Black Men Prime Cop Targets by Zenitha Prince

August 17, 2014

Black Men Prime Cop Targets
Zenitha Prince

Michael Brown (Photo Courtesy of Facebook)

Sean Bell

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Sean Bell, unarmed, hours away from becoming a husband when he was slaughtered by police in a 50-bullet fusillade in November 2006, in Queens, N.Y. Ariston Waiters, 19, of Union City, Ga.; unarmed, shot twice in the back and killed by a police officer in December 2011. Ramarley Graham, an unarmed Bronx teen chased into his grandmother’s home and killed by police in the bathroom in February 2012. Kendrec McDade, an unarmed, 19-year-old shot seven times and then handcuffed on the ground by Pasadena, Calif., police, the result of a fake 911 call in March 2012. Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride, Johnathan Ferrell, Eric Garner…and now, Michael Brown.

The list of names, faces, families in mourning grows longer, representing a persistent ill that has plagued the African-American community—death at the hands of police, security officers and vigilantes.

“We are not in a war. A war means that both sides pick up arms against each other,” said Raymond Winbush, director, Institute of Urban Research at Morgan State University. “[Rather,] Black people are experiencing a slow form of genocide…. There’s just, in general, this devaluing of Black life.”

In 2012, the last year for which data is available, more than 300 African Americans died at the hands of police officers, according to the FBI. And a report by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement estimates that in the United States one Black person dies by extrajudicial killing every 28 hours.

“They are killing us at the rate of one every 28 hours. That surpasses what was happening 100 years ago when Black people were being lynched every two days,” Winbush said.
Michael Brown’s death is one of those modern-day “lynchings,” many in the Black community believe.

On Aug. 9, shortly after noon, Michael Brown and a friend were walking near the Canfield Green Apartments when an officer pulled up beside them. What happened next is a matter of debate. St. Louis County Chief of Police Jon Belmar, in a statement sent to the AFRO, said when the officer tried to exit his vehicle, Brown allegedly pushed the police officer back into his vehicle and tried to take his weapon, whereupon he was shot.Eyewitnesses disagree, however, saying it was the officer who pulled Brown by his neck into the car window and shot him. The officer then exited the vehicle and, though Brown was kneeling on the ground, unarmed and with hands raised in surrender, shot him several more times.

The 18-year-old’s death drew residents onto the streets in protest, which has grown in size and ferocity in the ensuing days as protestors allegedly kicked police cars, threw bottles and looted nearby stores.

“Tensions are high and things are really tense because people are understandably angry and upset,” said Chawn Saddam Kweli, national chief of staff of the New Black Panther Party, who was on hand for the protests. “What they are trying to term a riot is a rebellion,” he added. “They (residents) are lashing out because they feel they will not get justice in the White courts.”

Contributing to that rage, Kweli said, is the consensus that Brown was a “good boy,” who had set his eyes on a straight path. In fact, he was supposed to start college on Aug. 11, two days after his death. “We should be celebrating my son’s going to college but we’re planning a funeral,” Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, told the Rev. Al Sharpton in an interview on MSNBC.

Her father, Les McSpadden, called his grandson’s death an “execution,” which was part of an ongoing pogrom against young men of color. “It’s a shame that these Black kids in St. Louis and, I’m sure, around the world, they might as well walk around with a target on their back,” he said.

Kweli agreed, saying Brown’s death—and the residents’ reactions—were symptomatic of persistent racial tensions in Ferguson, and several Congressional Black Caucus members sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting that the Department of Justice launch an independent investigation in light of that history.

“There’s a high rate of profiling and targeting of African Americans in Ferguson,” Kweli said.

But the situation also encapsulates a broader problem, which is the marginalization and criminalization of Black men and women. “We may not like to say this, but White people, particularly police, don’t see us as human; they see us as animals,” Winbush, the Morgan State professor, said.

That dehumanization begins in childhood, social experts said. In a research project published in the {Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,} UCLA professor Phillip Goff and associates examined how college students and police officers estimated the ages of children who they were told had committed crimes. In both groups, participants tended to overestimate the ages of Black children compared with non-Black ones, implying that Black children were seen as “significantly less innocent” than others.

And that skewed images of Blacks—often as thugs and gang members—is also perpetuated by the media. For example, some news outlets have reported protestors as chanting, “Kill the Police,” when really they were saying a popular refrain among Black activists, “No Justice; No Peace,” Kweli and others said. And, some news outlets have shown a photo of Brown with his fingers extended, which some have interpreted as a “gang sign,” prompting a Twitter protest. Black men and women posted side-by-side images of themselves—one depicting them as everyday, upstanding Janes and Joes, and the other as the stereotypical gangsters and thugs, accompanied by the hashtag, #IfTheyGunnedMeDown.

One way to ensure those misperceptions of Blacks do not result in more police killings is to station more Black or hometown officers in communities of color, Winbush and Kweli suggested. White and/or non-native police officers in places like Ferguson are regarded by residents “like a foreign occupying force because they are disconnected from the people,” Kweli said.

Cedric Alexander, president of The National Association of Black Law Enforcement Executives, was less willing to blame racism or other bias for the use of lethal force against African Americans. He warned that each situation should be judged individually and urged Ferguson residents and observers to “wait until the investigation is complete before any conclusions are drawn so that we can be fair to Mr. Brown and his family and to the police.”

Alexander said there are good and bad people everywhere. “The key here is to have well-trained police and a community that makes an effort to work with the police. Police and community have a shared responsibility in moving forward from this,” he added.

Winbush questioned why African-American communities seem to be the only ones asked to restrain their reactions, especially in light of persistent injustices. “It is funny how in the media people are questioning why Ferguson residents are reacting the way they are as if there is no reason…. It is almost like you’re supposed to sit there and take it,” he said.

But the insurrection in Ferguson is an “appropriate response and consequence” of the unjust killing of a young Black man, the professor added.

“We have to do something in retaliation so that police think twice before shooting another young Black man,” Winbush said. “It’s like the bully in the schoolyard—you have to, one day, turn around and fight or they will keep on being a bully.”

Meanwhile, President Obama sent his condolences to Brown’s family and confirmed the Department of Justice would be investigating the matter. He also, like many others, urged Ferguson residents to curb their violent reactions.

“I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions, but as details unfold, I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding,” the president said. “We should comfort each other and talk with one another in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. Along with our prayers, that’s what Michael and his family, and our broader American community, deserve.”

National Outrage Over Police Shooting in Missouri, President Obama Weighs In by Hazel Trice Edney

August 11, 2014

National Outrage Over Police Shooting in Missouri, President Obama Weighs In
By Hazel Trice Edney

Michael Brown

brownmichaelpoliceshooting
Angry protestors take to the street after the police shooting of unarmed Michael Brown, 18.
PHOTO: Wiley Price/St. Louis American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - They were like shots heard around the nation - the shots from a police revolver that killed 18-year-old unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., on Saturday - only two days before he was to start his freshman semester in college.

Within 24 hours outrage had boiled over into protests in the streets of the small town, a suburb of St. Louis. Protests continued all week. Also, police, continuing questionable behavior, have responded in riot gear, shooting rubber bullets, spraying tear gas iin the direction of even peaceful protests and people sitting or standing in their own yards. Even reporters have been arrested as they seek to cover the unfolding events.

The NAACP, the National Action Network and the National Bar Association have taken stands. And the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an official probe into the killing. Even President Obama weighed in this week:

"The death of Michael Brown is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family and his community at this very difficult time. As Attorney General Holder has indicated, the Department of Justice is investigating the situation along with local officials, and they will continue to direct resources to the case as needed. I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions, but as details unfold, I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country, to remember this young man through reflection and understanding. We should comfort each other and talk with one another in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. Along with our prayers, that’s what Michael and his family, and our broader American community, deserve," the President said in a statement distributed by the White House.

His call for calm is being backed by civil rights leaders.

“The death of yet another African-American at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve the community where he lived is heartbreaking. Michael Brown was preparing to begin college, and now his family is preparing to bury their child – his life cut short in a tragic encounter with the police,” stated NAACP President/CEO Cornell William Brooks. “As the NAACP’s Missouri State Conference and St. Louis Branches seek answers about the circumstances surrounding Michael Brown’s death, the National office will remain vigilant until accountability and justice are served for the countless individuals who lose their lives to misguided police practices throughout the country. Even as we call for accountability by those charged with protecting the community, we call on the community to act -collectively and calmly until we secure justice for the family of Michael Brown."

It is a déjà vu situation in which similar killings of unarmed Blacks have become commonplace around the nation. The killings of Trayvon Martin, 17, by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida; Jordan Davis, 17, by Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, Florida; Johnathan Ferrell, 24, in Charlotte, N.C., also shot by police under questionable circumstances; and Renisha McBride, 19, by Theodore Wafer in Dearborn Heights, Mich. are among the most recent highly publicized killings of unarmed youth.

But, nothing has historically raised the ire of Black communities like the shooting of yet another unarmed Black youth at the hands of a police officer. The killing of Brown, a recent high school graduate, touched that national nerve this week.

Events are fuzzy and still under investigation. According to widespread reports, Brown and a friend were walking in the street on the way to his grandmother’s house when they were approached by a police officer.

Despite police claims that an altercation and struggle ensued, eyewitness accounts said one thing is clear. That is that the unarmed teen was shot once before dropping to his knees with his hands raised; then was shot several more times by the officer, whose name was undisclosed as of Monday’s press deadline.

“You don’t do a dog like that,” said Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, in an exclusive interview with NewsOne reporter Brittany Noble. “They didn’t let me identify him or anything,” she said. “It was some girls down there that had recorded the whole thing, took pictures, and she showed [me] a picture on her phone. She said ‘ain’t this your son’ and I just bawled even harder…just to see my son laying there like this for no apparent reason.”

Anger spilled into the street’s late Sunday as a peaceful vigil became disorderly on both sides. CNN showed video of citizens breaking a store window, looting and banging on police cars. One police officer was caught on camera describing the people as "animals".

The Rev. Al Sharpton, president/CEO of the National Action Network says he will be heading to St. Louis upon the request of Brown’s grandfather, Leslie McSpadden. Sharpton was to visit with the family on Tuesday this week.

“He has asked me to come to St. Louis in light of the police killing of his grandson to assist the family in achieving a fair investigation and justice. I assured him that National Action Network will stand with the family, as we have done for families around the country and assist in any way that we can,” Sharpton said. “I am dispatching Rev. De-Ves Toon of our National Action Network field department to St. Louis immediately to prepare for my visit, and to work with groups in the area as we pursue justice in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Meanwhile, the anger has mounted across the nation as has the deaths. Sharpton is also in the midst of a justice fight in the July 17 chokehold death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old Staten Island father of six who died after being choked by New York Police officers who were detaining him. The videotaped assault showed Garner repeatedly saying he could not breathe before falling unconscious under the excessive force of the police officers.

Sharpton and Garner’s family announced on Saturday plans for a “We Will Not Go Back” march and rally, set for Saturday, August 23. The demonstration, seeking justice for Garner, will be held on the 25^th anniversary of the murder of Yusuf Hawkins, an unarmed Black teen who was shot twice in the chest and killed while walking with friends through the White neighborhood of Bensonhurst, in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1973. The four were attacked by a White mob.

Although police brutality and profiling have been historically commonplace in Black communities, National Bar Association (NBA) President Pamela Meanes indicated that apparent cover ups and withholding of information is often complicating investigations and justice in such cases.

The headline on an NBA statement read, “The National Bar Association Calls for a U.S. Department of Justice Investigation into Deaths Involving Police in St. Louis, Missouri and Staten Island, New York and Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, Texas.”

The release continued, “The City of San Antonio has a practice of not releasing copies of autopsy reports in such shootings, causing many to question the city's investigation process. With these and other similar trends in mind, the NBA firmly believes that whenever there is a shooting involving a police officer, an outside agency must be called in to handle the subsequent investigation in the interest of fairness and transparency.”

At its annual convention in Atlanta last week, the NBA conducted a Town Hall Meeting on Police Brutality. The organization then announced it would “send an open records request to the largest 25 cities in the United States seeking information regarding the number of unarmed individuals who have been killed and/or injured while pursued or in police custody.”

The organization will then release the results to the Department of Justice and “demand investigations be launched to put an end to any wrongful conduct,” Meanes said. As tension mounts in the Michael Brown case, a second Town Hall meeting by the NBA was scheduled for Tuesday this week.

“The NBA fears that with no immediate intervention the situation will worsen,” Meanes said. "We will not tolerate another person being victimized by someone whose job is to protect and serve…We will and must be the voice of the voiceless."

Report: Voting Rights Discrimination Alive and Well Nationwide By Zenitha Prince

August 11, 2014

Report: Voting Rights Discrimination Alive and Well Nationwide
By Zenitha Prince

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Forty-nine years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act and one year after the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision gutted a vital protection of that act, a new report from the National Commission on Voting Rights found frequent and ongoing voting rights discrimination.

The high court’s decision in Shelby invalidated Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act, or VRA, sections which required federal approval of election law changes in certain jurisdictions with a history of discrimination. That decision does not reflect the reality at the ballot box, voting advocates said.

“It (the report) challenges the Supreme Court’s rationale in the Shelby case that improvements in minority citizens’ rate of voting and registration and the success of minority candidates indicated that the coverage formula for protecting minority voters was unconstitutionally outdated,” Barbara Arnwine, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the lead organization supporting the commission, said during a press call Aug. 6.

“The findings actually show that contrary to the Court’s assertions, voting discrimination is still rampant, and that the states and localities previously covered by Sections 4 and 5, the VRA provision struck down by the Court, continue to implement voting laws and procedures that disproportionately affect African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans,” she said.

The report, “Protecting Minority Voters: Our Work Is Not Done” examined the record of voting rights enforcement and elections laws in the U.S. since 1995.

In that time, the report found:

•There were at least 332 successful voting rights lawsuits and denials of Section 5 preclearance by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and another 10 non-litigation settlements from 1995 through 2013.

•Discriminatory redistricting plans and at-large elections were the most common forms of discrimination, prompting the most successful lawsuits under Section 2 of the VRA. However, there were also 48 successful lawsuits and 10 non-litigation settlements relating to language translation and assistance.

•States in the South and Southwest that were previously covered under Section 5 had the worst records of blocking free access to the ballot box, with Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia ranking as the most frequent and egregious offenders. In fact, 72 percent of successful Section 2 claims were in jurisdictions previously covered by Section 5, Arnwine said.

The Commission was formed in 2013 in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Shelby, just as previous iterations of the Commission were pulled together to amass a record on voting rights that helped Congress in its reauthorizations of the VRA.

“The new reconstituted commission took up the charge from the Supreme Court that we need to look at the current data to [recalibrate] the current need for the Voting Rights Act and Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” said Marcia Johnson-Blanco, co-director of the Lawyers’ Committee’s Voting Rights Project.

The commission, comprised of The Lawyers’ Committee and more than a dozen other partners, conducted 25 regional and state-based hearings between June 2013 and May. Almost 500 witnesses testified at the hearings on matters related to racial voting discrimination and election administration issues.

The report highlights those testimonies, analyses restrictive state voting laws and practices that make it harder for minorities to vote and even assesses the impact Shelby has had on protecting voting rights.

For example, the report notes, due to Shelby, the Justice Department is no longer deploying federal observers to monitor elections in formerly covered states. The federal observer program provided an important deterrence against voter discrimination with 10,702 observers deployed from 1995 to 2012.

National Commission on Voting Rights members hoped their report will inform legislative and other actions to restore the VRA.

“I believe that the report that we are releasing today provides clear evidence of the continued need for strong voting rights legislation to protect the rights of all Americans to cast a free and unfettered ballot,” said NAACP Vice Chair Leon Russell, a National Commission on Voting Rights commissioner. “These efforts are current and ongoing.”

The report’s executive summary, report, supplemental appendices with tables, maps, legal cases listings by state and hearing highlights and photographs, as well as more information on the National Commission on Voting Rights can be found at: www.votingrightstoday.org.- See more at: http://www.afro.com/report-voting-rights-discrimination-alive-and-well-nationwide/?utm_source=AFRO+Saturday+News+Wrap-up+E-Blast%2C+August+9%2C+2014&utm_campaign=sat+eblast&utm_medium=email#sthash.2hrEt1Jo.dpuf

Black Agents Can Sue U.S. Secret Service By Frederick H. Lowe

August 11, 2014

Black Agents Can Sue U.S. Secret Service
By Frederick H. Lowe

This African-American Secret Service agent is featured on the agency's website
in an announcement claiming "Commitment to Diversity". PHOTO: SecretService.gov

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A lawsuit filed by current and former African-American U.S. Secret Service Agents can proceed as a class-action, a federal court ruled on Friday after rejecting an appeal by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to overturn a lower court decision.

The U.S. Secret Service is one of 22 different departments under Homeland Security. The U. S. Secret Service is best-known for protecting the president and fighting counterfeiters.

In the appeal, titled In Re: Jeh Charles Johnson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Petitioner, government lawyers argued the plaintiffs did not meet the requirements of a class action under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, however, refused to overturn a District Court decision that certified the case as a class-action.

"We shall not at this time review the order of the district court certifying the class," wrote Senior U.S. Appeals Court Judge Douglas Howard Ginsburg.

Cate Stetson, a Washington D.C. attorney, argued the plaintiffs' appeal. "This is a great victory for the agents and a major defeat for the government," Stetson, told The NorthStar News & Analysis. "The court clearly saw the Secret Service's arguments for what they were ---unsupported theories presented in an effort to further delay resolution of this important case." A trial date has not been set. Last week's decision involved 14 years of litigation.

The 120 agents, who comprise the class, charged in a lawsuit that the Secret Service discriminated against them in pay and promotions because of their race, violations of the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act 1991.

"The named plaintiffs in this suit are current and former African-American special agents who bid for but did not receive GS-14 or GS-15 promotions under the MPP or Merit Promotion Plan in the period 1995 to 2005," in an 18-page opinion filed by Judge Ginsburg." They allege both that the Secret Service engaged in a pattern or practice of racial discrimination in making promotions and that the MPP had a disparate impact upon African-American special agents."

Stetson, an attorney with the law firm of Hogan Lovells US LLP., said some African-American special agents were promoted to GS-14 or GS-15, but not as many as there should have been. Stetson is a partner in Hogan Lovells Washington, D.C. office, and she is co-director of the firm's Appellate practice.

"Most were clustered around GS-13 and that is where they hit the ceiling. An agent had to be GS-13 to apply for GS-14," she said.

As of Jan. 1, 2014, a GS-14 with 10 pay grade steps earns $111,203 annually. A GS-15 with 10 pay grade steps earns $130,810 annually, compared to a GS-13 with 10 pay grade steps who earns $94,108 annually.

African-Americans, a ‘Fourth Quarter People’ by Hazel Trice Edney

August 4, 2014

African-Americans, a ‘Fourth Quarter People’
MED Lifetime Achiever Sees New Black Agenda as Economic Empowerment
By Hazel Trice Edney

a-grant receiving award
NBA President Michael Grant receiving Lifetime Achievement Award from MBDA National Director Alejandra Y. Castillo. (Courtesy Photo)

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The winner of the U. S. Minority Business Development Agency's (MBDA) Lifetime Achievement Award says the economic fate of America's Black community "hangs in the balance" because "we are a fourth quarter people".

Michael Grant, president of the National Bankers Association and its foundation, says, "Unlike our Hispanic and Asian brothers and sisters, we had to spend the first three quarters just getting in the game...So you see, all things being equal, our ethnic counterparts came to the game with a different mindset, a different set of circumstances, a different self-image, and already with some capital from back home."

Grant was speaking during a joint press conference with the U. S. Black Chambers, Inc. two weeks after being notified he would receive the Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Abe Venable Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award Aug. 1.

The annual award is meant for a person who has exhibited "high standards of excellence, dedication and accomplishments over a lifetime", said MBDA National Director Alejandra Y. Castillo, preparing to present the award. "This award is granted to two individuals who have played an integral role in the creativity and professional progress of minority business development over the course of their lives."

The late Henry T. "Hank" Wilfong Jr., was also honored with the Legacy Award. He was founder of the National Association of Small Disadvantaged Businesses (NASDB), among a string of pioneering accomplishments that included service to presidents, governors and mayors. It was accepted by his widow, Wyllene Watson-Wilfong, who now runs the NASDB. Castillo said Wilfong was a "voice and trumpeter" for minority business development and stability.

Grant has for decades advocated for Black economic participation, growth and sustainability. In his remarks upon receiving the award, he credited strategic partnerships for his successes. His activities over the past year alone includes a partnership with the U. S. Black Chambers Inc. and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to encourage Black organizations to make their deposits in Black-owned banks.

Speaking at the press conference, Grant also joined with Busby to call for Black businesses and consumers to "choose to work and do business as a team" by supporting each other. He described how the African-American community has struggle to attain economic parity only to be surpassed by other ethnic groups. He illustrated this by outlining the annual budgets of the three national chambers and the gross annual receipts of the businesses that they represent. According to Grant:

* The Hispanic chamber has an annual budget of $22 million. The average gross annual receipts of Hispanic businesses is $155,000.

* The Asian Chamber has an annual budget of $11 million. The average gross annual receipts of Asian businesses is $327,000.

* The African-American chamber has an annual budget of $900,000. The average gross annual receipts of African-American businesses is $71,000. And Black-owned businesses received only 1.7 percent of the guaranteed loans from the Small Business Administration last year.

Grant stressed that he did not cite the numbers to create "resentment and animosity" between the groups. He said, in the "fourth quarter", Blacks must break free of the past and strategize to take their place in America's economic mainstream.

During the first quarter - during slavery - "we struggled to prove that we were, indeed, men and women and not chattel, not someone's personal property".

During the second quarter, "we harmonized with the political agendas of President Abraham Lincoln and the radical Republicans to rebuild our lives with a reconstruction movement. We gained some equal protection under the law."

During the third quarter, Grant said, "our social engineers used the words of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States to mobilize national support - Black and White - for equal accommodations and we secured the right to vote."

Today, in the fourth quarter, he concluded, "Our ethnic self-esteem was elevated when President Barack Obama ascended to the highest office in this nation." He said despite agreement or disagreement with Obama, "we needed him to succeed" in both elections for three key reasons:

In a nutshell, those reasons were, first, to prove that "anything is possible if we'll pull together and get on one accord"; secondly, to dispel for all time "the myth that we are not endowed with great intelligence"; and finally, "We needed to see for ourselves the limits of political power alone."

Grant announced that he would continue to partner with the USBC to raise the level of Black business progress. "We finally have a business-oriented organization, with a clear vision, under committed, intelligent and inclusive leadership that is designed for the challenges of the 21st Century," Grant said of the USBC, whose president, Ron Busby, also attended the MED awards ceremony.

Applauding Grant's award, Busby said his recognition was important to underscore the role that Black banks play in the economic future and success of the nation.

"Access to capital is one of the number one concerns for African-American owned businesses," Busby said. "And through this partnership and relationships, we feel like we have the solution to be able to increase the number of Black firms as well as grow our existing firms."

Also applauding Grant at the MEB Awards Luncheon was former SBA Deputy Administrator Marie Johns, who said she knows he will use the distinction "to help strengthen the great platform that he already has to make sure there is the capital and the resources that Black businesses need in order to grow, create jobs and help rebuild this nation's economy."

Stressing the daunting task of strengthening minority-owned businesses, Castillo also announced a partnership between Busby's USBC and the MBDA. "We need to bring all of our human capital together to make sure that minority businesses are seen and are regarded and are respected as part of the future; I should say as the integral corner of the future of this great nation," she said.

Grant concluded, "If the past is prologue, I'm betting in the year 2020, many of the economic gaps that exist between African-Americans and other groups will close. All we have to do is choose to work and do business as a team."