April 24, 2016

Prince’s Death Burnishes, Not Diminishes His Considerable Legacy
By Barrington M. Salmon

Prince (Screenshot)

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Anika Trahan recalls sitting at her computer, at a friend's house where she’s staying during a Washington, DC visit, when she first heard news that Prince, her musical icon and a seminal force in her life, had died.

“It’s been hard. The only thing worse than this is losing one of your own family,” Trahan said during an April 24 interview. “I’m at a loss for words. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I remember my mother telling her friends about this guy who opened up for a Rick James concert that she'd gone to. She said he'd come out wearing nothing but a diaper, but that he was really good. I didn't know his name then. I came to know him for myself upon the release of Purple Rain.”

“He was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen. At 13, I had no preconceived notions of masculinity or type. I barely liked boys at that time. But, I was so enamored with how he looked. That's what initially drew me to him, but Purple Rain was such an exciting album for me – I even had my own song. That’s he became my favorite musician from that moment/movement on, to this day.”

Prince Rogers Nelson, 57, died on April 21, discovered in an elevator at his home studio, at Paisley Park near Minneapolis, Minnesota. Following Prince’s cremation, family and close friends attended a small, private ceremony over the weekend where his publicist where his remains are buried would remain private adding that there are plans to hold a musical celebration at a later date. An autopsy has taken place and the body has been cremated. Authorities said it will be weeks before a cause of death is announced.

The reaction has been international. According to Forbes magazine, on the day after Prince’s death, fans snapped up an unheard of one million of his singles and albums. Even television anchors and personalities wept openly on the air.

For almost 40 years, Prince etched his name as a singular, extraordinary musical force, innovator and author of a career where he produced 40 studio albums, sold 100 million records, won an Oscar, seven Grammys, a slew of music industry awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His drive, perfectionism and the ease with which he crossed genres marked him as a fearless innovator continually expanding an array of musical and other boundaries.

Only 19 when he signed a record deal with Warner Brothers Records in 1977, Prince brought an eclectic mix of R&B, Funk, New Wave, Rock and Disco to America’s musical table. His unabashed blending of erotic subject matter, the sensuality, the cheeky interplay of the spiritual and sexual, a daring musical style that defied categorization and his message made him a fan favorite to millions and weird to others.

Prince’s unexpected death has triggered an outpouring of grief, tributes from musical giants like Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springstreen and Lady Gaga, President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, the high placed and the regular, around the US and the world. Their gaze has been focused on a man remembered for living life on his own terms, for his almost otherworldly musical output, his searing performances and a fierce desire for artistic independence and expression.

Trahan, 44, an educational program developer for a global consulting firm in Denver, Colorado, said unequivocally she is “the biggest Prince fan of them all.”

As a child, she said, she amassed “everything Prince,” including purple coats, lace accessories, posters, 12" EPs, full albums, concert picture books and ticket stubs. She mother of one said she’s lost count of the many shows she’s gone to but said saw her idol at concerts in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Houston and only missed two tours, HitNRun and the Piano Tour.

The depth of Trahan’s admiration for Prince is illustrated by her tongue-in-cheek declaration: “If you aren't a Prince fan, you're no friend of mine.”

Documentary filmmaker Tony Regusters, like Trahan, said he is at a loss to fully embrace the reality that Prince is gone. He considers himself a devotee of the supremely talented singer, song writer and instrumentalist who is said to have mastered more than 20 instruments.

“I’m absolutely a Prince fan. When I heard, it felt as if I’d been hit by a sledgehammer in the center of my chest,” said Regusters, an Afro-Futurist and an original producer of BET’s Teen Summit. “I’ve been in the Army, on the journalism beat. You always think you’re past shock. Over the span of 37 years I saw him three times. To be perfectly honest, what drew me to him was his eccentricity and his very diverse worldview. He was off-the-chain and waaaaay ahead of his time. He was wild, unpredictable, was extremely gifted as a musician and played so many instruments. He never stopped being daring and pushing the envelope....He was also a very kind and spiritual person and did so many things people knew nothing about, like supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, taking care of the homeless, donating to certain social service agencies, and giving money to environmental causes. He was brilliant. I saw many of his interviews and he always sounded so measured and thoughtful. He had a strong thread of intelligence, extra creativity and the palpable presence of genius. Like Miles Davis, Marvin Gay and Michael Jackson, no one will ever replace him.”

Regusters, 68, an award-winning documentary filmmaker of “Obama in Ghana: The Untold Story,” said Prince’s death has been the topic of a great deal of discussion among his friends, colleagues and associates.

“No one is unaffected by this. People are crying, angry, throwing out conspiracy theories,” said Regusters. “He and Michael Jackson had just regained control of their music catalogues. People are saying it seems like a pattern. Two brilliant guys stood up to the music industry and now they’re dead. We know that America is truly a wicked place. It could have happened.”

DC-based publicist Reggie Sanders, who describes himself as a Prince admirer not necessarily a fan, offered a nuanced, philosophical view of the late musical prodigy.

“When I see him, I see a person who’s multi-talented, smart, an individualist, not in it for the adulation, and not concerned much if you like what he produces,” he said. “He’s like Michael Jordan, Tiger Wood and Steve Jobs. I’m not matching personalities but talent. They all have that “thing.” They had to endure being called weird. We are portals and they are the visionaries.”

“I’m admiring of his philanthropy without telling us. This is how he was built for his life. He was shaped by his upbringing in a special way. He had a stamp on him saying ‘you have to do this.’ What’s amazing is that he had just started rounding out in maturity and spirituality. We use the word genius. It looks that way to us but it’s a state of being …”

April 24, 2016

Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marian Anderson and Sojourner Truth are on the Money
Their images will appear on $20 and $5 bills,  a first for Blacks but it is some years away

Martin Luther King Jr.

Marian Anderson

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Wednesday announced redesigns of the $5, $10, and $20 bills with the image of Harriet Tubman, a Union spy and a leader of the Underground Railroad that led hundreds of slaves to freedom, being placed on the front of the $20 bill, which circulates 7.9 years, longer than other banknotes except the $50 and $100 bills.

Tubman replaces Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, a slaveholder who persecuted Native Americans. His image will be placed on the back of the $20 bill.

Secretary Lew also announced that the redesign of the $5 bill will include historical events that occurred at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. These images will include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, and opera singer Marian Anderson singing at the top of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 before 75,000 people after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to sing in Constitution Hall because she was African-American.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who arranged for Anderson to give a concert at the Lincoln Memorial, will also have her image placed on the back of the $5 bill.

The front of the $5 billion will continue to feature President Abraham Lincoln. Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first Treasury Secretary, will remain on the front of the $10 bill due to the outstanding popularity of the musical “Hamilton,” which was written by and stars Lin-Manuel Miranda. The musical won a Pulitzer Prize this week.

Lew will put a vignette of suffragettes on the back of the $10 bill. The new $10 bill design depicts the 1913 women’s right to vote march. Images on the bill will honor Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul for their contributions to the women’s suffrage movement.

The Treasury Department worked on the redesigns over the last 10 months and even considered the idea of creating a $25 bill, according to Lew, who announced the redesigns last June.
The final redesigns for the three bills will be unveiled in 2020 and should be available before 2030.

April 24, 2016

Michigan Officials Charged in Flint Lead Poisoning Investigation 

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The Michigan Attorney General on Wednesday filed 13 felony charges and five misdemeanor charges against two state officials and one city official associated with the lead poisoning crisis in the Flint, Mich., a mostly African-American city 66 miles northwest of Detroit.

Attorney General Bill Schuette filed the charges against Stephen Busch of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality District 8 Supervisor. Busch is charged with three felonies and two misdemeanors.

Charges also were filed against Michael Prysby, a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality District 8 water engineer. He is charged with four felonies and two misdemeanors.
In addition, the Michigan Attorney General also filed charges against Michael Glasgow, supervisor at Water Quality for the City of Flint Laboratory. Glasgow is charged with one felony and one misdemeanor.

If convicted of the felonies, the three could spend four to five years behind bars. The men also could be fined $5,000 to $10,000.

The high lead content in Flint’s water has left 30,000 of city’s residents without drinkable water after the town’s water supply was switched in 2014 to the Flint River from Lake Huron to save money. Some 99,000 people live in Flint and 56.5 percent are African American.

The residents continue to drink, wash and bathe with bottled water.

Michigan officials insisted it was safe to drink tap water even though an internal memo at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services warned that lead poisoning rates were higher than usual for children under 16.

The state continued to say the water was safe until  Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint pediatrician, reported in September that there was an unusually high level of lead found in blood samples taken from Flint children.

Lead poisoning especially affects infants, children and expectant mothers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Lead poisoning is such a serious national problem, especially among African-American children, the CDC hosts a national lead poisoning prevention week annually.

April 20, 2016

Still Bolstered by the Black Vote, Clinton Wins New York as Campaigns Head for the Home Stretch
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The contest for the next president of the United States took a significant turn this week as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton both trounced their opponents in a New York primary contest that had been widely viewed as pivotal.

Clinton, a former New York senator, secretary of state and first lady, beat Sen. Bernie Sanders handily despite large and excited crowds that cheered him in days leading to Tuesday’s primary. Clinton won 57.9 percent to Sanders’ 42.1 percent. Clinton now has 1,424 delegages to Sanders' 1,149. With super delegates who have committed to voting for Clinton, she actually has 1,893 if they remain loyal. It takes 2,393 to win the nomination.

Where Clinton and Sanders appeared to split the White vote right down the middle, Clinton clearly led with at least 75 percent of Black voters, according to widespread reports based on exit polls.

“The race for the Democratic nomination is in home stretch and victory is in sight”, Clinton joyously announced.

“Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated,” proclaimed Trump, a native New Yorker and billionaire entrepreneur, who reaped a whopping 60.5 percent of the votes over 25.1 percent for John Kasich and only 14.5 percent of Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz had been gaining significantly behind Trump in delegates. Trump now has 845 of the 1,237 it would take to win the nomination. Cruz has 559 and Kasich has 147.

After this presidential campaign that has been largely marked by scathing personal attacks and name-calling, political viewers will now watch closely as the candidates compete in the final states until June 14. And then on to the Republican National Convention July 18 in Cleveland and the Democratic National Convention starting July 25 in Philadelphia where the party nominees are slated to be selected. The following is the schedule of final primaries and caucus for both parties:

April 26 – Connecticut Republican and Democratic primaries, Delaware Republican and Democratic primaries, Maryland Republican and Democratic primaries, Pennsylvania Republican and Democratic primaries, Rhode Island Republican and Democratic primaries

May 3 – Indiana Republican and Democratic primaries

May 7 – Guam Democratic caucuses

May 10 – Nebraska Republican primary, West Virginia Republican and Democratic primaries

May 17 – Oregon Republican and Democratic primaries Kentucky Democratic primary

May 24 – Washington Republican primary

June 4 – U.S. Virgin Islands Democratic caucuses

June 5 – Puerto Rico Democratic caucuses

June 7 – New Jersey Republican and Democratic primaries, California Republican and Democratic primaries, Montana Republican and Democratic primaries,  New Mexico Republican and Democratic primaries. North Dakota Democratic caucuses. South Dakota Republican and Democratic primaries

June 14 – District of Columbia Democratic primary