEAD is a two-year leadership training program for diverse Members committed to taking on voluntary leadership roles within the PGA at the Chapter, Section and National levels.

It’s another way for underrepresented Members to have a stronger voice within the Association, and the golf industry.

If you’re interested in PGA Membership, visit pga.org/membership.

As one of the PGA’s rare Black Professionals – fewer than 1% of PGA Professionals are African American – Cooper understands his role in shaping an atmosphere that more people are comfortable in and that changes some of golf’s negative perceptions.

His work at CitySwing, an indoor golf facility in Washington D.C. that strives “to change the culture of golf by eliminating the barriers into the game,” reflects that.

“All of us have to do our part to make sure we bring in more people into golf,” says Cooper, now 25.

“Being a part of the PGA and what they’re doing to really try to make things more inclusive, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do at CitySwing. So people who come from a different background, they have someone like me to look at and connect with to keep them in the game.

“I just want to be able to make the biggest difference I can.”

After that family trip, Cooper, an athlete who played multiple sports, wasted no time entering area junior golf tournaments.

To his surprise during his first competition, there was no halftime break after nine holes, and he estimates he shot “about 150” in that initial event.

Still, he fell in love with the game and went on to play college golf at the HBCU Maryland Eastern Shore while going through its PGA Golf Management University program.

The PGA’s PGM programs provide classroom courses, internship experience and opportunities for player development for aspiring PGA Professionals.

Currently 18 universities offer the bachelor’s degree program.

To learn more about the PGA of America’s PGM program, visit pga.org/membership/university-program.

Going through the program, Cooper became fully invested in pursuing a career in golf. It was his passion, and he wanted to stay involved in any way possible.

“The way I figured, I love golf, and if I’m a Member of the PGA, I’ll always have a job in golf,” Cooper says. “I knew I could make a lifelong career out of this, and that’s what I wanted to do.”

Earning Membership and becoming a PGA Teaching Professional is Cooper’s way of making a living through that passion.

And after countless hours of lessons and his experience in talking with new golfers, he believes the way to bring more people of color into the game, the industry and potentially PGA Membership, is by sparking their love for the game at the grassroots level.

Programs like PGA Jr. League and PGA Family Cup, he believes, are great ways to attract new audiences of young people and create that love at an early age. And along with non-traditional facilities like CitySwing, those experiences can focus on giving people a comfortable, welcoming experience that keeps them playing and finding their love.

Cooper also says promoting diverse golf influencers like NBA star Stephen Curry, a PGA Jr. League Ambassador, and influencer Roger Steele, the founder of progressive content agency HIPE Media, can be ways to get people of color interested in golf, even if they’ve never considered it before.

The emphasis being that the more people see others who look like them playing the game, the more likely they’ll gravitate toward it.

As Cooper sees it, there won’t be another “Tiger boom” that fuels an influx of diverse players. While it’s certainly possible that another African American golfer has massive influence, odds are they won’t dominate as Woods did, or captivate society enough to create the same phenomenal impact.

That means it’s up to people like Cooper to welcome in the next wave.

“If you don’t play golf, you’re not watching golf. So I’m focused on the ground level, what I can do and embracing those people,” Cooper says.

“The more people of color that are playing golf, the more interested they’ll be in working in golf and joining the PGA [as Members]. It just has to be a big group effort.”

If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a PGA Member, visit pga.org/membership.

The post Inspiring Passion at the Ground Level first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Fighting to Keep Blackness

BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

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By April Ryan

As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum

Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”

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Rep. Al Green is Censured by The U.S. House After Protesting Trump on Medicaid

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question.

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By Lauren Burke

In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote today in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.

On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.

All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,” Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market dove down over one-point hours from close. The jobs report will be made public tomorrow.

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Trump Moves to Dismantle Education Department

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The department oversees programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), serving 7.5 million students. Transferring IDEA oversight to another agency, as Trump’s plan suggests, could jeopardize services and protections for disabled students.

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By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The Trump administration is preparing to issue an executive order directing newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education. While the president lacks the authority to unilaterally shut down the agency—requiring congressional approval—McMahon has been tasked with taking “all necessary steps” to reduce its role “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” The administration justifies the move by claiming the department has spent over $1 trillion since its 1979 founding without improving student achievement. However, data from The Nation’s Report Card shows math scores have improved significantly since the 1990s, though reading levels have remained stagnant. The pandemic further widened achievement gaps, leaving many students behind.

The Education Department provides about 10% of public-school funding, primarily targeting low-income students, rural districts, and children with disabilities. A recent Data for Progress poll found that 61% of voters oppose Trump’s efforts to abolish the agency, while just 34% support it. In Washington, D.C., where student proficiency rates remain low—22% in math and 34% in English—federal funding is crucial. Serenity Brooker, an elementary education major, warned that cutting the department would worsen conditions in underfunded schools.

“D.C. testing scores aren’t very high right now, so cutting the Department of Education isn’t going to help that at all,” she told Hilltop News. A report from the Education Trust found that low-income schools in D.C. receive $2,200 less per student than wealthier districts, leading to shortages in essential classroom materials. The department oversees programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), serving 7.5 million students. Transferring IDEA oversight to another agency, as Trump’s plan suggests, could jeopardize services and protections for disabled students.

The Office for Civil Rights also plays a key role in enforcing laws that protect students from discrimination. Moving it to the Department of Justice, as proposed in Project 2025, would make it harder for families to file complaints, leaving vulnerable students with fewer protections. Federal student aid programs, including Pell Grants and loan repayment plans, could face disruption if the department is dismantled. Experts warn this could worsen the student debt crisis, pushing more borrowers into default. “With funding cuts, they don’t have the materials they need, like books or things to help with math,” Brooker said. “It makes learning less fun for them.”

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