March 8, 2016

March 7, 2016

Black Chamber President Compares Flint Black Business Community to 'Ghost Town'
By Courtney Davis

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Ron Busby, president/CEO of the Washington, D.C.- based U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., has compared the Black-owned business community in Flint, Mich. to a “ghost town” amidst the city’s water crisis.

“If you visit Flint, it’s very noticeable that it’s the tail of two cities,” said Busby. 

On a recent trip to assess the impact of the crisis on the Flint business community, Busby noticed that two colleges, University of Michigan, Flint Campus, and Mott Community College were open and functioning normally through the water crisis while Black-owned businesses struggled.

“I was not able to speak with administration [of the colleges], but from my understanding, they made the changes necessary, early on in the conversation. So their issue has been corrected or at least addressed to the point where they are not facing the same challenges as other parts of the community,” said Busby. 

Meanwhile, the Black business community “was almost a ghost town,” he said. “Many of them were either closed or didn’t have enough customers to open up for normal business hours.”Busby also noticed on his trip that the businesses and restaurants of downtown Flint were open and operating, “if they’re getting clean, functioning water, where is the issue?” Busby said he asked himself. “Then you go to the communities of color, that’s where you see the biggest impact.” 

According to Busby there was a cost associated with the necessary improvements. Therein lay the problem.Some businesses were able to take advantage of government support, he said, but others, “obviously, did not have the same opportunity.” 

The tragedy in Flint, Mich. that began two years ago continues to unfold. In a nutshell, in April 2014, as a cost-cutting measure, Flint switched its water supply from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River. A group of doctors, led by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, urged the city to stop using Flint River as a water supply after high levels of lead were found in the blood of children.

Experts believe about 8,000 children were exposed to lead-contaminated water, according to the New York Times. The issue has now boiled into a national tragedy, drawing national media attention as well as the attention of political, civil rights and economic justice leaders. Most have resolved that the neglect was based on race.

According to the U.S. Census, more than half of Flint’s 99,000 residents are Black and 40 percent live below the poverty line. Historically, African-Americans were drawn to Flint to work for General Motors and other car factories. Flint was known for producing large quantities of vehicles earning it the nickname “Vehicle City.” Businesses opened in Flint to support the car production companies.

“When General Motors decided to leave, it left that city in an unfortunately almost bankrupt situation the day they made that decision,” said Busby. People were left in Flint without another source of income. Busby, whose USBC represents 250,000 small businesses, says Flint is the worst of tragedies, but racial disparities are widespread.

This “environmental racism” can be seen around the country, Busby notes. He said 75 percent of African-American businesses are located in areas that are hazardous or lack the ample amount of resources the business needs. 

“Even with the snowstorm that hit Washington D.C. in January, businesses were addressed first in reference to snow removal, getting them back up. But it’s always going to be the communities of the majority that get the first resources. They get the most amount of dollars reinvested into their communities,” said Busby.  “With our people, there are a lot of challenges forced upon them outside of our control, some of them being natural, some them being manmade.”

In a statement issued to the press after the Flint visit, Busby said, "We are saddened to see Black businesses and families suffer from the greed and mis-governance of local and state officials. Flint was once an epicenter of a thriving automotive industry which created wealth for the Black residents of Flint. 

He concluded that the man-made crisis gives three “hard truths”:  “Environmental racism is evident, the poisoning of Flint was entirely preventable and Poverty makes communities vulnerable to injustices. There must be a mass effort to increase wealth in the Black community through business ownership as a logical approach to alleviate vulnerability to injustices and man-made crises."

March 6, 2016

Melissa Harris Perry is no longer in the picture at MSNBC

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

March 6, 2016

Supreme Court Injustice
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

NEWS ANALYSIS

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “The American people‎ should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice…Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President." - Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY)

With the passing of Supreme Court Justice Scalia Republicans have taken their hatred of and bigotry towards President Obama to another level.  Mainstream media is failing to call out the Republicans hypocrisy for what it is. McConnell and his racist band of thieves have taken the Supreme Court hostage and the American people don’t have the guts to pay the ransom.

There are a few simple problems with McConnell’s statement referenced above.  First, the American people have already spoken regarding the selection of Justice Scalia’s successor.  Their voices were heard loud and clear when they elected Senator Obama as President on November 4, 2008.  Their voices were even louder when President Obama was reelected for a second term on November 6, 2012.  Second, there is no constitutional nor historical support for the position taken by McConnell and his minions.

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution is very clear on the issue of selecting and confirming a Supreme Court nominee. The President shall have the power to “…nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States…”

By blocking President Obama’s nominee Republicans have decided that they are going to potentially suspend the effectiveness of the Supreme Court just as they have brought the people’s business, the work of Congress to a screeching halt.  Without Scalia’s replacement the Court is operating with eight justices.  If the Court gets deadlocked in a 4-4 vote, the lower court (usually a state supreme court) decision is upheld.  The Supreme Court is neutered.

Republicans bigotry runs so deep that they would rather have a dysfunctional government than allow an African American President to effectively govern.  They have tried to mask their hatred as an ideological difference.

According to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) “we are 1 justice away from a liberal majority”. Even if that is true would that really be that bad? The most liberal Supreme Court by most measures was the Warren Court (1953 – 1969).  Chief Justice Earl Warren, former Republican Gov. of California was nominated by a Republican President, Dwight Eisenhower.  Warren was confirmed with a unanimous voice vote by a Democratic Senate.

The Warren court gave us the Brown case, Miranda Rights, applied the exclusionary rule protecting us against illegal search and seizure to state courts (Mapp v. Ohio); extended the right to counsel in all criminal cases (Gideon) and constructed the right to privacy (Griswold).

Since the “right to privacy” is not explicitly stated in the Constitution many Conservatives have questioned the Warren Courts “construction” of the right to privacy in the Griswold case.  The Warren Court constructed the right based upon protections provided in the First Amendment, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments.  Today, the right to privacy is at the crux of the argument being presented by those siding with Apple as it challenges the FBI’s request to unlock iPhones.  This is another example of the power of forward thinking by a “liberal” court.

Journalists need to ask McConnell why President Obama should not be allowed to appoint a Supreme Court Justice in the last year of his term if it was constitutionally permissible for President Reagan to appoint Anthony Kennedy during Reagan’s last year in office.  A Senate controlled by Democrats confirmed Kennedy with 97-0 vote.  It’s also interesting, if not hypocritical that McConnell and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) voted for Kennedy during Reagans last year.

Grassley has recently said, "The fact of the matter is that it’s been standard practice over the last 80 years to not confirm Supreme Court nominees during a presidential election year.”  Either Grassley has forgotten his vote for Kennedy in 1988, he can’t do simple math or he’s a hypocrite and a racist.

Why didn’t President Obama make a recess appointment to fill Scalia’s seat? Section II, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution also states, “The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”  It’s understood that such a recess appointee to the Supreme Court holds office only until the end of the next Senate session, no President since Eisenhower has made one and they have become quite controversial. Despite times call for desperate measures.  These are desperate times!

According to The New York Times, once Senate leaders said, “… that there would be no confirmation hearings, no vote, not even a courtesy meeting with President Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, all but slamming shut any prospects for an election-year Supreme Court confirmation” President Obama should have taken charge, used his Constitutional authority, appointed an African American woman and forced their hand. Imagine the political optics behind that move.  That would have been the Machiavellian move. Instead, he wants to talk with leadership and try to find “common ground”. He’s bringing a pea shooter to gun fight.

At the end of the day this is really simple.  There’s no constitutional or historic support for the Republican misleadership’s position.  They are operating based upon their bigotry towards and hatred of America’s first African American President and mainstream American media is allowing them to get away with it (and so is Obama).

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Leon,” on SiriusXM Satellite radio channel 126. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com.

March 2, 2016

Clinton, Trump Win Big on Super Tuesday, But Voting Problems Undermine Process
By Hazel Trice Edney

PHOTO: HillaryClinton.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire businessman Donald Trump won sweeping majorities of the votes in the 12 Super Tuesday states this week. But, as the polls closed, the Election Protection program – designed to shield the integrity of the vote - had received more than 2,000 calls.

In the Democratic campaign, Clinton, once again bolstered by 83 percent of Black voters according to a CNN exit poll, won seven states - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and the American Samoa territory. Her opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, with only 15 percent of Black voters, won four states - Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont.

Republican Donald Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts, Virginia and Vermont. His opponents, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, won Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas; and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won Minnesota. Medical Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich won no states. Only Republicans competed in Alaska and only Democrats competed in the America Samoa.

The Clinton and Trump wins on Super Tuesday added to both of their momentums after the South Carolina primary Feb. 27 where they also won handily. Bolstered by a heavy Black voter turnout, Clinton won 73 percent of the vote over Sanders’ 26.5 percent in South Carolina. Trump won 32.5 percent of the vote in a field that was then six candidates.

As much as the state wins are stressed, it’s actually the numbers of delegates that each state carries that actually count. Democrats need 2,383 delegates to win the nomination. Clinton currently has 1,055 and Sanders has 418. Republicans need 1,237 to win the nomination. Trump currently has 315, Cruz has 205 and Rubio has 106. Other primaries and caucuses will take place through Tuesday, June 14.

Streams of voters turned out on Super Tuesday, the largest group primary and caucus day of the presidential election year. But, according to poll watchers, it may not have been all fair game. The national, nonpartisan Election Protection voter hotline reportedly received more than 2,000 phone calls from voters who encountered issues while voting.

“We received hundreds of calls across the country on our 866-OUR-VOTE hotline from voters who want to participate in our democracy,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, in a statement issued to the media. “I spoke with one voter for over 20 minutes in Cobb County, Georgia who was not given notice that his polling place was temporarily moved and when he got to the new site, he and many other voters found a dark, unmarked building with no signs of any activity.”

The majority of calls reportedly came from Texas and Georgia, the statement said. “The hotline received a steady stream of calls throughout the day with voters seeking information as well as assistance on a range of issues resulting from poll worker misinformation, voter ID problems, overcrowded polls, long lines and ballot shortages.”

Meanwhile, Clinton and Sanders are poised to face off in yet another debate, set for Sunday, March 6 in Flint, Mich., where a government water crisis has poisoned thousands of most Black people, including children, with led. Democrats will also debate March 9 in Florida. Two more will be held in April and May, but details have not been announced. The final Republican debates are March 3 in Detroit, March 10 in Miami and March 21 in Salt Lake City.

The nominees will be selected during the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia July 25-28 and during the Republican Convention in Cleveland July 18-21. But, as voters prepare to head for the polls Nov. 8, the apparent voter violations reported on Super Tuesday underscored the need for close oversight.

“Today, hundreds of thousands of voters from Virginia to Alabama to Texas headed to the polls and many called 866-OUR-VOTE to receive information and report problems,” said Marcia Johnson Blanco, co-director of the Voting Rights Project. “As in years past, this election showed the continuing need for Election Protection to provide services year-round to help voters as they prepare to cast ballot.”

The Election Protection program will continue providing support to voters during the 2016 presidential primary season and through the Nov. 8 election.

Clarke concluded, “Our experience on Super Tuesday shows that much work remains to be done to strengthen our voting process across the country."