Jackson to South African Students: You're 'Free But Not Equal'

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from GIN

Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Globe-trotting civil rights activist, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, was in South Africa this week where he was acknowledged by Pres. Jacob Zuma for his many years organizing Americans against apartheid.

At a ceremony marking “Freedom Day,” Jackson received the Order of the Companions of O.R. (Oliver) Tambo from Pres. Zuma.  The prize goes to foreign citizens who have promoted South African interests and aspirations through cooperation, solidarity and support. It is named after the late Oliver Tambo - the African National Congress’s president-in-exile for many years.

Addressing students at the ceremony in Pretoria, Jackson said pointedly: "I want the present generation to know that the struggle is not over. You are free but not equal. You have freedom to equality and to globalization but that doesn't mean you're free from the humiliation of skin color apartheid, or apartheid in land ownership, apartheid in education, apartheid in healthcare, apartheid in banking and apartheid in who owns ships and airplanes and trade and business.”

This generation, he said, must continue the work started by those activists who went to jail more than 30 years ago and those who went to Robben Island and exile and were murdered like Chris Hani and Steve Biko.”

“That generation pulled down the walls. This generation must build the bridges. This generation must seize education in order to close the gap in engineering, medicine and industry and capital investment."

Jackson’s remarks appeared to reference the country’s enormous wealth gap with a small very rich and powerful elite and an enormous “underclass.”

Bishop Robert Kelley, a member of the Democrats Abroad based in Johannesburg, affirmed the choice  of Jackson.  "He was a vocal and active voice for the freedom of South Africa. He went to jail for South Africa in perhaps a more profound way because it caused millions of leaders and the congress in the US to wonder why Jackson, black leaders and legislators would go to prison and fight for the freedom of people on a continent and land so far away.”

However, he added, "Now the quest is that apartheid in SA is in legislative remission but growing in prominence economically. The spirit and the effects of the sin still remain. Only a united people can eliminate its scars of the past."

April 30, 2013

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

(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.”

• Rejected funding to expand Medicaid to cover 500,000 North Carolinians without health insurance;
• Rejected more than $700 million in federal funds for unemployment benefits, affecting 170,000 laid off workers;
• Cut the payroll tax credit for over 900,000 poor and working people, while giving a tax break to 23 of the wealthiest people in our State;
• Planned to reduce access to pre-school and kindergarten; and
• Attacked the right to vote with a series of voter suppression laws, including a voter ID bill that will disenfranchise nearly 500,000 voters.

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Marvell Edmundson

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.