In National Movement: New Orleans, Chicago, Newark Fighting 'Discriminatory' School Closings by Kari Dequine Harden

June 10, 2014

In National Movement: New Orleans, Chicago, Newark Fighting 'Discriminatory' School Closings
By Kari Dequine Harden

justicescales

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Louisiana Weekly

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - After Louisiana State Superintendent John White dismissed a federal complaint alleging abuses of the civil rights of children and families in New Orleans schools as a “joke,” and a “political farce,” the groups who filed the complaint issued a letter demanding White’s immediate resignation.

The letter, sent to White on June 4, reads: “The discriminatory effects of school closures that students of color and their families experience in New Orleans are no laughing matter. We find no humor in our school communities being dissolved, no amusement in being forced to send our children to charter schools that are unaccountable to our families, and no comedy in schoolchildren waiting outside before sunrise for school buses to take them across the city because we have no neighborhood schools left.”

Part of a national effort with similar federal complaints filed on the same day in Chicago and Newark, the New Orleans complaint was filed May 13 under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in the use of federal funds.

As New Orleans takes the stage as home to the nation’s first all-charter school district – the Recovery School District (RSD) – the privately-run publicly-funded charter schools that have replaced neighborhood schools over the past nine years have operated with astonishing autonomy and sparse accountability.

Representing two community groups, the Coalition for Community Schools and the Concerned Citizens Controlling Community Changes (C6), the federal complaint and letter to White were signed by Karran Harper Royal and Frank J. Buckley.

The letter continues: “It is with utmost seriousness that we have called for a civil rights investigation of the harmful school closure policies that have shuffled countless Black and Brown children from failing schools to other failing or near-failing schools, year after year. “

While White’s response to the complaint in a May 15 story in The Times-Picayune was filled with contempt, condescension and anti-union rhetoric bearing no relevance to the issues raised, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights wrote an open letter on May 14 to remind charter school operators of their legal obligations.

“I am writing to remind you that the Federal civil rights laws, regulations, and guidance that apply to charter schools are the same as those that apply to other public schools,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon writes in the letter. “For this reason, it is essential that charter school officials and staff be knowledgeable about Federal civil rights laws.”

The letter sent to White outlines the “harms” wrought by the RSD: the closure of more than 30 schools, children being trapped in failing schools, and closures disproportionately affecting students of color. It also describes the continued academic failure of the RSD – with a majority of its schools still ranked as failing by the state’s own standards.

“Your real allegiance is to the pro-charter, pro-privatization agenda,” Harper Royal and Buckley write to White. “It has become clear that you will lie, bribe, and turn a blind eye to discrimination to benefit this agenda.“

Also described is a landscape of discriminatory selective admissions schools – public schools that can accept and reject whoever they want, creaming the most desirable students while operating within the same grading and funding system.

While African-American students make up over 80 percent of the student population in New Orleans, only account for about 30 to 47 percent of the population at most of the high-performing schools, the letter states.

White did not respond to a request for an interview regarding the complaint or the call for his resignation, but instead issued the following response through Louisiana Department of Education spokesman Barry Landry:

“We take the success of students as seriously as any responsibility we have in the education of our kids. We take seriously the mission of raising graduation rates, increasing student performance, and ensuring all students have access to high-quality schools. We take seriously any group seriously committed to that mission. The group writing this letter is part of a national campaign that wants more to do with politics than with the success of children.”

The letter contends that based on his repeated history of dismissing protests, complaints, concerns, and “lived experiences” from the communities most affected by his policies, White is unfit for the job.

“That you would now refer to this current civil rights complaint as “a joke” further shows your disregard for the discrimination experienced by students of color and their parents,” Harper Royal and Buckley write. “We have had enough of your misguided, paternalistic policies and request your immediate resignation.”

Nigeria Tries to Stem Protests Over Abducted Girls

June 8, 2014

Nigeria Tries to Stem Protests Over Abducted Girls

O. Ezekwesili at Abuja protest

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Police in Nigeria have issued a ban against further protests by Nigerian citizens, mostly women, who are demanding that government rescue the nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls whose whereabouts government claims to know.

National anger and frustration has turned on the government for its failure to rescue the teenage students and many others being targeted around the country. The girls had been studying in the remote northeastern village of Chibok near the Cameroon border when they were kidnapped on April 14.

The administration of Goodluck Jonathan appears to be growing defensive as an international spotlight remains focused on the country’s security failures. Last week a government-sponsored group appeared, calling itself “Release Our Girls” with the intention of turning attention away from government failures to blame the insurgent movement.

Former World Bank vice president for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili, recently joined the protests in Abuja’s Maitama park.

In announcing the ban, Police Commissioner Joseph Mbu, called the protests dangerous and embarrassing. "As the Federal Capital Territory police boss, I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness,” he told the state-run news agency... Dangerous elements are planning to join the groups under the guise of protest and detonate explosives aimed at embarrassing the government."

Mbu further complained that the Fountain of Unity, the venue for protests in the capital Abuja, had become a place for "cooking and selling" by vendors to the protesters, becoming a nuisance and too near to the homes of diplomats.

Recently Peter Biyo, a legislator representing Chibok, called on federal officials to demolish the Sambisa forest – believed to be the Boko Haram hideout and so dense “you can only see the next person by your side with a flashlight. Lions, elephants and other animals roam freely,” he claimed. “Sambisa Forest must be destroyed. If the government can do that, the problem of insurgency will end”.

But Forest Management Professor Labode Popoola discounted Biyo’s remarks. In a published editorial, he wrote: “Sambisa Forest, now a National Park, has been heavily deforested… In fact, most of the animals have also migrated as a result of perturbation.

“Nigeria has lost her forest cover which as of 1979 represented about 20 per cent of its total land area…

With barely six per cent of her land area now under forest cover, the country is now at the mercy of ravaging negative climate scenarios, desertification, gully erosion, incidence of diseases and communal conflicts.

To now suggest that one of the few relics of forests in the northern part of Nigeria be destroyed because of a social problem accentuated by years of government insensitivity, mindless corruption and impunity in high places, is to say the least, a wrong approach to solving a self-inflicted problem. Why create more problems in an attempt to solve one?”

New Documents Shed Light on U.S. Spying on Mandela by Zenitha Prince

June 8, 2014

New Documents Shed Light on U.S. Spying on Mandela
By Zenitha Prince

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - American intelligence agencies spied on the late South African leader Nelson Mandela during his historic 1990 visit to the United States shortly after his release from a 27-year sentence for anti-apartheid activism.

That revelation is but one of the findings from a batch of documents released by the FBI in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral candidate Ryan Shapiro.

The 38-year-old historian sued the FBI, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency in March for failing to fulfill FOIA requests for records about the spy agencies’ alleged involvement in Mandela’s 1962 arrest and his placement on the U.S. terror watch list until 2008, among other things.

“Though it’s unfortunate it required a lawsuit, I’m of course pleased the FBI is now complying in part with my FOIA request,” Shapiro told the AFRO. “As a result, we now have evidence the FBI spied on Mandela while they were supposed to be protecting him.”

According to the documents, the FBI developed a confidential informant, referred to as the “source,” who was at least closely affiliated with Mandela’s U.S. entourage. That informant provided logistical information, such as places and times where Mandela would be, and political information, such as a prospective meeting with Louis Farrakhan, and the identities and recent travels of African National Congress (ANC) leaders in the U.S. At the time, the ANC was still considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

The FBI documents also revealed that several death threats were made against Mandela during his visit. A particularly disturbing one came in the form of a handwritten letter attached to a Houston Chronicle article about the iconic leader’s potential visit to the Texas city. It threatened, “Remember John F. Kennedy in Dallas? Bring this Black murderer to Houston and we will give him a welcome that the world will not forget!!!”

Shapiro said there were several issues that were not addressed in the hundreds of pages provided by the FBI.

“What’s missing from these documents is often as illuminative as what’s disclosed,” he said. “Not only did the FBI heavily redact and withhold documents, but there’s virtually no discussion of U.S. intelligence community involvement prior to Mandela’s 1990 release from prison.

“Worse,” he added, “the agencies most likely to possess such records, the CIA and NSA, continue their refusal to comply with my FOIA requests. Hopefully the judge will compel these agencies to release their documents, but it shouldn’t take a lawsuit to obtain records from a FOIA request. And it’s an especially sad day when the notoriously anti-FOIA FBI is the agency coming closest to compliance with the requirements of the statute.”

Shapiro, a historian who focuses on political functioning of national security and the policing of dissent, said his FOIA requests and follow-up lawsuits were part of his campaign to increase transparency among U.S. government agencies.

“The democratic process cannot meaningfully function without an informed citizenry, and such a citizenry is impossible without broad public access to information about the operations of government,” he said. “It’s time for the U.S. intelligence community to recognize transparency not as a threat, but rather as an essential component of viable democracy."

N.Y. Man Released After 17 Years for a Crime He Did Not Commit by Frederick H. Lowe

June 9, 2014

N.Y. Man Released After 17 Years for a Crime He Did Not Commit
Witness who testified against him was in jail when the crime occurred

By Frederick H. Lowe

Roger Logan served 17 years in prison for
a crime he did not commit.

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Roger Logan, who served 17 years in prison for murder, was released on Tuesday after it was learned that a woman who claimed she witnessed the crime was actually in jail when the homicide occurred, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office announced.

"The witness could not have made those observations because she was incarcerated," Mark Hale, a Brooklyn, N.Y., prosecutor, said in court, according to news reports. "Mr. Logan's lawyer did not and could not have known this."

Logan, now 53, was sentenced to 25 years to life for the 1997 shooting death of Sherwin Gibbons, who lived in Bedford Stuyvesant. The two argued after a dice game. Law enforcement officials held Logan in jail following his arrest and throughout his trial, the D.A.'s office said in a statement.

Since taking office, Kenneth P. Thompson, the Brooklyn District Attorney, has established a Conviction Review Unit, which is headed by Harvard Law Professor Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. The unit has vacated seven convictions, and 11 convictions have been upheld.

The Brooklyn DA's office is paying close attention to 50 to 57 cases investigated by retired New York City Police Detective Louis Scarcella. The office is investigating a total of 90 cases that might be wrongful convictions.

In May, Thompson vacated the convictions of three half-brothers for two separate murders based on the testimony of Teresa Gomez, a drug addict, who claimed to have witnessed both murders although she consistently got the facts wrong. Gomez, who is now dead, was a witness presented by Scarcella, who has denied any wrongdoing.

According to news reports, Logan contacted Sullivan's office, claiming Scarcella had framed him. The Conviction Review Unit and an Independent Review Panel investigated Logan's allegations before recommending that a judge vacate the murder conviction and release him.

Although Scarcella has not been involved in all the cases being investigated, there are many others that are being investigated for possible wrongful convictions.

In April, District Attorney Thompson vacated the conviction of Jonathan Fleming, who spent 25 years in prison, for a murder that occurred in New York while he was on a family vacation at Disney World in Florida.

Thompson said he ordered Logan's murder conviction vacated in the interest of justice.

"In the interest of justice, I have asked the court to vacate the murder conviction of Roger Logan," Thompson said. "After a thorough review of the case by my Conviction Review Unit and Independent Review Panel, I have concluded that Mr. Logan's conviction should not stand. I am pleased that Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D'Emic has agreed with my recommendation and that Roger Logan was released today."

Ray Boone, Crusading Editor, 'Champion' Journalist, Dead at 76 By Jeremy M. Lazarus

June 8, 2014

Ray Boone, Crusading Editor, 'Champion' Journalist, Dead at 76

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Raymond Harold "Ray" Boone had a snappy response when the infuriated commander at an Army outpost in South Carolina threatened to lock him in the stockade for staying seated when the band played the Southern anthem "Dixie."

"Let's go," Boone, then a corporal, told the furious officer who backed down and let him off with a warning. With his dander up, Boone sent a letter detailing the situation to then powerhouse New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., whom he knew.

That resulted in a call from the White House to the commander questioning his actions toward Mr. Boone and his order that soldiers stand at attention for the song. Mr. Boone had no further problems.

That story from Boone's experience in the military speaks volumes about his fearless approach to dealing with wrongs - as a journalist for more than 60 years and as a person. The dapper founding editor/publisher of the Richmond Free Press refused to be intimidated during his 22 years at the helm - seeing himself as continuing the legacy of his journalism hero, John Mitchell Jr., the "fighting editor" of the Richmond Planet who carried pistols and dared White supremacists to lynch him for writing about the injustices of his day.

A true believer in the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution, Boone vigorously championed democratic values, with an emphasis on justice and equality for all, never forgetting the harsh segregation conditions he dealt with growing up in his native Suffolk. As one of his admirers put it, "he was the undisputed, undefeated heavyweight champion of journalistic pugilism."

Boone's role as an influential community leader ended Tuesday, June 3, 2014, when he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. He died "peacefully in his sleep with a smile on his face," said Jean Patterson Boone, his wife of 47 years and Free Press president of advertising. He was 76.

She vowed to continue "to operate the newspaper and maintain its mission to promote equality and fairness. That is the best way to honor my husband."

Boone was active in the newspaper almost until the end, said his daughter Regina H. Boone, a photographer with the Detroit Free Press. "He knew what was going on. He was talking about what the headlines should be" for the May 29 edition, she said.

Boone built the newspaper into one of the largest weekly newspapers in the state in striving for lively reporting and strong opinions. He was involved in a variety of crusades. He named his longest running campaign "Vote with your dollars" to encourage readers to use their spending power to reward companies that catered to them and to punish those that didn't.

He also sought to brighten the city during the winter with his "Love Lights" campaign. Boone also pushed, poked and prodded governors, legislators, mayors and council members to do more business with Black-owned and minority firms. That pushing led former Gov. Mark Warner to investigate how well the state was doing and to overhaul Virginia's program after a study shockingly found that less than one-half of one percent of state spending for goods and services went to Black and minority businesses.

As a result of the Free Press crusade, Mayor Dwight C. Jones set a 40 percent goal for minority business inclusion on major city projects, such as the construction of the new jail and four new schools.

Boone made up his own mind about issues and was ready to take his stand no matter what. Last year, for example, he announced the Free Press would no longer use the name of the highly popular Washington pro football team, calling it a racist insult to Native Americans.

And he called for the ouster of Roslyn M. Brock, the NAACP's national chairwoman, accusing her of being tepid in her efforts to address the team's nickname and for failing to address discriminatory practices of the team because her employer, the Bon Secours Health System, was financially involved in developing the team's new Richmond training camp.

Three years ago, when protests over the country's income disparities reached its peak, he opened the front lawn of his South Side home to members of the Occupy Richmond movement after Mayor Jones evicted occupiers from a Downtown park. The action was a poke at the mayor who lived next door. Boone and the occupiers ended the protest over corporate control before the city cited him for a zoning violation.

Boone used his editorial page to chastise now deceased Chief Court Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr. over Black news media access to cover ceremonies and proudly declared victory when new Justice Cleo Powell allowed Free Press Photographer Sandra Sellars to cover her investiture, a first for a Black newspaper. There were plenty of others he took to task, among them former Virginia Commonwealth University President Eugene P. Trani, whom he repeatedly bashed for failing to diversify the school's leadership.

Boone always credited the education he received in the segregated schools in Suffolk. "It was preached that you could be segregated physically, but you could not be segregated mentally," he told an interviewer in 2003, "and if you did well in education and you were disciplined, you could overcome the tremendous barriers you faced."

He followed that mantra, absorbing books and becoming a walking encyclopedia of Black history. Boone said his interest in journalism developed after one of his teachers "told me I could write."

At East Suffolk High School, his direction was set when he found there was no newspaper and yearbook and started both. He saw this as an opportunity, he once said, "to put our school on the map."

He took his biggest step into a newspaper career when he approached the local newspaper, the daily Suffolk News-Herald, about writing stories about sports at the Black high schools. The newspaper had never covered those stories and allowed him to be their correspondent. His stories began appearing on the sports pages, a first for news about the Black community,all of which had previously been relegated to the "colored" pages.

Boone continued to write for the daily while studying at Norfolk State University. He later transferred to Boston University, where he earned his degree while also working as city editor for the Boston Chronicle and as a reporter for the Quincy Patriot-Ledger to pay his way.

He often would tell stories of being short of money and of mixing packets of ketchup into a cup of hot water to create soup. Following his graduation, he went to Tuskegee, Ala., to work as director of public information. Called into service, he joined the Baltimore Afro-American after he was honorably discharged and became the White House reporter for then one of the largest Black-owned papers in the country.

In 1965, he was sent to Richmond to become the editor of the paper's Richmond edition and began his rise to prominence. He quickly became a partner with the founders and leaders of the Richmond Crusade for Voters, Dr. William S. Thornton, John Brooks, Dr. William Ferguson Reid, in seeking to boost the power and influence of the black community on the political stage.

He was instrumental in enabling Dr. Reid in 1967 to become the first Black person elected to the General Assembly in the 20th century. From future Gov. L. Douglas Wilder to future Richmond Mayor and state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, Boone used the newspaper to open doors for a new generation of politicians and to promote jobs and education.

He also was involved in creating the Frederick Douglass Program in 1969 to help train young Black men and women for careers in journalism.

Boone would go on to become vice president of the Afro-American chain where he was responsible for multiple editions. Time magazine credited him with bringing "sophistication and verve" to the Black press.

He was proud of sending Afro-American reporter William Worthy to Iran after the overthrow of the shah to provide reports on the revolution. By 1981, Boone moved on to teach journalism at Howard University in Washington before returning to Richmond in 1992 to begin his own newspaper.

While serving as a Pulitzer Prize juror on two separate occasions, he spearheaded a successful effort that resulted in the placement of African-Americans and women on the Pulitzer board at Columbia University. He had contacts galore across the country as a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, the National Association of Guardsmen, the National Newspaper Publishers Association and many other organizations.

Along with his wife and daughter, survivors include his son, Raymond H. Boone Jr., Free Press director of account resolution and new business development; his grandson, Raymond H. Boone III; a sister-in-law, Phyllis Riley; seven aunts, one devoted, Dorothy Boone of Suffolk; two uncles; a half-brother, Thurman Boone of Suffolk; four half-sisters, Geneva B. Boone, of Hopewell, Geraldine Boone Clark of Richmond, and Ira Boone and Lolethia Boone, both of Suffolk, and many other cousins, nieces and nephews.