Dec. 23, 2018

Donald Trump’s Border Wall Demand is Dressed Up With More Lies About Immigrants
By Jesse Jackson 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) -  “Yes, if we don’t get what we want, one way or the other … I will shut down the government,” said President Trump to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, referring to his demand for $5 billion to build his border wall.

If Trump insists, a good portion of the government will be shut down on Friday over his wall. Trump festooned his demand with his customary lies, claiming that much of the wall has already been built (it hasn’t), that immigrants are spreading disease (they aren’t), that border agents recently detained “10 terrorists in a short period of time” (they didn’t). In reality, illegal immigration has been declining, not rising.

This isn’t a crisis; it’s a political ploy designed to fan fear and division. The Bible teaches us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” We will be judged by how we treat the least of these. In Luke, chapter 10, Jesus tells the story of the stranger on the Jericho Road, who was robbed, stripped and beaten by a band of thieves. He is ignored by a priest and a religious official. He is saved by a Samaritan — a people who were widely despised at the time — who binds his wounds, takes him to an inn and pays his fare.

“Go and do likewise,” Jesus instructs. In contrast, Trump slanders the strangers. His administration has ripped babies from their parents, shackled pregnant women, locked up thousands indefinitely. He has constricted legal immigration, even as employers seek new workers as the baby boomers age and retire. And now he threatens to shut down a good part of our own government unless he can waste billions on the wall that Mexico won’t pay for. In the midterm elections, Trump, worried about mobilizing his base, descended into hysteria, threatening to revoke the citizenship of those born here — a direct violation of the Constitution — rousing fears about a supposed invading army of migrants, eventually dispatching 7,000 troops to the border, an insult to our military and to our border patrols.

He succeeded in raising the importance of the issue, but he lost the argument. Democrats swept to a majority in the House. Polls showed most Americans still believe that immigrants benefit this nation, as opposed to costing it. The percentage of Americans supporting lower levels of immigration has fallen from a high of nearly twothirds in the mid-1990s to an all-time low of less than 30 percent in June.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who immigrated from India at 16 and is the first Indian-American woman elected to the House of Representatives and one of 12 naturalized citizens, notes that a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill exists — one that once got 68 votes in the U.S. Senate. It paid for more border security, while providing a clear road map to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented, including the Dreamers, and fixed many of the problems of our system: outdated family visa caps, cruel immigration backlogs, and a failure to address pressing needs of employers. Trump, however, doesn’t seek a solution; he seeks the preservation of an issue — one that he believes can help him divide and conquer. What’s needed instead, as Rep. Jayapal wrote, is a moral imagination about immigration.

This is not about “open borders,” as Trump slanders Democrats. It is about creating a humane, sensible, smart system to deal with legal immigration, cut down on illegal entry and address those desperately seeking asylum. We would also be wise to seek to assist rather than destabilize our neighbors so that their economies thrive. People don’t want to leave their homes. Only desperation for their families leads them to venture into the unknown.

As we head into this holiday season, it is a good time for each of us to look into our hearts, to see our neighbors without blinders. They aren’t seeking to invade America. They aren’t longing to leave their families, their homes, their communities. They are struggling to survive. They are strangers on the Jericho Road. We should meet them with an open heart, not a closed mind.

Dec. 23, 2018

Will You Join the Crusade for Bennett College for Women?
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Bennett College for Women is an oasis where we educate and celebrate women, and develop them into twenty-first-century leaders and global thinkers. That was my elevator speech in the five years, from 2007 through 2012, when I led the college. It is still an oasis, a safe space for Black women and others who embrace our mission. It still educates and celebrates women. But now, in 2018-2019, my college has challenges. The accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, has said that Bennett College is fiscally unstable. If we can't raise a minimum of $5 million by February 1, 2019, just a few weeks from now, the school will lose its accreditation!

How has it come to this? Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have had a tough row to hoe for a plethora of reasons. At Bennett, enrollment has dropped from the historic high I managed of 750 in 2009 to something under 500. Thanks to the efforts of the current president, Dr. Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, enrollment rose by 15 percent and by 26% with new students this year. That's good, but we've got to be great. What's great? Student enrollment of 800 or more. Great is, an endowment that is robust and unique academic programs. What’s great is the preservation of an amazing Black women's history, a history that is too often swallowed.

History belongs to she who holds the pen. That was my mantra at Bennett. We need to tell Black women's stories, and this is a place that reflects them. For every woman who embraces #MeToo, there must be another who embraces the swallowed aspects of Black women's history. We don't often hear, for example, of the fantastic legacy of Dr. Willa Player, the first woman President of Bennett College, and the first African-American woman to become president of a four-year fully accredited Liberal Arts College. Dr. Player was an amazing grace, a woman who was both a civil rights leader and an excellent educator.

She had the audacity to invite Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel when no one else in Greensboro would have him. She supported the Bennett students who took part in the Woolworth's sit-ins (a chapter of history not much elevated as the A&T Greensboro Four were the more prominent leaders). Make no mistake. Bennett women were jailed. Bennett women stood up. And Dr. Player stood with them.

Bennett College has a unique history, and it is a history that must be preserved. It will only be maintained if folks who love women, women's history, and the elevation of Black women's voices come together to find five million dollars in just a few weeks. I am writing this column to appeal to those who will help. Here's how:

•You can make a contribution to the College. Check out our website, www.bennett.edu/donate.

•You can tell your friends to contribute. Let's take this column and make it viral. Take it to your church, to your sorority or fraternity, to your club, to your friends. Black folks have more than $1.3 trillion in annual income. Bennett College needs less than four-tenths of one percent of that. Come on, Y'all. We can do this. If just 5000 of the high net worth black woman gave a grand, we could do this! I'm asking my sisters to join the crusade for Bennett.

•You can help us find an angel to help, not only with the $5 million that must be raised but also with a long-term contribution. If you have an angel that you'd like me, President Worthy Dawkins, or President Emerita Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole to talk with, please reach out to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. At this time, we only need unrestricted dollars by February 1, 2019. Please help.

Year after year we hear stories of HBCUs that are facing financial challenges. Why is this one different and special, and what will Bennett do to ensure that it does not reencounter some of these challenges?

Bennett College is prepared to engage in a strategic planning initiative to move us from surviving to thriving. We are prepared to engage in 21st-century technology to make our campus work. We need resources to move to the next step, and we are ready to raise those funds with just a little help. Are you in?

Bennett College President Dr. Phyllis Worthy Dawkins has been bold, firm, and strategic, as she has faced these challenges. She says, "We look forward to working with partners who understand that their investment supports the education of deserving young women whose potential is only limited by the opportunities we give them. Our challenge is great. Our time is short. Our resolve is mighty."

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” is available via www.amazon.com for booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com

Dec. 23, 2018

To Be Equal 

First Step Act is the Most Important Federal Criminal Justice Reform in Decades
By Marc H. Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “For too long, sentencing in our country has been overly severe and has disproportionately targeted communities of color – especially Black men. Reforming some of the most draconian federal sentencing laws, including unfair mandatory minimum sentences under two- and three-strikes laws, will make our system more just … However, to be clear, the FIRST STEP Act is very much just that – a First Step. It is a compromise of a compromise, and we ultimately need to make far greater reforms if we are to right the wrongs that exist in our criminal justice system.”  - Senator Kamala Harris

The U. S. Senate this week took the most significant step toward federal criminal justice reform in decades with the passage of the First Step Act.  As the House previously had passed a nearly identical bill, and the President has committed to signing it, the First Step Act is virtually assured of becoming law.

As part of our goal for every American to have an equal right and responsibility to fully participate in our democracy, and all people to have a right to justice and fairness, the National Urban League has been on the forefront of criminal justice reform for decades. Over the last year, we have worked closely with members of Congress to craft the bill and garner support.
The Act would make the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 – reducing the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences – retroactive. As many as 2,600 federal inmates, could see their sentences reduced.

It would ease mandatory minimum sentences under federal law, including the “three strikes” rule.  It increases “good time credits” and “earned time credits” that inmates can earn. It applies retroactively, potentially qualifying 4,000 inmates for release the day the bill goes into effect. In addition to reducing overcrowding, the vocational and rehabilitative programs that earn inmates credit have been shown to reduce the likelihood a participant will re-offend.

The bill also requires inmates to be housed within 500 miles of their families when possible, and prohibits the shackling of inmates while they are pregnant, giving birth or in postpartum recovery.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the bill is the far-ranging support it has received across the political spectrum in this era of deep partisan polarization. It passed in the Senate by a vote of 7-12, while the House version passed earlier this year by a vote of  360-59.

Presidential advisory Jared Kusher, who took a leading role in the effort, said “For all those who are deserving of a second chance, this legislation will make a meaningful and measurable difference in their lives.”:

Conservative Senator Mike Lee of Utah wrote, “My time as a prosecutor also tells me that not every criminal is dangerous or incapable of living a productive life. My faith as a Christian teaches me that many people are capable of redemption. And my instincts as a conservative make me believe that the government can be reformed to work better.”

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey wrote, “For the first time in a long time, with the passage of this bill into law, our country will make a meaningful break from the decades of failed policies that led to mass incarceration, which has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, drained our economy, compromised public safety, hurt our children, and disproportionately harmed communities of color while devaluing the very idea of justice in America.”

As its name implies, the Act is hardly the comprehensive reform America needs. We continue to work for elimination of cash bail for non-violent crimes, and more support for reentry programs like our Urban Reentry Jobs Program.  And much more work remains to be done at the state level, where the vast majority of sentencing and incarceration takes place.

But the First Step Act represents a remarkable achievement of bipartisan cooperation, and we congratulate and thank the Congress members, staff and fellow civil rights organizations who helped to make it happen.

December 23, 2018

My 2018 Top Ten Stories
By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – At the end of each year, people begin writing New Year’s resolutions that as they write them, they pretty much know they will not be keeping them! Yet, it’s a popular ritual. I know because I write the resolutions, too, with every intention of keeping them, but somehow, as the year goes by, I fall behind on keeping them.

Another ritual, we in our country tend to go through is “Top 10 Stories of the Year.” We don’t always agree to what those stories are. I’ve already read several lists of top stories for 2018. To make my point, I’ll use the Associated Press’ list of the top 10. On that list, not necessarily in order of importance, are: (1) Murder of Jamal Khashoggi, (2) Climate change, (3) California wildfires, (4) Kavanaugh hearings, (5) U.S. Immigration, (6) U.S. Midterm elections, (7) Mass shootings, (8) #MeToo movement, (9) Trump-Russia probe and (10) Parkland school shooting.

I agree all of the above are important stories; however, if you happen to be Black in America, you might say that all of those things concern you, and many were handled badly by the person who currently occupies the White House.

Just in case the AP’s list was in order of importance, we’d probably organize them in a different order, and have several more to add that would come pretty high on the list.

We would certainly place the following as top stories of the year—some good, some bad, but worthy of our attention:

(1) Voter suppression considering how votes were counted for Stacey Abrams in Georgia for Governor, Andrew Gillum in Florida for Governor, Mike Espy for Senate in Mississippi. I’m also concerned about Beta O’Rourke’s campaign in Texas;

(2) All of the women who won offices at all levels for the first time;

(3) Colin Kaepernick’s continuing campaign for justice;

(4) Michelle Obama’s book “Becoming” and its phenomenal sales--being named the bestselling hardcover book of the year, selling over 2 million copies in the first 15 days;

(5) Democrats taking back the U.S. House of Representatives so they can block some of the craziness on the other side of the aisle;

(6) Parkland School Shooting and the aftermath of the attention the students brought to gun control;

(7) Proof that the current administration in charge of governing in Washington has lost all credibility and nothing can save them;

(8) Without completing it, the Mueller Investigation has shown us that #45 has nowhere to run. nowhere to hide. He doesn’t know when to hold them, when to fold them, when to throw down and when to walk away, but now is a good time;

(9) President Barack Obama’s continuing to be a class act by bringing joy to so many—such as his recent visit to District of Columbia Children’s National Medical Center while bearing gifts;

(10) The absolute unending, never before seen craziness, lying, dangerous, stupid, criminal behavior we continue to witness from the occupant in the White House—the one who promised to “clean up the swamp.”

Each day I wake up, I turn on the news to see what we’re facing for the coming day. Even staff members don’t know until they hear #45’s plans on the news! From tweets, we learn that we are in for another crazy, unpredictable day.

There were many good things that happened in 2018, but they were over shadowed by the antics of #45 who dominated the news week after week, not in a good way, but what is believed to be criminal behavior. Many of us are left wondering when will this be over!

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is National President of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. (www.nationalcongressbw.org and www.respectus.store 202/678-6788) She is also host of “Wake Up and Stay Woke” on WPFW-FM 89.3 radio.)