Oct. 23, 2016

Problems of the 1960s Still Plague Black Community 
By Holly Rodriguez

Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder was America's first elected Black governor.

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The problems driving dissatisfaction among African-Americans in the 1960s — discriminatory police practices, unemployment, unequal pay, poverty and more — continue to plague many people in the African-American community today.

That was the assessment of Dr. Elsie Harper-Anderson, assistant professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. She and a panel of experts spoke Oct. 17 at the daylong Wilder Symposium at VCU, located in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy.

The theme: “Race and American Society: 50 Years After the Kerner Commission Report.” The Kerner Commission Report was ordered by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the cause of riots in several U.S. cities in the summer of 1967. Completed in March 1968, the commission identified 164 “disorders” contributing to the civil unrest and advised immediate action. 

Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder talks about conditions in Richmond during his childhood during the symposium on race and American society at Virginia Commonwealth University. The Wilder Symposium explored the commission’s recommendations, whether they were implemented, and the report’s influence on race relations and equality today.

“The freedoms and opportunities of all Americans are diminished and imperiled when they are denied to some Americans,” the report stated. The “unrecoverable loss to the nation which this denial has already caused — and continues to produce — no longer can be ignored or afforded.”

Dr. Harper-Anderson said she was most “struck by the fact that I could take the dates out (of the 1968 report) and the information applies to today.”

A study of area residents’ perspectives on race relations, conducted by the Center for Public Policy at the Wilder School, indicates that 72 percent of Richmond area residents believe race relations in the United States is a major problem and has gotten worse in the last five years. While residents are concerned about race, 60 percent believe that the police in their community are doing a good job, the study found.

Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, 85, after whom the symposium is named, offered a personal narrative to provide a snapshot of African-American life in Richmond as he was growing up.

“If we are going to move toward a more perfect union, the truth of the times must be told,” he said.That truth includes the poor public grade schools Gov. Wilder said he attended, with hand-me-down books, an outhouse for a bathroom, no cafeteria and no gym.The ability to excel, he continued, came from the teachers and professors who nurtured him and other leaders. As he remembered the leaders of racial justice from the past, he left the audience with the question, “Where are our leaders today?” 

Joe Madison, Washington, DC-based Sirius/XM Satellite Radio talk show host, said leadership starts at home, and called upon African-American families to root education in homes, churches, communities and prisons. 

“Education is the new currency of the 21st century,” he said. In the future, “there will be those who are educated and those who or not.” The suffering of the uneducated will only continue to expand, he said.

Panel discussions included expanding education and leadership. Distribution of power and resources, the role of faculty in student civic engagement and the relationship between the police and the communities they serve also were addressed.In order to improve the African-American community’s relationship with police, said Dr. William V. Pelfrey Jr., associate professor in the Wilder School’s Criminal Justice Program, “the police need to be able to admit when they have made a mistake.”

He continued, "This is a sacrifice for them...but this is the start to be able to resuscitate these relationships.”

U. S. Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), who represents Richmond in the 3rd Congressional District, said the need for criminal justice reform is critical, with the police practice of aggressive patrolling is the first of many problems that needs to be addressed.

“Massive incarceration is creating crime … because so many children are being raised … with their parents in jail,” he said. Proper police training, body cameras for police and youth programs are among the suggested solutions he offered.The Nov. 8 elections are an opportunity to move toward the resolutions outlined in the Kerner Commission Report. He said, “Jobs, funding education and criminal justice reform are key in the 2016 elections.” 

Oct. 18, 2016

White Terror Group Arrested on Eve of Attack on U. S.-Somalis

(TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – Three White American men are under arrest and charged with plotting to blow up an apartment complex and mosque in a suburb of Kansas inhabited by refugees from war-torn Somalia.

The three - Curtis Allen, 49, Gavin Wright, 51, and Patrick Stein, 47 - are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction – a charge that carries a sentence of life in jail.

If the plot had succeeded, some 120 Somali residents could have been killed.

Mada Jama, a Somalian who works at Tyson Foods told radio station KWCH that he's always felt welcomed in Garden City.

"I see White people at Tyson, at the gas station, everywhere, and everyone is my friend," he said. "I don't know what's going on here."

Former Garden City Mayor and candidate for state senate, John Doll, said he was told he was one of the targets discussed by the three men accused in the plot.

"This is terrible, because these people they targeted are great people; they work hard, pay taxes, obey the laws," he said. "Why would anyone want to hurt them?"

Halima Farah, 26, lives in the targeted complex. She said news of the plot rocked the Somali community of about 500 people in the western Kansas city of about 25,000.

"It was so scary," she told USA TODAY. "Garden City is small and peaceful. I love living there. I didn't think something like that could happen here."

According to an affidavit, the three were a part of a group called the Kansas Security Force and the Crusaders.

According to the Washington Post, the “Crusaders” knew they wanted to kill Muslims and use the “bloodbath” to ignite a religious war — but for months they couldn’t settle on a plan.

The easiest way would be to grab guns, go to the predominantly Somali-Muslim apartment complex they’d been surveilling and start kicking in doors, court documents said. They would spare no one, not even babies.

In the end, they decided to set off bombs similar to the one Timothy McVeigh used in 1995 to kill 168 people in Oklahoma City. They planned to strike after the Nov. 8 election, investigators said.

The plan was undone by an FBI confidential informant and Allen’s girlfriend, who showed authorities Allen’s supply room after he allegedly hit her during a fight.

The men's arrest comes after an eight month long investigation.

GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK creates and distributes news and feature articles on current affairs in Africa to media outlets, scholars, students and activists in the U.S. and Canada. Our goal is to introduce important new voices on topics relevant to Americans, to increase the perspectives available to readers in North America and to bring into their view information about global issues that are overlooked or under-reported by mainstream media.

Oct. 18, 2016

First Lady Michelle Obama, Leading Black Women Clergy Condemn Trump Remarks

Open letter from 1,200 Christian women say the 'sin of misogyny has caused many of us to experience sexual assault'

By Hazel Trice Edney

First Lady Michelle Obama

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Black women across the U. S. are continuing to express outrage this week in response to a released tape of lewd comments about women, made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In an epic speech Oct. 13, First Lady Michelle Obama told a crowd in New Hampshire that Trump’s language can never be excused as “locker room” talk as he described it, and she asked women – Republicans and Democrats – not to remain silent.

“The fact is that in this election, we have a candidate for President of the United States who, over the course of his lifetime and the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning that I simply will not repeat anything here today. And last week, we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. And I can't believe that I'm saying that a candidate for President of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women,” she said.  “And I have to tell you that I can't stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted. So while I'd love nothing more than to pretend like this isn't happening, and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous to me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream.”

Mrs. Obama’s sentiments were among a groundswell of outrage, including a string of Republicans who withdrew their endorsement of Trump after hearing the audio. That outrage continued to grow this week as a racially diverse group of more than 1,200 leading Christian women signed an open letter also expressing their disdain and to urge other religious leaders to not only take a stand  but also “help their communities heal from the sins of sexual violence and misogyny,” said a release announcing the letter.

“As Christian women we are appalled by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's recorded remarks that disparage women and condone sexual assault. Such language cannot be dismissed as ‘locker room talk.’ Mr. Trump must offer public contrition that fully acknowledges the seriousness and depravity of his actions. The sin of misogyny has caused many of us to experience sexual assault or sexually abusive language that threatened our safety, dignity and well-being,” states the letter, released Oct. 14. “Christian leaders cannot condone such violent speech about women as a minor mistake or an innocent attempt to be ‘macho.’ These excuses teach our young people that such language is acceptable and do further harm to those who have been abused. We urge all religious leaders to preach, teach and help their communities heal from the twin sins of sexual violence and misogyny. While we are disheartened by Mr. Trump's toxic words, we believe this moment presents an opportunity to teach our daughters and sons that they are loved, and to teach all Americans how to speak out against sexually violent language.”

The lead signature on the letter was that of Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO of Faith in Public Life Action Fund, who spearheaded the campaign. It is joined by Dr. Barbara Williams Skinner, president, Skinner Leadership Institute; Reverend Dr. Cynthia L. Hale, senior pastor of the Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Ga.; Rev. Jacqueline Lewis, Middle Collegiate Church of New York; Lisa Sharon Harper, chief church engagement officer of Sojourners among hundreds of other women pastors and leaders.

"The violent language spewed by Donald Trump about women is not only insulting, it's laden with criminal intent. To dismiss these lewd remarks as simply 'locker room' talk would be to suggest that this type of rhetoric or behavior is acceptable," said Dr. Skinner, in the news release. "As faith leaders, we must teach all Americans how to speak out against sexually violent language and to affirm the dignity of all people."

The letter comes on the heels of Mrs. Obama’s White House celebration of the International Day of the Girl and the official launch of her new educational initiative, "Let Girls Learn".

“So I thought it would be important to remind these young women how valuable and precious they are. I wanted them to understand that the measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls. And I told them that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and I told them that they should disregard anyone who demeans or devalues them, and that they should make their voices heard in the world,” the First Lady said in her speech.

This week, Trump’s wife, Melania, said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she had forgiven her husband for what she described as “boy talk.”

However, First Lady Michelle Obama rejects any minimization of Trump’s words: “This is not something that we can ignore. It's not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. Because this was not just a ‘lewd conversation.’ This wasn't just locker-room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV…It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts.”

Oct. 18, 2016

Emotional Reunion for 21 Rescued 'Chibok' Girls, Home at Last

(TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – In a sight that could make a witness choke up with tears, a roomful of rescued Nigerian schoolgirls from Chibok ran into the arms of their overjoyed parents and smothered them with hugs. The gathering, organized by Nigerian authorities, signaled an end to their two year captivity by Boko Haram rebels and the start of a new life.

Their nightmare of imprisonment in the Sambisa forest of Nigeria since April 2014 is over.

One of the girls told of surviving for 40 days without food and how they narrowly escaped death at least once.

"We had no food for one month and 10 days but we did not die. We thank God," said one of the girls, speaking in the local Hausa language.

Still, of the more than 200 kidnapped students, 197 are still missing.

Many of the kidnapped students were Christian but had been forcibly converted to Islam during captivity. The shapeless gray chadors imposed by their captors were now replaced on their thin frames by colorful dresses and hair ties.

The girls, freed last Thursday, met their excited relatives, some of whom had trekked for days to reach the capital, Abuja. Nigeria’s vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, witnessed the handover.

The release followed negotiations between Nigeria's government and Boko Haram brokered by Red Cross and Swiss officials, a spokesman for the country's president said.

"We thank God,” said one parent. “I never thought I was going to see my daughter again but here she is... Those who are still out there - may God reunite them with their parents."

Nigerian authorities denied that captured Boko Haram fighters were swapped for the girls although one security official told the BBC that four commanders had been freed.  A "handsome ransom", in the millions of dollars, was reportedly paid by the Swiss government on behalf of the Nigerian government.

After two years in captivity and being married off to Boko Haram fighters, several girls carried children, even though they were hardly more than children themselves.

The plight of the girls never left the radar for an active diasporan community and their friends and colleagues around the world. Twitter hashtags such as #BringBackOurGirls and #chibok and #HopeEndures were updated, demonstrations were held, politicians lobbied and letters penned.

VP Osinbajo told the group: “We are also going to see to it that everything you require going forward, perhaps your education, those who need to go back to school, those who need to find employment, we are going to make that we make all the provisions for you.

“So we are all very excited that you are here. We are all happy that God has preserved your lives and brought you back.” The reunion video can be seen on www.oak.tv

GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK creates and distributes news and feature articles on current affairs in Africa to media outlets, scholars, students and activists in the U.S. and Canada. Our goal is to introduce important new voices on topics relevant to Americans, to increase the perspectives available to readers in North America and to bring into their view information about global issues that are overlooked or under-reported by mainstream media.