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Obama Pushes College Graduation in Annual Back-to-School Speech by Alyssa McLendon

Obama Pushes College Graduation in Annual Back-to-School Speech

By Alyssa McLendon 

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Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Howard University News Service

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - President Barack Obama delivered his third annual back-to-school speech to high school students, but college students might also want to take notes from his message.

"Just getting into college isn't enough," Obama said earlier today at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, D.C. "You need to graduate."

Obama said that the United States is ranked 16th in the world with the number of young people with college degrees. He urged students to continue their education after they graduate high school.

"The fact of the matter is that 60 percent of jobs in the next decade will require more than a high school diploma," he told the students. "That's the world you're walking into."

Education Secretary Arne Duncan joined the president on stage, and Washington Mayor Vincent Gray sat in the audience. Banneker's principal, Anita Berger, enjoyed Obama's speech and agrees that getting into college isn't enough. Her high school has a 100 percent college acceptance rate.

"It's not only about being accepted to college, but being able to finish college," Berger said. "And we need to make sure that happens."

Most college dropouts leave school because of financial burdens, according to a 2009 report by the Public Agenda. Having to work and make money while in school is the top reason young adults leave college, the non-profit research organization found. The second largest reason given is that they couldn't afford tuition and fees.

Obama mentioned his efforts at making college affordable only one time during his speech. Instead of talking about a student's financial obligations, Obama discussed the student's academic responsibilities.

His speech focused on encouraging students to work hard, ask questions, take risks and persevere. Obama also told students that they should strive to be the best and that they should not to be embarrassed if they aren't good at something right away.

The president admitted that he wasn't always the best student and that he wasn't too enamored by his ethics class.

Kendra Hazel, a senior at Banneker, can relate. "I kind of feel the same way about my math class," Hazel said.

Hazel is taking the SAT in November and plans to graduate high school next spring. She hopes to attend Temple University, Pennsylvania State University or St. John's University and go on to medical school to become a pediatrician.

The 17-year-old already feels the pressure of working while in school. She works part time at the National Capital Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking after school and on the weekends. She enjoys her job and says it is more for the experience than the money. However, she admits it's hard to stay focused sometimes. "But you gotta do what you gotta do," Hazel said.

Obama highlighted other students who, like Hazel, are trying to make  a difference in the world. He gave examples of students who are raising money for charity and even researching how to kill cancer cells.

"Nothing inspires me more than knowing young people are already making their marks," Obama said. "You don't have to wait to make a difference."

Obama closed his back-to-school speech pushing students to reach their potential and increase their skill sets while in school to help the country and its struggling economy.

"With all of the challenges that our country faces today, we don't just need you for the future," Obama said. "We actually need you now."

Death Penalty Protests Won’t Die

Oct. 2, 2011

Death Penalty Protests Won’t Die

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

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Courtesy photo

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Far from the dim Burger King parking lot that forever changed the course of his life, Troy Anthony Davis faced his fourth and final execution date with the State of Georgia on Sept. 21. Davis, a convicted murderer who spent over two decades on death row, maintained what he and millions around the world proclaimed in the days leading up to his execution: that he was an innocent man.

“This is a good example of a train running away. The state of Georgia couldn’t have convicted Troy Anthony Davis on the evidence they had when they executed him,” said Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP). At the time of Davis’ death, seven of nine witnesses from his original trial submitted affidavits admitting to giving untruthful and unreliable testimonies at the 1991 trial. Nevertheless, courts would not consider the recantations, new evidence, and testimony from new witnesses that corroborated Davis’ claim that Sylvester ‘Red’ Coles, the first to implicate Davis in the murder, was actually the perpetrator.

 

Complete with allegations of racism, witness coercion, and a faulty police investigation, the Troy Anthony Davis Case was shrouded in doubt from the beginning. With no gun, no fingerprints, and no physical evidence to link him to the crime, on 28 August 1991 Davis was sentenced to die for the murder of Officer Mark McPhail, a 27 year-old police officer.

 

“It is hard to fathom that with no evidence you could still take a person’s life. I was at a loss for words and it was an eye opener to have the feeling that racism is still here,” said Raiana Davis, a current member and former president of the Morgan State University chapter of the NAACP. College and university students around the country took to social media about the case during the week of the last minute appeal to save Davis’ life and his subsequent execution. Several Howard University students were arrested and fined after gathering outside of the White House and Supreme Court to speak out against the execution.

 

Protests outside the prison where Davis spent his last days had little effect on the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole, which has to date executed 52 prisoners since 1976. As publicity surrounding the case dies down, Rust-Tierney encourages young people to keep the movement against capital punishment strong. “If they thought they were going to have to sustain this firestorm of criticism and opposition for a month, a year, two years -at the same level of intensity – they wouldn’t have done this. That’s what we have to change.”

 

Currently, 16 states have abolished the death penalty, with many more states working to set the same measures in place. Re-instated in 1977, the death penalty has long been a source of tension within the justice system. Georgia’s 52 executions stand in stark contrast to the five that have been put to death in Maryland and the 475 that have died in Texas. With the undeniable presence of human error, it is impossible to deny that innocent life has been ended legally time and time again.

 

“If one innocent person’s life is taken by the death penalty, then we need to end the death penalty,” said Robert Rooks, National Criminal Justice Director of the NAACP. “Over 150 people have been exonerated from death row since 1973,” continued Rooks, who believes that many Americans are on the fence about capital punishment because religion tends to sway voters. “People misuse the ‘eye for an eye’ biblical quote to justify the death penalty,” said Rooks, who calls on clergy members to shed new understanding on bible passages used in favor of the death penalty. Still, for others the argument over the death penalty has nothing to do with faith.

 

With the economy still hovering on the edge of another recession, many Americans wonder whether the death penalty is even the most affordable way to punish those who have committed heinous crimes. According to reports released by the Urban Institute Justice Center, in Maryland, the average death penalty case that leads to a death sentence costs approximately $3 million, roughly 1.9 million less than a case where the death penalty is not sought.

 

Still others, such as Lee Wengraf, stress prevention over punishment when it comes to the current system of justice. “We are in favor of an investment in the addressing the social roots of crime,” said Wengraf, elected member of the board of directors for the Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP). “We believe a social justice solution is the correct approach. We need to focus on the problems that cause crime in the first place- unemployment and poverty.”

 

“We have a very imperfect system, yet, we want to have a punishment that is absolute. There is no reversal from death. There is no coming back,” said Lawrence Hayes, a founding member of the CEDP. “It is such a contradiction that a public official can in one stroke of the pen declare that killing is wrong, and in the next stroke authorize themselves to kill,“ continued Hayes, who spent two years of his own life sitting in a New York State death house.

 

Upon joining the Black Panther Party in 1968, Hayes began to actively fight heroin in his community by raiding Mafioso drug drop-off spots. Hayes recalls hearing shots fired and seeing “a European-American dressed in regular clothing with a gun in his hand,” on the night that would cost him 20 years behind bars. Similar to the Troy Davis case, Hayes was accused of killing a police officer.

 

“Our society is too rife with prejudice, classicism, bigotry…there are too many negative issues that motivate the misuse of the death penalty and we’ve seen it,” said Hayes, who was exonerated of the murder in 1991.

 

While Hayes escaped with his life, hundreds of others have not had the privilege to walk away from death sentences. “Am I to die to save face?” asked Davis in a 2007 personal statement to Amnesty International. With all his appeals exhausted, the State of Georgia answered Davis’ question with a lethal injection at 11:07pm on Sept. 21.

 

Regardless of whether Troy Davis was innocent or guilty, the death penalty is a passionate issue subject to create tension when an execution looms. However, with the Troy Anthony Davis Case moving farther and farther back in the records of time, the debate that has been begun cannot stop.

 

Presently, organizations across the country are mobilizing to start and continue discussions not only on the Troy Anthony Davis Case, but also on the morality and effectiveness of the death penalty. Supporters for the abolition of capital punishment are encouraged to reach out to Congress by letter, take part in protests against upcoming executions, and join organizations such as CEDP in putting pressure on the State of Georgia and all states that meter out capital punishment.

President Obama to CBC: 'Shake it Off'...'March With Me and Press On!'

President Obama to CBC: 'Shake it Off'...'March With Me and Press On!'

By Hazel Trice Edney

 

Below, President Obama tells CBC audience to 'shake it off.'
PHOTO: Earl Gibson

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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle walk onto the Phoenix Award stage. CBCF Chairman Donald Payne and CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver exit the stage after greeting them. PHOTO: Roy Lewis/CBCF

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle pause for photos with CBC Chairman Manuel Cleaver (D-Mo.); U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.); civil rights icon Rev. Joseph Lowery; and CBCF Chairman Donald Payne (D-N.J.) PHOTO: Roy Lewis/CBCF

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The crowd went wild when they walked onto the stage at the annual Congressional Black Caucus Phoenix Awards Dinner. Despite pervasive outcries from African-Americans that he must do more to quell the Black unemployment rate, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle received a welcome nearly as rowdy as their first year.

“She looks fabulous!” yelled one man, commenting on her attire and svelte physic. As the First Lady exited the stage, the first Black President of the United States dived head-long into the topic that CBC Chairman Emmanuel Cleaver had just told the audience was his first, second and third priority – “Jobs!”

By the time President Obama was finished, he had them back on their feet, clapping wildly, cheering, nodding in agreement that – while facing difficult times – everyone needs to be “the good kind of crazy.”

“A few years back, Dr. Lowery and I were together at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma,” he said, speaking of civil rights icon the Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery who later receive a Phoenix Award. “And Dr. Lowery stood up in the pulpit and told the congregation the story of Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. You know the story. It’s about three young men bold enough to stand up for God, even if it meant being thrown in a furnace. And they survived because of their faith. And because God showed up in that furnace with them.”

He continued as the audience applauded and chuckled. “Now, Dr. Lowery said that those three young men were a little bit crazy. But there’s a difference, he said, between good crazy and bad crazy…Those boys, he said, were ‘good crazy.’ At the time, I was running for president - it was early in the campaign. Nobody gave me much of a chance. He turned to me from the pulpit, and indicated that someone like me running for president - well, that was crazy. But he supposed it was good crazy.”

Facing plummeting poll numbers and grumbling from his Black voting base, many of whom complain that he has not done enough to quell the economic suffering in African-American communities, Obama asked the audience to stand with him with the crazy faith of Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego.

“I suppose the reason I enjoy coming to the CBC - what this weekend is all about is, you and me, we're all a little bit crazy, but hopefully a good kind of crazy,” he said as the audience applauded repeatedly. “We’re a good kind of crazy because no matter how hard things get, we keep the faith; we keep fighting; we keep moving forward.”

From the Wall Street and Main Street crisis three years ago to this moment as “the unemployment rate for black folks went up to nearly 17 percent -- the highest it’s been in almost three decades,” the President articulated the current realities of Black people.

“Forty percent, almost, of African-American children living in poverty; fewer than half convinced that they can achieve Dr. King’s dream. You’ve got to be a little crazy to have faith during such hard times,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking, and it’s frustrating. And I ran for President, and the members of the CBC ran for Congress, to help more Americans reach that dream. We ran to give every child a chance, whether he’s born in Chicago, or she comes from a rural town in the Delta. This crisis has made that job of giving everybody opportunity a little bit harder,” he said.

If there was a reframe in the President’s speech, it was his repeatedly appeal for Congress – including CBC members – to American Jobs Act that he unveiled in early September.

Dozens of times, he repeated, “Let’s pass this jobs bill…I want this bill back passed.”

Appealing to the applauding audience, he said, “I’ve got the pens all ready. I am ready to sign it. And I need your help to make it happen.”

Reminding the audience of his own challenges in life, he reflected on his and Michelle Obama’s backgrounds.

“When Michelle and I think about where we came from - a little girl on the South Side of Chicago, son of a single mom in Hawaii - mother had to go to school on scholarships, sometimes got food stamps. Michelle's parents never owned their own home until she had already graduated - living upstairs above the aunt who actually owned the house. We are here today only because our parents and our grandparents, they broke their backs to support us,” he said.

The President did not ignore the frustration expressed by many CBC members and Black voters at large.

“And I know at times that gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of you all. I understand that. And nobody feels that burden more than I do. Because I know how much we have invested in making sure that we’re able to move this country forward. But you know, more than a lot of other folks in this country, we know about hard. The people in this room know about hard. And we don’t give in to discouragement.”

Appearing to hit a home run at the end, he closed the speech by quoting Dr. King and reminding the audience of the struggles of the past and how African-Americans have always overcome. The speech ended to rousing applause, a standing ovation, and hopes lifted as if the disappointment had melted away.

“Throughout our history, change has often come slowly. Progress often takes time. We take a step forward, sometimes we take two steps back. Sometimes we get two steps forward and one step back. But it’s never a straight line. It’s never easy. And I never promised easy. Easy has never been promised to us. But we’ve had faith. We have had faith. We’ve had that good kind of crazy that says, you can’t stop marching.

“Even when folks are hitting you over the head, you can’t stop marching. Even when they’re turning the hoses on you, you can’t stop. Even when somebody fires you for speaking out, you can’t stop. Even when it looks like there’s no way, you find a way - you can’t stop. Through the mud and the muck and the driving rain, we don’t stop. Because we know the rightness of our cause - widening the circle of opportunity, standing up for everybody’s opportunities, increasing each other’s prosperity. We know our cause is just. It’s a righteous cause.”

He quoted Dr. King: “Before we reach the majestic shores of the Promised Land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead. We must still face prodigious hilltops of opposition and gigantic mountains of resistance. But with patient and firm determination we will press on.”

He concluded, “So I don’t know about you, CBC, but the future rewards those who press on. With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I'm going to press on for equality. I'm going to press on for the sake of our children. I'm going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on.

“I expect all of you to march with me and press on. Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on. We’ve got work to do, CBC.”

 

 

‘Whites Only’ Complex Has Bar Where Police Attacked Blacks by Jordan Flaherty

Oct. 2, 2011

‘Whites Only’ Complex Has Bar Where Police Attacked Blacks

By Jordan Flaherty
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Louisiana Weekly


(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A recent settlement involving a “whites only” housing complex in Mid-City, New Orleans may have also provided background detail on a racist attack committed by New Orleans police officers a few years ago.

On Monday, August 29, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division reached a settlement in a case brought by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center against a Mid-city landlord who was caught on tape making racially discriminatory comments.

The landlord, Betty Bouchon, owns a 16-unit building at 4905 and 4919 Canal Street.

This is not the first time that 4905 Canal Street has been in the news. That address is also the site of the Beach Corner Bar and Grill, a bar that was a site of a notorious and violent racist attack during Mardi Gras in 2008.

According to witnesses, a group of Black transit workers entered the bar on February 5, 2008. The establishment was filled with white New Orleans Police De­part­ment officers, and they were apparently not happy about Black people being in the bar. The Black workers were subjected to racial slurs from officers, then taken outside and beaten. According to the NOPD’s own investigation, officers also illegally entered the car of one of the Black workers, planted a gun, and had him arrested.

The bar was apparently popular with the family of powerful individuals in the city’s criminal justice system. Among those at the bar that night were Laura Cannizzaro, an Assistant Orleans Parish District Attorney, and daughter of the current DA Leon Cannizzaro.

Officer Travis Ward was also there that night. At the time, Ward was the live-in boyfriend of Mandy Serpas, daughter of NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas.

In eight years in the NOPD, Ward had been investigated seven times for improper or un­ethical behavior, including a drunk driving incident where he crashed an NOPD vehicle. Ward, who later married Serpas, has also drawn attention this year for his role in profiting from a company set up to review tickets issued by the city’s traffic cameras.

One of the officers who was fired from the NOPD for his involvement in the fight, David Lapene, was later hired by District Attorney Leon Canniz­zaro.

Lapene resigned after local media reported his involvement in the racist attack.

The news that the apartment complex had a ‘whites only’ policy has many in the community convinced that the incident at the bar may not have been an isolated incident, or a case of misunderstanding, or a case of “bad apples.”

According to a report from Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (who also recorded the conversations with the landlord):

“Ms. Bouchon refused to allow any Black mystery shoppers the opportunity to rent units, and made numerous racially discriminatory comments. At one point, Ms. Bouchon informed a white mystery shopper that she saw a Black girl who she thought was interested in seeing the apartment so she left the premises so that she would not have to show the unit to the Black girl. She later informed a white mystery shopper that the rental unit is located in “a safe neighborhood, one of the only safe ones left because we don’t have any Blacks here.” In the same meeting she advised the mystery shopper that a lot of Blacks were calling her about the apartment so she simply did not answer the phone.”

The Department of Justice released details of the settlement on the 29th, with the following statement:

“The Justice Department an­noun­ced today that New Orleans landlords Betty Bouc­hon, the Bouchon Limited Fami­ly Part­ner­ship and Sapphire Corp., have agreed to pay $70,000 in damages and civil penalties to settle a lawsuit alleging they unlawfully denied housing to African-Ameri­can pros­pective renters at a 16-unit apartment building located in New Orleans. The settlement must still be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana…

“Under the terms of the settlement, the defendants will pay $50,000 to GNOFHAC and a total of $20,000 in civil penalties to the United States. The settlement also requires the defendants to adopt non-discriminatory policies and procedures, keep de­tailed records of inquiries from prospective tenants and of rental transactions, and submit periodic reports over the four year term of the settlement. GNOFHAC filed a separate lawsuit, which is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.”

Feature Photo - Trice Edney Communications and News Wire Give First 'Love Leadership' Awards

Trice Edney Communications and News Wire Give First 'Love Leadership' Awards

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John Hope Bryant, author of the book, Love Leadership, assists Hazel Trice Edney in honoring civil rights legend Dick Gregory with a Love Leadership Award for his "Genius,  Courage, Vision" in fighting for racial equality. Reality Star Omarosa Manigault, was also honored for her "Stellar Service to Humanity" as an ambassador for the Haiti Support Project and her work with the Fred Jordan Mission on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Love Leadership, as expressed in Bryant's book, is the principle of "doing well" for self and family while "doing good" for others. The awards took place at a reception that topped off a day of forums on Black Wealth during the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Caucus. 

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