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Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marian Anderson and Sojourner Truth are on the Money

April 24, 2016

Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marian Anderson and Sojourner Truth are on the Money
Their images will appear on $20 and $5 bills, a first for Blacks but it is some years away

Harriet Tubman

Martin Luther King Jr.

Marian Anderson

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Wednesday announced redesigns of the $5, $10, and $20 bills with the image of Harriet Tubman, a Union spy and a leader of the Underground Railroad that led hundreds of slaves to freedom, being placed on the front of the $20 bill, which circulates 7.9 years, longer than other banknotes except the $50 and $100 bills.

Tubman replaces Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, a slaveholder who persecuted Native Americans. His image will be placed on the back of the $20 bill.

Secretary Lew also announced that the redesign of the $5 bill will include historical events that occurred at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. These images will include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, and opera singer Marian Anderson singing at the top of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 before 75,000 people after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to sing in Constitution Hall because she was African-American.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who arranged for Anderson to give a concert at the Lincoln Memorial, will also have her image placed on the back of the $5 bill.

The front of the $5 billion will continue to feature President Abraham Lincoln. Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first Treasury Secretary, will remain on the front of the $10 bill due to the outstanding popularity of the musical “Hamilton,” which was written by and stars Lin-Manuel Miranda. The musical won a Pulitzer Prize this week.

Lew will put a vignette of suffragettes on the back of the $10 bill. The new $10 bill design depicts the 1913 women’s right to vote march. Images on the bill will honor Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul for their contributions to the women’s suffrage movement.

The Treasury Department worked on the redesigns over the last 10 months and even considered the idea of creating a $25 bill, according to Lew, who announced the redesigns last June.
The final redesigns for the three bills will be unveiled in 2020 and should be available before 2030.

Still Bolstered by the Black Vote, Clinton Wins New York as Campaigns Head for the Home Stretch by Hazel Trice Edney

April 20, 2016

Still Bolstered by the Black Vote, Clinton Wins New York as Campaigns Head for the Home Stretch
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The contest for the next president of the United States took a significant turn this week as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton both trounced their opponents in a New York primary contest that had been widely viewed as pivotal.

Clinton, a former New York senator, secretary of state and first lady, beat Sen. Bernie Sanders handily despite large and excited crowds that cheered him in days leading to Tuesday’s primary. Clinton won 57.9 percent to Sanders’ 42.1 percent. Clinton now has 1,424 delegages to Sanders' 1,149. With super delegates who have committed to voting for Clinton, she actually has 1,893 if they remain loyal. It takes 2,393 to win the nomination.

Where Clinton and Sanders appeared to split the White vote right down the middle, Clinton clearly led with at least 75 percent of Black voters, according to widespread reports based on exit polls.

“The race for the Democratic nomination is in home stretch and victory is in sight”, Clinton joyously announced.

“Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated,” proclaimed Trump, a native New Yorker and billionaire entrepreneur, who reaped a whopping 60.5 percent of the votes over 25.1 percent for John Kasich and only 14.5 percent of Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz had been gaining significantly behind Trump in delegates. Trump now has 845 of the 1,237 it would take to win the nomination. Cruz has 559 and Kasich has 147.

After this presidential campaign that has been largely marked by scathing personal attacks and name-calling, political viewers will now watch closely as the candidates compete in the final states until June 14. And then on to the Republican National Convention July 18 in Cleveland and the Democratic National Convention starting July 25 in Philadelphia where the party nominees are slated to be selected. The following is the schedule of final primaries and caucus for both parties:

April 26 – Connecticut Republican and Democratic primaries, Delaware Republican and Democratic primaries, Maryland Republican and Democratic primaries, Pennsylvania Republican and Democratic primaries, Rhode Island Republican and Democratic primaries

May 3 – Indiana Republican and Democratic primaries

May 7 – Guam Democratic caucuses

May 10 – Nebraska Republican primary, West Virginia Republican and Democratic primaries

May 17 – Oregon Republican and Democratic primaries Kentucky Democratic primary

May 24 – Washington Republican primary

June 4 – U.S. Virgin Islands Democratic caucuses

June 5 – Puerto Rico Democratic caucuses

June 7 – New Jersey Republican and Democratic primaries, California Republican and Democratic primaries, Montana Republican and Democratic primaries, New Mexico Republican and Democratic primaries. North Dakota Democratic caucuses. South Dakota Republican and Democratic primaries

June 14 – District of Columbia Democratic primary

Our Future is on the Ballot in this Election Year By Elijah Cummings

April 18, 2016

Our Future is on the Ballot in this Election Year

By Elijah Cummings

NEWS ANALYSIS

Congressman Elijah Cummings

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - As I consider the consequences for our future during this critical election year, it is no overstatement to observe that our future will be on the ballots that will be cast on Election Day this November just as surely as will be the candidates for office.

The virtually nonstop television coverage of the presidential candidates has focused on their personalities and temperament, more often than on the policies that they are espousing.

Yet, even the less than comprehensive analyses of their vision for our country reveals the dramatic difference in their priorities.

For the Democrats, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders (each with an extensive history of standing with us in our efforts to build better lives) are vigorously competing for the votes of Americans of Color.

Like President Obama and Democrats in the Congress, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders understand that significant changes in the priorities and laws of our country are needed if we truly are to move toward liberty, justice and opportunity for all Americans.

Their major contrasts as candidates reflect their differing judgments regarding the speed and the extent of the transformation that our nation is prepared to accept.

In sharp contrast, however, for Republicans Donald Trump, Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich, it is as if Americans of Color do not exist.

In this absence of concern for our lives from their campaign talking points, the Republicans have been straightforward: They simply do not care about us, our families or our votes.

At their worst, two of the Republican candidates have attempted to scapegoat people of color for their own political gain.

When viewed in the context of recent political battles in Washington, it is clear that this divergence between Democrats and Republicans goes far deeper than the political calculations of presidential campaigns.

America has reached another crossroads in our national journey — and, as I have been arguing in recent months, Americans of Color can have a major influence upon which fork in history’s road our nation will choose to take.

If we register and vote in record numbers this year, we can win a central place for our objectives in the nation’s priorities — as well as elect the person most qualified to serve as President of the United States.

If, on the other hand, our votes are suppressed by what Dr. King once termed “conniving methods to deny our votes,” or if we disenfranchise ourselves by failing to register and vote, then our future will be far more daunting.

Voter suppression is a serious obstacle that we must overcome in this election year if our choices as American citizens are to be confirmed.

Whether the method of suppression is Voter ID laws, politically motivated purging of the voter rolls, restrictions upon early voting, or conscious decisions that result in hours-long lines at minority polling places, the clear objective of voter suppression is to deny America’s new majority the electoral victory that will advance our cause.

For example, according to a lawsuit filed by the Ohio ACLU this month, two million voters have been removed from the Ohio voter rolls during the last five years — including 40,000 largely low-income and minority voters living in Ohio’s largest county who were disenfranchised in 2015.

Our principles and self-interest as Americans demand that we continue to challenge attempts to limit our voting power in every arena where suppression raises its ugly head, whether in the Congress, our state legislatures, our polling places, or, as in the case of Ohio, in our courts.

Our determination to assure that every citizen can vote and that every vote is counted will be especially important here in Maryland and in the other states in which African American voters provided President Obama’s entire margin of victory in 2012: Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

At the same time, in these states and across our great nation, we must take civic responsibility for ourselves and our communities.

Unlike those states that have attempted to suppress our voting power, Maryland legislators have made real progress in making it convenient for every Maryland citizen to register and vote.

For example, our state offers us the ability to initiate the voter registration process on the Internet through Maryland’s Online Voter Registration System (OLVR) — and those of us who wish to confirm our status as voters can do so at https://voterservices.elections.maryland.gov/votersearch.

Our future is on the ballot this year — and we have the power to choose the future direction that will best serve our families and the generations of Americans yet to be born.

Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.

- See more at: http://afro.com/our-future-is-on-the-ballot-in-this-election-year/?utm_source=AFRO+Weekly+News+E-Blast%2C+April+14%2C+2016&utm_campaign=weekly+eblast&utm_medium=email#sthash.u5wZQl6j.dpuf

Rescuers Search Afro-Ecuadorian Villages for Quake Survivors By Lisa Vives

April 18, 2016

Rescuers Search Afro-Ecuadorian Villages for Quake Survivors
By Lisa Vives

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network

(TriceEdneywire.com) - The death toll in Ecuador’s African coastal communities from a massive earthquake continues to rise as rescuers dig for survivors in the battered villages.

On Monday, reports from Esmeraldas, called the birthplace of Afro-Hispanic culture, estimated that 350 people died in the quake that sent buildings tumbling and roads buckling. Over one million African descendants reside in the area settled in the 1600s by escapees from Spanish slave ships.

Ecuador's seismological institute reported more than 135 aftershocks following Saturday's magnitude-7.8 quake that was felt as far away as Peru and Colombia. It was said to be 20 times greater than the quake that hit Japan early Saturday. Ecuador could see a greater loss of life and greater damage due to the country’s less stringent construction codes.

Heavy damage was reported in the cities of Manta, Portoviejo, Pedernales and Guayaquil, which are all several hundred miles from the epicenter of the quake that struck shortly after nightfall Saturday.

But the loss of life seemed to be far worse in isolated, smaller towns close to the center of the earthquake.

President Rafael Correa, who cut short a trip to the Vatican to visit the area, said he feared the number of fatalities would rise. Plus, "Reconstruction will cost billions of dollars," he said, as survivors around him pleaded for water.

The last earthquake of a similar magnitude took place in 1979. Fatalities reached 600 with 20,000 injured in the 7.7 magnitude quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Firefighters led rescue operations, combing the area for people trapped in fallen buildings. The injured were transported to the town’s football stadium, which survived the quake. Red Cross workers carried supplies to the hilly zone next to Pacific beaches.

A power outage kept residents from using their cell phones to contact loved ones. On social media, a video of a baby girl being pulled from beneath a collapsed home in Manta went viral.

Afro-Ecuadorians were already dealing with neglect by the administration in the capital Quito, according to the director of Catholic Relief Services, in a radio interview. “Basically you're looking at adding insult to injury because this is a population that’s been marginalized. The area is poor and vulnerable with limited services. I'd say an inadequate infrastructure.”

Relief services director Thomas Hollywood observed: “We have roads that have been ripped up, that have been cracked, that are not passable. We have many homes that have either been completely destroyed or the damage has been so severe that they can no longer be habited. So it's a very difficult situation.”

Foreign aid workers in the area are also among the victims. Sister Clare Theresa Crockett, a 33-year-old Irish nun who worked at a school in in rural Playa Prieta, was crushed by a fallen staircase, Sky News reported.

The quake is doubly disastrous for Ecuador due to plunging oil revenues. The main refinery of Esmeraldas was closed as a precaution. Exports of bananas, flowers, cocoa beans and fish could be slowed by ruined roads and port delays.

"It's a very distressing and urgent situation we are dealing with,” said Renata Dubini, Director of the U.N.’s Refugee Agency Americas Bureau. “As well as hundreds of lives having been lost we're also seeing many people now rendered homeless, including refugees and asylum seekers."

Ecuador is the biggest refugee-hosting country in Latin America. Its people have generously welcomed over 200,000 Colombian refugees and others in need of international protection, many of whom had settled in the earthquake-affected areas.

Meanwhile, in Rome, Pope Francis offered prayers for the people of Ecuador affected by the violent earthquake.

He said, "May the help of God and of neighbors give them strength and support."

Congressman Calls on Black Lives Matters to Make Flint a Priority By Tatyana Hopkins

April 12, 2016

Congressman Calls on Black Lives Matters to Make Flint a Priority
By Tatyana Hopkins

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Howard University News Service

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, whose merciless interogation of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder at a recent congressional hearing on the ongoing Flint water crisis has drawn over 100,000 viewers on Youtube, said the Black Lives Matter movement needs to be in Flint because Snyder, Michigan Republicans and the governor’s supporters do not care about the lives of the residents of the mostly black city.

“When we talk about black lives matter, that’s another place they need to be” Cummings said during an interview last week. “It’s nice to interrupt Hillary Clinton’s rallies, but they need to be all up onside of this.”

Cummings is the ranking Democrat on the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the congressional panel hearing holding hearings on the Snyder administration’s decision to switch the source of the city of Flint’s water and their response to the health crisis that ensued as a result.

Cummings said it was clear to him during the meeting and after the meeting that Snyder and his fellow Republicans just don’t care about the people of Flint, which is 57 percent African American.

“They don’t value their lives,” Cummings said during the interview at Howard University. “I don’t know why. They don’t seem to have any remorse. They want to blame everybody else.”

Cummings said documents subpoenaed by the committee from the Snyder administration showed that they were aware of the full extent of the lead contamination in Flint’s water, and they disregarded it.

“His chief of staff knew that there was a major problem for more than a year,” Cummings said.

“There is nobody else between a chief of staff and the principal, nobody. He is either a poor administrator or he has poor staff, either way he shouldn’t be governor.”

Cummings has called for Snyder to resign and said during the hearing, “Gov. Snyder’s administration caused this horrific disaster in poisoning the children of Fint.”

Apparently, his voice and others are being heard among Michigan residents.

An EPIC MRA Poll released last month revealed that the governor’s approval ratings have plummeted. The poll found that 41 percent of voters believed he should resign, which is up from January’s 29 percent.

It also found that 75 percent of voters believed Snyder didn’t handle the Flint water crisis well.

“If the federal government was not in there helping out, the state would be doing almost nothing,” Cummings said. “To this day, Snyder and his administration have not bought the people of Flint one single bottle of water.”

A majority of recovery efforts in Flint are supported by volunteers and the federal government, he said.

Several lawsuits have been filed against Snyder, including a federal racketeering lawsuit by hundreds of Flint residents that alleged the city’s water crisis was intentional and created to balance the city’s budget. The governor has used nearly $1million in taxpayer money to hire a law firm to help him maneuver through the civil and criminal complaints against him.

Though Snyder cannot run for re-election in 2018, he is also facing recall efforts. The Rev. David Bullock, a Detroit pastor and activist, is one who has begun a petition to ask voters to end his term sooner by recalling the governor this November.

Bullock has 60 days to amass 790,000 signatures to be in accordance with state law that requires a petitioner to collect the number of signatures equal 25 percent of the number of voted cast in the last general election.

According to one newspaper, Bullock, who began his efforts Easter, has already collected an estimated 108,000 signatures.

“I haven’t seen this kind of momentum in a long time,” Bullock told “The Guardian.”

“The energy and animus, at least a week out, is very encouraging. I think we ought to massage this energy and allow it to continue to grow. I think we got a great shot.”

If the recall is successful, Michigan Lieutenant Governor, Brian Calley would serve the remainder of Snyder’s term.