May 20, 2012

None of Us Are Free

By Dr. E. Faye Williams

(TriceEdneyWire.com)  – The late Solomon Burke had a song called “None of Us Are Free Til’ All of Us Are Free”.Those of us who live in the capital city-- not only to our nation, but of the world-- can tell you we are not free. It may be difficult for those who do not live in Washington, DC to understand why we who live here make that claim. Briefly, we have been denied representation in the U.S. Senate. We have no voting representative in the House. We have no local control or authority over basic things like our budget. It’s a well known fact that to whom we give our money, we give our power. We pay our taxes, but we don’t even get a chance to vote against bills that are detrimental to us or for the ones that benefit us.

We’re American citizens and along with citizenship, there are both benefits and burdens. We bear all the burdens and responsibilities, but we don’t have all the benefits. We pay our federal taxes. Our young people fight in wars around the world. We have ideas we’d like to have expressed and on which we could have a vote when Congress votes. We don’t have a representative in Congress who can help to decide things like going to war, who our Supreme Court judges will be, what kind of health care we will have or whether the U.S. budget will include funds for infrastructure. While most of us are opposed to the Patriot Act, we had no one in Congress who could vote against it on our behalf.

On the other hand, 70 percent of the people who come to our city are not taxed by our government because they live outside the city. They use our streets and many facilities for which we the local residents bear the cost. If everyone who works in our city paid taxes, our local tax rate would be lower than it is.

Just a few days ago, we were dealt the ultimate insult by an action of Rep. Trent Frank (R-Ariz.) leading the Republican controlled House subcommittee that controls our destiny—even on social issues. While our non-voting Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, sat in the audience, having been denied even a simple opportunity to speak before the subcommittee voting on what we could or could not do with our very own tax dollars, a group of men discussed and made decisions to which we are unalterably opposed. The vote was concerning our freedom to spend ourmoney in D.C.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, called the measure being voted on another attack on women’s rights (preventing the city from spending money on Roe v.Wade rights granted women by law). Actually, it was an insult to all DC residents—not just women. Mr. Nadler criticized the Republicans in response to this injustice of silencing Ms. Holmes Norton by saying, “Never in my 20 years as a member of Congress have I seen a colleague treated so contemptuously.” Having worked in Congress and observed many meetings, allowing a colleague to speak on any subject was a common courtesy. Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, said, “I can’t even imagine a situation where someone else would be denied that opportunity, and I think it’s wrong.”

I was in the DC studio of Radio Station 1480 the other day and read their motto on the wall that said simply, “WE ACT”. We need the help of the rest of the country to ACT with us to make our nation free. Tell your Representatives, “A nation can no more be partly free than a woman can be partly pregnant.” Tell them to support DC statehood now.

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The recent efforts to protect students from facing interest rates on their student loans estimated to double by July 1, 2012, is critical to ensuring that the next generation of college students is financially able to contribute to our economy as opposed to becoming victim of its financial debt and distress.

With Black unemployment at 13 percent, a teenage unemployment rate that has remained static at 25 percent, and loan debt repayments exceeding $1 trillion, there is no question that ignoring the financial burden students will face upon graduation is setting them up for failure. Moreover, the disproportionately high rate of unemployment among teenagers combined with the student loan repayment obligations will potentially exacerbate the financial burden for the families of college students who have already begun sharing the cost-burden of the financial crisis. In fact, a recent University of Michigan Study reports that over 60 percent of young adults between the ages of 19 and 22 receive financial help from their parents to pay for college tuition, rent, and transportation.

For African-Americans and minorities who suffer from higher unemployment rates and debt burdens, the repercussions of the financial crisis will have devastating effects for our youth if interest rates on student loans are not reduced. Therefore, it is essential that the ongoing dialogue of increasing job growth and improving our economy begin with financially safeguarding the next generation of college students so that they will be better positioned to contribute to our economy and help it grow.

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation understands the urgency of student loan reform and the devastating effects of efforts curtailing the ability to do so. Restoring stability and growth to our economy means working towards a better future for our youth. Additionally, it is essential that legislative efforts to recover from the financial crisis include serious reform of college student loans in a way that provide realistic opportunities for young people to secure good jobs and pay off their student loans without falling into financial crisis once again.

The need for financial support, and lack thereof, has lasting impact on the educational future of our youth.  Education remains cost-prohibitive for many African-Americans who have the scholastic acumen to excel and compete at the best colleges and universities across the country.  But the threat of looming debt upon graduation will cause our best and brightest to defer enrollment, or worse, not matriculate at all.  In the past decade, CBCF has awarded thousands of scholarships to students across the country, and every year there is an increase in the number of applicants.  There need is great, but the reality is that many students simply cannot attend college without student loans, scholarships and grants.  According to the March 2010, Congressional Budget Office study on the Costs and Policy Options for Federal Student Loan Programs, the demand for federal student loans is on a steady uptick.  New loans increased from $56 billion in 2005 to $97 billion in 2009.

Together we must make our lawmakers aware of the added financial burden our economy will undergo if we do not protect our college students from an interest rate hikes that will drive them into financial distress. We must also do the critical work necessary to reduce a strikingly high teenage unemployment rate that does not allow students to have the jobs they need to begin paying their student loan debt in the first place.

Dr. Scott is president/CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. The CBCF, established in 1976, is a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy, research and educational institute intended to broaden and elevate the influence of African-Americans in the political, legislative and public policy arenas.  

May 20, 2012

Through the Lens of History

By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - When race, equality, and fairness are taken into consideration, there is far too much to be outraged about in these United States of American.  Just a few minutes ago I learned that Andrew Bloomberg, the 29-year-old police officer who participated in the brutal beating of Chad Holley was found not guilty of the beating.

The video of the beating has gone viral, and few doubt that an actual beating took place.  Actually, using the word "beating" severely misstates the case against Bloomberg and some of his fellow officers (who have not been tried yet).    In the video that I saw, Chad Holley is lying face down in pavement, surrounded by five offers who are kicking him in the head, shoulders and legs, and then stomping him all over his body and near his head.  Bloomberg says they had to stomp Chris Holley because he was resisting arrest!  I say Houston police allowed their inherent racial biases to mistreat Mr. Holley.  Indeed Chris Holley's beating makes the Rodney King beating look like a garden party.

To be sure, policy caught Holley in a bold daytime burglary.  Even a criminal has rights in the eyes of the law.  By beating the 15-year-old Chad Holley, Houston Police violated his civil rights.  Bloomberg and his gang of police hoodlums (isn't that what they call Black youngsters when they are collectively involved in criminal activity) have at least been fired from the Houston police force, but Bloomberg, the first of the pack to be fired, faced an all-White jury who let him off without as much as a slap on the wrist.

Police brutality has been as big an issue in Houston as it has in other urban centers.  Indeed a group of Black ministers just ended their three-decades old partnership with the HPD because Police Chief Charles McClelland changed the terms of the partnership, instating a rule that said that ministers couldn't criticize the police or the city administration, violating free speech rights.   As a result of the absurd edict, 150 Houston Black ministers turned in their police credentials.

I guess Chief McClelland can justify his gag rule against ministers by considering the many times they have been forced to comment unfavorably on police shenanigans.  In March, Annika Lewis, 26, was beaten as she tried to record her own arrest in Houston.  Then, the police took her video card so that she would have no record of the arrest.  Her husband was charged with "resisting arrest" with no other underlying charge against him.  Resisting arrest might consist of as little as asking why one is being stopped.  Of course, I am outraged.

I am outraged at the backlash from the African-American church about President Obama's support of marriage equality.  I'm outraged because there are those who suggest that the African American community might prefer a flawed Obama to a racist, hateful, and austerity-embracing Romney, a man who has said that despite a national deficit, he would increase defense spending and cut social services.

Why do we need more defense spending?  This hawkish position represents nothing but pandering.  If African=Americans stay home because they disagree with President Obama's stance on marriage equality, we are cutting off our noses to spite our faces.  I don't mean to be flippant when I say that if you don't like gay marriage, just don't marry a gay person.  It is ironic that the party that would advocate for a smaller role for government wants government in our private space, regulating marriage and abortion.  Would conservatives be consistent, for once?  Their hypocrisy is an occasion of outrage.

Yet my capacity for outrage diminishes when I look at these incidents through the lens of history.  Sitting at the base of Machu Picchu mountain in Peru encourages one to embrace stillness, and serenity.  It also reminds us how insignificant the day to day is when the arc of history is considered.

Machu Picchu is the Lost City of the Incas, an estate for Inca leaders Pachacuti and Tupac Yupanquai.  It was also a spiritual center.  Its presence was forgotten, or buried in natural vegetation when the Spanish "conquered" the Inca.  It took until 1911, when Yale lecturer Hiram Bingham, with the help of an 11 year old Indian boy, Pablo Alvarez for the Western world to "find" this spot.

Now it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Yale University has agreed to return artifacts that Bingham stole (in the name of scientific inquiry, of course) from buildings in Machu Picchu.    Viewing a space that was build between 1400 and 1450, basking in its history more than 700 years later, reminds us that moments are fleeting unless we make them something more.  How many times have we rallied against police brutality?

How much or how little has that reality changed?  Each of us is a minnow in the ocean of history, and history belongs to those who hold pens.  The Inca did architecture, engineering and so much more, but they didn't develop written language.  The Spanish swallowed much of their history!  Will the history of African American relationships with "law enforcement" personnel also be swallowed?  That depends on us.