April 7, 2014

Some Say King Assassination Should Become Day of Remembrance
By Brelaun Douglas

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Approximately 6 p.m. central time. April 4, 1968. Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tenn. A shot rings out. A body hits the floor. Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr. is dead.

April 3, 1968, King was in Memphis supporting a sanitation worker’s strike as a part of his fledgling “Poor People’s Campaign”, which focused on economic justice and equality.

The next day, as he was standing on the balcony of his motel room, a gunshot rang through the air and King hit the floor. At 7:05 p.m. at a local hospital he was pronounced dead at the age of 39, ending a world legacy of civil and human rights advocacy that had afforded him a Nobel Peace Prize.

Many believe King knew his fate, implied by words spoken during his final sermon preached at Memphis’ Mason Temple Church of God in Christ on April 3:  “I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”

As well as the story of King’s assassination is known, it seems that many are quiet when it comes to remembering the day in the 21^st Century.

Ronald Bolden, a retired principal from Louisiana, says that this day needs to be better “integrated into American history rather than just setting aside a Martin Luther King Jr. Day.” Bolden, who himself participated in the Civil Rights Movement while a student at Southern University and A&M College in 1959-1963, vividly remembers the day that Dr. King was assassinated.

He was working in New Jersey at a printing company and remembers people all of a sudden began to cry. When he finally was able to ascertain that King had been shot, his “first emotion was extreme anger…I wanted to do physical harm to somebody,” he said. “I wanted to defend his honor and do something violent.”

And many did turn to violence as a response.

All across the nation from Newark to Los Angeles to Chicago to Washington D.C., people began to riot in protests of King’s death. In the District of Columbia, the nation’s capital riots consisted of looting, burning of stores, and even deaths, according to the Library of Congress. Troops were called in to assist local police and in Chicago, the Illinois National Guard was called in to help the police there.

But Bolden did not resort to violence as he would have liked. “I believed in the MLK doctrine to turn the other cheek,” he says. And now, 46 years later, he wants to see the day better remembered in the community and in the schools. “I think what we need to come up with a curriculum to teach the things he stood for and the things that he did and how it impacts 2014,” he says. “Have a course on pre-civil rights movement vs right now” and acknowledge what he stood for and the impact he and he his death had on what we are currently living through.

Delores Anderson, who was in junior high school in Los Angeles at the time of the assignation, agrees with Bolden on there being a need to better remember the day. “There most definitely should be a day of remembrance, not just MLK day, but also recognizing the day of his death/assignation,” she says. She views his death as “a great loss” and “a disaster to the people and to society” and would like to see people acknowledge it more rather than only focus on MLK day once a year.

But a day of remembrance may be something that mainly those who lived during King’s time would like to see put into action.

Howard University freshman political science major, Neka Duckette-Randolph of Chicago sees no point in it. “It’s a nice idea to observe that he died and did so much for the Black community” but she adds it will do nothing for the community to observe the date of his death. “What knowledge is that pushing? … What motive or ending do we have in doing that? If it’s something to observe just for the sake of observing then there’s really no point to that.”

Oakland, Calif. native Gevon Taylor agrees with Duckette-Randolph. He feels that as Black Americans, we should know such dates because they are important to our history, but having a day of remembrance dedicated specifically to the death of King will do little for African-American culture. “Us remembering and having a day dedicated to his death doesn’t advance anything," he says. “It doesn’t add anything and it doesn’t subtract anything.”

But, some who experienced the impact of the King assassination are clear on what such a day of remembrance would advance.

Playwright A. Peter Bailey, whose script, “Martin, Malcolm, Medgar” has been read before dozens of audiences, says to remember the King assassination is a stark reminder of what is left to be done for equality, which is yet to be attained.

“It would not be a celebration but a memorial,” he said. “The King assassination completely transformed and derailed the Civil Rights Movement and it has not recovered to this day. Therefore, the memorial service would talk about what the man was doing, have people to stand and read excerpts from Where Do We Go from Here, Chaos or Community [King’s last book] and cause people to understand what we lost with that assassination.”

The play, “Martin, Malcolm, Medgar” depicts the three assassinated civil rights leaders - King, Malcolm X (1965) and Medgar Evers (1963) - having a conversation in “the hereafter” as they observe modern day events on earth.  On April 4 this year, the play was read at Eau Claire High School in Columbia, S.C. and at D.C.s Martin Luther King Library in February.

Bailey, a journalist who was an associate of Malcolm X, says the King Holiday which celebrates his life and work around his January 15 birthday are not enough. To ignore the King assassination ignores the unfinished civil rights agenda, he says. “We are basically allowing the forces behind the assassination to win by not following through.”

April 6, 2014

Black Unemployment Rate Climbs to 12.4 Percent

Jobless rate down for Black men, but up for Black women. African-American jobless rate is much higher than other racial and ethnic groups

By Frederick H. Lowe

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The nation's nonfarm businesses hired 192,000 workers in March, but the overall seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for African Americans rose to 12.4 percent compared to 12 percent in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday morning.

The jobless rate for Black men 20 years old and old was 12.1 percent in March compared to 12.9 percent in February.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for black women 20 years old and older, however, rose to 11.0 percent in March compared to 9.9 percent in February, BLS reported.

Although the jobless rate for black men dropped in February, the unemployment rate for African Americans exceeds all the other major worker groups except teen agers 16 to 19 years old, which was 18.3 percent in March the same as February.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for white men 20 years old and older was 5.3 percent in March compared to 5.5 percent in February. The jobless rate for white women was 5.3 percent in March, up from 5.1 percent in February.

The unemployment rate for Hispanics continues to decline, according to BLS.  The unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in March compared to 8.1 percent in February.

The Asian unemployment rate, which was not seasonally, was 5.4 percent in March compared to 6.0 percent in February.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics did not provide an explanation as to why the jobless rate increased for blacks overall, but Dr. Heidi Shierholz, a labor force participation economist for the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., gave an explanation.

"The increase was entirely among women.  But this is one of those cases where I wouldn’t make much of it, because there is so much month-to-month volatility. I don’t think the labor market for black workers is deteriorating right now, but it is getting better very, very slowly," Dr. Shierholz said.

The number of unemployed persons was unchanged at 10.5 million and the unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent.  The number of long-term unemployed or those out work 27 weeks or more was 3.7 million and there were 698,000 discouraged workers in March, which was slightly down from a year ago.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that construction, food services and drinking places, health care, mining, logging, professional business services, architectural and engineering services added jobs.

April 6, 2014

U. S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has been invited to speak

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, will deliver the keynote address at a one-day conference in Chicago that is being held in the wake of 14 Caribbean nations demanding reparations and an apology from European countries for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Prime Minister Gonsalves said reparations represent the last stage of colonialism and the first step of social and economic development for Caribbean countries, the site of a large number of slave revolts.

The conference, which will be held at 2:00 p. m. April 19th at Chicago State University, is designed to spark the long-dormant reparations movement in the United States, Don Rojas, a conference spokesperson, tells The NorthStar News & Analysis. The event, which is called "Revitalizing the Reparations Movement,” is free, and it is expected to attract more than 500 people, Rojas said.

"Our ancestors will be pleased that the reparations movement is being re-energized from the Caribbean Islands," said Dr. Conrad Worrill, director and professor of Northeastern Illinois University Center for Inner City Studies, and one of the event's organizers.
 

The reparations represent the last stage of colonialism and the first step of social and economic development for the Caribbean countries.

HR-40, which was introduced during the 111th Congress in 2009, would establish a commission to study slavery from 1619 to 1865 and its impact on African Americans living today.

Although most Americans associate reparations with blacks, after the Civil War, the federal government paid reparations to white slave owners for the loss of their slaves, who were considered property, Dr. Lewis Gordon, a professor of Philosophy, Africana Studies, and Judaic Studies at the University of Connecticut.

“Reparations are recompense for loss of property,” Prof. Gordon said. “The trick is that black people couldn’t own property; they were considered property.”

4 Million Enslaved In The U.S.
The legislation found that approximately 4 million Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the period from 1619 to 1865 in the United States and colonies that became the United States.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade began around 1450 in Spain and Portugal and later involved Caribbean countries.The Caribbean was the site of numerous slave revolts, work slowdowns and sabotage of plantation operations.

In addition, Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Chicago-based of Nation of Islam, is scheduled to speak.

After the Civil War, the federal government paid reparations to white slave owners for the loss of their slaves, who were considered property.
A similar conference was held in Chicago in 2011, but the upcoming event follows a notice by the Caribbean Community Secretariat that it will present a plan to Britain, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Spain and Portugal seeking reparations and repatriation to Africa. The Caribbean Community Secretariat is comprised of 15 Caribbean nations, joined in a common market.

Martyn Day, a London-based attorney for the Caribbean organization that goes by the acronym CARICOM, said a lawsuit has not yet been filed.

CARICOM member states are: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Monterrat, whose foreign affairs are governed by Britain, is not participating with the other CARICOM members, Rojas said.

"A claim is due to be presented to western governments reasonably shortly. It will only be if they refuse to listen to the claim or give it short shift that a legal case will be brought," Day, senior partner of Leigh Day solicitors, wrote in an email to The NorthStar News & Analysis.

Sweden is open to negotiations
Sweden has indicated that it wants to enter discussions with CARICOM. Claes Hammar, Sweden’s ambassador to the Caribbean, told The Local, an English-language newspaper “that Sweden is open to looking at possibilities for compensating countries in the region.” Sweden owned St. Barth’s, a colony in the Caribbean, between 1784 and 1878.

France and Britain see no need for negotiations, Rojas said. Spain, Portgual and The Netherlands have not responded, he added.

According to a news release issued by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, the lawsuit will be filed in the International Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

April 6, 2014

University of Michigan Adopt Entrepreneurial Thinking:
Excerpt from University President's Speech

Transcribed by Ronald W. Holmes, Ph.D.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Dr. Mary Sue Coleman, retiring president of the University of Michigan, was a keynote speaker at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Council on Education (ACE).  With a conference theme of “Seizing Opportunity,” Coleman talked about the importance of universities adopting entrepreneurial thinking through the concepts of “Innovate, Disrupt and Repeat.” The following is an excerpt of Coleman’s dynamic speech:

While appointed president in 2002, the University of Michigan (UM) was facing its worst financial deficit. The state of Michigan, however, was known as the center for innovation and technology in the first half of the 20th century through pioneers such as Henry Ford who revolutionized automobile design and construction. Michigan was the Silicon Valley of the time with other noteworthy inventions such as office furniture, baby food and breakfast cereal. In the second half of the 20th century, the auto industry and its suppliers stopped being innovative. Between the years of 2000 and 2008, Michigan lost one million jobs.  Michigan went from a top 10 state in support of higher education in 1999 to the bottom 10 state by the end of the decade. The employment rate was at 15 percent which led to a new way of thinking in the state.

As a university president, it was evident that we could no longer be internally focused as we had done for many decades. We had to adapt to change and become more entrepreneurial in our thinking and daily mode of operation. We recognized the pressing need to building deeper connection with our peer industries and institutions. We wanted to be a greater catalyze for economic development and technology commercialization. We knew that we would have to take a hard look at ourselves identifying some fundamental institutional barriers to entrepreneurial thinking and creative activities. We had to ask ourselves, “Why do we need more entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial thinking in our educational institution?” The response was that we need to prepare our graduates for a complex and global economy. Our past history taught us about career paths that are not predictable. We learned that most careers are not built with life-time loyalty to a single organization or institution requiring us to be flexible and have the ability to deal with change as a positive force.

Additionally, we need more entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial thinking in our educational institution to take the theoretical knowledge we have learned and apply it practically and innovatively to a wide range of solutions. In using this approach, it is about what both our students and university can gain from an entrepreneurial mindset focused on innovation. In practice, it means becoming more externally focused in activities such as learning to work across boundaries and disciplinary teams. Fostering greater risk-taking so innovation could thrive rather suffocate from bureaucracy. It means testing, retooling, experimenting, and failing occasionally as we iterate towards success. It also means developing a capacity for authentic and continuous change.

Based on my experience at the University of Michigan for the past 10 years, there are three keys to a more innovative and entrepreneurial environment in higher education. The first is to establish a supportive policy and infrastructure. The second is to build a vibrant campus ecosystem. The third is to create a culture of innovation.

Establishing a supportive policy and infrastructure, for example, would allow innovation to thrive in the educational environment. We need to align our hiring, promotion and tenure processes to reflect such actions if we believe that innovation and entrepreneurship thinking are critical. At UM, we work with the faculty and executive committees in all of our colleges and schools to recognize faculty entrepreneurship, tenure and promotion decisions. For faculty members who are interested in technology commercialization, we currently recognize their efforts on starting companies, patent filing and event disclosures.

Additionally, we allow our students to have full autonomy of their intellectual properties and created funding. We provide mentoring and resources for students ideas to blossom. We modified our conflict innovation policies so that UM is able to assess and manage conflict efficiently. We realized that it was difficult for UM’s  entrepreneurs to get the institutional support that they needed, as well as for the business community to partner with us. With an entrepreneurial focus over the past decade, we developed a business center to partner with investors for university projects. We organized a model for business interaction called the Business Engagement Center (BEC). Through the BEC, we currently interact with nearly 350 businesses annually. The BEC has become an open door for industries to seek UM’s expertise.

Thus, the principles that we teach our students about entrepreneurship are exactly the same principles all higher education institutions needs to navigate in today’s turbulent economy. Our entire institution faces the challenges or forces of an enormous disruptive change. Entrepreneurship teaches us to use that change as a positive force. To adapt and lead, it is time for our institutions to infuse entrepreneurship in our research, curriculum, and operation. And it is time for all of our educational constituents to become the innovator we are educating our students to become.

Dr. Ronald  Holmes is a former teacher, school administrator and district superintendent. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..