Presidential Proclamation -- National African American History Month, 2012

NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH, 2012

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

     The story of African Americans is a story of resilience and perseverance.  It traces a people who refused to accept the circumstances under which they arrived on these shores, and it chronicles the generations who fought for an America that truly reflects the ideals enshrined in our founding documents.  It is the narrative of slaves who shepherded others along the path to freedom and preachers who organized against the rules of Jim Crow, of young people who sat-in at lunch counters and ordinary men and women who took extraordinary risks to change our Nation for the better.  During National African American History Month, we celebrate the rich legacy of African Americans and honor the remarkable contributions they have made to perfecting our Union.

     This year's theme, "Black Women in American Culture and History," invites us to pay special tribute to the role African American women have played in shaping the character of our Nation -- often in the face of both racial and gender discrimination.  As courageous visionaries who led the fight to end slavery and tenacious activists who fought to expand basic civil rights to all Americans, African American women have long served as champions of social and political change.  And from the literary giants who gave voice to their communities to the artists whose harmonies and brush strokes captured hardships and aspirations, African American women have forever enriched our cultural heritage.  Today, we stand on the shoulders of countless African American women who shattered glass ceilings and advanced our common goals.  In recognition of their legacy, let us honor their heroic and historic acts for years to come. 

     The achievements of African American women are not limited to those recorded and retold in our history books.  Their impact is felt in communities where they are quiet heroes who care for their families, in boardrooms where they are leaders of industry, in laboratories where they are discovering new technologies, and in classrooms where they are preparing the next generation for the world they will inherit.  As we celebrate the successes of African American women, we recall that progress did not come easily, and that our work to widen the circle of opportunity for all Americans is not complete.  With eyes cast toward new horizons, we must press on in pursuit of a high-quality education for every child, a job for every American who wants one, and a fair chance at prosperity for every individual and family across our Nation.

     During National African American History Month, we pay tribute to the contributions of past generations and reaffirm our commitment to keeping the American dream alive for the next generation.  In honor of those women and men who paved the way for us, and with great expectations for those to follow, let us continue the righteous cause of making America what it should be -- a Nation that is more just and more equal for all its people.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 2012 as National African American History Month.  I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

February 5, 2012

Don Cornelius Remembered for Changing the Image and Course of Blacks in Television

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Target Market News

(TriceEdneyWire.com) A day after Don Cornelius, creator of the long-running TV dance show "Soul Train," was found dead in his Los Angeles home, friends, colleagues and fans are lamenting the loss  of an innovative champion for blacks in the television and entertainment business.
"Soul Train" began in 1970 in Chicago on WCIU-TV as a local program and aired nationally from 1971 to 2006.

It introduced television audiences to such legendary artists as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Barry White and brought the best R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV and had teenagers dance to them. It was one of the first shows to showcase African-Americans prominently, although the dance group was racially mixed. Cornelius was the first host and executive producer.

"There was not programming that targeted any particular ethnicity," he said in 2006, then added: "I'm trying to use euphemisms here, trying to avoid saying there was no television for black folks, which they knew was for them."

Cornelius, who was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, said in 2006 he remained grateful to the musicians who made "Soul Train" the destination for the best and latest in black music.

"We have lost a pioneer in the field of television and music, who opened doors for African Americans in the television Industry, with the longest running weekly series in television," said Don Jackson, president of Chicago-based Central City Productions "Don and I both got our start in the entertainment and broadcast industry at WVON radio in Chicago. The most intriguing memory I have of Don was his tremendous drive to launch the Soul Train Music Awards against the opposition he received from the major television music award shows, which, at the time, objected to Don�s idea of a Soul Music Awards show as unnecessary."

"Don Cornelius introduced America to Black Culture by providing a platform to showcase our talent, our trends and our beauty," said Melody Spann Cooper, president of WVON where Cornelius got his start in broadcasting. "He was the original social network, for generations of young Black Americans."

In a statement the Rev. Jesse Jackson recalled Corneilus as an activist and friend. "I first met Don in 1964 when he was a reporter with the iconic WVON radio station. Then, and throughout the course of his lifetime, Don was driven by a singular determination to tell the story of the African American experience. Inspired by the Civil Rights movement, Don Cornelius transitioned from journalism and ventured into the realm of music and entertainment.

With his own $400, Don rented out the WCIU/Channel 26 studios and started Soul Train, a dance review featuring young high schoolers and some of the highest profile, yet under-recognized Black talent in the world of entertainment. It exploded in popularity, and after a year, with the sponsorship of Johnson's Products Co., Soul Train went national--and the rest is, quite literally, history.

Don was a personal friend. He shared many wonderful times in my home with my wife and children. And in times of triumph and challenge, he was always there. A part of my soul has traveled with him today. My love, thoughts and prayers are with his family. We are beneficiaries of his special kind of genius.

"Don Cornelius was a pioneer in the television and music industries," said Debra L. Lee, Chairman & CEO of BET Networks. "He made Soul Train a destination for lovers of Black culture and music and connected the world to our culture. We owe so much of our success to him, he built the space for the creation of a BET, built a platform for the music that our audience loves and gave a voice to countless artists that shaped Black culture and beyond."

Plans for a memorial service in Chicago at the Museum of Broadcast Communications are underway and will be announced shortly.

February 5, 2012

Beyond the ‘State of the Union’: What Now for the Black Community?

By Hazel Trice Edney

White House aid Michael Strautmanis stands to address packed boardroom after watching President Obama's State of the Union. PHOTO: Don Baker/Joint Center

White House aide Michael Strautmanis sits by Ralph Everett, president/CEO of the Joint Center, as he explains to grassroots, business and political representatives where the Obama Administration will go from here. PHOTO: Don Baker/Joint Center 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Michael Strautmanis, deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, was ready to go home as was the other dozens of State of the Union watchers packed into the boardroom at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Despite the obvious fatigue of a long day; plus the intensity of watching President Obama’s hour-long State of the Union speech, there was a late-night agenda on the table. Strautmanis and other White House representatives were on assignment. Their mission was to – not only break down the President’s speech – for the Black political, grassroots, business and civic leaders in the room, but to make plain the President’s plan for the Black community in coming months – especially as it pertains to economics.

“Some things couldn’t be done in three years, some things we still need to work on,” Strautmanis spoke frankly to the people packed in around the mahogany conference table. “The president is into acting and doing. He laid out the blueprint of what he’s going to focus on. It’s incumbent upon all of us in those areas where you have expertise to use those doors that are open to you… It would be a shame with all of the power and the expertise that we have now if we didn’t fundamentally transform our community. And this President, the First Lady, and [Senior Advisor] Valerie Jarrett, they have talked about it. They intend to do it.”

With that, Strautmanis gave previews of specific plans by the Obama Administration to speed up the economic recovery in the Black community as part of what President Obama described as moving forward as “one nation.”

A major step, says Strautmanis, will be gatherings to enhance existing and grow the number of Black-owned businesses rather than simply focus on Black employment.

“We want to do a series of urban entrepreneurship summits this year. We’re using the convening power of the White House to really shine a spot light on entrepreneurship in urban communities, what it can do to create jobs and the success stories that are there,” he said.

These gatherings, details of which are to be announced, will have the following impacts, Strautmanis outlined:

• We’ll learn ways that we can be better as a government to help people.
• We’re going to bring people together and create opportunities for them to network with each other and create more business opportunities.
• We’ll give the press opportunities to write about and tell stories about successful businesses in our cities.
• We’ll be able to point those who want to start that business … don’t really know if it’s possible to start that company – point them to the money that we gave our community development financial institutions, the money that we gave to the banks to lend to small businesses.

Despite the clear evidence of movement on a Black economic agenda, those gathered expressed reality-based concerns and offered their advice to the Obama Administration for the coming months.

Maryland State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh, underscoring the need for business creation, expressed concern that race discrimination will continue to absorb job opportunities.

“Black folk are not the only people unemployed in this country. What happens is when you start filling jobs, the people who own businesses, who do the hiring fill them first with people who look like them,” she said. “That’s why we need to talk about business creation. But, people are saying you don’t have the expertise in your community.”

Agreeing with Pugh, Gilbert G. Campbell III, co-owner of Volt Energy LLC, a 3-year-old North Carolina-based solar energy company, said Blacks are also being stereotyped by the federal government.

“A lot of times we get pigeon-holed as African-American companies just in construction,” Campbell said. He expressed interest in doing business with the U. S. Navy, an agency that is leading in the need for experts in wind and solar energy.

Strautmanis said the Obama administration’s only interest is in “creating a level playing field. Our businesses can compete and win when they have that.”

He assured Campbell that top naval personnel have been sensitized to the need for diversity in contracting.

“I have had a specific conversation across his very nice table in his very fancy dining room with Sec. of the Navy Ray Mabus who has made a commitment to me and he has made a commitment to Valerie Jarrett,” he said. He said Mabus has already demonstrated his seriousness about outreach “when he went with [EPA] Administrator Lisa Jackson to the Gulf in the aftermath of the gulf spill. And she came back with good reports about Secretary Mabus.”

Ralph Everett, president/CEO of the Joint Center, a Black think-tank, seated at the right of Strautmanis, moderated the discussion, when continued to close to 11 p.m. Only 40 people had been invited to the meeting, but the center had to open up multiple rooms and even turn some people away after more than 140 responded, he said.

This shows that people want to “participate in the process. This was just one way to do that,” he said. The other way will be to vote in November he said.

Other concerns expressed around the table:

• That the President will stress to all government agencies to partner with racial and other minorities for inclusion rather than allow big businesses to dominate contracts. Strautmanis: In addition to this, there must be a “focused conversation with our community banks and finding ways to give them the support that they need to make the loans” that will build and strengthen new businesses.
• That the President will stick to his message on health care and make sure the tenets and benefits of the legislation are broken down for lay people to understand. Strautmanis: There was a question of how much to talk about health care in this speech. The decision was made that it did not need one speech. It needs a multi-month, multi-pronged plan. We need to explain to people where that is and that is coming.
• That contributions and deductions for non-profit organizations are also prioritized. Strautmanis: The president is focused on striking a balance. We recognize how much so many of our organizations that are “standing in the breach” rely on private sector donations.
• That unfunded mandates be limited. Strautmanis: “I’m not interested in doing any of this on the backs of our state governments.”
• That there be limits in government personnel cuts, given the significant number of African-Americans with government jobs: Strautmanis: “Frankly, as I look at the unemployment numbers I get alarmed when I see private sector growth and public sector cuts, particularly when you look at the African-American community…We should have a robust conversation and sit down and talk with our economic team about how we’re going to do this.”
• That HBCUs are well-funded. Strautmanis: HBCUs need to get its fair share of federal dollars. And “we don’t need to have an either/or conversation about community colleges.”

In the State of the Union, President Obama stressed what he described as “the basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement. 

“The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive,” he said. “No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules,” he said to applause. “What’s at stake aren’t Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. And we have to reclaim them.”

Strautmanis said none of the President’s vision laid out in the State of the Union can happen without all hands on deck.

“When he said everyone, he means everyone. He spoke in that way as an African-American president,” Strautmanis said. “When he spoke about us building this country together, he included us.”

February 5, 2012

Post Katrina: Study Correlates New Orleans School Expulsions to Crime
By Zoe Sullivan

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Louisiana Weekly

The report is a scathing indictment of the way that charter schools are dealing with disruptive students, correlating expulsions to the city’s notorious crime rate. While the connection may seem obvious, the report offers no specific data to back it up. This is one of the issues that former Orleans Parish School Board member and education advocate Leslie Jacobs cites with the document. “If you look at the annual dropout rate,” she said, “it’s all public schools students in the city. A school may expel a child, but that doesn’t mean the child is on the streets.”

Research on Reforms is a think tank focused on public education in New Orleans. Co-founder Dr. Barbara Ferguson, who was the first female superintendent of the New Orleans public school system and who holds both a doctorate in education and a juris doctorate, authored the report. She points to studies correlating school drop-out rates with crime. More focused research, however, has not as yet been done to demonstrate this link in New Orleans.

Asked whether it had documentation on the correlation between crime and expulsions, the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center and the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) both said that they had not conducted such a study. A public information officer for the NOPD said that this kind of study would require a significant investment of time and that it would be illegal for the Department to release the names of juveniles in the criminal justice system for comparison with school records since this information is protected under the law.

“Kids don’t just disappear,” René Greer, spokesperson for the Department of Education (DOE) said, as she affirmed the Department’s commitment to keep youth in school. “So there is a great deal of focus on meeting the needs of students, even the most challenging students.” Greer went on to ask that people inform the about cases where students are being expelled unfairly.

Ferguson’s report lays out the argument that, under the charter system, it has become easier for public schools to expel students. “Prior to Katrina,” she said a student who was expelled from one school, “that student was well-known in the district, and that student was placed in another school.” Something, she sustains, is not happening now. This, she says, is a way of weeding out poor-performing students who bring down School Performance Scores. Ferguson says that her requests for “unidentifiable” student codes from the State Department of Education, which would allow her to evaluate this assertion more accurately, have been denied. Greer, in contrast, told The Louisiana Weekly that no such request had been filed.

Jacobs, a prominent charter-school supporter, disputed Ferguson’s claim. “In 2004-05, the last year before Katrina, 11.3 percent of our 9th- to 12th-graders dropped out that year. In 2009-10 ([the] latest data available), 5.7 percent of our 9th- to 12th-graders dropped out that year. We have cut the rate almost in half.”

Asked about this, Ferguson sustained that there was “no way of knowing” how students were classified by the state (i.e. dropout, unknown, expelled, etc.), and, consequently, whether these figures are accurate because the State would not release the data.

“Either they need to give us the data and the codes to track them, or they need to track them themselves,” Ferguson argued to The Louisiana Weekly. “We have not been able to get the codes of the students to track them. And if they’re not going to track them and report on them every year, then we are going to continue to make the claim that youth in our city are the victims of a school system that doesn’t take care of all of its children.”

Asked about this, Greer said that it would be a violation of privacy regulations to release this kind of data, but that the DOE does run some inquiries for researchers.

The “Continuing Failure” report sustains that hundreds of students fall through the Recovery School Systems administrative cracks each year when schools are closed and no automatic transfer is arranged when a charter school stakes its place. The report states: “…a total of 1,068 high school students for this 2011-2012 year…needed to find another school to attend since their school had been closed…Whether or not they did, no one knows as the Recovery School District does not track student enrollment.”

Responding in writing to this, Recovery School District spokes-person Kizzy Payson explained that the school district will be introducing a new enrollment system in February. “The new system will prioritize all students whose school have been closed or is phasing out,” the statement said, “and will account for every child enrolled in a RSD charter or direct-run public school.”

Jacobs contested the report’s allegation of not tracking students in a written rebuttal. She defended the state saying that it tracks students and is “consistently ranked in the top 10 for its data.”

“Once a student enters public schools, s/he is assigned a student ID number,” Jacobs wrote. “The state tracks that student each year…A student expelled from one school who is not re-enrolled in another school is classified by the state as a dropout.”

While this may be true, traditional public school advocates see a system that incentivizes school performance at the cost of educational equity.

“The system of chartering schools and the market model that we have basically incentifies [sic] schools not to take problem children.” Dr. Raynard Sanders, a former New Orleans public school principal, told The Louisiana Weekly. “So therefore we have a system where many of them have a selective admissions process where the kids that are easiest to educate, we want to take them in the schools, and the kids that have some deficiencies, we want to keep them out.”

Another related point Jacobs contests in Ferguson’s report concerns this process of weeding out “disruptive” students. According to Ferguson, prior to Katrina, even if principals wanted to expel students, strict rules forced them to figure out how to work with them in the classroom. “No matter how difficult the student was to teach, no matter how disruptive the student was, no matter if the parent cooperated with the school or not, the student remained in some New Orleans high school,” the report asserts. This halcyon view, however, differs from the picture offered by the overall pre-Katrina dropout rate Jacobs cited.

Nonetheless, research by the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies other barriers to New Orleans public education. The organization’s 2010 study identifies “brutal and ineffective school security and discipline policies” as well as obstacles for students with disabilities. Questioned about this, Greer reiterated the importance of whistle-blowers and concerned citizens who help the State to fulfill its responsibilities.

Another study by the Institute for Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota concluded that the post-Katrina reorganization has steered a predominantly minority group of students “into a group of lower performing schools” through direct and indirect policies such as location, disciplinary policies and recruitment efforts.

In spite of the acrimony over the current state of public education in New Orleans, one area where Jacobs and Ferguson agree concerns the need for improvement is the dropout rate among incoming 9th-graders. According to Jacobs, this figure has stayed steady since Katrina, indicating that this transitional moment is when many youth disengage from the school system and risk becoming involved in harmful activities.