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Food Stamp Cuts Will Affecting Approximately 4.7 Million Black Households by Frederick H. Lowe

Nov. 11, 2013

Food Stamp Cuts Affecting Approximately 4.7 Million Black Households
By Frederick H. Lowe

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Approximately 4.7 million African-American households recently saw their monthly food stamp allotment dramatically reduced, Bread for the World has reported.

Bread for the World, a non-partisan, Christian citizens' movement in the United States to end hunger, determined the number of Black households that would  affected by cuts in food stamps with United States Department of Agriculture data.

In 2010, Congress voted to cut $11 billion from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs or SNAP, and the first of three fiscal years of cuts begin this week.  

During the first fiscal year of the cut, which ends Sept. 30, 2014, $5 billion will be sliced from the program. It is not known how much money will be cut in each of the following two years.

Overall 47.6 million families will be affected by the cuts to food stamps, reports Washington, D.C.-based Bread for the World.

A family of four would lose $36 per month in food stamps, reports Bread for the World.
"This means families will have less money to spend to buy food," Eric Mitchell,  Bread for the World's director of Government Relations, tells The NorthStar News & Analysis.

Bread for the World is now urging Americans to call their congressman and their senators to vote against additional deep cuts to SNAP via the Farm Bill.

The House passed a bill that would cut SNAP by another $39 billion.  The cut would kick nearly 4 million individuals off the program and reduce benefits for thousands more, said Bread for the World officials.

The senate bill would cut SNAP another $4 billion. The two bills are now in a House-Senate Conference Committee.

John Legend Partners with NAACP to Promote Voting Rights by Zenitha Prince

Nov. 11, 2013

John Legend Partners with NAACP to Promote Voting Rights

 By Zenitha Prince

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Singer, Songwriter John Legend (Courtesy Photo)

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspapers.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - John Legend is no stranger to politics or activism. He was an unabashed supporter of Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign, contributing to will.i.am’s campaign video “Yes We Can,” performing at benefit concerts and appearing front and center at the Democratic National Convention, where he performed his song "If You're Out There,” a call for voter participation and civic engagement.

Now, the Grammy Award-winning artist is turning his eye toward voting rights, which has been bombarded from many sides in the past few years.

This month, Legend formed a partnership with the NAACP to launch a nationwide campaign to promote voting rights and register eligible Americans to vote. The campaign was launched at his recent concert in Durham, N.C., where he asked his fans to join him in taking a stand for voting rights by texting “LEGEND” to 62227 and helped eligible concert-goers register to vote. North Carolina is infamous for having one of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the country.

“Launching in North Carolina, a state feeling the brunt of new restrictive and discriminatory election laws, will set the tone for concert goers across the country in states where some of the most egregious law changes have been introduced or implemented,” said the Rev. William Barber, president, NAACP North Carolina State Conference. “As in the past once again we need the melodies of freedom and justice to inspire movement.”

Legend said he will continue this advocacy throughout his “Made to Love” tour.

“It is maddening to know that there are some who would enact legislation that limits the ability of some Americans to exercise their right to vote,” said Legend in a statement. “Generations have fought hard and even died for this right, and now is not the time for our country to move backwards. All of our leaders should seek to have inclusive elections that reflect the true will of the people, no matter who they intend to vote for. The politics of exclusion are unacceptable. It's time for all of us who believe in democracy and equal rights to take a stand.”

Since President Obama was elected the first African-American commander-in-chief in 2008, GOP-led state legislatures have unleashed a wave of laws with the sum impact of suppressing minority votes. Those changes included fewer early voting days, restrictive voter ID laws, purging of voter rolls and more.

And, a July 2013 Supreme Court ruling that invalidated Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act—essentially crippling Section 5 of the same statute, which has long served to protect minority voters against discrimination—has further emboldened those anti-voting rights efforts.

NAACP interim President Lorraine C. Miller said Legend’s involvement will boost their efforts to combat such measures. In 2012, the NAACP mobilized 1.2 million people to the polls on or before Election Day and worked with other civil rights groups to legally challenge—and defeat—some of the proposed laws.

“We are excited that John Legend has joined with the NAACP in the fight to defend the right to vote,” Miller said in a statement. “His influence as a world-renowned artist and activist will be a catalyst to spread the word that it is not enough just to exercise your right to vote. We must also protect our right to vote for future generations.”

White House Working to Curtail Food Stamp Cuts by Valerie Jarrett and Cecilia Muñoz

Nov. 4, 2013

Special Commentary

White House Working to Curtail Food Stamp Cuts

By Valerie Jarrett and Cecilia Muñoz

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Valerie Jarrett
cecilia munoz
Cecilia Muñoz

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - On November 1, millions of Americans felt the effects of an automatic cut to food purchasing assistance provided through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This is assistance that serves to help families get back on their feet, and children to receive the nourishment they need to stay healthy and competitive in the classroom. For many families, these cuts are devastating, and couldn’t come at a worse time as they begin to regain their footing following the worst recession since the Great Depression.

That is why President Obama has proposed an extension of pre-November funding levels in the 2014 budget. As the economy continues to grow and recover, SNAP is proven to effectively combat hunger and food insecurity while giving millions of hardworking Americans the temporary boost they need during tough times.

In the wake of this cut, the strategy currently underway in the House to remove millions more families from SNAP makes even less sense. The House’s current approach will stall our economic growth over the months and years ahead, while hampering our ability to build a stronger, more robust American workforce. That is why it is imperative that Congress pass a long-term, comprehensive Farm Bill that supports a strong agricultural economy, while ensuring healthy, affordable food for those who need it, when they need it.

The Obama Administration is committed to helping reduce the number of Americans who need SNAP the right way—by arming them with the skills they need to succeed in the workforce and opportunities to earn the income they need to support a family.

Working to end hunger in America should be a major priority for all Americans. Having boys and girls going to bed hungry and struggling to perform in the classroom is both heartbreaking and completely unacceptable. Stemming hunger is more than the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing for our economy, for business, and for ensuring the competitiveness of American workers.

Valerie Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She oversees the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. Cecilia Muñoz is the Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council.

NNPA Chairman Blasts NFL for ‘Almost a Slave Mentality’ by Hazel Trice Edney

Nov. 4, 2013

NNPA Chairman Blasts NFL for ‘Almost a Slave Mentality’
By Hazel Trice Edney

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NNPA Chairman Cloves Campbell

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Richmond Free Press Editor/Publisher Ray Boone

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Roslyn Brock, chair, NAACP; vice president for advocacy and government relations, Bon Secours Health System, Inc.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more than 200 Black-owned newspapers, says the Washington Redskins’ team - under fire from a Richmond, Va. publisher - is in sync with the entire National Football League in its apparent oppressive treatment of Black businesses and consumers.

“It’s almost a slave mentality. They put us on the field and we entertain the master but we’re not reaping any benefits from the business side of it,” Campbell says. “It’s not just the Redskins. If you look around the country, the NFL as a whole pretty much neglects Black businesses and the Black community,” said Campbell, publisher of the Arizona Informant Newspaper.

He continued, “Here in Arizona, our Arizona Cardinals does zero with the Black community. Every now and then they might show up for a token Black event. But, I don’t see our African-American newspaper here in Phoenix or in Arizona being supported by the Arizona Cardinals. I believe if you called other newspapers that have [teams] in their markets, I don’t believe they’re doing much for them either. I believe the NFL as a whole takes the Black community for granted although we are their major product on the field.”

Campbell was responding to questions pertaining to a conflict between NNPA member Ray Boone, editor/publisher of the award-winning Richmond Free Press, and the Richmond-based Washington Redskins Training Camp, which is partially owned by Bon Secours Health System.

In a letter to NAACP Chairman Roslyn Brock and CC'd to Campbell, Boone states that the team contracted no business with Black-owned or locally owned businesses at its first Richmond training camp between July 25 and August 16. That includes the failure to advertise in the Black-owned Richmond Free Press while advertising with the White-owned conservative daily, the Richmond Times Dispatch which has a history of pro-segregation leadership. The conflict is steeped in an age-old battle constantly waged by Black newspapers, which are historic targets for advertising discrimination.

While Bon Secours placed paid advertisements for the training camp in the Times Dispatch, the Free Press was sent press releases, Boone said in an interview.

Brock, who has served as NAACP chair since 2010, is vice president for advocacy and government relations for the Bon Secours Health System, Inc., in Marriottsville, Md. Boone believes her corporate position has caused her to compromise her stance for economic justice in the Richmond case.

“Bon Secours, along with Mayor Dwight C. Jones and the Washington team, blatantly denied, contrary to the Mayor’s pledge, black businesses and other local businesses the opportunity to receive vendor contracts inside the training camp,” Boone wrote in a Sept. 27 letter to Brock. “Characteristic of Richmond government and big businesses, this Bon Secours decision disgracefully enhanced Richmond’s shameful reputation as ‘The Capital of Poverty,’ with 25 percent of Richmond’s population suffering in poverty.”

When Brock had not responded to his letter for more than a month, Boone followed up with a Nov. 1 email pointing out, “This raises the unavoidable question of whether Bon Secours is restricting you from living up to your responsibility to honor the NAACP mission?”

He continued, “In the interest of fairness and the image of the NAACP, I respectfully suggest that you break your silence.”

Brock responded to Boone by email that same day, stating, “The matter you reference in your letter is local in nature and should be handled directly by the Richmond Branch NAACP and Salim Khalfani at the Virginia State Conference NAACP.  I have forwarded your correspondence to them and shared the information with the leadership of Bon Secours Health System in Richmond.”

In an email, responding to a question from the Trice Edney News Wire this week, Brock said that she had not publically commented on Boone’s complaint because it is a local issue.

Brock’s email said she had “also discussed the matter in detail with” Campbell, who is serving his second term as NNPA chairman. At a Sept. 17 reception in D.C., Campbell, Boone and other NNPA publishers praised Brock for her leadership and gave her an award for social justice.

While Campbell verbally blistered the NFL, including the Redskins, he balanced his response by saying he agrees with Brock that the issue in Boone’s case is local since the economic decisions appear to have been made by the mayor and Bon Secours’ Richmond entities.

“At the end of the day, I think [the criticism of her] is unfair just because she works for Bon Secours. That’s her day job. We all volunteer at some time with the NAACP,” Campbell says, referring to Brock’s volunteer chairmanship. “While we want to see Mr. Boone and his publication get what it deserves and more so; that is definitely a local issue.”

Boone, who recently announced he has stopped using the term “Redskins” in the Richmond Free Press because it is “racist”, argues that the Redskins’ and Bon Secours’ exclusion of Black businesses underscores and illustrates the team’s mentality under the controversial name, which is receiving growing national pressure for change.

In her email to the Trice Edney News Wire, Brock also clarified that the NAACP has long stood against the Redskins name because of its roots in racism. “The NAACP passed a resolution more than ten years ago against racial slurs being used as mascots. In the last few months the NAACP signed on letters with the Oneida Tribe, based in Washington and the National Coalition on American Tribes especially in support of their efforts to change the Redskins name,” she wrote.

Neither Mayor Dwight C. Jones; nor Virginia NAACP President King Salim Khalfani could be reached for comment by deadline. Bon Secours representatives did not return repeated phone calls.

Meanwhile, Boone, a recipient of the State NAACP’s Oliver W. Hill Freedom Fighter Award, remains focused on his quest for economic justice, promising Brock "fairness and balance" in upcoming coverage of her leadership positions with the NAACP and Bon Secours.  

Such economic battles have been hard fought in Richmond and in Black and grassroots communities across the nation. Former Richmond City Councilman Chuck Richardson, known for his historic advocacy for Black businesses and contractors, recalls researching Washington Redskins’ racism as far back as 1961. That’s when he wrote a research paper in junior high school about the team and how the Redskins was “the last professional football team to allow Blacks to play for them,” he said in an interview. “This harkens back to that painful time. It hurt then and I would have thought that a greater degree of change might have occurred, but the mentality still exists. It seems so much has changed and yet so much remains the same.”

Source Says Jesse Jackson Jr. to be Released from Prison to Halfway House This Week

March 24, 2015

Source Says Jesse Jackson Jr. to be Released from Prison to Halfway House This Week
Former U. S. Rep. will spend time in half way house a source confirmed

By Hazel Trice Edney

jesse-jackson-jr

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Former Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who has been serving a 30-month prison sentence, is being released to a halfway house in the Washington DC area this week, a well-placed source has told Trice Edney News Wire.

Jackson reported to federal prison Oct. 29, 2013, after pleading guilty to misusing $750,000 of campaign funds. He had served 17 years in Congress when he resigned in 2012. The once rising star in the Democratic Party first entered a correctional facility in Butner, N.C., but has been in a Montgomery, Ala. prison since the spring of last year.

His wife, Sandi, a former Chicago City Council member, was sentenced to one year for filing false tax returns that failed to report the campaign money as income. The couple has two children. The judge ordered Mrs. Jackson to report to prison 30 days after her husband is released to reduce the impact on the children.

The Chicago Tribune last year reported an expected release date of Dec. 31, 2015 for Jackson. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) this week listed his release date as Sept. 20, 2015. Therefore his transition to a halfway facility may be pending his release from the prison system.

Representatives of the FBP this week declined to confirm Jackson’s transfer, citing privacy and security issues. His father, civic rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., was out of the country.

Former Rep. Jackson served in Congress from1995 until he resigned after re-election in November 2012, citing health reasons later identified as a mood disorder. Jackson was also sentenced to three years supervised release following his prison sentence and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service. Mrs. Jackson was given 12 months supervised release and 200 hours of community service.

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