Posthumous recipents of the Congressional Gold Medal are, clockwise, Addie Mae Collins, 14; Cynthia Wesley, 14; Carole Robertson, 14 and Denise McNair, 11.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The four little girls who were killed by a bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan at Alabama’s 16^th Street Baptist Church nearly 50 years ago have been officially proclaimed as American heroes.

President Barack Obama has signed into law, H. R. 360, “which provides for the presentation of a congressional gold medal to commemorate the lives of the four young African-American victims of the bombing of the 16^th Street Baptist Church” in Birmingham, Ala. on September  15, 1963. It is one of the nation’s highest civilian awards.

Addie Mae Collins, 14; Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14 died inside their Sunday school classrooms when the dynamite, exploded by a timer. As victims of violence during the historic civil rights movement, they are among the youngest to ever receive the Congressional Gold Medal. They join other recipients such as Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Jackie Robinson, the Tuskegee Airmen, Sen. Robert Kennedy, Gen. Colin Powell and South Africa President Nelson Mandela.

Surrounded by their family during the signing ceremony in the Oval Office May 24, President Obama said, “That tragic loss, that heartbreak helped to trigger triumph and a more justice and equal and fair America. This is a great privilege for me.”

Upon the unanimous passage of the bill on April 24, U. S. Rep. Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-Ga.), an original sponsor, described the girls as “bright stars in the constellation shining down now as beacons of light for freedom and justice” and “four young martyrs in the fight for freedom.”

Twenty-two other people were injured in the blast that day. The historic church was a meeting place for civil rights activists, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in their work for voter registration of African-Americans. The bombing happened just two weeks after the August 28, 1963 March on Washington; therefore is viewed as a catalyst for the escalation of the Civil Rights Movement.

Giving their eulogy, Dr. King said, “These children – unoffending; innocent and beautiful- were the victims of one of the most vicious, heinous crimes ever perpetrated against humanity; yet they died nobly. They are martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity.”

To Be Equal 
We Were Right (So Says the Census): Hidden Swing Voters Tipped the Scales in 2012

By Marc Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “The findings represent a tipping point for blacks, who for much of American history were disenfranchised and then effectively barred from voting until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.” Associated Press

Last July, the National Urban League released a report entitled “The Hidden Swing Voters.”  Our report predicted that the African American vote would tip the scales in the 2012 election of Barack Obama, especially in several key swing states – just as it had been a decisive factor in 2008.  Last week, a Census Bureau report confirmed our analysis. Not only did the 2012 black vote make the difference in several key swing states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the biggest prize of all, Ohio, but black voter turnout surpassed the white vote for the first time in history.  

The Census Bureau found that, “About two in three eligible blacks (66.2 percent) voted in the 2012 presidential election, higher than the 64.1 percent of non–Hispanic whites who did so.  This marks the first time that blacks have voted at a higher rate than whites since the Census Bureau started publishing statistics on voting by the eligible citizen population in 1996.”

Since 1996 black voter turnout rates have risen 13 percentage points, and the number of blacks who voted in 2012 rose by about 1.7 million over 2008.  This is even more remarkable given that overall voting among eligible citizens declined last year.  It also demonstrates that in the face of a widespread voter suppression campaign, a record number of blacks heeded the National Urban League’s call to “Occupy the Vote” – a campaign which reached 10 million people through traditional and social media, phone banking and grassroots and community outreach.  In fact, all Census divisions where voting rates of blacks exceeded those of whites included states that introduced major voter suppression tactics in the year leading up to the election.

While the National Urban League does not endorse candidates, we do encourage civic engagement, and our affiliates have always played leading roles in voter registration drives.  That is why we are also pleased that African Americans registered in record numbers last year.  The registration rate for blacks rose from 69.7 percent in 2008 to 73.1 percent in 2012 – the highest registration rate ever recorded.  In Ohio, where 96% of the African American vote went to President Obama, the black registration rate was 74.4 percent.  In North Carolina, a state the President lost this time around, African American registration increased from 71 percent in 2008 to 85 percent in 2012 with 80.2 percent of eligible black voters going to the polls, up from 68.1 percent four years ago.

The increase in black voter participation is an historic turning point for several reasons.  First, it is clear that Mitt Romney would have eked out a victory in 2012 if voters had turned out at 2004 levels when white turnout was higher and black turnout was lower.  Second, due to an increase in overall minority voting, people of color will be wielding even more electoral clout in the coming years.  According to noted Brookings demographer William Frey, “by 2024, their vote will be essential to victory.”  Third, this demographic shift is prodding both major political parties to increase their outreach and appeal to minority voters and to reassess the impact their policies are having on those communities. There is no doubt that the opportunity to re-elect America’s first black President contributed to record black turnout last year. But, no matter who is on the ballot in 2014 and 2016, we must continue to exercise our voice and Occupy the Vote.

By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Why does sports play such a prominent role in college education?  Does it crowd out the attention we pay to other aspects of college life?  Why are student athletes treated like slaves or gladiators, playing to pay colleges for the fruits of their labor?  Other students enjoy “school spirit” when their team wins, and universities collect revenue from advertisers when they make it to the big leagues.

Women’s sports don’t reap the same benefits that men’s sports do.  Still, Spelman’s President Beverly Daniels Tatum deserves kudos for eliminating the college’s basketball program in favor of providing physical education for all of Spelman’s students.  She made the important calculation that organized sports activity costs hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, and just a few students benefit from the athletic training.  To be sure, school spirit is elevated when Spelman students cheer against opponents; yet a burst of school spirit, however, is worth a lot less than graduating a cadre of physically aware, if not fit, young women.

At Bennett College for Women, our goal was to educate the “whole” woman – academically, intellectually, spiritually, physically, and socially.   Yes, people come to college to be prepared academically, but colleges are more than four-year matriculation experiences.  This is why so many colleges attempt to offer a holistic experience for students.

Unfortunately, too many schools place athletics above other aspects of student development.  At Penn State University, the football team was such a moneymaking machine that the fabled coach Joe Paterno jeopardized his legacy by allegedly covering up a sex abuse scandal.  At Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University (FAMU) the revered marching band found its glitter not only tarnished but also corroded by the death of one of the band members as a result of his hazing.  At Duke University, lacrosse players were accused of enticing, then abusing strippers at their apartments.  While the allegations were disputed, the university earned a black eye for the bad behavior of its athletes.  At nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, departing Chancellor Holden Thorp spent nearly half of his time dealing with athletic scandals that included no-show classes for football players, the firing of a coach, and the possibility of academic sanctions against the university.

Basketball and football at top athletic universities (as distinguished from top academic universities) generate millions of dollars for their institutions.  Athletes may be awarded with scholarships, but with full time academic and training schedules, have to hustle for money to buy a phone, travel home, and pay for other incidentals.  If a generous alumnus chooses to subsidize a student for these expenses, both the student and the school will be sanctioned.

Why not pay these athletes at least some of the money they are generating for their collages?  Or why not take college athletics down a notch, putting the millions of dollars of advertising money aside in favor of the purpose of college – education.  This would probably shatter a student-pimping industry.  It would also remind students what their tenure in college is about academics, not athletics.

This proposal is as likely to be implement as ice cubes are likely to survive ten seconds in hell.  Yet college leaders must grapple with the many ways that sports dollars and energy distort the educational experience. There are stadiums full of fans clapping for the last 3 pointer, or the winning touchdown, but little applause for the Phi Beta Kappa graduate, or the best poet on campus.  These are societal values that have, unfortunately, penetrated the ivory tower.

My interest in this issue is the fact that many of the athletes are African Americans who often come from low and moderate-income families.  Many are student athletes who combine their athletic prowess with academic ability.  Too many others have been recruited for their athletic prowess, notwithstanding athletic ability.  Classes that do require little – not even attendance -- do not advance the long-term interests of students.

When student-athletes get hurt what happens to them?  Some colleges will continue their scholarships, others will not.  Further, the likelihood of moving from the college basketball court or gridiron to a professional one is something like one percent. Those who aren’t drafted and don’t make it to an athletic career often languish without even basic skills to market.

If I had my way, I’d ask that every college spend more on physical fitness than on student athletics.  If I had my way, fitness would be as required a course as literature or history.  Truly, if I had my way I would consider putting exploitive college athletics on the back burner.

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.