Urban News Features

President Obama Taps Charlotte Mayor as Transportion Secretary by Hazel Trice Edney

By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Obama has made his first nomination of an African-American to his cabinet this term, winning accolades from some African-American leaders.

Charlotte, N.C. Mayor Anthony Foxx, nominated as Secretary of Transportation this week, will now go under scrutiny by the U. S. Senate, which has to confirm all presidential cabinet members.

Foxx was thrust into the national lime light last year as his city hosted the Democratic National Convention in September. In his nomination speech, President Obama said it was Charlotte’s growth under Foxx’s leadership that underscored his qualifications.

“When Anthony became mayor in 2009, Charlotte, like the rest of the country, was going through a bruising economic crisis. But the city has managed to turn things around,” the President described. “The economy is growing. There are more jobs, more opportunity. And if you ask Anthony how that happened, he’ll tell you that one of the reasons is that Charlotte made one of the largest investments in transportation in the city’s history.

The President continued, “Since Anthony took office, they’ve broken ground on a new streetcar project that’s going to bring modern electric tram service to the downtown area. They’ve expanded the international airport. And they’re extending the city’s light rail system. All of that has not only helped create new jobs, it’s helped Charlotte become more attractive to business. So I know Anthony’s experience will make him an outstanding Transportation Secretary.”

The President’s cabinet includes the vice president and the heads of 15 executive departments. If Foxx is approved by the Senate, he will be one of only two African-American cabinet members so far. The other is Attorney General Eric Holder, appointed in Obama’s first term.

In his few minutes of remarks, Foxx seemed to immediately take charge.

"There is no such thing as a Democratic or Republican road, bridge, port, airfield or rail system," he said. "We must work together across party lines to enhance this nation's infrastructure."

Among the invited guests looking on from the audience in the East Room of the White House were Black leaders Ralph Everett, president/CEO of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; Michael Grant, president/CEO of the National Bankers Association(NBA); Ron Busby, president/CEO of the U. S. Black Chamber of Commerce, and Julie Compton, president/CEO of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO). Joining Obama and Foxx on stage was current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Within minutes after the President’s televised announcement, accolades started to fly.

“I am especially pleased the President has appointed Anthony Foxx as Secretary of Transportation. Through his work as mayor and as a city councilman in Charlotte, Anthony addressed the needs of an area that experienced tremendous growth within the past decade,” said U. S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, in a statement.

Fudge has been among the most vocal critics of the fact that President Obama had not appointed the first African-American to his cabinet this term. She recently sent a letter expressing her disappointment, then changed her tune after a conversation with a White House representative. She then said she would take a wait and see attitude.

“Anthony will surely be an asset to the President’s cabinet and to this nation and I look forward to working with him to ensure the needs of our country’s transportation system are adequately met,” she said in the statement.

Other groups followed suit.

“Under his Administration, Charlotte has grown to what is called one of America’s most vibrant cities,” said a release from the National Conference of Black Mayors.

Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network said it is “delighted with the nomination.” The NAN statement from Janaye Ingram, Washington Bureau Chief, continued, “We have worked with outgoing Secretary LaHood, most recently having hosted him at our 15th Annual National Convention in New York City. During his plenary session, Secretary LaHood committed DOT to working with NAN to expand opportunities for minorities in relation to jobs and procurement opportunities as well as creating open dialogue with members of the community. We look forward to continuing to work together with the Department of Transportation under the leadership of Mayor Foxx and urge Senate to confirm him without delay.”

Likewise, the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) posted a release on its website saying Foxx has been a “strong proponent of transportation issues and small businesses.”

The release quotes COMPTO President/CEO Julie Compton as saying, "It was an absolute honor to attend today’s announcement of the Mayor’s nomination by President Obama…We congratulate Mayor Foxx and look forward to working closely with him as COMTO continues our commitment to a diverse and inclusive transportation industry."

Despite the praise for the Foxx appointment, some are still waiting and watching the President’s future moves. A string of Black leaders have signed a letter asking the President to appoint Small Business Administration’s second in command, Marie Johns, to head that agency. That letter was written by Black Chamber President Ron Busby and signed by leaders of organizations, including the NAACP, the National Urban League and the NBA.

Meanwhile, NUL President/CEO Marc Morial, himself a former mayor had high accolades for Foxx.

“Mayor Foxx brings a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between transportation and economic development, including the practical implications of a top-tier infrastructure on job creation. His vision for and experience in creating an advanced transit system to help ensure the competitiveness of the dynamic city of Charlotte and the businesses that operate there will translate well to this role - where strategic innovation will be required to drive economic growth and continued recovery,” Morial said in a statement.

The Black Mayors’ release was also quick to point out that Foxx was the president’s first Black appointee this term. It states:

“Mayor Foxx will be the first African American nominated to the president’s cabinet this year, and if confirmed, he will be one of two African Americans, in addition to Attorney General Eric Holder, serving in the Cabinet.”

When in Doubt, Blame a Dark-Skinned Man

By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - I don’t know where CNN’s John King got the information that a suspect in the Boston bombing was “a dark-skinned male”, but beyond apologizing he needs to explain himself.

How many sources gave him the false tip? If it was fewer than two, then he violated a basic journalism rule. Who were these sources (if you don’t want to out them publicly, tell your editor)? Did King understand that he used the kind of racial/ethnic coding that once got people, even uninvolved and innocent people, lynched?

Remember Charles Stuart. He was riding through Roxbury (used to be the ‘hood) when he says a Black man of indeterminate description, wearing a jogging suit with a stripe on the sleeve shot him and his wife in an attempted carjacking. Pregnant Carol Stuart lived for just a few hours, and their baby, delivered by C-section, lived for only seventeen days. Stuart’s report of the alleged incident sparked a national outpouring of sympathy of him, and an excoriation of “Black criminals” who do such senseless things.

The police were nearly going door to door looking for a suspect, and several Black men were interrogated. Stewart identified one man in a line-up, and police were building a case against him when it discovered that Stuart’s wounds were self-inflicted and that his brother had helped him slaughter his wife.

Meanwhile, Stuart collected at least $100,000 from an insurance policy on his wife, using the money to pay for a new car in cash, and to buy jewelry. Unable to face the consequences of his actions, Stuart committed suicide by jumping off a bridge.

Stuart was too much a coward to be judged by a jury of his peers, but hundreds of Black men could not escape the injustice of the Stuart accusations. The Roxbury community was traumatized by the results of Stuart’s lies. Innocent men were questioned, many spending time at police stations in an effort to clear themselves. Those questioned and detained included students, professional men, the unemployed, and everybody in between. When in doubt, blame a Black man, any Black man, and let the chips fall where they may.

In 1994 Susan Smith, a South Carolina housewife, said that a Black man stole her two children. Later, she confessed to killing her own children. Meanwhile, again, dozens of innocent Black men were stopped, frisked, and taken to police stations for questioning. Clearly Susan Smith was mentally ill, but she wasn’t so broken that she didn’t know that blaming her children’s disappearance on a black man gave her lies more credibility.

The Stuart and Smith cases made headlines in the late twentieth century. Now our feet are firmly planted in the twenty-first century. Does this kind of racist stereotyping still take place? While these kinds of cases no longer make headlines, I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these occurrences continue to be. When in doubt, blame a Black man.

So here comes CNN’s John King, a heretofore-respected newsman, who repeatedly said that a “dark skinned man” was a suspect in the Boston bombing. Here we go again. This kind of false reporting makes every dark-skinned man in Boston a suspect, reminds Bostonians of the Stuart hoax, and sends a shudder through those African-Americans who remember police officers going door to door in housing projects rounding up the Black men.

Thanks, John King. Your job is to report the news, not make it. I wonder if you will apologize as many times as you said “dark-skinned man” or if you will ever explain where you got your false information. I’d hate to think that you transitioned from journalist to creative writer when you shared this information.

Some will say no harm was done because there was a correction. No harm was done if you don’t know the history. If someone described an alleged criminal as a White man with brown hair, it is unlikely that the police would go door to door looking for a White man with brown hair.

That’s the basic racism that is the foundation of our nation’s history. John King's erroneous reporting reminds us how easy it is to blame a "dark skinned" man.

As President Obama said, those responsible for the Boston bombings must be caught and punished. We now know that the two bombing suspects turned out to be of Chechnyan descent, nowhere close to "dark-skinned" males.You should have waited until there was proof, John King, before you reported it.

Julianne Malveaux is a DC based economist and author.

The Reality Behind the Rhetoric – Part 1

By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - President Obama’s 2014 proposed budget is a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. His stated goal is the creation of a “…rising, thriving middle class.” He considers his budget proposal to be a “fiscally responsible blueprint for middle-class jobs and growth.” The President has proposed a $3 million cap on retirement account balances; changing the Social Security cost-of-living adjustments to a “chained CPI”; along with “manageable” cuts to Medicare and other social safety net programs.

Republicans such as Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “It’s not a serious plan, for the most part just another left-wing wish list…” House Speaker John Boehner stated, “I would hope that he (Obama) not hold hostage these modest reforms for his demand for bigger tax hikes. Why don’t we do what we can agree to do? What don’t we find the common ground that we do have and then move on that?”

Budgets are no more than numerical statements about priorities. What’s conspicuously absent from any of the dialogue or rhetoric from either side is a substantive analysis about and commitment to addressing poverty in America. Conservatives want to cut our way out of debt, primarily on the backs of the poor and working classes. They fail to understand or admit that by investing in educating, housing, and feeding the least of us, all of us truly benefit. By turning those who depend upon the system into working tax-payers a rising tide will truly lift all boats.

Let’s start with what is poverty. Webster defines poverty as, “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor. According to the Census Bureau’s preliminary weighted numbers for 2012, a four-person family with two children with an annual cash income of $23,497 is considered poor. For one- and two-person family units, the poverty thresholds differ by age; an individual under age 65 with income of $11,945 qualifies as poor, whereas an individual age 65 or older is poor at $11,011 annual income.

This is the generally accepted definition of poverty. The problem with it is poverty is much deeper than that. Poverty was defined in 1996 by Joseph Wresinski, the founder of ATD Fourth World as”the absence of one or more factors enabling individuals and families to assume basic responsibilities and to enjoy fundamental rights.” It is not just a matter of income; it is also a matter of access to services and programs. It’s the issue of adequate funding and access to services that we find ourselves battling with today in the context of the budget battle and national debt and deficit.

There’s one more group that needs to be mentioned, according to CNN-Money from October of 2012, there is one group that is just a step away from falling into the clutches of poverty. More than 30 million Americans are living just above the poverty line. These near poor, often defined as having incomes of up to 1.5 times the poverty threshold, were supporting a family of four on no more than $34,500 last year. They are one illness or other set-back away from poverty.

Perspectives about the poor and resulting policies are driven by perceptions, and misperceptions. It’s interesting how so many discussions about poverty are put into the context of a race powered politics that blame the poor for their circumstance.

As former President Reagan and other conservatives have discussed welfare and other support programs in the code language of urban welfare queens and poverty pimps the stereotype is that the poor are predominantly African American and unwilling to work. Census data does not support that position. Quoting Dr. Ronald Walters from White Nationalism Black Interests, “White Nationalists have acted on the presumption that Blacks get a disproportionate share of government resources…This attitude has translated into policies which have politicized the welfare system and the very concept of society’s collective responsibility to care for the less fortunate.”

Even President Obama has contributed to these misperceptions by lecturing African Americas about changing behavior, habits, and personal responsibility while failing to address the history and conditions that contribute to their circumstances. Dr. Frederick Harris addresses this is The Price of the Ticket calling it the politics of respectability. While discussing childhood obesity in the African American community, Obama, “neglected to mention social and economic barriers that may account for …poor decisions-limited food choices in poor and working class neighborhoods…” It’s one thing to lecture people about eating habits but another to fail to address the fact that too many poor live in what are called “food deserts”.

These stereotypes have obscured the real problem contributing to poverty. They are resulting in what Harris calls, “draconian policies targeted a poor and working class blacks” that receive “...the public backing of black elites…” who provide “cover for the raciest practices and policies.”

America’s failure to address the reality behind the rhetoric prevents American’s from making the proper policy choices to solve its problems and move the country forward. The solutions are not cheap but failing to properly address these issues is costing us more than we can afford.

Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Reparations in Order for 1963 Bombing

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

Jesse3

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It was terror that shook the nation. On Sunday, Sept. 15, 1963, a bomb exploded in the basement of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. Four little girls, all dressed in white — 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, and 11-year-old Denise McNair — died in the explosion, and are remembered in history.

Congress now is considering offering them posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal.

But there was a fifth little girl caught in the blast — 10-year-old Sarah Collins Rudolph — the younger sister of Addie Mae. Partly blinded, she staggered from the basement bleeding from the nose and ears from a concussion. She spent two months in the hospital, but she survived. To this day, she bears her injuries, and the traumatic stress that does not go away. She doesn’t want a medal; she wants justice.

Now she is speaking out, witness to that horrible crime in those mean days. She’s angry because her sister’s body has been lost. When they went to exhume the body, the grave contained someone else’s remains. She wonders why there was no compensation for her injuries, no help for the families.

The Birmingham bombing came days after a court order calling for three schools in Huntsville to open for limited integration had been defied by Gov. George Wallace, who called out the National Guard to bar the students. It came less than three weeks after the March on Washington and Dr. King’s “I have a dream” oration. Veterans of the civil rights movement were girding themselves for the reprisals that seemed to follow any sign of progress.

Dr. King suggested that some had misinterpreted the dignified and disciplined march on Washington — now so seared in our memories — and thought the revolution was over. No, he told the Southern Conference Leadership Convention in September, “We are more determined than ever before that nonviolence is the way. Let them bring on their bombs. Let them sabotage us with the evil of cooperation with segregation. We intend to be free.”

Sarah Collins Rudolph did not choose to be a hero. Her life was scarred by an act of terror unleashed against the most innocent of little girls.

As Barbara Arnwine, head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, commented, Rudolph has been overlooked because the basic story has not been told. So much of what we remember about the civil rights movement are the victories, the great moments. Too often, Arnwine argues, “we whitewash the history” and shove the victims into a closet to keep them from reminding us of the reality.

Juries eventually convicted three Ku Klux Klansmen in the bombing years later, and one suspected accomplice died without ever having been charged. One of the four is still in prison and the others are dead.

Now Sarah Collins Rudolph has had the courage to stand up and tell her tale. She wants Congress to recognize that lives were lost and scarred, in part because of the failure of the federal government to enforce the laws of the land, and to protect those who were asserting their rights in the face of domestic terrorism.

Congress must act now beyond the symbol of medals to the substance of justice and compensation. The victims of Sept. 16, 1963, and the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, are justly due reparations. Sarah Collins Rudolph is in the lineage of those to whom our nation is in debt.

Keep up with Rev. Jackson and the work of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition at www.rainbowpush.org.

Lessons of 42!

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - I hadn’t seen many movies lately, but I’m glad I saw 42 — the Jackie Robinson Story. Everyone, especially young people, should see it and don’t mind the few cuss words. Nothing will be said that your children haven’t heard before. I cried as I left the theater, but the film's lessons were worth the tears.

I’d heard many stories about the great baseball player. As far as my daddy was concerned, Robinson was the only player with the Brooklyn Dodgers! At least, that’s all I heard him say when he talked about the Dodgers! He was so proud of Robinson, and when I saw the movie, I knew why. Viewed through a contemporary lens, much of Robinson's story may be open to question or critique, but his was a story for the ages that provided racial uplift far beyond the baseball diamond.

We can, of course, be grateful for the vision and insight of the late Dodger President and General Manager, Branch Rickey, who was responsible for bringing Robinson into major league baseball. Whether his decision to bring Robinson into major league ball was motivated by altruism or profit potential is not relevant at this point. The hiring of Robinson laid another stone in the foundation of social change.

Robinson's understanding of his place in history led to his being a "model" of patience on the field no matter what was hurled at him. His first at bat was symbolic of what his career would signify to the masses -- he hit a "Home Run" in the face of insurmountable odds.

His career was symbolic of another reality. His play and participation took a mediocre team to the pinnacle of popularity and success in baseball, as the work and participation of African Americans in the life of this country brought the US to greatness on the world stage.

Robinson didn’t exhaust his energy fighting every act of racism. He reconciled that there would be those who hated him. He channeled his anger into excellence and achievement that opened doors of opportunity in baseball and society. He’d been given the opportunity to demonstrate his skill, and, picking his fights wisely, he created similar opportunity for others.

Robinson had a temper that could have cost him his chance at success. He was, however, blessed with a wife - his personal support system - who kept him grounded and focused on the rewards of his potential. Just as he overcame the injustice of his military court-martial, he overcame the injustice in professional baseball -- and he became a hero for his efforts.

Like Dr. King and other civil rights activists, Robinson faced death threats, but he was not deterred from the goal of promoting the "greater good." Like others, upon whom leadership was thrust, Robinson quietly went about the business of using his notoriety to create positive change. Until Dr. King came along, Jackie was the hero of non-violence. Unknown to many, he supported Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement—once writing a letter to President John Kennedy expressing the urgency of keeping Dr. King safe. He worked with the NAACP and SCLC and participated in voting rights activities and raised funds for civil rights. Because of who he was, how and what he had done, Robinson became a voice, as well as an image, for civil rights.

There is little doubt that the stress of Robinson's sacrifices hastened his death. Like King, Evers, and others who died prematurely, he did much to give others a chance. My good friend, Mark Thompson said, “His life should be exemplary for the far too many athletes silent in the face of today's injustices”, and I would say "Amen!" to that.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. See This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and www.efayewilliams.com. 202/678-678