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Black Leaders Reveal Consistent Issues in Conversation with President By Hazel Trice Edney

Feb. 24, 2014

Black Leaders Reveal Recurring Issues in Conversation with President
By Hazel Trice Edney

blackleadersandobama

President Barack Obama meets with African American civil rights leaders to discuss criminal justice reform, income inequality and the Affordable Care Act, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Feb. 18, 2014. PHOTO: Pete Souza/The White House

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Issues on the agenda of a White House meeting between national Black leaders and President Barack Obama last week indicate not much has changed over the past year - or the past decade for that matter - when it comes to equality for Black people.

Jobs, poverty, health care, voting rights, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and gender disparities – all topics of the one-hour White House discussion Feb. 18 – have been pervasive issues in the Black community.

"After hearing President Obama's agenda priorities, the group had the opportunity to present the 21st Century Agenda for Jobs and Freedom, a document created by Black leadership in 2013 detailing their priorities on economic opportunity, voting rights, education, healthcare and other issues,” said Melanie Campbell, president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation in a statement.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said the in depth discussion on the criminal justice system went beyond simple complaints and delved into prospective new policies.

"We were deeply gratified to hear both the President and the Attorney General's commitment in describing the ways in which they stand united in some of the efforts to ensure that our criminal justice system reduces racial disparities and doesn't break communities, as our current criminal justice system is doing, by the kind of mass incarceration, over-sentencing, and misuse of the criminal justice system that has been so rampant over the past 20 or 30 years,” Ifill said in remarks made after the meeting. “We think it's really bold for the attorney general and the president to be making efforts to use clemency power to relieve those individuals who were sentenced before the fair sentencing act."

Ifill said both the President and Attorney General Eric Holder "described in detail" their visions for further reforms to the criminal justice system.

The report from the leadership meeting was short on critiques of the President. Some African-Americans have said he hasn’t done nearly enough on the consistently double digit Black unemployment rate. But, National Urban League President/CEO indicated the topic was discussed in depth with hopes for some resolve.

"We talked extensively about the challenges of unemployment, the challenges of under-employment, the challenges of Black and urban and brown unemployment in this nation," Morial said.

Agreement appeared to be the overriding sentiment coming out of the meeting.

"This agenda … aligns in many respects with the president's agenda," Morial said, referring to the “Jobs and Freedom” agenda compiled after the March on Washington anniversary.

Rev. Al Sharpton stressed his National Action Network’s agreement with the President’s move to raise the minimum wage. “It's not just having a job; but having wages that are guaranteed to provide for our families. We had full employment in the Black community during slavery. We just didn't have wages. So we don't want just a job, we want a job that pays, and pays so that we can take care of our families."

Others present were Lorraine Miller, interim CEO of the NAACP; Wade Henderson, president, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights,

Representing the Obama Administration were Attorney General Eric Holder; Broderick Johnson, assistant to the president and cabinet secretary; Cecilia Muñoz, assistant to the President and director of the Domestic Policy Council; and Phillip Schiliro, White House advisor for Health Policy and Implementation.

Valerie Jarrett, assistant and senior advisor to the president, wrote reflective article following the White House meeting. In it, she said, “What was clear in this meeting was that many of the goals the President set forth in his State of the Union address will become reality because of the strong partnerships that he and his administration have forged with leaders from the civil rights community who work hard every day to advocate equality and opportunity for all.”

Jarrett concluded, “The President will continue to work with Congress where they are able and willing to act, but meetings like this provide optimistic reminders that there remain other leaders in the country who can act right now – to improve the economy, to ensure greater opportunity for all, and to keep this country moving in the right direction. The capacity for the President and his White House to convene thought leaders, decision makers, and community leaders, all of whom have access to both resources and the audiences we aim to reach, is a powerful tool, and one which President Obama hopes to wield effectively in 2014 for the good of all Americans.”

Environmental Racism: 'New Frontline' of Human Rights By Zenitha Prince

Feb. 24, 2014

Environmental Racism: 'New Frontline' of Human Rights 

By Zenitha Prince

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Environmental justice activists are calling attention to what they say is the new frontline of the human rights struggle - chemical contamination of communities of color - what some groups have dubbed environmental racism.

“When corporations decide where to build chemical plants, landfills, or water treatment plants where chemicals leach, they most often choose low income communities of color,” Richard Moore, a long-time civil rights and environmental justice leader with the Environmental Justice and Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, said in a statement.

“This is the next frontier of the Civil Rights Movement,” Michele Roberts, co-coordinator for the alliance, told the Afro American Newspaper. “People of color and the poor have borne the brunt of exposure to toxins and have a disproportionate share of health issues because of the prevalence of chemical sites in their communities. You even have people migrating because they are losing their communities.”

Roberts pointed to Mossville, a town just outside Lake Charles, La. that was built by Black freedmen in the late 1700s, and now faces a corporate buyout because “they are surrounded by 14 of the most toxic facilities ever.”

The environmental justice movement began in the 1960s when farm workers organized by Cesar Chavez fought for workplace rights, including protection from toxic pesticides in California fields, and when African-American students took to the streets of Houston to oppose a city dump that claimed the lives of two children.

But the movement truly took off in 1982 when residents from Warren County, N.C., a poor, rural and overwhelmingly Black jurisdiction, fought to block the dumping of 6,000 truckloads of soil laced with toxic PCBs in their community.

“For us, environmental justice is about protecting where we live, play, work and pray,” Roberts said. She added of the history, “Grassroots communities came together to form the environmental justice movement. They looked at what Dr. [Martin Luther] King said about creating the ‘Beloved Community’ and honed in on that to say that we must have environmental remediation and policies in those communities.”

Those early efforts led President Bill Clinton to issue Executive Order 12898, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,” in 1994.


But activists complain that Clinton’s executive order and other laws, such as the General Duty Clause of the Clean Air Act which requires facilities that produce, process, handle or store hazardous substances to take proactive measures to prevent accidental releases, are not being implemented.

Despite strides in legislation and executive actions, “communities continue to experience disasters,” Roberts said. “What we now need are standards and regulations to enforce these laws and protect these communities now and for future generations.”

On Jan. 9, a West Virginia chemical spill contaminated the water supply of nine counties, leaving 300,000 people without drinking water. On Dec. 20, an explosion at the Axiall plant near Mossville, La., sent several people to the hospital. In August, an explosion at a West, Texas fertilizer plant killed 15 people. On June 13, a chemical explosion in Geismar, La., killed one person, injured at least 75 others and released a plume of toxic fumes across the area.

President Obama’s Executive Order 13650, “Improving Chemical Safety and Security,” mandates “listening sessions” across the country, with the next scheduled for Feb. 27 in Newark, N.J. At the meetings, stakeholders who live and work near chemical plants have the chance to express their concerns.

Roberts said the move signals new momentum in the thrust for chemical policy reform and the environmental justice movement.

“I really believe we have a very strong chance because we’re getting more and more people involved” including the United Steelworkers, health advocates and more, Roberts said. “If we work collectively together, especially in the waning years of this administration, we would be able to get the reforms we need to protect our communities.”

Va. House of Delegates Rejects Care for Slave Graves

Feb. 23, 2014

Va. House of Delegates Rejects Care for Slave Graves

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Virginia pays to care for the graves of soldiers who fought in the Civil War.Shouldn’t the state also care for the graves of the forgotten slaves over whom that terrible conflict was fought 150 yearsago?

“Yes,” is the right answer to Republican Delegate Robert G.“Bob” Marshall.That’s why he proposed a bill to set up an 11-member state commission to identify such graves, with the ultimate goal to provide state assistance to groups or organizations that maintain them.The bill, though, died in a Republican-dominated House committee Feb. 17, which Delegate Marshall called disappointing.

“We honor the memory of those who fought on both sidesand fail to honor the memory of those who occasioned that awfulstruggle,” the Prince William county delegate told the FreePress. “We ought to give those graves legal recognition in deathas we do those who fought.”

Delegate Marshall said the idea for caring for the graves of slaves came from Paul Goldman, a political analyst and a former chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party. Goldman said that the “state treated slaves like property when they were alive. It is important for us to right this wrong as best we can and make sure they get the respect they deserve.”

This would not have cost much, Delegate Marshall said. A former history teacher, he envisioned volunteers from schools, heritage groups and the NAACP combing through archives toidentify slave burial grounds. He said, “This would have brought people together.” 

Nagin - Guilty of Corruption - to be Sentenced June 11

Feb. 23, 2014

Nagin Sentencing June 11

nagin

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Louisiana Weekly

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Former New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has made history by becoming the first mayor in New Orleans’ nearly 300-year history to be tried and convicted for a crime committed while in office.

Nagin, a New Orleans businessman and Democrat who famously vowed to root out corruption once elected, was found guilty on 20 of 21 counts in a federal court. He was convicted on one count of conspiracy, five counts of bribery, nine counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering and four counts of filing a false tax return.

The 57-year-old ex-mayor was found not guilty on one count of bribery, stemming from an alleged bribe involving businessman Rodney Williams.

“I maintain my innocence,” a stoic-faced Ray Nagin said as he left the federal courthouse.

“We did our best,” lead defense attorney Robert Jenkins told reporters. “I’m surprised. I really thought the jury would not find him guilty of any of these counts,” Jenkins said. “We will move on to the appeal process.”
A sentence hearing has been set for June 11.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Nagin could face 20 years behind bars, and possibly more time plus fines. The former mayor remains free on bond and was not taken into custody.

At times during the trial, a defiant Nagin engaged in heated exchanges with federal prosecutors and denied taking bribes although he did acknowledge that he did whatever he could to support his sons and the family business.

“Like any father, I wanted to help my sons,” Nagin testified.

When his time on the witness stand was finally over, Nagin said, “Thank you Jesus.”

“Our public servants pledge to provide honest services to the people of Southeast Louisiana,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite, a New Orleans native who took over the reins at the U.S. Attorney’s Office after his predecessor was forced to resign amid an online posting scandal, said Wednesday in a written statement. “We are committed to bringing any politician who violates that obligation to justice.”

The 21-count federal indictment charged Nagin with accepting more than $160,000 in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business, Stone Age, in exchange for promoting the interests of local businessman Frank Fradella. Nagin, who as a newly installed mayor pointed to the pre-dawn arrest of a cousin who drove a cab as proof of his seriousness about ending public graft, was also charged with accepting at least $60,000 in payoffs from contractor Rodney Williams for his help in securing city contracts.

“The road to former Mayor Ray Nagin’s conviction began with one phone call from a courageous citizen,” Rafael C. Goyeneche III, a former cop and president of the Metropolitan Crime Com­mission, said in a released statement. “That citizen told the MCC about shipments of granite from Florida by the truckload to the Nagin family business in New Orleans. It was only one piece of a corrupt puzzle but when placed in the hands of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the pieces grew one by one into a sprawling picture of corruption and betrayal.”

From the day he was inaugurated when he jumped out of a horse-drawn carriage in the middle of Faubourg Tremé — to the surprise of his wife, reporters and onlookers — to second-line in the street, to the day he told the federal government to get off its “ass and do something” after Hurri­cane Katrina, Ray Nagin had a knack for keeping things interesting. He will be forever remembered for his infamous “Choco­late City” remark, proposal to reopen the Canal St. hotels as casinos after Katrina, his decision to mask as the Roman general Maximus on Fat Tuesday and his description of himself as “vagina-friendly” during a local celebration of “The Vagina Monolo­gues.”

“Nagin’s legal problems began long before his indictment on 21 counts of corruption,” W.C. Johnson, a member of Com­munity United for Change and host of local cable-access show “Our­Story,” told The Louisiana Weekly. “Nagin first began deceiving the people of New Orleans when he changed his political affiliation from Republican to Democrat. During his tenure as mayor, Nagin displayed Republican values throughout his color of governance. In addition, Nagin ran scared for his reelection bid that caused Nagin to embrace his Black roots and persuade the working poor to reelect him for a second term. The amount of political capital Nagin owed to the working poor should have raised the living standards of the working poor and the economic stability of the Black business community. Unfortunately, neither group benefited from the support in rejecting Mitch Landrieu’s bid to upset the Nagin administration.

“The worst demonstration of Nagin’s rejection of the working poor and Black business community came when public housing residents petitioned the mayor and his administration to reject the demolition of the major housing communities known as projects,” Johnson continued.

“Nagin’s rejection of the very people who saved the Nagin Administration was the beginning of Nagin’s demise. Interestingly enough, many Black politicians in New Orleans are blinded by the illusion of ‘good old boy’ politics being the saving grace when it comes to the relinquishing of political power through the electoral process. Blacks who are allowed to ascend to political positions in New Orleans either lack the vision of empire building or are dissuaded by the images of ‘Strange Fruit’ hanging from the poplar tree. Without regards to historical accounts, Blacks dismiss the notion of, ‘the greater the risk, the greater the rewards.’ Using Atlanta as an example, America has witnessed what Blacks can do once they go all in for the high-stakes game of politics. Regrettably, Blacks in New Orleans would rather risk going to jail as a common thief than risk death for control of the pie. Once again settling for the crumbs from the pie instead of getting the pie.”

In 2006 Nagin defeated challenger Mitch Landrieu in a hotly contested race to win a second term as mayor.

Landrieu, who became Nagin’s successor in 2010, talked about the Nagin conviction Wednesday.

“This is a very sad day for the people of the city of New Orleans,” Landrieu said. “The conviction of former Mayor Nagin is another clear indication that the people of this city will not tolerate public corruption or abuse of power. Four years ago, the people of this city turned the page on that sad chapter for New Orleans and on the old way of doing business. We are moving forward and are restoring the public’s trust in government. Our city’s best days are ahead of us.”

W.C. Johnson said there’s a lesson to be learned from Nagin’s fall from grace.

“Ray Nagin, William Jefferson, Oliver Thomas, and others should pass on to Black political hopefuls the merits of self-determination for the race, instead of individual riches,” Johnson told The Weekly. “The old cliché, ‘a rising tide lifts all ships,’ needs to be the watchwords for Black politicians in New Orleans. There are only a few metropolitan cities that enjoy a Black majority. Fewer still are metropolitan cities that reward the Black population because the Black race is in the majority. European history reveals European conquest. In the vigor that Blacks embrace the European model, why have Blacks overlooked the conquest of empire-building blocks that lead to true political power? Are Black politicians so disconnected and self-absorbed, or are Black politicians so afraid that the obvious eludes them?”

Sounding like a fallen elected official who believes he suffered a knockdown but is not out for the count, Nagin sent the following message via Twitter Thursday: “Praying 4 prosecutors, government witnesses, jurors…God still in control.”

A similarly upbeat Robert Jenkins said he was hopeful about the findings of a report about prosecutorial misconduct in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“I promise you that if it’s what we think it is…it’s a bombshell,” Jenkins told FOX 8 News.

According to FOX 8 News, the report is being kept under wraps by U.S. District Judge Kurt Englehardt for now.

A similar investigation by the Feds led to the overturning of a number of convictions in at least one high-profile, post-Katrina murder case involving NOPD officers.

“There are many objections, and those appeals are based on those,” Jenkins said.

For now, Nagin remains in Dallas, Texas on home confinement.

“New Orleans has been damaged in an immeasurable – yet, thankfully not irreparable – way by Ray Nagin’s and Greg Meffert’s campaign of corruption and self-dealing,” former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, Nagin’s immediate predecessor, “It is a sad day for all of us when those who are elected and entrusted to protect our citizens demonstrate such little regard for the tremendous duty and responsibility of leading this great city. I hope that this conviction reminds the current generation of New Orleans elected officials, as well as others across the nation, of just how essential personal integrity and commitment are to public service.

“Fortunately, my hometown of New Orleans is strong and resilient and has already begun, under a new administration, to move past the damage directly caused by Nagin and Meffert,” Morial, who currently serves as National Urban League president, added. “Elected office is a sacred public trust, and ineptitude, lack of integrity, and abuse of power have no seat at the table. I hope that everyone who is proud to call New Orleans “home” can now fully put this behind us and move on to the business of continuing to push our city forward.”

U. S. Holds Confab in Nigerian Capital While Attacks Escalate in North

Feb. 23, 2014

U. S. Confab in Nigerian Capital While Attacks Escalate in North


police in nigeria

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network


(TriceEdneyWire.com) – As Assistant Secretary of State Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Bureau of African Affairs, makes her third trip to Nigeria since assuming her post in August, a bloodbath is occurring in northern Nigeria where a state of emergency was imposed almost nine months ago.

 

Ms. Thomas Greenfield is leading the U.S. delegation to the U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission meeting Feb. 17-18 in Abuja.

 

In northern Borno State, meanwhile, suspected Islamist fighters launched an early morning attack on Sunday, Feb. 16, setting off explosions and burning down dozens of homes. In Izghe village, the gunmen reportedly rounded up a group of men and shot them, before going door-to-door and killing anyone they found. The death toll at 90 is mounting.

 

“As I am talking to you now, all the dead bodies of the victims are still lying in the streets,” a resident, Abubakar Usman, told the Reuters news agency by phone. “We fled without burying them, fearing the terrorists were still lurking in the bushes.”

 

Police commissioner of Borno State, Lawal Tanko, confirmed the attack but said he had no details of the casualties.

 

Efforts by President Goodluck Jonathan to crush the insurgents have had little effect. In fact, according to observers, by increasing troop levels Jonathan increased the level of violence. Some of the current crisis, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, Permanent Representative to the U.N., suggested a possible link to security forces themselves.

 

Power, speaking to  civil society groups in Abuja last December, said: “The United States is concerned by some of the stories we hear of inhumane detention practices in Nigeria… I have discussed those with officials here.  Security crackdowns that do not discriminate between legitimate targets and innocent civilians are both counterproductive and wrong.

 

“We know how hard it is to fight insurgency and terrorism, but we have also seen how much more effective we are when we put the welfare of the local population at the heart of our efforts.”

 

According to the Nigeria Security Tracker, a project of the NY-based Council on Foreign Affairs Africa project, the number of victims from President Jonathan’s inauguration in May 2011 to January 2014 had reached 6,866.

 

In addition to the much-publicized Boko Haram insurgents who want to carve a breakaway Islamic state in Northern Nigeria, others resorting to violence include ethnic rivals, farmers, herdsmen, a new generation of Niger Delta militants, and government soldiers who kill civilians indiscriminately, according to the Tracker. Police are also notorious for extrajudicial murder.

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