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President Obama Taps Charlotte Mayor as Transportion Secretary by Hazel Trice Edney

April 30, 2013

President Obama Taps Charlotte Mayor as Transportion Secretary 
By Hazel Trice Edney

foxx

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Obama has made his first nomination of an African-American to his cabinet this term, winning accolades from some African-American leaders.

Charlotte, N.C. Mayor Anthony Foxx, nominated as Secretary of Transportation this week, will now go under scrutiny by the U. S. Senate, which has to confirm all presidential cabinet members.

Foxx was thrust into the national lime light last year as his city hosted the Democratic National Convention in September. In his nomination speech, President Obama said it was Charlotte’s growth under Foxx’s leadership that underscored his qualifications.

“When Anthony became mayor in 2009, Charlotte, like the rest of the country, was going through a bruising economic crisis.  But the city has managed to turn things around,” the President described. “The economy is growing. There are more jobs, more opportunity. And if you ask Anthony how that happened, he’ll tell you that one of the reasons is that Charlotte made one of the largest investments in transportation in the city’s history.

The President continued, “Since Anthony took office, they’ve broken ground on a new streetcar project that’s going to bring modern electric tram service to the downtown area.  They’ve expanded the international airport.  And they’re extending the city’s light rail system.  All of that has not only helped create new jobs, it’s helped Charlotte become more attractive to business. So I know Anthony’s experience will make him an outstanding Transportation Secretary.”

The President’s cabinet includes the vice president and the heads of 15 executive departments. If Foxx is approved by the Senate, he will be one of only two African-American cabinet members so far. The other is Attorney General Eric Holder, appointed in Obama’s first term.

In his few minutes of remarks, Foxx seemed to immediately take charge.

"There is no such thing as a Democratic or Republican road, bridge, port, airfield or rail system," he said. "We must work together across party lines to enhance this nation's infrastructure."

Among the invited guests looking on from the audience in the East Room of the White House were Black leaders Ralph Everett, president/CEO of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; Michael Grant, president/CEO of the National Bankers Association(NBA); Ron Busby, president/CEO of the U. S. Black Chamber of Commerce, and Julie Compton, president/CEO of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO). Joining Obama and Foxx on stage was current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Within minutes after the President’s televised announcement, accolades started to fly.

“I am especially pleased the President has appointed Anthony Foxx as Secretary of Transportation. Through his work as mayor and as a city councilman in Charlotte, Anthony addressed the needs of an area that experienced tremendous growth within the past decade,” said U. S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, in a statement.

Fudge has been among the most vocal critics of the fact that President Obama had not appointed the first African-American to his cabinet this term. She recently sent a letter expressing her disappointment, then changed her tune after a conversation with a White House representative. She then said she would take a wait and see attitude.

“Anthony will surely be an asset to the President’s cabinet and to this nation and I look forward to working with him to ensure the needs of our country’s transportation system are adequately met,” she said in the statement.

Other groups followed suit.

“Under his Administration, Charlotte has grown to what is called one of America’s most vibrant cities,” said a release from the National Conference of Black Mayors.

Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network said it is “delighted with the nomination.” The NAN statement from Janaye Ingram, Washington Bureau Chief, continued, “We have worked with outgoing Secretary LaHood, most recently having hosted him at our 15th Annual National Convention in New York City. During his plenary session, Secretary LaHood committed DOT to working with NAN to expand opportunities for minorities in relation to jobs and procurement opportunities as well as creating open dialogue with members of the community. We look forward to continuing to work together with the Department of Transportation under the leadership of Mayor Foxx and urge Senate to confirm him without delay.”

Likewise, the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) posted a release on its website saying Foxx has been a “strong proponent of transportation issues and small businesses.”

The release quotes COMPTO President/CEO Julie Compton as saying, "It was an absolute honor to attend today’s announcement of the Mayor’s nomination by President Obama…We congratulate Mayor Foxx and look forward to working closely with him as COMTO continues our commitment to a diverse and inclusive transportation industry."

Despite the praise for the Foxx appointment, some are still waiting and watching the President’s future moves. A string of Black leaders have signed a letter asking the President to appoint Small Business Administration’s second in command, Marie Johns, to head that agency. That letter was written by Black Chamber President Ron Busby and signed by leaders of organizations, including the NAACP, the National Urban League and the NBA.

Meanwhile, NUL President/CEO Marc Morial, himself a former mayor had high accolades for Foxx.

“Mayor Foxx brings a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between transportation and economic development, including the practical implications of a top-tier infrastructure on job creation. His vision for and experience in creating an advanced transit system to help ensure the competitiveness of the dynamic city of Charlotte and the businesses that operate there will translate well to this role - where strategic innovation will be required to drive economic growth and continued recovery,” Morial said in a  statement.

The Black Mayors’ release was also quick to point out that Foxx was the president’s first Black appointee this term. It states:

“Mayor Foxx will be the first African American nominated to the president’s cabinet this year, and if confirmed, he will be one of two African Americans, in addition to Attorney General Eric Holder, serving in the Cabinet.”

Two HBCU Students Die in Hazing Incident by Jeremy M. Lazarus

Two HBCU Students Die in Hazing Incident
Group Violated University Ban

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

edmondson marvell

Marvell Edmundson

jauwan holmes

Jauwan Holmes

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - They just wanted to belong.That’s why seven Virginia State University freshmen endured a week of beatings and other ritual hazing.

Despite a VSU ban on such harsh practices, the seven willingly accepted the treatment as part of their initiation into an off-campus social club called Men of Honor — named for the 2000 movie about Carl Brashear, the Navy’s first Black diver. Everything would go horribly wrong after the eager pledges were handed their final test: To walk across a usually calm, narrow, five-foot deep stretch of the Appomattox River near the campus.

Do that and they would be in, the pledges later said they were told by James A. Mackey Sr. Mackey, owner of Mac’s Grill, an Ettrick restaurant two blocks from the campus that served as club headquarters, and the other club members, including several VSU students who had recruited them. It would be a wet walk in the park, they were told.The water would only be chest high, at most, they were told.There were rocks to walk on, they were told.Only cowards would back down, they were told, not real “Men of Honor.”

So the seven initiates who had come through the club’s “hellweek” accepted the dare — a decision the five survivors canonly regret after tragedy struck.They walked into the river in a line early Saturday, April 20, just past midnight. They were undaunted by pelting rain, a slashing cold wind and near pitch-black conditions.They went in near the bridge connecting Petersburg to VSU and Ettrick without a safety line, life jackets or supervision.

In the blink of an eye, they found themselves fighting for their lives in a raging current whipped up by the stormy weather.The high-risk adventure turned into a tragic disaster when the pledges tried to make it back to the riverbank. Five somehow made it ashore, but two were swept away: Marvell Edmondson,19, of Portsmouth, and Jauwan Holmes, 19, of Newport News.

“Five feet forward, there were no more rocks,” Christian Cavazos, one of the survivors, said later. “Instantly, it was swim or go under.”

Authorities were called, but it was quickly evident that Edmondson and Holmes, both popular students with bright prospects, would not be found alive. Once again, hazing had killed — a prime example of why VSU and other schools are doing everything they can to stamp out dangerous initiation practices that once were a hallmark of fraternal groups and to bar organizations that disregard anti-hazing policies.

The stunned campus remains in mourning as divers and boats searched for the remains of the two students. Edmondson’s body was recovered Monday after the tragedy, and Holmes' body was founded two days later on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Chesterfield County Police charged Mackey and three other members of Men of Honor with five misdemeanor charges of violating a state law against hazing, defined as the reckless or intentional endangerment of a student’s health or safety. According to police, two of those charged are enrolled at VSU, Eriq K. Benson, 19, of Quinton, and Cory D. Baytop, 26, also of Newport News.

For Cavazos and the other survivors, the tragedy has only been compounded by the knowledge that they were trying to join a rogue club. According to VSU, Men of Honor was not connected in any way to the university and had no permission to use the school’s logo on information sheets it distributed to students as part of its recruitment drive.

VSU has a strict policy against hazing, and that policy is enforced, according to university spokesman Thomas Reed.The school requires initiates and members of sanctioned Greek organizations to undergo two to three hours of training on hazing every semester, he said. But eliminating dangerous hazing has proven difficult as this terrible incident and a separate incident last year involving VSU students show.

Last year’s incident involved the campus chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, which last fall moved its initiation of new pledges to Petersburg to avoid the campus ban.Two weeks ago, Petersburg Police arrested four members and charged them with misdemeanor hazing between August and November 2012. Those charged included the president of the VSU Student Government Association, Brandon Randleman, 22.

The charges stem from police allegations that the fraternity members injured pledges. According to police and a lawsuit,one of the pledges needed skin grafts to repair the injuries he suffered from hazing and was so traumatized he dropped out of VSU.

African-Americans Shift Spending in Tight Economy

April 28, 2013

African-Americans Shift Spending in Tight Economy
Report Breaks Down Black American Economy Dollar-by-dollar

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Target Market News

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - According to the data found in a new report, "The Buying Power of Black America," now may be the most opportune time ever for businesses to develop a strategy for increasing their share of the Black American market. With the nation slowly recovering from recession, Black consumers represent the margin of profitability in most consumer product categories.

"What the recession did to Black America's buying habits is to give them a reason to re-evaluate how they spent the billions of dollars they earned collectively," said Ken Smikle, president of Target Market News and editor of the report. "Before tight economic times, companies felt they could afford to take their loyalty -- especially to top brands -- for granted. That changed during the downturn. Price was a bigger factor driving purchasing decisions. Now brands have to earn the loyalty of Black consumers all over again. Black consumers are asking brands, 'what have you done for me lately.'"

For the past 17 years, Target Market News has published the only report that breaks down in dollars the impact of the Black Consumer Market. Now approaching a trillion dollars in spending, the earned income of Black America is already the 16th largest market in the world, and is on the verge of surpassing the gross national income of Mexico.

This 105-page report breaks down how much of Black consumers' $836 billion in income was spent during 2011 on clothing, entertainment, food, beverages, toys, consumer technology, cosmetics, autos, travel and dozens of other categories.

Another factor causing a shift in the loyalty of Black consumers is social media and increased access to business information. The new edition of "The Buying Power of Black America" includes a section detailing the dollars spent by major companies on advertising in Black media. It also compares the ad spending of companies by categories.

"African-Americans can now rely on their own research about brands," said Smikle. "This is one of the reasons why we added a section that tracks how much leading advertisers spent in Black-oriented media. There is a correlation between building and sustaining Black consumers' patronage and the dollars spent to reach them through advertising. That fact has not changed in this diverse media environment -- it has become an imperative for brands that want success."

Additionally, advertising is a key measurement of the economic relationship companies have with Black consumers. "The largest single investment that Corporate America makes in the Black community is in advertising," said Smikle. "That investment is about $2 billion a year, but it should be at least twice that amount given the importance of the market and the role these consumers play in any company's bottom line."

The spending of the top 80 advertisers in Black media are detailed in the report. The No.1 company, Procter & Gamble, spent $78.9 million in 2011, while the No.80 company, Apple, just spent $1.6 million. 

Chocolate Maker Melts Under Heat of People Pressure

April 28, 2013
Chocolate Maker Melts Under Heat of People Pressure
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from GIN

 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The maker of Nabisco and Oreo cookies, Cadbury, Milka and Toblerone chocolates, among other high-caloric sweets quite popular in the U. S., has agreed to address hunger, poverty and unequal pay among women cocoa farmers in West Africa. The firm conceded in response to a massive letter campaign organized by a rights group.

 

Mondelez International, with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, initially denied they were not meeting the goals to improve working conditions for women who, as reported by the rights group Oxfam, are paid less than men and suffer discrimination in access to training and materials.

 

“We are surprised that Oxfam does not acknowledge these investments in its report,” the company said initially.

 

But the UK-based Oxfam said the manufacturer was avoiding the issue and was instead “compiling a laundry list of well-known existing projects.”

 

Last month, Oxfam called on the top three chocolate manufacturers – Mondelez, Nestle and Mars - to conduct independent audits after finding women cocoa farmers were paid less than men, suffered degrading treatment from male supervisors, and were unable to obtain loans from banks and other creditors. In Nigeria, some cocoa farmers earn as little as $2 a day.

 

Thousands of Oxfam activists flooded the company with letters backing the demand.

 

This announcement by Mondelēz was aimed to improve working conditions in Ghana and Ivory Coast and to sign onto the UN Women's Empowerment Principles by the end of April came on top of commitments last month by Mars and Nestle to address these issues. The three companies together control 42 percent of the world's chocolate market.

 

Mondelēz employs about 100,000 people worldwide, with an annual revenue of approximately $36 billion and operations in more than 80 countries.

 

“Those chocolate companies that seek quality output but ignore the gender dimension of cocoa sourcing do so at their long-term peril,” wrote researcher Stephanie Barrientos, project coordinator of “Mapping Sustainable Production in Ghanaian Cocoa.” 

Boston Attack to Prompt ‘Larger Dialog’, Rights Leader Predicts by Hazel Trice Edney

April 23, 2013

Boston Attack to Prompt ‘Larger Dialog’, Rights Leader Predicts
By Hazel Trice Edney

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Charles Ogletree, Harvard University

jack levin

Jack Levin, Northeastern University

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Just as Boston was beginning to hunker down for a 48-hour manhunt that ended in the death of one suspected bomber and the wounding and capture of the other, Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree was already envisioning the healing process that would be needed after the tragedy that took place only hours earlier.

“I’m getting emails from people already talking about what we need to do to move forward and how we need to openly express not only support for this great country and the leadership of our president and our governor and our local mayor and police authorities, but also our willingness to have the conversations with our children and grandchildren, and neighbors and friends and even some enemies about how we have to come together as communities to combat these senseless acts of violence like this one,” he said in a telephone interview. “So this will lead to further dialog and further activities rather than people simply being stunned and angry and disappointed. I think they want to do something that makes a difference.”

Ogletree, nationally known as a civil rights icon and thought leader, was among the founders of the Charles Hamilton Houston Center for Race and Justice, which he now directs at Harvard, located in Cambridge, Mass., a suburb of Boston. In the coming months, he envisions the Center, named after the iconic civil rights lawyer of the 1960s, growing as a hub for those conversations that could lead to healing among communities.

“It’s no question that the Charles Hamilton Houston Center will use this as another stepping point to have larger dialog. Rodney King urged us to think...more than two decades ago, when he said, ‘Why can’t we all get along,’” Ogletree recalled the poignant words of the now deceased former victim of police brutality.  “I think we could answer his question. We’re going to see to it that that happens and we’re going to make sure that whoever is responsible for this goes through the justice system in an appropriate way.”

Later, through video and eye witnesses, Police and FBI quickly narrowed down the Boston Marathon bombing suspects to Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, brothers of Chechnyan descent. During a massive manhunt that shut down the city of Boston and surrounding communities, Tamerlan was killed amidst a gun battle with police. Dzhokhar, 19, is now hospitalized with gunshot wounds and has been charged with use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property. Authorities say he is lucid and communicating and has reportedly written that the motive was to “defend Islam.” He reportedly cannot talk because of a gunshot wound to his throat.

The attacks included the explosion of two bombs near the finish line. It left three people dead, nearly 200 suffering physical wounds, but thousands more emotionally and psychologically traumatized.

Despite what appears to be an increasing number of terrorist attacks on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001, experts say they are minimal compared to those abroad.

“We have far less terrorism in this country than in many others. Countries in Asia, the Middle East, South America yearly have far larger numbers of terrorist acts,” says Jack Levin, co-director of the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict at Northeastern University in Boston.

He says international terrorism is actually rare in the U. S. “The terrorism in this country tends to come, not from politics, but from psychopathology. Most of the terrorist acts are not from other countries. They’re not international. The vast majority are domestic in origin committed by American citizens for personal reasons.”

His words harkened to the mass murders by gun fire that have taken place over the past several years, including the Virginia Tech University, the Aurora movie theater, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.

Despite the new vigilance and the relief expressed by Bostonians that the suspects were quickly apprehended, Levin predicts a long road to healing.

“We’re not going to heal as quickly as the residents of New York City for one reason alone - the city of New York is so much larger than Boston,” Levin said. “When tourists visit New York, they think of Broadway,” he said, explaining that the larger the city, the less people will actually identify the act of violence with the city because of its vast reputation.

Boston – like Newtown, Conn., the location of Sandy Hook Elementary – will probably take much longer to heal from the shock simply because of its size, he says.

Ogletree agrees the attack has left a city awakened to violence in way it never expected as well as dealing with principles of justice that must be respected.

“This is a tragic reminder of the terror that we all experienced on Sept. 11, 2001. It reminds us that we still can’t assume that where we live or what we do makes us safe from threats like this. It also is a reminder that when people use tactics like this, it’s no longer a global or national or even state event, it can be very local and can be very public and can lead to this tragedy that we saw here,” Ogletree says. “So I think it just requires all of us to be vigilant, to respect the need for more security, and yet not to engage in unwarranted and unnecessary profiling along racial, religious or ethnic lines. That can be very dangerous.”

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