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Rice Moved from U.N. to White House to Be Obama National Security Adviser by Zenitha Prince

June 9, 2013

Rice Moved from U.N. to White House to Be Obama National Security Adviser
 By Zenitha Prince

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United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, President Barack Obama's choice to become National Security Adviser, speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, June 5, 2013, where the president made the announcement. Blunt and outspoken, Rice has been at the center of the international feuding over Syria and a lightning rod for criticism over Benghazi. Those controversies overshadowed her time at the UN.

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - President Obama on June 5 named “trusted adviser” Susan Rice as his national security adviser, defying Republican critics who had decried her handling of the attack on a U.S. embassy in Libya, that left four Americans dead.

Rice will replace Tom Donilon, who retires July 1; Obama will also nominate Samantha Power, a Harvard professor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of a book on genocide and former White House aide, to take over Rice’s position as UN ambassador.

“I am absolutely thrilled that she'll be back at my side leading my national security team in my second term,” Obama said of Rice, a longtime confidant, who helped frame the administration’s foreign policy in the first four years of Obama’s presidency.

“Put simply, Susan exemplifies the finest tradition of American diplomacy and leadership,” the president added, speaking from the White House Rose Garden.

“She is at once passionate and pragmatic…. Susan is a fierce champion for justice and human dignity, but she’s also mindful that we have to exercise our power wisely and deliberately.”

The White House shakeup could reflect a shift in Obama’s foreign policy toward more human rights issues.

At the UN, Rice has advocated on behalf of innocent civilians from Libya to Cote d’Ivoire and “raised her voice” for human rights, Obama said.

Of Powers, who works closely with Rice, the president said, “She has been a relentless advocate for American interests and values, building partnerships on behalf of democracy and human rights, fighting the scourge of anti-Semitism and combatting human trafficking” among other causes.

“I'm deeply honored and humbled to serve our country as your national security adviser,” Rice told the president. “And I'm deeply grateful for your enduring confidence in me.”

The latter comment could be a nod to the firestorm of controversy that erupted over Rice’s explanation for the 2012 Benghazi embassy attack, which Republicans used to derail Rice’s nomination for secretary of state.

Congress has no vetting power in the appointment of a national security adviser, but some Republicans voiced their dissatisfaction anyway.

“Susan Rice was complicit in the deception the administration perpetrated after the attack on our diplomatic facilities in Libya,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement. “Since that time she has done nothing new that would improve or enhance her qualifications to hold such an important diplomatic and national security position within any administration.

“I am troubled that the President has avoided the confirmation process to promote a friend who has already been deemed unfit for service and I am concerned about the potential negative impact on national security.”

Others seemed more resigned.

“Obviously I disagree [with Obama’s] appointment of Susan Rice as Nat'l Security Adviser, but I'll make every effort to work with her on important issues,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on Twitter.

Black Caucus Annual Legislative Weekend to Focus on ‘Individual Power’

June 2, 2013

 

Black Caucus Annual Legislative Weekend to Focus on ‘Individual Power’

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A. Shuanise Washington, CBCF president/CEO

(TriceEdneyWire.com) –  “It starts with you.” That’s the theme of this year’s Congressional Black Caucus Foundation  Annual Legislative Caucus (ALC), attempting to inspire people to innovation in the answers to their personal and community issues.

“Throughout the centuries, humankind has been able to identify one person - an individual - who made a difference, who changed the thinking, who made an innovative discovery that led to a seismic shift in how history was written,” said a release this week.  This year's ALC “hopes to have  the same impact on the thousands of individuals expected to attend the four-day conference.”

U. S. Reps. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.) will serve as honorary co-chairs of the annual four-day gathering of issues forums, brain trusts, glitzy parties and receptions to be held from Sept. 18-21 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C.

In addition to the issue forums, the annual Thursday morning national town hall meeting, the Saturday morning prayer breakfast and Saturday evening Phoenix Award dinner are also major highlights.  The town hall, themed "From Poverty to Prosperity: Confronting Violence, Restoring Opportunity, and Investing in our Youth" will address the impact of poverty, juvenile justice and gun violence, the release said.

We encourage everyone, be they political figures, leaders in industry and non-profit organizations, celebrities eager to lend their voices to a cause, or citizens with a desire to obtain information to uplift their communities, to come together to exchange ideas and create solutions to the unique issues facing African Americans today,” said A. Shuanise Washington, president and chief executive officer for CBCF in a statement. “The goal of ALC is to find workable solutions to help stimulate our economy, end health disparities and improve education.” 

Dozens Arrested, Jailed in Fourth Week of Protests at N. C. State Capitol

Dozens Arrested, Jailed in Fourth Week of  Protests at N. C. State Capitol

Ministers, education official, 92-year-old resident among those arrested at fourth week of North Carolina NAACP-led civil disobedience in opposition to extreme legislation.

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Rev. Dr. William J. Barber III, North Carolina NAACP President, speaks to crowd outside the N.C. General Assembly Building.
PHOTO: The Advancement Project

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from The Advancement Project

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - More than 600 supporters gathered outside the North Carolina General Assembly, cheering on 57 individuals who engaged in civil disobedience during recurring statewide “Moral Monday” protests as a part of what is being called the Forward Together Movement.

Organized by the North Carolina NAACP, this May 20 action led to the arrest and jailing of college professors, students, ministers, anti-death penalty advocates, a member of the Board of Education for Durham Public Schools and a 92-year-old woman. They joined a group of more than 100 other North Carolina residents who had already been arrested and jailed in three previous protests.

“This leadership wants to make our state a place of deeper stratification and inequality – and it’s not accidental or naïve; it’s premeditated,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President of the NC NAACP. “Here in North Carolina we are seeing a fast march backwards toward as much unequal treatment as people will allow. We are here to say we will not allow it, and we will not go back.”

As Barber pointed out, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis is a national board member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization that drafts model legislation for state lawmakers to copy and spread nationwide, while Governor Pat McCrory is advised on state budget issues by multi-millionaire Art Pope. Among an avalanche of other measures, the Governor and General Assembly has passed and introduced bills this session to:

  • Reject federal funding to expand Medicaid to cover 500,000 North Carolinians without health insurance
  • Slash state unemployment benefits and rejected federally-funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation to 170,000 laid-off workers
  • Take away the right to vote from people with felony convictions after they have completed their sentences
  • Restart the death penalty in North Carolina and repeal the nationally renowned Racial Justice Act
  • Cut funding from public education to provide vouchers for private schools
  • Raise taxes on 900,000 poor and working people while cutting taxes for 23 millionaires
  • Cut personal and corporate income tax while raising taxes on groceries, prescription drugs and many services that would disproportionally hurt poor people

“You have to always be careful when there are economic hardships because there are people who will play on the fears of regular folks in order to pass extremist legislation – and always the most marginal will be at risk,” said Rev. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, associate minister of St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in Durham. He got arrested on Monday to protest the legislature’s dismantling of the Racial Justice Act of 2009, which allowed death row inmates to appeal their sentences on the grounds of racial bias in the court system.

“I’m here to represent the 27 percent of children in Durham who are now living in poverty,” said Leigh Bordley, a member of the Board of Education for Durham Public Schools, who got arrested to speak out against a bill that would provide vouchers for private schools. “I want to ask members of the General Assembly, ‘What path do these children have if they continue to take resources away from these children and give them to private corporations?’”

National NAACP Applauds Historic Expansion of Voting Rights

National NAACP Applauds Historic Expansion of Voting Rights

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Benjamin Todd Jealous, national NAACP president and CEO, flashes a sign of support for Gov. Bob McDonnell’s historic step to make it easier for ex-felons to regain voting rights, which the NAACP has long championed. PHOTO: Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “This is a great step for Virginia and we look forward to working with the Commonwealth …on expanding the vote,”

stated Benjamin Todd Jealous, national president and CEO of the NAACP. “Anyone who has made a mistake, done their time and paid their debt to society should be able to join their neighbors at the voting booth.”

The head of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization issued the statement in response to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s historic and unprecedented plan to streamline the voter rights restoration process for people with nonviolent felony convictions. In a news conference at Cedar Street Baptist Church of God in Richmond’s mostly black Church Hill community, the governor said nonviolent felons who finish serving their sentences and maintain, after that, a clean record will regain their right to vote and other civil rights on an individual basis without having to apply.

The governor also is eliminating a two-year waiting period for former felons convicted of nonviolent crimes to have their civil rights restored. Previously, they also had to apply. Cases will now be automatically considered without an application.

“It really is a personal thing,” Gov. McDonnell said. “I believe in an America of second chances.”

The governor was joined on stage at the news conference by civil rights advocates and legislators from both parties, including members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, who have pressed for years to reform the state’s strict process for restoring ex-felons’ rights.

In Virginia, only the governor can restore these rights. Gov. McDonnell already has streamlined the process and has restored the rights of more than 4,800 former felons — more than any previous administration. But the Sentencing Project says about 350,000 Virginians who have completed their sentences remained disenfranchised in 2010. Thousands of those residents could become registered voters in time for the November election as a result of Gov. McDonnell’s new policy. Violent felons will still have to wait five years and apply to regain their rights to vote, hold public office, serve on a jury or become a notary public.

The announcement came a day after Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli released a report by an advisory committee he appointed in March to study restoration of rights. The panel concluded that the process could be improved by designating an executive branch agency to do all the legwork, working with religious and community groups to solicit and process applications for the governor’s consideration.

The attorney general said he liked the idea of outside help but preferred to keep the program in the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office. The Cuccinelli task force said the Virginia Constitution does not allow the governor to issue an executive order restoring all felons’ rights, and Gov. McDonnell’s new policy stops short of that by continuing to handle each case individually.

“I wanted to use the maximum authority I had,” Gov. McDonnell told reporters. “An executive order is probably beyond the scope of my authority.”

He said the new process will eliminate subjectivity.

“Your civil rights in this country should not be dependent on the whims of one person,” he said.

The change was welcome news for Darrell Gooden of Richmond, who was convicted of marijuana and cocaine possession in 2002. He said he applied to regain his rights in 2008, when Democrat Tim Kaine was governor, but was turned down because of a speeding ticket. He hasn’t reapplied, and now he won’t have to.

“I want my children to see that the American dream is not just a dream,” the 40-year-old father of three said.

Attempts to amend the constitution to allow the blanket automatic restoration of nonviolent felons’ rights have failed repeatedly, most recently in the 2013 General Assembly.

The constitutional amendment, historically championed by Democrats, was backed by the Republican governor and attorney general this year but was rejected by the heavily GOP House of Delegates. The ACLU of Virginia praised Gov. McDonnell for further expediting the rights restoration process.

“The governor will be giving voice to thousands of Virginians who have been denied participation in elections due to an antiquated and regressive voting law in the commonwealth,” ACLU of Virginia board president Jayne Barnard said in a news release.

Virginia New Majority, an advocacy group, said it would follow up Gov. McDonnell’s policy change — which is effective July 15 — with a voter registration drive.

“We’re going to celebrate today, but we have to get right back to work tomorrow,” said Jon Liss, the group’s executive director. “We’re making plans to ensure that people with nonviolent felony convictions will be registered in time for the November elections.”

Attorney General Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for governor, lauded Gov. McDonnell “for pushing his own reforms even further.”

“We needed to simplify the process for those who want to regain their civil rights so they can return to full participation in society,” he said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe called the change “an important step forward on an issue of justice for Virginians who have paid their debt to society.”

Gov. McDonnell said he expects the next governor to keep his new policy.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Africa’s Garden of Eden: Rich Soil and Poor People by Butch Wing

June 2, 2013

Nigeria and the Power of Dreaming
Africa’s Garden of Eden: Rich Soil and Poor People
By Butch Wing

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Following a private dialogue on Nigeria's challenges, at the residence of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. PHOTO: Butch Wing

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Rev. Jackson in coversation with Bayelsa State Governor Dicksen. PHOTO: Butch Wing

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Rev. Jackson attending church service with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. PHOTO: Butch Wing

(TriceEdneyWire.com) Rev. Jesse Jackson says that despite a reputation for being drenched in oil-based wealth, Nigeria has an unacceptably high rate or poverty.

“People starving on an island of poverty amidst an ocean of prosperity is not inevitable.  It’s not natural.   It’s not the will of God. It is a sin, in this Garden of Eden, for such inequality and poverty to exist alongside of such riches and oil resources.”

Jackson visited Bayelsa State to keynote the annual Isaac Boro event in the country’s oil rich but impoverished Niger Delta region, invited by His Excellency, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The theme of “Oil Peace and Sustainability” captured the essence of Nigeria challenges in the 21st century.

He said Nigeria can do better, “Nigeria is Africa’s “Garden of Eden” with fertile soil and even richer oil beneath the soil, intelligent and industrious people, and enormous economic potential.”

Dream big, Africa

Urging Nigerians to dream big, Jackson concluded his keynote address saying, “Dream, of a ONE Nigeria…Dream, of an environment not polluted by gas flames, of oil refineries directed by and operated by Nigerians, for the Nigerian people. Dream, of the day when we can wipe out malnutrition. Dream, of the day when we have clean, affordable drinkable water for our children.

Africa makes up one eighth of the world’s population, one quarter of them are Nigerian," with a population of over 160 million. Nigeria is Africa’s second largest economy behind South Africa (which it will soon overtake), and one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

The IMF reports seven of the world’s fastest growing economies are in Africa: Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and others will lead the charge; and analysts predict that the African continent as a whole will soon surpass China’s economy.

But a World Bank report laments "poverty reduction and job creation have not kept pace with population growth.”  Over 50%, or nearly 70 million, of Nigeria’s youth face unemployment.

While oil has enriched many nations, some say it has become “Nigeria’s curse.” Shell Oil and other multi-nationals continue to control Nigeria’s oil resources.  Corruption and bribery stain the industry and the distribution of its billions of dollars of revenue. Oil spills, gas flaring, leaking pipes and other neglectful practices is causing severe environmental devastation.

Experts predict that huge swaths of land in the Niger Delta will be submerged due the exacerbated global warming caused by the oil barons.

The massive potholes and crevices on the Niger Delta roads leading out of Port Harcourt airport, much of which remain unpaved, symbolize the dismal infrastructure development.

Peace in the Garden of Eden

Poverty has spurred violence and extremist terrorism.  A state of emergency declared in three northern Nigerian states by President Goodluck Jonathan, and Nigeria’s military forces launched a massive assault on Boku Haram, an Islamic extremist group conducting terrorist attacks in northern Nigeria and seeking secession from the federal government.

Rev. Jackson emphasized, “The conflict in Nigeria is not so much religious, regional or tribal, but by greed.   Too few have too much, and too many have too little.”

Jackson passionately calls for all parties to engage in negotiation, not violent confrontation; to seek peaceful, non-violent resolution, not just temporary military outcomes, to the deep seeded conflicts.

Indeed, this week President Jonathan – with whom Jackson attended church service and held a private dialogue - announced the release of numerous prisoners captured in the recent violence, including all of the women, as a “peace gesture.”

“There must be no war in the Garden….God has given Nigeria these gifts, now we must give God a gift.  PEACE.   But the key to peace is the presence of JUSTICE.”

“There is a new story emerging out of Africa -- a story of growth, progress, potential, and profitability,” reports Ernst & Young.  "Africa, Nigeria, are too central, too critical to the global politics and economics to be ignored or dismissed," Rev Jackson emphasized.

“Nigeria won its freedom in 1960. It’s an evolving democracy, moving beyond one man rule and dictatorships.  But Nigeria confronts the common dilemma: “They are free, but not equal – they have not achieved economic justice. That’s the unfinished business of Nigeria, indeed, of all of Africa.”

Governor Dickson of Bayelsa State said, "We need investment and support from the Diaspora to build up the Niger Delta.   There is great opportunity for business development in our region and nation."   The Governor bestows honorary Nigerian citizenship upon Rev. Jackson and gives him a Nigerian name, “Izontariowei,” meaning “Love for the Ijaw People.”

Recent Successes in Africa

The visit to Nigeria is Jackson’s latest foray into the struggles of today’s Africa.

  • Gambia:  Last September, meeting with Gambia President Jammeh in Banjul, successfully appealing to him to indefinitely stay the planned executions of 37 death row prisoners, and freeing from prison two Gambian-US citizens.
  • South Africa: Receiving from the South Africa government the Companions of O.R. Tambo Award – the highest honor a non-citizen of the country can receive – for his historic role in helping to bring down apartheid.
  • Kenya: Attending Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration in April, and bringing together Kenyatta and his defeated opponent, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, urging a peaceful transition and reconciliation to avoid the violence that marred the 2007 elections.
  • Zimbabwe: In early May, meeting President Robert Mugabe and urging the withdrawal of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the West.

Jackson is thus extending his resume that included previous negotiations with President Assad in Syria, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Milosevic in Yugoslavia, Fidel Castro in Cuba, Charles Taylor in Liberia to win the release Americans and other global citizens held captive in those countries.

Many pundits and foreign policy “experts” have understated and underestimated Jackson’s success as a skilled negotiator and people's diplomat.  Some dismiss his foreign policy acumen as “luck,” or they deride him for “meddling” in U.S. foreign policy.

Jackson no stranger to Africa

In fact, Jackson’s connections with Nigeria and African has been cemented through a six decade-long track record of direct advocacy, dating to 1971 when he visited Lagos, Nigeria for the African American Institute with Leon Sullivan). Serving as an “alternative” people’s voice, Jackson traveled to South Africa and seven frontline states, bringing him shoulder to shoulder with communities and leaders in the Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia.  When the U.S., Britain, and the Western powers buttressed the apartheid regime, Jackson stating simply, “I believe in human rights for all human beings.  Human rights must be measured by one yardstick.”

As President Clinton’s Special Envoy for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa in 1997, Jackson engaged in direct peace and humanitarian missions throughout the continent.  He met Mandela coming out of jail in Cape Town, and was a part of the official U.S. delegation to Mandela’s inauguration 1994, wherein Mandela singled out Jackson by name as helping to bring down apartheid.

Today that Jackson continues to leverage the bonds and trust he has forged through the decades, to marshal meetings and negotiations with today’s African presidents and leaders.

But perhaps more importantly is the recognition and respect Rev. Jackson receives from Africa's "everyday people" – waiters and waitresses, street vendors, staff at U.S. embassies, airline employees and airport security, excitedly rush him to take photos.

"Rev Jackson, thank you for all you do," is a common refrain around the world.

People know and remember him, what he has done for their people and countries, and they show their love.

Next week Rev. Jackson will return to Nigeria for a series of business meetings and session with President Jonathan, set to coincide with Democracy Day celebrations as Nigeria celebrates fifty years of independence.

As the iconic human rights advocate will say, “God is not through with me yet.”   There is more work to be done.

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