August 10, 2014

From Voting Rights Act to Voting Rights Amendment
By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - One of the greatest weeks in progressive political history started on July 30, 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid bills into law. It ended on Aug. 6, when LBJ penned his signature on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, an act that he described as “a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory won on any battlefield.”

We should take a moment to remember that wonderful week, 49 years ago. Progressive victories like those do not come along very often. Our victories did not start in LBJ’s White House, of course. You could say that we began to walk the freedom road toward the Voting Rights Act on the day that Rosa Parks sat down on the bus in Montgomery, Ala., and refused to give it up. Or you could point to the day in Greensboro over half a century ago, when four brave North Carolina A&T students sat down at the lunch counter, and refused to move. Or you could give great credit to Dr. King.

I described that outside/inside process in my 1996 speech to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago: “Desegregated public accommodations came from Greensboro and Birmingham, from the sit-ins and marches and street heat. From we, the people, in motion. . . . We won voting rights on the bridge at Selma. We, the people, provided the answer.”

Those progressive landmarks are now under attack. Conservatives have never liked Medicare or Medicaid. (Conservative icon Ronald Reagan derided Medicare as “socialized medicine” years before he was even elected governor of California.) Nor have right-wingers ever liked the Voting Rights Act. The neo-Confederate wing of the GOP in particular has always chafed under federal supervision of its (often unfair) voting procedures. But public sentiment in favor of expanded voting since Dr. King’s death has remained strong enough to withstand most of their attacks.

Then came the backlash election of 2010, when Tea Party voters who claimed to be upset about the deficit — a deficit brought on by President George W. Bush, but ignored until the first African-American president took office — turned out in big numbers and moved the House of Representatives and many state legislatures solidly to the right. However, this tea party is not a Boston Tea Party, the kind that launched the American Revolution — this is a Fort Sumter tea party, a nullification tea party, a states’ rights tea party.

This led to an immediate attack on the voting rights gains we made 49 years ago, with a rollback of voting rights in dozens of GOP-controlled statehouses across the nation, including cutbacks on early voting, and increased requirements for voter verification using ID cards that far too many poor and minority voters do not have. On top of that, progressives were hit hard by the most ideological, corporate, activist and conservative Supreme Court in modern times — a court that last year gutted the Voting Rights Act, by only a 5-4 margin. We, the people, need to get back in motion.

We, the people, need to provide an answer to this attack. Civil rights groups are working hard right now to try to salvage a compromise that can keep the Voting Rights Act in play, but given the electoral benefits that the GOP reaps from unfair voting laws, our immediate chances to retain a fair, unbiased voting system all across the country are not great. We need a guaranteed right to vote. And to counteract our states’ rights system of voting, with a different set of restrictions in each of the 50 states plus D.C., we need a federal voting system. We need one set of rules for everyone, with a level playing field for all voters everywhere, North and South, urban and rural. We need a solution that galvanizes voters, that helps us mobilize to push back against those who would weaken civil rights and voting rights.

At the National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, we are organizing support for HJRes 44, a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to vote, introduced by Rep. Mark Pocan and Rep. Keith Ellison. (To find out more about HJRes 44, go to http://www.fairvote.org/reforms/right-to-vote-amendment/ .) This is a long-term fight, but since the right to vote is held up as one of the greatest things about being an American, it should be a fight we can mobilize around, build a large and strong grassroots movement, and eventually win. Keep hope alive! 

August 10, 2014

A Vacation Policy
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - I don’t do vacations well.  I have to be pushed and prodded, just about guilt tripped, into taking time off.  Sure, I’ll take an hour here, an evening there, to read a book or play word games. But it just about takes an act of God to get me to go play.

Yet, when I play I find a lightness of spirit, rejuvenation, a rush of fresh ideas, a cessation of frustration.  I play and remind myself of an 8-year-old me, pigtails (ugh) flying, water fighting, immersed in a careless and carefree world. I like to think that those few days, or maybe weeks in August prepared me for the coming school year. And I always think of September 1 as the new year, the day when many schools open and when we start our academic year over.

Few folks, it is said, work in August. Congress is on break and will accomplish nothing (as if they accomplished anything when they were not on break).  That means that Washington, DC is kind of empty and restaurants you may have waited a month to reserve are open for walk in diners. New Yorkers have deserted the Big Apple for the Hamptons, and Bostonians have run to Martha’s Vineyard or the Cape. But there are some folks who must work in August; because they don’t have the same vacation privileges that so many do.

A year ago, Forbes writer Tanya Mohn wrote that the United States is one of a few developed countries that does not require paid vacation for employees. While many who work for large corporations are allowed one or two weeks of paid vacation (or more if they have longer tenure), one in four workers receive no paid vacation.  Most of them are low wage workers, or people who work for small businesses.   Perhaps they need the “chill” time more than the professionals who earn it easily. But while workers in other developed countries have the right to vacation time, many in our country do not.

In most European countries, including France, Italy, and Germany, workers are entitled to about 20 days a year. Many of the shops in Paris are closed in august because so many people have taken vacation time.  Inconvenient?  That’s just how it is.  People need time off to relax, replenish, and revive. In Japan and Canada, people are entitled to at least 10 days off. That’s less than the European Union countries, but more than the United States. What do these countries see that we don’t? They see that a relaxed workforce is a more productive workforce. They see that workplace stress is an issue. They understand that people “snap” when there is an unrelenting amount of pressure they must deal with.

I write about this as a labor economist, a person who studies workplaces, their designs and their outcomes. I write about this as a person who has managed people and who understands their challenges. I write about this as a person who will not take a vacation unless you make me. And I write about this as an African-American who understands how infrequently African-American workers have the opportunity to simply chill.

African-American families earn about $31,000 a year, compared to about $50,000 for Whites.  African-Americans have much higher unemployment rates than the overall average. African- Americans are overrepresented in the number of people holding multiple jobs.  African-Americans are both the most needy of chill time and the least likely to afford it.

Those who work hardest and get the fewest benefits need vacations more than the rest of us do. The Starbucks barista, standing on her feet all day, and fake smiling when somebody asks for a triple chai latte, the housekeeper at a hotel who hopes the person who left her room a mess also left a tip, the sidewalk sweeper who watches the street he just cleaned muck up in an instant, these are the folks who need vacations.

Our national policy does not entitle people to vacation time, sick leave, or other kinds of leave. Too often, employers provide it as a “perk” not a necessity. Still, when you look at our unproductive Congress taking a month-long break, you have to wonder why everyone doesn’t get his or her perk. Or at least a week, at least two weeks, something.

Julianne Malveaux is an author, economist, and educator based in Washington, DC.

August 10, 2014

To Be Equal
FCC Chair and Commissioner Make Critical Strides Toward Wireless Inclusion
By Marc H. Morial

“Nothing is more seminal to our existence than how we connect.  Today we are on the cusp of what could become the greatest network-driven change in history.” - Tom Wheeler, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Tom Wheeler and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn took an important step towards ensuring that communities of color, emerging entrepreneurs and urban communities will not be disadvantaged or left behind by the growth of the Internet.  Heeding appeals from the civil rights community and others in support of economic inclusion, Chairman Wheeler circulated a proposal to open new opportunities for small and growing businesses in the mobile marketplace.  According to Roger Sherman, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief, the purpose for “updating the Commission’s approach to small business participation in wireless auctions is simple: To provide innovative, smaller companies the opportunity to build wireless businesses that can spur additional investment and bring more choices to consumers.”

Although the wireless industry continues to grow at an accelerated rate, current FCC rules have virtually shut out small businesses from any meaningful participation by setting special rules that place them at a disadvantage to the major players.  Consolidation in the wireless industry has created significant barriers for these entrepreneurs, making the building of their own wireless networks unfeasible, and current FCC rules favor larger companies in bidding on available spectrum.  As the FCC’s Roger Sherman further suggests, we must level the playing field where “more than 95 percent of existing customers are served by the top four providers.”

FCC Chair Wheeler and Commissioner Clyburn are both strong advocates of expanding diversity throughout the telecommunications industry.  In appointing Wheeler, a long-time telecommunications entrepreneur and industry leader as FCC Chairman last year, President Obama called him “the Bo Jackson of Telecom” for being the only person inducted into both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and the Wireless Hall of Fame. (Bo Jackson is the only athlete to be named an all-star in both professional football and professional baseball.)  Mignon Clyburn has been an FCC Commissioner since 2009 and briefly served as the first woman head of the FCC when she was appointed Acting Chairwoman in 2013.

Chairman Wheeler and Commissioner Clyburn are addressing a problem that advocates have noted for years: changes to the Designated Entity rules affecting small, minority and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) have contributed to their declining participation and sustainability.

The proposal circulated to the Commission last week by Chairman Tom Wheeler is an important first step towards updating the FCC’s approach to spectrum auctions to reflect 21st century business realities and enable MWBEs a more effective on-ramp to opportunities in the wireless arena.

My statement released last Friday in support of the proposal said in part, “Over the course of fifty-six wireless auctions during the past 20 years, very few small MWBEs have been able to participate effectively in the FCC’s spectrum auctions and win licenses.  To deliver on the promise of innovation, competition and universal deployment of broadband and other advanced wireless services that are changing America as we know it, the inclusion of MWBEs as licensees and facilities-based spectrum owners – not just service providers or mobile application developers – must be an integral part of the wireless industry and the policies of the FCC.”  We applaud the leadership of Chairman Wheeler and Commissioner Clyburn on this and other efforts to expand diversity in the telecommunications industry and urge the other Commissioners to join them.  We look forward to contributing to the new proposal and working with the Commission on ways to improve the Designated Entity rules in time for next year's broadcast incentive auction.

August 10, 2014

President Obama's Historic African Leaders' Summit
By Dr. E. Faye Williams

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - I had the most incredible experience at the beginning of President Barack Obama’s historic African Leaders’ Summit when I was invited to attend a reception welcoming African Presidents to our nation's Capitol.  At the reception, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H. E. Mr. Erastus Mwencha, gave excellent remarks on his hopes for the Summit. He is a Pan Africanist with over thirty years of progressive experience in policy formulation and institutional transformation at national, regional and continental levels in Africa.

He is an ardent advocate and engineer of regional integration as a leading principle for Africa’s development.  He passionately believes in team work and the growth of Africa. That is exactly what all the African leaders seemed to favor as so many gathered for the call of President Obama. He was elected by the 54 member States of the African Union and re-elected in 2012 by 98% of the vote! That got a chuckle as DC Mayor Vincent Gray joked that maybe the 2% should get tickets while in DC!

I followed the discussions and activities, eager to know details of some of the plans. To summarize, some of the President’s remarks at the beginning of the Summit,  he announced that a number of American businesses have  committed over $14 billion in investments for the continent of Africa ranging from construction, clean energy, banking, information technology and more.  It is expected that investments will deepen U.S. economic engagement in Africa, fueling growth that will support broader African prosperity and emerging markets for US businesses, which will support jobs in both the United States and Africa.

There was focus on strengthening trade and financial ties between the United States and Africa, seeking to create partnerships that will promote trade, accelerate job growth, and encourage investment.  There was an effort to promote U.S. private sector engagement in Africa in the areas of finance and capital investment, infrastructure, power and energy, agriculture, consumer goods, and information and communication technology.

Secretary Jack Lew spoke, highlighting the importance of capital markets to private sector investment in Africa-- the second fastest growing region in the world.  Secretary Lew underscored the growing strength of the U.S. economy, building on the economic data we saw in the July jobs report which showed that total job growth exceeded 200,000 for the sixth straight month – the first time that has happened since 1997. We also learned that the U.S. economy grew strongly in the second quarter.  The growing relationship with Africa has the potential of further strengthening our economy.

At least a segment of the Summit dealt specifically with investing in women, peace and prosperity. It highlighted  the importance of African women’s leadership and meaningful participation in government, the economy, and civil society — as a means to accelerate economic development, improve health and educational indicators, advance democratic development, and improve the safety and security of all citizens.

Leading up to the Summit, President Obama spoke to Young African leaders, putting the program in the spotlight.  He hosted a Town Hall meeting with the 500 leaders selected as the first class for the Mandela Washington Fellowship. First Lady Michelle Obama received lots of accolades speaking to the group of young leaders, too. She delivered powerful remarks on her own heritage, and the importance of promoting education and empowering women in Africa. “No country can ever truly flourish,” she said, “if it stifles the potential of its women, and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.”

Since this was the largest gathering ever of African leaders by any U.S. President, all of us should feel a deep sense of pride in this historic meeting called by President Obama and the almost 100 percent response from African leaders.

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

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