By Hazel Trice Edney

 
President Obama waits to speak at Sandy Hook High School. PHOTO: The White House

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – On Friday morning, Dec. 14, most Americans were either contemplating last minute Christmas gifts or deeply involved in a devisive debate over how to avoid the fiscal cliff. Then suddenly, the nation found itself united in grief, joined by people around the world.

They were responding to the unthinkable act that has brought the nation to its knees at Christmas time and caused the President to cry. That is when 20 children and seven women at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., were brutally murdered – all shot multiple times - by a 20-year-old gunman who then killed himself.

“The majority of those who died today were children - beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them  - birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers - men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams,” President Obama detailed the tragedy as tears streaked his face in the White House Press Room Dec. 14.

“As a nation, we have endured far too many of these tragedies in the last few years,” he continued on his Weekly Radio Address that evening. “An elementary school in Newtown. A shopping mall in Oregon. A house of worship in Wisconsin. A movie theater in Colorado. Countless street corners in places like Chicago and Philadelphia. Any of these neighborhoods could be our own. So we have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics.”

Political observers have described the Sandy Hook massacre as a “tipping point” for President Obama and Congress to finally discuss the gun control issue as well as mental health issues.

It is clear by his words that this incident will be the impetus to action. Speaking at an Inter-faith Prayer Vigil in Newtown Sunday night, he promised to take swift action.

“In the coming weeks, I will 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. Because what choice do we have? We can’t accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?”

Gun lobbies, including the politically powerful National Rifle Association, will no doubt oppose new gun laws, giving their usual argument for the Second Amendment and that it is people – not guns – that kill people. Still others will argue that the key is keeping the guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. It is not clear what affect new gun laws could have on the homicides in city streets that's killed hundreds of thousands since the FBI started counting homicides in the early 1970s.

Early this week, authorities said they were finding “very good evidence” in their search for a motive in the Sandy Hook killings, according to widespread reports. The questions are why Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, a former teacher at Sandy Hook; then took multiple weapons that legally belonged to her and shot his way into the locked elementary school. He then killed the school principal, Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, five other teachers and administrators and 20 children. By the time the killing spree was over, 28 were dead, including Adam Lanza.

He was widely described as “troubled” by friends and acquaintances interviewed by the news media. Multiple sources told the New York Daily News that he had Asperger’s syndrome or a personality disorder; that he had a tortured mind, was subject to outbursts and had a condition that caused him not to be able to feel physical pain. A former babysitter told CNN that his mother once warned him never to turn his back on the young Adam. At that time, he was about 10.

The Sandy Hook massacre comes at the end of a year with multiple mass killings. In fact, Friday’s news eclipsed reports on a random shooting in an Oregon mall in which a 22-year-old killer shot and killed two people before killing himself.  Police said his gun jammed, preventing more deaths. And then there was the Aurora, Col. movie theatre massacre on July 20 that killed 12 people.

President Obama pointed out that this is the fourth time during his administration that he has had to comfort grieving loved ones after mass shootings. That also includes the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford by Jared Loughner, who remains incarcerated.  Six people died and 13 were injured in that shooting at a Tucson political gathering in a grocery store parking lot. On August 5, White supremacist Wade Michael Page killed six people at the Sikh Temple of Oak Creek, Wis. before killing himself.

President Obama has become known for his compassion amidst crisis – not only following mass shootings, but in disasters such as his recent visit to New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Seeking to comfort the families gathered at Sunday evening’s prayer vigil he spoke these words: “…Do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away…inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

Closing his speech by calling the names of each of the children, he continued to focus on the responsibilities of those people left behind: "God has called them all home. For those of us who remain, let us find the strength to carry on, and make our country worthy of their memory. May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in His heavenly place. May He grace those we still have with His holy comfort. And may He bless and watch over this community, and the United States of America.”

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – plu·toc·ra·cy / ploōˈtäkrəsē/ • n. (pl. -cies) an elite or ruling class of people whose power derives from their wealth. ∎ government by the wealthy.

Before the 2012 presidential campaign, how many of us were familiar with the names Charles, David or William Koch; Sheldon Adelson, Richard DeVos, Alice Walton, Harold Simmons, Foster Friess, Bob Perry, Frank Vandersloot, Bill or Richard Marriott; John Schnatter or any of the other wealthiest Republican donors?  Most of us know the connection between John Schnatter and Papa John’s Pizza; few of us know the others and what they mean to our future.  This lack of knowledge could be costly to us.

These individuals have pursued varied careers, but are united by their condition of great wealth. They’re also united with the common purpose of creating a political environment that will protect their great wealth and shape public and political opinion regarding social issues they wish to promote.  Common to their value system is the belief that their money and socio-economic position give them the right and authority to greater influence over shaping the direction of the country for us all.  While most of us were indignant at the “47% Percent” comments of Mitt Romney, the “makers vs. takers” comments of Paul Ryan or the general disdain of the Republican Party for “the common person,” similar sentiments were reflected in the words and deeds of these wealthy Republican donors.

The words of Foster Friess which gave public voice to the Republican “War on Women” was a glaring example.  In an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Friess offered a Republican alternative to health insurance provided “birth control.”  He said that, in his day, women held aspirin between their knees to prevent pregnancy!  As a spokesperson and campaign donor of over $1million, he demonstrated his goal of defining the Republican agenda in words and deeds.

There are reasons of friendship that motivate some of the large donations made by individuals on my list.  For example, there is a greater likelihood that donations of the Marriott brothers to the Romney campaign were based on friendship rather than another motivation.  The fathers of Romney and the Marriotts were close friends.  Romney was named to honor J. Willard Marriott.  We can’t, however, discount the fact that, for these men, friendship and financial interest are held in common.  The Marriott brothers are reported to have spent $1.5 million in campaign donations.

On the other hand, the multi- million dollar donations of billionaire casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson, were nearly triple the previous highest amount donated by an individual.  In early disclosures filed with the FEC, Adelson, chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp, and his wife contributed millions of dollars, mostly to Super PACs backing Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and party peers running for seats in the Senate and House.  Presumably much of his money went into tax-exempt organizations not required to disclose donors. Early in the process, Adelson told Politico he planned to spend up to $100 million or "whatever it takes" to defeat President Barack Obama. Analysts have surmised that Adelson’s motivation for his more than generous donations to Republican interests was to eliminate the potential for Department of Justice scrutiny of his gambling operations in China. By the way, it is said he recouped his campaign spending in one day!

Giving greater scrutiny to the motives of some of the wealthy attempting to reshape the U.S. into their own image, we can’t discount more insidious motives for their generosity. A thorough discussion of their motives cannot be accomplished in a single column.  In future columns, I will revisit the motives and impact of these U.S. plutocrats.  As for us, never forget that to whom we give our money, we also give our power—so spend it wisely.

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

By Julianne Malveaux

Jovan Belcher, Kasandra Perkins and their 3-month-old daughter.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - By now, it’s old news that Kasandra Perkins was murdered by Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher, her boyfriend and the father of her daughter.  By now we’ve read about how great a teammate Belcher was, how dedicated to his girlfriend and daughter. We’ve read his hardscrabble story of moving from the University of Maine, hardly a football powerhouse, to a coveted slot in the NFL.

Belcher has been humanized, even enshrined as his friends have talked about him not having a violent bone in his body.  What about Kasandra?  It has been disturbing that the news focused mostly on Jovan (yes, I know, he was the famous one), with a focus on Kasandra only later in the week. Her friends said they did not want her life to be overshadowed by the sympathetic coverage of Jovan.

While Jovan Belcher was clearly a troubled man, the bottom line is that Jovan Belcher murdered Kasandra Perkins.  Not just shot her, he murdered her.  And then he killed himself.  Yes, this is a tragedy, but it is also a murder, so let’s not use euphemisms, let’s just call it what it is.   The news reports that Belcher was angry because Kasandra Perkins went to a concert and came home at about 1 o'clock in the morning.  But another report says that he was parked outside some other woman’s house in the middle of the night. Go figure.

What do we know about Kasandra Perkins? The 22-year-old woman from Texas aspired to be a teacher and was studying at a local community college. She had a 3-month-old child, Zoey. She made friends easily and worked with other wives and girlfriends of Chiefs players.  She enjoyed going out with friends. There is probably lots more to her story, but it has been scantily reported.

Nobody knows what goes in in a relationship except those who are in it.  So it is also disturbing to see Belcher’s friends take to the media to describe the relationship as troubled and to suggest that Kasandra is at fault for her own murder.  According to some, she provoked her own murder by staying out late at night.  Guess what?  Belcher’s mother was caring for their infant.  Sounds like a control issue to me.

Too often, men beat and even kill women when they step outside their sphere of control.  Women are beaten or killed because they didn’t cook dinner, because they raised their voice, because they chose to spend time with friends or family, because ... because.  This violence does not know race, class or gender, though different groups have different levels of violence.  While 1.5 million women experience domestic violence annually, African-American women are 35 percent more likely than White women to be battered.

Without mentioning names, the Kansas City Chiefs called for a moment of silence for victims of domestic violence during the game that Jovan Belcher did not play.  With football, they did not have the grace to mention Kasandra Perkins by name.   It would have made a difference if they had. Despite the fact that Belcher was a member of the KC team, there is a villain and a victim in this incident.

This type of violence is such an epidemic that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was passed in 1994. The act established an office in the Department of Justice that works to prevent violence and allocated $1.6 billion to work on violence against women issues, including strengthening existing state law and raising awareness of this issue.  Now the law is up for reauthorization, and some Republicans are holding it up because they do not agree with protections for Native-American women, immigrant women, and people in same-sex couples. We know that VAWA is effective. Since its passage, intimate partner violence has dropped by about 60 percent, but it didn’t save Kasandra Perkins. If nothing else, her brutal murder reminds us why this act is so important.

Jovan Belcher had a temper, drank heavily, and had at least eight guns.  Some say he had suffered multiple head injuries playing football. That’s no excuse for a murder so brutal that he shot Kasandra nine times. And the stories about his supposed nonviolence is contradicted by some of his college behavior, including punching through a window when he was frustrated by a girlfriend who did not want to see him. This man was a serious candidate for anger management!

Kasandra Perkins isn’t the only woman who has been murdered by a husband or boyfriend. According to the Department of Justice, three women are killed by spouses or partners every day. I don’t want to hear about the tragedy of football player Jovan Belcher. I want to mourn Kasandra and the many women like her.  And in her name, and in the name of others, we must all fight to get the Violence Against Women Act renewed.

By Benjamin Todd Jealous

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - There is a missing component to the national discussion concerning how to strengthen and rebuild the American economy. It is true that high unemployment, a weak national infrastructure, the need for stronger public education, the concentration of wealth and the deficit are all challenges to the nation’s economy but being left out of the discussion is the continued economic marginalization of racial and ethnic minorities.

The American economy has always been strongest when it’s kept the middle class within reach for most Americans. But with white households holding nearly 20 times the wealth of black or Latino households, and with rising disparities in unemployment, poverty, and income, the future of the middle class has never looked more uncertain. As the country rapidly becomes majority-minority the nation’s economic well-being is increasingly tied to overcoming racial economic inequality.

The economic challenges that people of color face is reflected in the recently released NAACP Opportunity and Diversity Report Card which analyzes the hotel and lodging industry. Mediocre grades among the five leading hotels we examined—Hyatt, Starwood, Wyndham, Marriott and Hilton—reveal the widespread lack of investment in minority suppliers, the over representation of people of color in the lowest paying entry level positions, the under representation in the more highly paid career track positions and finally a lack of commitment to collecting basic diversity data that could be used to strengthen inclusion efforts.

Our report shows that black-owned businesses, which comprise 7 percent of all businesses  in the U.S., make up only 0.9 percent of all vendors receipts —a troubling red flag that signals how far corporate America has to go in their supplier diversity outreach. And while people of color are 36 percent of the population, only 13 percent of the governing bodies in the hotel and lodging industry consist of people of color.

One of the most disconcerting findings of our report card is that all of the top 5 hotel and lodging corporations do not collect diversity data from their franchise properties. This means for four out of five of these leading corporations no data is collected for the majority of their individual hotels. This is unacceptable.

The NAACP is calling for these corporations to collect the diversity data already mandated by the government through EEO1 reports. We are also asking for planners of major events to request EEO1 reports from any individual hotel they are considering for their event so they can make diversity and inclusion part of their assessment as to which hotel is worthy of their business. The National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners has already voiced support for this action and we will be working with our community and civil rights partners as well as local bureaus of tourism to make widespread the use of EEO1 data as an important and widely used factor for determining which hotels qualify to hold major events.

The EEO1 survey is a primary means that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission uses to advance its mission derived from the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act focused on prohibiting racial discrimination in employment and almost 60 years later we still find great racial and ethnic disparities in business and its workforce.

The Opportunity and Diversity Report Card and our call to action for greater use of EEO1 data should not be seen as just a “civil rights” matter but should be understood as a means of dealing with one of the greatest threats facing the American economy over the next 30 years, racial economic inequality. We at the NAACP have always seen racial inequality as a grave threat to the country and in the next few decades if serious action isn’t taken to bridge this divide the entire nation will see the economic results of this inequality.