Nov. 25, 2014

Grand Jury Does Not Indict Officer Wilson, Ferguson Erupts
By Rebecca Rivas

PHOTO: St. Louis American Newspaper

PHOTO: St. Louis American Newspaper

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from St. Louis American                                     

Pastor/Activist calls for economic mobilization regardless of the Darren Wilson verdict

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, Pastor and Founder of Empowerment Temple Church and President of the Empowerment Movement, based in Baltimore, has announced the launch of a new national economic mobilization effort titled #HandsUpDon'tSpend.

According to a news release, "This strategic collaboration is anchored by faith-based denominations from across the country that have united to demonstrate the power of the African American dollar! The Empowerment Movement, a non-partisan organization, is supported by the AME Church, AME Zion, COGIC, Progressive, Bible Way Churches, Full Gospel, Gospel Music Workshop of America, CME, United Covenant Churches, Harvest Churches, Fellowship of International Word of Faith, Church of God, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Congressional Black Caucus."

According to Bryant, tens of thousands of people are expected to participate in the economic mobilization effort which "encourages supporters to refrain from spending during the most highly-anticipated shopping time of the year; Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, through Cyber Monday."

The intended message to those who join in the movement is, "Flex your power by not shopping during the busiest shopping period of the year - #HandsUpDon'tSpend!", Bryant says.

"Police brutality has no place in modern law enforcement. However, American history continues to repeat itself. Exactly one year after the death of Trayvon Martin, Black America is once again pleading for the justice system to uphold the principles of justice and equality for countless victims including Michael Brown, Eric Garner and John Crawford," Bryant said. "We have come to recognize that petitions and marching have not changed the landscape of our justice system," Bryant announced. "Neither has it changed the alarming rate of police brutality cases against African Americans in America. Therefore, we have decided to shift the impact of our power to what the government understands - the almighty dollar."

Bryant was heavily involved in the Trayvon Martin case as the families' advocate and spiritual advisor, the release states, adding that he serves in the same capacity for the family of Michael Brown.  In support of the #HandsUpDon'tSpend campaign the Empowerment Movement will also support the WalMart workers protest on Black Friday.

Nov. 24, 2014

Homelessness Rises While Temperatures Drop
By Naeemah Z. Kelly

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - As temperatures drop across the nation, a half million homeless people – including men, women, children and families - are scrambling to find new options to shield off the cold. From coast to coast, the number of displaced individuals has risen exponentially – even in the nation’s capital.

“I usually stay out here until about Thanksgiving time but it’s been real cold out here early,” says 46-year-old Wallace Robn, an orange picker from Ocala, Fla. who moved to D.C. in 1994 in search of a better life.

Robn has been homeless and unemployed on and off for the last six years and prefers to stay in the northwest area of the city. His current set up is in between a storage trailer and a few unruly bushes on the side of Banneker Park.

During this interview, he had an old spa table and hospital blankets as a bed, a painter’s bucket as a toilet, and a thick blue economics textbook serving as his daily reading. He had on casual day clothes on top of his dress pants and a grey button-up shirt. His night clothes were the outermost layer meant to ward of the harsh winds of the season.

“I ain't got no problem and I don’t tell nobody I’m homeless. If I don’t find a place to stay because the shelters are all full or the workers won’t let me in then oh well...they don’t care; not even all these politicians,” he said, adding that he needs sustainable help and not just meager handouts.

D.C.’s largest shelter for families has been in the limelight for its bad conditions and lack of security for families; especially since the now 9-year-old Relisha Rudd was taken from D.C. General Family Shelter by a janitor last March.

In mid-October the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Beatriz Otero, Department of Human Services Interim Director Deborah Carroll and Department of General Services Director Brian J. Hanlon made the city’s official plan public to put in “smaller, community-based shelters” that will replace DC General.

There is yet a set date for when the shelter will close because there are currently over 100 families and almost 250 children occupying the old hospital rooms. DC Councilman Jim Graham told WUSA9, “We’ll never get this place closed if we keep filling it up.”

Meanwhile churches and homeless advocates are doing their best to meet the needs of people who come to them for help.

“It’s very challenging in that it’s not enough facilities and not enough space to accommodate those who are homeless. Finding a place is very difficult when all the shelters are full,” says Jo Ann Holston, president of the Anchor of Hope for the Homeless Ministry at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, among the largest congregations in the District.

Especially since so many families lost their homes during the home mortgage crisis and jobs during the economic downturn around 2007, the face of the homeless is no longer the individual with mental illness or substance abuse problems.

“You see a family who last year had a home and this year they don’t,” Holston says.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s (MWCOG) 2014 report, “Homelessness in Metropolitan Washington, states, “11,946 people throughout the metropolitan Washington region indicated that they were homeless.” This is an increase of 3.5 percent from 2013 and an 18 percent increase since 2010.

Across the country, “Homeless people need subsidized homes they can afford. We don’t really have that...there’s been a tremendous increase in families. Women with children historically have been the fastest growing group since the 70s,” said Michael Stoops, a Community Organizer at the National Coalition for the Homeless. He said even though the District is one of America’s “hot spots” for homelessness, “...the latest national number of homeless people is 578,424. This is a 10 percent reduction since 2010.”

Calculating the national homeless rate is difficult because being homeless is very temporary for most Americans. Stoops said that out of that national number, “...30 percent of the nation's homeless live short-term in shelters, outside somewhere – even in cars. The other 70 percent of homeless people live long-term in shelters or transitional housing.”

Henry Plater, 63, works at Banneker Recreation Center, which is also a Hypothermia Shelter for Men in Northwest D.C. between November and March when the temperature is below 32 degrees. Plater has worked there for about 47 years and says he has noticed the increase of homeless people in the area.

“Risk Management says they’re not allowed to come in during the day but we try to not be judgmental or disheartening because nowadays you never know when you might be in that situation,” Plater said.

He said he has also seen a lot more children coming in for help more than before and out of the 30 to 50 men ranging from 20 to 60 years old that use the shelter, many have jobs in construction but just cannot afford their own place.

“These people need homes, cars, and really help maintaining a job. Not a couple dollars and one meal until they find the next one,” Plater says.

The troubling combination of miniscule incomes, rising housing prices, and the closing of shelters means there will not be an end to homeless children and families in the near future.

The good thing, says Holston, is that “the city is determined that no one will be left outside during this season. Someplace, somewhere will be found for you.”

Nov. 24, 2014

To Be Equal 
Gun Safety and Minimum Wage Big Winners in Midterm Elections

Marc H. Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “The midterm elections have upended the old tropes about what you can or can’t do or say about guns during campaign season…This year gun sense champions around the country were re-elected.  And campaigns around the country showed that candidates can run on the gun issue, not away from it – and win.” Everytown for Gun Safety memo

There’s no getting around it.  November 4^th was not a good day for many of the ideals and policies supported by the National Urban League and the communities we serve.  In the coming months, we can expect to see renewed battles over the Affordable Care Act, immigration, voting rights and a host of other issues affecting jobs and opportunity for middle and working class Americans.  But all is not lost.  There were a few bright spots on Election Day.  For example, four states passed legislation to raise the minimum wage – Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.  This follows a growing trend, considering that as of August 2014, 23 states and the District of Columbia had minimum wage rates higher than the federal rate of $7.25.  More states are expected to follow as the debate over a federal minimum wage remains deadlocked in Congress.

Another election-day victory that has not gotten much attention was the passage of a major gun safety measure in Washington State and the election of national and state legislators who openly supported common sense gun safety legislation in the face of vigorous opposition by the National Rifle Association (NRA).  In the only state where voters had the opportunity to directly cast a ballot for or against a specific gun safety measure, the people of Washington State voted to require background checks for all firearms sales, including at gun shows and on the Internet.  This was an historic victory that may pave the way for other states.  As with the minimum wage, states are not waiting for federal gun safety legislation.  They are leading the way.  According to a recent report on MSNBC.com, on November 4, Washington State became “the seventh state to require background checks on all gun sales and the fifth (after Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware and New York) to do so since the shooting inside Sandy Hook Elementary School.”

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, who in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting signed one of the nation’s toughest gun safety bills in 2013, was among a number of gun safety champion midterm election winners.  In Maryland, Attorney General-elect Brian Frosh made no secret of his support for common sense gun safety measures, and in Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada and Oregon, winning state legislative candidates highlighted their gun safety records throughout their campaigns.

Everytown for Gun Safety, the organization backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and for which I serve on its advisory board, has been in the forefront of many recent state efforts to pass common sense gun laws.  The organization mounted a vigorous campaign in support of the Washington State gun safety bill.  It has now set its sights on Nevada where it has already collected hundreds of thousands of signatures in support of a 2016 background check ballot initiative.  According to a post-election memo from the group, “For decades, the gun lobby has held the field to themselves.  We’re finally meeting them on their turf and showing them – and the legislators in their pockets – that Americans will stand up for public safety.  If elected officials won’t change the laws that make it all too easy for dangerous people to get guns, we’ll change our elected officials…”

Everytown for Gun Safety President John Feinblatt added, “When Americans vote on public safety measures to prevent gun violence, gun safety wins.”  But as we applaud this important midterm election victory, we cannot rest until every state and the federal government honor the demands of 90% of Americans who support background checks and other commonsense gun safety laws nationwide.