Oct. 14, 2012

Sharpton in Virginia: Defend Our Gains
By Joey Matthews

The Rev. Al Sharpton pumps his get-out-the-vote message this week from the pulpit of Cedar Street Baptist Church of God. Those standing to demonstrate their support of his views include, from left: Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-3rd; the Rev. Roscoe D. Cooper III, leader of Pastors United Around Richmond that sponsored the rally; and Mayor Dwight C. Jones, who invited Rev. Sharpton to keynote the event. PHOTO: Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The overflow audience rose as one. They enthusiastically cheered the Rev. Al Sharpton. His electrifying, passionate message: Don’t let the gains of the Civil Rights Movement and the historic election of President Obama be taken away.

“People died to get us the right to vote,” Rev. Sharpton powerfully reminded an audience of more than 1,500 people Oct. 9. “People lost their careers. Children were bombed in churches. People were mowed down with their eyes open.

“There was too much bloodshed, too many nights in jail, too many miles marched. We are not going to turn around now.”

The 58-year-old founder of the National Action Network delivered his rousing message at a spirited get-out-the-vote rally at the Cedar Street Baptist Church of God in Church Hill, where Dr. Anthony M. Chandler Sr. is pastor.

At stake in this election is “all that was achieved in the ’60s and ’70s,” Rev. Sharpton told the predominately African-American audience that responded with high emotion to his message. “If you are sitting at home and not voting with all of this at stake, then you’re not worth the sacrifices that were made.”

The rally was organized by a newly formed clergy group called Pastors United Around Richmond. The Rev. Roscoe D. Cooper III, president of the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond and Vicinity, helped organize the group. He moderated the rally that included spirited music.

The rally was designed to boost voter turnout in the pivotal Nov. 6 elections. Strong emphasis was placed on getting as many people to register to vote before the deadline on Monday, Oct. 15. Rev. Sharpton drew loud applause when he said the issues are too important for eligible voters to sit out this election.

“When you have folks that have come out and said, ‘We’re going to change voting rights, we’re going to change health care, we’re going to de-fund education, give a tax cut to the rich, and we’re going to balance it by having poor people and working people and programs that serve them cut,’ we’re not talking about who you like, we’re talking about whether you like yourself,” he said to loud applause.

Rev. Sharpton was introduced to the rally audience by Mayor Dwight C. Jones. He called Rev. Sharpton “the pre-eminent civil rights leader in our country today.”

Mayor Jones, a longtime Richmond minister, serves on the National Action Network’s board. Rev. Sharpton called him “a dear friend.” The mayor said he invited Rev. Sharpton to lead the voter rally because he wanted “to do something to turn up the volume in the city of Richmond” after returning from the Democratic National Convention in early September.

Rev. Sharpton’s resumé reads in part: Founder and president of the National Action Network, presidential candidate in 2004 and host of the MSNBC evening TV talk show “PoliticsNation” and the “Keepin’ It Real” radio show. He hosted his radio show on the afternoon of the rally in the church fellowship hall prior to the rally. He was joined in the pulpit by Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, Virginia’s lone black member of Congress. The 3rd District representative did not speak. Other elected officials present included state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III and Delegate Delores L. McQuinn, both of Richmond.

Supreme Court Focuses on Affirmative Action - Again

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court vigorously peppered lawyers Oct. 10 with questions in a closely watched case focusing on the University of Texas admissions program that favors some African-American and Hispanic applicants.

But it remains uncertain whether this case will undermine affirmative action policies at universities across the country. The court’s conservatives, such as Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, seemed to use their questions to attack the Texas program, pressing the university’s lawyer on the details of admissions and when race breaks a tie between similar applicants.Chief Justice Roberts, for example, challenged the university’s lawyer to explain how judges would know when the university had achieved its desired level of diversity.

Justice Clarence Thomas stayed silent. He followed his usual practice of asking no questions. He already is counted as being on the side of foes of the Texas plan based on his past writings condemning affirmative action. However, liberal justices, such as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, seemed equally eager to use their questions to show support for the program.

Justice Stephen Breyer in his turn asked the lawyer for program opponents why the court should overturn its past precedents — particularly a 2003 case that upheld such practices — into which “so much thought and attention went” and which “so many people across the country have relied on.”

Only eight justices heard the oral arguments. Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee who would be expected to endorse affirmative action, is not participating. She stepped aside apparently because she worked on the case in her previous job as U.S. solicitor general. A 4-4 tie would affirm the lower court decision in favor of Texas. The court is expected to issue its decision before the end of its term in June.

The overall tone of the hearing suggested that while the sharply divided court might not uphold the Texas plan, it might lack a majority of justices to broadly strike down the use of race in admissions. The justices who appear to be most resistant to the Texas plan are the chief justice, along with Justices Alito, Anton Scalia and Thomas. The justices appearing ready to uphold the Texas program include Justices Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor. Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose position could be decisive, signaled some concerns with the Texas plan but did not suggest by his questions that he was ready to curtail affirmative action practices nationally.

The case revisits ground the court covered just nine years ago. Then the Supreme Court narrowly upheld affirmative action policies at the University of Michigan Law School, which had been sued over its admissions practices. By a 5-4 vote, the court in 2003 said universities could consider an applicant’s race alongside a host of other factors to improve diversity. Public universities in 43 states as well as private colleges and universities have relied on that decision, Grutter v. Bollinger, to include race as a factor in their admissions decisions.

The court has changed since then. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who wrote the University of Michigan decision, retired in 2006 and has been replaced by the more conservative Justice Alito. The former justice watched the arguments in the courtroom on Wednesday.

The Texas case arose after Abigail Fisher, a White student, was denied admission by theUniversity of Texas at Austin. She sued in 2008, claiming that black and Latino students with worse credentials were accepted ahead of her. She argues that the school’s use of race in admissions violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.

The case came to the Supreme Court after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected her challenge based on the high court’s 2003 precedent. Like other Texas schools, UT fills most of its entering class of freshmen using a policy that grants automatic admission to in-state students in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.

For the remaining slots, it says it considers an applicant’s race only as one of many factors and only to improve diversity. The University of Texas and its supporters contend that colleges and universities must have the flexibility to consider race to ensure diversity.

Fisher’s claim rests on the legal argument that under the 14th Amendment’s promise of equal protection, universities can use race only if there is no other way to improve diversity.

Ken Bridges

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - As she looked back, it was the simple things in life that she missed the most about her father. And all she can do now is remember.

“I turned on the news and saw the car. The license plate was blurred but deep down I knew it was my father‘s car. I knew before they even said anything.”

April Bridges was 22 years old when she heard the news that her father had been killed.  Her borderline disbelief 10 years later continues to resonate as she thinks of him.

“What stands out most are the long walks we had as a family, the nature hikes, and the lunches where we just sat and talked. Those are my fondest memories of him,” April said.

On that fateful day, she had planned to meet with her father at his office. “I could not begin to imagine that we would never see each other again.”

With Ken Bridges being such a family man, his absence as a father and husband took an extraordinary toll on his six children and his wife, Jocelyn. But, Bridges was not just a loss to his family but to the community. In addition to his family, Ken was dedicated to his work for the MATAH Network, an organization dedicated to the economic, spiritual and social progress of Black people. He’d co-founded in MATAH in 1997 with his longtime business partner, Al Wellington.

MATAH dealt with three fundamental aspects of sales: production, marketing, and distribution.  The “Black Channel,” as it was called, was supported by a foundation of cooperative economics, consciousness-raising, education, and a healthy dose of race esteem.

Comprising thousands of members nationwide, MATAH was brought to a screeching halt on Oct. 11, 2002, when Bridges became the eighth of 10 people killed by the “DC Snipers,” John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, who terrorized the Washington, D.C. area for three weeks in the fall of 2002. Muhammad was executed on Nov. 10, 2009 and Malvo was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences in prison without parole.

According to Finalcall.com news, Ken Bridges was “returning home at 9:30 a.m., when a single bullet killed him as he filled his tank at a Fredericksburg, Va. gas station.  Fox News Fact Sheet said, “Bridges’ wife was concerned because he was traveling through the Washington area for this trip.”

Although Ken Bridges was only 53 when he was killed, he left a legacy that remains with his children. The lessons he taught his children will continue to ring in their hearts for a lifetime.

April’s most important lesson from her father was “staying passionate and consistent” no matter the circumstances. “He smiled a lot and always said he was doing great even if things weren’t going so great,” she recalled.

The optimism helped Ken when it came to starting and maintaining his “marketing and distribution organization.”

“Some of our last days together were spent working to expand the MATAH Network and starting what he called the ‘Youth Movement,’” April said.

Not only did Ken Bridges’ work have a positive impact on his family; his influence moved black people to practice cooperative economics.

“Ken’s legacy continues to be one of helping people pursue their dreams. Although he was killed 10 years ago, the work he did is still producing fruit,” said Ashiki Taylor, an Atlanta businessman and friend of Ken Bridges. “My company and product, Ice Supreme, would not exist today if it were not for Ken Bridges.  Not only his inspiration but his insight, his business acumen, and his friendship moved me to start my business.  His words keep me going even now. And if he were here today he would still be working on his beloved MATAH Network.”

Reflecting on the trial of the two men, April said, “It was hard to know the truth from fiction. When I saw the two men accused of the shooting, it was even harder because what happened to my father just didn’t make sense.  After it was all over, it wouldn’t change the fact that dad was already gone.”

April and her family are still cautious when it comes to discussing the incident with the news media, but she is sure now that she does not “want to hide [Ken’s] accomplishments from the community.”

She reflected, “It’s very humbling to know that he was my father and I was his daughter. I know that I have the same potential, the same drive, and the same spirit inside of me that my father displayed when he was alive. I miss him so much.”

Kiah Alexandria Clingman is a journalism student at Howard University School of Communications. She currently serves as student vice-president of the School of Communications. To contact Kiah, visit her website at www.kiahclingman.com or email her at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information, visit the Brookside Memorial dedicated to the victims of the DC snipers located in Wheaton, Md. 

October 14, 2012

National Baptist Voter Push Criticized as Mediocre
By Maynard Eaton and Carrie L. Williams

Rev. Julius Scruggs

Rev. Joseph L. Williams

ATLANTA  (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Despite the fervent tones and solemn faces of the nation’s highest ranking Black Baptist leaders as they preached the importance of voting on Election Day Nov. 6, the National Baptist Convention USA is being criticized for falling short of presenting a unified action plan by the close of its annual conference last month.

“It’s all rhetoric, it’s all talk,” said the Rev. Dr. Joseph L. Williams, 35, co-pastor of the Atlanta-based Salem Bible Church East and West, with a congregation of approximately 5,000.  “If there was some kind of activity going on at this convention where people could learn, where information was shared, and they were able to be truly nonpartisan, I would be the first person to stand up and clap,” he said in an interview. Joseph provided revival preaching services during the NBC.

The NBC leadership initially gave the impression of a collective action plan.  That impression was given when the presidents of all five major Black Baptist church organizations appeared on stage together at an opening press conference. The organizations represented were the Lott Cary Foreign Mission Convention, the National Progressive Convention, the National Baptist International Convention of America, the National Missionary Baptist Convention, and the National Primitive Baptist Churches.

The collective organizations, representing at least 12 million parishioners, acknowledged the need for voter turnout in the likelihood of voter suppression and intimidation at the polls. Yet, no specific strategy was announced to battle the voter suppression.

“This is not so much about my leadership, as much as it is about the corporate leadership here in this room that is fully aware of the voter suppression that is taking place in the United States,” said the Rev. Julius Scruggs, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA. Scruggs was responding to media commendations for his role in corralling all of the national Black Baptist leaders.

When pressed by the media about what specific actions Black faith leaders were taking - singly or collectively - the answers were vague and vacuous. "I ride a motorcycle and lead a caravan of people to the polls," said Rev. Gregory Moss, president of the Lott Cary Foreign Mission Convention and a Charlotte, N.C., pastor.  NBC President Scruggs made only passing mention of a potential collective gathering to discuss further action plans amongst the Presidents. But he provided no details, only indicating that the NBC would partner with the NAACP’s voter mobilization efforts.

There were no visible listings of additional voter education/registration activities having taken place at the NBC, not on the online convention schedule at the NBC website, nor on the convention events schedule posted onsite at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Meanwhile, mounting voter suppression evidence has surfaced across the nation as other leading Black organizations such as the NAACP, the National Urban League and the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference focused strongly on voter registration and get out to vote strategies during their annual meetings this summer.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, more than two dozen new voter laws have passed in 19 states since 2011.  Though some of the controversial Voter ID laws have been overruled in court challenges, many remain on the books as civil rights leaders and voting activists have sought to educate the electorate, and set up voter protection plans.

Joseph was not alone in his observation that there appeared to be no aggressive strategy articulated during the Baptist’s convention.

The Rev. Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, the AME pastor of Baltimore's Empowerment Temple, who is traveling the country registering voters in his “Empowerment Movement”, said he attended the Baptists’ press conference to support.

“I was there at the press conference with all five of the Baptist leaders. Now, what they have done after that, I have no clue. I don’t know what they have distributed out to their local body, but I was there at the press conference and I think that they’re in line to push the vote out in November. But I don’t know what their strategy is,” Bryant said in an interview this week.

Following the mid-September conference, a letter was posted on a webpage of the National Baptist Convention USA’s website, generally encouraging pastors to get their congregations out to vote. But, the “Dear Pastor” letter was not from a top leader of NBC or any of the other leading Baptist organizations. Rather it was from the vice president at large of the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, Rev. Jesse Voyd Bottoms.

“We want to thank you in advance for your willingness to help your church members fulfill their God-given duty as citizens to register to vote and then to vote. We have the opportunity to positively impact the direction of our country,” the letter begins. “The goal of our voter-registration initiative is to equip evangelicals to be ready to vote this November. Just imagine the impact believers could have on the character of our elected leaders, the direction of our government and the moral climate of our nation if we are all able to cast an informed, biblically based vote each election. By not voting in each election we fail to carry out our Lord’s command to be ‘salt and light’ to the culture in which we live.”

The letter announced that NBC had called for a major registration drive between Sept. 23 and Oct. 7.  “The National Baptist Convention has spearheaded a grassroots voter-registration, education and participation effort among thousands of Bible believing churches across America calling for 100% registration,” it states.  “The objective of our initiative is to register thousands of previously unregistered, but qualified, people of faith, and to promote awareness of the immediate and long-term importance of voting.”

Joseph, nationally recognized as one of the top 40 young pastors under 40 by the Baptist’s Informer Newspaper, speculated that the motive behind the leaders uniting was simply a show of force:

“When we see these major Black institutions coming together at the NBC, it’s almost like a front of sorts,” he said after the convention.  “It’s their way of demonstrating political and social consciousness, to convince their individual organizations and members of their relevancy.  There is no contiguous partnership between all of them.”

Trice Edney News Wire Editor-in-Chief Hazel Trice Edney contributed to this story.