By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – One month after the re-election of President Barack Obama, more than 40 Black leaders convened this week to begin crafting what appears to be a strategy by which to hold politicians accountable to a suffering Black community that has given overwhelming political allegiance to President Obama and the Democratic Party.

“We just concluded a historic four-hour discussion about the state of the nation, the state of Black America, the challenges and problems we face, as well as the excitement we feel about our ability to impact the challenges of now and the future,” National Urban League President/CEO Marc Morial began the afternoon press conference Dec. 3. “We embrace our historic role as the conscience of the nation and we are united in our mission to support and protect the well-being of the African-American community, low income and working class Americans across the nation.”

Immediately, Morial read a joint statement from the group, focusing on what politicians and economists are calling the “fiscal cliff”, a year-end convergence of tax hikes that could throw already economically destitute people into a tail spin.

“Millions of African-Americans are still reeling in the wake of the great recession and trying to regain their footing after overwhelming losses in wealth, income and security,” Morial read. “In this first year of the recovery, 93 percent of the income gains have gone to the wealthiest one percent. Yet, African-Americans, low, middle and working class Americans have already paid a disproportionate price and have been left teetering on the precipice of financial ruin. And some would ask middle, low and working class Americans to give more.”

The meeting, led by Morial at a Washington, D.C. hotel, was convened by him, Melanie Campbell, president/CEO, the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation; the Rev. Al Sharpton, president/CEO, the National Action Network; and Ben Jealous, president/CEO of the NAACP. A string of other stalwart Black organizations were also represented, including the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; the National Congress of Black Women; the Black Women’s Roundtable; the Hip Hop Caucus; and the Institute of the Black World - 21st Century.

The joint statement, which specifically addressed the fiscal cliff, urged leaders to preserve tax cuts and take a “fair and rational approach” that will secure the safety nets of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and support “investments in education, innovation, jobs and infrastructure that will be necessary for real and meaningful recovery in these communities.”

Morial called the gathering a “first step in a new direction.” But, as they promised to continue their watchdog roles and share their proposals with politicians, little was said about what exactly they will do if the Congress and President do not listen.

“We believe that it is the responsibility of those that offer leadership to push the envelope forward. We cannot sit and ask the president to write an agenda to himself from us. It ought to come from us to him or the Congress from us to [them],” said the Rev. Al Sharpton who has typically held mass marches and demonstrations in order to get his points across. He stopped short of saying whether such action is on the agenda.

“Next year will be the anniversary of the March on Washington, where a collective of civil rights groups came to Washington and raised the issues of our community to then President Kennedy and the Congress,” Sharpton said. “They did not ask the president to write the agenda. They asked him to receive the agenda and from that they went back into the South and got the Civil Rights Act of ’64 and the Voting Rights Act of ‘65. It is in that spirit a half century later we come to say that we’ll work together, we’ll come together and try to set an agenda that will alleviate the economic, electoral, as well as criminal justice disparities that yet plague our community a half century later.  We have made a lot of progress in 50 years, but we’re nowhere where we need to be. We are closer, but we have not arrived.”

As the Black community finds itself still embroiled in economic and criminal justice inequities, sporadic battles continue to arise that symbolize the overall battle for racial justice.

In that regard, Melanie Campbell, who also heads the Black Women’s Roundtable, announced that the Black leadership group has joined the BWR’s petition against the political attacks on United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice. Republicans have viciously attacked Rice, claiming to oppose the possibility of her nomination as secretary of state because of initial inaccurate or insufficient information she gave the public after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi in which four Americans were killed. Rice has said and it has been confirmed that she was only reporting information given to her by the intelligence community, namely the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency.

“We gathered on last week with over a hundred women leaders,” said Campbell, appealing – not only to Black leaders - but “those who believe in fairness.” She said, “The attacks on Ambassador Susan Rice should cease and desist now. And she should be given her due respect in her role.”

Campbell added that Black women and youth will continue to build coalitions on top of those that turned out yet another historic vote on Nov. 6.

The progressive agenda needed to gain even a semblance of equality for African-Americans includes issues that are incredibly broad and detailed. Representing the NAACP, Hillary Shelton, vice president for advocacy and policy, named a litany of such issues:

Economics; jobs; small business contracts; strengthening the infrastructure; support for quality education for pre-kindergarten to support of HBCUs; quality health care; voting rights and election reform; voting rights for convicted felons; and the reform of the criminal justice system from the misuse of the death penalty to the end to police brutality and profiling are among those he listed as being a part of the agenda.

Calling the issues, “game changers,” Shelton concluded, “We must move forward to a prosperity agenda…And we look forward to working with everyone to move this agenda forward.”

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Discussions of the fiscal cliff also include discussions about ways to change Social Security and Medicare benefits in order to save money.  One of the proposals is to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70.  After all, some argue, there is nothing magic about 65 or 67, so why not push the rate up to 70?

The difference is the kind of work we do.  I can’t imagine that I will ever stop talking and writing, advanced age notwithstanding.  However, someone who is waiting tables, working in a nursing home, or doing private household work might not want, but need, to slow it down after 65, or maybe even earlier.  Some people take their Social Security earning, although they are lower, at age 62.  Tired, and with sometimes broken bodies, they’d rather take less money than keep working.  Consider the construction worker who has not moved up into management.  Will he (or in 10 percent of cases, she) still want to wield a hammer, climb onto roofs, or do other heavy work?  Raising the Social Security retirement age hurts these people.

These folk are also hurt because their life expectancy is also lower.  People with less education have shorter life expectancies than those who are more highly educated.  African-Americans have lower life expectancy rates than Whites (although this gap is closing), Thus, people who have paid into the system, but they will get less out of when they live shorter lives.  Again, those at the bottom are disadvantaged by public policy that seems race and class neutral.

Why the gap in life expectancy?  Part has to do with higher rates of smoking among less educated propel, obesity, and the lack of health insurance, especially among those with lower incomes and less education.  Obamacare partly solves the insurance problems, but those living in an unreal time warp seem to think Mitt Romney won the election and they are acting accordingly by attempting to repeal health care reform.

Most of us got the memo about the dangers of smoking, but women who lack a high school diploma are more likely than others to smoke.  Indeed, among women the levels of smoking have risen, while smoking rates had declined among men.  Researchers who study these issues suggest that women are smoking more because of the many pressures women face, including being part of the “sandwich generation” juggling both elder care and child care.  I was talking to an elder whose smoking habit spans more than 50 years, and when we talked about the issue, she responded that she was over 70, still living, and wasn’t about to change.  We talked a bit about stress and ways that smoking is a tension-tamer for her.  I suggested she try yoga, and she just about laughed me out of the room.

The health insurance gap between those who are highly educated and less well educated is growing.  Among working age adults without a high school diploma, 43 percent have no health insurance, up from 35 percent a decade ago.  On the other hand, only 10 percent of those with a college education lacked health insurance.

While Americans do not like to talk about class, poor and working class people do less well in our society than others.  For example, attempting to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood has a greater impact on poor women without health insurance than others whose contraceptive needs are covered by their insurance.  Yet the right wing attempts to characterize Planned Parenthood as an abortion center, not a place that offers education on contraception, breast cancer, and other health issues.

Julianne Malveaux is a DC based economist and author.

NEWS ANALYSIS

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Senate Republicans led by John McCain, (R-AZ), Kelly Ayotte, (R-NH), and Lindsey Graham, (R-SC) continue to lead the attacks against the nomination of UN Ambassador Susan Rice even though the Obama administration has yet to nominate her. 

They believe that she intentionally lied to the American people in her description of the September 11 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic posts in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.  Her motive, according to the Republicans, was to protect President Obama during the presidential campaign. According to Graham, "I think her story on 16th of September was a political story designed to help the president three weeks before the election, and she should be held accountable for that…" He went on to say that Rice’s comments were a “…treasure trove of misleading statements that have the effect of helping the president."

The problems with their assertions are that to date they have not offered one piece of evidence to support their claims, only speculation. Senator Graham continues to say, “But I do not believe the video is the cause … I don't believe it was ever the reason for this.” Basing an argument on “I do not believe” is the same a saying “In my opinion…”  Their positions should not be based upon what they believe; they should be based upon what they know and can present as evidence to the American people. As a former prosecutor, Senator Ayotte should know the value of evidence and how important it is when making a case.

Graham and others are being very disingenuous and intellectually dishonest as they continue to say that Rice was wrong because there was other information available at the time to contradict her Sunday morning “talking points”.  First, there’s a big difference between “information” and “intelligence.” Second, there’s a difference between what Rice was “cleared” to say and what was still considered “secret” at the time she made her talk show rounds.

Graham and McCain are also incredibly hypocritical in attacking Ambassador Rice. Her misstatements about the Benghazi attacks pale in comparison to President Bush's National Security Adviser, Dr. Condoleezza Rice telling CNN, "We know that he has the infrastructure, nuclear scientists to make a nuclear weapon," she told me. "And we know that when the inspectors assessed this after the Gulf War, he was far, far closer to a crude nuclear device than anybody thought -- maybe six months from a crude nuclear device." Or her infamous, “But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” Quote.  Graham and McCain were and have always been conspicuously silent on Condi’s “misstatements”.

Graham and McCain did not say one word when President George W. Bush said on May 29, 2003, that weapons of mass destruction had been found. "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories…For those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them." Well President Bush, where are they?  Also, lest we forget VP Cheney and the yellow cake uranium lie (just to name a few).  UN Ambassador Rice misspoke about the deaths of 4 Americans; the lies of the Bush administration caused the death of more than 4400 American soldiers and countless Iraqi’s.

If Republicans are going to attack Ambassador Rice, attack her on substantive policy issues not contrived personal affronts such as McCain saying she’s not “very bright.”  Attack her on supporting the assassination of Gaddafi. Attack her on her unyielding support of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and the oppression of the Palestinian people. Attack her on her baseless support for the sanctions on Zimbabwe and her abetting genocide in Congo. Oh, they can’t challenge her on those issues since they supported them as well.

To those who will try to defend Rice by saying, “she is merely doing her job as UN Ambassador. Articulating the policy of the Obama administration is what she’s supposed to do,” read her writings before she joined the administration.

Many believe that the Republican attacks on Ambassador Rice are racially motivated.  They are.  It’s not that she’s an African American; McCain, Graham, et al would have attacked Secretary of State Clinton if she had made the assertions Rice made (why was Rice running point on this and not Clinton?).  It’s that their boss is an African American that fuels their ire and distain.

If you are going to criticize UN Ambassador Rice, there’s plenty of policy; no need to get personal.

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) -  Why do imaginary phantoms terrify, while real-life horrors seem normal? Why do our elected representatives act in ways that trample the values of those who elected them?

Consider the current debate in Washington. The city is in full uproar about the so-called “fiscal cliff,”the deep cuts in spending and hikes in taxes scheduled to take place at the end of the year. To listen to this debate, you would think the end of the world will come if Congress and the president don’t reach an agreement to cut Medicare and possibly Social Security and increase taxes over the next 10 years to avoid going over the cliff.

Don’t fall for the hype.

The fiscal cliff is not a product of nature. It is rather a dangerously foolish austerity bomb created by Congress in the debt-ceiling negotiations 18 months ago. Essentially, Congress is threatening to blow up the economy unless Congress agrees not to blow up the economy. The threat is used to extort agreements that would otherwise simply be unacceptable — such as cutting Medicare and Social Security, the basic pillars of family security.

And the supposed underlying threat of out-of-control deficits is equally imaginary. Deficits are down, as a percentage of the economy, by 25 percent since the depths of the Great Recession in 2009. They will continue to come down if the economy continues to grow. That is endangered not by homemade bombs, but by a world economy that is headed back toward recession. And growth is also endangered if Congress cuts deficits too rapidly by slashing spending and raising taxes — kneecaping an already-faltering recovery. Interest rates on U.S. Treasury notes are at near-record lows. Markets — investors — are telling us that the threat isn’t out-of-control deficits and inflation; the threat is slow growth or worse.

While everyone is in hysteria about phantoms, the real horrors are ignored. Record numbers of Americans have already gone over the cliff with no help in sight. More than 20 million people are in need of full-time work, and Washington is focused on cutting deficits, not creating jobs. Poverty is at near-record levels and inequality at new extremes, and Washington is talking about cutting programs for the vulnerable. Racial and gender inequity still throws hurdles in front of a majority of the country, but isn’t on the agenda. Violence still haunts our streets, but receives no attention.

These things are real, not imaginary. They exist now, not as phantom fears. And they cost big-time.

Poverty costs in dreams crushed, hopes stunted, lives lost. It costs more to live in poverty. Food is more expensive, transportation is harder, illness is unaffordable. The loss of a job, the theft of a paycheck, the illness of a child can sink a family struggling to stay afloat.

Poverty, violence, and racial and gender inequities also cost the country big-time. We won’t put up with mass starvation. The unemployed collect food stamps; the employed pay taxes. This country will pay big-time for a generation raised in poverty on mean streets.

We need action on jobs, a plan to put people to work. We need action on inequality, a plan to ensure that workers share in the profits they help to create. We need action on racial and gender discrimination, so that equal opportunity is more than a slogan. We need action on poverty and hunger, so that every child has the opportunity to soar.

These are real-world challenges that cannot be ignored because of congressionally invented phantoms.

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