July 20, 2014

To Be Equal 
Bipartisan Jobs Bill Tackles Urban and Youth Unemployment

By Marc H. Morial

“Supporting education and training for our youth is a smart investment that can help rebuild local economies and pay dividends over the long term.” U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

“The future of our economy depends on an educated, skilled workforce that encompasses all individuals – even the most disconnected and at risk.” Congressman Chaka Fattah

Just when it seemed Congress was no longer capable of working together on any level to serve the best interests of the American people, on July 9 members of both parties in the House of Representatives joined forces to pass a new bipartisan jobs bill, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).  With the passage of WIOA, millions of unemployed and under-employed workers and urban youth of color can now receive the job and skills training, as well as the support services, they need to chart a path to a better future.  The bipartisan vote in the House was 415-6.  The Senate passed the bill in June with a 95-3 bipartisan majority, and it is now headed to President Obama’s desk for signing.

The decade-plus struggle for Congressional renewal of the nation’s preeminent job training legislation was finally won thanks in large part to the tenacity, commitment and leadership of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Rep. Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania.  As co-sponsors of the Urban Jobs Act, a bill advocated and championed by the National Urban League, they helped craft bi-partisan legislation that responds to the education, skills, and employment needs of millions of individuals who are unemployed or under-employed and face multiple barriers to employment.  The National Urban League and the advocacy work of our Affiliates on the Urban Jobs Act were the impetus for many of the local youth provisions that are now a part of the WIOA, as well as provisions for funding to non-profit organizations that operate effective workforce training programs.  These include a focus on the needs of youth, aged 16-24, including high school drop-outs, and individuals with multiple barriers to employment, such as ex-offenders, youth who are in or have aged out of the foster care system and the long-term unemployed.

Passage of this legislation represents a special victory for communities of color where unemployment continues to outpace the national average.  In June, overall unemployment fell to 6.1% and the rate for whites is now at 5.3%.  But African American unemployment remains in double-digits at 10.7%.  The rate for Hispanics is 7.8%.  Most disturbingly, African American and Hispanic youth continue to experience extremely high rates of unemployment.   According to a joint statement from Senator Gillibrand and Congressman Fattah, “The average unemployment rate for minority youth in May was almost 24 percent for African Americans and just over 12 percent for Hispanics.  Approximately 5.8 million youth, or nearly 15 percent of 16 to 24 year olds, are neither employed nor attending school, and as a result not developing the skills, education and job experience necessary for quality jobs.”

Passage of the Urban Jobs Act provisions in WIOA will help reduce youth unemployment, strengthen our economy and give millions of young people of color access to the education and skills needed for success in work and in life.  The legislation also complements the National Urban League’s extraordinary $100 million, five-year Jobs Rebuild America initiative, which is bringing together resources from the government, business and non-profit sectors to help bring jobs and hope back to hard-pressed communities – reducing unemployment, creating jobs and expanding economic opportunity in 50 communities throughout the nation.  

The reauthorization of WIOA is also a victory for bipartisanship and responsible government action, two things that have been lacking recently in Washington.  As President Obama commented, “Today’s vote helps ensure that our workers can earn the skills employers are looking for right now and that American businesses have the talent pool it takes to compete and win in our global economy.  I look forward to signing it into law and hope Congress will continue to come together to make progress for America’s working families.”   

We intend to keep up the fight to see that they do.

July 20, 2014

Blame and the Fear of Our Babies
By Dr. E. Faye Williams

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – I received an email from one of my column's readers, and felt strongly enough about his concerns to address them in this column.  His thoughts follow: ​​

In my hometown, senseless murders are being committed by youth and these senseless murders are occurring all across the country. Where are our youth learning the behaviors to be violent, heartless, thoughtless, and murderous? That’s the question we must immediately address because we’re losing precious people, good law abiding, loving, and hardworking people who are being killed by kids who have no goals, no vision, and no passion.

Some blame single Black mothers who are not promoting messages of violence.  They’re not telling their kids to commit home invasions, murders, robberies, assaults or to sell drugs. Single mothers aren’t telling kids to be violent. They’re not telling kids to 'give snitches stitches' or to kill snitches. They’re not telling kids to carry AK-47s, Tech Nines, 45 calibers, and 'nines.' They’re not telling kids to rob gun shops. They’re not telling kids to shoot 'niggas' that "diss" them. They’re not telling kids to sag. They’re not telling kids to tat their bodies up with ghetto slang or that education is unimportant.

We know the people who are delivering these messages to our youth and they need to be interrupted because the messages are impactful. The impact isn't positive…and it has made our elders afraid of our babies.

Like my reader, I know many who’re desperately seeking answers about senseless violence that disproportionately impacts the Black community.  I was reared by a single mother who was the primary source of character-building for 9 children who’re all law-abiding and productive citizens, so I decided that someone should provide a voice for single mothers.  For this week, I’m that someone.

There’s no category of motherhood devoid of blame for poor parenting.  There’re single mothers who fail miserably, but there’re married mothers who fail just as miserably.  The 'best' of mothers can’t be held to the impossible standard of doing the right thing all the time.

TV host Melissa Harris Perry was condemned for a video ad she made that suggested children 'belonged' to the greater community instead of only their parents.  Many missed the wisdom of her words.  We no longer reside in communities of limited social contact and access. We’ve forgotten the wisdom of community rearing practices we once had.to keep children walking the straight and narrow path. Melissa's ad was an appeal for us to reclaim the value of being concerned with "our" children’s development, and that we no longer ignore the ills that influence them.

We once had a community ethic of "the possibilities of our potential."  We knew the immediacy of the oppression we were experiencing, but we held the collective belief that our future would ultimately be determined by our belief in ourselves and the effort we exerted to achieve our goals. We held to the belief that education was the pathway to success.

Single mothers do struggle to rear their children, but THEIR children are as much a part of our future as are OUR children.  We can’t sit idly and accept the actions of those who would deliberately lead our children astray.

We can’t resign ourselves to accept business interests and pawns who pollute the minds of our children with violence or music that destroys self-esteem or the personhood of others. We can’t allow peddlers of misery and mayhem to lessen the belief that our children have in their ability to succeed.

As our communities did in the past, we must resolve to support the parenting efforts of all. We must take advantage of teachable moments to encourage our children to reach the greatness that rests within them.

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

July 20, 2014

Feed a Child or Exploit a Child
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The South African charity, "Feed a Child",  (http://www.feedachild.co.za/) chose to highlight child poverty in South Africa by portraying a little Black boy being fed like a dog by a seemingly affluent White woman. In the ad the boy has his head on the woman’s lap, at her feet, on his knees, and licking off her fingers.  The point, they say?  According to the ad’s tagline “The average dog eats better than millions of children.”

The ad ran for about five days in South Africa and its airing generated such a maelstrom that "Feed a Child" took the ad down and “unreservedly” issued an apology.  Ogilvy and Mather, the international agency that produced the ad, also apologized “unreservedly.  In her apology, Alza Rautenbach says, “Like a child, I don't see race or politics - the only thing that is important to me is to make a difference in a child's life and to make sure that that child is fed on a daily basis." I wonder exactly how long this woman has been living in South Africa if she “doesn’t see race”.  While the institution of apartheid no longer exists, the structural basis for apartheid is alive and well, given the level of poverty, the lack of jobs, and limited opportunities for education. Either Ms. Rautenbach and her Ogilvy and Mather colleagues have their heads in the sand, or they are being disingenuous.

Not only is this ad racist, but it reinforces the tendency of some white people to associate people of African descent with animals, or as some sub-species, not human beings.   In the United States this harks back to slavery when African Americans were seen as good enough to work to exhaustion, good enough to have sex with, but not good enough, by law, to be taught to read and write.  Not good enough to be treated equally.  In colonized parts of the African continent and Latin America, the same parallels were often made.  Europeans justified their exploitation by referring to African people (or Latin American Indian, or the people that Christopher Columbus “discovered” as “uncivilized” and less human than the colonizer. Sub-human beings.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle have been portrayed as subhuman by racist bloggers.  The New York Post published a cartoon, in 2009, of a dead ape, with the caption “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill. “  After a week of protests, Rupert Murdoch issues a tepid apology.  At least the Feed A Child team chose apologize “unreservedly”.

The Feed a Child people are, at best, insensitive louts.  They aren’t the only ones at fault though.  The ad agency’s willingness to produce this ad is repugnant, and anyone who is thinking of using this agency might want to think again.  There were people on the set when this ad was produced, or behind the scene in edit.  Did even one of them have made some noise, or are they so accustomed to African people being treated as animals that they had no quarrel with this offensive ad?  It suggests that there were few, if any, Africans involved in the development and production of this reprehensible ad.  Perhaps that is why Alza Rautenbach does not see color.

The goals of the Feed A Child, founded in 2010, are stated on their website.  They say they feed children “of no particular color or “ethical (sic)” group.  They also say one of their goals is to “restore dignity”. Do these Feed A Child people really think it is dignified to portray an African child as a dog?

The Feed A Child organization may well have good intentions but “good intentions are not good enough”.  If they can’t respect the people they are trying to help, then they really don’t need to help.   Their ad depicts the noblesse oblige than many colonized people find offensive.  Instead of having an African child crawl around like a dog, why not show a full dog dish and a half-full child’s dish to make a point.  Treating a child as a dog reinforces the notion of white superiority that Caucasians like Alza Raugenbach embrace.

As for Ogilvy and Mather, they really ought to know better.  What is the purpose of having an international company if there is no international sensitivity to these matters?  Ogilvy and Mather was founded in 1948 in New York City.  They’ve seen their share of social transformation.  Someone at the agency should have had the integrity to put a foot down and said “no way”.  Instead, they chose profits over people.

Julianne Malveaux is a DC based economist and author.

July 20, 2014

Guns and Violence: The Sad Beat Continues 
Week of Non-Violence August 16-23

By Dr. Barbara Reynolds

News Analysis

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - At the recent "On the Run" tour concert in Philadelphia with half a million people attending,  Beyonce’ and Jay- Z portrayed the pistol packing Bonnie and Clyde outlaw couple with lot of fake guns and fireworks.

Meanwhile across the nation this July 4^th weekend there were real drama, real tears, real guns, injuries and death.  A small snapshot:  Eighty-five people were shot in Chicago, fourteen killed which included a 14 and 15-year-old boy shot by police. In Rocky Mountain, N.C. grandmothers dived for cover, shielding young ones under their bodies as shots rang out at a picnic. And on Monday, Wanda Ross, a minister at DC’s Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church learned her nephew Joshua Johnson, 26, had been robbed, shot in the head and was on life support, and now he has died.

Nearly all of shootings were Black on Black crime and data show Blacks are more likely to be killed by gunfire than White people. The Department of Justice reported that in 2010, the rate of firearm homicides for Black people was 14.6 per 100,000 people. By comparison, the rate for White people was 1.9 per 100,000.

So what does the platinum pair Beyonce’ and Jay-Z so honored by the Obama White House have to do with the homicide epidemic sweeping across Black communities? Some would argue a lot.

Keith Magee, a Distinguished Senior Fellow, of the University of Birmingham in England attended the concert.  He says, “I was astonished by their masterful artistry and capable performances, but was equally astounded by the thematic thread of Bonnie and Clyde.  To think that they would utilize outlaws and robbers noted for gang violence and murders in the midst of our current crisis of violence was disappointing.

“Though they were careful to reiterate throughout the concert “this isn’t real”, the reality of what is happening in cities and town across American is. Jay-Z, a product of the Marcy Projects of Brooklyn, first hand knows the impact of gangs, gun violence and bloodshed. Beyonce’ was Time Magazine’s Person of The Year and therefore has global impact on young girls. The two of them should perpetuate positive, life affirming messages to the audience they serve.”

To raise these issues is not to blame the current murderous cycle on Beyonce’, Jay-Z and their filthy rich hip hop cohorts.  Certainly, parents, professors, preachers and others have a role. But those performers who have struck gold promoting drugs, guns and violence should take some ownership of the problems that lethal combination has created. They must be challenged to write and perform lyrics that inspire the young to value life, education and peace.

Can’t be done?  James Brown “Black and I am Proud" inspired a generation as did Aretha Franklin’s "Respect" anthem.  Whether multi-millionaire idols like Beyoncé and J-Z own up to it or not they are role models. Their most popular lyrics have become part of the reality narrative mixed with guns and bravado that are raising the death tolls across America.

Badly needed are alternatives, which groups such as the Black Women for Positive Change are working to provide.  They are sponsoring a Harmony-jam for young poets, musicians and singers at Metropolitan AME church in Washington DC on August 23.  The Harmony-jam will highlight young people who provide positive, inspirational messages as part of their National Summit on Non-violence.

“We believe in the transformative power of music, art, poetry and rap. When culture leaders, such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg follow the lead of the top selling composer like Pharrell Williams they can greatly reduce the violence in the world”, says Dr. Stephanie Myers, national co-chair of the Black Women for Positive Change. She has also announced a National Week of Non-Violence focused on anti-violence activities August 16-23. An increasing number of mayors and activists have joined in.  

The song, “Happy” has proven there is an international appetite for optimism and positive messages.  We are calling on our musical geniuses to get busy and demonstrate their power in positive non-violent ways,” Myers added.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Beyonce’s and Jay- Z's gyrating Bonnie and Clyde tribute has long since been overshadowed by police sirens and yellow tape. This is not the first time Joshua has been shot, according to his aunt, Wanda Ross.  He was in a wheelchair in his home as a result of injuries received from a shooting in 2005. Robbery is the suspected motive for the shooting.

Ross says, “Our whole family is in pain. If we lose Joshua, that will be two of my nephews gone. His brother was recently killed in Iraq. Sadly enough her own son, Stephen Anthony Ross, Jr. 20, was shot and killed in May, 1990.

So the sad beat goes on-- guns and violence—and we all wonder if it will ever end?