June 1, 2014

Nigeria Claims to Know Location of Kidnapped Girls

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – More than a month after more than 200 boarding school girls were kidnapped by a militia group dressed as soldiers, a top Nigerian officer claimed to know exactly where the girls were being held.

But he downplayed prospects for a rescue. “We want our girls back,” insisted Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh. “But where they are held, can we go there with force?...We can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back."

"The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you.”

He took issue with sharp criticisms coming from the international community, retorting: "Nobody should say Nigerian military does not know what it is doing.”

A recent New York Times piece cited harsh critiques by foreign diplomats who said the Nigerian military was “so poorly trained and armed and so riddled with corruption, that not only is it incapable of finding the girls, it is also losing the broader fight against Boko Haram,” noting that the group now controls much of the northeast of the country.

“It’s not going to be easy or quick,” a senior diplomat told the Times regarding a rescue. Some Nigerian officials say privately that the best shot to save the girls would be a negotiated settlement with the Islamists, possibly including a prisoner release. President Goodluck Jonathan, however, has ruled out a deal.

A new twist in the case came this week with an anonymous tip that former president Olusegun Obasanjo met with people close to Boko Haram and was seeking ways to free the girls.

The meeting at Obasanjo’s farm included relatives of some senior Boko Haram fighters as well as intermediaries and the former president, the source told the AFP news service.

Obasanjo, who left office in 2007, has previously sought to negotiate with the insurgents, including in September 2011 after Boko Haram bombed the U.N. headquarters in Abuja.

Meanwhile, attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents continue relentlessly. Gunmen attacked various communities around Gwoza town of Borno State, killing nine and setting ablaze houses and churches in the area, residents and a public official said. A Nigerian military base and adjacent police barracks was attacked, killing 31 security personnel, security sources and witnesses said.

The insurgents have hoisted their flags in Ashigashiya ward of Gwoza Local Government Area and are currently celebrating in the area which they have now declared their headquarters.

A military offensive launched a year ago against Boko Haram, which initially seemed to be working, appears to have left the group stronger than ever. The insurgents occupy a vast, hilly terrain along the border with Cameroon, from where they have repeatedly launched devastating hit and run strikes.

Nigeria and its neighbors say Boko Haram now threatens the security of the whole region.

May 29, 2014

Memories of Dr. Maya Angelou
By Dr. Barbara Reynolds

Maya Angelou reciting her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the 1993 Presidential Inauguration of William J. Clinton. U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. January 20, 1993. PHOTO: William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum as posted on WhiteHouse.gov

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Dr. Maya Angelou’s prose sounded like music and her poems sounded like words in flight soaring on the wings of butterflies. That was the magic, the mystique of her gift and of course the blessing. Her prose and poems are treasures.

As I join the national and world spotlighting her life and poetry in light of her death, I feel honored that on several occasions she shared that gift with me. Dr. Angelou, who declared upon the death of Nelsen Mandela, “No sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn,”  died at her Winston, Salem, N. C. home May 28 at the age of 86. 

A private funeral will be held this Saturday, June 7, at  Wake Forest at the university's Wait Chapel. Dr. Angelou started teaching at Wake Forest in 1982. It will be streamlined online at go.wfu.edu/angeloumemorial. According to the Associated Press, the school says her family will hold additional events in other cities across the country to be released later.

I concur with President Obama and join him and millions remembering her words and - moreover - her life. Earlier this month, we talked by phone about how she missed her friend Coretta Scott King. They thought of each other as sisters.  By phone I could hear that she was directing a flurry of activity at her home in Winston Salem, NC.  Another phone was ringing, she also had visitors, but she interrupted her schedule to talk with me. She invited me to call back in a few weeks for an uninterrupted chat talk.  Sadly, that conversation would be our last.

But I still have the memories of earlier conversations that inspired and motivated me as a much younger journalist to keep moving in mainstream journalism, where I was never really wanted.

In 1985, she gave me permission to use the name of one of her most inspiring poems, “And Still I Rise,”  and change the “I in the title to We,” which resulted in a book I wrote  entitled: “And Still We Rise: Interviews with 50 Black Role Models.”

In interviews for the book, she sat with me and shared some of her views that are timeless.

On some of the changes she has witnessed in the South, she said, “Black and White children go to school together now, stare in the same shopping mall windows, and walk together on field trips. The mystery between the races is not as prevalent as it was in my day when I really thought that White people were not real.  I thought we were people but White folks were ‘White folk’. And that if you put a hand on a ‘White folk’ your hand would go right through them. They were so mysterious to me. I just couldn't believe that White folk had livers and hearts and all this that we had inside of us. It is a different world entirely. Not that racism isn't still prevalent. It is as prevalent in the South as in the North. As it is often said, Savannah, Georgia Is down South and New York City is Up South.”

Dr. Angelou encouraged young people—both Whites and Blacks - to know the history of Blacks in the United States:

“Young Black men and women need to be informed about our history. Dreams fulfilled and those deferred; promises, achieved and broken - that's for the voting Black people,” she said. “The young White people desperately need to be informed about Black American history.  Only equals can be friends. If not; they will topple. They will be paternalistic, materialistic and philanthropic relationships. You cannot make friends from those unequal positions. If White students knew Black American history and knew how the struggle had been waged and the achievements, they could look at young Black people in an informed light. Then it would be easier to make friends, and out of friendship comes support.

Reflecting upon her life and how she wanted to be remembered it was significant that she did not mention her acting career, her novels her receiving the presidential Medal of Freedom. It was all about the power to love.

“What I really would like said about me is that I dared to love. By love I mean that condition in the human spirit so profound it encourages us to develop courage and build bridges, and then to trust those bridges and cross the bridges in attempts to reach other human beings. I would like to be remembered as a person who dared to love and as a very religious woman. I pray a lot. I am convinced that I am a child of God. And that everybody is a child of God. I try to address each person as a fellow child of God. Now I blow it a lot. I am not proud of that. But I do forgive myself and try to ameliorate my actions.”

About her friend, Coretta Scott King, she applauded her for her tireless commitment and leadership. “Coretta showed us her womanliness not just her humaneness.  On one level it is very possible to become an old female who lives long enough by managing not to get run over by a truck.  Then there is a female who takes responsibility for creating something better in the time she has and the space she had to occupy and that is true greatness And Coretta did that.”

The same must be said about Dr. Maya Angelou. In her own phenomenal style and passion, she created something better that is universal, unique and timeless.

President Obama  concluded his remarks this week by paraphrasing the title of her sixth autobiography: “With a kind word and a strong embrace, she had the ability to remind us that we are all God’s children; that we all have something to offer.  And while Maya’s day may be done, we take comfort in knowing that her song will continue, ‘flung up to heaven’ – and we celebrate the dawn that Maya Angelou helped bring.

First Lady Michelle Obama echoed the sentiments of millions: "Maya Angelou teaches us that it’s not enough merely to seek greatness for ourselves. We must help others discover the greatness within themselves. We need to reach down and reach out, and give back, and lift others the way Maya has lifted us. That is how we can most truly honor our friend Maya Angelou – by how we live our lives … by striving every day to embody the wisdom, and generosity, and radiant love with which she has graced our world."

June 1, 2014

Son of Late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown Sentenced to More Than Three Years in Prison

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

May 25, 2014

Joint Center - Once Bastion of Black Political Research - Now Pressing to Survive
By Hazel Trice Edney

 
Spencer Overton

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, esteemed as America’s foremost think tank for Black political and economic research, is struggling with financial problems so serious that its political arm has been gutted and its interim president is working for free.

Spencer Overton, the center’s interim president/CEO, is on sabbatical from his job as a Georgetown University law professor. He assumed the interim presidency in February after the departure of Ralph Everett, who was president for about eight years. Upon Everett's departure Dec. 31, Dr. Brian D. Smedley, director of the Center’s Health Policy Institute, assumed the interim presidency briefly until Overton was announced. But Overton, who was also a member of the Joint Center’s board, recently confirmed in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire that he took the position with no salary. 

“No, I am not on salary,” Overton confirmed in a brief interview after participating as a panelist for a Capitol Hill event early last month.

When asked previously about the financial state of the Joint Center, Overton had responded guardedly in an email saying, “The recession has affected various organizations. People of color face significant challenges, however…there is a clear need for a think tank that focuses on policies that affect people of color.  I think if we focus on the challenges of real people, produce high quality policy solutions to those challenges, maintain responsible internal practices, and clearly communicate the value of our work to potential supporters, we will grow and thrive. There is much work to do, but I’m excited about the future.”

Overton has spent the last three months meeting with people who have been affiliated with the Joint Center over the years, seeking advice and help. Despite Overton’s public silence on the state of the organization’s financial affairs, long-time Black political researcher David Bositis, who recently left the organization because of its financial woes, was not as subtle. 

“They’re having money problems. Basically right now, they’re a health group,” said Bositis, who researched Black politics for the Joint Center for 23 years. “They’re trying to hold on. And they’re not under water from the sense that they’re not closed. I mean they are still open, but the political part of it… politics is not being emphasized anymore.”

Bositis said the health research is extremely important, but Black political research - such as tracking the growth and decline of Black elected officials, voting trends, positions on issues - is still equally as needed, he says. 

“I’ve been involved in all sorts of legal cases on voting rights and redistricting. The thing is you need that research to provide information for a lot of the court cases,” Bositis said. “I’ve been talking to a variety of people in terms of where we go from here.”

Overton led the Political Law Studies Initiative at Georgetown and served as a member of the first Obama campaign, transition and administration. But, ironically, he said nothing about political research in an emailed response to questions about his vision from a political perspective. Instead, he referred to health policy as a “traditional strength.” 

Founded in 1979, the Joint Center, for the first 15 years of its existence, was actually the Joint Center for Political Studies. JointCenter.org now says the “Joint Center uses research, analysis, and communications to improve the socioeconomic status and political participation of people of color, to promote relationships across racial lines, and to strengthen the nation’s pluralistic society.”

Other sources close to the Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan non-profit have expressed deep concern about the organization’s finances and future. They include the Center’s former 30-year president, Eddie Williams.

“I’m very concerned,” said Williams, who assumed presidency of the Center two years after its founding. “I have a meeting coming up with the new president to get some perspective on that,” he said of the organization’s financial woes. “I won’t speak for the President. I think he would agree with you that you need more information about some of the issues affecting the Black community whether it’s politics or health or whatever. But, it takes money to do that. And I don’t know but I think they have lost money. That’s my understanding.”

Word began to circulate about the Joint Center’s financial problems shortly after the departure of Everett in December. In addition to Everett and Bositis, at least seven staff members have left the organization since late last year, sources confirmed. 

The Joint Center’s financial contributions largely come from foundations, corporations, government contracts and individual donors as well as fund-raisers like dinners and luncheons.  The organization’s gala dinner is coming up June 25. U.S. Senator Cory A. Booker, former Newark mayor and first Black elected to the Senate since Barack Obama, will receive the Center’s highest award, the Louis E. Martin Great American Award, named after the legendary journalist, presidential confidant and co-founder of the Joint Center. Other recipients of the Great American award include Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; U. S. Reps. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), and John Lewis (D-GA.); civil rights leaders Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Dr. Dorothy I. Height, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Muhammad Ali, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Ambassador Susan E. Rice. 

The Joint Center’s Board of Governors include such political heavy weights as Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and political scientist Dianne Pinderhughes of Notre Dame University. There is also heavy corporate representation on the board including Robert R. Hagans, Jr., vice president and CFO, AARP; A. Scott Bolden, managing partner, Reed Smith LLP; Frederick S. Humphries, Jr. vice president, Microsoft; Freada Kapor Klein,  trustee, Mitchell Kapor Foundation;  Reed V. Tuckson, M.D., chief of Medical Affairs, UnitedHealth Group; Robert Raben, president, The Raben Group; Anne Chow, vice president, Premier Client Group, AT&T Global Services; and board Chair Barbara L. Johnson,  partner, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.

Among the associates that Overton has sought for advice is Dr. Elsie Scott, former president/CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, who raised millions with the CBCF’s annual dinner.

“I’m very impressed with his commitment to try to raise the funds and keep the Joint Center moving and preserve the rich legacy,” says Scott, who confirmed she met with Overton two weeks ago to discuss fund-raising strategies. “It’s going to be a hard hill for him to climb. But, I think that if anybody can do it at this time, I think he would definitely be a person who has the commitment and drive.”

Dr. Scott, who now heads the Ron Walters Institute at Howard University, says she discussed collaboration between the Joint Center and the Walters’ Center to seek funds for political research using the help of students from Howard and other universities to do exit polls and other surveys.

She said she also encouraged Overton to “really beat the bushes to see how many people that he knows who will support the dinner because they believe in him.” 

In the Feb. 11 press release announcing his interim presidency, a list of nationally known bi-partisan activists and public policy advocates praised Overton’s appointment. They included Sen. Booker; Benjamin Ginsberg, a counsel to the Bush-Cheney and Mitt Romney presidential campaigns; Harvard Law School professor, Charles J. Ogletree, founding and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice and Rashad Robinson, executive director, Color of Change.

Dr. Scott concluded that much weight will likely be placed on the amount of money raised at the upcoming dinner which would go toward “core support” like staff, upkeep of the building and operational funds to sustain them while they seek grant money, she said. “I think the dinner is going to be a major decision point for their board. If they don’t do well, the board is going to have to make some decisions.”