banner2e top

Racial Inequality Costs U.S. Trillions By Zenitha Prince

Nov. 3, 2013

Racial Inequality Costs U.S. Trillions
By Zenitha Prince

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Racial inequity has wreaked a tremendous economic toll on the United States to the tune of trillions of dollars, a newly released report found.

“The Business Case for Racial Equity” weaved together research from several organizations, including the Center for American Progress, National Urban League Policy Institute, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the U.S. Department of Justice. The threads became a tapestry that depicted how race and class discrimination, residential segregation and lopsided income levels represent lost opportunities for minorities; and incurs great costs to the country—including the burden of incarceration.

“Racism in the U.S. has left a legacy of inequities in health, education, housing, employment, income, wealth, and other areas that impact achievement and quality of life,” the report stated. “When people face barriers to achieving their full potential, the loss of talent, creativity, energy, and productivity is a burden not only for those disadvantaged, but for communities, businesses, governments, and the economy as a whole.”

In terms of income, people of color are currently earning 30 percent less than Whites, after adjustments for age and sex, according to the report. If that gap were closed, higher productivity would increase total U.S. earnings by 12 percent or nearly $1 trillion and gross domestic product, or GDP, would increase by $1.9 trillion. That would translate into $180 billion in additional corporate profits, $290 billion in additional federal tax revenues, and a potential reduction in the federal deficit of $350 billion.

As the percentage of minorities in the labor force increases over time, those gains would increase exponentially, the report concluded.

Similarly, the National Urban League Policy Institute found that differentials in health cost the U.S. an estimated $60 billion in excess medical costs and $22 billion in lost productivity in 2009. They projected that the burden will to rise to $126 billion in 2020 and $363 billion by 2050 if these health disparities remain. Premature deaths further cost the economy $250 billion in 2009.

Inequities in education were also expensive. In one example, if the educational achievement gap between Hispanic and African American and White students in the U.S. were closed in 2008, the nation’s GDP would have seen a boost of between $310 billion to $525 billion, a McKinsey & Co. analysis determined.

The resonance of these findings and the importance of achieving racial equity will gain even more importance as anticipated demographic changes begin to materialize. The U.S. Census Bureau has projected that children will be “majority minority” by 2018. And, overall, people of color will account for more than half of the U.S. population by 2043.

The report was created by the Altarum Institute and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and funded through the latter’s America Healing effort, which was launched in 2010 to support programs that promote racial healing and address racial inequity.

“Our hope is to bring another lens to the urgency of addressing disparities that are not only putting vulnerable children at a disadvantage, but are also costing our nation a great deal,” said Ani Turner, deputy director of the Center for Sustainable Health Spending at Altarum Institute. “When disparities in health alone are costing the U.S. $82 billion per year in excess medical costs and lost productivity, the message is clear: our future depends on racial equity.”

ACA Offers $50 or Less Rates for Nearly Half of Single Youth

Nov. 3, 2013

ACA Offers $50 or Less Rates for Nearly Half of Single Youth

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Seattle Medium Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A new report released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows that nearly half (46 percent) of single young adults who are uninsured and may be eligible for coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplace could get coverage for $50 or less per month.

“The health care law is making health insurance more affordable for young adults,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  “With nearly half of single, Marketplace-eligible uninsured young adults able to get coverage at $50 or less per month, the health care law is delivering the quality, affordable coverage people are looking for.”

Young adults are the age group most likely to be without health insurance.  But through the Health Insurance Marketplace, young adults can purchase quality, affordable coverage and get lower costs on monthly premiums through tax credits. Young adults may also be eligible for Medicaid.  The amount an individual can save depends on his or her family income and size.

The report, released Oct. 28, examines data from the 34 Federally-facilitated and State Partnership Marketplaces and finds that out of 2.9 million single young adults ages 18 to 34 who may be eligible for coverage in the Marketplace, 1.3 million (46 percent) could purchase a bronze plan for $50 per month or less after tax credits.   In the 34 states, a total of 1.9 million young adults, representing nearly 7 in 10 (66 percent) of the potentially Marketplace-eligible uninsured ages 18 to 34, may be able to pay $100 or less for coverage in 2014.

According to the report, an additional 1 million eligible uninsured single young adults may qualify for Medicaid in the states that have opted to expand the program in 2014. Today’s report also shows that if each of the 34 states expanded its Medicaid program, the proportion of young adults who could obtain low-cost coverage would be even greater.  If each of the 34 states expanded its Medicaid program, 4.9 million uninsured single young adults would be eligible for Medicaid.

While some states are expanding their Medicaid programs in 2014, other states are not doing so.  Under the health care law, states can receive 100 percent federal funding in 2014 to expand their Medicaid programs to cover people with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.  That’s about $15,800 a year for an individual or about $32,500 for a family of four.

Wilder Museum Site Becomes Baseball Field by Joey Matthews

Oct. 28, 2013

Wilder Museum Site Becomes Baseball Field
By Joey Matthews

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Minor league baseball will be played at the Fredericksburg site where former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder once envisioned an impressive state-of-the-art slavery museum.

Wilder, Virginia governor from 1990 to 1994 and America’s first elected Black governor, first envisioned a national slavery museum in 1992 after a trip to Africa. Also a former Richmond mayor, Wilder was never able to raise the money to develop or even pay architect I.M. Pei the $6 million for the design. The project has been in limbo since 2008 when fundraising halted.

The Smithsonian’s $500 million National Museum of African-American History and Culture, scheduled to open in late 2015 in Washington, D.C., competed with Wilder’s efforts to create his museum.

Wilder’s 22-year-old dream of building the $100 million showcase center to tell the story of enslaved Black people officially ended Oct. 21. That’s when Mr. Wilder and Pei Partner Architects, the chief creditor of his proposed U.S.

National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, agreed to sell the 38-acre site along Interstate 95.

The buyers: The Hagerstown Suns, the Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals major league team, and Diamond Nation. Fredericksburg Treasurer Jim Haney has postponed the auction of the museum site for 150 days to allow the parties to finalize the deal. The auction was to have taken place this week, Oct. 31, to allow the city to recoup unpaid real estate taxes.

Under the deal reached this week, the city of Fredericksburg will be paid the $450,000 it claims to be owed in back taxes, penalties, interest and attorney fees by the national slavery museum organization. However, the total price the baseball group is to pay for the land has not yet been disclosed.

Wilder could still try to build a museum, but on a far smaller scale, under a separate agreement. Silver Cos., which owns the Celebrate Virginia development where the original museum was to be built, has committed to provide Wilder’s organization 2.5 acres in the development if the organization ever obtains an approved site plan from the city for a scaled-down museum.

The land would not be deeded to the organization until that time. At this point, the museum apparently has little, if any money. It’s only significant resources are items private collectors donated and which most have requested be returned.

Silver also has agreed to amend the deed restriction it placed on the 38 acres when it donated the land to the slavery museum in 2002. The restriction currently states that the property can be used only for an African-American history museum or other educational or charitable purposes. A professional and amateur baseball complex will be added as an allowed use.

Rev. Jesse Jackson Tapped for First Ron Walters Lecture Next Year by Hazel Trice Edney

Oct. 29, 2013

Rev. Jesse Jackson Tapped for First Ron Walters Lecture Next Year
By Hazel Trice Edney

drronwalters_jessejackson
Dr. Ron Walters was advisor to the Rev. Jesse Jackson during his 1988 presidential campaign that registered millions of new voters. CREDIT: Ron Walters Center

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Two weeks after hundreds of Black political and social scientists, students, and civil rights leaders gathered for the first Ronald Walters Legacy Conference at Howard University, the director of the Walters Leadership and Public Policy Center confirms that the Rev. Jesse Jackson has been tapped to star as next year’s lecturer as America approaches the 2014 Congressional elections.

“We’ve already been talking with Rev. Jesse Jackson about doing our first major lecture for us,” says Dr. Elsie Scott, president of the Walters Institute. “We feel like that’s a good stand-alone project.”

That’s, in part, because it was Dr. Ron Walters, an internationally renowned scholar and activist, who advised Rev. Jackson in both of his presidential campaigns – 1984 and 1988. Jackson and his “Rainbow Coalition” registered millions of new voters across the nation. Winning first or second place in 46 out of 54 primary contests in 1988, Walters credited him for laying the groundwork for Black politicians across the nation.

The battle for which political party will dominate the 435-member House of Representatives will go down Nov. 4, 2014. Currently Republicans dominate the House while Democrats have the majority in the U. S. Senate, a scenario that has caused venomous infighting and political bottleneck, including the recent Republican-led government shutdown. Ideally, when one political party takes over both Congressional chambers, legislation goes smoother if the president is also of like mind.

Scott, former president/CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, envisions the Walters Center as a national think tank for political leaders and students. For now, she envisions the center alternating between a major conference and a lecture from year to year. Next year is viewed as a pivotal election year as the nation’s first Black president enters his sixth year in office dealing with a contentious Congress. Rev. Jackson, with his political history and accomplishments will no doubt put the election and America's political moment in context.

Now 72, Jackson – who was also an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - continues to influence America’s political and social agendas as president/CEO of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. He is a preacher, human and civil rights leader, talk show host and Black press columnist. He is also revered in many countries around the world for his international diplomacy. On August 9, 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

This year’s conference included forums with a mixture of more than 200 civil rights stalwarts, politicians, journalists and students who gathered on Howard's campus Oct. 10-11. They focused on key aspects of Walters’ life and career, which – in addition to politics – included Africa and the African Diaspora; Walters’ activism and his focus on Black leadership.

After spending 13 years as director of the African American Leadership Institute at the University of Marylandm Dr. Walters was preparing to return to Howard University as a senior research fellow and lecturer before his death in Sept. 2010. He had served as a professor in the Political Science Department at Howard from 1971 to 1996, nine of which he served as chairman of the department. He published 10 books.

“I feel like the conference accomplished what I hope it would accomplish, one to introduce the center to a broader audience,” Scott said. “And it drew in support for the center, both here at Howard and externally. I think it did that.”

Scott said she was especially pleased that there was a high level of student participation and anticipates the gatherings growth and increasing influence over the years.

She concluded: “We exposed the writings and the scholarship of Ron Walters to another generation. So, there were a lot of students who came to the conference who did not know anything about Ron Walters and they left knowing a lot.”

 

 

Four Blacks to Receive 50th Presidential Medals of Freedom

Oct. 28, 2013

Four Blacks to Receive 50th Presidential Medals of Freedom

bayardrustin

Bayard Rustin

freedomdrc.t.vivian

Rev. Dr. C. T. Vivian

banksernie

Ernie "Cub" Banks

freedomoprah_winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Barack Obama will award four of 16 Presidential Medals of Freedom to African-Americans upon the 50th Anniversary of the awards.

The Nation’s highest civilian honor, “presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors,” will be awarded Nov. 20 at the White House. Among the recipients are the following:

Civil rights leader Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, distinguished minister, author, and organizer; Civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (posthumous), advisor to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Baseball Hall of Famer Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks, former Chicago Clubs player, known as one of the greatest baseball players of all time; and Broadcast Journalist Oprah Winfrey among the world’s most successful talk show hosts for creating The Oprah Winfrey Show.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Executive Order signed by President John F. Kennedy establishing the Presidential Medal of Freedom. According to the White House, “more than 500 exceptional individuals from all corners of society have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom” since the inaugural awards to 31 people in 1963.

The other 2013 recipients are: Newsman Ben Bradlee; former President Bill Clinton; World War II Veteran/Former Congressman Daniel Inouye (posthumous); pioneering psychologist Daniel Kahneman; former Sen. Richard Lugar; music legend Loretta Lynn; environmental scientist Mario Molina; pioneering astronaut Sally Ride (posthumous); Arturo Sandoval; champion U.N.C. basketball coach Dean Smith; Renowned writer and activist Gloria Steinem; and revered appellate judge Patricia Wald.

“The Presidential Medal of Freedom goes to men and women who have dedicated their own lives to enriching ours,” says President Obama. “This year's honorees have been blessed with extraordinary talent, but what sets them apart is their gift for sharing that talent with the world. It will be my honor to present them with a token of our nation's gratitude."

X