Dec. 22, 2013

The Day Santa Really Went Black
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

NEWS ANALYSIS

…for all the kids watching at home, Santa just is white… Santa is what he is… Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change. You know, I mean, Jesus was a White man, too …He was a historical figure; that's a verifiable fact — as is Santa… - Megan Kelly Fox News December 11, 2013

(TriceEdneywire.com) - On December 10^th Slate.com writer Aisha Harris wrote an article entitled "Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore", wherein she makes the point that, as a Black child, the public image of a White Santa caused her great confusion. For a child, imagery is important.

“I remember feeling slightly ashamed that our black Santa wasn’t the ‘real thing.’ Because when you’re a kid and you’re inundated with the imagery of a pale seasonal visitor—and you notice that even some black families decorate their houses with white Santas—you’re likely to accept the consensus view, despite your parents’ noble intentions,” she writes.

When this story first broke I was not going to write about it. As a Black man I could empathize with Ms. Harris’ article. I also found the initial discussion caused by Megan Kelly’s overreaction to be shallow and basically frivolous. As the days wore on and I absorbed Ms. Kelly’s comments, I realized that I’d seen this type of supremacist attitude before. I also realized that honest analysis of Ms. Kelly’s comments had not yet been part of the ongoing dialogue.

When I was a child, my parents would decorate our house with a large “traditional” or White Santa.  It was prominently displayed on the roof next to the chimney and illuminated with a large spotlight.

After years of exposure to the winter weather, our Santa needed repair. My parents called upon a close family friend and artist, Gerry “GOS” Simpson to give Santa a facelift.  GOS suggested to my parents, “Let’s make Santa Black!”  My parents agreed.  GOS went to work and the result drove many in my predominately White community crazy.

For years after “Santa Went Black”, one of the conversations at Christmas amongst White neighbors and passersby would be, “did you see that Black Santa on that house on Land Park Drive?”  “Why would someone do that?”  Well, the answer was simple. It was a Black family that owned that house.  My parents and GOS never intended to make a political statement with the Black Santa.  They merely decided to have an image of Christmas that they and their children could identify with that represented them.

The key to my parent’s decision and the link to Kelly’s overreaction is that Imagery is important and images are powerful.

Megan Kelly’s overreaction Harris’ article really has nothing to do with as Kelly said, “...another person claiming it's racist to have a white Santa” (Ms. Harris never makes that claim).  Kelly’s overreaction has everything to do with the power of imagery.  This was Kelly’s not so subtle defense of the psychosis of White Supremacy as it has been historically exercised through the imposition of White imagery as wholesome, good, and virtuous.  The imagery of Santa, Jesus, and God are just three examples of this.

In his book Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery Dr. Na’im Akbar writes, “The ultimate story is that the image or concept of God being like a particular people endows them (in their mind) with an unnatural perspective on themselves and others.”  Akbar continues, “The problem that had been created for the European American mind, which has led him to become an imperialist, a slave maker, a colonialist, an oppressor around the world, is rooted in this idea that made him (or her) believe that he was the Caucasian image that he had identified as God.”

It’s the use of and belief in these images and the perpetuation of their converse that has led to and continues to foster the negative stereotypes of people of color.  White is good; Black is bad.  White people are safe; Black people are criminals.  White people are virtuous; Black people are immoral.

It’s the belief in these images and stereotypes that has led to Racial Profiling, Driving While Black, Shopping While Black, and Stop and Frisk.  It’s the belief in these images and stereotypes led to Oprah Winfrey complaining that a store clerk in Switzerland did not think she could afford a $38,000 handbag or college student Trayon Christian being arrested in Barneys New York for purchasing a $350 designer belt with his own debit card; even after he showed identification to the store clerk and the police.

In her own subtle way, Megan Kelly was defending the practice of racist imagery and stereotyping that led to the murder of Treyvon Martin and the shooting deaths of Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, and police officers Cornell Young, Jr. and William Wilkins, Jr. to name a few.

Imagery is important and images are powerful. Why was it such an issue at our house on Land Park Drive when Santa went Black? As we celebrate this holiday season, what’s wrong with Jesus being Black?

Oh, wait.  If you believe in the Bible and not Hollywood I think he was. Revelations 1:14-1:15 (describing Jesus) “His hairs were like lambs wool…His feet were like burnished brass.”  Sounds like a brotha’ to me.

Merry Christmas Megan Kelly and to all a good night!

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the Sirius/XM Satellite radio channel 110 call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon” Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com  © 2013 InfoWave Communications, LLC

Dec. 16, 2013

President Obama: ‘Help Our Less Fortunate’ at Christmas
By Hazel Trice Edney 

President Barack Obama meets with National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling in the Oval Office early this month. PHOTO: Pete Souza/The White House

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - With a bi-partisan budget agreement established with no continuation of unemployment benefits, President Obama has appealed for Americans to “Help Our Less Fortunate” at Christmas.

“Every year, we mark the holiday season with celebrations and good cheer.  And I should remind my girls that I like getting Christmas presents as much as anybody. But this is also a time to remember the story of a child born to two faithful travelers on a holy night, long ago,” said the President in a rare moment of public reflection from a Christian perspective. “The sacred birth of Jesus Christ was God’s gift to man on Earth.  And, through His example, He taught us that we should love the Lord, love our neighbors, as we love ourselves.  It’s a teaching that has endured for generations.  And today, it lies at the heart of my faith and that of millions of Americans, and billions around the globe.”

With a gradually improving economy, a bi-partisan budget agreement that will avoid another government shutdown, and a Congress about to recess for Christmas, Obama made note of the economic disparities that remain.

“No matter who we are, or where we come from, or how we worship, it’s a message of hope and devotion that can unite all of us this holiday season,” he said.  “It compels all of us to reach out and help our less fortunate citizens - our poor, our sick, our neighbors in need - and to serve those who sacrifice so much on our behalf.”

The President’s words of compassion were spoken between the music and festivities of the 32nd “Christmas in Washington” Broadcast held at the National Building Museum in Washington Dec. 15. This year’s event benefitted the Children’s National Medical Center.

With what appears to be a repaired Affordable Care Act website bringing a degree of justice and parity to health care in America, the President must now focus on his annual State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress Jan. 28. With three more years in office, Obama is expected to speak strongly on strengthening the economy – specifically healing economic inequities.

Meanwhile, in establishing a bi-partisan budget deal, Congress cut off extended unemployment benefits to 1.3 million Americans.Those benefits will end just after Christmas, causing great hardships to many.

“While the budget agreement is a slight improvement over current law because it provides temporary relief from across-the-board, automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, it shortchanges federal employees and turn its back on millions of unemployed Americans,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) in a statement.

She refused to vote for the budget bill, noting “Unless reauthorized, unemployment benefits to 1.3 million Americans … will end on December 28th. This cutoff will affect more than 3 million Americans over the next six months.”

With 1.3 million fewer jobs than in 2008 when the recession began, Fudge pointed out that “Unemployment benefits play a critical role in helping Americans get back on their feet and strengthening our economy.  In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found that unemployment benefits are one of the most effective fiscal policies to increase economic growth and employment. Nevertheless, Republican members of Congress argued that continuing to extend the benefits hurts the deficit. President Obama had also appealed for the extension of the unemployment benefits as well as a hike in minimum wage, but - so far - to no avail.

Giving hope for 2014, the conversation about poverty in America appears to be increasing despite little talk of new policies to deal with it. Upon the 50^th anniversary celebration of the March on Washington, Martin Luther King III – in the presence of President Obama – pointed out that the economic gap between Blacks and Whites had remained consistent for the past five decades. That included the unemployment rate which, in 1963, was 5 percent for Whites and 10.9 percent for Blacks. In August it was 6.6 percent for whites and 12.6 percent for blacks, about the same 6 percentage points apart.

Civil rights leaders have been consistent in their outcries on behalf of the poor.

“Many of those excluded are found waiting in America. They wait while some in Congress would cut $8 billion from food stamps, or cut off benefits for more than a million long-term unemployed citizens,” wrote National Urban League President/CEO Marc Morial in a recent column. “They wait while the President’s proposal and the economic wisdom of a raise in the minimum wage continue to languish on Capitol Hill.  They wait while working jobs for wages too low to support the basic needs of their families.  They wait while some in Congress continue to resist transportation and infrastructure funding and the good paying jobs that would result.”

Concluding his column, Morial quoted the late Nelson Mandela who was laid to rest on Sunday: “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.  Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural.  It is manmade and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.  Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great.  You can be that great generation.  Let your greatness blossom.”

Dec. 16, 2013

Court Reminds Police to Request Consent to Search
By Jeremy M. Lazarus

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers federal appeals cases from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and federal administrative agencies, just issued a stern reminder to police that they must have consent to search people who are minding their own business.

A panel of the Richmond-based court provided that reminder Dec. 3 in throwing out the conviction of a felon found in illegal possession of a gun. In a 2-1 opinion written by Judge Roger L. Gregory, a Petersburg native, the court overturned the lower court’s conviction, ruling the search that led to finding the gun violated the 4th Amendment’s ban on illegal searches.

Judge Gregory wrote that the search was illegal because the officer had no probable cause to believe the person had committed a crime and never received “verbal or written consent” before conducting a pat down.

Instead, the officer who conducted the search only gained the man’s “begrudging surrender to an order,” Judge

Gregory wrote. The case arose from Durham, N.C., but applies to Richmond, Baltimore and other localities that fall under the court’s domain. In this case, police were responding to a call that three men in white shirts were chasing a man and that the man being chased had a gun, according to information in the decision. When police arrived, Judge Gregory wrote, they found a group of men, mostly in white T-shirts, in a bus shelter, among them Jamaal Robertson.

While other officers “handled the other men,” he wrote, one officer approached Mr. Robertson and asked “whether he had anything illegal on him.”

When Mr. Robertson did not respond, Judge Gregory wrote, the officer then waved Mr. Robertson to step forward to be searched, while asking Mr. Robertson for permission. However, Judge Gregory noted the officer did not inform Robertson he had a right to refuse the search and that Robertson’s submission did not rise to voluntary consent. At the time, the man was surrounded either by the walls of the shelter or police officers and could not have believed he was free to leave, the judge wrote.

Robertson, instead, kept silent, turned around and put his hands up. During the search, the officer found the gun on Robertson, subjecting him to an arrest, which Judge Gregory found was impermissible. Fellow Appeals Court Judge Allyson K. Duncan joined in the opinion, but the third judge, District Judge Samuel Wilson, who sat by appointment, dissented.

Judge Wilson wrote that his colleagues should not have overturned the finding of the lower court that Robertson had given consent by his actions. According to Judge Wilson, the appeals court needed to find that the district court’s decision was “clearly erroneous” to reject it. Instead, Judge Wilson wrote, that the majority wrongly substituted its reading of the evidence for that of the lower court.