April 12, 2015

I'm Really Getting Tired
By Dr. E. Faye Williams

(TriceEdneyWire.com) -  Having spent the greater portion of my adult life in the political arena - even going so far as to run for office in the US Congress - I think I know a bit about "the game."  Although the business of the people cannot rightly be called a game, just as in sports, there are rules that govern the conduct of all those who interact within that venue.  That means that all participants, regardless of the outcome of legislative interests, will conduct themselves reasonably. Or, at least, that's what I was led to believe.

Regrettably, some expectations, or things that we’ve learned and been led to believe, fall afoul of those with whom we’re engaged.  In the last six years, I have found this to be true in the theater of national politics - especially as it concerns President Barack Obama.  Frankly, I'm really getting tired of it!

I woke up on Good Friday and, true to my normal routine, checked my computer for newsworthy events had occurred through the night.  I was angered as I read a CNN Breaking News feed which stated, "The proposed deal on Iran's nuclear program would pose ‘a grave danger’ to the world and threaten Israel's existence because it would leave Iran with an infrastructure it could use to produce nuclear bombs when restrictions on its program eventually are removed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today."

Maybe I'm still "raw" about Netanyahu's speech in Congress a few weeks ago, but I see his comment as an intrusion into orderly political discourse in this country.  I know that, as the leader of Israel, he has the right to express any opinion he wishes, but he has tainted his objectivity and undermined the interests of the US by conspiring against my President with the likes of John Boehner and Tom Cotton.

It used to be that "politics stopped at our shores," meaning that US foreign policy could only be viable if it were expressed with one voice.  Historically, that "rule" held firm until the Obama Presidency.  Now Speaker Boehner invites Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress in opposition to the diplomatic efforts of the President.  As one who didn't vote for "President Netanyahu," I am insulted by his presence that conflicts with the president I voted for.

More insulting is the letter sent by Senator Cotton to Iran and a subsequent letter sent to the UN by Mitch McConnell.  Both letters dramatically infringe upon the duties of the Department of State and, based upon my understanding of the word SEDITION, are clear examples of that.

I am also growing increasingly frustrated by Mitch McConnell and his intransigence regarding the vote on the nomination of Loretta Lynch for Attorney General.  As you read this, it has been over 150 days since her nomination and, with no purpose other than to frustrate President Obama and punish Eric Holder, McConnell has shown his commitment to the vow he made in 2009 to block the President's efforts to govern at every turn.  Now that the 51st committed vote for Ms. Lynch's confirmation has been identified, there is no reason for McConnell to delay a Senate vote.

Republican hypocrisy is running rampant.  They profess loyalty to the nation, yet they actively undermine the Chief Executive.  They profess concern for US interests, yet support a course that would most likely lead to war.  They profess a desire to replace the current Attorney General, yet they hold him hostage to a job where there is an obviously qualified replacement.

Back in the day we called that "talking out of both sides of the mouth" and I'm really getting tired of it. Talk about this with your senators.  It’s time to vote!

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is President/CEO of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc., 202/678-6788. www.nationalcongress bw.org)

April 12, 2015

Blackonomics

Creating Conscious Millionaires
By James Clingman 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Black folks have the ability to create our own conscious millionaires.  We have certainly done it for others for a long time now.  Conscious Black millionaires would most assuredly use some of their money to assist the Black collective; conscious Black millionaires would not hesitate to use their resources to help empower our people; conscious Black millionaires would not be afraid to espouse the principles of economic empowerment and then use their money to support it.

This is not a pipedream, folks.  It can, should, and must be done. To make real progress, we must move beyond rallies, speeches, protests, philosophy, pontification, intellectual rhetoric without commensurate action, and mere symbolism without real substance.

Every rational person knows that at some point, everything we do to challenge injustice and to obtain the economic and political reciprocity we seek and deserve, will require money.  Look at the amount of money spent on travel and accommodations to attend all the marches and demonstrations of the recent past.  It would have been better spent on legal battles in the courts and placing initiatives on local ballots across the nation.

Everything we need to accomplish will, at some point, cost money.  Who should fund the initiatives we take on to deal with inequities and unfairness against Blacks?  Who should benefit from the dollars we spend to accomplish our goals? As Ken Bridges would say, “That be us, y’all.”

The revolution will not be televised, but it must be financed, and we should benefit economically from our expenditures and activities associated with our fight for freedom.  Currently our dollars are benefiting everyone else as we run for freedom, as we protest, as we demonstrate, and as we conduct our conventions and other meetings around the country.  I recall how proud I was when I attended the Bring Back Black meeting, in 2007, at the Black owned and operated Dudley convention complex in Kernersville, North Carolina; a Black caterer prepared our food, and everything else that could be done with Black vendors was done. It was the same at our MATAH conferences, 1998-2002.

Every convention cannot do that, but if we create conscious Black millionaires, some of them would do what the Founder of Compro Tax, Jackie Mayfield, did in Beaumont, Texas. He and Brother Yusef Muhammad built their own convention center.  They are, indeed, conscious Black millionaires and, like others that I know, they are not only taking care of their families, they are also doing a great deal to help others, via business opportunities and philanthropy.  Many are unaware that they helped Maggie and John Anderson in their efforts to get the Empowerment Experiment off the ground. No fanfare, just quietly and humbly paying it forward, the way conscious Black people do.  Is Compro Tax preparing your return this year, or is your money going to one of those companies that do nothing for Black folks in return?

Imagine the progress we would make by creating millionaires like Jackie and Yusef.  The good news is that we can do it merely by putting our financial support behind the efforts of a conscious brother or sister who has demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice and walk the walk when it comes to the overall empowerment of Black people.

Creating conscious Black millionaires is one of the objectives of the One Million Conscious Black Voters and Contributors Campaign.  We know that simply by issuing a call for our members to purchase one pint of Ice Supreme from Ashiki Taylor’s company we would have a conscious millionaire.  The same by buying one t-shirt from a Black company, one book from Dr. Rosie Milligan, one pound of Nefertiti Coffee from Roger Madison’s Izania marketplace, one product from Keidi Awadu or Bob Law’s Namaskar Health Foods, or even a couple of rolls of toilet tissue from Freedom Paper Company.  C’mon y’all; this is not difficult.

Those folks will use their resources to assist us in our fight for empowerment.  They will do it because their consciousness will allow them to do no less.  Conscious brothers and sisters consider it their “reasonable” service to support one another, to contribute to one another’s causes, and to let their actions speak louder than their words.

We have created a lot Black millionaires by buying their products.  Don’t you think we should be able to look at their work and see a reciprocal benefit to Black folks?  There should be some collective gain.  Have they given us a return on our investment?  Or, have they and their friends and families been the only ones to gain?  Stop supporting shysters, hustlers, and hucksters.

Let’s use more of our money to create “conscious” Black millionaires.  Imagine the possibilities.  Go to www.iamoneofthemillion.com, sign up, and let’s get started.

April 6, 2015

By Frederick H. Lowe

Crime scene tape

Plantation police badge

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - If Murder Inc. was still operating, the nation’s police would be their top competitor.

Murder Inc., which was headed by Louis “Lepke” Buchalter and later by Albert “The Mad Hatter” Anastasia, was the enforcement arm of organized crime in the 1930s and 1940s. During those two decades, Murder Inc. carried out 1,000 contract killings. Anastasia also was known as the “Lord High Executioner.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has reported that 31 days since the release of the White House Task Force report on 21st Century Policing, police have shot and killed 115 people in March, which is an average of more than three people per day, according to a report released by Kanya Bennett, Legislative Counsel for the ACLU in Washington.

“Too many of this [last] month’s victims fit a profile we know all too well—unarmed men of color, some of whom have psychiatric disabilities. Victims like Charly Keunang in Los Angeles, Tony Robinson in Madison, Wisc., Anthony Hill in Dekalb County, Ga. and Brandon Jones in Cleveland, confirm that the problems with policing are national in scope,” Bennett said. There also were large numbers of white and Hispanic men shot and killed by the police.

In February, police shot and killed 85 people and in January, 91 people were killed by police, according to the ACLU.

“This isn’t a problem concentrated in a few rogue police departments. Even those police departments with the best of intentions need reform. Take for example the Department of Justice report that Philadelphia police shot 400 people—over 80 percent of them African American—in seven years. This is in a city where the police commissioner is an author of the very same White House task force report calling for police reform,” Bennett said.

She noted that excessive and deadly use of force, disproportionately used against people of color and people with psychiatric disabilities is driving a national discourse. “Jaywalking and selling individual cigarettes should not result in death, nor should failing to take [psychiatric] medication,” Bennett said.

The history of American policing is rife with racism, dating back to slavery, according to the book “The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove: An Analysis of the U.S. Police,” which was first published in 1975 by the Institute for the Study of Labor and Economic Crisis.

The book notes that slave patrols established through state legislatures by plantation owners were the first police organizations.

“These legislatures established slave codes, starting with South Carolina’s 1712 copy of the Barbados statute. The slave codes, which provided for the brutal slave patrols, both protected the planters’ property rights in human beings and held slaves, despite their chattel status, legally responsible for misdemeanors and felonies.”

After Reconstruction, slave patrols became police departments, according to the book.

The ACLU released several, single-lined pages of the names of people killed by police in 2014, 2013 and so far this year. The organization gathered the data from Google searches, but the ACLU argues that the public needs and deserves legitimate data-collection practices that promote transparency and accountability whenever police use unreasonable force.