Dec. 13, 2017

During the Yuletide Season, Virginia Church Leads Nation in Giving to Prisoners for a Purpose 
By Kenae Damon

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Trudi Baptist currently works and volunteers at the Temple of Judah ministries in Richmond, Va. Her life hasn’t always been so good.

Only two years ago, she was incarcerated in the Richmond City Jail, not certain about her future. But then, Baptist received something that she least expected. It was a package at Christmas time. To Baptist, it meant somebody cared, somebody was thinking about her even though they didn’t even know her.

“When I was incarcerated I realized that they don’t give you underwear, that they don’t give you much of anything.  It is very lonely but while in prison I met Bishop Williams and his kind soul. His gift was the only one I received on Christmas day. He made a huge difference in my life, enough of a difference for me to go back to the church after I was released and give the gift of love that I received,” she recalls. “Surprisingly I am one of the few that come back to the church. A lot of inmates don’t want to be reminded of what they went through and those who do give back are behind the scenes and don’t want to go back to the prisons to pass out the packages.”

Every year for the past 40 years the Temple of Judah Ministries have been sending care packages to inmates on Christmas day. Over 80,000 care packages have been donated to the Richmond City Jail through Bishop Melvin Williams and the kindness of volunteers.

This year, the ministry plans to package and hand deliver 33,000 care packages across the state in partnership with Tabernacle of Zion and Greenwood Baptist Church. The packages containing undergarments, toothpaste, deodorant, mouthwash, and soap come in handy to an inmate who may have nothing.

“I wanted to give to the least of the brethren,” Williams said. “When I was younger I would visit those in the prison system and I would see what those kinds of places do to the prisoners. How they break their spirits and provide them with no care and no support and so I knew if I was ever in a place to give back I would. Being pastor of Temple of Judah gave me that platform and a strong ministry of people to support me. Every year he asks the question, will you give Jesus a gift this year?”

Because Virginia has among the largest jail populations in the U. S., the Temple of Judah has distinguished itself. Williams has received numerous awards for his ministry to inmates.

According to Justicepolicy.org:

• Virginia has the eighth highest jail incarceration rate in the U.S., holding one of every 214 adult Virginians. In the Virginia justice system.
• African Americans comprise 60.8 percent of state prison inmates.
• For every white person incarcerated in Virginia, six African-Americans are behind bars.
• African-Americans are held in Virginia prisons at three times their general population percentage.

Especially around the holidays, many individuals are wondering what changes can be made to offset this phenomenon.

With this in mind, the Temple of Judah will continue their “Annual Yuletide Season” asking that anyone with a caring heart donate canned food and non-perishable items to their food bank to distribute to needy families for the Christmas holiday season. Williams’ mission aids countless hurting people who have nowhere else to turn and are suffering financially. The deadline to volunteer and donate is Dec. 20. The church’s contact information 202-780-0841 or visit Templeofjudah.org.

Now free and growing, Baptist says she is writing a book that will be a “spiritual guidance on prison survival.”

She concludes, “I want to share my story and inform other inmates on how God used me to discover my purpose. Some people may be afraid of being judged and looked at differently after getting out of jail but this care package that Bishop Williams and the church gives is enough to change the hearts of many.”

Dec. 12, 2017

Trump Attends Opening of Civil Rights Museum Despite His Own Racial Insensitivities
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - President Donald Trump was the lead person spreading the lie that President Barack Obama, America’s first Black president, was not born in the U. S.

President Trump also equated Ku Klux Klan members and Neo-Nazis to people protesting the evils of racism during the deadly White supremacist marches in Charlottesville, Va. last August.

Repeatedly, in front of the nation, he has flagrantly displayed racial insensitivities; even with his most recent support of Senate Candidate Roy Moore in Alabama, not only an accused pedophile, but a man who has said America was last great during slavery.

Since his inauguration, Trump and his appointee Attorney General Jeff Sessions have careful demolished important policies put in place during the Obama administration for the purpose of preventing police brutality and other issues of racial inequality in the criminal justice system.

In addition, President Trump has claimed massive voter fraud in America, a claim that experts say is patently false.

These are just a handful of the reasons that civil rights leaders opposed the president’s attendance at the Dec. 10 opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. They argue that the museum is like hallowed ground that celebrates those who risked their lives to fight against everything that Trump appears to embrace – despite his words to the contrary.

“President Trump’s presence at the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is not a show of respect. It’s merely a photo op,” says Derrick Johnson, president/CEO of  the NAACP. “I live in Mississippi and its civil rights leaders are my mentors, sheroes, and heroes. I cannot sit silently alongside a man who has used the power of his office to turn back the clock on hard-won rights.”

Johnson and civil rights leaders, Congressmen John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), among others actually boycotted the official opening ceremony in order to call attention to Trump’s wrongs. Lewis and Thompson said they skipped the event after “careful consideration and conversations with church leaders, elected officials, civil rights activists,” and the citizens in their congressional districts.

“President Trump’s attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum,” Lewis and Thompson said in a joint statement. “The struggles represented in this museum exemplify the truth of what really happened in Mississippi. President Trump’s disparaging comments about women, the disabled, immigrants, and National Football League players disrespect the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, Medgar Evers, Robert Clark, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and countless others who have given their all for Mississippi to be a better place. After President Trump departs, we encourage all Mississippians and Americans to visit this historic civil rights museum.”

Still, Trump, at the invitation of Georgia’s Republican Gov. Nathan Deal,  attended the opening. There, he appeared to only mouth a written speech expressing admiration and respect for those honored in the museum.

“The Civil Rights Museum records the oppression, cruelty and injustice inflicted on the African-American community, the fight to end slavery, to break down Jim Crow, to end segregation, to gain the right to vote, and to achieve the sacred birthright of equality here,” he said to applause. “And that's big stuff.  That's big stuff.  Those are very big phrases.  Very big words.”

He continued, “Here, we memorialize the brave men and women who struggled to sacrifice, and sacrificed so much so that others might live in freedom. Among those we honor are the Christian pastors who started the Civil Rights movement in their own churches preaching, like Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. - a man that we have studied and watched, and admired for my entire life - that we're all made in the image of our Lord.”

Trump acknowledged NAACP former chair Myrlie Evers-Williams and Charles Evers in the audience as he especially focused on Medgar Evers, a civil rights worker and NAACP field secretary who was assassinated in his Jackson, Mississippi driveway on June 12, 1963.

“Martyrs like Sergeant Medgar Wiley Evers whose brother I just met at the plane,” he said, encouraging Charles Evers to stand. “Medgar joined the U.S. Army in 1943, when he was 17 years old. He fought in Normandy in the Second World War.  And when he came back home to Mississippi, he kept fighting for the same rights and freedom that he had defended in the war.  Mr. Evers became a civil rights leader in his community.  He helped fellow African Americans register to vote, organize boycotts, and investigated grave injustices against very innocent people.

Trump continued, “For his courageous leadership in the Civil Rights movement, Mr. Evers was assassinated by a member of the KKK in the driveway of his own home. We are deeply privileged to be joined today by his incredible widow - somebody that's loved throughout large sections of our country - beyond this area.  So I just want to say hello to Myrlie.  Myrlie.  Where is Myrlie? How are you, Myrlie?  Thank you so much.  Highly respected.”

Concluding, Trump called Evers an “American Hero”, a sergeant in the U. S. Army who was “laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.  In Arlington, he lies beside men and women of all races, backgrounds, and walks of life who have served and sacrificed for our country."

Despite President Trump’s claim that Americans should “strive to be worthy” of the sacrifices of the civil rights heroes and that “we pray for inspiration from their example,” there are those who still recognize that his actions and the actions of his administration are opposite from his words.

“President Trump’s statements and policies regarding the protection and enforcement of civil rights have been abysmal,” says Reps. Lewis and Thompson. “He has created a commission to reinforce voter suppression, refused to denounce white supremacists, and has generally created a racially hostile climate in this nation. His attendance is an affront to the veterans of the civil rights movement.”

Dec. 13, 2017

Black Voters Push Jones to Victory in Alabama
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Alabama’s Black voters have carried the day, pulling off a stunning victory for Democrat Doug Jones in his contentious race against Republican Roy Moore, accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls when he was in his 30s.

Moore, who also recently said America was last great during slavery, has refused to concede the Dec. 12 election, which Jones won by at least 20,715 votes (671,151-650,436). Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill says the votes will be certified between Dec. 26 and Jan. 3 and that it is “highly unlikely” that Moore will advance to win. Merrill says some overseas and military ballots will now be added, but not hardly close enough for a Moore win. 

African-Americans reportedly voted for Jones with 96 percent, according to CNN, higher than the Black vote for President Barack Obama in 2012, which was approximately 92 percent. Blacks made up 29 percent of the overall vote, Whites made up 66 percent of the vote and Latinos, 3 percent. Women with children voted 66 percent for Jones.

Selma, Ala., an 80 percent Black populated hub of the civil rights movement, which was among the last to report results, appeared to have carried Jones across the line.

“Selma, Alabama turned Alabama into a blue state,” declared CNN contributor Bakari Sellers. 

Those votes can largely be attributed to Black women says Melanie Campbell, president/CEO of the non-partisan National Coalition for Black Civic Participation and convener of its Black Women’s Roundtable.

“Black women gave 97 percent of our vote for Doug Jones in Alabama,” says Campbell. “We’re not just turning out the vote. We’re not just showing up at the polls. We’re leading from a grassroots perspective on up. So we have to make sure we leverage that vote, leverage that leadership. That’s what we have to do as Black women. We’ve always been the backbone. But we don’t get the credit.”

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez also gave credit to Black women, saying they voted 98 percent for Jones.

Despite Moore’s refusal to give in, saying he is waiting on God, even President Donald Trump has conceded the race, sending a congratulatory Tweet after Jones victory speech Tuesday night. Trump fought vigorously for Moore, despite the numerous sexual misconduct allegations against him. Trump, who has denied similar allegations from women, said the Republicans needed Moore’s vote to maintain their razor thin, 52-vote margin in the Senate.

Meanwhile, it was clear during election returns Tuesday that Black voters would be needed for the Jones victory and that without them, he could not have won. Former President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden recorded phone calls for Jones. Basketball star and native Alabamian Charles Barkley, a Black conservative, campaigned vigorously for him. Jones is also known as the lawyer who successfully prosecuted the two Ku Klux Klan members behind the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four black girls in 1963.

The result, according to CNN, was that African-Americans voted at a level higher than they did for Barack Obama, America’s first Black president, in 2012.

Barkley said in a CNN interview, “I’m just so proud of the people of Alabama for rising up.” 

Dec. 5, 2017

Conyers Resigns from Congress Calling for “Complete Disclosure” of Records on Sexual Harassment
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a founding member of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus and the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, retired from the U. S. Congress this week, leaving behind a stellar civil rights career amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment.

Conyers, 88, under pressure from many of his colleagues and House leaders to resign, had initially stepped down from the House Judiciary Committee amidst the charges, but dropped the bombshell of his immediate retirement on the Detroit-based Mildred Gaddis radio show Tuesday.

“I am retiring today and I want everyone to know how much I appreciate the support and the incredible and undiminishing support I’ve received across the years from my supports, not only in my district but across the country as well.”

He added, "My legacy cannot be compromised or diminished in any way.

Conyers says he is supporting his son, John Conyers III to succeed him."

Conyers, a lawyer, said in the interview that Congress should fully disclose the records of all of the $7 million that has been paid out by members of Congress in sexual harassment cases.

“I think there should be a complete disclosure in revealing to all of the citizens of the country what federal legislators are doing or not doing and any cost that may have incurred as a result of that. So, my answer to that is a strong unequivocal yes,” he told Mildred Gaddis’.

Conyers continued to deny any wrongdoing

“Whatever they are they are not accurate and they are not true. And they are something that I can’t explain where they came from,” Conyers said.

Conyers gave the interview while in a Detroit hospital. He had complained of light-headedness and chest pains last week.

Buzz Feed News revealed earlier this month that one unidentified staffer received a $27,000 settlement from Congress for wrongful dismissal from Conyers’ office in 2015. Melanie Sloan, a former Capitol Hill staffer for Conyers’ office, said during a television interview that on one occasion Conyers was dressed only in his undershorts and a shirt while working in his office.

Sloan admitted that Conyers did not approach her with sexual intentions. She also claimed Conyers yelled at her several times in the 1990s. In the charged atmosphere of Washington, D.C., yelling and temper flare ups are common. For example, the late U.S. Sen. John Heinz (R., Pennsylvania) angrily yanked his telephone out of the office wall so often that the telephone company refused to repair it.

The Washington Post named Maria Reddick, the congressman’s former scheduler, as the person who filed but later dropped a claim last February, accusing Conyers of inappropriate sexual advances. After Conyers had stepped down, 12 former staffers who are women claimed Conyers never behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner.

“Mr. Conyers was respectful, valued our opinions and challenged our thinking,” the women said.

The 88-year-old Conyers was first elected to Congress in 1964. He represents Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. Previously, he represented Michigan’s 14th Congressional District. Known as the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, Conyers is one of its 13 founding members, which was organized in 1971. The CBC has 49 members.

NorthStarNewsToday.com contributed to this story.