Jan. 9, 2018

Ghanaian Women Up Against U. S.-Owned Gold Mine that Destroyed Their Farms

(TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – On the website of the Colorado-based Newmont mine, the top page reads in bold letters: “Culture of Zero Harm.”

This might come as a surprise to the Ghanaian women of Dormaa-Kantinka whose farms have been threatened and/or seized by the company many thousands of miles away.

Yaa Konadu, a 74 year old grandmother, was given the bad news from one of her workers. “Newmont has destroyed the farm,” she was told. Many of her cocoa trees were ruined. A red notice with a case number was the only sign of the culprit of this devastation.

In a heart-rending report by U.S.-based environmentalists in the latest Sierra Club magazine titled “Fools Gold”, the story of women in the central Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana, fighting to keep their family farms against the efforts of the second largest gold mining company to take them, unfolds.

Newmont reportedly offered Yaa Konadu 1,500 Ghanaian cedis, or $343, for her eight acres of farmland that had supported her family for generations – land she’d inherited from her grandmother – and about $50 for the small farmhouse. There was no direct negotiation, she told Sierra Club, and she accepted the sum feeling she had no choice but she refused the $50 for her home as woefully inadequate.

The U.S. company faces opposition from local Ghanaians. According to Ghana’s “The Chronicle” of Aug. 3, “irate youth” living within the Newmont Ghana Gold Ahafo Mine Area staged a massive demonstration against the company for failing to hire local workers in the better-paying jobs while employing staff from outside the area. Further, they told reporter Michael Boateng, the company failed to honor training programs for the locals and neglected locally-owned companies for awards of contracts.

Newmont claims it has paid $36 million and $42 million as royalties as taxes respectively, with $363 million spent in the Ghanaian economy.

Mine manager Derek Boateng defended the company but acknowledged that employment expectations and resettlement challenges remained huge problems. Also, illegal mining by small-scale miners known as “galamsey” was a “great menace” which government, stakeholders and other relevant institutions had to to stamp out, he said.

Meanwhile, chemicals used in gold mining have killed fish near the Newmont Processing facility. Residents and activists with the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining blame a cyanide spill. Also, despite claims by the company of investment in women’s initiatives, the rates of unwanted pregnancies have increased and schoolgirls point the finger at Newmont workers, nurse Regina Dufie told the Sierra reporter.

Praises for Newmont are frequent from government officials who in 2016 named it mining company of the year. A video of Newmont’s early days in Ghanas and the local opposition can be seen on YouTube under “The Case of the Newmont Ahafo Goldmine in Ghana. “  

GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK creates and distributes news and feature articles on current affairs in Africa to media outlets, scholars, students and activists in the U.S. and Canada. Our goal is to introduce important new voices on topics relevant to Americans, to increase the perspectives available to readers in North America and to bring into their view information about global issues that are overlooked or under-reported by mainstream media.

Jan. 7, 2018

African Lives Matter: International Anti-Slavery March Set for D.C. January 27

To Register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/march-against-uae-libya-modern-day-slavery-washington-dc-tickets-41526584131

Jan. 9, 2018

Black Economic Forecast for 2018: Fight Back With the Dollar and the Vote
By Hazel Trice Edney

Marc Morial

Dr. Julianne Malveaux

Michael Grant

Ron Busby

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Galvanizing people to spend money with Black-owned businesses, make deposits in Black-owned banks and voting for a mid-term election result that would cause Black Caucus members and Democrats to chair U. S. House and Senate Committees are the necessary keys to maximize Black economic growth this year, according to top financial experts.

“The year 2018 can be the year when African -Americans became serious about taking control of our economic destiny. We should feel an urgent need to close the racial wealth gap that continues to widen,” says Michael Grant, former president of the National Bankers Association, who is now regional president of a Tennessee-based mortgage banking company and a spokesman for the Black Wealth 2020 movement for support of Black businesses, banks, and home ownership. “We must actively seek out and support Black businesses, do more deposits and loans with Black banks, and do everything within our individual and joint capacities to secure homeownership for our people. I will be praying to almighty God for our success.”

As socially conscious people become intentional about their spending and financial habits, they must also target political candidates who will push for and establish federal policies that protect and undergird Black economic justice, says Rev Jesse Jackson, president/CEO of the Rainbow-Push Coalition.

“This year is a big vote year – 2018 – We have the power to take the Congress back, the power of Black Congressmen and Congresswomen to become chairs of committees,” Rev Jackson says. “Politically, that is worth dealing with - our dollars and our votes.”

Jackson was referring to the mid-term elections on Nov. 6, 2018. Political observers believe it to be possible to overturn Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. Democrats, overwhelming supported by Black voters, are viewed as more sensitive to racial disparities than Republicans. All 435 House seats and 33 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election.

Economic justice advocates say small and Black-owned businesses are also key to helping to close the racial gap in the unemployment rate. The U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which defines an independent small business as having fewer than 500 employees also say small businesses comprise more than half of the nation’s new employees every year, according to the SBA’s Office of Advocacy.

Therefore, as Black businesses grow, Black employment will grow. Ron Busby, president/CEO of the U. S. Black Chambers, Inc. has both good news and bad news in that regard.

“2017 proved to be an interesting and challenging year for African-American business owners. The good news was we grew the number of African-American businesses to a new height of over 2.1 million Black-owned businesses,” Busby said. That means a growth of more than 500,000 new Black firms.

But he adds, “The bad news is that the average revenue for all Black firms was less than $77,000 annually.”

This low revenue is largely because of a dearth in access to capital for Black businesses, a factor that remains an obstacle for growth – and “our options remain bleak,” Busby said. “The U. S. Black Chambers established new credit vehicles with one of the country’s largest Black banks [Liberty Bank] to provide affordable, accessible credit. But we lost two of our Black banks.”

Seaway Bank in Illinois and First State Bank in Virginia both closed their doors in 2017, leaving fewer than 20 Black-owned banks across the nation. Further declines in Black banking could continue to erode access to capital as major banks have been proven to discriminate against African-Americans and predominately Black communities while African-Americans are the dominate customers and Black owned banks.

Busby, also a founding member and spokesman for Black Wealth 2020 says that, moving forward in 2018 and beyond, African-Americans can fight against the damages of discrimination with strategic activities within Black communities.

“With the current administration pushing for tax reforms for the rich and loopholes for large businesses it would be crucial for African-Americans to be diligent in our spending habits and our business activities. As businesses owners, we must provide the products and quality services that our customers seek and as advocates, we must continue to push the dialog of inclusion as well as self-reliance.”

Economist Dr. Julianne Malveaux, author of the book, Surviving and Thriving – 365 Facts in Black Economic History, says the 2018 Black economic forecast appears a bit foggy given the insensitivity of President Donald Trump toward Black people.

“It is challenging to predict what will happen to African-American people in this economy, given the unstable leadership we have in this country.  For all his bragging about economic expansion, a rising stock market, and lower unemployment rates, Mr., “What Do You Have To Lose?” has done nothing to specifically target African American people and the wealth gap, the income gap, or the unemployment rate gap,” Malveaux states.

The upside, she points out, is that “an expanding economy helps everyone,” although African-American unemployment rates remain double that of Whites and constantly above the national average regardless of whether the overall numbers rise or fall.

Malveaux explains, “If growth rates remain at 3 percent, we can expect to see even lower unemployment rates than now – currently 4.1 percent overall, 3.7 percent for whites, and 7.4 percent (exactly double) for African-Americans.”

Malveaux also noted that an additional economic challenge may come for African-Americans if there is war, prompted by the Trump Administration.

“One of the challenges we must face is the likelihood of war and the impact it will have on every aspect of our lives, including the economic aspects,” she said. “While war tends to be economically expansionary, it is only selectively so.  If 45 continues to engage North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with provocative, insulting, and juvenile emails, the possibility of one of our cities being subject to a nuclear attack increases. Cities tend to be blacker, browner, older, and younger than the rest of the nation, and more economically vulnerable.  An attack on any of our cities will have a disproportionate impact on African American people,” she states. “In summary, this is likely to be an unexceptional economic year for African American people.  In the current climate, neither federal nor state governments seem inclined to take action to accelerate the quest for economic equity.”

National Urban League President/CEO Mark Morial agrees that although the Black unemployment rate has fallen along with the overall rate, the African-American struggle for economic parity must remain fervent in 2018 – especially as it pertains to wages and homeownership.

“The continuation of wage stagnation means that the average African-Americans’ paycheck does not purchase what it purchased in 2000. Same for Whites and Latinos. The caveat is that far fewer African-Americans are in the top 20 percent whose earnings and incomes have not been stagnant,” Morial states. “As to housing, we have a very deep crisis when it comes to the loss of Black homeowners. We are almost back to where we were in the 70s. Add to this the skyrocketing increases in rents and you have people being squeezed very hard.”

Morial concluded with a list of areas where key battles must take place in 2018 and beyond.

“We at the National Urban League will continue our focus on Economic Empowerment and will be active in leading the Civil Rights Community on economic policy as we did in opposing the recent tax bill. Key issues will be the federal budget, Fannie and Freddie housing reforms and defending against cuts to domestic human needs programs,” Morial said. “We are preparing for another tough year, but we are ready.”

Jan. 7, 2018

NAACP Chair Emeritus: The Fight for Racial Justice Continues
By Leah Hobbs


Roslyn M. Brock, chair emeritus of the national NAACP, sparks the crowd with her message during Monday’s Emancipation Proclamation Day Worship Service at Fifth Baptist Church. PHOTO: Richmond Free Press

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go back to the good old days. I don’t want to go back to separate and unequal,” Roslyn M. Brock, chairman emeritus of the national NAACP, told a crowd on Jan. 1 at the Emancipation Proclamation Day Worship Service at Richmond, Va.'s Fifth Baptist Church.

“We pray, we labor and we wait, as we witness turmoil, turnover, chaos and controversy over the past year that has been promulgated from the highest office of the land through a series of irrational and irate daily tweets that systematically seem to try to roll back the clock on civil rights gains in an attempt to take us back to the good old days, or as some may say, to make America great again,” she said.

But during the New Year’s Day event sponsored by the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond and Vicinity, Brock encouraged the roughly 300 people in attendance to keep fighting injustice.The Virginia Union University graduate, who also earned a master’s in divinity from VUU’s Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, drew parallels between Jesus’ teachings in the Bible to issues confronting the nation today, such as health care and immigration. 

“Too many of us are locked in a room with the door wide open. Too many faith leaders and church folks remain silent about what Jesus talked so much about,” Ms. Brock said. “We need you to stand with us when we welcome the stranger, stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters with the travel ban or with Dreamers on immigration reform.”

Emancipation Proclamation Day celebrates Jan. 1, 1863, when the proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln went into effect abolishing slavery in Virginia and other Confederate states. The event is a New Year’s Day tradition to celebrate progress and encourage people to continue the fight for freedom, according to the Rev. Emanuel Harris, vice president of the ministers’ conference.

“Our work is great,” Rev. Harris told the crowd. “Injustice still exists. The fight continues. Stay engaged. The same God that liberated back then is liberating today.”

Emphasizing that point, Ms. Brock shared the story of Elmore Nickleberry, a sanitation worker in Memphis for more than 60 years. He was one of the workers who went on strike in 1968 to demand fair wages and safe working conditions when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support the workers and was assassinated.

Nickleberry, now in his 80s, still works a sanitation route, according to published reports, because he never received a promised pension from the city of Memphis. Recently, the city granted the original striking workers a $70,000 pension payment, Brock said. During the service, the crowd joined hands to pray in a gesture of strength and unity similar to those who linked arms as they marched for civil rights. The Rev. Charles Baugham, interim pastor of St. Mark Baptist Church in Goochland, prayed, “God, we need your presence and your activity as we engage in issues and challenges of our time.”

“These are times that try men’s souls. We have been on the battlefield, but more than ever we need to be on the battlefield,” added the Rev. Delores L. McQuinn, who represents portions of Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield in the Virginia House of Delegates. “There are no ‘many sides’ for people to stand on when you’re discriminating, when there’s prejudice and hate and racism,” she said, referencing President Trump’s comments following the violent protest of white nationalists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville in mid-August.

Emancipation Day is celebrated in cities across the U. S. But the event was of particular significance in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy.

Brock referenced a letter from former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass to newspaperman and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, written Jan. 1, 1846. In the letter Douglass wrote, “In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky, her grand old woods, her fertile fields, her beautiful rivers, her mighty lakes and star-crowned mountains. But my rapture is soon checked, my joy is soon turned to mourning when I remember that all is cursed with the infernal spirit of slaveholding, robbery and wrong.”

“I am filled with unutterable loathing,” Douglass continued, “and led to reproach myself that anything could fall from my lips in praise of such a land. America will not allow her children to love her. She seems bent on compelling those who would be her warmest friends to be her worst enemies. May God give her repentance before it is too late, is the ardent prayer of my heart. I will continue to pray, labor and wait, believing that she cannot always be insensible to the dictates of justice, or deaf to the voice of humanity.”

Brock said these leaders from the past were different from some of today. “These clarion leaders, who with fire in their belly for justice, stood flat-footed with an ancestral mandate to speak truth to power,” she said. “They were not like some of our wannabe justice, faith and community leaders who simply rush out to our communities for drive-by social justice faith tours.

“We need more ministers and lay leaders who will stand their ground and raise their voice, not only in the sanctuary, not only in the mosque, in the synagogue, in the temple, but … in the public square,” she said.

She talked about the biblical passage in Thessalonians describing convictions of steel. “We need some leaders who have some steel in their convictions,” Brock said.“What happens to us that we get so absorbed in our own places and houses of worship that we forget that we are to enter to worship but depart to serve?” she asked.“Service to others is the rent we pay for the space we own.”