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Prairie View Alums Partner to Keep “CAWLM” with New Animal Clinic in Third Ward

ABOVE: Dr. Huey Paul Beckham, Jr., Dr. Keisha Burnett, and Dr. Aziza Glass pose inside the lobby of the CAWLM Veterinary Hospital (Photo by J. Raphael’s Photography) Three Prairie View A&M University alumni have come together to provide animal care for the Third Ward community. CAWLM (4902 San Jacinto St) offers a wide range of […]
The post Prairie View Alums Partner to Keep “CAWLM” with New Animal Clinic in Third Ward first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

3 years ago

November 15, 2023

Forward Times Staff

ABOVE: Dr. Huey Paul Beckham, Jr., Dr. Keisha Burnett, and Dr. Aziza Glass pose inside the lobby of the CAWLM Veterinary Hospital (Photo by J. Raphael’s Photography)

Three Prairie View A&M University alumni have come together to provide animal care for the Third Ward community. CAWLM (4902 San Jacinto St) offers a wide range of services, from grooming and dentistry to surgery and radiology. The doctors sat down with the Forward Times to discuss their clinic, lives and careers.

Dr. Aziza Glass is a native Houstonian and PV graduate who primarily focuses on integrative medicine, with an emphasis on acupuncture. Dr. Huey Paul Beckham, Jr. is also a native Houstonian who pursued veterinary medicine after two decades in the military. Dr. Keisha Burnett (from Kendleton, TX) is a general practitioner whose interests include internal medicine and soft tissue surgery.

“I actually never had pets growing up,” Dr. Glass says. “It was a compromise for me to get fish my senior year in high school.” Her mom disliked animals: “She thought that they all carry diseases.” At one point, young Aziza swiped a turtle from a golf course: “That was the extent of my pet ownership until I really got to vet school. But I always loved learning about animals.”

“And then my other interest or passion was the arts. So I loved everything about music, and I loved performing and being on stage.” Like her sisters, she attended Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts: “At HSPVA, I kind of felt like an oddball, because I knew that I liked performing, but I also saw so many talented people who seemed like they would be stars as soon as they graduated. And I definitely questioned whether or not I had the same type of talent as all these other people; it seemed like it was just oozing out of their pores. But I also knew that I had a very strong STEM background, because my parents were always pushing academics.”

That push paid off. Her father met a recruiter for a summer internship: REAP. The Research Extension Apprentice Program (REAP) is a thirteen-day summer camp for high school juniors and seniors, helping college-bound students better understand careers in agriculture and food sciences. “Both of my parents are Prairie View alums. So they said, ‘You’re going to PV.’ That was my first time even knowing about the world of College of Agriculture,” she says.

“It was like the first or second day of the program,” Dr. Glass recalls, “and we were castrating piglets and giving iron injections.” She volunteered to do the procedure first. “And from that first castration, I was hooked.” She changed her major from civil engineering to animal science. “I knew that I wanted to study and learn about animals; it would have never even occurred to me to go down the veterinary route,” she says, until sophomore year. During a summer internship, she pondered her choices: “I knew I was going to grad school. I knew I was going to become Dr. Aziza. But I thought it was going to be the Ph.D route. And when I realized that a veterinarian is also a doctor, I said: ‘I can do that too, and still learn about animals.’” She did, graduating from PV with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 2010. She earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Cornell University in 2015.

Dr. Keisha Burnett and Dr. Aziza Glass perform routine check-up (Photo by J. Raphael’s Photography)

“I was exposed to veterinary medicine when I was six years old,” Dr. Beckham shares. His mother’s uncle was a technician (known as “porters” in the ‘70s). “I got started with him. We called him Uncle Joe. We’d go visit him on Bissonnet St. It was called Live Oak Animal Hospital. And that’s where I got my first start.”

Dr. Beckham’s father owned horses and land: “50 acres in Prairie View. So I was always exposed to animals, dogs, cats, horses, and cattle.” He also predicted his son’s career: “He said, ‘You will become my veterinarian, Huey,’” he remembers. “And being around veterinarians and technicians all my life, I realized: ‘This is what I want to do,’ even though I didn’t pursue it wholeheartedly until I got to college. But it was destiny for me. And being around horses kind of solidified me being a veterinarian,” he says. “I’m Creole; you go to Louisiana, everybody has a horse in their backyard. So being around that area and being around people who are horse-minded, horse owners…It was just destiny.”

After graduating from PV in 1986, Beckham went to the Army. But after two years, “I said, ‘This is not what I want to do.’ So I got out, went back to Prairie View, started the master’s program.” After discussing his future with his father and PV agricultural science professor Dr. Wendell Baker, Beckham decided to attend vet school at Tuskegee – in part, he says, because “I did not want to be involved with the mind game of going to a predominantly white university for vet school.” He earned a doctorate of veterinary medicine from Tuskegee in 1993.

“My story is a little more tragic,” reveals Dr. Burnett. “My stepdad bred dogs. But he didn’t take care of them. He just made money off of them.” They had American bulldogs and pitbulls. One of them was named Diamond. “I got kind of attached to him. And Diamond lived outside on a chain, and we’d had him since he was a puppy. And when I was like 18/19, Diamond got super sick, and he could barely breathe. His belly was big. Legs were swollen.”

Her stepdad made her take Diamond to a vet. “I had to take him to this predominantly white veterinary clinic,” Dr. Burnett recalls. “I’d never seen Black doctors.” The diagnosis was disturbing: “He was in heart failure. And he was in heart failure because he had end-stage heartworm disease.” She called home crying, she remembers. “They put my dog to sleep. And I had to put his dead body in my back seat and drive him back home.”

That painful loss motivated Burnett to educate her community. “Black folks, we’re getting better,” she says. “But for the most part, people like us choose to stay oblivious about caring for pets because it’s not on the same level as human life. I want to educate people about how to take care of their pets because as a veterinarian, I am the pet’s advocate. They can’t speak; they can’t tell you what’s wrong,” Dr. Burnett adds. “So my purpose for being a veterinarian is a little different. I do it more for the human side. I help animals, but I do it more for the humans.”

The experience gave her direction. “Nobody in my family had ever gone to college,” she explains. “I didn’t know where I was going.” Though she was in the top 10% of her high school class, “I had no exposure to college.” But a woman who mentored her mother took Burnett under her wing. “She said, ‘I’m going to take you to Prairie View. My brother is the head of the biology department.’ And that’s how I met Dr. Brown, and they put me in a summer program. So I literally graduated from high school in May and I was in college in June.” After completing her summer program, she ended up going to Tuskegee for vet school and earned a DVM in 2010, graduating summa cum laude. “And now I’ve been practicing 13 years.”

Dr. Keisha Burnett and Dr. Aziza Glass perform routine check-up (Photo by J. Raphael’s
Photography)

“I want to add one more thing,” Dr. Beckham cuts in, mentioning Dr. Alfred Nelson Poindexter: “He was one of the pivotal faculty members at Prairie View at the time.” (After graduating from Kansas State in 1945, Dr. Poindexter joined the faculty at Prairie View A&M University, teaching animal science and practicing veterinary medicine. During his tenure, Dr. Poindexter taught about anatomy, animal health, sanitation, and reproductive physiology. He remained at PV for 59 years before retiring in 2004.)

“I gotta give him big ups as far as inspiring undergraduates to not only do veterinary medicine, but to just be who they are,” Beckham says. “He inspired many, many people. Black, White, Hispanic, you name it. He was well-known,” he adds. “I have to put him in this interview. He was another pivotal point in my life.”

“I always knew that [Dr. Poindexter] was a pillar in our history,” Dr. Glass says. Though she never met him, “I’ve always seen myself as a part of his legacy because of my relationship with Dr. Wendell Baker, who mentored all three of us, too.”

“When I graduated from Tuskegee, I wanted to be a surgeon,” Dr. Beckham continued. He did an internship in Small Animal Surgery and Medicine at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in 1994. “That was a big eye-opening shock. I had all the information but didn’t know how to utilize it.” Eventually he figured out how to apply the information: “Medicine is a puzzle. You have to put the puzzle back together again and you solve and you treat the patient.”

After completing the internship, Dr. Beckham returned to the Army and joined the Veterinary Corps. Then he got accepted to a residency at North Carolina State but was soon deployed to Bosnia. He was deployed four times – until 2008. “Got deployed again and my wife said, ‘You know, Huey, I can’t do this,’” he recalls. “So I had to make a decision: Stay in, lose my marriage of 20 years, or get out.” He left and worked in private practice and went into corporate medicine. In that capacity, he met (and hired) Dr. Burnett and Dr. Glass – both navigating predominantly white spaces in vet care.

According to Arizona State University, veterinary medicine is currently one of the least racially and ethnically diverse fields: nearly 90% of veterinarians are white, while less than 2% are Latino and Hispanic. Nearly none are Black. All three doctors faced racial tension in their field.

For Dr. Beckham, it began in the service. “Being a Black male in the military, you are a threat,” he states. “You’re constantly being looked at, being judged.”

Dr. Glass shares similar sentiments: “I can literally say nothing and just look, and I’m still an ‘angry Black woman’ sometimes,” she explains. “There was pressure to smile all the time. And sometimes, I was like, ‘I don’t feel like smiling. I don’t want to smile right now.’”

After two tumultuous years in a “very toxic” work environment, Dr. Glass called Dr. Beckham and asked: was she struggling due to lack of skill, or because of who she was? “He said, ‘It’s who you are. And the only way for you to change that story and change that circumstance is for you to have your own space and have your own lane.’ And that was very freeing,” Dr. Glass recalls. She started her own mobile practice: “I was just working out of my car. I had car magnets that I would pop on when I was on duty and I would take off when I was ready to go to bed.”

Like Dr. Glass, Dr. Burnett also worked out of her car post-grad. After four rocky months at one job —she left. Dr. Burnett put a table on the back of her truck and started doing surgeries and vaccines out in the field.

Then she worked at a mixed animal practice in Willis, treating dogs, cats, horses, sheep and goats. Locals weren’t prepared: “They weren’t used to seeing somebody who looked like me,” Dr. Burnett says.

After leaving Willis, Dr. Burnett worked for “a large corporation” where Dr. Beckham was her medical director. “I hired both these guys,” he says. Together, they began looking for places to open their own clinic. They found spots on Almeda, Emancipation, and Binz. But things always fell through. Then CAWLM happened.

Dr. Keisha Burnett, Dr. Huey Paul Beckham, Jr., and Dr. Aziza Glass welcome the community to the CAWLM Veterinary Hospital (Photo by J. Raphael’s Photography)

Both Beckham and Glass had seen the space; Dr. Glass initially hesitated. “I was very adamant – and I know both of us were – about opening a practice in Third Ward,” she says. “I wanted to make sure that [in Third Ward] there would be somebody that would come in to serve and respect our people. And we had opportunities to open a practice in the suburbs. There were people who contacted me when they found out that we were having problems finding locations, offering us space in their buildings at discounted rates. And I said, ‘Thank you, but no, thank you, because we want to be in Third Ward.’”

“So even though I saw the space, I never really considered it, because I was super-focused on the clinic being in Third Ward, whereas this would be considered more Museum District.” But one day – talk about how God works, and how the Holy Spirit guides you – I happened to come across an urban planning study for Third Ward and the history of it, done by Rice University. And it talked about the original borders of Third Ward prior to gentrification, before there was a Midtown, before there was a Museum District,” she says. “And this space was located within the original boundaries of Third Ward. So then it clicked and I said, ‘You know what, God, you are answering my prayers.’”

CAWLM is a full-service veterinary clinic that provides services like grooming, dentistry, surgery, vaccinations, pain management, and radiology (digital X-rays can assist in treatment of problems from heart disease to broken bones). The clinic also offers acupuncture (which can treat pain, skin conditions, and even mental health). CAWLM also provides services beyond the Houston area, servicing areas including Pearland, Katy, Sugar Land, Kingwood, Spring, Cypress, and the Woodlands. Its goal is to promote complete animal wellness and extend the lifespan of pets through personalized and innovative care.

Follow the CAWLM Veterinary Hospital @cawlmvet to learn more.

Dr. Keisha Burnett, Dr. Huey Paul Beckham, Jr., and Dr. Aziza Glass pose inside the lobby of the CAWLM Veterinary Hospital (Photo by J. Raphael’s Photography)

The post Prairie View Alums Partner to Keep “CAWLM” with New Animal Clinic in Third Ward appeared first on Forward Times.

The post Prairie View Alums Partner to Keep “CAWLM” with New Animal Clinic in Third Ward first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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COMMENTARY: Jim Crow 2.0 at the Pentagon

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 3, 2026

bpusa-syndication

Pete Hegseth insists that he is restoring “merit” to the United States military. But after months of dismissals, blocked promotions, and ideological purges, the evidence tells a different story. His campaign against so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” has become something far more dangerous: an assault on equal opportunity that falls with particular force on African Americans, while also targeting women, Latinos, gay Americans, and transgender service members.

The latest example is both troubling and infuriating.

Once again, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly blocked the promotion of an exceptionally qualified woman—Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt. Bauernschmidt is no ordinary officer. She became the Navy’s first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, one of the most demanding leadership assignments in the world. Her career reflects decades of exemplary performance, operational excellence, and leadership under extraordinary pressure.

Yet once again, a distinguished military career appears to have been subordinated to an ideological agenda masquerading as “merit.”

I call BS!

The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

The pattern has become impossible to ignore.

General Charles Q. Brown Jr., only the second African American to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was dismissed despite a career that placed him among the most accomplished military leaders of his generation.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman ever to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, was removed despite decades of distinguished command experience.

Reports have documented interventions that blocked or delayed the promotions of Black officers and women selected through the military’s rigorous promotion system.

Now Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt joins the growing list of highly accomplished officers whose careers have been derailed for reasons that have never been persuasively explained.

Where is Congress?

Its silence has become deafening.

Congress has an independent constitutional responsibility to oversee the armed forces. Instead, too many lawmakers have watched silently while one of the nation’s most respected institutions is subjected to ideological litmus tests and political interference.

This is not military reform. It is testosterone-fueled performative masculinity disguised as a philosophy of military excellence.

The irony is impossible to miss. Hegseth repeatedly invokes “merit,” yet his rhetoric begins with the assumption that Black officers, women, and other historically excluded Americans must somehow justify their achievements in ways that white male officers are rarely required to do.

That is not meritocracy. It is prejudice wrapped in patriotic language.

No one is asking that anyone be promoted because of race or gender. Americans simply expect that promotions be based on demonstrated competence, leadership, integrity, and service. The officers being targeted have already proven themselves repeatedly under one of the world’s most demanding evaluation systems.

Their records speak for themselves.

The attack on African American military leadership has been especially pernicious.

For generations, Black Americans fought in segregated units, earned decorations while denied equal treatment, and repeatedly demonstrated loyalty to a nation that often failed to extend them full citizenship. They broke barriers not because standards were lowered but because excellence finally overcame institutional discrimination.

Today’s campaign against “diversity” threatens to revive old assumptions under new slogans.

The implication that Black generals and admirals somehow owe their success to affirmative action rather than extraordinary performance echoes some of the ugliest stereotypes of the Jim Crow era. Yesterday’s segregationists claimed Black Americans were inherently less qualified. Today’s culture warriors simply employ more politically acceptable language while inviting the same suspicion about Black achievement.

That is why Hegseth’s campaign increasingly resembles Jim Crow 2.0.

The targets may now wear stars on their shoulders instead of military patches on segregated uniforms, but the underlying message is hauntingly familiar: Black excellence is presumed suspect, while white excellence is presumed earned.

America’s military became the finest fighting force in history because it opened its doors to talent wherever it could be found. It grew stronger after President Truman desegregated the armed forces. It became stronger when women assumed greater command responsibilities. It became stronger when every qualified American was given the opportunity to serve to the fullest extent of their abilities.

Diversity is not a concession. It is a strategic advantage.

The nation’s adversaries do not fear an American military because it is racially homogeneous. They fear it because it draws upon the talents of more than 340 million Americans whose diverse experiences, perspectives, and abilities make our armed forces unmatched anywhere in the world.

Every politically motivated dismissal of a distinguished officer sends a chilling message throughout the ranks: excellence alone may no longer be enough if you belong to the wrong demographic group.

That weakens morale. It weakens recruitment. It weakens retention.

And ultimately, it weakens national security.

Pete Hegseth has every right to pursue military readiness. He has no right to redefine merit in ways that repeatedly cast suspicion upon the accomplishments of Black officers, women, and others who have devoted their lives to defending this nation.

America deserves better. The men and women who wear the uniform deserve better. The Constitution deserves better.

And unless Congress finds the courage to exercise meaningful oversight, history may well remember this period not as a restoration of military excellence, but as the moment political ideology attempted to resurrect, in modern form, the old poison of exclusion.

Jim Crow did not strengthen America. Jim Crow 2.0 will not strengthen America’s military. It will only diminish it

Wade Henderson
Strategic Advisor
Civil and Human Rights
wade@wadejhenderson.com

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New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial

By Emilie St. John (Contributor) Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction. Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District […]
The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

By Emilie St. John
(Contributor)

Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction.

Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District Judge John Roach Jr. from overseeing the appeals process.

Two hearings have been scheduled on the motion for Aug. 9 and 10 in the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, according to Fox4 News.

On July 14, Senior Judge Sid L. Harle of the 226th District Court was assigned to preside over the defense’s motion to recuse Collin County Judge John Roach. The assignment took effect immediately and authorized Harle to handle all matters related to the recusal request, the filing read.

The Collin County District Attorney’s Office continues to defend its handling of the case by issuing a statement to NBC 5 DFW.

“The defendant’s new lawyers have filed a motion containing several inaccurate characterizations of the trial proceedings. The entire prosecution team and I conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the Court’s rulings and any agreements with defense counsel. We look forward to addressing these claims thoroughly in a Court of law in the coming weeks. The jury heard extensive evidence over the course of the trial and returned a unanimous verdict. We remain confident in that verdict and the fairness of the proceedings.”

Anthony’s new legal team, made up of appellate, civil rights, and criminal defense attorneys, was retained following Anthony’s conviction.

“Our responsibility is to determine whether a legal error occurred and to ensure that every issue supported by the record is fully and vigorously presented on appeal,” the team said in a statement.

“We recognize the profound loss suffered by one young man’s family and the uncertainty facing another, and we extend our respect to everyone whose lives have been forever changed by these events,” the release reads.

Anthony was charged with the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf during a track meet in Frisco, Texas, April 2, 2025. Anthony has long maintained it was an act of self-defense.

The attorneys are representing Anthony pro bono. The nearly 200-page notice of appeal seeks a new trial because his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated.

“The cumulative and practical effect of these provisions was to exclude members of the public from proceedings at every stage,” the filing reads.

The filing also focused on an alleged “handshake deal” that kept Anthony from taking the stand in his defense.

The defense filing said the agreement was that the jury would not hear that Metcalf and his twin brother had been accused of racism and bullying in the past. In exchange, they also would not see Anthony’s cellphone records or his school disciplinary record, according to court documents reported by the Dallas Morning News.

Anthony’s former defense attorney, Mike Howard, said the defense relied heavily on that deal. The team chose not to ask certain questions of witnesses or call on a separate expert witness based on that agreement. It also abandoned plans to introduce testimony and evidence about the allegations against Metcalf and his brother.

Appellate attorney Russell Wilson is now handling post-trial proceedings and Anthony’s appeal. He recently sat down for an interview, stating, “The court committed multiple errors during the June murder trial, preventing him from receiving a fair trial.”

“You know, we file motions that we expect to prevail on, but we understand that there’s two sides to every story. And at the end of the day, it’ll be a judge that has to make these decisions, but we feel confident in the positions that we’re taking,” Wilson said during an interview with WFAA. “There were substantial issues that we thought a reviewing court needed to look at. We thought these were constitutional irregularities, and we could have them addressed now. And so, we put them into a motion for a new trial.”

Bree West, a former Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, found it startling that so little time was given to Anthony’s team for such a serious “life or death” situation.

“I do think that it’s really challenging that potentially a court decided that you have 10 minutes to make that level of decision when it has the potential of being life-altering,” said West during an interview with Fox 4 News.

Judge Harle is no stranger to high-profile cases, having presided over the prosecution of a police officer charged in connection with the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Anthony was convicted on June 9 of the murder of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump!

WESTSIDE GAZETTE — The author criticizes Donald Trump’s rhetoric, noting his use of terms like “Dumbocrats” and “Communist” to describe Democrats and democracy. The column asserts that Trump’s current strategy involves creating doubt about midterm elections due to a lack of Republican agenda.
The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

Frankly Speaking

Wow! Wow! Wow! The swamp drainers have truly stepped down to new levels of stupidity. You remember Weapons of Mass Destruction? We now have Weapons of Mass Distraction. Trump has introduced Dumbocrats and Communists into the conversation about Democrats and Democracy.

Trump lies so much, and his current strategy is to set up doubt about midterm elections because he and Republicans have no agenda!

He has no “Trump “ card, but Iran has a strait! He called it a skirmish; it’s now a War. He said five days; now it’s five months. He said few casualties; now it’s 18 deaths. He knew nothing about Project 2025 but hired its architects! Trump lies about the lies and often forgets these little inventions called cameras and phones

We see and hear and then see and hear the inconsistencies.

I didn’t like 45 and dislike 47 even more!

The post LSMFT! Lord Save Me From Trump! appeared first on The Westside Gazette.

Based on reporting by Westside Gazette.

The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.