Urban News Features

U.S. Attorney Gen. Calls for Voting Rights for Convicted Felons by Frederick H. Lowe

Feb. 16, 2014

Attn. Gen. Calls for Voting Rights for Convicted Felons
African Americans are disproportionately affected by denial of voting rights
By Frederick H. Lowe

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who recently called for restoration of voting rights for felons who served their sentences, said the restriction has a disparate effect on African Americans. Felony-voter disenfranchisement began after Reconstruction so whites could diminish the voting strength of free black men, Holder said.

“Throughout America, 2.2 million black citizens --- or nearly one in 13 African American adults --- are banned from voting because of these laws,” Holder said during a speech at Georgetown University Law Center Feb. 11.

"In three states --- Florida, Kentucky and Virginia --- that ratio climbs to one in five. These individuals and many others --- of all races, backgrounds and walks of life --- are routinely denied the chance to participate in the most fundamental and important act of self-governance. They are prevented from exercising an essential right. And they are locked out from achieving complete rehabilitation and reentry --- even after they’ve served time, and paid the fines, that they owe.”

Holder said an estimated 5.8 million Americans are prohibited from voting because of a previous felony convictions. Among those at least 2.2 million of those are Black.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School reported that Iowa, Florida and Kentucky permanently prevent convicted felons from voting unless the government approves individual rights restoration.

Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming also permanently prevent at least some convicted felons from voting unless the government approves individual rights restoration.

Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin restore voting rights upon completion of a sentence, including prison, parole and probation. Nebraska, however, has a two-year waiting period.

California, Colorado, Connecticut and New York automatically restore voting rights after release from prison and discharge from parole. Probationers may vote.

The District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Utah restore voting rights upon release.

Maine and Vermont do not prevent people with a criminal conviction from voting.

The Brennan Center called Holder’s announcement “A Great Step Forward on Restoring Voting Rights.” Holder’s announcement calls for restoring voting rights to those who have completed probation, parole, and paid all fines, said Myrna Perez, Democracy Program Director at the Brennan Center.

Holder noted in his speech that former convicts who are allowed to vote are less likely to return to prison because they have more of an investment in society.

Felony disenfranchisement has a long history in this country.

“After Reconstruction, many Southern states enacted disenfranchisement schemes to specifically target African Americans and to diminish the electoral strength of newly freed population,” Holder said. “The resulting system of unequal enforcement --- discriminatory application of the law --- led to a situation, in 1890, where ninety percent of the Southern prison population was black. And those swept up in this system too often had their rights rescinded, their dignity diminished, and full measure of their citizenship revoked for the rest of their lives. They could not vote.”

Statue of Maggie Walker - First Black Woman Founder of Bank - in Works By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Feb. 16, 2014

Statue to Honor Maggie Walker - Black Woman Bank Founder

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Maggie L. Walker, Richmond’s most celebrated woman, is going to be put on a pedestal.

Pushed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones, plans are quietly moving ahead to design a suitable public monument to the great lady, who, among other things, was the first African-American woman to found and operate a bank.

A 10-member Site Selection Committee, including artists, museum officials and others with an interest, has been named to lead the effort for the city’s Public Art Commission, which is charged with developing public art.

At this point, there are two sites considered prime — Lone Pine Park, the small triangular site at Adams and Broad streets that serves as a gateway to Jackson Ward, and Abner Clay Park, located across Leigh Street from the pending new home of the Black History Museum. But that could change after the public weighs in. According to city documents, the site committee expects to hold one or more public meetings in mid- to late-March to hear ideas from Richmond residents about the site and the size and scope of the monument.

By April, the documents show, the committee expects to finalize the site and issue a request for proposals from artists near and far. The winner of the design competition is expected to be selected in June. The finished project would be unveiled by the summer of 2015.

The committee includes Black History Museum Chairman Stacy Burrs, sculptor Paul Di Pasquale, former City Councilman William R. “Bill” Johnson Jr., diversity consultant Tiffany Jana and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site supervisory ranger Ajena C. Rogers. Others on the committee include author Sarah Shields Driggs, school librarian and artist Faithe M. Norrell, artist Ed Trask and city aide Keith Rogers.

Walker was a huge presence in Richmond during her life. Her life and legacy continue to be celebrated at the National Historic Site in Jackson Ward that the National Park Service operates in her former Leigh Street home. Born during the Civil War. she rose to lead the Independent Order of St. Luke, a fraternal group that offered health and burial insurance.

In 1903, Walker gained a charter to open the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. She served as the first president and remained chairwoman of the bank, later renamed Consolidated Bank& Trust Co., until her death in 1934. The bank was sold to a White-owned Washington bank and then to a West Virginia group and is now a division of Premier Bank.

A regional high school and a business development center now bear her name, but there has long been a wish to do more. Private efforts to create a statue to Maggie Walker have surfaced several times in the past 15 years, but all foundered when fundraising failed.

The prospects changed when Mayor Jones made a Maggie Walker statue a priority for his second term and proposed spending city funds to make it happen.

City Council cleared the way last spring for the new Maggie Walker monument by setting aside $2.8 million for development of public art in the capital budget, even though that was $500,000 less than Mayor Jones recommended.

The money the council approved is earmarked for the city’s Percent for the Arts program, under which 1 percent of the money spent on city projects costing $250,000 or more is to put into public art. Such expensive projects as the city’s four new schools and the soon-to-open Justice Center or jail are generating the new funding the council is providing to the Public Arts Commission. Those sites also are in line to get smaller pieces of public art.

The Walker project is one of two large monuments in the works for Richmond. The other is the Emancipation Proclamation and Freedom Monument, which is to pay homage to President Lincoln’s slave-freeing edict of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, once Richmond’s biggest business.

The effort to develop the monument on Brown’s Island is the work of the General Assembly’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commission chaired by Richmond state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III.

Michael Sam Stands Tall By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Feb. 16, 2014

Michael Sam Stands Tall
By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “I’m a football player, and I’m gay.” With those words, Michael Sam, an All-American defensive end from the University of Missouri, demonstrated courage far beyond that demanded on the football field. And America may, for the first time, witness an openly gay man playing professional football.

“I just want to own my own truth,” said Sam, fully aware of what he risked by standing up.

There are no openly gay athletes in the NFL, NBA, NHL or major league baseball. That’s not to say there are no gay professional athletes. There have always been gays in professional sports, just as there have been in all professions — lawyers, doctors, bricklayers and steelworkers. Some came out of the closet after they retired. Many gays were known, or widely suspected, by teammates but not admitted publicly.

When Jerry Smith, a tight end for the Washington Redskins, died of AIDS, some of his teammates served as pallbearers. It was rumored that he was gay when he was playing. His teammates rallied to him, partly because he could play. Sam has put his career of choice at risk. He’s a 6’2”, 260-pound menace on the football field. He was the Associated Press Player of the Year in the Southeast Conference, considered the elite football conference. He was expected to be drafted high in the early rounds of the draft before the announcement. His announcement will now put the NFL and its owners to the test.

As a path-breaker, Sam will face obstacles. Last week, Jonathan Vilma, a star linebacker for the New Orleans Saints, said openly that he wouldn’t want a gay teammate. The NFL locker room is already known as notoriously tough on rookies. Sam will no doubt face an even harsher introduction. When African-Americans broke into segregated institutions, they knew that they would have to perform better and act better to compete. For Sam to survive in the NFL, he’ll no doubt have to perform better and play better than other rookies. But he’s been through this before. At the beginning of this season, he told his teammates at Mizzou that he was gay. Many already knew or suspected. The team worked through the problems. Sam dominated on the field. And at the end of the season, they voted him their most valuable player.

Sam is part of a movement for equality that is sweeping all before it. In 2000, Republicans used same-sex marriage as a wedge issue to help win elections. Now, Americans attitudes have been transformed. Same-sex marriage laws have been passed in several states with more to come. On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder issued orders to the Justice Department to recognize the federal rights of legally married same sex couples no matter where they are living.

A millennial generation is growing up that scorns those who would discriminate on the basis of whom one chooses to love. Even Pope Francis has asked, “Who am I to judge?” arguing that people “should not be marginalized” because of their sexual orientation and “must be integrated into society.” But this kind of change doesn’t come on its own. It takes courageous citizens of conscience to stand up. It requires organizing, marching and protests. Lives and careers are put at risk. The most courageous often pay the highest price, as exemplified by Dr. Martin Luther King.

The courage of Michael Sam should be saluted. But we should also stand with him. The NFL, its owners, its coaches and players should understand that it is time to step up. The football field is a level playing field. All play by the same set of rules. There is no place for exclusion or discrimination in professional athletics. Michael Sam asks only to be graded by his performance on the field. And if history is any guide, if he is given a fair shot, he will do just fine.

An Economics Lesson on the Deficit and Debt By William Spriggs

Feb. 16, 2014

An Economics Lesson on the Deficit and Debt

By William Spriggs

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Republicans in the House of Representatives last week caved and allowed a simple vote on raising the debt limit of the United States. Their hand-wringing about the debt is disingenuous, but more importantly, it is part of a campaign to confuse America's workers about the real deficit, which must be addressed urgently—the deficit in jobs, which according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost the economy about $730 billion in lost production.

The CBO has projected that the federal budget will have a deficit of $514 billion. It projects next year it will continue to decline to $478 billion. These are large numbers, but in economics it is always useful to put numbers in a broader context. In the case of deficits, it is useful to compare that to the size of the economy. Just as a $200 bet in a March Madness office pool looks different if you are Microsoft founder Bill Gates or an undergraduate intern in the office. As a share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—the value of all of the goods and services produced in the United States, the deficit this year will be about 3.0 percent of GDP, falling to 2.6 percent next year. Between 1974 and 2009, the average deficit was 2.7 percent, so these numbers are not out of the ordinary.

Since taking office, President Barack Obama has overseen annual drops in the budget deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP. He also has overseen steady declines in federal outlays from 24.4 percent of GDP to 20.5 percent this year—the largest four year decline in federal outlays in more than 35 years.

The political stunts around the national debt—the cumulative deficits over the years—have understandably confused many Americans. They hear the national debt is going up and interpret that to mean deficits and federal spending are also growing. Some are so confused, they do not understand that under President Bill Clinton the national debt fell from 47.8 percent of GDP in 1993 to 31.4 percent when he left office in 2001. Republicans in Congress, with President Bush, then pushed budgets from surplus to deficit and increased the national debt. It is disingenuous for the GOP to act as if they were conservative on debt issues.

Because the national debt is the sum of all past deficits, for it to fall, the government once again would have to run surpluses—take in more revenue than it spends. With the labor market still nearly 1 million payroll positions short of January's 2008 labor demand, it would hurt the economy if the government took money out of the economy by taking in more in taxes than the government put back into the economy by spending.

Some people are convinced that smart economics has to be counterintuitive. They are convinced that lowering government spending that would have hired workers to build roads, teach our children, repair sewer systems and build bridges and levees will free up people, supplies and resources that the private sector would hire and buy in more effective ways. When more than 10.2 million Americans report they are out looking for jobs they can't find, it does not make sense that the government would be diverting workers from private-sector jobs to get our children’s classrooms back to normal size or repair the many potholes in our roads. In December, there were 2.59 unemployed people looking for work for each job opening. Economics is more like common sense, if we want to get unemployment down, it means we must have more job openings than the private sector is currently producing. And those job openings can only come if the public sector demands more, not less.

During the last quarter of 2013, when the Republican House forced a shutdown of the government over the debt, the fall in government purchases at a rate of 4.9 percent hurt the growth of the economy. The drop in government contracting and buying lowered the growth rate of GDP by nearly one point from what would have been 4.1 percent to 3.2 percent.

Maybe, House Republicans have learned their lesson. The American people thought Republicans were fighting against America's economy by shutting down the government to make political gains. Hopefully, the American people will use this week’s economic news to see why the debate in Washington must change.

Follow Spriggs on Twitter: @WSpriggs.

Black History Month: Now More Than Ever by Marc H. Morial

Feb. 16, 2014

To Be Equal
Black History Month: Now More Than Ever
By Marc H. Morial

marcmorial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering.” Lonnie Bunch, founding director, National Museum of African American History and Culture

Ever since the 2009 election of Barack Obama as America’s first Black President and the 100^th anniversary of the National Urban League in 2010, the perennial debate about the need for Black History Month has intensified. Some have questioned the need for a special month to recognize the many unknown and unsung achievements of African Americans. With Obama as President, the logic goes, we have now achieved Dr. King’s dream of a non-racial America where everyone is judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. I wish it were so.

Last year we celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington and the passage of the Voting Rights Act. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and the repeal of the Poll Tax. But unfortunately, the suppression of voting rights and other instances of racial discrimination remain. All one needs to do is look at the glaring disparities between Blacks and whites in income, employment, incarceration rates, educational achievement and health status to see that race still matters in America. Income inequality and equal opportunity are still part of the unfinished business of American democracy.

In 1926, after centuries of Blacks being excluded, not only from the mainstream of American life, but also from the textbooks in our schools, the African American historian, Carter G. Woodson, did a service to all Americans when he created Negro History Week, which was expanded to Black History Month in 1976. Woodson’s vision was one of unity and inclusion. He said, “What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race, hate and religious prejudice.” That is a goal that America is still struggling to achieve.

In fact, legislatures in a number of states, including New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, have passed laws mandating or encouraging teachers to broaden their history courses to include more ethnic, racial and gender diversity. That is why we still recognize March as Women’s History Month, May as Jewish American History Month, September 15 to October 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month and February as Black History Month. These celebrations serve a dual purpose: first to build self-esteem among historically oppressed people, and second to remind all Americans that in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, our diversity is our greatest strength.

Black history is American history. While the story and achievements of African Americans are especially celebrated this month, the contributions we have made and the struggles we still face deserve recognition every day of the year. Next year, for the first time, Black History will enter the mainstream when the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opens on the National Mall in Washington. The Museum describes itself as “a place of meaning, of memory, of reflection, of laughter, and of hope. It should be a beacon that reminds us of what we were; what challenges we still face; and point us towards what we can become.”

As we honor those who have made history, we must also recognize that we are history in the making. Through our work, commitment to equality and civic engagement, we can and we must, in the words of President Obama, continue to “right the wrongs of history and make our world anew.”