Medal of Honor Ceremony Rights a lot of Wrongs

March 23, 2014

Medal of Honor Ceremony Rights a lot of Wrongs

medals of honor

Former Staff Sgt. Melvin Morris was a U.S. Army Green Beret. President Barack Obama has awarded him the Medal of Honor for valor in Vietnam.

PHOTO: The White House

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - President Barack Obama has awarded the Medal of Honor to 24 U.S. Army veterans who did not receive the nation's highest combat medal because of racism either exhibited by their commanding officers and others.

The veterans, who fought in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War all received the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest service medal, at a White House ceremony March 17.

President Obama, however, upgraded those medals to the Medal of Honor after Congress in 2002 called for a review of the combat service of Jewish Americans and Hispanic Americans through the Defense Authorization Act.

During a review, records of several soldiers who were not Jewish nor were of Hispanic descent also were found to display criteria worthy of the Medal of Honor.

One of the Army veterans honored by President Obama was Melvin Morris, who served two tours of duty and was wounded three times in an attack on Sept. 17, 1969, near Chi Lang, South Vietnam that killed a fellow commander. Morris was commander of Third Company, Third Battalion of the IV Mobile Strike Force.

During the battle, Morris, a Green Beret, retrieved his fallen comrade's body and a map that would have been useful to the enemy.

In 1970, the Army awarded Morris, then a staff sergeant, the Distinguished Service Cross. The 72 year-old Morris lives in Coca, Fla., according to Valor 24, the website of the Medal of Honor.

Morris is one of three Medal of Honor recipients still living. The others are Spec. 4 Santiago J. Erevia of San Antonio, Texas. Erevia was cited for courage during a search and clear mission near Tam Ky, South Vietnam on May 21, 1969. The other soldier is Sgt. 1st Class Jose Rodela also of San Antonio. Rodela was cited for courage during combat operations in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam, one Sept. 1, 1969.

The other recipients have died, and they will receive their medals posthumously.

Report: South African Black Need 500 Years to Close Wage Gap with Whites

March 23, 2014

Report: South African Black Need 500 Years to Close Wage Gap with Whites

irvin jim

Numsa General Secretary Irvin Jim

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Union officials at a national bargaining conference in Pretoria had troubling news for workers hoping to get better pay and working conditions in the coming year.

“We cannot lie forever,” said Andrew Chirwa of the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa). “In 1994 we said South Africa will be a better place to live and unemployment will be halved in 10 years. What have we achieved in this regard?”

“We are not moving forward,” he said, answering his own question. “Instead we are worse than 10 years ago. “Not only is unemployment increasing, poverty deepening and inequalities widening”, added Numsa deputy Karl Cloete, “but the wage gap between white workers and their African counterparts is four to one.”

“It will take 520 years for Africans to earn the same salary as the Whites.”

According to Cloete, there are 80 unemployed Black African workers for every unemployed white. Joblessness has grown from 40 percent in 2008 to 46 percent in 2012.

"You must pursue the struggle for a living wage,” Cloete told the membership. ”You must pursue proper, negotiated and beneficial agreements to workers," adding that Numsa had a huge task ahead to recruit the 71% of workers who did not belong to any union.

Currently, the ANC is in talks with its labor allies to set a minimum wage as it faces its toughest election on May 7 since taking power in 1994. Dissatisfaction with a 24% jobless rate and a lack of housing, water and other basic services in poor townships has been mounting. In December, Numsa voted to withhold support for the ANC and deny it funding for its campaign. The union fears plans are afoot to expel them from the trade union umbrella Cosatu and set up another, more compliant, metalworkers’ union.

General Secretary Irwin Jim, in a 15-page media statement explaining the rejection of the ANC said it “no longer serves any revolutionary purpose”, and “the union does not believe any of the bourgeoisie political parties are going to deliver anything”.

Recent internal polls give the African National Congress at most 45 percent of electoral support in Gauteng, the country’s economic hub. This would be a sharp decline from the 64.4 percent the party won in the 2009 general elections.

Morris Brown College Down to 35 Students Reconsiders Possible Sale of Campus

March 23, 2014

Morris Brown College Down to 35 Students
Reconsiders Possible Sale of Campus

morrisbrowncollegecampus

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - With a mountain of debt and less than three dozen remaining students, Morris Brown College in Atlanta may be reconsidering its refusal last year to sell its 37-acre campus to the city, according to media reports.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in February that the school sought a bankruptcy court’s approval to retain a real estate broker and pursue the sale of its campus. It was unclear how that sale would affect the college’s handful of remaining students and its continued operation.

The historically Black institution was founded in 1881, but was crippled in 2003 when it lost its accreditation after an investigation revealed two top officials embezzled millions in student financial aid and redirected it to other purposes.

Attendance plummeted as thousands of students sought an education elsewhere; according to a recent profile by American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” the school currently boasts just 35 students attending classes at a campus which is largely boarded up.

The Journal-Constitution reported the school rebuffed a $9.7 million offer by the city last year that would have absolved the school of more than $35 million in debt. The newspaper indicated that the city could potentially sell or lease portions of the property to other groups, including two local churches, while still allowing Morris Brown space to operate.

However, the Journal-Constitution reported that the school may have changed its mind, after an open records request revealed that Morris Brown officials contacted Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed in early March to gauge the city’s interest in renewing talks on a deal.

The school sits near an area targeted for revitalization, including a planned new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons.

“Let me be very clear in my thinking about Morris Brown. There’s getting ready to be a $1.2 billion investment on that corridor,” Reed told the Journal-Constitution. “It makes sense for the city to control a strategic asset to be developed with the strength of the community in mind.”

Morris Brown professor Makisha Funderburke is among the handful of educators who remain, and told “Marketplace” that she teaches without pay to help the college stay alive.

“I just think Morris Brown should be given a chance,” she said.

Dating Again for the First Time by Zenitha Prince

March 23, 2014

Dating Again for the First Time
By Zenitha Prince

coupledating

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - For many maturing Americans, 50 is the new 30.

People are living longer and healthier. No longer is 50 looked upon as the “beginning of the end,” but as a time of new adventures. And, many 50-plusses are ferociously living life to the fullest—traveling, wining and dining, pursuing new careers, re-imagining their styles and, yes, dating.

“There are many 50-plus persons that date and are part of the social scene, but it doesn't look like a scene from a retirement home,” said Marcy Crump, creator of FlyWire, Baltimore’s premiere social magazine and party network.

Several studies show that those 50 and older are dating for a range of reasons—they’re looking for love and marriage, companionship or friendship with “benefits,” that is, sex. And they are searching for those partners online—several websites, such as OurTime.com, are devoted to single seniors looking for relationships; social events; through involvement in philanthropic and hobby-related groups; at church and on cruises.

As with younger relationship-seekers, they approach and react to the dating scene with different attitudes and expectations and experience different degrees of success.

“I know a 50+ woman who has no problems meeting men and have an active dating life. I know a couple dating for a long period of time, 15+ years, and they live separately, they’re travel companions and publicly are a couple—not sure if either were interested in marriage or if they are monogamous. I have girlfriends older than 50 that are single and haven't found anyone they really like, but they're not too stressed about being single,” Crump said.

One woman told the AFRO she hasn't dated in two years and doesn't care to share her negative feelings with the world.

Some of the challenges—particularly for those who are divorced or widowed after a longtime relationship—are singular.

Some tend to rush into another relationship or a commitment because that’s what they are accustomed to, and that can make them more vulnerable to scams and to heartache, said DatingAdvice.com expert April Braswell.

“Building a midlife romance is more like planting a rose garden than a weekend project. Give yourselves plenty of time to prepare, plant and cultivate your love. Savor it,” she said in one advice column.

For Donna Stewart-Moore, a retired police officer from Glenn Dale, Md., the prospect of dating again after losing her husband of 27 years, was daunting.

“I wanted to know if or when I dated [that] the person would or could love me with the tender passion, understanding and unconditional manner which I had experienced,” she said.

“Since it had been 35 years since I had been in the dating arena, I found it to be a little scary. Things have changed in the world since I've dated,” she added. “My first date was an eye opener for me. The ‘gentleman,’ and I use this term loosely, wanted to know ‘Will I lose my pension if I remarry?’ I, with a quickness, responded without any facial expression or tone in my voice, ‘I don't know. I don't plan on marrying you!’”

Her transition was easier, though, since her husband made her promise to move on with her life.

“He said, ‘Donna you must promise me you will love again, I know you have a lot of love in you and you deserve to be happy. Please share that love with someone after I'm gone!’” the 64-year-old recalled. “What a gift to leave me and I plan on unwrapping it happily and deliberately.”

But older daters also have some advantages. By age 50, most people would have been married, widowed or divorced; undergone the highs and lows of parenthood; pursued a career; made and lost friends—they’ve lived and discovered much about themselves and what they want out of a relationship.

Donald Byrd, a financial planner from Washington, D.C., said after his divorce 10 years ago, it took a while before he started dating again.

“I needed to recover and gain a different perspective about what to expect from women,” he said.

And he also had some growing up to do. Many older daters, especially those who have had families and have had to live selflessly, may be more likely to consider how their actions impact others.

“When I was younger I was very impatient and I didn’t try to understand someone else’s perspective. My [dating] experiences…were unpredictable and uncertain and I had many insecurities,” he said. “Now, I have gained a greater insight of myself and my level of discernment has increased. I feel better about myself and who I am, so with my level of confidence I’m more relaxed, shoot, I would say, I’m fearless” when it comes to dating.

Though Byrd is now dating with an eye toward friendship and companionship, he hasn’t given up on the idea of love and marriage.

“I think the possibilities for falling in love are endless, and I want to believe I will because I’ve learned to share and I have something to give,” he said.

Meanwhile, Stewart-Moore seems to be well on her way to finding love—and marriage—again with a friend of 39 years, who she rediscovered four months ago on Facebook.

Sounding giddy as a school girl, she explained, “We see each other quite frequently and talk or text each other every day. JC is gentle, considerate, thoughtful (Boy, flowers when you least expect it! What woman would not like that!)…. He watches me [with] ‘dove eyes,’ like when the male dove fixes his eyes on the one he wants to mate with….

“Dating him has given me back my smile, my laughter, my joy.”

Working and Poor in America By William Spriggs

March 23, 2014

Working and Poor in America
By William Spriggs

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The furor has not died down over Rep.Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) comments about inner city men and poverty in America. Ryan has agreed to talk with the Congressional Black Caucus about the racial overtones of the comments. Still, a troubling theme in America is the concept of the “deserving” poor. The problem with Ryan’s statement and the current unwillingness to raise the minimum wage is a new sense among conservatives that there are no “deserving” poor.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., told us in 1967: “In the simplistic thinking of [the early part of the 20^th Century] the absence of worldly goods indicated a want of industrious habits and moral fiber.We have come a long way in our understanding of human motivation and of the blind operation of our economic system. Now we realize that dislocations in the market operation of our economy and the prevalence of discrimination thrust people into idleness and bind them in constant or frequent unemployment against their will. The poor are less often dismissed from our conscience today by being branded as inferior and incompetent. We also know that no matter how dynamically the economy develops and expands it does not eliminate all poverty.”

Unfortunately we are back to Dr. King’s square one discussing poverty. Being poor again means you are not industrious. The government that Ryan promotes is for the industrious company that ships American jobs overseas, gives tax breaks to the oil industry and farm subsidies to huge industrial agricultural firms. Ryan’s government is not supposed to extend unemployment insurance benefits to support American families struggling to find work or help low-income children eat.

On these counts, too many are like Ryan. But, the reality is closer to Dr. King’s assessment of the problem at hand. Let’s lay out the facts. The majority of poor non-senior households in America have someone who works (62 percent) and yes, Ryan, this is also true for African Americans. Further, roughly one in five poor households has a full-time, year round worker; and yes, Ryan, this is also true for African Americans. Eighty percent of families with children receiving means-tested assistance for food, housing or health insurance have a worker in the family.

The new view is that the working poor are not “deserving” because times have changed, less educated workers are “too lazy” to have read the message and did not put in the effort in school they should have—they “deserve” low wages. But, since Dr. King’s speech, the educational attainment of Americans has increased dramatically. So the poor cannot be simply those who dropped out of high school. Again, among families with children receiving means tested assistance, 40 percent have some college coursework, an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree or more.

Now, of course, a direct way to address this anomaly would be to at least return the minimum wage to the level when Dr. King shared these words. President Obama’s proposal of $10.10 an hour would be a huge down payment toward doing that and would mean full-time, year round workers could lift a family of three out of poverty.

But in the midst of the continued fallout of the Great Recession on family incomes and employment, we must come to see that poverty is about more than work, or individual effort. It is about policy choices we make. Choices like Ryan makes to promote fiscal austerity instead of closing the huge $750 billion gap America suffers from having more than 10 million people unable to find work.

The income of our nation has more than doubled since Dr. King spoke on poverty, increasing by almost $28,000 (adjusting for inflation) for every baby, toddler, teenager, adult and senior citizen in this country—enough to have eradicated poverty. Ryan and conservatives want us to believe the rich are entitled to all that growth, and that the 1% are entitled to a free society for free.

Let us hope we share Dr. King’s conclusion: “We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking. The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”

Follow Spriggs on Twitter: @WSpriggs.