March 23, 2014

To Be Equal 
Chavez Day: Unite to End Poverty, Honor Dignity of Work
By Marc H. Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community.  Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” Cesar Chavez

While it is commonly thought that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was by, of, and exclusively for the benefit of African Americans, the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez remind us of how much it touched the lives of our Hispanic brothers and sisters and oppressed people everywhere.  A Mexican-American who was born March 31, 1927 on a farm near Yuma, Arizona, Chavez and his family moved to California in 1938 to eke out a living like thousands of other overworked and underpaid migrant farm workers in his community.  But rather than tolerate the daily injustices heaped upon them, which also included forced child labor, sexual harassment of women workers and the use of pesticides harmful to both workers and consumers, Chavez devoted his life to organizing and improving the lives of migrant workers. 

In 1962, he and Delores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers Union.  Inspired by the non-violent examples of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Chavez embraced the philosophy of non-violent protest and employed such tactics as marches, boycotts and hunger strikes to garner mainstream support for the rights of migrant workers.  In 1968, he fasted for 25 days for better wages and working conditions in the fields of California’s San Joaquin Valley.  Upon ending that strike by breaking bread with Senator Robert Kennedy, Chavez addressed his supporters, saying, “We are gathered here today, not so much to observe the end of the Fast, but because we are a family bound together in a common struggle for justice.  We are a Union family celebrating our unity and the non-violent nature of our movement.” 

Chavez’s work and sacrifice inspired millions of people around the world, including Dr. King and National Urban League President Whitney M. Young, Jr.  In 1969, towards the end of a five-year strike and boycott for the rights of Mexican and Filipino grape workers, Young met with Chavez and his supporters in Delano, California.  Young was moved to write a To Be Equal column in which he said, “I was inspired by their spirit and their faith in the face of the odds against them.”  He added, “Labor, by organizing the poor and the friendless, can help end poverty by protecting low-wage workers, and it can give the lie to those who happily proclaim the selfishness and prejudice of some unions.”

Cesar Chavez died on April 23, 1993.  Following Whitney Young’s example, subsequent National Urban League leaders, me included, have continued to work in solidarity with the goals of the United Farm Workers and numerous other Latino civil rights organizations.  I spoke at the National Council of La Raza conference last summer and attended part of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) conference last month.  We are all united in many of our struggles, especially the fight to end income inequality and poverty.  As an iconic labor leader and anti-poverty activist, Cesar Chavez would have likely also been an enthusiastic supporter of the National Urban League’s current petition to raise the minimum wage and all of our work for jobs with living wages and fair benefits.

President Obama has proclaimed Chavez’s birthday, March 31, as Cesar Chavez Day “to remember a man who made justice his life calling.”  We believe that the best way to honor Chavez’s legacy is through service and a renewed commitment to end income inequality and poverty.  Congress can do its part by raising the minimum wage now.

To sign the National Urban League’s Raise the Minimum Wage petition, visit nul.org – and do your part to help put millions of Americans on a path to a better life.

March 23, 2014

Healthcare Signup: Time is Running Out!
By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Almost anyone striving to accomplish any significant goal or achievement will tell you that the challenges you face and the effort you dedicate to a successful completion are greatest near or at the end of the task, program or project.  Academicians, artists, musicians, athletes and anyone who endeavors to overcome the routine challenges of life will agree.  In less than two weeks, the single most important milestone in a comprehensive and improved healthcare system will be reached.  Wait no longer.  March 31, 2014 is the final day for initial enrollment for health insurance under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare.

Although recent numbers of enrollees have reflected an uptick in participation, I have had major difficulty understanding the reluctance of greater numbers of citizens to enroll. There are a myriad of both altruistic and selfish reasons to enroll and promote the enrollment of family and friends.  Other than the obvious racially or politically motivated interests of thwarting anything presented by President Barack Obama, I find it unreasonable to think that a significant portion of the populace would fail to take advantage of the benefits under the new law.  Before I admonish you to jump on board this moving train, it might be prudent for me to review what I feel to be the most practical and important benefits that have been obscured by political rhetoric and ridiculous opposition-group propaganda.

·   Expanded and better healthcare coverage provided to millions of uninsured Americans.

·   Reduced uninsured health events - significant numbers of personal bankruptcies are linked to substandard or no medical insurance.  Obamacare will significantly reduce these events, and in many cases eliminate them.

·   Pre-existing conditions would not prevent healthcare coverage.  Type 1 diabetes and disabilities are examples of conditions no longer excluded from insurance coverage.

·   Ending gender discrimination in insurance cost and coverage.  Pregnancy and other conditions unique to female physiology are no longer subject to premium "up-charges" or exclusion.    

·   Removal of life-time limits and insurance benefit caps. 

·   Insurance of adult-children through age 26 under their parents’ health plan.

·   Establishment of Health (Insurance) Exchanges encourages marketplace competition and competitive pricing for health insurance policies.

In a 2009 letter to Congress, Bishop William Murphy, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY, and Chairman of the U. S. Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, gave the church's position.  It stated, "Reform efforts must begin with the principle that decent health care is not a privilege, but a right and a requirement to protect the life and dignity of every person. ... The bishops' conference believes health care reform should be truly universal and it should be genuinely affordable."

I won’t argue that Obamacare is the perfect plan, nor does the President make that claim.  I am, however, sure that the future will hold modifications that will refine and improve it as we do with other new programs.  I WILL argue that it is the perfect plan for NOW, and certainly much better than what we had.

After more than one-hundred years of legislative debate and wrangling, Obamacare will work to improve healthcare for all citizens and remove the hidden tax that all must pay to support the pattern of emergency room primary-care for those unable to afford the cost of treatment.  It will restore the dignity and certainty of being able to assure personal and familial wellness based upon the best that medical technology has to offer.  It will move us down the path of rejecting the status-quo that has determined that an individual's health and well-being must be determined by the size of her/his bank account. Why wait?

If You Have Not Yet Enrolled, Please Do So Immediately at Healthcare.gov! It's a Matter of Life or Death!

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

March 23, 2014

Still Fighting for the Right to Vote
By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) -  I wanted to focus my column once more on the issue of voting, as the 49th anniversary approaches of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Ala., that I touched on last week. It’s worth discussing once more. After 246 years of slavery, Americans fought a brutal Civil War — the bloodiest in our history — to end slavery and preserve the union.

Three amendments were added to the Constitution: the 13th abolished slavery; the 14th guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the 15th outlawed discrimination in voting on the basis of race or prior servitude. But although they surrendered on the battlefield, the Confederates did not give up. They waged a fierce rear-guard battle over state sovereignty, also known as “states’ rights.” They sabotaged the post-war reconstruction, unleashing a wave of terror across the South. Several states began to enforce segregation against the newly freed slaves. And in the shameful decision of Plessey v. Ferguson in 1896, the Supreme Court gave approval to state Jim Crow laws, endorsing the oxymoron of “separate but equal.”

It took another half century of struggle to re-establish the reach of the civil rights amendments. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed to enforce the 15th Amendment’s guarantee against discrimination in voting. States, counties and municipalities in the South continued to invent new obstacles to voting, but for areas with a history of discrimination — largely Southern states — the Voting Rights Act required pre-clearance of any changes in voting laws. This enabled the Justice Department to prevent significant voter suppression. But having lost the military battle in 1865 and the legal battle in 1965, the Confederates did not give up.

They continued to argue for states’ rights. And since the 15th Amendment only outlawed denying a citizen his right to vote based on race or color, voting procedures remained under the control of states and localities. In 2013, with a conservative majority in control of the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court revived states-rights arguments in Shelby v. Holder, acting shamefully to weaken federal authority, gutting much of the vital preclearance portions of the Voting Rights Act.

Once more as the federal authority was weakened, the Confederates churned out new obstacles to voting — strict photo ID requirements, elimination of same-day voter registration, reducing early voting periods, eliminating early registration for young people, outlawing use of student IDs and more. Within two hours of the Shelby decision, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot — now running for governor — announced that the Texas’voter identification law, previously rejected by the U.S. Justice Department and a federal court (which said it was the most discriminatory measure of its kind in the country), would immediately be implemented. North Carolina followed shortly. Now some 34 states have erected new obstacles to voting. The absence of a constitutional guarantee to the right to vote remains the source of continuing injustice.

Professor Obama wasn’t just teaching history; he was introducing his students to an ongoing human rights struggle. If the fundamental individual right to vote had been constitutionally guaranteed in 2000, Al Gore would have been elected president over George W. Bush because all the individual votes of Floridians would have had to be counted, as felons in Florida were not allowed to cast their votes. The individual right of Florida’s citizens would have taken precedence over Florida’s state laws. If there were a constitutionally guaranteed right to vote, we would not have different laws for 50 different states and 13,000 election jurisdictions.

We’d have a federal law that would govern voting rights for all. Congressmen Mark Pocan, D-Wis., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn., have introduced House Joint Resolution 44 to amend the Constitution to guarantee the right to vote. It would provide every American with a fundamental individual right to vote and give Congress the clear authority to create a unified national voting system with minimum standards. The right to vote is not a partisan question. It should not be left to changing legislatures or biased Supreme Court majorities. It should be clearly guaranteed in the Constitution. 

March 18, 2014

More than 1,000 Rally Against the ‘Stand Your Ground’ in Florida
By Aldranon English II

Protesters carried signs showing recent victims. PHOTO: Aldranon English II/Capital Outlook

More than a thousand took to the streets, representing opposition to 'stand your ground' laws across the country. PHOTO: Aldranon English II/Capital Outlook

Among leaders of the march were the Rev. Al Sharpton and the parents of Trayvon Martin - Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton. PHOTO:Aldranon English II/Capital Outlook 

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Capital Outlook Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Rev. Al Sharpton and several renowned activists led a march of hundreds to the Florida State Capitol last week to protest Florida’s self-defense doctrine notoriously known as the “Stand Your Ground” law. Among the participants were the parents of slain teenagers Trayvon Martin, Kendrick Johnson and Jordan Davis.

Family members of Emmitt Till, who was murdered at 14 years-old during the 1950s, were also on hand. They joined family members of:  Fruitvale Station victim Oscar Grant III, Air Force veteran Michael Giles and recently released mother of three Marissa Alexander – who was sentenced to 20 years for firing a gun near her estranged husband.

The event beckoned many influential figures including radio personalities Tom Joyner and Joe Bullard. Others included Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor, City of Tallahassee Commissioner Andrew Gillum, local attorneys Benjamin Crump and Daryl Parks along with Florida A&M University Student Government President Elect Tonette Graham.

Florida law dictates that people, not involved in illegal activity, have the right to stand their ground and meet force with force – including deadly force, if they reasonably believe it is necessary to avoid death or great bodily harm. Florida Rep. Corrine Brown states that the law has done more harm than good in several states including Florida.

“In 2005, Florida passed the expansion of ‘Stand Your Ground’ to 24 other states,” said Brown. “Since its expansion, the law is like a cancer that needs to be eradicated.”

Brown strongly urged the community to participate in the committee meetings later that day as well as the upcoming elections in November. 

“You have to march over to the committee meetings as well to the voting polls,” said Brown. “Florida is ‘stuck on stupid,’ you have to show up people in Tallahassee and you have to represent on a daily basis.”

Rep. Alan Williams states that self-defense laws were already in place before “Stand Your Ground,” but understands the importance of changing the aggressor language portion of the law.

“As members of the Legislature, we cannot appeal it outright now, but we are going to repair it,” said Williams.

Williams stressed the significance of the march and the goal at hand for the community as well as for the entire nation.

“This would have been the first year for Trayvon and Jordan to be allowed to vote,” said Williams. “Don’t just march because it is Monday, don’t just march because it is in the moment. March because it is a movement,” said Williams. “It is a movement that makes certain our community is better and safer for our families, friends and loved ones.”

Several individuals participating in the march held signs and banners that stated “Standing Our Ground” and wore T-shirts that read “We are not a threat.” Baltimore's Pastor Jamal Bryant’s message reverberated throughout the streets near the state Capitol as he spoke about the mission of the rally.

“We have not come today for a march. We came here for a rescue mission,” said Bryant. “We are here trying to locate the missing pieces so that our children can walk the streets peacefully without fear.”

Rev. R. B. Holmes, of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, plans to file a federal lawsuit against the state of Florida concerning the stand your ground law. Holmes along with Bryant plan to enforce a pastoral task force to repeal and repair the self-defense law across the country.

Sharpton stressed the attention and ramifications the march will gain from all of the public figures that were present but made certain that their attendance should not be the focus of their cause.

“We are here to help illuminate,” said Sharpton. “We did not come here to supplant. We came here to support.”

Sharpton explained that the stand your ground law is fundamentally unjust during the march.

“To have laws that tell people that they can shoot first and then ask questions later is a violation of our civil rights. I believe that law is inherently wrong,” said Sharpton. “The law in effect says based on your imagination – if you imagine I am a threat – you have the right to kill me.”

Sharpton concluded the assembly with inspirational words that left many participants charged and ready to act on change.

“Nothing we have achieved was given to us,” said Sharpton.  “We had to fight for it then, and we will fight for it now.”

The protesters planned to attend House and Senate criminal justice committees in hopes of telling lawmakers they want them to consider action on the law.