Sept. 23, 2012

Economy Remains Wild Card Amid Surge in Support

By Zenitha Prince

Special to the Trice Edney Newswire from the Afro American Newspapers

The Significance of Struggle
By James Clingman

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - One of the main themes in the political conventions was centered on how hard it was for the speakers’ families, their parents and grandparents, and how they struggled to make it.  Virtually every top speaker reflected on the hard times they went through and how their relatives struggled to put food on the table, how their parents worked two jobs to support their families, and how they lived in a small apartment.  They wanted to believe they were “special” because they knew what it was like to struggle.  It was kind of funny hearing all the stories and seeing them worn as badges of honor that merited our votes.

Well, I may as well get in on the act with my personal story.  My great-grandfather was enslaved in North Carolina.  My grandfather somehow got a little piece of land and turned it into the business of farming and keeping chickens and hogs.  He dug a well and used an outhouse, which I also had to use when I visited during the summer.  My father left home as a teenager, after not finishing high school, came to Cincinnati and started working as a janitor and night watchman.

The first four of his five children, me included, were born at home.  We lived in a three-room apartment where the living room was converted to a bedroom every night by a rollaway bed for my older brother and me, and the bathroom was in the hall for others to use as well.  Our parents took care of us through my father’s job that paid $35.00 per week.  My father was crippled but walked to work every day.

My mother went to work as a “domestic” in the White suburbs, which ended up being the norm for many Black women back then.  Remember the movie, The Help?  She later got a job at a hospital making a whopping 50 cents per hour as a cafeteria helper.  She worked at that same hospital for 28 years and when she retired she was earning $4.50 per hour, which was around 1980.   By the way, her relatives worked in the mines and lived in the “hollows” of West Virginia, scratching out a living and owing their wages to the company store.

As for me, I worked odd jobs from the age of eight, selling papers, loading trucks, hauling groceries in my wagon, paper routes, working in a grocery store, and washing cars.  With a story like this, I should run for office.

Struggle?  Yes, we as well as millions of other families in this country struggled mightily to make ends meet.  So is it the exception or the rule?  Is struggle the measure we should use to elect Congresspersons, Senators, and Presidents?

I really think it’s disingenuous for candidates to use struggle as a way to get votes.  Sadly, the electorate is swayed by emotional sentiments, meaningless platitudes, and a competition among candidates to determine who had it worse when they were growing up.  Most of these guys and gals are multi-millionaires and they are reaching back in their pasts to tug at our heart strings; quite frankly, it’s insulting.

When I think of the decade-old struggle of the first responders to the 911 tragedy, as they die from lung diseases, I know what real struggle is all about.  These men and women have waited for politicians to “bail” them out and all they hear each anniversary is that they were “heroes.”  They are struggling to stay alive, pay their bills, and take care of their families, all while dying of the cancer they developed while saving the lives of others. Now that’s struggle, folks.

Look at the struggling people of Haiti, recently having taken another blow from Hurricane Isaac.  They have not yet received the funds that were donated to them after the earthquake of 2010.  Hundreds of thousands are still living in tents and unsanitary conditions while politicians make no move to relieve them of their suffering.

What about the folks in New Orleans who have still not recovered from Hurricane Katrina, and have not been made whole after billions in relief funds were donated to them?   Some are still living in temporary housing even though the storm took place in 2005.  And let’s not even talk about Veterans; there is so much hypocrisy from politicians toward that group that it’s not even funny.

I don’t want to hear about struggle from politicians.  They definitely are not struggling now with their health plans and benefits and other perks.  Their struggle, if they insist on having one, should be to help those who are really struggling in today’s economy.  They should be struggling to fix the broken places, like Nehemiah did; they should be struggling to help their people, like Esther did; they should be struggling to feed the hungry and heal the sick, like Jesus did.

The significance of struggle is not in the words we speak; it’s in the deeds we perform.

By Hazel Trice Edney

First Lady Michelle Obama pauses to talk to a young girl as she presses through 
the crowd after address the Congressional Black Causes Annual Phoenix Awards
Dinner. PHOTOS: The White House

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – First Lady Michelle Obama, speaking to a standing-room-only dinner crowd of more than 2,000 mostly African-Americans Saturday night, drew from the experience of the Civil Rights Movement to inspire people to vote, saying although “there are no more ‘whites only’ signs keeping us out, no one barring our children from the schoolhouse door, we know that our journey is far, far from finished!”

Receiving rousing applause from the audience at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner, Mrs. Obama, who has accompanied the President as he addressed the dinner the past three years, clearly intended to inspire the people to turn out on Nov. 6 – even in an atmosphere of voter intimidation in dozens of states around the nation and during a season of apparent voter apathy in the Black community.

"So we cannot let anyone discourage us from casting our ballots," she said. "We cannot let anyone make us feel unwelcome in the voting booth. It is up to us to make sure that in every election, every voice is heard and every vote is counted. And that means making sure our laws preserve that right. It means monitoring the polls to ensure that every eligible voter can exercise that right."

She continued, "This is the movement of our era -- protecting that fundamental right not just for this election, but for the next generation and generations to come. Because in the end, it’s not just about who wins, or who loses, or who we vote for on Election Day. It’s about who we are as Americans."

Dozens of Republican-led states have taken on new voter laws; particularly requirements that voters show identifications at the polls. Despite contentions that the new laws are meant to prevent voter fraud, civil rights leaders contend the motive is to inhibit the voting of Blacks and Latinos, especially given that there is little evidence of a voter fraud problem in the U. S. Civil rights leaders predict at least five million African-Americans could be disenfranchised because of the changes.

Though the First Lady only alluded to voter intimidation as she spoke of the fight for the right to vote, her speech focused as much on the possibility that some might stay at home on Election Day.

“As citizens of this great country, that is our most fundamental right, our most solemn obligation -- to cast our ballots and have our say in the laws that shape our lives. Congressman Lewis understood the importance of that right. That's why he faced down that row of billy clubs on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, risking his life so we could one day cast our ballots,” she said. “But today, how many of us have asked someone whether they’re going to vote, and they say, no, I’m too busy -- and besides, I voted last time; or, nah, it’s not like my vote is going to make a difference? See, after so many folks sacrificed so much so that we could make our voices heard, too many of us still choose not to participate.”

As Mrs. Obama exhorted people to the polls, the President was out on the campaign trail. In fact, as the CBC dinner got started at 6, the President was campaigning in Milwaukee.

Though her speech was punctuated with applause, the quiet buzz among people in the audience was still about the President’s absence.

“She was on point. She probably wasn’t as fiery as the President would have been, but the message was well-spoken and well-taken,” said Gretchen Wharton, a Washington, D.C. native who has attended when the President was speaking.

Last year, President Obama received thunderous applause although some CBC members took offense to his chiding, telling them to “stop complaining”. The President’s subtle rebuke was an obvious response to some CBC members who had publically criticized him for not taking direct action to lower the Black jobless rate.

The message of First Lady Michelle Obama was clearly different, even stroking the 41-year-old, 43-member CBC with a large part of her speech, which was focused on the Caucus’ history and struggles on behalf of America.

“Since its earliest days, this caucus has been taking on challenges and leading the way in the urgent work of perfecting our union -- fighting for jobs and health care, working to give all our children opportunities worthy of their promise, standing up for the least among us every day, and earning the proud distinction as the ‘conscience of Congress.’”, she said to applause. “That is the legacy of this Caucus. And that's also what I want to talk a little bit about tonight. I want to talk about how we carry on that legacy for the next generation and generations to come.”

Ultimately, she used a story to remind the audience of the fact that, despite any disagreements with the President, they helped him to make history four years ago as the Nation’s first Black President. In doing so, she told the story of a little boy who visited the White House with his parents and brother and a photo that resulted.

“The father was a member of the White House staff, and he’d brought his wife and two young sons to meet my husband. In the photo, Barack is bent over at the waist. And one of the sons -- a little boy, just about five years old -- is reaching out his tiny little hand to touch my husband’s head,” she described.

“And it turns out that upon meeting Barack, this little boy gazed up at him longingly and he said, ‘I want to know if my hair is just like yours.’ And Barack replied, ‘Why don’t you touch it and see for yourself?’ So he bent way down so the little boy could feel his hair. And after touching my husband’s head, the little boy exclaimed, ‘Yes, it does feel the same!’”

Mrs. Obama concluded, “Now, every couple of weeks, the White House photographers change out all the photos in the West Wing -- except for that one. That one -- and that one alone -- has hung on that wall for more than three years. So if you ever wonder whether change is possible, I want you to think about that little black boy in the office -- the Oval Office of the White House -- touching the head of the first Black President.”

With that, she exhorted the applauding audience to press their way to the polls in the face of the history and modern day racial struggle in America:

“So through all the many heartbreaks and trials, all of you, and so many who came before you, you have kept the faith. You could only see that Promised Land from a distance,” she said. “But you never let it out of your sight. And today, if we are once again willing to work for it, if we’re once again willing to sacrifice for it, then I know -- I know -- that we can carry on that legacy. I know that we can meet our obligation to continue that struggle. And I know that we can finish the journey we started and finally fulfill the promise of our democracy for all our children.”

By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - We have learned that African-American unemployment rates stayed level last month with an absurdly high official unemployment rate of 14.1 percent.

Unemployment rates for African-American men fell, while those for African-American women rose. These rates are way too high and understate the extent of pain that exists in the African-American community.  The philosopher Albert Camus wrote, “Without work all life is rotten” because so many people value and define themselves by the work they do.  Indeed, at many professional social gatherings the first, second, or third question is “What do you do”?  Work seems to anchor us to stability and to the world.  Too many African-American people have no anchor.

While President Obama, Vice-President Biden and other key Democrats have acknowledged that unemployment rates are not falling quickly enough, few deal with the psychic effects that unemployment has on people.  For many it causes a malaise and a sense of absolute disconnection.  Others feel disillusioned and depressed, although others use their own talent at entrepreneurship to create work where there is none, using skills to offer goods and services to their neighbors.

We don’t need government data to validate the pain that many in the African-American community experience, far more pain than experienced in other communities.  The overall unemployment rate dropped from 8.3 to 8.1 percent with African-American unemployment staying level, means some are enjoying our tepid economic recovery, while others are waiting for gains to trickle down.

Unemployment data were released on September 7, and the poverty data released on September 12. That’s a double whammy for African-Americans.  Not only is the employment situation stagnant, with “real” unemployment rising as high as 25 percent, but new data on income and poverty suggest, again, that African-Americans experience a greater burden than others in our society.  The poverty rate among African-Americans rose from 27.6 to 27.8 percent.  Some might describe these numbers as ”not statistically significant”, but try telling that to the 200,000 more African Americans in poverty.  Overall, poverty rates dropped slightly from 15.2 to 15.1 percent.  This means that nearly one in six Americans experience poverty, while one in four African-Americans and Hispanics experience poverty.

Incomes have dropped by more than 8 percent in 2007, and again African-Americans have lost more.  While household incomes fell by 1.5 percent between 2010 and 2011, African Americans incomes fell by 2.7 percent, the largest drop of any racial or ethnic group.  I don’t mean to underestimate anyone’s pain.  All incomes fell, but African- American incomes fell most.  African American incomes hit their peak in 1999 at $38,700   Today, with dollars adjusted, the amount is $32,200, the lowest level since 1997, or more than 15 years.  At the top or at the bottom, African Americans lost  ground.

In the face of this double whammy, how do we answer the Reagan question –“Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

Economists have described the “misery index” as the sum of unemployment rates and poverty rates, and using that index, all of America has seen erosion in status.  Still, legislation to improve both poverty and unemployment rates has been stuck in legislative gridlock because House Republicans would rather see people suffer than to see President Obama appear successful.  But for the obduracy of House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and his posse, including Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-WI), we might see lower unemployment and poverty rates.

Julianne Malveaux is a DC based economist and author.