Urban News Features

Our Destiny is in Our Hands by James Clingman

Sept. 18, 2016

Blackonomics
Our Destiny is in Our Hands
By James Clingman

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Adam Clayton Powell’s famous 1967 speech, “What’s in your hand?” pointed out a very important and relevant truth that still applies today. He said, “You’ve got in your hand the power to use your vote and to use even those ‘few cents’ you get from welfare, to spend them only where you want to spend them.”

The question and its answer ring clear when it comes to the critical economic and political issues of our time. A major component related to Powell’s question is the reality of another idiom: “A little goes a long way.” That’s the philosophy of THE One Million Conscious and Conscientious Black Contributors and Voters. We know that relatively small amounts of money from individuals can create a collective tsunami of cash flow for our businesses and organizations.

Powell’s question must be reinvestigated today, at least among those of us who are both conscious and conscientious about Black economic empowerment. Why? The answer is quite simple. Too often many of us find excuses for not doing the things that are necessary to achieve our economic independence, instead of looking for reasons why we should. Many of us look at what we don’t have and get stuck there, instead of looking at and using what we do have to move forward. And, many of us say things like, “We all need to come together” and “until all Black people get on the same page,” instead of realizing that a relative small portion of Blacks can make significant change in our economic and political status in this country.

“All” Black people will never do anything together, and to wait for that to happen is futile and a monumental waste of valuable time. Our forebears did not wait for all Blacks to join them in their efforts. They sought and found those of like mind and went ahead with their work. They understood that with a critical mass of critical thinkers their movement would take on a life of its own and move forward under its own steam. Even though they had very little in their hands they knew they could achieve a collective goal by pooling what they had and using it to build their own economy.

So, what’s in our hands today, brothers and sisters? We like to brag about how much income or “spending power” we have, but we should be bragging about how we are using it to empower ourselves. We proudly stand before our people and brag about how important our votes are, instead of being able to brag about what our votes, over these many decades, have provided us in return. We brag about being here since this nation began and even before, but we can only brag about what we collectively built prior to integration, i.e. Black towns, but not what we have built since that time.

Admittedly, many Black folks have built strong competitive businesses that have reached the multi-million and even the billion dollar plateau, and they must be commended. By and large, however, those businesses pale in comparison to our percentage of population and our aggregate annual income. We must do better with the tremendous amount of financial and intellectual resources we have in our hands. We must also do much better with the votes we have at our disposal—we must be smarter and we must leverage them rather than just give them away without getting something in return.

Adam Clayton Powell and other stalwarts would be proud of us for following their sage advice. Let’s make this personal. What’s in YOUR hand? Aside from your vote, do you have a “few cents” to spend with a black business? Are you willing to put your “few cents” together with others of like mind and create more conscious Black millionaires? Are you committed to supporting those who support you?

Each of us should do an assessment from time to time to determine if we truly are in alignment with the principles we espouse. Talk is easy; following through is what counts. Look and see what’s in your hand and put some of it on the line for yourself and your people. Don’t wait for everybody else to do it; you do it, and become a positive example for others to follow. Don’t put it off, because one thing we don’t have in our hands is time.

Stop the Payday Loan Dept Trap By Julianne Malveaux

Sept. 18, 2016

Stop the Payday Loan Dept Trap

By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Between the unemployment rate report that was released in early September, and the Census report on income and poverty that was released on September 13, President Obama and his team got great news about the economic status of the average worker. Incomes are up a whopping 5.2 percent between 2014 and 2015; the first time incomes have increased since 2007. The poverty rate dropped 1.2 percentage points, to 13.5 percent, which translates into 3.5 million fewer people living in poverty. While the poverty rate is still higher than it was in 2007, this sharp decrease in the poverty rate is significant. Between the unemployment rate report, which shows an unemployment rate at 4.9 percent, and the income and poverty report, which shows a 2.4 million increase in the number of workers, the Obama economic team can rightly assert that economic recovery has trickled down.

Still, poverty rates are way too high – almost one in four (24.1 percent) African American households lives in poverty. The number of African American children in poverty, though falling, remains too high (31.6 percent). And the number of people in “extreme poverty” (with incomes at less than half the poverty line) is alarming – more than ten percent of African Americans (and 6 percent of the total population) live in extreme poverty.

The persistence of poverty, even in the face of good news, provides opportunities for those whose riches come from the exploitation of poor people. Those who provide payday loans are among the worst, because they set up a debt trap that it is almost impossible for poor people to escape from. Indeed, these predators treat the poor as profit centers and enrich themselves from other people’s misery. Even as we celebrate the economic progress of the past year, we must ensure that usurious payday lenders are curtailed by regulators who can restrict their ability to extract interest rates in excess of 300 percent from the very poor.

This is how it works – payday lenders provide “emergency” loans for those people who have more month than money, and who simply can’t make ends meet. They provide small loans for a fee of something like $15 per $100 for 7 to 14 days. The loan may be secured by a paycheck, a pre-dated check, or an automobile title. If the loan is not paid back on time, a borrower may negotiate an “extension”, which requires more fees. Repeated payday loans result in $3.5 billion in fees each year.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) is considering regulations to protect consumers from exploitation and usury from short-term loans and auto title loans. A coalition of faith leaders, is hoping that those who have been affected by the exploitive practices of payday loans. They’ve asked people who have been affected by payday loans to comment on their website, FaithforFairLending.org, hoping that the CFPB will be influenced by the experiences that many have had with payday lending.

Rev. Sekinah Hamlin, who leads faith initiatives for the Center for Responsible Lending, says that faith leaders have mobilized because they expect that the payday lending industry will fight any regulations to curtail their activity. The CFPB will be accepting comments about payday lending until October 7, and the Center for Responsible Lending (ResponsibleLending.org) hopes that people will share letters and comments encouraging CFPB to curtail payday.

While it is important to curtail payday lending so that low-income borrowers can avoid the debt trap, the longer term solution to the debt trap is better pay for people who could access traditional credit options, or avoid debt altogether, if they earned reasonable pay. The working families agenda that some in Congress have embraced (which includes an increase in the minimum wage, among other provisions to assist those on the bottom) is a step in the right direction. The fight for $15, which would provide families at the bottom with incomes of about $31,000 a year, would also alleviate poverty and make it easier for people to make ends meet.

It is important that those of us who care about economic justice make our voices heard before October 7. To stop the payday loan debt trap and encourage the CFBP to issue regulations that will protect those who are so easily exploited, comment online at FaithforFairLending.org, or send your comment to The Center for Responsible Lending, Faith and Credit Roundtable, 302 W. Main Street, Durham, NC 27701.

Tackling the payday lending issue, however, is only a small step toward economic justice. Those who want economic justice must also be committed to electing those who will implement a working families agenda. The economic good news that was released early this month does not mean that we are out of the woods around poverty issues.

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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

Sharpton Says Trump 'Insults Intelligence' of Black Voters by Hazel Trice Edney

Sept. 13, 2016

Sharpton Says Trump 'Insults Intelligence' of Black Voters
Republican nominee repeatedly ignores questions about his record in the Black community
By Hazel Trice Edney

Rev. Al Sharpton

Marc Morial

Michael Grant

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s attempts to sheer Black votes from the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, has garnered the attention of national Black leaders, including his fellow New Yorker, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who says Trumps tactics “insults the intelligence” of Black voters.

“I think that to reach out to the Black community when you’re not discussing any details of the policies that you propose; and second, when you don’t put out your record with the Black community - which includes discrimination lawsuits on his housing - is to insult our intelligence to say we should try something new,” Sharpton said in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire. “He’s not new. He’s got decades of history that he can’t explain.”

Sharpton continued, “Since he’s running as a business man, he should also show us where his business is and how they have worked with Blacks. Where are the contractors? Where are the subcontractors that he dealt with in his business? Where are the executives in the Trump organization?”

Trump skipped major national Black conferences, including the NAACP, the National Urban League and the National Association of Black Journalists, this summer. Then he began appealing to Black voters while standing before vastly White audiences.

“What the hell do you have to lose?!” Trump appealed to Black voters as he stood in front of predominately White audiences in late August and early September. That question became a common refrain as he pointed to crime and unemployment in Black communities. Trump then took his message to Black pastors, including a Black church in Detroit on Sept. 3.

Meanwhile attempts by the Trice Edney News Wire to obtain clarity on Trump’s own economic and Black participation records in his multi-billion dollar corporation have gone unheeded. Two questions requesting information on Trump’s Black hiring and contracting records and why he declined to attend the major Black summer conferences went unanswered by Omarosa Manigault, Trump’s director of African American outreach.

The questions went unheeded as Manigault, instead of giving Trump’s record as requested, sent a statement, Sept. 7, attacking Clinton and the Democratic Party, generally stating that they have taken Black voters for granted.

“We know our message is resonating as Black voters realize that they have been taken for granted. They see unemployment on the rise and home ownership on the decline. African American youth feel that the Dems have completely turned their backs on them. Look at what's happening in Chicago, President Obamas' hometown, nearly half of the young black men are neither in school nor employed. For far too long African Americans have been loyal to the Democratic Party but unfortunately the party has not been loyal to them!” she wrote. “What can she possibly offer young black men in Chicago that President Obama could not get accomplish in the last 7 years? Let me answer that for you... more of the same!! It's time for a change. Enough empty promises! Young People are dying in the streets of Chicago every day and yet she wants us to continue down the same path that we've been going? It makes no sense. Someone has to stand up and fight for those who the Dems have turned their backs on. Trump will fight for you!!”

Actually, despite the fact that the Black unemployment rate is still twice that of Whites, it is not on the rise as Manigault states. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Black unemployment rate is at 8.1 percent, the lowest since President Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009 at which time the unemployment rate was 14.4 percent.

Manigault continued, saying Trump “is committed to earning the African American vote with policies that will help with job creation, school choice and making the community safe. In terms of strategy, we will continue to work with faith leaders, churches, civic organizations, our HBCU network as well as our community partners to first bring attention to conditions that the Dems have swept under the rug and address these issues head on in order to improve in the Black community.”

Clinton is recovering from a bout of pneumonia this week as her husband, former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama are on the campaign trail for her. She is expected to return to the campaign later this week.

While avoiding the questions about Trump’s record, Manigault insists that Trump is sheering Black votes from Clinton. But while Trump’s Black support has risen slightly from 1 percent in some recent independent polls, most show Clinton still holding fast to more than 90 percent of the Black vote.

Leaders of major Black organizations point to Trump’s record, saying they are not convinced he could ever win a significant Black following no matter what he says. They say that’s largely because of his record. The housing discrimination lawsuit mentioned by Sharpton refers to a 1975 settlement of a federal housing discrimination case against Trump in which his refusal to rent to Blacks while renting to White tenants in the same units was documented.

Black press coverage of the case in the New York Amsterdam News headlined the settlement story, “Minorities win housing suit,” and reported that “qualified Blacks and Puerto Ricans now have the opportunity to rent apartments owned by Trump Management,” according to a Jan. 23 Washington Post story by Michael Kranish and Robert O'Harrow Jr.

As questions about Trump’s current Black hiring and economic justice records go unheeded, other non-partisan Black organizational leaders also scrutinize Trump’s record in order to determine what he would do in the White House.

Michael Grant, president/CEO of the National Bankers Association, an organization of predominately Black-owned banks, compares the Trump candidacy to that of two-term President George W. Bush.

“If the country really wants to see what a Donald Trump presidency would produce, it need only to go back a few years and see what George W. Bush produced, which was nothing but disaster,” Grant said.

“George Bush led us to a war that was absolutely disastrous in the loss of human life and the cost to the U. S. tax payer. He also drove our economy to the brink of collapse. This happened because this man did not have the command of the subject matter. There was nothing in his background that suggested that he was studious. Donald Trump is not studious. Nothing suggests that he has a disciplined approach to problem-solving. He just blusters out things and says whatever hits him for the moment, a knee-jerk reaction. George Bush was very much the same way. He just did not understand what a powerful position he was stepping into and he didn’t understand how complicated the job of president really is.”

Grant concluded, “This is really not about a Democrat or a Republican. It’s about choosing the best person to lead this country during these tumultuous times.”

National Urban League President Marc Morial says despite Trump’s recent appeal for Black votes, he has shown no interest in the National Urban League, a 105-year-old Black economic justice organization, which offered presidential candidates multiple opportunities for briefings and to give their perspectives on vital economic and civil rights issues beginning last year.

“We invited Donald Trump to such an opportunity. He did not respond,” Morial recounted “We invited him again to give a 25 minute speech and not have to answer any questions. He did not respond. In 2016, we again invited him to come to our conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Again he declined. We also sent him a 32-question questionnaire, which probes his thinking on issues not only in the Black community but also America’s urban community and America’s young people and he did not respond.”

Morial pointed out, “Mrs. Clinton responded to all of the above. I believe it’s not difficult to diagnose problems. What’s more challenging is to offer sound, serious solutions. And that’s what the voters are thinking about…And they’re not going to be fooled and tricked and bamboozled by what I would call hollow talk or long diagnosis or insulting characterizations of the community.”

Sharpton summed up Trump’s Black justice record even more concisely: “I never saw him stand up one time on a Black issue; and that’s when he was on the other side.”

Blacks and Salt By Glenn Ellis

Sept. 18, 2016

Blacks and Salt
By Glenn Ellis

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The average American consumes nearly 3,400 mg of sodium per day; the recommendation for the American Heart Association is 1,500 mg per day. When there’s extra sodium in your bloodstream, it pulls water into your blood vessels, increasing the total amount, or volume, of blood inside your blood vessels. With more blood flowing through your blood vessels, blood pressure increases. It’s like turning up the water supply to a garden hose - the pressure in the hose increases as more water is blasted through it. Over time, high blood pressure may overstretch or injure the blood vessel walls and speed the build-up of gunky plaque that can block blood flow. The added pressure also tires out the heart by forcing it to work harder to pump blood through the body.

Reducing Americans’ intake of sodium has been an important but elusive public health goal, in this country and around the world, for many years. The U.S. population consumes far more sodium than is recommended, placing individuals at risk for diseases related to elevated blood pressure. Heart disease and stroke are the nation’s first and third leading causes of death (Cancer is second).

Let me do my best to explain some important facts about salt and your health to better understand why all the fuss about salt and sodium. We all need a small amount of sodium to keep our bodies working properly. There is a very important balance that must be maintained between sodium and potassium. Potassium is a very important mineral for the proper function of all cells, tissues, and organs in the human body. Keeping the right potassium balance in the body depends on the amount of sodium and magnesium in the blood.

Too much sodium, common in Western diets that use a lot of salt, tends to increase the need for potassium. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables provide potassium which can blunt the effects of high sodium intake and lower blood pressure. However, less than 2% of US adults consume enough potassium and only 8.6% of children meet the guidelines for fruit intake and less than one percent of children consumes sufficient vegetables. The top sources of sodium in the U.S. diet include breads and rolls, deli meats, pizza, poultry, soups, sandwiches, cheese, pasta dishes, meat mixed dishes, such as meatloaf with tomato sauce, and the majority of snacks. Sound familiar?

The high amount of sodium in the U.S. food supply makes it difficult for Americans to not exceed the recommended level of sodium intake when consuming a nutritionally-adequate diet. The extra stored water raises your blood pressure and puts strain on your kidneys, arteries, heart and brain. Thus, a vicious cycle leading to the devastation linked to high blood pressure.

It is important to know that words salt and sodium are not exactly the same, yet these words are often used in place of each other. Sodium chloride is the chemical name for salt.

The majority of the sodium consumed is from processed and restaurant foods; only a small portion is used in cooking or added at the table. For example, the Nutrition Facts Panel uses “sodium,” whereas the front of the package may say “low salt”. Ninety percent of the sodium we consume is in the form of salt; so if you think that just not using the salt shaker during meals is the answer…think again. Salt, or sodium chloride, is used to preserve and flavor food, which is another way to say that it’s in nearly everything you eat and drink!

Have you ever wondered why they suggest you eat less salt if you are black?

Most of us have heard that this “salt sensitivity” originated during the Middle Passage, when enslaved Africans developed the ability to use this mechanism to retain water for survival from dehydration.

Blacks from the slave trade are more salt sensitive than whites and blacks in Africa. Most American blacks are descendants of the slave trade, rather than recent immigrants. Dr. Richard Cooper, at Loyola in Chicago, has conducted extensive research on this phenomena, and found that indigenous West Africans and Caribbean blacks do not have similar high rates of hypertension.

Other studies as far back as 1997, in the Journal of Human Hypertension, have shown that black people of African descent are three to four times more likely to have high blood pressure compared to white populations. Other studies, including the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) study, have shown that reducing salt intake can lower blood pressure to a greater extent in the black population compared with the white population.

A 2005 study, in the journal Hypertension, concluded that a modest reduction in salt intake (from around 10g to 5g of salt per day) in black patients with high blood pressure resulted in both a fall in blood pressure (the major risk factor for cardiovascular disease) and urinary protein excretion (the major risk factor for renal disease and an independent risk factor for cardiovascular mortality). The fall in BP with salt reduction is equivalent to that seen with single drug treatment. It has been predicted that reducing salt intake from the current levels to 6g a day in black people of African descent could reduce their risk of a stroke by 45% and heart disease by 35 percent

These study results aside, let’s remember that Hypertension is caused by factors in addition to salt sensitivity, most importantly weight and salt intake.

Salt (sodium) has many detrimental effects on health and is considered one of the most important risk factors for high blood pressure, the consequence of which is increasing the risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure.

Just by remembering to follow the daily recommendation of a maximum of one and a half teaspoons of salt per day, people of African descent can help to reduce their risk of getting high blood pressure or if they already have high blood pressure, help lower their blood pressure.

Remember, I’m not a doctor. I just sound like one.

Take good care of yourself and live the best life possible!

The information included in this column is for educational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult his or her healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation or if they have any questions regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. Glenn Ellis, is a Health Advocacy Communications Specialist. He is the author of Which Doctor?, and Information is the Best Medicine. A health columnist and radio commentator who lectures, nationally and internationally on health related topics, Ellis is an active media contributor on Health Equity and Medical Ethics. Listen to Glenn, every Saturday at 9:00am (EST) on www.900amwurd.com, and Sundays at 8:30am (EST) on www.wdasfm.com. For more good health information, visit: www.glennellis.com

Republican Party Rejects Black Voters By Jesse Jackson

Sept. 11, 2017

Republican Party Rejects Black Voters
By Jesse Jackson

Jesse3

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Are Black voters so loyal to Democrats that their issues are ignored? Donald Trump suggests as much, arguing that blacks had “nothing to lose” by voting for him. Now a column by Farai Chideya at FiveThirtyEight cites academics who make a similar argument.

In recent elections, about 90 percent of the black vote has gone to Democrats. Chideya cites Professor Paul Frymer of Princeton, who argues that politicians focus their appeals on swing voters, particularly “moderate, disaffected whites in the middle — whether you call them soccer moms or NASCAR dads.”

Chideya also cites two recent studies on how well black interests are represented in government. A 2015 report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies concluded that “black voices are less equal than others when it comes to policy.” And a 2015 law review article by Professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos of the University of Chicago Law School “found that black support for Congressional legislation actually decreased its chances of passage.”

Are blacks voting against their own interests? Are they a “captured group” who would be better off if they weren’t so pro-Democrat?

African-American voters are neither fools nor inherently Democratic partisans. When Lincoln Republicans were leading the fight for the freedom amendments after the Civil War — the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments — African-Americans voted overwhelmingly with Republicans. Blacks began voting Democratic when FDR launched the New Deal and stood with poor and working people in the Great Depression. When Democratic Dixiecrats fought to sustain legal segregation, many African-Americans in the South voted Republican. Dr. Martin Luther King’s father was a Republican.

But then, after Lyndon Johnson pushed through the Voting Rights Act and the Great Society, Republicans — beginning with Richard Nixon’s Southern strategy and continuing with Ronald Reagan and beyond — used racial dog-whistle politics to consolidate their party in the white South. The party of Lincoln became the party of Jefferson Davis.

Now African-Americans vote overwhelmingly for Democrats not because we reject the Republican Party but because the Republican Party rejects us. If we vote our interests, we have little choice but to vote against a party that has systematically tried to undermine and constrict the right to vote, that votes against affordable housing, against expanding Social Security and against poverty programs.

Republicans have led the fight against a living wage. They oppose efforts to curb gun violence in our cities by blocking background checks and repealing the ban on assault weapons. They vocally undermine enforcement of equal employment laws and anti-discrimination measures. Their Supreme Court nominees gutted the Voting Rights Act, and their legislators have blocked efforts to restore it. They have consistently voted against any plan to rebuild our cities, reinvest in infrastructure and put people to work. They oppose efforts to ease the student loan debt that burdens too many African-Americans.

Blacks vote against Republicans in overwhelming numbers because Republicans are overwhelmingly campaigning against our core interests. Republicans can appeal to black voters but only if they reach out and change their policy positions. As former New Orleans Mayor Mark Morial told Chideya, “A chicken can’t root for Colonel Sanders.”

Arguably, the real “captured group” of voters are the poor and working-class white voters who vote Republican. That vote is surely against their economic interests. Republicans have won their votes by appeals to race, to religion and to conservative social issues, but they never deliver. Liberal social movements for equality — the civil rights movement, the women’s movement and the gay rights movement — continue to make progress. And working and poor white people continue to lose ground economically. Now polls suggest that they favor Donald Trump for president, someone who opposes lifting the minimum wage, opposes empowering workers to organize, opposes expanding Social Security, wants to repeal health care reform and vows to cut taxes on the rich and corporations.

African-Americans aren’t a captured bloc of voters. We are people who are voting our interests — and looking for allies. Republicans have to decide if they want to continue to push off against us or begin to reach out to us.