June 29, 2015

In Eulogy of Slain Pastor: President Warns, Don't 'Slip Into a Comfortable Silence Again'
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The words to that beloved old hymn, “Amazing Grace” were first recited. Then came the melody. No it wasn’t a choir; nor a guest soloist. It was the President of the United States.

President Barack Obama, already nicknamed the “comforter-in-chief” because of his proficiency in crisis, is now being called the “minister-in-chief” after the soul-stirring eulogy and closing song he rendered at the funeral of Pastor and State Senator Clementa Pinckney June 26.

The gleeful looks on the faces of the bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) belied the somberness of the occasion. Yet, even the family of the former pastor – killed by a White supremacist alongside eight others at a Wednesday night Bible study June 17 – appeared consoled by the song. Jennifer, his wife, and daughters Eliana and Malana were given deep hugs by the President, First Lady Michelle and Vice President Joseph Biden, who also attended.

“Clementa Pinckney found that grace!” the President concluded thunderously as the audience applauded.  “Cynthia Hurd found that grace! Susie Jackson found that grace! Ethel Lance found that grace! DePayne Middleton-Doctor found that grace! Tywanza Sanders found that grace! Daniel L. Simmons, Sr. found that grace! Sharonda Coleman-Singleton found that grace! Myra Thompson found that grace!”

Speaking before a standing room only crowd in the auditorium of the College of Charleston as millions more watching by live television, the President rendered arguably his most poignant remarks on race since his 2008 election, at one point warning, "It  would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allowed ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again."

He encouraged America to instead glean from and take action amidst the unthinkable tragedy that held the nation spellbound for two weeks.

“Maybe we now realize the way racial bias can infect us even when we don't realize it, so that we're guarding against not just racial slurs, but we're also guarding against the subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but not Jamal,” he said to applause. “So that we search our hearts when we consider laws to make it harder for some of our fellow citizens to vote. By recognizing our common humanity by treating every child as important, regardless of the color of their skin or the station into which they were born, and to do what’s necessary to make opportunity real for every American - by doing that, we express God’s grace.”

It appears that the heart-breaking moment in the life of America – similar to the 1963 church bombing that killed three little girls or even the 1955 murder of Emmett Till – has caused many to think more deeply about racism in America. Even many Republicans who have regularly opposed the removal of the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina State Capitol grounds have now agreed to its removal.

"Today we are here in a moment of unity in our state without ill will to say it is time to remove the flag from our capitol grounds," said Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, only days after the killings by 21-year-old terrorist Dylan Roof, who embraced the Confederate Flag. "This flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state," Haley said.

In a moment of rare bi-partisanship, President Obama, in the eulogy – punctuated with applause - expounded upon why the flag must be removed.

“For too long, we were blind to the pain that the Confederate flag stirred in too many of our citizens,” he said. “It’s true, a flag did not cause these murders.  But as people from all walks of life, Republicans and Democrats, now acknowledge - including Governor Haley, whose recent eloquence on the subject is worthy of praise - as we all have to acknowledge, the flag has always represented more than just ancestral pride. For Many, Black and White, that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. We see that now.”

The President continued, “Removing the flag from this state’s capitol would not be an act of political correctness; it would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers.  It would simply be an acknowledgment that the cause for which they fought - the cause of slavery - was wrong. The imposition of Jim Crow after the Civil War, the resistance to civil rights for all people was wrong.

“It would be one step in an honest accounting of America’s history; a modest but meaningful balm for so many unhealed wounds. It would be an expression of the amazing changes that have transformed this state and this country for the better, because of the work of so many people of good will, people of all races striving to form a more perfect union.  By taking down that flag, we express God’s grace.”

He connected the racist history and oppressive symbolism of the Confederate flag with the racial disparities that have become hardened across the nation. Among his examples, he pointed to children living in poverty, attending dilapidated schools, and joblessness.

“Perhaps it causes us to examine what we’re doing to cause some of our children to hate,” he said to applause. “Perhaps it softens hearts towards those lost young men, tens and tens of thousands caught up in the criminal justice system and leads us to make sure that that system is not infected with bias; that we embrace changes in how we train and equip our police so that the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve make us all safer and more secure.”

The shocking fact that the nine, now called the “Charleston Nine”, were killed in a historic Black church - "Mother" Emanuel AME was even the more hurtful given the racial history of the Church, Obama pointed out.

“Our pain cuts that much deeper because it happened in a church. The church is and always has been the center of African-American life - a place to call our own in a too often hostile world, a sanctuary from so many hardships,” he said. “Over the course of centuries, Black churches served as “hush harbors” where slaves could worship in safety; praise houses where their free descendants could gather and shout hallelujah - rest stops for the weary along the Underground Railroad; bunkers for the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement.

“They have been, and continue to be, community centers where we organize for jobs and justice; places of scholarship and network; places where children are loved and fed and kept out of harm’s way, and told that they are beautiful and smart - and taught that they matter…That’s what the Black church means.  Our beating heart.  The place where our dignity as a people is inviolate.  When there’s no better example of this tradition than Mother Emanuel - a church built by blacks seeking liberty, burned to the ground because its founder sought to end slavery, only to rise up again, a Phoenix from these ashes.”

The President praised Pinckney as a politician and a pastor, saying, “He embodied a politics that was neither mean, nor small. He conducted himself quietly, and kindly, and diligently.  He encouraged progress not by pushing his ideas alone, but by seeking out your ideas, partnering with you to make things happen.  He was full of empathy and fellow feeling, able to walk in somebody else’s shoes and see through their eyes. No wonder one of his senate colleagues remembered Senator Pinckney as ‘the most gentle of the 46 of us - the best of the 46 of us.’”

After several years of growing racial unrest and both peaceful protests and raucous rebellion, the President warned that the push for justice must not end.

 "It  would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allowed ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again," he said. "Once the eulogies have been delivered, once the TV cameras move on, to go back to business as usual -  that’s what we so often do to avoid uncomfortable truths about the prejudice that still infects our society.  To settle for symbolic gestures without following up with the hard work of more lasting change - that’s how we lose our way again."

June 28, 2015

Beyond Charleston: 7 Steps Forward
How to Save the Soul of Our Nation
By Barbara Arnwine

News Analysis

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - They were our best, the pride of our country. The Charleston 9. They were college graduates, members of fraternities and sororities, a state senator, a librarian, ministers, all deeply committed to their church, faith, city, state and nation. In them a community found hope and dedicated service. A hate filled white supremacist stilled their mighty hearts with shots that tore through their flesh and into the souls of a shocked, barely comprehending nation.

More than a week after this tragic massacre a thick fog of sadness still pervades. Black America is stunned, mournful, many crying out to our God to give us strength to rise again. We hear the mockery in the assassin's action, "Now, where is your God." Whites and people of all races are horrified at the evil ideology of white supremacy which propelled the actions of Dylann Roof.

We, the living, are called in this moment to not let the deaths of the Charleston Nine be in vain.  Our nation must embrace the challenge of this moment and take concrete actions seeking to address our racial realities to prevent another racially motivated massacre.

First, we must recognize that leadership demands truth.  Racial healing is impossible without truth and reconciliation.  President Obama in response to this national tragedy initially called for gun control which evoked the reaction that is clearly needed but not enough!  Many wanted to hear a denunciation by him of the racial hate behind this heinous act.  Not acknowledging the role of racism here is a fundamental error no matter the inevitable criticism from those who will resort to denial and complain about race baiting.

On Friday, June 26th, he delivered the nationally televised eulogy for State Senator Clementa Pinckney. Although deeply moving and steeped in emotion and faith and directed to individuals, the President's speech did not propose a comprehensive and collective framework of action for addressing the issue of racism moving forward.

Similarly, initially, Nikki Haley wrongfully called for the imposition of the death penalty ignoring complicity of the symbol of racial hate flying at her state capitol.  Again, national and local protest forced her to call for the removal of the confederate flag from the capitol grounds.

And the Governor of the State of Alabama has ordered the removal of the confederate flag from the capitol grounds calling it "the right thing to do."  Still these steps are not enough.

No amount of deflection or denial can avoid the obvious.  White Supremacy and Structural Racism are the culprits here. Hate, denigrating stereotypes, fear, violence, terrorism and slaughter are the handmaidens of white supremacy.  And the confederate flag is the rallying symbol of white supremacists, nurturing notions of loss, resentment, revenge, and the hope that one day the south will rise again. President Obama has stated that the flag didn't cause the murders of the Charleston 9 but is instead a representation of systemic racial subjugation. When Roof spoke of black men raping white women, as he pulled the trigger of his gun, he  also pulled from the racist motif of the confederacy and post-Reconstruction era. And that he killed six Black women bespoke of his true genocidal purpose.  When he spoke of taking back our country, he was echoing the rebel yell with flag in hand to re subjugate Blacks or worst.

Again, many in the  media are missing the clues.  We must stop using the language of loner, sick, mentally disabled and accept the fact that Dylann Roof is just the latest actor in a string of ugly slayings and attempted killings by white supremacist domestic terrorists of Blacks, Jews, Latinos, Muslims and Asians,  seeking to spark their much desired Race War.   And let's be clear, the language of Race War or new Civil War that Roof and others proclaim is designed to produce one horrific result: Black extermination, Black annihilation, or Black removal from the U.S. with the same fate for all others in their crosshairs of racial hate.   This genocidal vision should and must be renounced by all Americans.

Furthermore, it is imperative that we eliminate or lessen any possible recurrence by taking strong action as follows:

1. Remove the confederate flag throughout the nation from all governmental and corporate sponsorship.  Colleges, universities, schools and sport teams all have to eliminate the presence of this symbol of hate.

2. Brand the flag as a hate symbol.  We have to understand that the primary purpose of the flag is a symbol of racial hatred and division.  The South Carolina flag was absent from the capitol until the 1960's when it was hoisted as a symbol of resistance to the civil rights movement.

3. Insist that entertainment and media stop the negative portrayals of Blacks, especially the disproportionate images of Blacks as criminals.  It is easy to hate and dehumanize that which you fear.

4.  Teach in every school, church and available forum about the evil of racism and implicit bias.  It is telling that Dylann Roof is only 21 years of age.  The mythology that the young will automatically with the passage of time become better on race has been disproven time and time again this year as young whites have been featured nationally for various hate crimes or  racist expressions.  One thing is clear, in the absence of affirmative teaching about race, Whites will learn from their popular culture and the gratuitous racism which pervades that culture.

5.  Center equality for women of color in all of our discussions about gender equality and racial justice.  Six Black women are dead as the killer professed a desire to protect white womanhood. As the narrative of the endangered Black male has dominated the national conversation, the plight of our African American women and girls have been ignored at our peril.  We must Say Their Names.

6.  Seminal of all needed actions is the imperative to build a nationwide truth and reconciliation process which would hold hearings and programs in every state of this nation to facilitate racial healing. Racial healing cannot occur without a national truth and reconciliation process which engages all races in an honest national dialogue about the history of racial oppression in their states and communities and the continuing impacts and presence of these scars on modern society.  Mr. President, we must as a nation talk about the impact of race in our society and take action to dismantle its adverse consequences.

7. Build a real White movement for racial justice to fight for inclusion, equality and opportunity for all Americans.  The battle for a new Voting Rights Act needs to be a priority for all Americans not just African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Americans who have relied upon this act for protection from racially discriminatory practices and procedures.  Similarly, we all must seek to confront the unjust criminal justice system, racially motivated policing and violence, segregated housing, unequal education, employment discrimination, intersectionality of race and gender, and environmental injustice. These inequalities fuel the racial divisions that allow haters to breed.

It is heartening to see people of all races banding together in unity to renounce the most recent progeny of the white supremacist creed even as others continue to trade their wares of denial and inaction.  And we must compel our multiracial nation forward beyond this tragedy by taking concrete action to actualize racial harmony and racial justice.

All of these things and more must be done - not just to help people of color - but to save the soul of our nation.

Veteran civil rights leader Barbara Arnwine is founder and president of the Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC). She in March 2015 on Radio One’s WOL 1450 AM. The hour-long show, which airs on Tuesdays from 12-1 p.m. EST, provides provocative and empowering information and discussion designed to ignite change and inspire action in achieving racial justice, social justice and equality.  Contact Barbara Arnwine at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information, please contact Dijon Kruas at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

June 28, 2015

Rewriting History
By Juliannne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - On their website, The Sons of Confederate Veterans describe themselves as preserving the “history and legacy” of the Confederacy.  Their organization, they say, is “dedicated to ensuring that “a true history of the 1861-1865 period is preserved”.   I would suggest, instead, that the Sons of Confederate Veterans should rewrite history instead of preserving it.

They claim that the Civil War (they call it the “Second American Revolution” was fought for the “preservation of liberty and freedom”.  Freedom for whom?  Alexander Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, gave his infamous “Cornerstone” speech, in which he outlined the reasons for southern succession.  “Our new government is founded on exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro (sic) is not equal to the White man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.”

If you drive South on US 95, you can see some version of the so-called Confederate flag (there are maybe seven iterations of the flag, parts of which are still the official flag of Mississippi.) is used to advertise everything from hot dogs to automobiles, some say as a tribute to their ancestors (hot dogs, really?). The history of the Confederacy, as embodied in the Stephens speech, suggests that the flag, instead, is a symbol of White superiority.  No wonder the coward who was welcomed into Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church had draped himself in that heinous flag.  No wonder racism is so intransient.  No wonder the sale of Confederate paraphernalia rose with the election of President Barack Obama.  The implicit message – a Black man may be President of the United States, but this flag reminds us that White superiority still reigns.

South Carolina didn’t always fly their version of the Confederate flag above its statehouse or display it on statehouse grounds.  To “commemorate” the 100^th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, the flag went up on April 11, 1961.  Was it a coincidence that sit-ins were taking place all over the country, with one of the most successful taking place in Greensboro, North Carolina, where Bennett College and North Carolina A&T State University students began sit-ins at the local Woolworth’s?

Incidentally, the Civil War Centennial Commission, established as a federally funded agency inside the Department of Interior, (why?) could not overcome persistent racism.  The Kennedy administration was forced to replace conservative commission leadership (that wanted to meet in segregated facilities), with a group that included historians.  The activities, envisioned to “celebrate American patriotism at the height of the Cold War” and to increase tourism in the South, turned into a separate and unequal set of events.  In his book, Troubled Commemoration:
The American Civil War Centennial, 1961-1965 (Making the Modern South), Robert J. Cook describes the tensions that emerged when Southerners wanted to “celebrate” secession and the attack on Fort Sumter, while others wanted to celebrate emancipation.  Southern Whites saw the centennial as a way to fight to preserve segregation, while African Americans and some liberal Whites wanted to celebrate the end of the civil war, and the government wanted to celebrate our nation’s “triumph” over division and strife.

Those who embrace the Confederacy seem to forget that THE CONFEDERACY LOST.  The cornerstone principle of White supremacy was defeated when the Confederacy lost the war, but the continued sop to the losing Confederacy left us with all kinds of tributes to United States traitors.  I cringe whenever I drive down “Jefferson Davis Highway”, named after the Confederate President.  I am flooded with annoyance when I refer to Fort Bragg, named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg.  The Pentagon says they won’t change the names of the ten military bases that lift up Confederate leaders.  I just wonder why these bases were named after these traitors in the first place?

Taking the Confederate flag down is but the first step in defeating the White supremacy that the odious flag stands for.  Now, in the name of the Emanuel Nine, we need to investigate the reparatory justice (reparations) needed to reduce the wealth gap.  We need to take the traumatic massacre of the Emanuel Nine and use it as a way to accelerate the struggle for freedom and justice.

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. She can be reached at www.juliannemalveaux.com.

July 5, 2015

By Frederick H. Lowe

Boxer Evander Holyfield is urging Black men to get into  the ring to fight prostate cancer by getting regular check-ups.

PHOTO:Travis Barnard Photography

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield, wants to help black men knock out prostate cancer.

Holyfield, the five-time world heavyweight boxing champion and three—time world cruiser weight champion, has filmed a public service announcement urging black men to get checked regularly for prostate cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among them.

The 30-second and 60-second PSA shows Holyfield shadow boxing. He says, “It takes everything you got to beat your opponent.”

He then adds,”But …you can’t fight what you can’t see.”Holyfield then tells black men they have the greatest risk of prostate cancer. “So get checked,” he orders.

Holyfield filmed the PSA May 28^th at a boxing gym in Providence, R.I., Barbara J. Parsky, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Prostate Cancer Foundation, a Santa Monica, California-based philanthropic organization that funds research into prostate cancer.

The PSA will be released around June 15^th, prior to Father’s Day on the 21^st.  The PSA media outlets have not yet been selected, Parsky told NorthStar News Today.com.

High rate of prostate cancer among Black men

African-American men are 64% more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men, and black men are 2.4 times more likely to die from the disease than white men. One in 5 African-American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to 1 in 7 white men.

Black men also are diagnosed with the disease at an earlier age than white men. For African-American men the median age of diagnosis is 63 compared to 66 for white men. The median age at death for black men suffering from prostate cancer is 77 and the median age at death for white men suffering from prostate cancer is 81, Parsky said.

It is not know why African-American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at younger ages than white men, but Parsky said if the disease is detected early physicians can successfully treat it.

In addition to their physicians, there are organizations that offer prostate cancer screenings.

Black churches get involved

In the African-American community, The Prostate Health Education Network, which is based in Quincy, Massachusetts.,  will hold rallies on June 21 at African-American churches in Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Birmingham, Ala., Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Durham, N.C., Houston, Jacksonville, Fla., Los Angeles, Miami, Oakland, Calif., Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C. and Richmond, Va., either to have men checked or to the discuss prostate cancer.

The screenings are free, and they will be offered at designated locations. For more information, the foundation’s telephone number is 617-481-4020 and the email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“We want to tell people to spread the word and encourage their fathers, brothers, sons and friends to get checked for prostate cancer,” Holyfield said in a statement. “This is an issue that affects all men and is in line with our mission to partner with incredible organizations and invest in their important work. I’m honored to go the distance for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Together, we can spread the word and hopefully knock out prostate cancer for good.”

Holyfield formed Team Holyfield, which is dedicated to service-based work. He is particularly interested in what affects African Americans and prostate cancer is one such initiative.

Holyfield hung up his gloves in 2011. He won the cruiser weight title on May 15, 1987. Cruiser weights can weigh up to 190 pounds.

Holyfield, who barely tipped the scales at 200 pounds, became the world’s only five-time heavyweight champion on April 10, 2010. Fans called him “Real Deal “Holyfield because he was an undisputed world champion, winning both the cruiser weight and heavyweight divisions.