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As Hurricane Season Approaches, Florida Rebuilding Strategies May Help Blacks Facing Climate Change Disasters Around the Nation Hazel Trice Edney

Multi-ethnic group of children on a soccer team work together to organize a charity drive for a local natural disaster event in their area. The children set up a table at their local park to gather canned goods and clothing for the victims affected by the disaster. African descent girl holds "Hurricane Relief" sign.

PHOTO: IStock Fstop123

As hurricane season creeps up, analyzing how Florida programs have helped thousands of families get their homes fixed can offer insight into what effective action can look like as more than half of America’s Black population live in the South and are more likely to face climate change disasters.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Natural weather events are not new. But now, at the start of another hurricane season, it’s important to dive into the history of what that has meant to our communities and what can be done to uplift them. The severity and intensity of hurricanes have only increased as rapid intensification, a key process to turn cyclones into hurricanes, happened three times more often in 2020 than in 1980.

Hurricanes disproportionately affect low-income, Black communities and other communities of color. The most recent hurricane to hit Florida’s west coast was Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 storm that caused $3.6 billion in damage, concentrated in the Big Bend region.

More than half of America’s population of African-Americans live in the South and are more likely to feel the disastrous effects of climate change. Facing economic insecurity, low-income communities, though seasoned budgeters, typically feel the brunt of economic stress after climate events such as this.

One 2018 study from Rice University and the University of Pittsburgh analyzed the wealth discrepancies between Black and White survivors after natural hazards. The findings reemphasized how historical disenfranchisement affects us in the modern day.

After natural disasters, Black survivors’ wealth decreased by $27,000. White survivors’ wealth increased by $126,000.

But historical disparities are modern disparities. And a $153,000 difference is just the tip of the iceberg.

A report released by the EPA found that climate change is expected to exacerbate circumstances for socially and economically marginalized groups. Low-income residents who lived in a coastal zone, which represents much of Florida, were more likely to live in old and poor-quality homes, leading to much more damage when higher categories of hurricanes hit during the season and less money to rebuild or move.

Black, Latino, and low-income communities have historically been disenfranchised and pushed to live in locations that are being the hardest hit by climate change, either with excessive heat waves, continued threats of flooding, or in Florida’s case of the most vulnerable, hurricanes.

After the severity of the 2017 hurricane season, specifically Hurricane Irma which caused $50 billion in damage, Florida Commerce partnered with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create the Rebuild Florida Housing Repair and Replacement Program (HRRP) aimed to help Florida homeowners repair, reconstruct, and even in some instances, replace homes damaged by the hurricane. Prioritizing low-income, elderly, and households with children under 18, HRRP is a fantastic display of what coordinated efforts to help disenfranchised communities hurt by natural disasters could look like.

One of their partners, IEM, founded by Madhu Beriwal, is the largest woman and minority owned company of its kind. Their team works to improve disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. With their help, Florida Commerce has been able to complete over 3,500 homes damaged by Hurricane Irma, and get over 8,000 residents back to their lives.

With predictions from multiple weather tracking outlets detailing that 2024 will be extremely active in the Atlantic, with 23 named storms and 5 major hurricanes, establishing protections to help the most vulnerable is a necessity.

Through increasing partnerships with organizations that have shown the work and dedication to helping those most disenfranchised, we can slowly, but surely, attempt to address the disparities that the hurricane season highlights every year. Programs like HRRP work to shorten that gap and ensure folks can sleep in a rebuilt home in a timely manner, regardless of economic status or location.

Addressing inequalities takes one step at a time, and we all need to walk together if we want to create a future where we all can thrive peacefully, without the threat of a natural disaster destroying all that we’ve ever known.

Deputy Sheriff Who Shot and Killed Black Airman Has Been Fired

June 4, 2024

EddieDuran and AirmanRogerFortson

Fired Deputy Eddie Duran and Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who Duran shot and killed

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from BlackMansStreet.Today

(TriceEdneyWire.com/BlackMansStreet.Today) - A Florida sheriff on Friday fired a deputy who shot and killed a Black airman with the U.S. Air Force in his apartment, saying the use of deadly force was not reasonable.

The Okaloosa Sheriff fired deputy Eddie Duran, but it is still unclear if he will charged in the May 3 killing of Roger Fortson, 23, of Fort Walton Beach.

This concludes the sheriff's investigation, but there is still an ongoing investigation involving the state of Florida.

"This tragic incident should have never occurred," said Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden. "The objective facts do not support using deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson's actions."

The sheriff added: "Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime. By all accounts, he was an exceptional airman and individual."

This mirrors the same thing Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz also said about the fatal shooting by Duran.

“The killing of Airman Roger Fortson in my community continues to be a source of deep sadness. As the investigation continues, I think one thing is clear from the body cam and should be stated unequivocally: Roger did not deserve to die. He did nothing wrong," Gaetz said (May 13, 2024).

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson's family, said in a statement that the firing was a step in the right direction but that "it is not full justice for Roger and his family. The actions of this deputy were not just negligent, they were criminal."

"While the criminal investigation is still ongoing, we fully anticipate charges to be filed against this officer. The video footage provides damning proof that this was a brutal and senseless killing of a young man who was simply enjoying time alone with his dog while video chatting with his girlfriend. 

He mentioned other Black men and women who have been gunned down in their homes, which are supposed to be sanctuaries.

"Just as we did for Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson, and Breonna Taylor, we will continue to fight for full justice and accountability for Roger Fortson, as well as every other innocent Blackman and woman gunned down by law enforcement in the presumed safety of their own home," Crump said.

Fortson was shot to death in his apartment after answering the door. Duran shot him five times, killing him.

Forston was armed with a legally procured gun, but it was not aimed at Duran; it was pointed at the ground.

Fortson lived in an off-base residence, and his special operations squadron at Hurlburt Field in the Florida panhandle flies AC-130J Ghostrider gunships.

A woman reported to the police that fighting between a man and a woman was taking place inside Fortson's apartment 1401, and there were children in the apartment.

No children lived in Fortson's apartment; it is unclear how the unnamed woman got her information.

Crump said there was no disturbance and that Fortson was home alone on a video call with his girlfriend, who reported the airman heard a knock on the door.

According to the witness, Fortson asked, "Who is it?" But he didn't receive an answer.

After a subsequent "aggressive" second knock and seeing no one through the peephole, Fortson grabbed his legally owned gun, Crump detailed.

Project 2025 is an Attack on Black People by Julianne Malveaux

May 28, 2024

NEWS ANALYSIS

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(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Project 2025 is a conservative manifesto if a Republican is elected President in 2024.  Crafted by the Heritage Foundation, the 900-page book comprehensively addresses every agency that the President can influence, with suggestions for the agencies that should be eliminated or altered.  It is an attack on our merit-based civil service system, suggesting that presidential appointees should replace long-term civil servants.  African Americans should note that we are overrepresented in the federal workforce – 18.2percent compared to 12.6 percent of the total population.  

Whites are also overrepresented, being 61 percent of the federal workforce, compared to 59 percent of the overall population.  Hispanics (using the federal designation) are the most underrepresented of any population.  Interestingly, if Project 2025 and Project 47 had their way, we would not even know these numbers.  They’ve both proposed stopping counts by race, as they want our society to be “color blind”.

While Project 2025 was put together by the Heritage Foundation, it reeks of the 45th President.  Many of his loyalists and former employees have contributed to the volume.  For example, Dr. Ben Carson wrote the chapter on HUD, Peter Navarro, another Trump crony who was, among other things, Assistant to the President, authored a chapter on trade.  Incidentally, Navarro is currently serving jail time for contempt of Congress.  But the 45th President says that, if elected, he would “absolutely” bring Navarro back.  You can dive into the volume, replete with an authoritarianism recidivism, by checking it out at project2025.org.

While the African American community is not mentioned explicitly (except for the mandate to eliminate affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts), the policies that Project 2025 are aligned with conservative policy.  Project 2025 would cut spending in education, housing assistance, and other areas where African Americans and others frequently benefit.  The project would also reduce government regulation, especially in labor markets.  Project 2025 is a comprehensive attack on contemporary government organization, and it also has a component that is actively seeking the most conservative people to populate a new Republican administration.

The former President goes even further than Project 2025, since the Heritage Foundation is a tax-exempt organization that cannot support any particular candidate.  Project 47 comes from the Trump Administration and embraces much of Project 2025, but also more aggressively addresses the Department of Justice, which would be weaponized to get revenge on President Biden (even though he didn’t do anything to the former president) by going after him for offenses, real or imagined.  Project 47 would actually establish the next Republican president as a dictator who can hire and fire at will, eliminate agencies at will, and do whatever he wants.

The plan would weaken or eliminate the Department of Education, sending some federal funds, especially Title I funds that are targeted toward low-income students, back to the states.  While President Biden has attempted student debt relief, the next President would eliminate those efforts.  Other discretionary funds that the Secretary of Education can grant will also be cut under Project 2025.

Project 2025 reeks of Christian conservatism, describing our nation as one with “Judeo-Christian values”.  From that perspective, the agenda emphasizes the “traditional family”, perhaps excluding the majority of the population.  It would also impose work requirements on Medicaid, but where would those affected work, and how much would they be paid?  The Project 2025 document would shred the safety net, leaving the poor to fend for themselves, ignoring employment discrimination and the structural inequities that result in the poverty that so many people experience.

Reproductive rights? Forget about it.  Project 2025 would reduce abortion access and even criminalize abortion is some cases.  It’s “leave it to the states” perspective could mean that more than half of all women would have no access to reproductive medical services.

In the past month or so we have seen a number of weather challenges that are related to climate change – tornadoes, hurricanes, extreme heat.  But Project 2025 would gut climate policy and roll back the Inflation Reduction Act.  Since Black people live closes to pollution sources and have disproportionate health effects from climate issues, ignoring climate issues is an attack on Black people.  And let’s not talk about voting rights.  Project 2025 would tighten voting regulations, perhaps eliminating early voting and mail voting, imperiling the African Americans voter franchise.

Project 2025 began in 2022 and was released in book form last year as A Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.  It lays out a frightening Republican agenda, a reversal of many of the hard-won victories of the past several decades.  I’d like for some of the Black Americans who think our 45th president “wasn’t so bad”, to read the book and govern themselves accordingly.  President Biden likes to say that democracy is on the ballot.  He should also say that economic justice, health access, and educational equity are also on the line.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist and author based in Washington, DC.  Juliannemalveaux.com

 
Dr. Julianne Malveaux
Economist/Author/Educator
 

Felon in Chief By Julianne Malveaux

June 4, 2024

NEWS ANALYSIS

malveaux

 

 

DonaldTrump

Former President Donald Trump is now a convicted felon.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Now that the former President and the candidate for future President has been convicted of thirty-four felonies, he joins 19 million other Americans who have such convictions.  Those felons face major restrictions in employment, finance, and housing.  For example, federal, state, and local government jobs often require a security clearance, which felons often cannot qualify for.  In some areas, felons are disqualified from teaching jobs.  It is challenging for felons to be admitted to the bar, which they must do to practice law.  They can’t work in jails. 

Felons often do not qualify for professional licenses, from real estate licenses to barber certification.  They are often excluded from providing either child case or elder care.  In the health care area, felony convictions may disqualify people from working as a physician, nurse, or pharmacist.  In some instances, felons can’t get a pilot’s license, or a commercial driver’s license.  Felony convictions can sometime prevent people from getting loans, or even rental housing.  There are enormous biases against those who have been convicted of felonies, but that bias is not likely to affect Donald Trump, and even if it did, it wouldn’t matter.  He is shielded by his wealth and his status, and his behavior during his trial indicates that he respects neither the rule of law nor those who work in law enforcement.  In other words, absent a large fine or incarceration, the former President experiences no consequences for his illegal action.

Meanwhile, according to the Sentencing Project report “The Color of Justice”, as many as a third of African American men have felony convictions.  They are barred from employment and prevented from fully participating in society.  Despite laws that “ban the box” by preventing employers from asking about criminal records early in the application process, the intersection between criminal bias and racial bias often leaves African American men (and women) at the periphery of society.

Trump’s supporters suggest his conviction is “political”, but one might say the same thing about Black convicted felons, many who, like the Central Park Five, we set up by so-called law enforcement.  Or there’s the case of Darien Harris, the Illinois Black man who spent twelve years in jail because of the false testimony of a blind eyewitness.  Black men experience miscarriages of justice every single day.  Donald Trump did not experience a miscarriage of justice.  Instead, District Attorney Alvin Bragg meticulously showed the former president’s pattern of fiscal malfeasance.  He used people still loyal to the felon make the case against him.  The former president somehow thinks his criminal case will buy him sympathy, or affinity, with Black people.  This is, at best, amusing.  It is also warped and cynical.

If incarcerated, the former President will have Secret Service protection wherever he serves.  Ironically, with his felony conviction, he could not even be a member of the Secret Service.  It is also ironic that two Trump employees were incarcerated for following the ex-president’s orders, but ringleader Trump may be able to avoid incarceration because of his former status. Michael Cohen served three years for tax fraud and was disbarred.  Alan Weisselberg is incarcerated now, spending five months for tax fraud and five months for perjury.  

It is, at best, unseemly for the President of the United States to be a convicted felon.  Indeed, thirty-eight countries (including the United States) deny entry to felons.  Those countries include G-7 countries Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom.  Mexico, Israel, India, New Zealand, and Australia also bar felons from entry.  So do many African countries including Kenya and Tanzania, but the former President would not likely want to go to countries that the vulgarly disparaged.  If the felon wanted to go to these countries, leaders would probably make an exception for him, but that just points out the privilege Trump has that millions of other felons don’t.

Many felons have been disenfranchised, but Trump won’t be.  Although Florida makes it difficult for felons to vote, Governor Ron DeSantis has already said he will exempt Trump from voting restrictions.  Imagine that there was a one-vote difference in the Florida popular vote between Biden and Trump in the 2024 election. The felon could be a decider in his own victory, hardly fair.

Those who believe in justice must work to ensure that we don’t have a Felon-in-Chief in the White House.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist and author.  Juliannemalveaux.com

Federal Judge Halts New Rule on Credit Card Late Fees that Would Have Saved Consumers $14 Billion Annually By Charlene Crowell

May 16, 2024
 
Credit Card Image
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - May 14 was the day that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was set to implement a new rule that would save credit card holders an estimated $14 billion each year. The rule would provide savings of $220 per year on average for people who are charged late fees. Instead, a federal district judge imposed a temporary injunction that halted the rule’s implementation.  
Reactions to the injunction marked a clear divide between corporate business interests that claimed and cheered a legal victory while many government and consumer groups saw the decision as harmful to the more than 167 million consumers who have credit cards.  
Speaking on behalf of the Biden administration’s ongoing efforts to end a variety of junk fees, spokesman Jeremy Edwards said, "We are disappointed that a court sided with House Republicans, big banks and special interests to hit pause on a critical measure to save American families billions in junk fees."
“It is disappointing that the court has granted this last-ditch effort by the banks to prevent these critical limits on credit card late fees from going into effect next week,” said Chuck Bell, advocacy program director for Consumer Reports. “Credit card companies have been bilking consumers out of billions of dollars in excessive late fees for far too long.”
“The financial burden of late fees falls most heavily on people living paycheck-to-paycheck, low- and moderate-income consumers, and people of color,” continued Bell. “CFPB research has found that people with low incomes pay proportionately bigger fees because they tend to have smaller credit card balances.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation and lead plaintiff in the litigation, issued a statement that underscored the long-standing and anticipated future opposition to the CFPB.
“The CFPB’s attempted micromanagement would have raised costs for most credit card users and made it harder for businesses to meet consumers’ needs,” said Maria Monoghan, the organization’s Litigation Center Counsel. “The U.S. Chamber will continue to hold the CFPB accountable in court.”
Similarly, Rob Nichols, the president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, speaking on behalf of the nation’s $23.7 trillion banking industry said in part, “We thank our co-plaintiffs for their collaboration, and we look forward to the Court ultimately ruling on the merits of our case." 
The veiled references to continued legal efforts to oppose the CFPB, were anticipated by a U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing held on May 9, the day before the federal judge’s ruling.
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, the committee’s chair, opened the session saying, “The CFPB took a major step towards reducing costs for consumers when it issued its Credit Card Late Fee rule. Credit card late fees are the most-costly and frequently applied junk fee. According to one report, 1 in 5 adult Americans, an estimated 52 million people, paid a credit card late fee last year.”
“By law, credit card late fees are supposed to be ‘reasonable and proportional’ to the cost that companies incur for late payments,” continued Sen. Brown. “So, let’s be clear: these are massive, trillion-dollar Wall Street companies. The idea that you missing your payment due date by a day or two is imposing some huge cost on the credit card company is ridiculous.”  
Testifying at the hearing, Adam Rust, the Consumer Federation of America’s Director of Financial Services, noted how industry trends impose harms – especially to consumers of color.
“While the existence of junk fees is not new, their presence in the daily lives of consumers is growing,” stated Rust. “As a result, junk fees now exist in places where they have previously not occurred. Junk fees are multiplying in number, variety, and frequency. Americans are being ‘nickeled and dimed’ by these practices.”
“The system is harmful to everyone but more harmful to vulnerable low-wealth consumers and consumers of color,” continued Rust. “The CFPB’s campaign against junk fees will help consumers save money. The Consumer Federation of America is strongly supportive of the credit card late fees rule.”
Although it is probable that the temporary injunction will lead to more litigation appealing for the rule’s reinstatement, at press time no related developments were filed. But as more than 90 national, state, and local organizations noted in a joint advocacy letter to Members of Congress and the Senate this April, “low-income individuals and people of color bear the brunt of these fees, with those making less than $32,000 annually paying twice as much in late fees as those making $150,000.”
The bottom line in this continuing saga: civil rights include silver rights.
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