By Hazel Trice Edney

Marc Morial and other Black leaders say they will hold President Obama accountable to Black interests.

Shaken by the Sandy Hook tragedy, President Obama will tackle gun violence in his second term.

The Trayvon Martin story carries far-reaching implications for racial profiling in America.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – America prepares to commemorate 50 years since the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 2013. But, most stories that dominated the Black Press in 2012 foretold a continued quest for racial justice.

The killing of Trayvon Martin; the contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder; the Black jobless rate; the fight to maintain voting rights; the contentious re-election bid of President Barack Obama and the rebirth of the debate on gun violence were just a few of the headlined topics in 2012. They reminded America that Black America has yet to overcome. The following is a synopsis of some of the top stories:

The Economy: As 2012 wound down, President Obama and leading members of Congress negotiated intensely to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” – the simultaneous occurrence of sizable tax hikes and deep spending cuts. Regardless of the outcome, African-Americans remain in double digit unemployment rates and continue as the racial group that has suffered the highest unemployment, lost most wealth and experienced more foreclosures during the economic downturn. A group of African-American organizational heads, convened by National Urban League President/CEO Marc Morial, says they will hold the President accountable for protecting the interests of African-American, his most loyal supporters.

Gun Violence: The nation united in grief over 20 first-graders and seven educators killed by mass murderer Adam Lanza, who had also killed his mother before killing himself Dec. 14. The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary brought tears to President Barack Obama, reigniting an old debate over gun laws and mental health care. The discussions are escalating as Vice President Joe Biden will head a committee to suggest possible new legislation. Representatives of the powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, have called for an armed guard in every school. The tragedy has also shed light on gun violence and deaths of children in cities across the nation, including in President Obama’s hometown of Chicago. There, at least 500 homicides occurred in 2012. Of those deaths, at least 270 were teenagers or children.

Re-election of President Obama: Concluding a nail biter of an election that practically spellbound the nation, President Barack Obama was re-elected in a decisive Electoral College vote of 332 to 206 against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Nov. 6. As in his historic 2008 victory as the nation’s first African-American president, Obama again won with at least 95 percent of the Black vote.

Voter Suppression: As America approached the Nov. 6 election, 46 states introduced laws that would require voters to show photo identification, proof of citizenship or a birth certificate in order to vote. Legislators claimed the measures would prevent voter fraud. But civil rights leaders scoffed and decried the new laws as suppression and intimidation tactics that could have disenfranchised as many as five million Americans. Because of the diligence of key civil rights organizations such as the NAACP, the National Coalition on Black Voter Participation, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the apparent plot was exposed and thwarted.

Rodney King Dies: The accidental drowning death of 47-year-old Rodney King on June 17, 2012 shocked the nation. King, who died in a swimming pool at a home that he shared with his fiancé, had become a symbol of civil rights 20 years after Los Angeles police viciously beat him during a videotaped traffic stop March 2, 1991. National outrage and six days of rioting broke out when the police officers where initially allowed to walk free. The publicity surrounding King’s sudden death was a stark reminder of inequities that continue against African-Americans in the criminal justice system.

Killing of Trayvon Martin: The February 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin has become the quintessential symbol of racial profiling. A Florida judge has set a date of June 10, 2013, for the trial of George Zimmerman on charges of second-degree murder in the shooting. The unarmed 17-year-old was killed as he walked in a gated Sanford community toward his father's house. He was wearing a hoodie, carrying a bag of skittles and a can of iced tea. Zimmerman, 29, a self-appointed neighborhood watchman has pleaded not guilty on grounds of self-defense. He claims Martin attacked him after he called police reporting a suspicious youth in the neighborhood.

Death of Whitney Houston: It was undoubtedly the biggest entertainment news of 2012. On the eve of the 54^th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 11, Whitney Houston, a six-time Grammy Award winner and one of the most celebrated artists in music history, was found dead. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office determined that she died of drowning as a result of cocaine use. But, some still contend foul play and possibly murder. Compounding the shock, her death came just before the release of her final starring role in the film, “Sparkle”, which opened in August.

U. S. Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act: Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts was the deciding justice in a 5-4 vote to uphold President Barack Obama’s staple legislation, nicknamed “Obamacare” on June 28. Despite arguments that U. S. citizens cannot be mandated to obtain health care, Roberts invoked that the law is constitutional as a tax. The ruling was a major relief to the Obama campaign.

Attorney General Eric Holder Found in Contempt of Congress: The first African-American to serve as attorney general, Holder was found in contempt of Congress June 28 by a largely partisan vote of 255-67. Seventeen Democrats voted in favor of the measure, and two Republicans voted against it. Holder was found in contempt in connection with an investigation into a tactic called “Fast and Furious,” in which authorities tracked weapons purchased by gun traffickers without immediately intercepting them. Holder was questioned over his refusal to turn over documents that showed how the Justice Department reacted to the investigation and the loss of more than 1,000 tracked weapons. Furious over the contempt vote, the Congressional Black Caucus and other leading Democrats walked out of the vote in protest. In all, 108 Democrats including minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Civil Rights Era icon John Lewis (D-Ga.) joined the protest.

Continued Fallout from Hazing Death of Robert Champion: Fallout continued throughout 2012 following the Nov. 19, 2011 hazing death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion. In February, a national coalition of educational, clerical and journalistic leaders started a movement to end hazing and other types of violence on historically Black college campuses. In October, FAMU President James Ammons resigned after Champion’s parents, Pam and Robert Champion Sr., filed a lawsuit against the university. Just last week, a 32-page report was released by the Florida Board of Governors Inspector General’s Office. According to the Associated Press, it concludes that FAMU “lacked internal controls to prevent or detect hazing, citing a lack of communication among top university officials, the police department and the office responsible for disciplining students.”

By Marc Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this…” President Barack Obama

A movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. A Sikh Temple in Wisconsin. A shopping mall in Oregon. A political event in Tucson, Arizona. The weekend streets of big cities like Chicago. And now a first grade class in Newtown, Connecticut. When will the madness stop? When will we take “meaningful action” to end gun violence in America? These are just the latest high-profile mass shootings that have taken the lives of too many innocent victims. And when those victims are small school children and their teachers, the weight of grief is almost too much to bear.

A weight of responsibility also falls on our shoulders. Immediately after one of these mass killings, someone always says it is too soon to talk about sensible gun control measures. We must take time to grieve first. But after the flying of flags at half-staff and the tearful memorial services, we invariably go back to business as usual. I say, not this time. As a father, a former mayor and a life-long advocate of a safe and quality education for every child, I too am in mourning. But at the same time, I call on our leaders in Washington and in states across this nation, to take immediate action to protect our children and prevent the kind of senseless carnage we saw last week.

Even before this latest tragedy, for years, the National Urban League has been calling for sensible gun control. In fact, on the day after the recent presidential election, I sent a letter to President Obama and the leaders in the House of Representatives, saying in part. “The scourge of gun violence cries out for a comprehensive approach to community safety and crime reduction. This requires stronger enforcement of existing gun laws and re-enactment of the assault weapons ban…” We asked the President and the Congress to make this a top priority for the next four years.

Gun violence has often been associated with poor, urban neighborhoods, and it is true that urban violence is much too prevalent. But most of these mass shootings have occurred in quiet, suburban towns where crime is typically low and gun ownership is high. The point is, gun violence can happen anywhere. The one common denominator is easy access to guns. In a nation of 314 million, there are 270 million privately held firearms. It is no coincidence that America has the highest gun-related murder rate of any developed country. And it’s not just criminal gun violence. There are a substantial number of gun-related suicides and accidental deaths. Just last week, a 3-year-old Oklahoma boy found a gun in a relative’s home, shot himself in the head and died. Clearly, fewer guns in America and none in the wrong hands must be part of the solution. We are pleased that on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” Senator Dianne Feinstein pledged to introduce a gun control bill on the first day of the next Congress that would limit the sale, transfer and possession of assault weapons, along with high capacity magazines. She expects the President to offer his support for the law. We hope so. It’s time to turn our tears into action.

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq

(TriceEdneyWireService.com) – I will never forget the shellacking I took from the NRA when I ran for Congress and suggested that we didn’t need weapons of mass destruction to shoot rabbits! Not many people came to my defense then, and it was a very lonely time, but I held firm. Now, like most Americans, I find myself in a state of disbelief about the events of 12-14- 2012, in Newtown, CT. I struggle for an answer to the question of how anyone could brutally massacre innocent children and teachers. I empathize with the families who lost loved ones and pray for those seeking closure through greater understanding. I’m unsure of whether we’ll ever have enough answers to explain the horror of that day.

We’ll labor to find a solution to gun violence in an attempt to minimize the possibility of a recurrence of this event. We must revisit gun regulations and regulation of devices of destruction. I’m sure the technicalities of re-regulation of guns will be a matter of lengthy debate, but I believe we’ll ultimately see some tightening of controls. The extent and type of controls will be determined by the moral courage of legislators tasked with addressing this issue.

While I see re-regulation of guns as a necessary response to the events of Newtown, CT, I doubt gun regulation will be a panacea for the elimination of gun violence. The action of the shooter, Adam Lanza, suggests added problems that are separate from the issue of guns. The fact that Lanza disregarded one of the most inviolate social taboos by killing his own mother and desecrated the commonly accepted social construct of protecting the innocent (especially children) tells those who’re willing to listen that there’s a greater problem than guns.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Lanza had a history of mental illness. In recent years, the all too frequent emergence of incidents of gun violence seems to be perpetrated by those so diagnosed. There’s no consolation in his disability and the fact that it appears to be the cause of his heinous crime. It’s been offered as fact that his mother sought mental healthcare for him, but we’ll never know whether that access to mental healthcare could have prevented this tragedy. What we do know is The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports that Connecticut’s public mental health system currently provides coverage for less than one in five Connecticut residents with a serious mental health problem. Beyond that, the other four may not be able to afford to pay for those services on their own, particularly since mental health issues tend to disproportionately affect poor people.

Those not burdened with the label of mental illness do not escape from this dynamic as blameless. In large measure we have lounged in apathy while our national discourse has coarsened and the model of compromise has become “giving our opponent a beatdown.” From the imagery projected in movies, television, music, video games and talk radio, we have come to accept the total destruction of those whose positions differ from our own as a model of appropriate interaction. We then wonder, “What is wrong with our children and young adults? What is wrong with us?”

These questions should’ve already been asked after the multitude of less dramatic, yet important acts of violence in our nation. Hundreds of citizens are killed or wounded by senseless acts of violence – often without comment. I’m saddened by the events of Newtown, but I’m heartened by the discussion that it forces us to have now.

We’ve been confronted with the genuine conundrum of balancing public safety against Constitutional rights, and challenging us to reclaim the ‘better angels’ of our humanity. I pray that this is the time we’ll do the right thing?

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

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Do not turn your eyes from the horror of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn. Twenty children, their teachers and aides, their school principal shot repeatedly, in some cases beyond recognition, by a 20-year-old wielding a semiautomatic assault weapon.

As he has shown in his moving words after the horror, President Barack Obama clearly is grief-stricken, as we all should be, about the children murdered in their innocence.

“Can we honestly say we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?” Obama asked in his remarks in Newtown. “If we’re honest with ourselves, the answer’s no. We’re not doing enough, and we will have to change.”

The president pledged that “in the coming weeks, I’ll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators, in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this.”

As the president said, we’ve seen too many of these tragedies. And daily in major cities like Chicago, the trauma builds. This year as of Dec. 10, Chicago has witnessed 485 killed in gun violence, 125 under the age of 18.

Legislators are afraid to act because the gun lobby is well-funded, and this country is saturated in guns. As of 2009, there were an estimated 310 million non-military firearms owned in America. There are 129,817 federally licensed firearms dealers, 51,438 of which are retail gun stores. That compares with 10,787 Starbucks stores, and 143,839 gas stations across the country. And that doesn’t count gun shows. About 40 percent of guns are sold in unlicensed private sales.

So if action is to take place, Americans in large numbers must make their voices heard.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, one of the original authors of the 1994 assault weapons ban, has vowed to introduce, on the first day of Congress, a new ban on the sale of assault weapons. President Obama could lead the drive for that.

He also could challenge Americans to rethink our infatuation with guns and violence. I would invite him to come home to Chicago to challenge the nation to understand the daily toll gun violence takes.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called on the president to increase resources and priority given to enforcing the gun control laws already on the books. According to Bloomberg, 77,000 people were accused of lying when issued gun permits, but only 77 have been prosecuted.

The New York Times reports that after the Gabby Giffords shooting, the Department of Justice reviewed what could be done to strengthen gun control enforcement. One measure was to compel federal agencies to merge information about the mentally incompetent into the background check database.

Obama could challenge states and cities across the country to act. The gun lobby has persuaded many state legislatures to strip municipalities of their power to regulate guns. The president could enlist public officials from major cities and suburban jurisdictions to push hard on states to give back that power to act — and enlist citizens to march on state legislatures to get them to act. Instead of expanding concealed weapons laws, cities and suburban districts could unite to put strict limits on handguns and assault weapons.

Will the horror of Sandy Hook Elementary and the slaughter on our urban streets force action? Strict laws won’t end gun violence — not with 310 million guns spread through the country. But we can do more to protect our children — and we must.