Dec. 20, 2023

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from BlackMansStreet.Today

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The jobless rate for Blacks dropped, but not far enough to catch up with other ethnic groups.

The August jobless rate for Black men fell to 5.0 percent compared to the seasonally adjusted average in August 2022 to 6.0 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate for Black women was a seasonal adjusted 4.7 percent in August compared with 5.9 percent in August 2022.

Employment continued to trend up in health care, leisure and hospitality, social assistance, and construction. Employment in transportation and warehousing declined.

The unemployment rate for Blacks compared with Whites, Hispanics, and women was much higher.

The jobless rate for Whites is 3.4 percent, and for Asians is 3.1 percent; the rates for both groups rose in August. The unemployment rate for Hispanic men is 4.3 percent and 4.4 percent for Hispanic women.

The jobless rate for adult women stands at 3.2 percent, for teenagers, 12.2 percent, for Blacks, 5.0 percent, and for Hispanics the rate it was 4.9 percent and 4.3 and 4.4 percent for Hispanic women.

Dec. 12, 2023

Photos of some of the children who died in Jonestown. Graphic: Courtesy of Dr. Jynona Norwood

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It's been more than 45 years since Jim Jones forced more than 900 people to poison themselves in a mass suicide in Jonestown, Guinea. For Dr. Jynona Norwood, the pain never goes away. On Nov. 18, 1978, she lost her mother, a 2-year-old cousin and 25 other family members who are now buried in an Oakland, Calif. cemetery.

“I think about my mother every day. I think about my first cousin and how they tried to escape Jonestown...The pain never goes away,” said Norwood, who took part in a Nov. 18 memorial program at Evergreen cemetery because many victims of Jonestown were from the Bay Area. But 45 years after the worst mass suicide in world history, Norwood is far from closure. That’s partially because, in that same cemetery, Jim Jones’ name is listed alongside the victims in a mass grave where 305 children are buried.

“This man was not a minister,” Dr. Norwood said. “Those children’s sacred final resting place is no longer sacred as long as Jim Jones’ name is there.” While the deaths of the members of his church, called the People’s Temple, were widely reported as a mass suicide from a cyanide-laced flavor aide, many of the factual details remain mysteries. Many were reportedly forced to drink the punch at gunpoint. Dr. Leslie Mootoo, Guyana’s chief pathologist at the time, said the majority of the bodies had puncture wounds from needles between their shoulder blades. Rep. Leo Ryan (D-Calif.), the only congressman believed to have been assassinated in the line of duty, was among five who were shot and killed at the Port Kaituma airstrip as they tried to leave Guyana after checking on reports that people were being held against their will.

“It's a tragedy because so many lives were lost,” Norwood said in a recent interview. “Generations of young people who could have become a reporter, a journalist, an actor or a doctor, the president of the United States of America, so many inventions and cures and dreams were killed by this megalomaniac at this church with people who still loved him.” Norwood said Jones was protected by the members of Peoples Temple; yet he betrayed them. “The holocaust was history but you don’t see Hitler's name on the wall, 9-11 is history [but] you don't see those who flew those planes into the Twin Towers on a wall. How dare you insult the intelligence of America.”

Upon this year's 45 anniversary, CBS interviewed retired San Francisco police captain Yulanda Williams who is a survivor and former member of the Peoples Temple. Williams said in a documentary that she, her husband and their young child followed Jones to Jonestown to be part of what they thought would be a socialist paradise. "It was truly an active concentration camp and we were guarded 24-7 by armed security officers," Williams told CBS. “The fact is that they have no respect for Congressman Leo Ryan by wanting to put his name on the same wall" with Jones who ordered him assassinated and the "United Press International news team who were only doing their job,” Norwood said. “That is a mass grave site for the children. They didn't have dental records so they had to bury most of the children in a mass grave site in California. Forty infants are in that mass grave site.” Congresswoman Barbara Lee told the Precinct Reporter News that, “The Jonestown Massacre was a senseless, horrible tragedy, born of the evil of one man, that took the lives of nearly 1,000 innocent people – many African-American and many from the Bay area.

“As a member of Congressman Ron Dellums’ staff, I handled many cases of family members who were concerned about their loved ones in Jonestown. I was invited to go to Jonestown with the late Congressman Leo Ryan and a member of his staff, my good friend former Congresswoman Jackie Speier. But at the last minute I had a family obligation that could not be missed,” Lee said.

Norwood said Jones became a fixture in the African-American community by mimicking Dr. King's speech. “That's why you saw Black and White seated together in his church,” Norwood said. “Jim Jones lured the people by first trapping them with Dr. King’s speech. The most powerful images on the screen would make you adopt a lifestyle you didn’t even believe in.”

Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor of Third Street Baptist Church in San Francisco, said Jones often offered help to the masses with food banks, set up temporary tents to pay utility bills, and bring loads of money to pay rent for those in need. But Brown also said, “The man never would take off his shades! Something didn’t quite smell right.”

When asked whether such a tragedy could happen again, Norwood said, “It has been happening again and again. Look at Waco Texas, Heavens Gate,” said Norwood. She added that Jones tricked people with kindness. “He would pay your rent. My uncle went into business with him…Look at the pictures,” Norwood said. “Everybody was sleeping side by side. Most of them still loved him. He killed a 15-year-old, a 17-year-old a 2-year-old and you called him good. Leo Ryan never knew he was walking into an armed camp. His church said they only had 32 guns but there were thug Black men with guns. When it happened My grandmother started to call out the names of the dead and she was screaming and crying.”

Former USA Today Columnist Barbara Reynolds, who wrote a lot about the massacre when it happened said, “Jim Jones became the Black man’s savior because he sounded good, He was charismatic and he had people following him.” Reynolds' latest book,  “The rise and fall of the techno Messiah,” is about how easy it has become to spread modern day deception. “I don't say this but when I here Donald Trump speak I think about Jim Jones. Today we are flooded with lies."

Rev. Brown also said in an interview, “The legacy of Jim Jones is bad religion. He used religion to enslave, disenfranchise and to dispose Black people in America and it is happening today. Look at what [House Speaker Mike] Johnson is doing in the House of Representatives. He is bashing voting rights and he is a wolf in sheep's clothing.”

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Dec. 9, 2023

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - For 12 years during months of October, Black Women for Positive Change has sponsored annual days, weeks and months of Non-Violence, Families, Voters Rights and Opportunities. It is our belief that with the epidemic of violence gripping the nation, America should be anxious for new approaches that can promote violence prevention, anger management, conflict resolution and de-escalation of violence.

So far in 2023, the Gun Violence Archive reports that there have been at least 35,275 people who have died from gun violence this year and 50 percent were suicides. However, in spite of our 12 years of outreach to Governors, Members of Congress, Mayors and national leaders there has been very little response to our efforts to start a violence prevention movement.

Not everyone is turning a deaf ear. In September 2023 President Joe Biden created the vital Office of Violence Prevention, and Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) are supporting our efforts, along with Everytown for Gun Safety, National Black Nurses Association, National Association for Community Mediation, 100 Fathers Inc., and some law enforcement and faith-based organizations. But this is not enough. Our nation needs a national grassroots movement with citizens and institutions from all sectors. 

We all know America was born into violence with genocide of the Native Americans, enslavement of millions of African people, and violence against indentured poor White Europeans from England, Scotland, and Ireland, during the 1500’s-1800’s. Violence has been used as the preferred method of control, and is showcased regularly in movies, on nightly television, in video games, by law enforcement, gangs and through easy access to guns.

In 2024, we must “Change the Culture of Violence in America, and the World,” by urging use of new methods for peace and reconciliation. For example, this year during the Month of Non-Violence, we focused on “Restorative Justice Peace Circles,” in schools and organizations. These Peace Circles provided adults and children with forums where they were able to honestly express anger, interact with peers, analyze their moods and to find ways to resolve conflicts without violence or suicide. 

This year, we engaged over 3,400 adults and children, in 84 activities including Peace Circles, in 15 U.S. States and eight overseas countries. Children in elementary schools in South Korea, Pittsburgh, PA, Houston, Texas, Ivory Coast and in Nigeria, Africa had open non-judgmental discussions about anger they were feeling and how to resolve it. Global peace discussions were held with professionals in the USA, England, Scotland and Canada where health professionals, educators and law enforcement personnel discussed how to stop domestic violence, and how to teach de-escalation of violence. There was even a session on the impact of artificial intelligence on society, and how it can be used to foster global peace.

As we hear daily news about violence increasing in the U.S. and overseas in Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries, we are all alarmed. It is urgent that people come together to implement non-violence, non-militaristic solutions since history shows that more violence, increased punishment, expanded prisons and lack of mental health for suicidal adults and children, are not the answer. 

Let’s stop ignoring the discipline of violence prevention and start to overhaul the American culture of violence. We must advocate for funding for programs that establish Peace Circles in schools, make state and local Departments of Parks and Recreation safe centers of non-violence, and build on programs that teach the time-tested philosophies of Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and other non-violent leaders.

Sadly, much of the violence in our nation begins at the kitchen table and is the fault of law enforcement that commits violent acts against innocent people. Our children, adults and law enforcement must learn how to de-escalate violence and how to use different approaches to resolving disputes and anger, other than taking guns and shooting family members, co-workers, fellow students, or shooting themselves.  The year of 2024 will be the 13^th Year of Non-Violence, Families, Voters Rights and Opportunities. Will the readers of this article stop ignoring violence prevention and take leadership in their communities? If yes, contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit our website at www.blackwomenforpositivechange.org

Dr. Stephanie Myers is National Co-Chair, Black Women for Positive Change. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

To Be Equal 
October 28, 2023

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.” –Verna Myers, Vice President of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix
 
In the unfolding aftermath of the Supreme Court’s pivotal decision on affirmative action, our country stands at a crossroads. It’s a juncture where the corporate world has the power, and I’d argue, the responsibility, to reshape our understanding of diversity and inclusion in the modern age. And while the roadmap may not be as clear-cut as before, the destination remains unequivocal: an America where every individual, regardless of their background, has an equal shot at success.  
 
For decades, affirmative action has been a tool employed to address historic and systemic inequities. However, with the Supreme Court's new stance, corporations must be more intentional and innovative about fostering diversity. First and foremost, it’s essential for corporations to understand that diversity is more than a moral or ethical obligation – it’s a business imperative. Second, national polling done by U.S. Harris Poll revealed that 81 % of Americans overwhelmingly support corporate diversity initiatives. 
 
At the National Urban League’s Whitney M. Young Leadership Development Conference in New York, the Black Economic Alliance Foundation presented their research to our affiliate CEOs and staff, detailing how companies can best navigate corporate diversity after the Supreme Court’s decision. Their presentation suggested what we’ve known all along – that corporate diversity is beneficial to the overall culture, profitability, talent recruitment and retention efforts of an organization. 
 
However, there are instances where corporations have seen the fallout behind implementing DEI initiatives due to emboldened objectors against the change. For example, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) filed a lawsuit against Fearless Fund, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm run by two Black women, alleging that the fund was engaging in racial discrimination by running a grant program exclusively for early-stage companies owned by Black women. Earlier this year, America First Legal filed complaints against Kellogg’s, Nordstrom, and Activision Blizzard alleging that their diversity and inclusion policies constitute racial discrimination. Now is the time for corporations to meet the moment and they must do so tactfully and innovatively in order to make permanent and effective policy changes.  
 
Affirmative action was birthed from a historical necessity — to redress centuries of systemic discrimination and level the playing field. But now, as the legal landscape shifts, it is up to businesses to champion the values at the core of this initiative. The Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action has unquestionably reshaped the landscape of diversity initiatives in the corporate realm. But as businesses grapple with these changes, the essence of what diversity stands for must not be lost. Instead of viewing the decision as a constraint, businesses should see it as an opportunity to authentically and innovatively set their best foot forward.