May 17, 2015

Blackonomics

Graduation Time
By James Clingman

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - By the time you read this article millions of college students will have graduated and are now looking for jobs; many will be going on to grad school.  Millions will suddenly be faced with paying off college loans or contemplating obtaining a loan for graduate studies.  Where the money is concerned, neither option is attractive.

Even if students are fortunate enough to have a job when they graduate, if they are laden with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, it will be very difficult to save money for their future, pay living expenses and those associated with the job they accept, and make $300-$600 in monthly payments for college loans.

For those moving on to grad school, unless they have a fellowship or some other kind of grant, they will have a tough decision to make when the loan officer at their school or the bank says, “No problem, here’s a $30,000 check to pay for your degree.”  I hate to think what it costs for an M.D. degree these days.

At more than $1 trillion, having surpassed credit card debt, college loan debt is an albatross around the necks of students, some of whom had no idea of what they were getting into and some who did know but refused to do anything about it until now, when it’s too late.

With the job market the way it is and has been for Black people for decades now, some graduates will have an overpriced college degree without a commensurate job prospect.  They will be faced with the challenge of paying back their loans while looking for a job that does not exist.  Or, they will have to accept the prospect of joining the ranks of the “underemployed.”

This is indeed a sad state of affairs for our best and brightest, the grandchildren of the baby boomers.  It is said that “millennials,” as they are called, are the first generation that will be worse off than their parents.  Most parents want their children to do better than they did, and most parents participate in that aspiration by putting a little money aside to help their children get off to a reasonable start in life.  However, in today’s economic climate there is very little of that kind of help available from parents who are struggling just to pay the rent and keep the lights on.

What can we do?  High on our agenda should be a demand made, to Congress and whoever is running for President, for student loan debt forgiveness.  A strong independent bloc of voters must go to candidates in both parties and make this demand.   Keep in mind, however, as I have said before, a demand with power backing it up is just rhetoric.  I think we have heard enough and had enough of empty words by some of our leaders to know that it will take more than just asking for what we want.  We must be willing to withhold our votes in order to get what we want—and that goes for both parties.

The banks and other financial entities got their $780 billion bailout; where is ours?  Why not bail the students out, and why not bail the homeowners out rather than merely “adjusting” their loans?  The bankers were given billions that they used to make even more money from the taxpayers (That be us, y’all) who paid their bills.  Contrary to what we were told, lending was curtailed rather than extended, and hundreds of thousands of folks are still homeless because there was no real bailout program for them.

The so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as of January 1, 2014, had paid out $816.3 billion, in three categories: tax benefits; grants, contracts, loans; and entitlements.  Who got that money?  In my neck of the woods the folks who got the most were those who worked on the roads and expressways; of those contractors and workers, few if any were Black.

Georgia recently embarked on a $1 billion+ road improvement project, and even with 3,150,435 Black folks in that state, the most of any other state, Black contractors and workers will benefit disproportionately.  Department of Transportation inclusion rules are based on Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Programs, in which White female businesses get a significant share of the contracts, and “front” companies rule the day.

So with all of the barriers facing our 2015 graduates, and the bleak outlook for improvement of their lot, the least we could do is bail them out of their student loans.  Politicians said the banks were “too big to fail,” and I guess the bankers were “too big to jail.”  They caught a huge break from Bush and Obama.  It’s time for a break for Black and poor people now.  Hey politicians, forgive student loans!

May 17, 2015

Eradicating Human Trafficking
By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Until recently, we didn’t hear a lot about Human Trafficking.  Now, we’re finding that we should’ve been noticing it as more and more children are involved.  For many of us the tragedy in Nigeria where hundreds of young women were stolen to become wives of Boko Haram members caught our attention, and many of us participated in the Bring Back Our Girls campaign. Some are still in captivity.

What many of us didn’t know is that human trafficking not just in labor, but often via prostitution, is a serious problem in the United States.  Human Trafficking is a form of slavery, often where mostly women and girls are held against their will and are forced to work or have sex for money.  It’s often going on right next door to some of us.

Young women immigrants, as well as young women who are US citizens with few or no options in life are the prey of traffickers.  The vulnerability is often tied to economics, but not always.  It can be psychological, low self-esteem or fear.

Many of the victims once in the business are too afraid to escape because of violence threatened or perpetrated against them.  Sometimes human trafficking begins because of poverty and a feeling of hopelessness or that nobody cares about the victims other than the person who guides them into trafficking.  Many of the younger victims have aged out of foster care with nowhere to go.  They suddenly find themselves on the street, and are picked up by a trafficker who offers them a place to live, food and enough luxuries to make them feel they are “special”.

Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery involving the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain.  Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked.  It is estimated that human trafficking is a $32 billion per year industry, second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of transnational crime.

It’s a hidden crime, as victims rarely come forward to seek help because of language barriers, lack of skills, fear of the traffickers or fear of law enforcement.

Traffickers use many methods to claim victims.  They use force, fraud, drugs and coercion to lure victims and force them into labor or commercial sexual exploitation. They look for the vulnerable.  Many of the victims are so traumatized by what happens to them that even when it appears to others they could get away from the trafficker, they stay.

Among the ways traffickers entrap victims:  claiming to love them, keeping them away from their families, offering them good jobs, taking away their identification documents and isolating them from others.

According to a United Nations report, trafficking generates $9.5 billion annually in the US alone!  The Justice Department says about 300,000 children are at risk of being prostituted in the US, with the average age of entry for a child victim being 13-14 years old. DOJ tells us a pimp makes $150-200,000 per child who’s forced to have sex over 20 times a day!  That’s serious! That’s the reason more of us must become involved in saving our children.

The DOJ identified the top 20 cities where trafficking is a serious problem:  Houston
• El Paso
• Los Angeles
• Atlanta
• Chicago
• Charlotte
• Miami
• Las Vegas
• New York
• Long Island
• New Orleans
• Washington, D.C.
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• Richmond
• San Diego• San Francisco
• St Louis
• Seattle
• Tampa.

If you’re looking for a way to make a difference in your community, and you live in one of the cities mentioned, consider taking on this issue by becoming a mentor to a woman or girl and offering them better options.

(E. Faye Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women www.nationalcongressbw.org.

May 10, 2015

Nightmare Ends as Doctors Declare Liberia 'Ebola-Free'

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – With no new infections in 42 days, Liberia has been declared free and clear of Ebola by the World Health Organization.

The announcement was made in the emergency command center in Monrovia, a room packed with reporters, aid agencies and dignitaries, including the U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Deborah R. Malac. Responses ranged from applause to tears followed by a moment of silence called by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

“At this symbolic juncture, I ask the whole world to remember the 4,608 Liberians who lost their lives, and the many thousands more who endured the horror of fighting the disease,” Johnson-Sirleaf said.

“Let us celebrate, but stay mindful and vigilant,” she said. “Clearly, the events of the last year must never be forgotten.

Then, in an action of physical closeness not seen in many months, she went around the room shaking hands.

It was just over a year – in March 2014 – that the outbreak was confirmed in Liberia. It had traveled swiftly south, from Guinea to Sierra Leone and then Liberia, frightening health officials and world health agencies with its deadly ferocity. In Liberia more than 3,000 Ebola cases were confirmed and more than 4,700 cases were fatal.

But alarm bells were hardly sounded until the virus reached foreign shores. In July 2014, a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, collapsed and died in Nigeria, leaving 19 people infected and eight dead. Four months later, Thomas Eric Duncan flew into Texas where his symptoms exploded. Sent home with antibiotics, he survived only a short time after re-entering Texas Presbyterian Hospital where he passed away on Oct. 8.

Less than a year has passed and Liberians have successfully prevented any new infections since the last case was reported on March 20.

Still, outbreaks persist in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone, creating a risk that infected people may cross into Liberia over the region’s exceptionally porous borders.

Meanwhile, writing in FrontpageAfricaonline, Liberians gave thanks to God, the Liberian President, U.S. President Obama and the American people, the European Union, Cuba, China, support from Nigeria and Ghana, the United Nations and other NGOS.

“Liberian people at home and abroad, thanks,” wrote Boima Gbelly, described as self-employed. “If we fought this unknown enemy, certainly we can fight other challenges. Let's unite and help build a prosperous Liberia in a civil manner.”

“Lord, with you, all things are possible,” wrote Daa Onenokay, of the Liberian diaspora. “We want to extend thanks and sincere appreciation to our international partners for all the help and support which brought relief to Liberia… We hope that the entire Mano River Basin will be Ebola-free soon.”