In White House Criminal Justice Forum: Obama Says Black Lives Matter Is Legit by Courtne' Dixon

Oct. 26, 2015

In White House Criminal Justice Forum: Obama Says Black Lives Matter Is Legit

By Courtne' Dixon

President Obama speaks during White House criminal justice forum. Also in the conversation were moderator Bill Keller, editor-in-chief of the Marshall Project; Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck;and Colorado U. S. Attorney John Walsh. PHOTO: Cheriss May/Howard University News Service

attorneygenerallynchinconference

United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch gave opening remarks at The White House Panel Discussion on Criminal Justice Reform.Here she talks to one of the Chiefs of Police in attendance. PHOTO: Cheriss May/Howard University News Service

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

WASHINGTON (TriceEdneyWire.com) - The Black Lives Matter movement, which many have embraced and others have claimed is anti-police, received an endorsement from the nation’s highest law enforcement officer, President Barack Obama, during a special White House session to deal with reforming the nation’s criminal justice system.

Speaking to law enforcement officials, including 50 of the nation’s top police chiefs Oct. 22, Obama said the movement is addressing an important issue – deaths of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of law enforcement - and is not racist or exclusionary, as its critics have claimed.

“I think the reason that the organizers used the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ was not because they said they were suggesting nobody else’s lives matter,” Obama said. “Rather, what they were suggesting was there is a specific problem that is happening in the African American community that’s not happening in other communities. “And that is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address.”

The Black Lives Matter movement began shortly after the aquital 2013 of volunteer security George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed African-American teen Trayvon Martin n and has grown continuously with the police-related deaths of numerous unarmed black men across the nation. Obama said one of the issues that needs to be addressed is the disproportionate imprisonment of African Americans and Latinos. They represent 60 percent of the prison population although African Americans and Latinos only represent 13 and 17 percent of the population respectively, according to Whitehouse.gov. In Washington, African-Americans represent over 90 percent of the prison population, although they only account for 49 percent of the city’s population.

“The problem of racial justice or injustice in the society has been a running theme in this country’s history for a very long time,” Obama said, “and so, we just have to make sure that all of us own it.”

Currently, the United States has the highest prison population in the world, including China, which has a population more than 10 times larger than the U.S. To address this, Obama stated that reform should include fair application of law, proportionality in the sentencing of crime and programs focused on rehabilitation and crime prevention.

“We know we’re spending $80 billion a year incarcerating folks,” he said. “If, in fact, we had smarter sentencing, we thought about how we’re dealing with drug offenses more intelligently, we are working on evidence-based approaches to rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.”

Other panelists included John Walsh, United States attorney for the Colorado District; Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck and moderator, Bill Keller, editor and chief of The Marshall Project, a news organization that focuses on the nation’s criminal justice system.

Walsh said that federal government has moved away from mandatory minimum sentencing.

“Since 2013, when the Smart on Crime policy was announced by then-Attorney General (Eric) Holder, federal prosecutors have been instructed not to use mandatory minimums, except in cases that really merit their attention,” he said, “in other words, aggravated felons, leaders of drug organizations, violent people. And what’s that’s meant is that our use of mandatory minimums has probably dropped by about 25 percent in that time.”

The president insisted that data would be necessary to counteract the current trends in criminal justice.

“Collecting data, I think, is something that’s going to be very important in guiding us forward,” he said. –“We don’t really do a good job right now in collecting national data on a real-time basis, but we now have the tools and the technology to do it better.”

Obama said new strategies being used police and residents are an example of what can be achieved through creative thinking,

Camden has cameras located around the city that uses software that citizens can use to direct what is being seen for the police, so that the community can help monitor the city. In addition, Camden has implemented a neighborhood officer that must spend 24 hours straight in his or assigned neighborhood to interact with the community.

“Creative work, like, for example, where they know there were hotspots and some gang shootings related to drugs,police officers drive the ice cream trucks, park them where the drug dealing has been going on, giving out free ice cream from the police,” he said.

“Suddenly families are out on the streets, and now it’s creating a space in which it’s a lot harder for you to just be dealing drugs.”

Obama said he also believes legislation is also paramount in reformation. Currently Congress is considering legislation that will reduce federal sentencing, the first of its kind in a decade.

“We're in a unique moment in which on a bipartisan basis, across the political spectrum, people are asking hard questions about our criminal justice system and how can we make it both smart, effective, just, fair," he said.

Obama emphasized that the current state of the criminal justice system was not just the responsibility of one entity, such as police, but rather a reflection of the society as a whole.

He said, “If we, as a society, are willing to tolerate very poor neighborhoods with no opportunity, a lot of violence, a lot of substandard education, and then we're surprised that the police, in interacting with a community that hasn’t been cared for, is going to have tougher interactions, then we're passing the buck.”

CBC Urges Speaker Boehner to Address Black Agenda before Retirement by Zenitha Prince

Oct. 25, 2015

CBC Urges Speaker Boehner to Address Black Agenda before Retirement
By Zenitha Prince

CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield (D-N.C.)

Retiring House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - House Speaker John Boehner’s surprise September announcement that he was stepping down from the GOP congressional leadership effective Oct. 30 set Republicans scrambling to find a viable replacement. But, the looming deadline has also spurred the Congressional Black Caucus to seek resolution to issues affecting the African-American community before another – perhaps even less cooperative – speaker is elected.

On Oct. 20, CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield, D-N.C., sent a letter to Boehner asking him to fast-track time-sensitive legislative items such as African-American unemployment, criminal justice reform, restoring the Voting Rights Act (VRA), and investing in education and job training before his departure.

“As you end your term as Speaker of the House of Representatives, the 46 Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) urge you to fully prioritize and address not only key issues whose deadlines are quickly approaching but issues that also affect the African American community,” the letter read. “We urge you to seize this opportunity to effect positive change for not only our Congress but for our nation.”

Butterfield cited statistics showing economic disparities experienced by African-Americans and urged remedial action: the median income of African-American households ($35,400) is almost half that of Whites ($60,300); more than one in four African-Americans live in poverty (26.2 percent), almost triple the rate for Whites (10.1 percent); and the median net worth of White households is 13 times greater than Black households at $142,000 and $11,000, respectively.

The CBC also urged quick action on criminal justice reform which has gained bipartisan support.

“The political will for criminal justice reform is present on both sides of the aisle, and we believe with your leadership significant legislative accomplishments can be achieved this session,” the letter read. Butterfield also called for an end to restrictive voting practices and congressional action on the Voting Rights Act, investment in infrastructure and transportation systems, bipartisan agreement on the budget to avoid a government shutdown and more.

“Our nation looks to us, as Members of Congress, to legislate and to act in a manner befitting a leader. We urge you to have these critical conversations now and lead by example so that Congress governs responsibly and addresses these urgent priorities before it is too late. Seize this opportunity and stand on the right side of history,” the letter concluded. “You have an opportunity now to do what is in the best interest of our nation.”

Racism Linked to Asthma Risk for Black Women By Tom Testa

Oct. 26, 2015

Racism Linked to Asthma Risk for Black Women
By Tom Testa

asthmapatient

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - African-American women who have frequent experiences with racism are at greater risk of developing asthma as adults, according to a study published in 2013.

A new study published online in the journal Chest, followed 38,142 African-American women, all of whom are participants in the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS) between 1997 and 2011. The women completed health questionnaires every two years.

In 1997 and 2009 they provided information about their experiences of “everyday” racism, like poor service in stores or restaurants, and “lifetime” racism, which was discrimination encountered on the job, in housing, and by police.

As experiences of everyday and lifetime racism increased, the incidence of adult-onset asthma also rose, up to a 45 percent increase in women in the highest compared to the lowest category of the racism measures.

Furthermore, the incidence of asthma was increased even more in women who were in the highest category of everyday racism in both 1997 and 2009, and who may have had more consistent experiences of racism over time.

“Racism is a significant stressor in the lives of African-American women, and our results contribute to a growing body of evidence indicating that experiences of racism can have adverse effects on health,” says Patricia Coogan, research professor of epidemiology at Boston University.

The hypothesized mechanism linking experiences of racism to asthma incidence is stress and its physiological consequences, particularly effects on the immune system and the airways.

“Given the high prevalence of both asthma and of experiences of racism in African Americans, the association is of public health importance,” Coonan says.

Funding was provided by the National Institute of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute.

Tom Testa is assistant vice president of public relations at Boston University.

Israeli Police Investigate 'Lynching' of African Asylum Seeker

Oct. 26

Israeli Police Investigate 'Lynching' of African Asylum Seeker
Africans and Palestinians said to be treated harsher by police
eritreanmotherandchild

Eritrean mother and child at a memorial

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The murder of an African bystander mistaken for an assailant has renewed harsh criticism of excessive force used by Israeli security forces against Africans and Palestinians.

The bystander, Haftom Zarhum, was shot by an Israeli guard and then kicked to death by a mob as he lay bleeding. He was part of the large Eritrean refugee community in Israel.

The brutal killing, described in some media reports as “a lynching”, comes amidst a rash of attacks that some link to the new checkpoints that keep many Palestinians from their jobs, and to new restrictions on men under 40 that bar them from praying at Al Aqsa Mosque and force them to pray behind police lines in the surrounding decrepit streets.

Zarhum, 29, worked at a cooperative agricultural community near the southern Gaza border. He had just stopped in the city of Beersheba to pick up his renewed work visa and was walking past the central bus station with a group of friends when an Israeli Bedouin armed with a gun and knife attacked a bus, killing an Israeli soldier and injuring 10 others.

In the confusion that followed, Zarhum was identified as a suspected accomplice, apparently based on his appearance. Several local media outlets headlined the story: “Just because of his skin color.”

Zarhum was shot and wounded before being shot several more times by a security guard at the bus station as he crawled along the floor. Still alive, he was then surrounded by people who cursed and spat at him, kicked him in the head and tried to hit him with a chair.

Human Rights Watch condemned the killing, calling it “a tragic but foreseeable outgrowth of a climate in which some Israeli politicians encourage citizens to take the law into their own hands”.

The plight of Eritrean refugees was underscored last June when hundreds of Eritreans rallied in Tel Aviv protesting abuse of asylum seekers. Eritreans need asylum from “systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations,” rally organizers said, “and a culture of fear under the government of President Isaias Afwerki.” A recent U.N. report described arbitrary detentions, the torture of dissenters, potentially indefinite and forced military conscription, alongside a sweeping mass surveillance system, forcing some 5,000 Eritreans out of the country each month. Eritrea’s government disputes the allegations.

“We are really sad and we cannot condemn anyone at this stage until we see the result of the investigation,” said Mutasim Ali, an asylum seeker from Sudan and head of the Tel Aviv-based African Refugee Development Center.

Monday morning, hundreds of African asylum seekers held a memorial to Zarhum at Holot prison, a desert detention facility where Israel holds nearly 600 Africans seeking refugee status in Israel.

Israeli officials have regularly referred to Eritreans and Sudanese migrants as “infiltrators” and as economic migrants, which aren’t eligible for asylum.

Questions for the Candidates by Julianne Malveaux

Oct. 25, 2015

Questions for the Candidates
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Bye, bye Biden. The Vice-President who might have given the Honorable Hilary Clinton a run for her money has concluded that the timing is not right for him. Clinton needs someone to rattle her cage, to push her to be more focused in the general election. Now, Senator Bernie Sanders will push her to the left. Biden may have pushed her back to center, enhancing her electability.

No matter. The late Congressman William Clay (D-MO) often said that black folks should have “no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent issues”. How hard will African Americans push candidates for President in 2016, whether they are African American or white, Democratic or Republican, legacy candidates (Bush, Clinton), or outsiders? We should directly challenge these candidates on race matters, and push it as aggressively as we can. Hats off to the #BlackLivesMatter movement for doing exactly that – pushing until our issues garnered recognition among Democrats. Republicans were not asked, nor did they volunteer, their perspective on race matters.

If I were questioning these candidates on race matters, here’s what I’d ask about their views:

1. What do you think about race relations in our nation? If you think they are broken, how would you fix them? If you think everything is fine, how do you account for the differentials we can measure in terms of income, employment and educational attainment?

2. Do you think that race matters? How? Do you think that the Presidential bully pulpit is an appropriate platform from which to raise this issues? Assuming that you are inaugurated in January 2016, what would be your first speech on race, and whom would you offer it to?

3. Do you believe in targeted programs? In other words since African Americans were disproportionately hit by the Great Recession, should this community get disproportionate assistance in recovery funding. How would you manage this?

4. How do you define affirmative action? Do you agree with its premise and support its implementation?

5. The African American unemployment rate has been twice that of whites for five decades. Do you feel any obligation to close the gap? How would you approach that? Too many have accepted this employment gap as historic. Should the African American community accept this as a permanent gap?

6. How would you deal with some of the educational challenges in the African American community, from differences in high school graduation rates, to differences in college attendance? Would you increase the Pell Grant, and where would the money come from? How strongly will you support HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and can these institutions expect more support from your administration?

7. The criminal justice system seems biased against African Americans, and the recent spate of the killings of black men at the hands of white officers magnify this. What are your plans to reform a system that is so clearly biased that half of prison populations are African American (yet only 13 percent of the population)?

8. African Americans disproportionately depend on Social Security, mainly because as few as a third have company provided pensions. Calls for Social Security reform have included proposals to cut benefits, raise the retirement age, or both. What is your position on Social Security changes? How do you think African Americans are affected by these changes? What will you do to mitigate the disproportionate impact of social security changes on African Americans?

9. Who are the African Americans on your campaign team? What are their roles? Will you contract with African American entrepreneurs to do your printing, or media buys and to provide other services? Do you have a goal for what percentage of your campaign budget will be awarded to African American businesses?

10. Do you support the Affordable Care Act, which increases health insurance availability for African American, as well as all Americans? If you do not support the Affordable Care Act, how will you improve health access?

Historically, African-Americans heavily support democrats, and from what I see in the Republican field, we should continue to do so. However, Democratic candidates should not take the African American community for granted and those Democrats in the race should be willing to answer these questions.

Hilary Clinton enjoys significant support among African Americans. Our support should not excuse her from asking questions about her support of African Americans. If we don’t ask her these questions, we have no right to ask them of others.

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist based in Washington, D.C. Her latest book “Are We Better off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” will be released in November 2015 and is available for preorder at www.juliannemalveaux.com