The political tide in America is turning and it is more important than ever to recruit new African American women to lead, especially as civil rights-era leaders age, said Karen Bass, California's speaker of the House and the first black woman to lead a state legislature, on Friday.
Bass spoke at the Des Moines Renaissance Savery Hotel to about 40 colleagues from across the country who are in town this weekend for the annual conference of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women.
More than 200 black women serve in the nation's state legislatures; organizers expect about 150 people to attend this weekend's events.
"We are now at a time of transition because we're losing a lot of our civil rights leaders. Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King. I never had the opportunity to meet them, but the values they represented certainly inspired me," Bass said, noting their "ideals of equality and justice."
Bass offered a timeline: 150 years ago, blacks were slaves. Just 50 years ago, Jim Crow laws were abolished. Now, the United States is on the verge of electing a black president, she said.
"I'm proud of the African American people's resiliency and the progress we've made in a relatively short period of time," Bass said. She called Barack Obama's presidential candidacy an "incredible moment in history."
"I believe what we've seen over these last few months is a movement develop that will force our nation to change," she said.
Bass is considered a rising star in the political arena, elected speaker this May in her fourth year as a legislator. She represents a diverse section of Los Angeles.
During her speech, Bass offered the thoughts and prayers of Californians to Iowa, especially in areas still reeling from tornadoes and floods.
Iowa Reps. Deborah Berry of Waterloo and Helen Miller of Fort Dodge organized this year's conference to showcase Iowa.
Berry said the group's work is important because black women must "be able to show that we're intelligent, that we understand the rules of the game."
A few years ago, there was just one black legislator in Iowa; today there are four.
Berry noted that especially in Iowa, where blacks make up just 2.6 percent of the population, she and others were elected by everyone "based more on our character rather than our skin color. It shows that Iowa is changing. People in America in general are ready for people who truly represent their needs versus the political kinds of things that are played."
By MEGAN HAWKINS
Monday, June 30, 2008
Zimbabwe Looms Over Africa Summit
The UN has urged African leaders at a key summit in Egypt to try to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe.
UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro said this was the "moment of truth" for the African Union leaders.
President Robert Mugabe is attending the meeting. He was sworn in on Sunday after a victory that observers said had been undermined by pre-poll violence.
South Africa has now urged Mr Mugabe to hold talks with the opposition towards forming a transitional government.
Mr Mugabe claimed a landslide victory as the sole candidate after the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, withdrew.
Draft resolution
Ms Migiro told the leaders of the 53-nation bloc: "This is a moment of truth for regional leaders... the secretary-general urges your excellencies to mobilise support for a negotiated solution."
She added: "This is the single greatest challenge to regional stability in southern Africa."
Ms Migiro again expressed UN regret that the election had been allowed to go ahead despite the violence.
In his welcoming speech, host President Hosni Mubarak said bolstering peace and security was "essential for resolving disputes and conflicts in the continent".
The AU has a rule not to accept leaders who have not been democratically elected - but observers say it is unlikely to take such strong action against Mr Mugabe so quickly.
A draft resolution written by African foreign ministers during talks ahead of the summit did not criticise the elections or Mr Mugabe, but condemned violence in general terms and called for dialogue.
Independent observers have criticised the poll.
The AU's own monitors said on Monday: "The vote fell short of the African Union's standards of democratic elections."
However, the said they were "encouraged" by the willingness of the MDC and Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF to hold talks.
Earlier the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) observers said there was "politically-motivated violence, intimidation and displacements".
The Pan-African Parliament called for fresh elections to be held, saying the vote was not free or fair.
On Monday South Africa's foreign ministry said Zanu-PF and the MDC "must enter into negotiations which will lead to the formation of a transitional government".
The MDC has previously criticised South Africa's role and on Monday called for an additional mediator to be appointed to work alongside President Thabo Mbeki.
Also on Monday, France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the election was a "farce" that it could not accept.
UK PM Gordon Brown said: "I hope that the African Union and its leaders will make it absolutely clear that there has to be change and a new government has got to be brought in."
Separately, on the eve of the summit, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, one of Mr Mugabe's leading critics, was rushed to hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh suffering chest pains. He is said to be stable.
Spoilt ballots
Mr Mugabe was sworn in during a quickly convened ceremony on Sunday, about an hour after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced the results of the presidential election run-off.
Robert Mugabe is sworn in as Zimbabwe's president
The commission said Mr Mugabe won 85.5% of the vote, but many ballots were spoiled.
In a speech that followed the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Mugabe said he was committed to talks with the opposition to find a solution to the political crisis.
However, BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says the opposition may reject any notion of a government of national unity in which Mr Mugabe is still in a key position.
The MDC said some 86 of its supporters were killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party in the weeks preceding the run-off.
The government has blamed the MDC for the violence.
Mr Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.
from bbc
UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro said this was the "moment of truth" for the African Union leaders.
President Robert Mugabe is attending the meeting. He was sworn in on Sunday after a victory that observers said had been undermined by pre-poll violence.
South Africa has now urged Mr Mugabe to hold talks with the opposition towards forming a transitional government.
Mr Mugabe claimed a landslide victory as the sole candidate after the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, withdrew.
Draft resolution
Ms Migiro told the leaders of the 53-nation bloc: "This is a moment of truth for regional leaders... the secretary-general urges your excellencies to mobilise support for a negotiated solution."
She added: "This is the single greatest challenge to regional stability in southern Africa."
Ms Migiro again expressed UN regret that the election had been allowed to go ahead despite the violence.
In his welcoming speech, host President Hosni Mubarak said bolstering peace and security was "essential for resolving disputes and conflicts in the continent".
The AU has a rule not to accept leaders who have not been democratically elected - but observers say it is unlikely to take such strong action against Mr Mugabe so quickly.
A draft resolution written by African foreign ministers during talks ahead of the summit did not criticise the elections or Mr Mugabe, but condemned violence in general terms and called for dialogue.
Independent observers have criticised the poll.
The AU's own monitors said on Monday: "The vote fell short of the African Union's standards of democratic elections."
However, the said they were "encouraged" by the willingness of the MDC and Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF to hold talks.
Earlier the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) observers said there was "politically-motivated violence, intimidation and displacements".
The Pan-African Parliament called for fresh elections to be held, saying the vote was not free or fair.
On Monday South Africa's foreign ministry said Zanu-PF and the MDC "must enter into negotiations which will lead to the formation of a transitional government".
The MDC has previously criticised South Africa's role and on Monday called for an additional mediator to be appointed to work alongside President Thabo Mbeki.
Also on Monday, France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the election was a "farce" that it could not accept.
UK PM Gordon Brown said: "I hope that the African Union and its leaders will make it absolutely clear that there has to be change and a new government has got to be brought in."
Separately, on the eve of the summit, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, one of Mr Mugabe's leading critics, was rushed to hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh suffering chest pains. He is said to be stable.
Spoilt ballots
Mr Mugabe was sworn in during a quickly convened ceremony on Sunday, about an hour after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced the results of the presidential election run-off.
Robert Mugabe is sworn in as Zimbabwe's president
The commission said Mr Mugabe won 85.5% of the vote, but many ballots were spoiled.
In a speech that followed the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Mugabe said he was committed to talks with the opposition to find a solution to the political crisis.
However, BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says the opposition may reject any notion of a government of national unity in which Mr Mugabe is still in a key position.
The MDC said some 86 of its supporters were killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party in the weeks preceding the run-off.
The government has blamed the MDC for the violence.
Mr Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.
from bbc
Hollywood Shows Way for US President
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A slew of African-American presidents portrayed in film and television has helped US voters get used to the idea of electing the country's first black commander-in-chief, analysts say.
Whether it's a seven-year-old Sammy Davis Jr in the 1933 comedy "Rufus Jones for President" or Morgan Freeman in 1998's "Deep Impact," Hollywood has been installing blacks in the Oval Office before anyone had heard of Barack Obama.
But academics believe the increasingly frequent portrayal of black presidents in blockbuster films or hit television shows has helped to make the electorate more receptive towards Obama than they otherwise might have been.
John W. Matviko, author of "The American President in Popular Culture," believes that Obama's overwhelming popularity amongst young voters may be partially explained by the Hollywood factor.
"One of the functions of popular culture is that it introduces ideas that are a just a little bit on the edge of what we traditionally find acceptable, so that after a while, it becomes acceptable," Matviko told AFP. "It's a very subtle form of persuasion.
"Part of Obama's popularity amongst the younger demographic might be because there have been some very positive portrayals of black presidents. So the idea of it has become commonplace, and not really an issue anymore," he said.
Since 1972's "The Man," starring James Earl Jones as what is viewed as the first major screen portrayal of a black president, only a handful of films and television series have had similar roles.
Yet actor Dennis Haysbert, who played one of the most high-profile black presidents during two seasons on the hit television show "24" before his character was assassinated, believes they have been influential.
Haysbert told the Los Angeles Times in a recent interview that he was in no doubt his character had helped change mainstream attitudes.
"Frankly and honestly, what my role did and the way I was able to play it and the way the writers wrote it opened the eyes of the American public that a black president was viable and could happen," Haysbert told the paper.
But Todd Boyd, an expert in African American cinema and culture at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, said he was skeptical of the influence Hollywood may have on the 2008 election race.
"I'm a bit hesitant to say that because James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman or Dennis Haysbert played a president on a TV show or in a movie, it means Barack Obama can be president," Boyd told National Public Radio.
"I think that's a bit of a stretch."
However Boyd concedes that the portrayals "may have unconsciously made some things in society seem less troubling."
Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, echoed Boyd's caution.
While Hollywood had probably played some part in shaping attitudes towards Obama, Thompson said it was more likely that the Illinois senator's popularity was rooted in the civil rights movement and his own personality.
"I certainly don't think we can dismiss it. It's part of the recipe, and fiction often practices things before they become real life," Thompson said.
"However we have to be careful not to over-estimate what is going on here. "To give Morgan Freeman or Dennis Haysbert significant credit for Barack Obama is to truly under-estimate how significant the civil rights movement has been, and how charismatic Barack Obama is."
from AFP
Whether it's a seven-year-old Sammy Davis Jr in the 1933 comedy "Rufus Jones for President" or Morgan Freeman in 1998's "Deep Impact," Hollywood has been installing blacks in the Oval Office before anyone had heard of Barack Obama.
But academics believe the increasingly frequent portrayal of black presidents in blockbuster films or hit television shows has helped to make the electorate more receptive towards Obama than they otherwise might have been.
John W. Matviko, author of "The American President in Popular Culture," believes that Obama's overwhelming popularity amongst young voters may be partially explained by the Hollywood factor.
"One of the functions of popular culture is that it introduces ideas that are a just a little bit on the edge of what we traditionally find acceptable, so that after a while, it becomes acceptable," Matviko told AFP. "It's a very subtle form of persuasion.
"Part of Obama's popularity amongst the younger demographic might be because there have been some very positive portrayals of black presidents. So the idea of it has become commonplace, and not really an issue anymore," he said.
Since 1972's "The Man," starring James Earl Jones as what is viewed as the first major screen portrayal of a black president, only a handful of films and television series have had similar roles.
Yet actor Dennis Haysbert, who played one of the most high-profile black presidents during two seasons on the hit television show "24" before his character was assassinated, believes they have been influential.
Haysbert told the Los Angeles Times in a recent interview that he was in no doubt his character had helped change mainstream attitudes.
"Frankly and honestly, what my role did and the way I was able to play it and the way the writers wrote it opened the eyes of the American public that a black president was viable and could happen," Haysbert told the paper.
But Todd Boyd, an expert in African American cinema and culture at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, said he was skeptical of the influence Hollywood may have on the 2008 election race.
"I'm a bit hesitant to say that because James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman or Dennis Haysbert played a president on a TV show or in a movie, it means Barack Obama can be president," Boyd told National Public Radio.
"I think that's a bit of a stretch."
However Boyd concedes that the portrayals "may have unconsciously made some things in society seem less troubling."
Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, echoed Boyd's caution.
While Hollywood had probably played some part in shaping attitudes towards Obama, Thompson said it was more likely that the Illinois senator's popularity was rooted in the civil rights movement and his own personality.
"I certainly don't think we can dismiss it. It's part of the recipe, and fiction often practices things before they become real life," Thompson said.
"However we have to be careful not to over-estimate what is going on here. "To give Morgan Freeman or Dennis Haysbert significant credit for Barack Obama is to truly under-estimate how significant the civil rights movement has been, and how charismatic Barack Obama is."
from AFP
Opposition to Supreme Court Gun Ruling
Nearly 13 hours after her 16-year-old son was shot in a drive-by, Denise Dixon stood beside the Rev. Jesse Jackson, pleading for gun regulations in the wake of the controversial Supreme Court decision that could threaten Chicago's ban on handguns.
Dixon said the community and lawmakers must fight for it.
"My 16-year-old is battling for the use of his right hand as we speak because somebody decided to pull out a gun and shoot him," Dixon said. "I don't know what's going on in this city. But I know we're going to have to do something about our babies bleeding in the streets."
Dixon's son Ian was shot in the arm Friday in an apparent drive-by near his home in the 800 block of West 95th Street, police said.
Dixon put a face on the aggressive new campaign Jackson announced at Rainbow PUSH headquarters Friday. He vowed to stop gun stores from setting up shop in Chicago's neighborhoods, particularly near churches and schools.
Jackson called the Supreme Court's ruling of the District of Columbia's handgun ban as unconstitutional a "reckless interpretation of the Second Amendment" -- and one that Chicago doesn't have to accept.
"We must fight for the legal restrictions on where these gun shops can be," Jackson said. "We will fight the easy access to guns and gun flow. We can picket and boycott stores that can endanger us."
He was joined by some of Chicago's most prominent religious leaders, including St. Sabina's Rev. Michael Pfleger, who had a fiery message for the Supreme Court.
"Obviously, the Supreme Court in their ivory tower is really disconnected," Pfleger said. "They're so disconnected that they cannot hear the cries of parents who are burying their children."
Dixon said her son was in the garage testing a new chain he had put on his younger brother's bike when he was shot.
"I can still hear him," Dixon said. "He just kept saying: 'Mama, I didn't do nothing.'"
BY ERICA L. GREEN for Chicago Sun Times
Dixon said the community and lawmakers must fight for it.
"My 16-year-old is battling for the use of his right hand as we speak because somebody decided to pull out a gun and shoot him," Dixon said. "I don't know what's going on in this city. But I know we're going to have to do something about our babies bleeding in the streets."
Dixon's son Ian was shot in the arm Friday in an apparent drive-by near his home in the 800 block of West 95th Street, police said.
Dixon put a face on the aggressive new campaign Jackson announced at Rainbow PUSH headquarters Friday. He vowed to stop gun stores from setting up shop in Chicago's neighborhoods, particularly near churches and schools.
Jackson called the Supreme Court's ruling of the District of Columbia's handgun ban as unconstitutional a "reckless interpretation of the Second Amendment" -- and one that Chicago doesn't have to accept.
"We must fight for the legal restrictions on where these gun shops can be," Jackson said. "We will fight the easy access to guns and gun flow. We can picket and boycott stores that can endanger us."
He was joined by some of Chicago's most prominent religious leaders, including St. Sabina's Rev. Michael Pfleger, who had a fiery message for the Supreme Court.
"Obviously, the Supreme Court in their ivory tower is really disconnected," Pfleger said. "They're so disconnected that they cannot hear the cries of parents who are burying their children."
Dixon said her son was in the garage testing a new chain he had put on his younger brother's bike when he was shot.
"I can still hear him," Dixon said. "He just kept saying: 'Mama, I didn't do nothing.'"
BY ERICA L. GREEN for Chicago Sun Times
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Reopening Black Farmers' Suits Could Cost Billions
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Congress reopened the government's discrimination settlement with black farmers, lawmakers budgeted just $100 million for damages. They probably should have handed over a blank check.
With more than 70,000 potential claimants, the liability could exceed $3 billion — three times what was paid out in the original 1999 agreement.
The settlement was reopened thanks to legislation added to the farm bill passed last month. It illustrates how lawmakers often manipulate pay-as-you-go budget rules to give the appearance they are balancing the federal checkbook.
Supporters acknowledge that the $100 million was an arbitrary amount that will not come close to covering the actual cost. Yet the measure ran into little opposition during the monthslong debate on the farm bill, mainly because of the artificially low price tag.
"The reality is that we had to fix some dollar amount to this provision because that's what the House rules require," said Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., a lead sponsor of the proposal.
With a higher estimate, he said, lawmakers probably would have stripped the provision.
The decision to allow new claims comes almost 10 years after the Agriculture Department settled a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of black farmers. The farmers, mainly from rural areas in the South, alleged that local USDA offices routinely denied them loans, disaster assistance and other aid frequently given to whites — practices that often drove them out of business.
At that time, 22,500 farmers filed claims. Nearly two-thirds were awarded a total of $981 million in damages, including one Virginia farmer awarded $6.6 million.
But an estimated 73,000 others were denied payments because they missed the October 1999 deadline for seeking claims. Many said the six-month filing period was too short and that they were unaware of the settlement until it was too late.
The deadline was extended for nearly a year for those who could show extraordinary circumstances, such as illness. But only a small fraction of late claims qualified, and federal courts repeatedly denied subsequent requests to reopen the settlement.
The farm bill provision gives another chance to anyone who filed late claims.
Just days after it passed, more than 800 people sued in U.S. District Court in Washington. Lawyers working on the case say they expect tens of thousands more.
An informational session hosted by Davis in mid-June in Tuskegee, Ala., drew more than 1,000 people, including some who traveled by charter bus from Georgia and Mississippi.
Ronnie Clark, 50, was among the first to sue. He said he tried to grow corn and peanuts in the 1980s but gave up after being denied loans from the government. He said he did not know about the original settlement until the deadline had passed and that the government should pay valid claims whether they were late or not.
"I went and tried to get a loan and they talked to me so hateful that I just quit," said Clark, who is from Brundidge, Ala., and now works on a transportation maintenance crew for the state. "They told me I had to own so much land for collateral. I just quit trying to borrow."
Lawyers involved in the case say it remains unclear how the courts will organize the flood of cases or where the money will come from once claims exceed $100 million.
As in the original settlement, claimants can seek expedited damages of $50,000 under a lower threshold of proof than a typical civil case — essentially by showing they applied for and were denied USDA farm assistance.
Claimants also can bypass the expedited process and pursue larger damages, but most are expected to seek the $50,000 payment.
If just half are successful, it would cost $1.8 billion; a two-thirds success rate would cost about $2.5 billion.
Davis argued that the cost is not likely to climb that high because the new legislation requires all claims to go through the courts. That is a far more difficult task than the streamlined administrative process set up for claims under the original settlement.
Given the uncertainty of the final cost, he and other supporters defended the bill as a starting point to be revisited later.
"There's no doubt that there will have to be more money in the future," Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and lead sponsor of the measure. But, he said, "African-American farmers deserve justice."
from AP
With more than 70,000 potential claimants, the liability could exceed $3 billion — three times what was paid out in the original 1999 agreement.
The settlement was reopened thanks to legislation added to the farm bill passed last month. It illustrates how lawmakers often manipulate pay-as-you-go budget rules to give the appearance they are balancing the federal checkbook.
Supporters acknowledge that the $100 million was an arbitrary amount that will not come close to covering the actual cost. Yet the measure ran into little opposition during the monthslong debate on the farm bill, mainly because of the artificially low price tag.
"The reality is that we had to fix some dollar amount to this provision because that's what the House rules require," said Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., a lead sponsor of the proposal.
With a higher estimate, he said, lawmakers probably would have stripped the provision.
The decision to allow new claims comes almost 10 years after the Agriculture Department settled a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of black farmers. The farmers, mainly from rural areas in the South, alleged that local USDA offices routinely denied them loans, disaster assistance and other aid frequently given to whites — practices that often drove them out of business.
At that time, 22,500 farmers filed claims. Nearly two-thirds were awarded a total of $981 million in damages, including one Virginia farmer awarded $6.6 million.
But an estimated 73,000 others were denied payments because they missed the October 1999 deadline for seeking claims. Many said the six-month filing period was too short and that they were unaware of the settlement until it was too late.
The deadline was extended for nearly a year for those who could show extraordinary circumstances, such as illness. But only a small fraction of late claims qualified, and federal courts repeatedly denied subsequent requests to reopen the settlement.
The farm bill provision gives another chance to anyone who filed late claims.
Just days after it passed, more than 800 people sued in U.S. District Court in Washington. Lawyers working on the case say they expect tens of thousands more.
An informational session hosted by Davis in mid-June in Tuskegee, Ala., drew more than 1,000 people, including some who traveled by charter bus from Georgia and Mississippi.
Ronnie Clark, 50, was among the first to sue. He said he tried to grow corn and peanuts in the 1980s but gave up after being denied loans from the government. He said he did not know about the original settlement until the deadline had passed and that the government should pay valid claims whether they were late or not.
"I went and tried to get a loan and they talked to me so hateful that I just quit," said Clark, who is from Brundidge, Ala., and now works on a transportation maintenance crew for the state. "They told me I had to own so much land for collateral. I just quit trying to borrow."
Lawyers involved in the case say it remains unclear how the courts will organize the flood of cases or where the money will come from once claims exceed $100 million.
As in the original settlement, claimants can seek expedited damages of $50,000 under a lower threshold of proof than a typical civil case — essentially by showing they applied for and were denied USDA farm assistance.
Claimants also can bypass the expedited process and pursue larger damages, but most are expected to seek the $50,000 payment.
If just half are successful, it would cost $1.8 billion; a two-thirds success rate would cost about $2.5 billion.
Davis argued that the cost is not likely to climb that high because the new legislation requires all claims to go through the courts. That is a far more difficult task than the streamlined administrative process set up for claims under the original settlement.
Given the uncertainty of the final cost, he and other supporters defended the bill as a starting point to be revisited later.
"There's no doubt that there will have to be more money in the future," Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and lead sponsor of the measure. But, he said, "African-American farmers deserve justice."
from AP
Maryland Diocese Consecrates First Black Bishop
Md. Diocese Consecrates First Black Bishop
A Descendant of Slaves, Sutton to Stress Environmentalism, Reconciliation
As he kneeled at the altar of Washington National Cathedral, the Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton was surrounded by bishops -- their hands laid on his back, their lips moving in whispered prayer.
When Sutton rose moments later and turned to face the congregation, he did so as Maryland's first African American Episcopal bishop.
Sutton was consecrated yesterday as the 14th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, which has 44,000 members. The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman elected as the presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church. The sermon was delivered by the Rev. Barry Black, the first black chaplain for the U.S. Senate.
Almost 3,000 people attended the service in Northwest Washington, including more than 30 bishops from across the country.
"The significance of it is just overwhelming," said Stewart Lucas, an associate rector from Annapolis who watched the 2 1/2 -hour ceremony from the north wing of the cathedral. "There's been an excitement in the churches ever since he was elected."
There are other African American bishops in the U.S. Episcopal Church, whose membership is predominantly white, but there has never been one in Maryland -- which has a large black population, especially in the diocese's seat, Baltimore.
There is a deeply symbolic element to his election, Sutton has said. The church's first Maryland bishop, the Rev. Thomas John Claggett, was a slave owner. Sutton himself is the descendant of slaves.
Sutton, 54, was raised in Washington. His father was an auto repair shop owner, and his mother was a State Department employee. He attended Baptist churches as a youngster, but was introduced to the Episcopal Church as a teenager.
Sutton graduated from Hope College in Holland, Mich., and earned a master of divinity degree at Western Theological Seminary, also in Holland, Mich. He has taught at several seminaries, including Vanderbilt University in Nashville and General Theological Seminary in New York.
In Washington, he has served as an associate rector and priest in charge at two churches, St. Columba's and St. Margaret's. In 1997, he co-founded the Contemplative Outreach of Metropolitan Washington, an ecumenical network devoted to contemplating the gospel in daily life.
Until his consecration yesterday, he had been serving as canon pastor at Washington National Cathedral and director of its Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage, which he said was work that he held close to heart.
Even as the last-minute preparations for the ceremony began, he told the congregation yesterday, he had been praying at the cathedral's center.
"I was praying, 'Lord, make me ready' . . . I didn't feel ready," he said. "But then when the time finally came, the Lord's message to me was, 'Put your clothes on and get to work.' "
Sutton intends to be a vocal bishop once he arrives in Baltimore, and one who is unafraid of delving into the problems evident in that city. In his first message -- a written statement -- to his new flock in Maryland, Sutton talked about the problems of the poor and children falling behind in Baltimore's public school system.
He outlined plans to lead a charge for the environment within Maryland's Episcopal churches. He has said repeatedly since his election in March that he would rather be known as the diocese's first green bishop than simply its first black bishop.
He also highlighted the need for reconciliation because of deep divisions in today's society, describing "strained relationships between black and white, rich and poor, male and female, conservative and liberal."
"The world is crying out for healing," Sutton wrote, "and wherever there is division and brokenness, we are called to build bridges."
By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
A Descendant of Slaves, Sutton to Stress Environmentalism, Reconciliation
As he kneeled at the altar of Washington National Cathedral, the Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton was surrounded by bishops -- their hands laid on his back, their lips moving in whispered prayer.
When Sutton rose moments later and turned to face the congregation, he did so as Maryland's first African American Episcopal bishop.
Sutton was consecrated yesterday as the 14th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, which has 44,000 members. The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman elected as the presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church. The sermon was delivered by the Rev. Barry Black, the first black chaplain for the U.S. Senate.
Almost 3,000 people attended the service in Northwest Washington, including more than 30 bishops from across the country.
"The significance of it is just overwhelming," said Stewart Lucas, an associate rector from Annapolis who watched the 2 1/2 -hour ceremony from the north wing of the cathedral. "There's been an excitement in the churches ever since he was elected."
There are other African American bishops in the U.S. Episcopal Church, whose membership is predominantly white, but there has never been one in Maryland -- which has a large black population, especially in the diocese's seat, Baltimore.
There is a deeply symbolic element to his election, Sutton has said. The church's first Maryland bishop, the Rev. Thomas John Claggett, was a slave owner. Sutton himself is the descendant of slaves.
Sutton, 54, was raised in Washington. His father was an auto repair shop owner, and his mother was a State Department employee. He attended Baptist churches as a youngster, but was introduced to the Episcopal Church as a teenager.
Sutton graduated from Hope College in Holland, Mich., and earned a master of divinity degree at Western Theological Seminary, also in Holland, Mich. He has taught at several seminaries, including Vanderbilt University in Nashville and General Theological Seminary in New York.
In Washington, he has served as an associate rector and priest in charge at two churches, St. Columba's and St. Margaret's. In 1997, he co-founded the Contemplative Outreach of Metropolitan Washington, an ecumenical network devoted to contemplating the gospel in daily life.
Until his consecration yesterday, he had been serving as canon pastor at Washington National Cathedral and director of its Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage, which he said was work that he held close to heart.
Even as the last-minute preparations for the ceremony began, he told the congregation yesterday, he had been praying at the cathedral's center.
"I was praying, 'Lord, make me ready' . . . I didn't feel ready," he said. "But then when the time finally came, the Lord's message to me was, 'Put your clothes on and get to work.' "
Sutton intends to be a vocal bishop once he arrives in Baltimore, and one who is unafraid of delving into the problems evident in that city. In his first message -- a written statement -- to his new flock in Maryland, Sutton talked about the problems of the poor and children falling behind in Baltimore's public school system.
He outlined plans to lead a charge for the environment within Maryland's Episcopal churches. He has said repeatedly since his election in March that he would rather be known as the diocese's first green bishop than simply its first black bishop.
He also highlighted the need for reconciliation because of deep divisions in today's society, describing "strained relationships between black and white, rich and poor, male and female, conservative and liberal."
"The world is crying out for healing," Sutton wrote, "and wherever there is division and brokenness, we are called to build bridges."
By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wyclef Jean Working to Develop Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - When Wyclef Jean went to Haiti recently, he had in tow the television cameras you might expect of a big-time rapper and producer.
But he also was accompanied by a pool of buttoned-down business types, including the likes of Canadian entrepreneur Belinda Stronach and other potential foreign investors.
The Haitian-born Jean, who rose to fame with the Fugees hip-hop group and became a homeland hero with his efforts to bring education and peace to the impoverished Caribbean nation, has set his sights on serious economic change.
The Grammy-winning musician said the poorest country in the Americas, roiled by food riots in April, needs foreign investment and help with sustainable development but not charity that could cause Haiti to become even more dependent.
"I understand that there is a food crisis that needs to be addressed urgently, but at the same time donors need to inject funds in projects likely to bring sustainable results," he told Reuters in an interview at the end of a five-day visit last week.
Haiti, struggling to establish a stable government after a long history of political upheaval since a slave revolt threw off French rule two centuries ago, endured its latest turmoil when skyrocketing food prices triggered the ouster of the government nearly three months ago.
Jean, 35, said the most important contribution the international community could make to Haiti is to invest in agriculture, road projects and economic infrastructure.
"Charity will never solve Haiti's problems," he said. "Haitians want jobs, they want to develop their agriculture to produce food, not to everlastingly receive food assistance."
Jean, who enjoys enormous respect in Haiti and was appointed last year by President Rene Preval to serve as a roving ambassador, was followed last week by a team from the U.S. TV news program "60 Minutes" for a show about the artist and his humanitarian work.
FAMOUS FUGEE
Born in the Haitian village of Croix-des-Bouquets, Jean moved with his family to New York when he was 9 years old. The Fugees, the group he formed with Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel, recorded the 1996 Grammy-winning album "The Score," which sold 17 million copies worldwide.
In 2005 Jean started a foundation called Yele Haiti to provide access to education, professional training, job and entrepreneurial opportunities and other social programs.
In May he launched an initiative to raise $48 million to expand food distribution and provide assistance to farmers.
Jean has called for an end to the kidnappings-for-ransom that have plagued Haiti in recent years and urged Haitians and foreign partners to create a safer environment for investment.
"To solve the economic crisis, we need investments and to have investments we need security," Jean said. "To have security we have to start addressing the social problems in the most vulnerable and underprivileged neighborhoods."
Jean has distributed food in Cite Soleil, the largest slum, and corn and millet seeds to farmers in his home village. Many of Haiti's 9 million people live on less than $2 a day.
UTOPIAN DREAM
He called on Haitians to unite behind social change.
"Social and economic change will remain a utopian dream if we remain divided," Jean said.
Haiti's fractious politics has been on display in recent weeks as Preval tries to replace Jacques Edouard Alexis, the prime minister fired by Parliament after the food riots.
Lawmakers have rejected his first two nominees. On Monday, Preval designated a third, economist Michele Pierre-Louis, who faces an unpredictable ratification process.
Responding to speculation he harbors ambitions to run for president in 2010 elections, Jean said he is not interested.
"When you are trying to do something positive, people think you want to run for some position," he said. "But I can assure them I don't want and I am not going to run for president."
Jean said he would consider it a greater achievement to reach his goals and dreams for Haiti than to become president.
"In the end, I am a rap star and I don't see myself behind a desk sitting as president. I want to be out there using my contacts to help my country and do what I can do best."
By Joseph Guyler Delva from reuters
But he also was accompanied by a pool of buttoned-down business types, including the likes of Canadian entrepreneur Belinda Stronach and other potential foreign investors.
The Haitian-born Jean, who rose to fame with the Fugees hip-hop group and became a homeland hero with his efforts to bring education and peace to the impoverished Caribbean nation, has set his sights on serious economic change.
The Grammy-winning musician said the poorest country in the Americas, roiled by food riots in April, needs foreign investment and help with sustainable development but not charity that could cause Haiti to become even more dependent.
"I understand that there is a food crisis that needs to be addressed urgently, but at the same time donors need to inject funds in projects likely to bring sustainable results," he told Reuters in an interview at the end of a five-day visit last week.
Haiti, struggling to establish a stable government after a long history of political upheaval since a slave revolt threw off French rule two centuries ago, endured its latest turmoil when skyrocketing food prices triggered the ouster of the government nearly three months ago.
Jean, 35, said the most important contribution the international community could make to Haiti is to invest in agriculture, road projects and economic infrastructure.
"Charity will never solve Haiti's problems," he said. "Haitians want jobs, they want to develop their agriculture to produce food, not to everlastingly receive food assistance."
Jean, who enjoys enormous respect in Haiti and was appointed last year by President Rene Preval to serve as a roving ambassador, was followed last week by a team from the U.S. TV news program "60 Minutes" for a show about the artist and his humanitarian work.
FAMOUS FUGEE
Born in the Haitian village of Croix-des-Bouquets, Jean moved with his family to New York when he was 9 years old. The Fugees, the group he formed with Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel, recorded the 1996 Grammy-winning album "The Score," which sold 17 million copies worldwide.
In 2005 Jean started a foundation called Yele Haiti to provide access to education, professional training, job and entrepreneurial opportunities and other social programs.
In May he launched an initiative to raise $48 million to expand food distribution and provide assistance to farmers.
Jean has called for an end to the kidnappings-for-ransom that have plagued Haiti in recent years and urged Haitians and foreign partners to create a safer environment for investment.
"To solve the economic crisis, we need investments and to have investments we need security," Jean said. "To have security we have to start addressing the social problems in the most vulnerable and underprivileged neighborhoods."
Jean has distributed food in Cite Soleil, the largest slum, and corn and millet seeds to farmers in his home village. Many of Haiti's 9 million people live on less than $2 a day.
UTOPIAN DREAM
He called on Haitians to unite behind social change.
"Social and economic change will remain a utopian dream if we remain divided," Jean said.
Haiti's fractious politics has been on display in recent weeks as Preval tries to replace Jacques Edouard Alexis, the prime minister fired by Parliament after the food riots.
Lawmakers have rejected his first two nominees. On Monday, Preval designated a third, economist Michele Pierre-Louis, who faces an unpredictable ratification process.
Responding to speculation he harbors ambitions to run for president in 2010 elections, Jean said he is not interested.
"When you are trying to do something positive, people think you want to run for some position," he said. "But I can assure them I don't want and I am not going to run for president."
Jean said he would consider it a greater achievement to reach his goals and dreams for Haiti than to become president.
"In the end, I am a rap star and I don't see myself behind a desk sitting as president. I want to be out there using my contacts to help my country and do what I can do best."
By Joseph Guyler Delva from reuters
FAMU Regains Its Accreditation
Florida A&M University is back on firm academic ground after receiving news Thursday that its accreditation has been restored.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools took FAMU off probation, a status the university has held for the past year.
SACS officials determined that FAMU progressed beyond the financial troubles that have dogged the university for years. Just a year ago, the accrediting group noted "significant problems" in FAMU's finances and administration.
The prospect of losing accreditation jeopardized its students' chances to receive federal financial aid as well as their ability to transfer FAMU credits to other schools.
"Accreditation is a lifeline of a university," FAMU president James Ammons said in an interview Thursday. "As an indication of academic quality, to have accreditation without probation, without any stipulations, is simply huge."
It wasn't easy to get there. Ammons took over as president one week after SACS placed the university on probation.
He didn't waste time. He replaced eight senior administrators, with the blessing of FAMU's board of trustees.
The new team then went about correcting the issues SACS had raised. The accrediting group found that the university failed to comply with 10 standards for financial controls and administration.
With every corrective plan the university put in place, a SACS committee of financial experts and administrators would later check its progress.
Meanwhile, the university and alumni groups worked to maintain interest from prospective students and gifts from donors.
"It did affect our recruiting," said Ted Taylor, spokesman for the Tampa chapter of the university's alumni association. "It kind of hindered our swagger; now we have our swagger back."
Thursday's announcement came one day after a state task force ruled that FAMU "satisfactorily addressed" most of its concerns about financial controls and administration.
The task force, whose members come from law, finance and higher education, began monitoring the school last year after a state audit uncovered problems in its finances and management, which have been documented for years.
The National Science Foundation threatened in 2005 to stop all its federal grants to FAMU if the school didn't quickly solve its financial problems. The school eventually reached a settlement.
Other problems arose from state audits that pointed to university financial records that could not be verified, questionable contracting and FAMU's inability to account for millions of dollars in inventory.
Probation from SACS was the most serious blow. Accrediting about 800 colleges and universities in 11 Southern states and some in Latin America, it places 16 to 18 schools on warning or probation every year.
SACS initially placed FAMU on probation for six months, and university officials thought they had made progress when the probation was up in December. SACS officials, however, decided to extend the probation another six months.
State university system Chancellor Mark Rosenberg said Thursday that "President Ammons and the FAMU community have restored the university's good standing."
Ammons added, "For our community and for our corporate partners, everyone wants to be associated with a place of quality, and accreditation is an indicator that you do meet certain standards."
By ADAM EMERSON
The Tampa Tribune
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools took FAMU off probation, a status the university has held for the past year.
SACS officials determined that FAMU progressed beyond the financial troubles that have dogged the university for years. Just a year ago, the accrediting group noted "significant problems" in FAMU's finances and administration.
The prospect of losing accreditation jeopardized its students' chances to receive federal financial aid as well as their ability to transfer FAMU credits to other schools.
"Accreditation is a lifeline of a university," FAMU president James Ammons said in an interview Thursday. "As an indication of academic quality, to have accreditation without probation, without any stipulations, is simply huge."
It wasn't easy to get there. Ammons took over as president one week after SACS placed the university on probation.
He didn't waste time. He replaced eight senior administrators, with the blessing of FAMU's board of trustees.
The new team then went about correcting the issues SACS had raised. The accrediting group found that the university failed to comply with 10 standards for financial controls and administration.
With every corrective plan the university put in place, a SACS committee of financial experts and administrators would later check its progress.
Meanwhile, the university and alumni groups worked to maintain interest from prospective students and gifts from donors.
"It did affect our recruiting," said Ted Taylor, spokesman for the Tampa chapter of the university's alumni association. "It kind of hindered our swagger; now we have our swagger back."
Thursday's announcement came one day after a state task force ruled that FAMU "satisfactorily addressed" most of its concerns about financial controls and administration.
The task force, whose members come from law, finance and higher education, began monitoring the school last year after a state audit uncovered problems in its finances and management, which have been documented for years.
The National Science Foundation threatened in 2005 to stop all its federal grants to FAMU if the school didn't quickly solve its financial problems. The school eventually reached a settlement.
Other problems arose from state audits that pointed to university financial records that could not be verified, questionable contracting and FAMU's inability to account for millions of dollars in inventory.
Probation from SACS was the most serious blow. Accrediting about 800 colleges and universities in 11 Southern states and some in Latin America, it places 16 to 18 schools on warning or probation every year.
SACS initially placed FAMU on probation for six months, and university officials thought they had made progress when the probation was up in December. SACS officials, however, decided to extend the probation another six months.
State university system Chancellor Mark Rosenberg said Thursday that "President Ammons and the FAMU community have restored the university's good standing."
Ammons added, "For our community and for our corporate partners, everyone wants to be associated with a place of quality, and accreditation is an indicator that you do meet certain standards."
By ADAM EMERSON
The Tampa Tribune
Friday, June 27, 2008
Study: Blacks Don't Share Similar Views of World
NEW YORK — As a black man, John Bess says it has been important for him to know much about the white world, yet he says whites have not been so curious about his.
"We've always known what's happening in the white sector," says Bess, a 56-year-old consultant in New York City, "but they (whites) have no idea who we are, what we're about. … My mother may take one position and I take another and my brother takes another. You have to talk to the segments of our community."
A study out Friday provides a nuanced portrait of black Americans' social views, consumer tastes and notions of identity, undermining the idea that most black Americans share a similar world view and life experience.
MORE: Sweeping national study finds blacks in U.S. diverse, optimistic
Conducted by Yankelovich, a consumer market research firm, and sponsored by Radio One Inc., the survey finds that blacks have made progress economically and educationally and that most have a positive outlook for the future. Nearly one-third make more than $50,000 a year and 47% own homes.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Internet | California | New Jersey | Georgia | New York City | Manhattan | Barack Obama | YouTube | Harlem | iPhones | Yankelovich | Catherine Hughes
Those surveyed also believe that blacks have a distinct history that makes solidarity important. Many also maintain a high level of distrust of the government, criminal justice system and mainstream media.
The study should widen the lens through which other ethnic groups view black America, says Catherine Hughes, Radio One's founder. Perhaps most important, Hughes adds, it will give black Americans a more informed view of each other. The survey's findings can be viewed at www.BlackAmericaStudy.com.
The study pinpointed 11 distinct segments within black America.
"There's a difference between the folks who are multigenerational descendants of slaves in the American South as opposed to people who are immigrants," says Ann Morning, an NYU professor who teaches the sociology of race and ethnicity. "To be a black person living in California is not the same as being a black person living in Georgia or New York."
Byron Huart, 20, is a "connected black teen," one of several groups identified by the survey whose lives revolve around new technology. "My TV has been sitting in my room," says Huart, a computer science major at Bloomfield College in New Jersey who has a YouTube channel. "It's like a relic. I haven't turned it on in about three weeks."
The survey found that the so-called digital divide that previously was leaving behind minorities and others without access to the Internet has narrowed greatly. About 68% of blacks spend time online, the survey found, compared with 70% of all Americans, according to other surveys.
"People who wouldn't necessarily have the Internet on a computer now have iPhones or can find other ways," says Tariq Muhammad, director of BlackVoices.com, the most visited African-American targeted website. "Accessibility has been a big factor in ensuring that communities of color are on line."
The survey also revealed an entrepreneurial spirit among young people. One-fourth of the "connected teens" are already saving for their own businesses. Huart became a CEO in high school with a venture that creates menus and business cards.
" I encourage entrepreneurship," he says, "because you can't rely on corporate America."
Natasha Malcolm, 37, however, has done well in corporate environs. With an MBA, marketing career and home in Union, N.J., she epitomizes the "new middle class," the most affluent, well educated of the segments the survey found.
Despite her success, she believes that institutional racism remains a major obstacle and she herself still dodges stereotypes.
"Some people are a little surprised that I live in the suburbs and own a home," she says. "They say things like, 'You have a yard?' "
Crime is something that Vania Wynter, 37, worries about every day. She and her four children live in a public housing project in Manhattan, surrounded by drugs and violence. "Every night I dream of having a home so I don't have to live where I live," she says.
Wynter falls into a category dubbed "family struggles," a group composed primarily of mothers, many single like Wynter, who are having difficulty making ends meet. More than half earn less than $25,000 a year.
Wynter, a legal secretary for a Manhattan law firm, makes less than $32,000 a year. She calculates the costs and tasks of daily life down to how many caps of laundry detergent she pours into the washing machine.
Like many of her peers, Wynter views the police with conflicting emotions. "I'm deathly afraid of them," she says. "At the same time, I'm glad they're not far from where I live."
John Bess can see the good through the bad.
A lifelong Harlem resident, he mentors many young people he says often tell him of ill treatment by police. Yet he has also seen much progress. He is elated that Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
"I have to dwell on hope," he says.
By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
"We've always known what's happening in the white sector," says Bess, a 56-year-old consultant in New York City, "but they (whites) have no idea who we are, what we're about. … My mother may take one position and I take another and my brother takes another. You have to talk to the segments of our community."
A study out Friday provides a nuanced portrait of black Americans' social views, consumer tastes and notions of identity, undermining the idea that most black Americans share a similar world view and life experience.
MORE: Sweeping national study finds blacks in U.S. diverse, optimistic
Conducted by Yankelovich, a consumer market research firm, and sponsored by Radio One Inc., the survey finds that blacks have made progress economically and educationally and that most have a positive outlook for the future. Nearly one-third make more than $50,000 a year and 47% own homes.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Internet | California | New Jersey | Georgia | New York City | Manhattan | Barack Obama | YouTube | Harlem | iPhones | Yankelovich | Catherine Hughes
Those surveyed also believe that blacks have a distinct history that makes solidarity important. Many also maintain a high level of distrust of the government, criminal justice system and mainstream media.
The study should widen the lens through which other ethnic groups view black America, says Catherine Hughes, Radio One's founder. Perhaps most important, Hughes adds, it will give black Americans a more informed view of each other. The survey's findings can be viewed at www.BlackAmericaStudy.com.
The study pinpointed 11 distinct segments within black America.
"There's a difference between the folks who are multigenerational descendants of slaves in the American South as opposed to people who are immigrants," says Ann Morning, an NYU professor who teaches the sociology of race and ethnicity. "To be a black person living in California is not the same as being a black person living in Georgia or New York."
Byron Huart, 20, is a "connected black teen," one of several groups identified by the survey whose lives revolve around new technology. "My TV has been sitting in my room," says Huart, a computer science major at Bloomfield College in New Jersey who has a YouTube channel. "It's like a relic. I haven't turned it on in about three weeks."
The survey found that the so-called digital divide that previously was leaving behind minorities and others without access to the Internet has narrowed greatly. About 68% of blacks spend time online, the survey found, compared with 70% of all Americans, according to other surveys.
"People who wouldn't necessarily have the Internet on a computer now have iPhones or can find other ways," says Tariq Muhammad, director of BlackVoices.com, the most visited African-American targeted website. "Accessibility has been a big factor in ensuring that communities of color are on line."
The survey also revealed an entrepreneurial spirit among young people. One-fourth of the "connected teens" are already saving for their own businesses. Huart became a CEO in high school with a venture that creates menus and business cards.
" I encourage entrepreneurship," he says, "because you can't rely on corporate America."
Natasha Malcolm, 37, however, has done well in corporate environs. With an MBA, marketing career and home in Union, N.J., she epitomizes the "new middle class," the most affluent, well educated of the segments the survey found.
Despite her success, she believes that institutional racism remains a major obstacle and she herself still dodges stereotypes.
"Some people are a little surprised that I live in the suburbs and own a home," she says. "They say things like, 'You have a yard?' "
Crime is something that Vania Wynter, 37, worries about every day. She and her four children live in a public housing project in Manhattan, surrounded by drugs and violence. "Every night I dream of having a home so I don't have to live where I live," she says.
Wynter falls into a category dubbed "family struggles," a group composed primarily of mothers, many single like Wynter, who are having difficulty making ends meet. More than half earn less than $25,000 a year.
Wynter, a legal secretary for a Manhattan law firm, makes less than $32,000 a year. She calculates the costs and tasks of daily life down to how many caps of laundry detergent she pours into the washing machine.
Like many of her peers, Wynter views the police with conflicting emotions. "I'm deathly afraid of them," she says. "At the same time, I'm glad they're not far from where I live."
John Bess can see the good through the bad.
A lifelong Harlem resident, he mentors many young people he says often tell him of ill treatment by police. Yet he has also seen much progress. He is elated that Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
"I have to dwell on hope," he says.
By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
Chris Rock's Mom Urges Women to Keep Up the Good Work
Rose Rock, mother of comedian Chris Rock, author and South Carolina native -- had a simple message for the 11 Upstate women honored Thursday night: "Your work not only validates you, but all of us."
Nearly 270 people joined Rock in honoring the women were honored at the annual Church and Community of the Upstate, Women of Excellence Awards banquet.
Rock took time to say that African American women are about to experience a first in a lifetime experience if presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, wins the White House and his wife, Michelle, becomes "the first black first lady."
She said there have been gains for black women even if Obama isn’t elected president this fall. "He’s put the crown out there to pick up and put on," Rock said.
"Raising The Bar of Excellence" was this year’s awards theme.
The Rev. John T. Berry, the banquet’s coordinator, said it’s critical to acknowledge the accomplishments of the women. "They play key roles in our community," he said.
Rock, whose son stars in "Everybody Hates Chris," has written a book titled: "Mama Rock Rules: Ten Lessons for Raising a Household of Successful Children."
Rock, who is from Andrews, S.C., said she has raised 10 children, including her famous son, and 17 foster children, mostly in Brooklyn, N.Y.
"People ask: ‘Why would you raise so many children?’ " She said, "Why not!"
Host of a radio show in New York City, Rock also describes herself as a motivational speaker for women and a child advocate.
She urged everyone in the room to be a parent and not shy away from the tough challenges.
"One of the things about obstacles; it only tells you how much you want something," she said in a 35-minute speech. "We were never supposed to make any of the strides that we’ve made."
The 11 women include: Mary Joe Walker, the Rev. Audrey Boozer, Joyce Cruel, Eula J. Thurman, Heartie Ferguson, Edith Thomason, Amber K. Allen, Pamela Sims, Willie Mae Woods, Stephanie Tepps and Charmayne Brown.
By E. Richard Walton
greenvilleonline.com
Nearly 270 people joined Rock in honoring the women were honored at the annual Church and Community of the Upstate, Women of Excellence Awards banquet.
Rock took time to say that African American women are about to experience a first in a lifetime experience if presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, wins the White House and his wife, Michelle, becomes "the first black first lady."
She said there have been gains for black women even if Obama isn’t elected president this fall. "He’s put the crown out there to pick up and put on," Rock said.
"Raising The Bar of Excellence" was this year’s awards theme.
The Rev. John T. Berry, the banquet’s coordinator, said it’s critical to acknowledge the accomplishments of the women. "They play key roles in our community," he said.
Rock, whose son stars in "Everybody Hates Chris," has written a book titled: "Mama Rock Rules: Ten Lessons for Raising a Household of Successful Children."
Rock, who is from Andrews, S.C., said she has raised 10 children, including her famous son, and 17 foster children, mostly in Brooklyn, N.Y.
"People ask: ‘Why would you raise so many children?’ " She said, "Why not!"
Host of a radio show in New York City, Rock also describes herself as a motivational speaker for women and a child advocate.
She urged everyone in the room to be a parent and not shy away from the tough challenges.
"One of the things about obstacles; it only tells you how much you want something," she said in a 35-minute speech. "We were never supposed to make any of the strides that we’ve made."
The 11 women include: Mary Joe Walker, the Rev. Audrey Boozer, Joyce Cruel, Eula J. Thurman, Heartie Ferguson, Edith Thomason, Amber K. Allen, Pamela Sims, Willie Mae Woods, Stephanie Tepps and Charmayne Brown.
By E. Richard Walton
greenvilleonline.com
G8 Warns Sudan of More UN Action on Darfur
KYOTO, Japan (AFP) - Group of Eight powers warned Friday they could take further action against Sudan at the UN Security Council unless it complies with demands to bring Darfur war crimes suspects to justice.
Foreign ministers of the industrial powers called for an immediate ceasefire in the parched province, where the United Nations estimates that up to 300,000 people have died since the conflict broke out in 2003.
Sudan has refused to comply with UN Security Council demands to hand over two suspects to the International Criminal Court who are accused of 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape.
"We call on all parties concerned to abide by their obligations under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions; we would otherwise support further appropriate action in the UN Security Council," a G8 statement said after two days of talks in Kyoto, Japan.
"We urge the government of Sudan and all other parties to participate fully with the International Criminal Court in order to put an end to impunity for the crimes committed in Darfur," said the ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed Janjaweed militias, prompting a clampdown that the United States has branded as genocide.
from AFP
Foreign ministers of the industrial powers called for an immediate ceasefire in the parched province, where the United Nations estimates that up to 300,000 people have died since the conflict broke out in 2003.
Sudan has refused to comply with UN Security Council demands to hand over two suspects to the International Criminal Court who are accused of 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape.
"We call on all parties concerned to abide by their obligations under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions; we would otherwise support further appropriate action in the UN Security Council," a G8 statement said after two days of talks in Kyoto, Japan.
"We urge the government of Sudan and all other parties to participate fully with the International Criminal Court in order to put an end to impunity for the crimes committed in Darfur," said the ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed Janjaweed militias, prompting a clampdown that the United States has branded as genocide.
from AFP
Jamaica's Food Crisis...Backyard Garden to the Rescue
Shirley Leslie's backyard garden has saved her at least 25 per cent on her monthly grocery bill.
Despite the limited space she has to work with, she has utilised the space quite effectively. Currently, with rising food prices, her backyard garden makes a great difference.
On her little 'farm' she grows banana, hot pepper, callaloo, cassava, dasheen, June plum, sorrel, and mangoes. She has also recently reaped corn and tomatoes. And, from time to time, she plants cabbage, lettuce, and pak choi.
Leslie began her garden last summer but she is no stranger to farming. She grew up in Maroon Town, a farming village in St James. Her father, Adonijah Brown, was a sugar cane and banana farmer. She developed a love for the profession from an early age.
Leslie, 54, shares a special relationship with her plants. Every morning at about 5:00 she attends to them, even talking to and kissing them.
Passionate about her crops
"I tell them how pretty they are. I believe that helps them to grow. Though they cannot talk back, the next day you may see them with a lovely bloom, that's how they respond," she said.
She is so passionate about her crops that in February when her peppers developed some form of disease she called in Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to do testing. However, she has not received the test result as yet. She notes that it was RADA that gave her the cassava plant. She said that it takes about nine months before it yields, but it can give her between 20-30 pounds of cassava when it does.
She told Food that her garden has helped her out tremendously. "I don't have to buy things such as callaloo. Plus, my callaloo is softer than that I would buy." She notes that at times when she reaps her crops it is so much that she has to share it with the neighbours.
Satisfaction
Leslie said that farming gives her a certain satisfaction, especially knowing that she can eat what she grows. "Plus, I get joy from knowing that I can make a meal from my garden without having to go to the grocery store."
She strongly encourages everyone to plant something even, if it is in a little pot. "You will be surprised how quickly the time goes by after planting, and before you know it, you will be reaping what you plant," she said.
Leslie's backyard garden is also cost-effective, in that she devised a very resourceful way of irrigating her plants. She uses the waste water from the kitchen and laundry room to water the fruit trees, but use regular tap water on the callaloo and pepper. This saves her a great deal on water usage. Leslie is a seamstress by profession but uses all her spare time to attend to her 'babies'.
For information on backyard gardening, contact the RADA office in your parish or the head office on Old Hope Road, St Andrew.
Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Jamaica Gleaner, Staff Reporter
Despite the limited space she has to work with, she has utilised the space quite effectively. Currently, with rising food prices, her backyard garden makes a great difference.
On her little 'farm' she grows banana, hot pepper, callaloo, cassava, dasheen, June plum, sorrel, and mangoes. She has also recently reaped corn and tomatoes. And, from time to time, she plants cabbage, lettuce, and pak choi.
Leslie began her garden last summer but she is no stranger to farming. She grew up in Maroon Town, a farming village in St James. Her father, Adonijah Brown, was a sugar cane and banana farmer. She developed a love for the profession from an early age.
Leslie, 54, shares a special relationship with her plants. Every morning at about 5:00 she attends to them, even talking to and kissing them.
Passionate about her crops
"I tell them how pretty they are. I believe that helps them to grow. Though they cannot talk back, the next day you may see them with a lovely bloom, that's how they respond," she said.
She is so passionate about her crops that in February when her peppers developed some form of disease she called in Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to do testing. However, she has not received the test result as yet. She notes that it was RADA that gave her the cassava plant. She said that it takes about nine months before it yields, but it can give her between 20-30 pounds of cassava when it does.
She told Food that her garden has helped her out tremendously. "I don't have to buy things such as callaloo. Plus, my callaloo is softer than that I would buy." She notes that at times when she reaps her crops it is so much that she has to share it with the neighbours.
Satisfaction
Leslie said that farming gives her a certain satisfaction, especially knowing that she can eat what she grows. "Plus, I get joy from knowing that I can make a meal from my garden without having to go to the grocery store."
She strongly encourages everyone to plant something even, if it is in a little pot. "You will be surprised how quickly the time goes by after planting, and before you know it, you will be reaping what you plant," she said.
Leslie's backyard garden is also cost-effective, in that she devised a very resourceful way of irrigating her plants. She uses the waste water from the kitchen and laundry room to water the fruit trees, but use regular tap water on the callaloo and pepper. This saves her a great deal on water usage. Leslie is a seamstress by profession but uses all her spare time to attend to her 'babies'.
For information on backyard gardening, contact the RADA office in your parish or the head office on Old Hope Road, St Andrew.
Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Jamaica Gleaner, Staff Reporter
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Getting Out the (Rest of the) Youth Vote
Time Magazine recently proclaimed 2008 "The Year of the Youth Vote." MTV has been similarly celebrating the unprecedented youth turnout on Super Tuesday with votes (PDF) tripling in five states and nearly quadrupling in Tennessee their 2000 totals. Inspired by what youth voters see as a more grassroots campaign of Sen. Barack Obama and mobilized through dozens of voter engagement groups, voter turnout among youth increased in every state except New York.
Formerly skeptical political strategists, media outlets, bloggers, pundits and presidential candidates are now paying close attention to this voting bloc. The recognition of the clout of some 50 million 18- to 30-year-old eligible voters in America marks a historic shift in the national discourse. In the past decade, polls showed that public opinion cast young people as "apathetic" overlooking increasing community and electoral activism.
Trouble is, the new mainstream narrative on young voters has a huge gap, and everyone from the Democratic Party to social justice advocates and economically vulnerable communities stand to lose from this ommission. The new youth vote story narrowly fixates on voting among college students rendering close to half of the Americans between the ages of 18-25 politically invisible. While one in every four college-educated youths came out to vote in the Super Tuesday states, only one in fourteen out-of-college youths voted. This disparity in voter turnout has persisted since 1976, seeing only a minor improvement (PDF) in 2000 and 2004.
There are close to 13 million (PDF) 18- to 25-year-olds, who have never been enrolled in college in America. So far only about three million (PDF) voted in the primaries. These non-college youths come disproportionately from lower-income backgrounds and African American and Latino communities. It is these very communities that stand to gain the most from more political power and resources, especially during the current recession.
With Sen. Obama as the presumptive Democratic nominee, these new voters also represent a huge, untapped potential voter base, of which close to half live in clustered, urban areas in some of the most likely swing states, including Ohio, New Mexico, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Colorado. This demographic is equally crucial for progressives of all stripes attempting to build a new majority for pushing universal health care, education reform, and urgent climate change policies on the national agenda. What will it take to mobilize over 10 million non-college youth to come out in November?
Don't Call It Politics
On a sunny Thursday afternoon in April, twenty-year-old Richmond, Calif. native John T. Pointer tells me he never saw the point in voting, and didn't vote in the primaries. He never talked about politics at home and his teachers never mentioned politics at school. "Me and my brothers mentioned elections once, when we were saying that we should help get a black man to the office," John remembers. His over-sized hoodie covers two-thirds of his five foot eight frame. Two fake diamond earrings sparkle underneath an Oakland A's hat. John has a warm, laid-back personality. As we walk down three blocks, four drivers honk at him. John knows his Crescent Park neighborhood inside out and the neighborhood knows him.
When I ask John about his childhood, his voice swells with pride as he recounts each case in which he was more blessed than others. Though his mother was addicted to drugs since John was two, he and his three sisters grew up in a stable group foster home run by their grandmother, who always looked after at least two other neighborhood kids. His mother's addiction also forced John to stay away from drugs. "Our granny told us not to let my mom in the house when she was doing drugs. She'd knock on the door asking us to let her in and we couldn't. It was tearing me up inside," John tells me. "I can't do or sell drugs, because of my mom."
While John repeatedly mentions that neither he nor his friends care about politics, he's eager to show me the signs of economic recession in Richmond and talk about drug-related violence in his community. "Me and my brothers never talk about politics. We don't know when to vote or where to vote," John tells me, as we walk down a block in which he shows me that seven out of 20 houses have either "price reduced" for sale signs or are abandoned, boarded up, and now used as garbage dumps or drug and prostitution houses. Since 2007, Richmond's Contra Costa County mortgage default notices have increased by 533 percent. The poverty rate was at 14 percent in 2006, and unemployment is four times higher (PDF) than in the neighboring San Francisco Bay Area.
John lives first-hand the effects of foreclosures that bring more violence to the community. An increase in drug distribution points bring more turf wars and guns to the neighborhood. Over 300 children walk to Lincoln Elementary School, right across from the abandoned house we examine. Parents pray that drive-by shootings miss their kids. John tells me that in the past two years, five of his friends have been killed. In 2006, Richmond had 42 murders, compared to four in the more affluent Berkeley, just three subway stops away.
When I ask John what issues he would talk about to engage his closest friends, who are not in college, to come out and vote, he quickly rattles off three concerns: "We have to get more sports programs in our schools--it is the only reason middle school kids go to school. We need more funding for our schools and we need more financial aid for those who are considering college."
John adds that the traditional organizing tactic of going door-to-door to get people to register to vote would not work with young people. "Kids are never at home," he says. "You gotta go where kids are--gyms, community centers, schools. Block parties with music would be best." The biggest obstacle to voting John sees is that registration and voting can't happen at the same place and the same time. I ask him how many of his friends are on Facebook, as most college students are. "None," he replies. All of his friends are on MySpace and BlackPlanet. John is online frequently, but like most of his peers, he uses a hand-held device rather than a personal computer. Long campaign emails are probably not going to get read. As I leave, John gives me a CD with some hip-hop he and his two best friends recently recorded.
Neighborhood Matters More Than Age
Twenty minutes and three subway stops away, Brian Defriatas, a Computer Science major at the University of California, Berkeley, tells me he got hooked on politics when he was eleven, during the presidential campaign of 2000. He got registered to vote as soon as he could, at the age of 18. While canvassing at the table for Cal Berkeley Democrats, Brian tells me he is the first in his family to go to college, despite the fact that his parents are doing well without a college degree, working in finance. Like John, Brian tells me he had a very good childhood, but their upbringings couldn't be more different.
Brian grew up in a middle-class suburb of Castro Valley, where 70 percent of residents are white, with a median income of $64,874. Only 2.7 percent of families live below the federal poverty levels. Brian went to a private Catholic school that focuses heavily on transferring students to four-year colleges. He grew up in a stable home with both of his parents, who often talked about politics.
When I ask Brian about the political issues most important to him, he first brings up the war in Iraq. He then mentions the economy: "I am worried about the instability of our economy. Will I have a job when I graduate?" His third most pressing issue is what he views as a slow deterioration of personal liberties. Brian goes on Facebook several times a day. He grew up on a steady diet of punk and indie rock and enjoys groups like NOFX, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and especially Green Day.
One Size Does Not Fit All
It only takes a few brief conversations with Brian's peers at UC Berkeley and John's friends in Richmond to see how dramatically different successful Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) tactics would have to be in these communities despite their similarity in age. While John does not explicitly call his concerns "political," they are no less political than Brian's. The big difference is that John's issues are local--schools, sports programs, violence--and John's peers don't see politicians or voting as a way to solve them. What complicates matters even more is that reaching out to non-college youths like John is exponentially harder than reaching out to students. They are not clustered in one, convenient location within campus. Non-college youths are scattered in cities, suburbs and rural areas, and depending on their background, they will be at different concerts and clubs, social networking sites, and community organizations.
The most prevalent youth GOTV organizing tactics in the field today--cyclical voter registration drives on campuses, online organizing through Facebook, and the use of nationally recognized celebrities and music acts (rather than local ones)--are not as effective at reaching non-college youth. Though less funded than the larger student-oriented groups like the U.S. Student Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), there are a few effective groups that focus on getting non-college youths to the polls.
Black Youth Vote (BYV) has been organizing its constituents to vote, primarily in the South, for 12 years. In many under-funded school systems, close to half of African American students don't graduate from high school and only 17 percent (PDF) graduate from college. That's why BYV goes where non-college constituents work and relax--movie theatres, shopping malls, night clubs, sports events, subway stations and bus stops. "Many youth vote organizations are too fixated on college student organizing," Jordan Thierry, the national coordinator of BYV explains. He believes youth organizers need to spend more time and money on reaching non-college youth, because current disparity gives white and upper-middle class youth and their issues priority on the agenda, further discouraging non-college youth from participating.
Different Issues, Different Mobilizing Tactics
When it comes to mobilizing non-college youths, Khari Mosley, the national political director of the League of Young Voters, another group that works primarily with low-income youth and youth of color, stresses that it's crucial to combine traditional voter organizing tactics, such as canvassing, with new models to engage non-college youth in November. The League plans to use targeted, localized guerrilla marketing tactics, such as Street Teams who post fliers and stickers in clubs, coffee shops and community based organizations. They will also use a balanced mixture of new mediums--including MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and text messaging--in order to reach the widest number of youths from varying backgrounds. While most youth groups use Facebook as their online organizing destination, the immigrant marches in 2006 revealed that Latino youth still prefer MySpace and text messaging. Most of Black Youth Vote members also use MySpace.
Both the League and Voto Latino, the largest online Latino youth voter registration organization, have also learned that using local celebrities such as musicians, actors, and community leaders, rather than famous national stars, brings higher returns when it comes to actually getting young voters to register. In 2006, Voto Latino partnered up with a national Reggaeton celebrity Pitbull. He was able to attract Latino youth to his concerts but it didn't necessarily translate into voter registrations.
"Pitbull got them excited, but then he left," Maria Teresa Petersen, the founding director of Voto Latino explained. "New voters need to be told over and over and over again about voting. We partnered up with local DJs in Chicago and LA and it worked. They are local, they have a relationship, they are trusted leaders and they repeat the same message."
Mosley also stresses that building long-term relationships in low-income communities with trusted, local and permanent field presence is the best tactic for maintaining a sustained voter bloc. "These young people are some of the most cynical, skeptical and distrustful people in this country when it comes to our democracy," Mosley explains. Every time some new outsider asks people in historically disenfranchised, low-income communities to vote, then leaves and nothing changes, cynicism grows and become harder to counter in the next election cycle.
Mosley doesn't think we are too fixated on colleges. "The issue is more about not being fixated enough on non-college organizing. College campuses will always be fertile areas for organizing, we need to continue to invest there. [...] But we need to expand the work to all post-secondary institutions--especially community colleges, technical schools and art institutes, etc."
Fortunately, some have already done that. The League, Black Youth Vote, Voto Latino, Young People For (YP4), and College Democrats of America (CDA) are all expanding their outreach to outlets like community colleges whose enrollment includes some 11.6 million students. Most community college students live in their hometowns, providing organizers with potential links between students and non-college youths in local communities.
Closing The Gap
Recognizing a lack of focus on non-college youth and coordination among existing youth organizers, Generational Alliance (GA) recently launched a new initiative: Generation Vote. [Disclosure: The author is the executive editor of Wiretap Magazine, a new member of Generation Vote.] The Alliance has identified at least three different sectors--student organizing, non-college youth organizing, and cultural and media organizing--all working without any formal and intentional coordination, sometimes overlapping in their work, and neglecting crucial regions and urgent issues.
This year, Generation Vote brought 17 youth vote organizers together. All groups prioritize reaching out to historically disenfranchised youth from low-income and communities of color. Generation Vote members, among them Hip Hop Caucus, Generation Change, Campus Camp Wellstone, and United States Student Association, put together a shared calendar of trainings and GOTV efforts to identify gaps and share resources, curricula and new voters data.
Samantha Liapes, the director of Generation Vote, can't imagine a sustainable and powerful progressive coalition if half of young people--especially those most affected by the issues--are not a part of it. "As a collective, we will carry out some nationally coordinated efforts designed specifically to reach, engage and project the voices of non-college youth. We will organize around issues of particular concern to non-college youths, such as jobs, criminal justice system reform, and health care access. Members are also building a range of cultural and new media strategies to engage non-college youth."
In 2004, over three million (PDF) new, young voters came out to vote. This year, according to veteran youth organizers, many groups that contributed to this increase either closed up shop or are substantially underfunded, closing local chapters in key swing states. Sen. Obama has launched a major young voter registration campaign, but it can't succeed by itself. Increased investment and support of the existing grassroots youth groups with local credibility will be key for getting 13 million non-college youth to vote in November.
Kristina Rizga for THE NATION MAGAZINE
Formerly skeptical political strategists, media outlets, bloggers, pundits and presidential candidates are now paying close attention to this voting bloc. The recognition of the clout of some 50 million 18- to 30-year-old eligible voters in America marks a historic shift in the national discourse. In the past decade, polls showed that public opinion cast young people as "apathetic" overlooking increasing community and electoral activism.
Trouble is, the new mainstream narrative on young voters has a huge gap, and everyone from the Democratic Party to social justice advocates and economically vulnerable communities stand to lose from this ommission. The new youth vote story narrowly fixates on voting among college students rendering close to half of the Americans between the ages of 18-25 politically invisible. While one in every four college-educated youths came out to vote in the Super Tuesday states, only one in fourteen out-of-college youths voted. This disparity in voter turnout has persisted since 1976, seeing only a minor improvement (PDF) in 2000 and 2004.
There are close to 13 million (PDF) 18- to 25-year-olds, who have never been enrolled in college in America. So far only about three million (PDF) voted in the primaries. These non-college youths come disproportionately from lower-income backgrounds and African American and Latino communities. It is these very communities that stand to gain the most from more political power and resources, especially during the current recession.
With Sen. Obama as the presumptive Democratic nominee, these new voters also represent a huge, untapped potential voter base, of which close to half live in clustered, urban areas in some of the most likely swing states, including Ohio, New Mexico, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Colorado. This demographic is equally crucial for progressives of all stripes attempting to build a new majority for pushing universal health care, education reform, and urgent climate change policies on the national agenda. What will it take to mobilize over 10 million non-college youth to come out in November?
Don't Call It Politics
On a sunny Thursday afternoon in April, twenty-year-old Richmond, Calif. native John T. Pointer tells me he never saw the point in voting, and didn't vote in the primaries. He never talked about politics at home and his teachers never mentioned politics at school. "Me and my brothers mentioned elections once, when we were saying that we should help get a black man to the office," John remembers. His over-sized hoodie covers two-thirds of his five foot eight frame. Two fake diamond earrings sparkle underneath an Oakland A's hat. John has a warm, laid-back personality. As we walk down three blocks, four drivers honk at him. John knows his Crescent Park neighborhood inside out and the neighborhood knows him.
When I ask John about his childhood, his voice swells with pride as he recounts each case in which he was more blessed than others. Though his mother was addicted to drugs since John was two, he and his three sisters grew up in a stable group foster home run by their grandmother, who always looked after at least two other neighborhood kids. His mother's addiction also forced John to stay away from drugs. "Our granny told us not to let my mom in the house when she was doing drugs. She'd knock on the door asking us to let her in and we couldn't. It was tearing me up inside," John tells me. "I can't do or sell drugs, because of my mom."
While John repeatedly mentions that neither he nor his friends care about politics, he's eager to show me the signs of economic recession in Richmond and talk about drug-related violence in his community. "Me and my brothers never talk about politics. We don't know when to vote or where to vote," John tells me, as we walk down a block in which he shows me that seven out of 20 houses have either "price reduced" for sale signs or are abandoned, boarded up, and now used as garbage dumps or drug and prostitution houses. Since 2007, Richmond's Contra Costa County mortgage default notices have increased by 533 percent. The poverty rate was at 14 percent in 2006, and unemployment is four times higher (PDF) than in the neighboring San Francisco Bay Area.
John lives first-hand the effects of foreclosures that bring more violence to the community. An increase in drug distribution points bring more turf wars and guns to the neighborhood. Over 300 children walk to Lincoln Elementary School, right across from the abandoned house we examine. Parents pray that drive-by shootings miss their kids. John tells me that in the past two years, five of his friends have been killed. In 2006, Richmond had 42 murders, compared to four in the more affluent Berkeley, just three subway stops away.
When I ask John what issues he would talk about to engage his closest friends, who are not in college, to come out and vote, he quickly rattles off three concerns: "We have to get more sports programs in our schools--it is the only reason middle school kids go to school. We need more funding for our schools and we need more financial aid for those who are considering college."
John adds that the traditional organizing tactic of going door-to-door to get people to register to vote would not work with young people. "Kids are never at home," he says. "You gotta go where kids are--gyms, community centers, schools. Block parties with music would be best." The biggest obstacle to voting John sees is that registration and voting can't happen at the same place and the same time. I ask him how many of his friends are on Facebook, as most college students are. "None," he replies. All of his friends are on MySpace and BlackPlanet. John is online frequently, but like most of his peers, he uses a hand-held device rather than a personal computer. Long campaign emails are probably not going to get read. As I leave, John gives me a CD with some hip-hop he and his two best friends recently recorded.
Neighborhood Matters More Than Age
Twenty minutes and three subway stops away, Brian Defriatas, a Computer Science major at the University of California, Berkeley, tells me he got hooked on politics when he was eleven, during the presidential campaign of 2000. He got registered to vote as soon as he could, at the age of 18. While canvassing at the table for Cal Berkeley Democrats, Brian tells me he is the first in his family to go to college, despite the fact that his parents are doing well without a college degree, working in finance. Like John, Brian tells me he had a very good childhood, but their upbringings couldn't be more different.
Brian grew up in a middle-class suburb of Castro Valley, where 70 percent of residents are white, with a median income of $64,874. Only 2.7 percent of families live below the federal poverty levels. Brian went to a private Catholic school that focuses heavily on transferring students to four-year colleges. He grew up in a stable home with both of his parents, who often talked about politics.
When I ask Brian about the political issues most important to him, he first brings up the war in Iraq. He then mentions the economy: "I am worried about the instability of our economy. Will I have a job when I graduate?" His third most pressing issue is what he views as a slow deterioration of personal liberties. Brian goes on Facebook several times a day. He grew up on a steady diet of punk and indie rock and enjoys groups like NOFX, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and especially Green Day.
One Size Does Not Fit All
It only takes a few brief conversations with Brian's peers at UC Berkeley and John's friends in Richmond to see how dramatically different successful Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) tactics would have to be in these communities despite their similarity in age. While John does not explicitly call his concerns "political," they are no less political than Brian's. The big difference is that John's issues are local--schools, sports programs, violence--and John's peers don't see politicians or voting as a way to solve them. What complicates matters even more is that reaching out to non-college youths like John is exponentially harder than reaching out to students. They are not clustered in one, convenient location within campus. Non-college youths are scattered in cities, suburbs and rural areas, and depending on their background, they will be at different concerts and clubs, social networking sites, and community organizations.
The most prevalent youth GOTV organizing tactics in the field today--cyclical voter registration drives on campuses, online organizing through Facebook, and the use of nationally recognized celebrities and music acts (rather than local ones)--are not as effective at reaching non-college youth. Though less funded than the larger student-oriented groups like the U.S. Student Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), there are a few effective groups that focus on getting non-college youths to the polls.
Black Youth Vote (BYV) has been organizing its constituents to vote, primarily in the South, for 12 years. In many under-funded school systems, close to half of African American students don't graduate from high school and only 17 percent (PDF) graduate from college. That's why BYV goes where non-college constituents work and relax--movie theatres, shopping malls, night clubs, sports events, subway stations and bus stops. "Many youth vote organizations are too fixated on college student organizing," Jordan Thierry, the national coordinator of BYV explains. He believes youth organizers need to spend more time and money on reaching non-college youth, because current disparity gives white and upper-middle class youth and their issues priority on the agenda, further discouraging non-college youth from participating.
Different Issues, Different Mobilizing Tactics
When it comes to mobilizing non-college youths, Khari Mosley, the national political director of the League of Young Voters, another group that works primarily with low-income youth and youth of color, stresses that it's crucial to combine traditional voter organizing tactics, such as canvassing, with new models to engage non-college youth in November. The League plans to use targeted, localized guerrilla marketing tactics, such as Street Teams who post fliers and stickers in clubs, coffee shops and community based organizations. They will also use a balanced mixture of new mediums--including MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and text messaging--in order to reach the widest number of youths from varying backgrounds. While most youth groups use Facebook as their online organizing destination, the immigrant marches in 2006 revealed that Latino youth still prefer MySpace and text messaging. Most of Black Youth Vote members also use MySpace.
Both the League and Voto Latino, the largest online Latino youth voter registration organization, have also learned that using local celebrities such as musicians, actors, and community leaders, rather than famous national stars, brings higher returns when it comes to actually getting young voters to register. In 2006, Voto Latino partnered up with a national Reggaeton celebrity Pitbull. He was able to attract Latino youth to his concerts but it didn't necessarily translate into voter registrations.
"Pitbull got them excited, but then he left," Maria Teresa Petersen, the founding director of Voto Latino explained. "New voters need to be told over and over and over again about voting. We partnered up with local DJs in Chicago and LA and it worked. They are local, they have a relationship, they are trusted leaders and they repeat the same message."
Mosley also stresses that building long-term relationships in low-income communities with trusted, local and permanent field presence is the best tactic for maintaining a sustained voter bloc. "These young people are some of the most cynical, skeptical and distrustful people in this country when it comes to our democracy," Mosley explains. Every time some new outsider asks people in historically disenfranchised, low-income communities to vote, then leaves and nothing changes, cynicism grows and become harder to counter in the next election cycle.
Mosley doesn't think we are too fixated on colleges. "The issue is more about not being fixated enough on non-college organizing. College campuses will always be fertile areas for organizing, we need to continue to invest there. [...] But we need to expand the work to all post-secondary institutions--especially community colleges, technical schools and art institutes, etc."
Fortunately, some have already done that. The League, Black Youth Vote, Voto Latino, Young People For (YP4), and College Democrats of America (CDA) are all expanding their outreach to outlets like community colleges whose enrollment includes some 11.6 million students. Most community college students live in their hometowns, providing organizers with potential links between students and non-college youths in local communities.
Closing The Gap
Recognizing a lack of focus on non-college youth and coordination among existing youth organizers, Generational Alliance (GA) recently launched a new initiative: Generation Vote. [Disclosure: The author is the executive editor of Wiretap Magazine, a new member of Generation Vote.] The Alliance has identified at least three different sectors--student organizing, non-college youth organizing, and cultural and media organizing--all working without any formal and intentional coordination, sometimes overlapping in their work, and neglecting crucial regions and urgent issues.
This year, Generation Vote brought 17 youth vote organizers together. All groups prioritize reaching out to historically disenfranchised youth from low-income and communities of color. Generation Vote members, among them Hip Hop Caucus, Generation Change, Campus Camp Wellstone, and United States Student Association, put together a shared calendar of trainings and GOTV efforts to identify gaps and share resources, curricula and new voters data.
Samantha Liapes, the director of Generation Vote, can't imagine a sustainable and powerful progressive coalition if half of young people--especially those most affected by the issues--are not a part of it. "As a collective, we will carry out some nationally coordinated efforts designed specifically to reach, engage and project the voices of non-college youth. We will organize around issues of particular concern to non-college youths, such as jobs, criminal justice system reform, and health care access. Members are also building a range of cultural and new media strategies to engage non-college youth."
In 2004, over three million (PDF) new, young voters came out to vote. This year, according to veteran youth organizers, many groups that contributed to this increase either closed up shop or are substantially underfunded, closing local chapters in key swing states. Sen. Obama has launched a major young voter registration campaign, but it can't succeed by itself. Increased investment and support of the existing grassroots youth groups with local credibility will be key for getting 13 million non-college youth to vote in November.
Kristina Rizga for THE NATION MAGAZINE
India.Arie Stars in New Goldberg Play
Neo Soul singer India.Arie will make her Broadway debut this summer in the Whoopi Goldberg-produced play, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf."
According to the Associated Press, the Grammy-winning singer is scheduled to perform this September at New York's Circle in the Square theater. Originally a 1976 portrait of black women's lives in America, the updated version will be directed by Shirley Jo Finney and feature choreography by three-time Tony winner Hinton Battle.
In related news, the singer recently launched the label SoulBird Music with Universal Republic, in hopes of offering people motivational and intelligent music. SoulBird's first signee is former Arie backup singer Anthony David.
"In this era, soul is not a sound or a color, it's an intention," she said. "That's the kind of music I want SoulBird to represent-music with intelligence and heart, music that moves people in their souls and their bodies. Music with wings."
"For Colored Girls" opens on Broadway September 8th.
from sohh.com
According to the Associated Press, the Grammy-winning singer is scheduled to perform this September at New York's Circle in the Square theater. Originally a 1976 portrait of black women's lives in America, the updated version will be directed by Shirley Jo Finney and feature choreography by three-time Tony winner Hinton Battle.
In related news, the singer recently launched the label SoulBird Music with Universal Republic, in hopes of offering people motivational and intelligent music. SoulBird's first signee is former Arie backup singer Anthony David.
"In this era, soul is not a sound or a color, it's an intention," she said. "That's the kind of music I want SoulBird to represent-music with intelligence and heart, music that moves people in their souls and their bodies. Music with wings."
"For Colored Girls" opens on Broadway September 8th.
from sohh.com
Courting the Black Caucus in Colombia
One month before the White House finished negotiations with the Colombian government on a free trade deal, a Republican-leaning organization began working with black members of Congress on a project in the South American country.
The International Republican Institute’s (IRI) goal was to establish a counterpart in Colombia to Congress’s own Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). But it was also talking with a group that could potentially swing the controversial trade deal in Washington.
The IRI’s board members and staff are mostly Republican, and it generally works with GOP offices, but in this case it reached out to Democratic offices, and even paid for some staffers to go to Colombia.
Officials with the group said the effort was intended to help a historically disenfranchised group, and not to build support in the U.S. for the trade deal, a top priority for President Bush that has been blocked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“The work we do is very consistent with work we do in other countries,” said Alex Sutton, IRI’s director of Latin American programs, who recently returned to Washington after working on the IRI project in Colombia for several years. He said the IRI typically works with disenfranchised blocs of people in foreign countries to help build democratic efforts.
Afro-Colombians, the descendants of slaves who for centuries lived in relative isolation in Colombia, in recent years have increasingly found themselves caught in the middle of Colombia’s civil wars. Their schools are underserved, their communities are disproportionately poor and their local leaders have been targets for assassination by various factions in Colombia.
But the timing of the effort, and the fact that the IRI has close ties to the Bush White House, raised concerns among human-rights groups and some Colombian dissidents that the IRI’s main goal was to build support in the U.S. for the Colombia free trade agreement (FTA). They said the caucus of black Colombian lawmakers, which is split on the FTA, does not reflect the views of local Afro-Colombian government bodies, who appear almost universally opposed to the deal.
Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus who worked on the IRI effort do not dismiss a link between the IRI’s work in Colombia and the trade deal.
“It would be naïve of me not to think there was [a] connection,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.). “They didn’t have to take up the cause of the Afro-Colombians.”
The IRI is one of four democracy-building organizations set up by former President Reagan in the mid-1980s as the Cold War dragged to a close, and it remains the group closest to the White House. Its board of directors is chaired by Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP’s presidential candidate, and its president is Lorne Craner, who worked on democracy-building as an assistant secretary of State for Bush.
The group helps develop political parties and democratic institutions in more than 100 countries and is not affiliated with the Republican Party. The IRI’s funding comes from tax dollars, as well as private grants, and it does not take positions on domestic policy in the U.S.
Its work with the CBC took place as the Colombian government undertook a concerted effort to reach out to black lawmakers in the U.S. in the hope that they would support the trade deal.
“I think the CBC is viewed as a key for passing the Colombia FTA,” said Luis Gilberto Murillo, a former governor of Choco, a Colombian state near the Pacific coast populated by Afro-Colombians.
Sutton said the Colombia trade deal wasn’t even mentioned when the group decided to work with the CBC to create an Afro-Colombian caucus, and Democratic aides described the work as separate from the free-trade deal.
The trips by Democratic staffers were unusual because the IRI rarely pays for travel by Democratic offices.
According to congressional travel records, only seven of the 48 trips IRI has sponsored for lawmakers or their staff members since 2000 were for Democrats. More than half of those trips were to Colombia.
But those who went said they had few reservations about working with the Republican group.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t care if green Martians are working on it. People are working on something that needs to be done. The issue is what matters to me,” said Ian Campbell, Clarke’s chief of staff, who took an IRI-sponsored trip to train staff on the new caucus.
Sutton said the objective was to help Afro-Colombian legislators from different parties realize they could work together for the benefit of their constituents.
Instead of focusing on grassroots efforts with local Afro-Colombian bodies, the IRI worked to help black Colombians develop a stronger voice at the national level. The best example for developing that voice, Sutton said, was in the U.S., where the CBC is a power base in the U.S. House.
Getting black lawmakers in Colombia to rally around causes was more difficult, however, since unlike the CBC, which is completely Democratic, Afro-Colombian legislators hold political views running all along the spectrum from left to right. For example, four of the caucus members are allies of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and support the trade deal with the U.S., while four are opposed. Another prominent Afro-Colombian senator who opposes the trade deal has yet to join the caucus.
Sutton said the IRI helped the diverse group rally around common issues, such as dedicating a large portion of the Colombian budget to Afro-Colombians.
Groups opposed to the trade deal suggest the formation of the caucus was meant to strengthen the idea that Afro-Colombian legislators were divided on it. This could have made it easier for some U.S. lawmakers to support the deal.
A letter opposing the FTA that was signed by 168 groups, many representing local Colombian groups, was circulated to House members in May.
Marino Cordoba, a black Colombian political leader who fled his country after an assassination attempt, faults some U.S. lawmakers, including Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), for pushing the Colombian government’s position on black Colombian issues instead of representing grassroots groups.
In an interview, Meeks, one of only 15 Democrats to vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2005, said the IRI’s effort could build support for the trade agreement by illustrating the Colombian government’s assistance to black Colombians.
“Helping with the Afro-Colombians could help them win votes for the FTA,” said Meeks, who has spoken out in favor of the trade deal, saying it could help black Colombians.
If the FTA helps build democracy in Colombia, so much the better, he said. “[IRI’s] mission is to promote democracy. If part of that is promoting the FTA, so be it,” he said.
Cordoba and some human-rights activists expressed wariness over IRI’s activities in part because of the group’s history in other countries.
“It’s of concern that one of the most important legislative bodies is being funded by the IRI, which has been notorious in Latin America for all kinds of things,” said Nicole Lee, executive director of TransAfrica, a human-rights group.
She noted the controversy surrounding the group’s actions in Haiti in 2003, when the U.S. ambassador to that country charged the IRI with undermining the stated position of the U.S. government in that country and helping to topple then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
“I think the caucus is an important mechanism; however, I think the IRI has a track record of not dealing fairly in Latin America,” said Lee, who questions whether Afro-Colombian legislators in the caucus really support the trade deal.
“It’s an uninformed point of view,” Sutton said in response. “And other than that, I think a response would only add credibility to the remark.”
In the U.S., black lawmakers have long supported Afro-Colombian causes, but the trade deal has sometimes divided them.
Meeks and Clarke, two CBC members who have been involved with the IRI’s work, are not co-sponsors of a resolution backed by Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.) that calls for local Afro-Colombian governing councils to have a greater say over the trade deal. Most CBC members have signed on to the resolution.
Clarke was initially a co-sponsor, but withdrew her support a month later because she was worried the resolution could lead to tensions between the U.S. and Colombian governments, and that this would not advance the interests of Afro-Colombians.
“I hadn’t [had] a chance to fully review if that was in the best interests of Afro-Colombians,” Clarke said of the resolution. “I was concerned about any backlash with that level of focus … We are speaking to the government and admonishing them.”
By Kevin Bogardus and Ian Swanson from THEHILL.com
The International Republican Institute’s (IRI) goal was to establish a counterpart in Colombia to Congress’s own Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). But it was also talking with a group that could potentially swing the controversial trade deal in Washington.
The IRI’s board members and staff are mostly Republican, and it generally works with GOP offices, but in this case it reached out to Democratic offices, and even paid for some staffers to go to Colombia.
Officials with the group said the effort was intended to help a historically disenfranchised group, and not to build support in the U.S. for the trade deal, a top priority for President Bush that has been blocked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“The work we do is very consistent with work we do in other countries,” said Alex Sutton, IRI’s director of Latin American programs, who recently returned to Washington after working on the IRI project in Colombia for several years. He said the IRI typically works with disenfranchised blocs of people in foreign countries to help build democratic efforts.
Afro-Colombians, the descendants of slaves who for centuries lived in relative isolation in Colombia, in recent years have increasingly found themselves caught in the middle of Colombia’s civil wars. Their schools are underserved, their communities are disproportionately poor and their local leaders have been targets for assassination by various factions in Colombia.
But the timing of the effort, and the fact that the IRI has close ties to the Bush White House, raised concerns among human-rights groups and some Colombian dissidents that the IRI’s main goal was to build support in the U.S. for the Colombia free trade agreement (FTA). They said the caucus of black Colombian lawmakers, which is split on the FTA, does not reflect the views of local Afro-Colombian government bodies, who appear almost universally opposed to the deal.
Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus who worked on the IRI effort do not dismiss a link between the IRI’s work in Colombia and the trade deal.
“It would be naïve of me not to think there was [a] connection,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.). “They didn’t have to take up the cause of the Afro-Colombians.”
The IRI is one of four democracy-building organizations set up by former President Reagan in the mid-1980s as the Cold War dragged to a close, and it remains the group closest to the White House. Its board of directors is chaired by Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP’s presidential candidate, and its president is Lorne Craner, who worked on democracy-building as an assistant secretary of State for Bush.
The group helps develop political parties and democratic institutions in more than 100 countries and is not affiliated with the Republican Party. The IRI’s funding comes from tax dollars, as well as private grants, and it does not take positions on domestic policy in the U.S.
Its work with the CBC took place as the Colombian government undertook a concerted effort to reach out to black lawmakers in the U.S. in the hope that they would support the trade deal.
“I think the CBC is viewed as a key for passing the Colombia FTA,” said Luis Gilberto Murillo, a former governor of Choco, a Colombian state near the Pacific coast populated by Afro-Colombians.
Sutton said the Colombia trade deal wasn’t even mentioned when the group decided to work with the CBC to create an Afro-Colombian caucus, and Democratic aides described the work as separate from the free-trade deal.
The trips by Democratic staffers were unusual because the IRI rarely pays for travel by Democratic offices.
According to congressional travel records, only seven of the 48 trips IRI has sponsored for lawmakers or their staff members since 2000 were for Democrats. More than half of those trips were to Colombia.
But those who went said they had few reservations about working with the Republican group.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t care if green Martians are working on it. People are working on something that needs to be done. The issue is what matters to me,” said Ian Campbell, Clarke’s chief of staff, who took an IRI-sponsored trip to train staff on the new caucus.
Sutton said the objective was to help Afro-Colombian legislators from different parties realize they could work together for the benefit of their constituents.
Instead of focusing on grassroots efforts with local Afro-Colombian bodies, the IRI worked to help black Colombians develop a stronger voice at the national level. The best example for developing that voice, Sutton said, was in the U.S., where the CBC is a power base in the U.S. House.
Getting black lawmakers in Colombia to rally around causes was more difficult, however, since unlike the CBC, which is completely Democratic, Afro-Colombian legislators hold political views running all along the spectrum from left to right. For example, four of the caucus members are allies of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and support the trade deal with the U.S., while four are opposed. Another prominent Afro-Colombian senator who opposes the trade deal has yet to join the caucus.
Sutton said the IRI helped the diverse group rally around common issues, such as dedicating a large portion of the Colombian budget to Afro-Colombians.
Groups opposed to the trade deal suggest the formation of the caucus was meant to strengthen the idea that Afro-Colombian legislators were divided on it. This could have made it easier for some U.S. lawmakers to support the deal.
A letter opposing the FTA that was signed by 168 groups, many representing local Colombian groups, was circulated to House members in May.
Marino Cordoba, a black Colombian political leader who fled his country after an assassination attempt, faults some U.S. lawmakers, including Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), for pushing the Colombian government’s position on black Colombian issues instead of representing grassroots groups.
In an interview, Meeks, one of only 15 Democrats to vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2005, said the IRI’s effort could build support for the trade agreement by illustrating the Colombian government’s assistance to black Colombians.
“Helping with the Afro-Colombians could help them win votes for the FTA,” said Meeks, who has spoken out in favor of the trade deal, saying it could help black Colombians.
If the FTA helps build democracy in Colombia, so much the better, he said. “[IRI’s] mission is to promote democracy. If part of that is promoting the FTA, so be it,” he said.
Cordoba and some human-rights activists expressed wariness over IRI’s activities in part because of the group’s history in other countries.
“It’s of concern that one of the most important legislative bodies is being funded by the IRI, which has been notorious in Latin America for all kinds of things,” said Nicole Lee, executive director of TransAfrica, a human-rights group.
She noted the controversy surrounding the group’s actions in Haiti in 2003, when the U.S. ambassador to that country charged the IRI with undermining the stated position of the U.S. government in that country and helping to topple then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
“I think the caucus is an important mechanism; however, I think the IRI has a track record of not dealing fairly in Latin America,” said Lee, who questions whether Afro-Colombian legislators in the caucus really support the trade deal.
“It’s an uninformed point of view,” Sutton said in response. “And other than that, I think a response would only add credibility to the remark.”
In the U.S., black lawmakers have long supported Afro-Colombian causes, but the trade deal has sometimes divided them.
Meeks and Clarke, two CBC members who have been involved with the IRI’s work, are not co-sponsors of a resolution backed by Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.) that calls for local Afro-Colombian governing councils to have a greater say over the trade deal. Most CBC members have signed on to the resolution.
Clarke was initially a co-sponsor, but withdrew her support a month later because she was worried the resolution could lead to tensions between the U.S. and Colombian governments, and that this would not advance the interests of Afro-Colombians.
“I hadn’t [had] a chance to fully review if that was in the best interests of Afro-Colombians,” Clarke said of the resolution. “I was concerned about any backlash with that level of focus … We are speaking to the government and admonishing them.”
By Kevin Bogardus and Ian Swanson from THEHILL.com
Report: UN Envoy to Darfur to Resign
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The top U.N. envoy to Darfur is resigning to make room for a new full-time chief negotiator, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Envoy Jan Eliasson, a former Swedish foreign minister, said he would continue to work as a special adviser on Darfur, but that the situation was so serious that it was "extremely important" to take realistic action, state-run radio reported.
He said earlier this month that efforts to restart peace talks had reached an impasse.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in fighting has raged in the western Sudanese region since ethnic African tribesmen took up arms in 2003, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination. The Arab-dominated Sudanese government is accused of responding by unleashing tribal militia, known as janjaweed, which have committed atrocities against Darfur's local communities.
Eliasson and the African Union's envoy to Darfur, Salim Ahmed Salim, suggested the U.N. Security Council appoint a full-time negotiator, according to Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Petra Hansson.
Swedish radio quoted unidentified sources as saying Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibrill Bossole may be considered for the job.
According to a U.N. Security Council resolution, there should be 20,000 peacekeepers and 5,000 police deployed in Darfur, the radio report quoted Eliasson as saying.
"Today we have fewer than 10,000, so the Security Council should take its responsibility and implement the resolutions that it passes," he said on he radio report.
"There is reason to be critical toward the fact that it has not been possible to implement the Security Council's resolution," he was quoted as saying.
By MALIN RISING, Associated Press Writer
Envoy Jan Eliasson, a former Swedish foreign minister, said he would continue to work as a special adviser on Darfur, but that the situation was so serious that it was "extremely important" to take realistic action, state-run radio reported.
He said earlier this month that efforts to restart peace talks had reached an impasse.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in fighting has raged in the western Sudanese region since ethnic African tribesmen took up arms in 2003, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination. The Arab-dominated Sudanese government is accused of responding by unleashing tribal militia, known as janjaweed, which have committed atrocities against Darfur's local communities.
Eliasson and the African Union's envoy to Darfur, Salim Ahmed Salim, suggested the U.N. Security Council appoint a full-time negotiator, according to Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Petra Hansson.
Swedish radio quoted unidentified sources as saying Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibrill Bossole may be considered for the job.
According to a U.N. Security Council resolution, there should be 20,000 peacekeepers and 5,000 police deployed in Darfur, the radio report quoted Eliasson as saying.
"Today we have fewer than 10,000, so the Security Council should take its responsibility and implement the resolutions that it passes," he said on he radio report.
"There is reason to be critical toward the fact that it has not been possible to implement the Security Council's resolution," he was quoted as saying.
By MALIN RISING, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
MLK Memorial Only $5.2M Short of $100M Goal
The U.S Commission of Fine Arts is moving toward approval of a revised concept for the Martin Luther King Jr. national memorial and an official construction date is within sight, according to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation.
Additionally, a dinner in Atlanta last week has brought the foundation’s fundraising total to $94.8 million, closing in on the $100 million needed to build the memorial.
The foundation said it plans to set a construction date soon, and the memorial will be completed in about 20 months following the start of construction. Site prep work is expected to start later this year.
In May, news reports said the Fine Arts Commission had attacked the statue portion of the already approved memorial after the commission’s secretary said in a letter that the way King was portrayed in a model of the sculpture was “confrontational.”
By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Additionally, a dinner in Atlanta last week has brought the foundation’s fundraising total to $94.8 million, closing in on the $100 million needed to build the memorial.
The foundation said it plans to set a construction date soon, and the memorial will be completed in about 20 months following the start of construction. Site prep work is expected to start later this year.
In May, news reports said the Fine Arts Commission had attacked the statue portion of the already approved memorial after the commission’s secretary said in a letter that the way King was portrayed in a model of the sculpture was “confrontational.”
By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com
US Border Patrol Recruiting Black Agents
MEMPHIS, June 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Border Patrol says it's aggressively recruiting young blacks in an effort to fill its ranks and change its culture.
The nation's biggest federal law enforcement agency is looking to beef up its ranks to from 16,200 to 18,000 agents but only 1 percent of its roster is black, The New York Times reported Monday. To add diversity the agency launched a recruiting blitz in cities such as Memphis aimed at convincing black youngsters they should sign up for duty in the U.S. Southwest, where there is little in the way of black culture.
Border Patrol officials told the newspaper they have no set quotas for black recruits but admits it has only 158 black agents. The recruiters are emphasizing that service with the Border Patrol doesn't require a college degree or even a high school diploma and can pay $70,000 after just a few years.
The union representing the agents, however, suspects the Border Patrol is lowering its quality standards to fill its ranks.
"It's one thing to get to 18,000," union head T.J. Bonner told the Times. "It's another to sustain it with quality people."
from UPI.com
The nation's biggest federal law enforcement agency is looking to beef up its ranks to from 16,200 to 18,000 agents but only 1 percent of its roster is black, The New York Times reported Monday. To add diversity the agency launched a recruiting blitz in cities such as Memphis aimed at convincing black youngsters they should sign up for duty in the U.S. Southwest, where there is little in the way of black culture.
Border Patrol officials told the newspaper they have no set quotas for black recruits but admits it has only 158 black agents. The recruiters are emphasizing that service with the Border Patrol doesn't require a college degree or even a high school diploma and can pay $70,000 after just a few years.
The union representing the agents, however, suspects the Border Patrol is lowering its quality standards to fill its ranks.
"It's one thing to get to 18,000," union head T.J. Bonner told the Times. "It's another to sustain it with quality people."
from UPI.com
Memorial Unveiled for Ice Cream Sit In
DURHAM, N.C. -- On Monday evening, some Durham members saw the culmination of 50 years of hard work. In 1957, a group of seven young African-American community members staged a sit-in at the Royal Ice Cream parlor off Roxboro Street. The demonstrators demanded equal treatment for all races.
Since that time, community activists have tried to get state recognition for the sit in with a historic marker. At least two times, their requests have failed, but months ago, state officials gave the OK for the marker.
"This is just exciting. It's like I'm on my way to Hollywood or something," said sit-in participant Virginia Williams.
Monday marked the sit-in's 51st anniversary. The seven young men and women were arrested and charged as a result of their actions. Some say the demonstration set the stage for similar sit-ins, like in Greensboro and across the nation.
Now, the sit-in has received state-wide recognition after years of asking and being denied.
"It is a legacy, and as we have attempted down through the years to come to this date, we have finally reached what we have been looking for," said local historian R. Kelly Bryant. Bryant has continued to petition for the marker for decades.
"It really does give me a sense that I can leave this world better than I found it," said Virginia Williams.
Some say the marker leaves a sense of accomplishment, that the historic moment is preserved for years to come.
"The legacy is tremendous, but most importantly it can serve as inspiration, but most importantly it recognizes those who put their lives on the line at a very critical point in time," said state senator Floyd McKissick.
Officials say they will put up the marker after construction is finished at the site of the old parlor. A new school is planned for the site.
By Paul Matadeen for NBC17.com
Since that time, community activists have tried to get state recognition for the sit in with a historic marker. At least two times, their requests have failed, but months ago, state officials gave the OK for the marker.
"This is just exciting. It's like I'm on my way to Hollywood or something," said sit-in participant Virginia Williams.
Monday marked the sit-in's 51st anniversary. The seven young men and women were arrested and charged as a result of their actions. Some say the demonstration set the stage for similar sit-ins, like in Greensboro and across the nation.
Now, the sit-in has received state-wide recognition after years of asking and being denied.
"It is a legacy, and as we have attempted down through the years to come to this date, we have finally reached what we have been looking for," said local historian R. Kelly Bryant. Bryant has continued to petition for the marker for decades.
"It really does give me a sense that I can leave this world better than I found it," said Virginia Williams.
Some say the marker leaves a sense of accomplishment, that the historic moment is preserved for years to come.
"The legacy is tremendous, but most importantly it can serve as inspiration, but most importantly it recognizes those who put their lives on the line at a very critical point in time," said state senator Floyd McKissick.
Officials say they will put up the marker after construction is finished at the site of the old parlor. A new school is planned for the site.
By Paul Matadeen for NBC17.com
Lead from Car Batteries Contaminates African Town
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A cottage industry that employed people, including many mothers, to extract poisonous lead from used car batteries has been blamed for the deaths of nearly 20 children in a Senegalese fishing town.
The World Health Organization pressed Tuesday for quick action to decontaminate the town of Thiaroye Sur Mer, where 18 children died mysteriously between October and February.
The rash of deaths concentrated in one neighborhood of Thiaroye Sur Mer prompted the Senegalese government to run blood tests on relatives of the dead children, said Dr. Hassan Yaradou, a Health Ministry official.
Mothers and siblings of the deceased were found to have lead levels of 1,000 micrograms per liter, according to a WHO team that last week conducted a follow-up investigation into the deaths.
A concentration of 100 micrograms per liter is enough to impair brain development in children and 700 micrograms is considered to require immediate treatment, the organization said.
Yaradou said the source is thought to be a local business that breaks down car batteries and extracts their lead to resell. The practice is common in developing countries, where many without electricity use car batteries to power lights and televisions, and where few hear health warnings about lead poisoning.
Many of those breaking apart the batteries were mothers who worked with young children strapped to their backs or playing nearby, said Joanna Tempowski, coordinator of the WHO's investigation team.
Tempowski said the lead levels appeared to have gotten so concentrated in the town because the women took the extraction one step further — sifting the dirt underneath their workspace to recover any lead that had fallen, with the side effect of filling the air with lead particles that people inhaled.
"People didn't know the harm it could cause," she said.
Thiaroye Sur Mer is a fishing town just outside Senegal's capital, Dakar.
About 950 people have been "continuously exposed through ingestion and inhalation of lead-contaminated dust" in the neighborhood, a WHO statement said. It added that many of the local children showed signs of neurological damage but did not give specific details.
The Health Ministry's Yaradou said the battery business was shut down soon after the contamination was discovered and the government has conducted a preliminary cleanup, but much remains to be done.
Tempowski said the WHO would work with the Senegalese government on cleanup and treatment and was seeking international donations for the project.
from AP
The World Health Organization pressed Tuesday for quick action to decontaminate the town of Thiaroye Sur Mer, where 18 children died mysteriously between October and February.
The rash of deaths concentrated in one neighborhood of Thiaroye Sur Mer prompted the Senegalese government to run blood tests on relatives of the dead children, said Dr. Hassan Yaradou, a Health Ministry official.
Mothers and siblings of the deceased were found to have lead levels of 1,000 micrograms per liter, according to a WHO team that last week conducted a follow-up investigation into the deaths.
A concentration of 100 micrograms per liter is enough to impair brain development in children and 700 micrograms is considered to require immediate treatment, the organization said.
Yaradou said the source is thought to be a local business that breaks down car batteries and extracts their lead to resell. The practice is common in developing countries, where many without electricity use car batteries to power lights and televisions, and where few hear health warnings about lead poisoning.
Many of those breaking apart the batteries were mothers who worked with young children strapped to their backs or playing nearby, said Joanna Tempowski, coordinator of the WHO's investigation team.
Tempowski said the lead levels appeared to have gotten so concentrated in the town because the women took the extraction one step further — sifting the dirt underneath their workspace to recover any lead that had fallen, with the side effect of filling the air with lead particles that people inhaled.
"People didn't know the harm it could cause," she said.
Thiaroye Sur Mer is a fishing town just outside Senegal's capital, Dakar.
About 950 people have been "continuously exposed through ingestion and inhalation of lead-contaminated dust" in the neighborhood, a WHO statement said. It added that many of the local children showed signs of neurological damage but did not give specific details.
The Health Ministry's Yaradou said the battery business was shut down soon after the contamination was discovered and the government has conducted a preliminary cleanup, but much remains to be done.
Tempowski said the WHO would work with the Senegalese government on cleanup and treatment and was seeking international donations for the project.
from AP
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Secret to Black Women's Success
IF YOU asked the average person to name successful black British women, high-profile names from the world of politics and sports, such as athlete Denise Lewis, or MP Diane Abbott, would probably come to mind.
But it's unlikely that you'll hear names like Jean Tomlin, former director of human resources at Marks and Spencer, now heading the human resources team of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games; or Trudy Morgan, associate director of Turner and Townsend, international construction and management consultants.
Quietly making big strides
How about Vivian Hunt, a partner at global management consultants McKinsey and Company?
Despite a succession of reports, such as a recent one from the Equal Opportunities Commission about the barriers facing black women in the workplace, women such as Tomlin, Hunt and Morgan are quietly making big strides in British boardrooms. And many others like them are surviving and succeeding against formidable odds, such as racism, low pay and limited opportunities for training and promotion.
Now a new report claims to have identified the secret behind their success - a set of characteristics unique to successful black women called Factor 8.
"We wanted to look at what contributed to the success of black women in spite of what was seen as this double disadvantage of being black and female," said Caroline Harper Jantuah of the Diversity Practice, the organisation that produced the report.
"I was particularly interested in finding answers to this question, given that I know many successful thriving black women.
"When we interviewed these successful black women for the report we found that there were themes and attributes that were common to all of them, which was where the idea of Factor 8 comes in."
A glass ceiling
The groundbreaking report, called 'Different Women, Different Places', spoke to 300 high-flying black and minority ethnic women about their experiences of the workplace, and the factors that empowered them to keep going in the face of 'a glass ceiling reinforced by concrete'.
It found that all of the women displayed four or more of these eight key characteristics:
Bicultural competence - the ability of a person to function effectively in two or more cultures and switch roles when required
Cultural capital - a range of experience gained outside the workplace
Multiple perspectives - the ability to look at issues from a variety of different perspectives
Values driven leadership - a style of leadership that is rooted in a clear set of values and principles
Presence, passion and power - the ability to communicate with conviction and authority
Self-mastery - total belief in oneself
'Transformactional' leadership - a leadership style that seeks to transform situations while being highly effective within the status quo.
Spiritual belief - a deep conviction in a higher calling
"When we did the research, we weren't expecting such a strong commonality among all the women we interviewed," said Jantuah.
"Factor 8 is really about trying to understand the foundations that successful black and minority ethnic women draw upon when the going gets tough, or when there are barriers to their progress.
"For example, cultural capital is an interesting one. It refers to BME [Black and Minority Ethnic) women who are active in their communities, charitable organisations, voluntary work.
"They are leaders in their churches or running Saturday schools. So, in addition to their day jobs, they are linked into their communities.
"But, more important, the roles that they play in these organisations help hone their leadership skills. So, it could be that BME women are working in administrative roles where bosses don't see their leadership potential and train them accordingly.
"Yet, on Sundays they develop these skills as pastors of their church, speaking in front of hundreds of people."
She added: "The presence, passion and power characteristic is also an interesting one because it"s about the fact that when we walk into a room, because we are so visibly different, people know we're there. And successful black women are women who are very comfortable in their own skin and actually relish the fact that the spotlight is on them.
"They work with it and they make sure that when they show up, they show up with impact.
"For example, when you look at someone like Baroness Amos being interviewed, you can see that that woman knows what she's talking about."
Sarah Ebanja, group director of strategy, equality and performance at the London Development Agency, agrees.
"I view my visibility and difference as a strength," she said. "Because of my difference I bring an additional perspective, challenging the norm, even if it's about language or how people feel."
According to Colleen Harris, Prince Charles' former press secretary, being the only person of colour in a mainly white environment can be a big advantage.
Stand out
"The great thing about being a black woman is that you stand out and people want to be in your gang," she said.
However, Jantuah sounds a note of caution. "What we found with this particular attribute is that if you turn it up too much, you then come up against negative stereotypes of being an angry black woman, who comes across as too loud, too in-your-face and too direct," she said.
"Turn it down too low and you are seen as submissive, non-aggressive and timid, and not a candidate for leadership."
The report also found that black women had a strong preference for values-driven leadership.
Of the women surveyed, 70 per cent said career success for them meant making a difference, being of service or having an impact on others.
This could involve mentoring and a feeling that they had to act as positive role models to other BME women.
Concerning values-driven leadership, many of the women said they had achieved through working twice as hard as their white colleagues, by working long hours, or over-preparing.
They had to work twice as hard because the leadership styles of white women are perceived more positively.
This affected the women physically and mentally, through stress and other issues.
Many of the women interviewed were single. Some of the women who had families were the main breadwinners and faced issues due to the fact that, culturally, they were expected to look after the family.
But a lot of the women interviewed felt the work they were doing was their calling.
Values-driven leadership
Values-driven leadership was closely linked to self-mastery, a characteristic epitomised by the question: "Who says I can't?"
Jean Tomlin, one of the high achievers interviewed for the report, is cited as a good example of this.
Tomlin recalled her first day at Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, Essex, which she joined as a graduate recruit.
"When I arrived I looked around and wasn't quite sure what to do," she said.
But her mother, a key influence in her life, had always taught Tomlin that barriers were there to be overcome.
"It was at that point I decided to copy the guys, as there weren't many women around at that time. Some of my guiding principles are to learn fast, reflect on what works and adapt."
It's been the complaint of diversity campaigners for a number of years that corporate executives do not take the issue of diversity seriously enough.
But with many businesses having to compete in global markets, that is beginning to change.
In the course of giving presentations and talks on the issue to senior executives, Jantuah says she has seen signs of change.
"We've asked organisations to look at their recruitment processes and how they manage talent, and consider whether, if they continue to use the traditional approaches they've got, they will attract and catch this talent, which can be a huge asset to organisations.
"We are finding a lot of interest in programmes that we are now offering off the back of this report. We are using our presentations on the report to create an open dialogue on these issues," she said.
"At these events, which have included white and black professionals, it's got them asking questions like, 'What's going on in my organisation?' or 'How would I go about implementing this idea?'
"So, we are creating an open, positive climate in which these issues can be discussed, and that can only lead to change."
jamaica gleaner
But it's unlikely that you'll hear names like Jean Tomlin, former director of human resources at Marks and Spencer, now heading the human resources team of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games; or Trudy Morgan, associate director of Turner and Townsend, international construction and management consultants.
Quietly making big strides
How about Vivian Hunt, a partner at global management consultants McKinsey and Company?
Despite a succession of reports, such as a recent one from the Equal Opportunities Commission about the barriers facing black women in the workplace, women such as Tomlin, Hunt and Morgan are quietly making big strides in British boardrooms. And many others like them are surviving and succeeding against formidable odds, such as racism, low pay and limited opportunities for training and promotion.
Now a new report claims to have identified the secret behind their success - a set of characteristics unique to successful black women called Factor 8.
"We wanted to look at what contributed to the success of black women in spite of what was seen as this double disadvantage of being black and female," said Caroline Harper Jantuah of the Diversity Practice, the organisation that produced the report.
"I was particularly interested in finding answers to this question, given that I know many successful thriving black women.
"When we interviewed these successful black women for the report we found that there were themes and attributes that were common to all of them, which was where the idea of Factor 8 comes in."
A glass ceiling
The groundbreaking report, called 'Different Women, Different Places', spoke to 300 high-flying black and minority ethnic women about their experiences of the workplace, and the factors that empowered them to keep going in the face of 'a glass ceiling reinforced by concrete'.
It found that all of the women displayed four or more of these eight key characteristics:
Bicultural competence - the ability of a person to function effectively in two or more cultures and switch roles when required
Cultural capital - a range of experience gained outside the workplace
Multiple perspectives - the ability to look at issues from a variety of different perspectives
Values driven leadership - a style of leadership that is rooted in a clear set of values and principles
Presence, passion and power - the ability to communicate with conviction and authority
Self-mastery - total belief in oneself
'Transformactional' leadership - a leadership style that seeks to transform situations while being highly effective within the status quo.
Spiritual belief - a deep conviction in a higher calling
"When we did the research, we weren't expecting such a strong commonality among all the women we interviewed," said Jantuah.
"Factor 8 is really about trying to understand the foundations that successful black and minority ethnic women draw upon when the going gets tough, or when there are barriers to their progress.
"For example, cultural capital is an interesting one. It refers to BME [Black and Minority Ethnic) women who are active in their communities, charitable organisations, voluntary work.
"They are leaders in their churches or running Saturday schools. So, in addition to their day jobs, they are linked into their communities.
"But, more important, the roles that they play in these organisations help hone their leadership skills. So, it could be that BME women are working in administrative roles where bosses don't see their leadership potential and train them accordingly.
"Yet, on Sundays they develop these skills as pastors of their church, speaking in front of hundreds of people."
She added: "The presence, passion and power characteristic is also an interesting one because it"s about the fact that when we walk into a room, because we are so visibly different, people know we're there. And successful black women are women who are very comfortable in their own skin and actually relish the fact that the spotlight is on them.
"They work with it and they make sure that when they show up, they show up with impact.
"For example, when you look at someone like Baroness Amos being interviewed, you can see that that woman knows what she's talking about."
Sarah Ebanja, group director of strategy, equality and performance at the London Development Agency, agrees.
"I view my visibility and difference as a strength," she said. "Because of my difference I bring an additional perspective, challenging the norm, even if it's about language or how people feel."
According to Colleen Harris, Prince Charles' former press secretary, being the only person of colour in a mainly white environment can be a big advantage.
Stand out
"The great thing about being a black woman is that you stand out and people want to be in your gang," she said.
However, Jantuah sounds a note of caution. "What we found with this particular attribute is that if you turn it up too much, you then come up against negative stereotypes of being an angry black woman, who comes across as too loud, too in-your-face and too direct," she said.
"Turn it down too low and you are seen as submissive, non-aggressive and timid, and not a candidate for leadership."
The report also found that black women had a strong preference for values-driven leadership.
Of the women surveyed, 70 per cent said career success for them meant making a difference, being of service or having an impact on others.
This could involve mentoring and a feeling that they had to act as positive role models to other BME women.
Concerning values-driven leadership, many of the women said they had achieved through working twice as hard as their white colleagues, by working long hours, or over-preparing.
They had to work twice as hard because the leadership styles of white women are perceived more positively.
This affected the women physically and mentally, through stress and other issues.
Many of the women interviewed were single. Some of the women who had families were the main breadwinners and faced issues due to the fact that, culturally, they were expected to look after the family.
But a lot of the women interviewed felt the work they were doing was their calling.
Values-driven leadership
Values-driven leadership was closely linked to self-mastery, a characteristic epitomised by the question: "Who says I can't?"
Jean Tomlin, one of the high achievers interviewed for the report, is cited as a good example of this.
Tomlin recalled her first day at Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, Essex, which she joined as a graduate recruit.
"When I arrived I looked around and wasn't quite sure what to do," she said.
But her mother, a key influence in her life, had always taught Tomlin that barriers were there to be overcome.
"It was at that point I decided to copy the guys, as there weren't many women around at that time. Some of my guiding principles are to learn fast, reflect on what works and adapt."
It's been the complaint of diversity campaigners for a number of years that corporate executives do not take the issue of diversity seriously enough.
But with many businesses having to compete in global markets, that is beginning to change.
In the course of giving presentations and talks on the issue to senior executives, Jantuah says she has seen signs of change.
"We've asked organisations to look at their recruitment processes and how they manage talent, and consider whether, if they continue to use the traditional approaches they've got, they will attract and catch this talent, which can be a huge asset to organisations.
"We are finding a lot of interest in programmes that we are now offering off the back of this report. We are using our presentations on the report to create an open dialogue on these issues," she said.
"At these events, which have included white and black professionals, it's got them asking questions like, 'What's going on in my organisation?' or 'How would I go about implementing this idea?'
"So, we are creating an open, positive climate in which these issues can be discussed, and that can only lead to change."
jamaica gleaner
Half of World’s Child Deaths Occur in Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (IPS/GIN) - When four-year-old Alice Were suddenly developed a fever, her mother Miriam took her to the medicine woman near her house in Kangemi, a poor, cramped settlement on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital.
Two days later, Alice was unconscious. Her frantic mother rushed to the hospital with the child in her arms, but it was too late: Alice had died of malaria.
Alice is one of more than 10 million children around the world who die before their fifth birthday every year, according to a report by UNICEF.
The report, “The State of Africa’s Children 2008,” was launched on May 28 at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Japan. It looks at the successes and failures of governments regarding the health and survival of the children of Africa and is complementary to a broader UNICEF report on the health of the world’s children.
The facts are shocking. Although Africa accounts for only 22 percent of births globally, half of the 10 million child deaths annually occur on the continent. Africa is the only continent that has seen rising numbers of deaths among children under five-years-old since the 1970s.
Many of these children die of preventable and curable diseases. Malaria is the cause of 18 percent of deaths among children under five in Africa, according to the report. Diarrheal diseases and pneumonia—both illnesses that thrive in poor communities where sanitation is severely compromised, and where residents are often undernourished and exposed to pollution—account for a further 40 percent of child deaths. Another major killer is AIDS.
At the launch of the report in Tokyo, Ann M. Veneman, the chief executive director of UNICEF, said limited gains have been made in sub-Saharan Africa: Overall, the mortality figures have declined by 14 percent between 1990 and 2006.
These gains can be attributed to dramatically expanded immunization programs, the increased use of insecticide-treated bed nets and the provision of vitamin A supplements to children. Other interventions in Africa include programs emphasizing exclusive breast-feeding practices for up to six months and the prescription of anti-retroviral medication to prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
In Ghana, all pregnant women are now covered by an intervention program that includes iron and folic acid supplementation and preventative treatment for malaria. All children between six months and five years of age are vaccinated against childhood diseases such as measles and polio.
In Malawi, the government has rolled out immunization programs as well as micronutrient supplementation—small amounts of vital minerals such as iron, cobalt, chromium and copper. The government is also building wells to improve access to clean water for people living in remote towns and villages.
According to the report, five countries in North Africa have made huge strides in decreasing child mortality rates. In Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, the figures came down by at least 45 percent between 1990 and 2006. These relatively wealthy countries are on target to meet millennium development goal No. 4: to reduce by two-thirds the child mortality rate among children under five.
But sub-Saharan Africa is unlikely to achieve any of the health-related millennium development goals by 2015; the continent lags behind on progress toward eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, improving maternal health, and halting and reversing the spread of HIV. One in every six children in sub-Saharan Africa will still die before his or her fifth birthday. The region is described by UNICEF as the most difficult place in the world for a child to survive.
In South Africa, 250,000 children under 15 are HIV-positive. They make up a huge proportion of the estimated 400,000 children under 15 who have been infected with HIV in Africa. Despite the expanded provision of anti-retroviral drugs, 64,000 more children contract the virus in South Africa each year. Across the southern African region, deaths of children under five have risen by 17 percent between 1990 and 2006; these deaths are mostly attributed to HIV/AIDS.
In West and Central Africa, there were more people without access to clean drinking water in 2004 than in 1990. Unsafe drinking water can cause diarrhea, dysentery and other water-borne diseases. Women and children who have to go out to find water for household needs are at particular risk of becoming victims of marauding gangs when they fetch water; cases of abduction and rape of women and children who fetch water are well-documented in the Sudan, for example.
The UNICEF report calls for intervention packages that include vaccines for children, pre- and post-natal care for pregnant women, exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months and the establishment of more—and more accessible—health care centers.
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt for Final Call
Two days later, Alice was unconscious. Her frantic mother rushed to the hospital with the child in her arms, but it was too late: Alice had died of malaria.
Alice is one of more than 10 million children around the world who die before their fifth birthday every year, according to a report by UNICEF.
The report, “The State of Africa’s Children 2008,” was launched on May 28 at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Japan. It looks at the successes and failures of governments regarding the health and survival of the children of Africa and is complementary to a broader UNICEF report on the health of the world’s children.
The facts are shocking. Although Africa accounts for only 22 percent of births globally, half of the 10 million child deaths annually occur on the continent. Africa is the only continent that has seen rising numbers of deaths among children under five-years-old since the 1970s.
Many of these children die of preventable and curable diseases. Malaria is the cause of 18 percent of deaths among children under five in Africa, according to the report. Diarrheal diseases and pneumonia—both illnesses that thrive in poor communities where sanitation is severely compromised, and where residents are often undernourished and exposed to pollution—account for a further 40 percent of child deaths. Another major killer is AIDS.
At the launch of the report in Tokyo, Ann M. Veneman, the chief executive director of UNICEF, said limited gains have been made in sub-Saharan Africa: Overall, the mortality figures have declined by 14 percent between 1990 and 2006.
These gains can be attributed to dramatically expanded immunization programs, the increased use of insecticide-treated bed nets and the provision of vitamin A supplements to children. Other interventions in Africa include programs emphasizing exclusive breast-feeding practices for up to six months and the prescription of anti-retroviral medication to prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
In Ghana, all pregnant women are now covered by an intervention program that includes iron and folic acid supplementation and preventative treatment for malaria. All children between six months and five years of age are vaccinated against childhood diseases such as measles and polio.
In Malawi, the government has rolled out immunization programs as well as micronutrient supplementation—small amounts of vital minerals such as iron, cobalt, chromium and copper. The government is also building wells to improve access to clean water for people living in remote towns and villages.
According to the report, five countries in North Africa have made huge strides in decreasing child mortality rates. In Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, the figures came down by at least 45 percent between 1990 and 2006. These relatively wealthy countries are on target to meet millennium development goal No. 4: to reduce by two-thirds the child mortality rate among children under five.
But sub-Saharan Africa is unlikely to achieve any of the health-related millennium development goals by 2015; the continent lags behind on progress toward eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, improving maternal health, and halting and reversing the spread of HIV. One in every six children in sub-Saharan Africa will still die before his or her fifth birthday. The region is described by UNICEF as the most difficult place in the world for a child to survive.
In South Africa, 250,000 children under 15 are HIV-positive. They make up a huge proportion of the estimated 400,000 children under 15 who have been infected with HIV in Africa. Despite the expanded provision of anti-retroviral drugs, 64,000 more children contract the virus in South Africa each year. Across the southern African region, deaths of children under five have risen by 17 percent between 1990 and 2006; these deaths are mostly attributed to HIV/AIDS.
In West and Central Africa, there were more people without access to clean drinking water in 2004 than in 1990. Unsafe drinking water can cause diarrhea, dysentery and other water-borne diseases. Women and children who have to go out to find water for household needs are at particular risk of becoming victims of marauding gangs when they fetch water; cases of abduction and rape of women and children who fetch water are well-documented in the Sudan, for example.
The UNICEF report calls for intervention packages that include vaccines for children, pre- and post-natal care for pregnant women, exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months and the establishment of more—and more accessible—health care centers.
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt for Final Call
Africa: Women Leaders Ask Where is Our Money
Even though seven out of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) impact on women, both donors and governments receiving aid overlook the need to make resources available for gender empowerment.
At the 8th Civicus World Assembly, which concluded in the Scottish capital on Saturday, civil society leaders asked serious questions about the lack of gender budgeting. The annual Civicus meeting brings together a global network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and foundations whose aim is to strengthen civil society.
The four-day event in Glasgow focused on participatory governance in the run-up to a high-level meeting in Accra, Ghana, in September to discuss aid effectiveness. More than a 100 ministers, heads of multilateral organisations and civil society representatives present there will review the Paris Declaration and the performance of both donors and recipient countries.
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, executive director of African Women's Development Fund told IPS in an interview that far too little money is made available for gender empowerment.
"How you allocate your resources tells much about where your priorities are. Women are 50 percent of the world's population. They should be a priority," she argues.
She fears that the paucity of funds almost guarantees the failure of the MDGs, particularly goal 3 - promote gender equality and empower women. The world's governments are committed to meeting the eight MDGs by 2015.
"Many guarantees have been made, including the Beijing Plan of Action. But this has not been matched with adequate finances to ensure empowerment of women at all levels," she points out.
The Beijing Plan of Action was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Bilateral and multilateral aid organisations had pledged to release adequate resources to bankroll the commitments made.
Neither the promises made in Beijing nor in Monterray, Mexico, in 2002 at the International Conference on Financing for Development have been honoured, raising questions about the lack of political will. In the Monterray Consensus, governments agreed to incorporate gender in all development policies.
In addition, the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness acknowledged the importance of financing gender development.
Yet, funds for gender remain "insignificant and untraceable in many places," according to Adeleye-Fayemi who heads Africa's first continent-wide fund to finance programmes that develop and promote women's leadership and issues like economic empowerment.
A 2007 report by the Association for Women's Rights in Development analysing present trends of aid showed that women's organisations are grossly under-resourced.
The report, Where is the money for women's rights, concludes that women's NGOs are in a state of "survival and resistance". This, according to the report, is substantiated by the fact that all together, 729 organisations raised a total annual budget of just 77.5 million dollars, which is nothing at all considering the mammoth task of gender equality.
"Unless leaders both at the international and national level ensure that money reaches women, no real development will take place," Elisa Peter, deputy coordinator of the United Nations Non-governmental Liaison Service, asserts in an interview with IPS on Jun. 21.
"Women are at the centre of development. If goal 3 is not reached, I do not think we can achieve any other MDGs. We have to address seriously the issue of resources to build capacity of women in all sectors," she says.
The U.N. has calculated that realising MDG 3 would require "dedicated external resources" amounting to between 25 and 28 billion dollars in the low-income countries.
This, analysts say, requires renewed political will at the international and national levels - which the organisers of both the meetings in Accra and in Doha, at the end of the year, are hoping. The Doha conference will review the Monterray Consensus.
The presence of a wide network of women's organisations is expected at the September Accra meeting, where leaders will be asked to honour the pledges made.
"Civil society can only advocate and propose. It is up to the governments to implement. They will then be held accountable," Adeleye-Fayemi said. Nevertheless, as donors and governments dillydally over crucial finances, women continue to make progress at snail-pace, particularly on the political front.
"The lack of finances has resulted in poor representation of women at the decision-making level. They lack capacity to compete on an equal footing with their male counterparts," points out Jennifer Chiwela of the African Network Campaign on Education for All.
As a result, her country, Zambia has 23 women in the 158-member parliament. This is just 14.6 percent of the parliamentary representation - way below the 30 percent target set by the Southern African Development Community, an inter-governmental organisation of 15 southern African states.
The situation is not very different in other African countries, which have continued to witness minimal numbers of women in parliament, and other decision-making spheres.
"How can we expect gender-friendly laws to be passed if the majority of members of parliament are men?" Chiwela asks. "We need resources to help women campaign and participate in politics on an equal playing field with men. That is the beginning of development," she asserts.
At CIVICUS and other national and international for a, women civil society leaders are demanding change and equal participation for men and women in politics and finance for development.
Joyce Mulama for allafrica.com
At the 8th Civicus World Assembly, which concluded in the Scottish capital on Saturday, civil society leaders asked serious questions about the lack of gender budgeting. The annual Civicus meeting brings together a global network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and foundations whose aim is to strengthen civil society.
The four-day event in Glasgow focused on participatory governance in the run-up to a high-level meeting in Accra, Ghana, in September to discuss aid effectiveness. More than a 100 ministers, heads of multilateral organisations and civil society representatives present there will review the Paris Declaration and the performance of both donors and recipient countries.
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, executive director of African Women's Development Fund told IPS in an interview that far too little money is made available for gender empowerment.
"How you allocate your resources tells much about where your priorities are. Women are 50 percent of the world's population. They should be a priority," she argues.
She fears that the paucity of funds almost guarantees the failure of the MDGs, particularly goal 3 - promote gender equality and empower women. The world's governments are committed to meeting the eight MDGs by 2015.
"Many guarantees have been made, including the Beijing Plan of Action. But this has not been matched with adequate finances to ensure empowerment of women at all levels," she points out.
The Beijing Plan of Action was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Bilateral and multilateral aid organisations had pledged to release adequate resources to bankroll the commitments made.
Neither the promises made in Beijing nor in Monterray, Mexico, in 2002 at the International Conference on Financing for Development have been honoured, raising questions about the lack of political will. In the Monterray Consensus, governments agreed to incorporate gender in all development policies.
In addition, the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness acknowledged the importance of financing gender development.
Yet, funds for gender remain "insignificant and untraceable in many places," according to Adeleye-Fayemi who heads Africa's first continent-wide fund to finance programmes that develop and promote women's leadership and issues like economic empowerment.
A 2007 report by the Association for Women's Rights in Development analysing present trends of aid showed that women's organisations are grossly under-resourced.
The report, Where is the money for women's rights, concludes that women's NGOs are in a state of "survival and resistance". This, according to the report, is substantiated by the fact that all together, 729 organisations raised a total annual budget of just 77.5 million dollars, which is nothing at all considering the mammoth task of gender equality.
"Unless leaders both at the international and national level ensure that money reaches women, no real development will take place," Elisa Peter, deputy coordinator of the United Nations Non-governmental Liaison Service, asserts in an interview with IPS on Jun. 21.
"Women are at the centre of development. If goal 3 is not reached, I do not think we can achieve any other MDGs. We have to address seriously the issue of resources to build capacity of women in all sectors," she says.
The U.N. has calculated that realising MDG 3 would require "dedicated external resources" amounting to between 25 and 28 billion dollars in the low-income countries.
This, analysts say, requires renewed political will at the international and national levels - which the organisers of both the meetings in Accra and in Doha, at the end of the year, are hoping. The Doha conference will review the Monterray Consensus.
The presence of a wide network of women's organisations is expected at the September Accra meeting, where leaders will be asked to honour the pledges made.
"Civil society can only advocate and propose. It is up to the governments to implement. They will then be held accountable," Adeleye-Fayemi said. Nevertheless, as donors and governments dillydally over crucial finances, women continue to make progress at snail-pace, particularly on the political front.
"The lack of finances has resulted in poor representation of women at the decision-making level. They lack capacity to compete on an equal footing with their male counterparts," points out Jennifer Chiwela of the African Network Campaign on Education for All.
As a result, her country, Zambia has 23 women in the 158-member parliament. This is just 14.6 percent of the parliamentary representation - way below the 30 percent target set by the Southern African Development Community, an inter-governmental organisation of 15 southern African states.
The situation is not very different in other African countries, which have continued to witness minimal numbers of women in parliament, and other decision-making spheres.
"How can we expect gender-friendly laws to be passed if the majority of members of parliament are men?" Chiwela asks. "We need resources to help women campaign and participate in politics on an equal playing field with men. That is the beginning of development," she asserts.
At CIVICUS and other national and international for a, women civil society leaders are demanding change and equal participation for men and women in politics and finance for development.
Joyce Mulama for allafrica.com
Rehearsals and Parties Set Stage for BET Awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The BET Awards buzz has begun.
With the city poised to serve as party central right through Tuesday's awards show, things were already humming around town Sunday.
At downtown's Shrine Auditorium, piles of rolled red carpet stood beside stacks of sound gear while workers bustled outside and Chris Brown, Ciara and Ne-Yo rehearsed inside.
A glitzy gift suite was stocked with watches, sneakers, bejeweled belts and blinged-out iPhone cases that awaited the arrival of A-listers.
Meanwhile, across town in West Hollywood, songwriters and producers gathered at Murano restaurant for the BMI Black Music Month brunch. Rapper Rick Ross, producer Sean Garrett and actress Regina King were among the guests who sipped champagne in honor of the artists behind the music.
Garrett gave credit to Black Entertainment Television for honoring all aspects of entertainment.
"I'm proud of BET," said the producer, who has worked with Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. "BET always gives a sense of where urban is at the moment and how they're trying to grow."
Awards-related festivities were set to continue Sunday night with a party in honor of Lil Wayne and Usher and a dinner celebrating Nelly. More events were scheduled for Monday, including a private dinner hosted by BET chief Debra Lee that was to feature a performance by Jill Scott.
The BET Awards will be broadcast live Tuesday from the Shrine at 8 p.m. EDT.
By SANDY COHEN from AP
With the city poised to serve as party central right through Tuesday's awards show, things were already humming around town Sunday.
At downtown's Shrine Auditorium, piles of rolled red carpet stood beside stacks of sound gear while workers bustled outside and Chris Brown, Ciara and Ne-Yo rehearsed inside.
A glitzy gift suite was stocked with watches, sneakers, bejeweled belts and blinged-out iPhone cases that awaited the arrival of A-listers.
Meanwhile, across town in West Hollywood, songwriters and producers gathered at Murano restaurant for the BMI Black Music Month brunch. Rapper Rick Ross, producer Sean Garrett and actress Regina King were among the guests who sipped champagne in honor of the artists behind the music.
Garrett gave credit to Black Entertainment Television for honoring all aspects of entertainment.
"I'm proud of BET," said the producer, who has worked with Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. "BET always gives a sense of where urban is at the moment and how they're trying to grow."
Awards-related festivities were set to continue Sunday night with a party in honor of Lil Wayne and Usher and a dinner celebrating Nelly. More events were scheduled for Monday, including a private dinner hosted by BET chief Debra Lee that was to feature a performance by Jill Scott.
The BET Awards will be broadcast live Tuesday from the Shrine at 8 p.m. EDT.
By SANDY COHEN from AP
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Fed Sets Up Program for Minority-Owned Banks
The Federal Reserve System today announced the nationwide launch of Partnership for Progress, an innovative outreach and technical assistance program for minority-owned and de novo institutions. The program seeks to help these institutions confront their unique challenges, cultivate safe and sound practices, and compete more effectively in today’s marketplace through a combination of one-on-one guidance, workshops, and an extensive interactive web-based resource and information center (www.fedpartnership.gov).
Washington, DC (Vocus/PRWEB ) June 18, 2008 -- The Federal Reserve System today announced the nationwide launch of Partnership for Progress, an innovative outreach and technical assistance program for minority-owned and de novo institutions. The program seeks to help these institutions confront their unique challenges, cultivate safe and sound practices, and compete more effectively in today’s marketplace through a combination of one-on-one guidance, workshops, and an extensive interactive web-based resource and information center (www.fedpartnership.gov).
“The program’s overarching mission is to preserve and promote minority-owned institutions and to enhance their vital role in providing access to credit and financial services in communities that have been historically underserved,” said Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. “The Federal Reserve is committed to helping minority-owned and de novo banks achieve long-term success.”
Partnership for Progress provides insight on key issues in three distinct stages of a bank’s life cycle: “Start a Bank,” “Manage Transition,” and “Grow Shareholder Value.” Topics covered include credit and interest-rate risk, capital and liquidity, and banking regulations. To ensure broad access to the program, all aspects of the training will be available through workshops, online courses, and the program’s interactive website.
“This cutting-edge program, which draws on insights from economics, accounting, finance, and regulatory compliance, will become a valuable resource for institutions at different stages of their development,” said Federal Reserve Board Governor Randall S. Kroszner.
In developing the program, Federal Reserve officials met with minority-owned and de novo banks across the country as well as trade groups, bank consultants, and state and federal banking agencies to better understand the challenges these institutions face in raising capital, growing their institutions, and attracting talent. This process provided valuable insight and contributed significantly to the design of the program, which was spearheaded by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Key concepts from the program will be incorporated into the Federal Reserve System’s examiner training to provide a deeper understanding of the issues unique to minority-owned institutions.
The nationwide launch of Partnership for Progress follows a successful pilot for the program that began last fall. Questions and comments regarding the program should be directed to Marilyn Wimp at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 215-574-4197.
from prweb.com
Washington, DC (Vocus/PRWEB ) June 18, 2008 -- The Federal Reserve System today announced the nationwide launch of Partnership for Progress, an innovative outreach and technical assistance program for minority-owned and de novo institutions. The program seeks to help these institutions confront their unique challenges, cultivate safe and sound practices, and compete more effectively in today’s marketplace through a combination of one-on-one guidance, workshops, and an extensive interactive web-based resource and information center (www.fedpartnership.gov).
“The program’s overarching mission is to preserve and promote minority-owned institutions and to enhance their vital role in providing access to credit and financial services in communities that have been historically underserved,” said Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. “The Federal Reserve is committed to helping minority-owned and de novo banks achieve long-term success.”
Partnership for Progress provides insight on key issues in three distinct stages of a bank’s life cycle: “Start a Bank,” “Manage Transition,” and “Grow Shareholder Value.” Topics covered include credit and interest-rate risk, capital and liquidity, and banking regulations. To ensure broad access to the program, all aspects of the training will be available through workshops, online courses, and the program’s interactive website.
“This cutting-edge program, which draws on insights from economics, accounting, finance, and regulatory compliance, will become a valuable resource for institutions at different stages of their development,” said Federal Reserve Board Governor Randall S. Kroszner.
In developing the program, Federal Reserve officials met with minority-owned and de novo banks across the country as well as trade groups, bank consultants, and state and federal banking agencies to better understand the challenges these institutions face in raising capital, growing their institutions, and attracting talent. This process provided valuable insight and contributed significantly to the design of the program, which was spearheaded by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Key concepts from the program will be incorporated into the Federal Reserve System’s examiner training to provide a deeper understanding of the issues unique to minority-owned institutions.
The nationwide launch of Partnership for Progress follows a successful pilot for the program that began last fall. Questions and comments regarding the program should be directed to Marilyn Wimp at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 215-574-4197.
from prweb.com
Helping Black Men Excel Academically
Recent statistics suggest many African-American men and boys are still struggling to live the American dream. A majority don't finish high school, and less than one in five go to college.
Many blame the legacy of slavery, and others point to structural racism, which makes it hard for black men and boys to get a fair shot.
A high visibility player has stepped into the fray: Billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Institute announced the Campaign for Black Male Achievement last week.
Shawn Dove, who heads that campaign, talks solutions with Farai Chideya. Then, we hear from Cornelius Ellen of Chicago's Grand Boulevard Federation, a community-based organization aimed at improving the achievement of young black men and boys.
npr.com
Many blame the legacy of slavery, and others point to structural racism, which makes it hard for black men and boys to get a fair shot.
A high visibility player has stepped into the fray: Billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Institute announced the Campaign for Black Male Achievement last week.
Shawn Dove, who heads that campaign, talks solutions with Farai Chideya. Then, we hear from Cornelius Ellen of Chicago's Grand Boulevard Federation, a community-based organization aimed at improving the achievement of young black men and boys.
npr.com
IMF OKs Extra Funding for Haiti Amid Food Shock
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved $26.5 million in additional funding to Haiti to help the Caribbean country cope with high food and fuel prices.
The funding is part of a total disbursement to Haiti of $38.7 million under the country's three-year IMF program. The IMF said the program had been modified for the rest of the year to reflect the impact from the price shock, which caused rioting in the country.
"The program accommodates spending on social assistance programs and measures to soften the impact of higher food prices on the population, much of it financed by additional donor support," the IMF said.
from reuters
The funding is part of a total disbursement to Haiti of $38.7 million under the country's three-year IMF program. The IMF said the program had been modified for the rest of the year to reflect the impact from the price shock, which caused rioting in the country.
"The program accommodates spending on social assistance programs and measures to soften the impact of higher food prices on the population, much of it financed by additional donor support," the IMF said.
from reuters
Central Africa Republic, Rebels Sign Peace Pact
LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Central African Republic's government has signed a peace accord with rebel groups that seeks to end several years of bush guerrilla war in the poor former French colony that borders with Sudan and Chad.
The accord, signed in Gabon's capital Libreville on Saturday, consolidates individual ceasefires already made by President Francois Bozize's government with three insurgent movements as part of a national peace process.
Bozize, who seized power in 2003 and won elections two years later, is promoting a political dialogue in Central African Republic to end rebellions in the northwest and northeast which have forced tens of thousands of civilians from their homes.
The violence, which has razed and emptied rural villages, driving their inhabitants into the bush, has included raids by armed groups crossing over the border from Chad and Sudan's Darfur region and counter-attacks by government troops.
The signing of the peace pact in the Gabonese capital was witnessed by Bozize and Gabon's President, Omar Bongo, who helped broker the deal, officials from both countries said.
It was signed by leaders of two rebel groups, the Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (APRD), whose fighters operate in the northwest bordering Cameroon and Chad, and the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), which had been active in the northeast near the frontier with Sudan.
"We will pursue our efforts to reach a lasting peace," APRD President Jean-Jacques Demafouth, who initialled the peace pact along with UFDR leader Damane Zakaria, told reporters.
The leader of a third rebel group, the Democratic Front for the Central African People (FDPC), Abdoulaye Miskine, missed the signing ceremony as he was unable to make the trip from Tripoli. But the accord would be held open for his later signature.
Bozize, who plans to bring together for talks the rebel groups which have signed ceasefires, the government and civilian opponents, is hoping the deal will shield his country from the interlocking conflicts in Sudan's Darfur and eastern Chad.
AMNESTY AND DEMOBILISATION
The United Nations and foreign governments say only similar internal political settlements between the warring parties in Darfur and Chad can end the conflicts there.
Landlocked Central African Republic, one of the world's poorest states, has suffered 11 attempted coups or mutinies in the past decade alone. Instability had hampered the full exploitation of its gold, diamond and uranium wealth.
A contingent of European Union soldiers, part of a larger EU force (EUFOR) sent to east Chad this year to protect civilians and refugees, has been deployed in northeast Central African Republic to carry out similar security duties there.
Central African Republic's Communications Minister, Cyriaque Gonda, said the deal signed in Libreville included amnesty for the rebel fighters and foresaw their demobilisation for reintegration either into the national army or civilian life.
The amnesty offered to the rebel fighters under the peace deal did not however give immunity from prosecutions for war crimes or crimes against humanity which might by initiated by the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague.
The violence in Central African Republic stemmed from Bozize's 2003 overthrow of President Ange-Felix Patasse, following bloody fighting that included the systematic rape of hundreds of women. Many rapes were carried out by rebel fighters from Democratic Republic of Congo who backed Patasse.
By Antoine Lawson
The accord, signed in Gabon's capital Libreville on Saturday, consolidates individual ceasefires already made by President Francois Bozize's government with three insurgent movements as part of a national peace process.
Bozize, who seized power in 2003 and won elections two years later, is promoting a political dialogue in Central African Republic to end rebellions in the northwest and northeast which have forced tens of thousands of civilians from their homes.
The violence, which has razed and emptied rural villages, driving their inhabitants into the bush, has included raids by armed groups crossing over the border from Chad and Sudan's Darfur region and counter-attacks by government troops.
The signing of the peace pact in the Gabonese capital was witnessed by Bozize and Gabon's President, Omar Bongo, who helped broker the deal, officials from both countries said.
It was signed by leaders of two rebel groups, the Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (APRD), whose fighters operate in the northwest bordering Cameroon and Chad, and the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), which had been active in the northeast near the frontier with Sudan.
"We will pursue our efforts to reach a lasting peace," APRD President Jean-Jacques Demafouth, who initialled the peace pact along with UFDR leader Damane Zakaria, told reporters.
The leader of a third rebel group, the Democratic Front for the Central African People (FDPC), Abdoulaye Miskine, missed the signing ceremony as he was unable to make the trip from Tripoli. But the accord would be held open for his later signature.
Bozize, who plans to bring together for talks the rebel groups which have signed ceasefires, the government and civilian opponents, is hoping the deal will shield his country from the interlocking conflicts in Sudan's Darfur and eastern Chad.
AMNESTY AND DEMOBILISATION
The United Nations and foreign governments say only similar internal political settlements between the warring parties in Darfur and Chad can end the conflicts there.
Landlocked Central African Republic, one of the world's poorest states, has suffered 11 attempted coups or mutinies in the past decade alone. Instability had hampered the full exploitation of its gold, diamond and uranium wealth.
A contingent of European Union soldiers, part of a larger EU force (EUFOR) sent to east Chad this year to protect civilians and refugees, has been deployed in northeast Central African Republic to carry out similar security duties there.
Central African Republic's Communications Minister, Cyriaque Gonda, said the deal signed in Libreville included amnesty for the rebel fighters and foresaw their demobilisation for reintegration either into the national army or civilian life.
The amnesty offered to the rebel fighters under the peace deal did not however give immunity from prosecutions for war crimes or crimes against humanity which might by initiated by the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague.
The violence in Central African Republic stemmed from Bozize's 2003 overthrow of President Ange-Felix Patasse, following bloody fighting that included the systematic rape of hundreds of women. Many rapes were carried out by rebel fighters from Democratic Republic of Congo who backed Patasse.
By Antoine Lawson
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Kroger Settles Discrimination Suit for $16M
Kroger Co. has agreed to a $16 million settlement of a 2001 class-action lawsuit filed by 12 black Kroger employees or former employees who alleged that they were illegally discriminated against.
The company did not admit any wrongdoing or liability, according to the terms of the agreement, which is awaiting court approval. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Louisville.
The consent decree calls for Kroger to pay $16 million into a settlement fund, from which all claims and the plaintiffs' legal expenses and fees will be paid. The consent decree suggests, hypothetically, that about $10 million might remain to pay claimants after legal fees and other costs have been subtracted.
The plaintiffs are represented by lawyers at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfield & Toll PLLC in Washington, D.C., and Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis LLC in Birmingham, Ala. Kroger is represented by lawyers at Littler Mendelson PC and Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Chicago.
The decree includes all black, full- and part-time Kroger employees from Nov. 29, 1997, until the date of the pending preliminary approval of the settlement by the court.
Payments will be prorated based on gross wages paid to eligible claimants during the claim period, except that 84 percent of the settlement funds (after payment of legal expenses) will be distributed to hourly workers and 16 percent to managerial workers.
Eligible class members are to be sent claims forms by the settlement administrator, based on information to be supplied by Kroger.
Class members objecting to the terms of the settlement have until Oct. 14, 2008, to do so in writing with the settlement administrator (Settlement Services Inc. in Tallahassee, Fla.), and they also have a limited right to opt out of the settlement.
Nathaniel Jones, retired judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, will serve as special master to resolve any disagreements between the parties related to the settlement.
From Bizjournals.com
The company did not admit any wrongdoing or liability, according to the terms of the agreement, which is awaiting court approval. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Louisville.
The consent decree calls for Kroger to pay $16 million into a settlement fund, from which all claims and the plaintiffs' legal expenses and fees will be paid. The consent decree suggests, hypothetically, that about $10 million might remain to pay claimants after legal fees and other costs have been subtracted.
The plaintiffs are represented by lawyers at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfield & Toll PLLC in Washington, D.C., and Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis LLC in Birmingham, Ala. Kroger is represented by lawyers at Littler Mendelson PC and Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Chicago.
The decree includes all black, full- and part-time Kroger employees from Nov. 29, 1997, until the date of the pending preliminary approval of the settlement by the court.
Payments will be prorated based on gross wages paid to eligible claimants during the claim period, except that 84 percent of the settlement funds (after payment of legal expenses) will be distributed to hourly workers and 16 percent to managerial workers.
Eligible class members are to be sent claims forms by the settlement administrator, based on information to be supplied by Kroger.
Class members objecting to the terms of the settlement have until Oct. 14, 2008, to do so in writing with the settlement administrator (Settlement Services Inc. in Tallahassee, Fla.), and they also have a limited right to opt out of the settlement.
Nathaniel Jones, retired judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, will serve as special master to resolve any disagreements between the parties related to the settlement.
From Bizjournals.com
Shell Shuts Down Nigerian Oil Field After Attack
LAGOS, Nigeria - Militants in speedboats raided an oil installation off Nigeria's southern coastline on Thursday, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to slash production and exposing Africa's biggest oil industry as vulnerable even on the high seas.
The attack by fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, about 85 miles into the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, was the militant group's farthest-ever attack in the open ocean.
"The location for today's attack was deliberately chosen to remove any notion that offshore oil exploration is far from our reach," the group said. "The oil companies and their collaborators do not have any place to hide in conducting their nefarious activities."
The group is Nigeria's most effective militant gang. Its campaign of bombing pipelines and attacks on export facilities, launched in 2006, had already slashed Nigeria's daily oil output by about 20 percent, helping send global oil prices to all-time highs.
Thursday's attack by gunmen riding in several open-hulled boats trimmed that 10 percent further. Shell confirmed the attack on a deep-water installation and said it had shut down about 200,000 barrels per day in production from the Bonga oil field.
The militants said they had aimed to destroy the installation's computer room but didn't at the last moment because it could have meant the needless death of the rig's staff members.
Oil industry officials said it wasn't clear the militants had even boarded the structure.
Nigeria's oil industry has eyed offshore development as a safer alternative to operations in the watery southern Niger Delta, where militants normally operate.
While militants sometimes venture out of the delta's creeks and swamps, no attack has been recorded as far out as Thursday's raid.
The militants said they would target oil and gas tankers in the area next. They said the oil companies should pull their foreign staff out of Nigeria until the long-simmering conflict in southern Nigeria is resolved.
The United States, which is a top customer of Nigeria's easily refined crude, has offered to help Nigeria calm its waters and has sent naval vessels on training missions to the Gulf of Guinea, which is Africa's offshore oil heartland.
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta emerged in early 2006 as an umbrella for long-existing armed gangs involved in the lucrative but illegal tapping of pipelines and wells for crude oil, which is shipped overseas for resale.
The movement showed particular sophistication in its military-style raids, political rhetoric and communications with the media. Its attacks have been unrivaled by other militant outfits.
The militants also said they kidnapped an American worker from a supply vessel they came across while returning home from the attack. The seizure was confirmed by private security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to prohibitions on dealings with the media. The officials said two other seamen on the supply vessel were injured in that attack.
The U.S. State Department confirmed that an American citizen had been taken hostage and demanded his liberation.
Later, a militant leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid arrest, told The Associated Press by telephone that the man had been released. A private security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity due to prohibitions on contact with the media, confirmed the release.
More than 200 foreign hostages have been seized since an upsurge of violence that began in early 2006. The captives are normally released unharmed after a ransom is paid.
The turmoil in Nigeria's south has helped send oil prices to historical highs, which gives the militants more leverage in their drive to force the federal government to send more oil-industry proceeds to their areas.
Despite being the home of almost all of Nigeria's petroleum reserves, the country's south is as desperately poor as the rest of Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with 140 million people.
The federal government acknowledges that the southern region needs development, but considers most of the militants common criminals whose activities are cloaked in spurious political claims. Many armed gangs have helped politicians rig elections in the region.
___
Associated Press writer Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.
The attack by fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, about 85 miles into the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, was the militant group's farthest-ever attack in the open ocean.
"The location for today's attack was deliberately chosen to remove any notion that offshore oil exploration is far from our reach," the group said. "The oil companies and their collaborators do not have any place to hide in conducting their nefarious activities."
The group is Nigeria's most effective militant gang. Its campaign of bombing pipelines and attacks on export facilities, launched in 2006, had already slashed Nigeria's daily oil output by about 20 percent, helping send global oil prices to all-time highs.
Thursday's attack by gunmen riding in several open-hulled boats trimmed that 10 percent further. Shell confirmed the attack on a deep-water installation and said it had shut down about 200,000 barrels per day in production from the Bonga oil field.
The militants said they had aimed to destroy the installation's computer room but didn't at the last moment because it could have meant the needless death of the rig's staff members.
Oil industry officials said it wasn't clear the militants had even boarded the structure.
Nigeria's oil industry has eyed offshore development as a safer alternative to operations in the watery southern Niger Delta, where militants normally operate.
While militants sometimes venture out of the delta's creeks and swamps, no attack has been recorded as far out as Thursday's raid.
The militants said they would target oil and gas tankers in the area next. They said the oil companies should pull their foreign staff out of Nigeria until the long-simmering conflict in southern Nigeria is resolved.
The United States, which is a top customer of Nigeria's easily refined crude, has offered to help Nigeria calm its waters and has sent naval vessels on training missions to the Gulf of Guinea, which is Africa's offshore oil heartland.
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta emerged in early 2006 as an umbrella for long-existing armed gangs involved in the lucrative but illegal tapping of pipelines and wells for crude oil, which is shipped overseas for resale.
The movement showed particular sophistication in its military-style raids, political rhetoric and communications with the media. Its attacks have been unrivaled by other militant outfits.
The militants also said they kidnapped an American worker from a supply vessel they came across while returning home from the attack. The seizure was confirmed by private security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to prohibitions on dealings with the media. The officials said two other seamen on the supply vessel were injured in that attack.
The U.S. State Department confirmed that an American citizen had been taken hostage and demanded his liberation.
Later, a militant leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid arrest, told The Associated Press by telephone that the man had been released. A private security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity due to prohibitions on contact with the media, confirmed the release.
More than 200 foreign hostages have been seized since an upsurge of violence that began in early 2006. The captives are normally released unharmed after a ransom is paid.
The turmoil in Nigeria's south has helped send oil prices to historical highs, which gives the militants more leverage in their drive to force the federal government to send more oil-industry proceeds to their areas.
Despite being the home of almost all of Nigeria's petroleum reserves, the country's south is as desperately poor as the rest of Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with 140 million people.
The federal government acknowledges that the southern region needs development, but considers most of the militants common criminals whose activities are cloaked in spurious political claims. Many armed gangs have helped politicians rig elections in the region.
___
Associated Press writer Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.
Rap Stars Weigh Their Options as Record Deals End
NEW YORK (Billboard) - As a string of high-profile hip-hop artists near the end of their record contracts, a question looming over their pending free agency isn't which major label they'll sign with but whether they should sign with a major.
One prominent rap artist has already jumped ship: Jay-Z signed a long-term recording, publishing and management deal earlier this year with Live Nation. A Def Jam spokeswoman says Jay-Z has one album left on his contract with the label, but Def Jam head Shakir Stewart said recently that "we're still working it out."
While few rappers can match the pull and marketability of the former Def Jam president, big names like 50 Cent, LL Cool J and OutKast will soon be on the market as well. Although they may ultimately re-sign with major labels, their camps have indicated that they are at least contemplating the possibility of a future without a major-label deal.
LL Cool J will complete his three-album deal with Def Jam with the August 5 release of "Exit 13." By the end of the year, 50 Cent is expected to put out "Before I Self Destruct," the fourth and final album on his Interscope deal. OutKast owes LaFace/Zomba three more albums under the duo's four-album contract, with all three releases expected out later this year and next year. Representatives for Def Jam, Interscope and LaFace/Zomba declined to comment on the contracts.
DIY APPROACH
Tiphanie Watson, co-manager for OutKast's Big Boi, says the duo hasn't decided yet whether to seek another deal with a major, but adds, "It's much more beneficial to do it on your own. For an artist with an established fan base, there's more than one way to come up with strategic branding."
Notwithstanding Lil Wayne's first-week platinum sales for "Tha Carter III," a contemporary rap album is lucky to sell an average of 35,000 copies in its first week. As of June 8, year-to-date U.S. sales of rap albums were down 25 percent from the same period of 2007, compared with an 11.4 percent drop in overall album sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Meanwhile, unauthorized mixtapes, which recently have been among the most buzzworthy releases in hip-hop, have been reaching audiences through independent channels.
While hip-hop's roots are steeped in a DIY aesthetic, could that spirit represent the future of the genre's big stars? Certainly some of the music's leading players have long exhibited a strong entrepreneurial streak, personified by the diversified business interests of Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jay-Z and 50 Cent, and newer stars like Young Jeezy.
50 Cent's holdings, which already include an apparel line, video games and his Interscope-distributed G-Unit record label, expanded earlier this year with the launch of a branded online social network and content platform, ThisIs50.com.
LL Cool J, who keeps busy with TV and movie projects, tells Billboard that he has more on his mind these days than securing a new record deal. He, too, recently launched a digital distribution platform, Boomdizzle.com. While the site will be aimed mainly at helping aspiring artists get exposure, the veteran rapper says that "it's definitely going to play a big part in my musical future."
What role Boomdizzle will play isn't clear. "I'm not looking for another deal, but I wouldn't be uninterested either," he says.
Reuters/Billboard
One prominent rap artist has already jumped ship: Jay-Z signed a long-term recording, publishing and management deal earlier this year with Live Nation. A Def Jam spokeswoman says Jay-Z has one album left on his contract with the label, but Def Jam head Shakir Stewart said recently that "we're still working it out."
While few rappers can match the pull and marketability of the former Def Jam president, big names like 50 Cent, LL Cool J and OutKast will soon be on the market as well. Although they may ultimately re-sign with major labels, their camps have indicated that they are at least contemplating the possibility of a future without a major-label deal.
LL Cool J will complete his three-album deal with Def Jam with the August 5 release of "Exit 13." By the end of the year, 50 Cent is expected to put out "Before I Self Destruct," the fourth and final album on his Interscope deal. OutKast owes LaFace/Zomba three more albums under the duo's four-album contract, with all three releases expected out later this year and next year. Representatives for Def Jam, Interscope and LaFace/Zomba declined to comment on the contracts.
DIY APPROACH
Tiphanie Watson, co-manager for OutKast's Big Boi, says the duo hasn't decided yet whether to seek another deal with a major, but adds, "It's much more beneficial to do it on your own. For an artist with an established fan base, there's more than one way to come up with strategic branding."
Notwithstanding Lil Wayne's first-week platinum sales for "Tha Carter III," a contemporary rap album is lucky to sell an average of 35,000 copies in its first week. As of June 8, year-to-date U.S. sales of rap albums were down 25 percent from the same period of 2007, compared with an 11.4 percent drop in overall album sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Meanwhile, unauthorized mixtapes, which recently have been among the most buzzworthy releases in hip-hop, have been reaching audiences through independent channels.
While hip-hop's roots are steeped in a DIY aesthetic, could that spirit represent the future of the genre's big stars? Certainly some of the music's leading players have long exhibited a strong entrepreneurial streak, personified by the diversified business interests of Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jay-Z and 50 Cent, and newer stars like Young Jeezy.
50 Cent's holdings, which already include an apparel line, video games and his Interscope-distributed G-Unit record label, expanded earlier this year with the launch of a branded online social network and content platform, ThisIs50.com.
LL Cool J, who keeps busy with TV and movie projects, tells Billboard that he has more on his mind these days than securing a new record deal. He, too, recently launched a digital distribution platform, Boomdizzle.com. While the site will be aimed mainly at helping aspiring artists get exposure, the veteran rapper says that "it's definitely going to play a big part in my musical future."
What role Boomdizzle will play isn't clear. "I'm not looking for another deal, but I wouldn't be uninterested either," he says.
Reuters/Billboard
Ethiopia Confident of Overcoming Drought
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopia's government insisted Saturday it could tackle a searing drought that has put 4.6 million people at the mercies of relief aid, despite legislative proposals that could curb aid groups working there.
"The current food shortage witnessed in pocket areas of the country is transient and will soon be brought under control through emergency aid and the regular agricultural schemes," the information ministry said in a statement.
"Though some citizens are exposed to food shortage, the problem is not beyond control as the government in collaboration with all stakeholders is striving to reverse the situation."
The United Nations last week appealed for 325 million dollars to provide nearly 400,000 tonnes of food to the country's hardest-hit central and southern regions.
The appeal came as the federal parliament considers a bill which, if passed, could restrict the activities of foreign aid groups in the nation of 80 million people that suffers from chronic food shortages.
Addis Ababa said the number of people in need of food aid had risen to 4.6 million from from 2.2 million due to failed rains.
Aid groups and donor countries have vowed to press the government on the issue, warning that too many curbs on the work of NGOs could lead to a shortfall in foreign funding.
from AFP
"The current food shortage witnessed in pocket areas of the country is transient and will soon be brought under control through emergency aid and the regular agricultural schemes," the information ministry said in a statement.
"Though some citizens are exposed to food shortage, the problem is not beyond control as the government in collaboration with all stakeholders is striving to reverse the situation."
The United Nations last week appealed for 325 million dollars to provide nearly 400,000 tonnes of food to the country's hardest-hit central and southern regions.
The appeal came as the federal parliament considers a bill which, if passed, could restrict the activities of foreign aid groups in the nation of 80 million people that suffers from chronic food shortages.
Addis Ababa said the number of people in need of food aid had risen to 4.6 million from from 2.2 million due to failed rains.
Aid groups and donor countries have vowed to press the government on the issue, warning that too many curbs on the work of NGOs could lead to a shortfall in foreign funding.
from AFP
Friday, June 20, 2008
Dr. Ben Carson Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Thursday presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, to leaders in medicine, government, the judiciary and the military.
Bush talked about Dr. Benjamin S. Carson's mother. Carson performed the world's first successful operation separating twins joined at the back of the head in 1987.
Carson's mother raised him and his brother alone.
"Every week the boys would have to check out library books and write reports on them," Bush said of Carson's mother. "She would hand them back with check marks as though she had reviewed them, never letting on that she couldn't read."
Carson is director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.
Cuba Gooding, Jr. attended the ceremony for the 2008 recipients. He will portray Carson in an upcoming movie.
In a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Bush lauded and joked with five recipients and Annette Lantos, who accepted the award on behalf of her late husband, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif.
from Blackvoices.com
Bush talked about Dr. Benjamin S. Carson's mother. Carson performed the world's first successful operation separating twins joined at the back of the head in 1987.
Carson's mother raised him and his brother alone.
"Every week the boys would have to check out library books and write reports on them," Bush said of Carson's mother. "She would hand them back with check marks as though she had reviewed them, never letting on that she couldn't read."
Carson is director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.
Cuba Gooding, Jr. attended the ceremony for the 2008 recipients. He will portray Carson in an upcoming movie.
In a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Bush lauded and joked with five recipients and Annette Lantos, who accepted the award on behalf of her late husband, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif.
from Blackvoices.com
Former FAMU Employee Faces Long Jail Term
The former director of the Institute on Urban Police and Commerce at Florida A&M University has pleaded guilty to stealing money from federal grants to help people learn to read.
Patricia Walker McGill of Tallahassee faces a maximum term of 75 years in prison and fines totaling $1.75 million. Sentencing is scheduled Oct. 1.
After two days of testimony, U.S. Attorney Gregory Miller said that McGill entered her plea Wednesday in federal court to one count of conspiracy and seven counts of theft of money for educational grants.
Defense attorney Gary Printy of Tallahassee declined comment on the case.
The money provided to Florida A&M was intended to be used in literacy programs for residents of Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Union and Washington counties in the Florida Panhandle.
Prosecutors said during the first two days of trial, the jury heard testimony from 21 witnesses and received 255 exhibits in evidence.
from AP
Patricia Walker McGill of Tallahassee faces a maximum term of 75 years in prison and fines totaling $1.75 million. Sentencing is scheduled Oct. 1.
After two days of testimony, U.S. Attorney Gregory Miller said that McGill entered her plea Wednesday in federal court to one count of conspiracy and seven counts of theft of money for educational grants.
Defense attorney Gary Printy of Tallahassee declined comment on the case.
The money provided to Florida A&M was intended to be used in literacy programs for residents of Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Union and Washington counties in the Florida Panhandle.
Prosecutors said during the first two days of trial, the jury heard testimony from 21 witnesses and received 255 exhibits in evidence.
from AP
Queen Latifah Sues in NY Over Cameo Film Role
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress and singer Queen Latifah sued a small film production company that helped finance the movie "The Perfect Holiday" on Wednesday, saying she had not been paid any money for the film.
Lawyers for Queen Latifah, an Academy Award-nominated actress and Grammy Award-winning singer whose real name is Dana Owens, said in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court the California-based company, Perfect Christmas Productions, had breached her contract and owed her $275,000 for a cameo role in the film.
"The Perfect Holiday," which was also produced by Owens, 38, was released in December 2007, starring Terrence Howard and Gabrielle Union. It grossed more than $5.8 million by February, 2008 in the United States, according to Box Office Mojo.
The lawsuit said Perfect Christmas Productions was believed to have been paid several million dollars by third parties for "The Perfect Holiday," which was originally known as "Perfect Christmas."
from reuters
Lawyers for Queen Latifah, an Academy Award-nominated actress and Grammy Award-winning singer whose real name is Dana Owens, said in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court the California-based company, Perfect Christmas Productions, had breached her contract and owed her $275,000 for a cameo role in the film.
"The Perfect Holiday," which was also produced by Owens, 38, was released in December 2007, starring Terrence Howard and Gabrielle Union. It grossed more than $5.8 million by February, 2008 in the United States, according to Box Office Mojo.
The lawsuit said Perfect Christmas Productions was believed to have been paid several million dollars by third parties for "The Perfect Holiday," which was originally known as "Perfect Christmas."
from reuters
Black Women Business Owners Gain Market
At age 40, Dawn Fitch is part of a fast growing movement in America - black women who are launching their own businesses.
"There is another choice beside corporate America," said Fitch, president of Pooka Pure & Simple. "You can start your own business from something that you may love or a passion that you have."
Between 2002 and 2008, the number of firms owned by African American women increased by 19 percent - twice as fast as all other firms, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. And they generated $29 billion in sales nationwide.
What's driving these women into entrepreneurship?
"There's this disillusion in the corporate world," said Beverly Holmes of the Center for Women's Business Research. "It's the fact that this glass ceiling is still there."
A college-educated graphic designer, Dawn Fitch hit that ceiling.
Fitch, her sister and two friends started Pooka seven years ago out of her kitchen. They sell natural bath and body products made by hand.
"We've done all the marketing, we've done all the selling, the sales, the Web," Fitch said.
How much money we talking about?
"First year, maybe $20,000. Maybe the whole year," she said. "Um, this past year, in '07, we went over half a million dollars in sales. So, yeah, we're very happy."
But when it comes to income, Dawn is an exception.
The average annual revenue for black women business-owners is $37,787, far behind their male counterparts, who earn $107,720 a year - and white women, at $155,000.
Black women in business have shown interest in a dual bottom line: gaining market share - and giving back. Dawn takes time to train students, community and church groups how to become entrepreneurs.
In a competitive world, why give away trade secrets?
"It's definitely important to us," Fitch said. "Because people did help us along the way and what we always say is there's enough for everybody."
Dawn Fitch wouldn't trade the choices she's made.
"Did you smile this much in Corporate America?" Pitts asked.
"No!" she said. "Only on Friday."
Now as the boss she says every day feels like Friday.
from CBS News
"There is another choice beside corporate America," said Fitch, president of Pooka Pure & Simple. "You can start your own business from something that you may love or a passion that you have."
Between 2002 and 2008, the number of firms owned by African American women increased by 19 percent - twice as fast as all other firms, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. And they generated $29 billion in sales nationwide.
What's driving these women into entrepreneurship?
"There's this disillusion in the corporate world," said Beverly Holmes of the Center for Women's Business Research. "It's the fact that this glass ceiling is still there."
A college-educated graphic designer, Dawn Fitch hit that ceiling.
Fitch, her sister and two friends started Pooka seven years ago out of her kitchen. They sell natural bath and body products made by hand.
"We've done all the marketing, we've done all the selling, the sales, the Web," Fitch said.
How much money we talking about?
"First year, maybe $20,000. Maybe the whole year," she said. "Um, this past year, in '07, we went over half a million dollars in sales. So, yeah, we're very happy."
But when it comes to income, Dawn is an exception.
The average annual revenue for black women business-owners is $37,787, far behind their male counterparts, who earn $107,720 a year - and white women, at $155,000.
Black women in business have shown interest in a dual bottom line: gaining market share - and giving back. Dawn takes time to train students, community and church groups how to become entrepreneurs.
In a competitive world, why give away trade secrets?
"It's definitely important to us," Fitch said. "Because people did help us along the way and what we always say is there's enough for everybody."
Dawn Fitch wouldn't trade the choices she's made.
"Did you smile this much in Corporate America?" Pitts asked.
"No!" she said. "Only on Friday."
Now as the boss she says every day feels like Friday.
from CBS News
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
MD's 1st Black Woman to Congress
LANHAM, Md. (AP) — Democratic lawyer and nonprofit executive Donna Edwards won a special election Tuesday to become Maryland's first black woman elected to Congress.
Edwards beat Republican Peter James in the race to serve the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn's term in Maryland's 4th District. Wynn left office May 31 to take a lobbying job after losing to Edwards in February's Democratic primary by 22 percentage points.
Edwards, 49, will hold the seat for the rest of the year. James also won his party's primary in February, meaning he and Edwards will face each other again in November's general election.
Once she is sworn in, Democrats will have 236 seats in the House to Republicans' 199.
The victory also gives Edwards a chance to establish some seniority if she is elected to a full term. A half-year spent in the House could give her a slight edge over other incoming freshmen, such as better committee assignments.
Edwards most recently led the nonprofit Arca Foundation. Her win in February was her second try at the seat after losing to Wynn in 2006 by a slim margin.
With about 25 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Edwards had 93 percent of the vote, or 2,853 votes, to James' 6 percent, or 189. Voter turnout appeared to be low.
Buoyed by support from powerful interest groups and unions, she capitalized on voter distaste for Wynn's positions and votes on issues like the war in Iraq and the housing crisis.
James, 52, of Germantown, focused much of his campaign on trying to alert voters to what he says are fundamental flaws in the nation's banking system. He describes himself as a Republican in the vein of Ron Paul, the libertarian-minded Republican presidential candidate.
Maryland's first black elected congressman was Parren Mitchell, who served from 1971 to 1987 in the 7th District, according to Jennifer Hafner, the deputy director of research at the Maryland State Archives.
By STEPHEN MANNING
from teh AP
Edwards beat Republican Peter James in the race to serve the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn's term in Maryland's 4th District. Wynn left office May 31 to take a lobbying job after losing to Edwards in February's Democratic primary by 22 percentage points.
Edwards, 49, will hold the seat for the rest of the year. James also won his party's primary in February, meaning he and Edwards will face each other again in November's general election.
Once she is sworn in, Democrats will have 236 seats in the House to Republicans' 199.
The victory also gives Edwards a chance to establish some seniority if she is elected to a full term. A half-year spent in the House could give her a slight edge over other incoming freshmen, such as better committee assignments.
Edwards most recently led the nonprofit Arca Foundation. Her win in February was her second try at the seat after losing to Wynn in 2006 by a slim margin.
With about 25 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Edwards had 93 percent of the vote, or 2,853 votes, to James' 6 percent, or 189. Voter turnout appeared to be low.
Buoyed by support from powerful interest groups and unions, she capitalized on voter distaste for Wynn's positions and votes on issues like the war in Iraq and the housing crisis.
James, 52, of Germantown, focused much of his campaign on trying to alert voters to what he says are fundamental flaws in the nation's banking system. He describes himself as a Republican in the vein of Ron Paul, the libertarian-minded Republican presidential candidate.
Maryland's first black elected congressman was Parren Mitchell, who served from 1971 to 1987 in the 7th District, according to Jennifer Hafner, the deputy director of research at the Maryland State Archives.
By STEPHEN MANNING
from teh AP
SCLC Shifts Boycott to Shell Oil Corp.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is taking its own steps to address today's soaring gasoline prices — a national boycott of the nation's five largest oil companies.
The boycott that began in May targeting Exxon Mobil Corp. has turned its attention for the next 30 days to Shell Oil Corp. Next up will be BP, Chevron Corp., and ConocoPhillips Co. during the coming months, as the boycott runs into mid-October.
SCLC hopes to pressure oil companies to forgo multi-billion dollar profits in favor of lowering prices.
Officials with the Atlanta-based organization consider record gas prices a human and civil rights issue that threatens to further divide the nation's haves and have-nots.
The Rev. Charles Steele, SCLC president, said it boils down to "greed."
"We understand the free market system," Steele said Monday. "We're saying it's a difference between making a profit and greed."
SCLC also is considering asking U.S. workers to voice their concern by staying off their jobs July 1-2.
Other boycott partners are Concerned Black Clergy of Metro Atlanta, the AFL-CIO, the Nation of Islam, Ghandi Foundation and the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.
By S.A. REID
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The boycott that began in May targeting Exxon Mobil Corp. has turned its attention for the next 30 days to Shell Oil Corp. Next up will be BP, Chevron Corp., and ConocoPhillips Co. during the coming months, as the boycott runs into mid-October.
SCLC hopes to pressure oil companies to forgo multi-billion dollar profits in favor of lowering prices.
Officials with the Atlanta-based organization consider record gas prices a human and civil rights issue that threatens to further divide the nation's haves and have-nots.
The Rev. Charles Steele, SCLC president, said it boils down to "greed."
"We understand the free market system," Steele said Monday. "We're saying it's a difference between making a profit and greed."
SCLC also is considering asking U.S. workers to voice their concern by staying off their jobs July 1-2.
Other boycott partners are Concerned Black Clergy of Metro Atlanta, the AFL-CIO, the Nation of Islam, Ghandi Foundation and the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.
By S.A. REID
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DC Ruling Rejects Claim of Racial Disparity in Juries
A D.C. Superior Court judge yesterday upheld the legality of the District's jury system, rejecting arguments that blacks are much less likely to be called for service than whites even though the city is majority-African American.
Judge James E. Boasberg said that he found no evidence of a "systemic exclusion" of black jurors and that, if anything, they could be overrepresented in the pool of potential candidates summoned for service.
The ruling came after the most extensive examination of the D.C. jury system in decades. For years, the D.C. Public Defender Service had complained about racial disparity at the courthouse. In this case, as Boasberg wrote, he gave the agency "wide latitude" to pursue the claims over the past year.
The Public Defender Service waged the challenge in the case of Odell Powell, a black Northeast Washington resident arrested in 2006 on charges including assault on a police officer. The defense lawyers argued that the jury system was unconstitutional and sought to have Powell's indictment dismissed or his trial delayed until changes were made. The U.S. attorney's office and the District argued that the system is fair.
The public defenders and U.S. attorney's office recruited outside experts who looked into how the court determines its jury list and those who serve. The clerk of courts and others answered questions in depositions conducted by the defense team and provided data for a two-year period ending in November, all under orders issued by the judge.
The Public Defender Service presented the court with a startling statistic: In a city that was 60 percent black during that period, 36 percent of Superior Court jurors were black, it said.
With that, the judge could have ruled that the city's jury selection system violates the right to a jury representing a cross-section of the community. Such a decision could have opened the door for hundreds of defendant appeals.
But Boasberg found the defense's statistical analysis argument to be "wholly misleading." He gave more credence to a separate analysis, done for the U.S. attorney's office, that found a much closer match. The U.S. attorney's office said census figures show that blacks make up 56 percent of the city's adult population, calling that a more relevant figure because only adults can be jurors. And it concluded that black residents made up about 53 percent of the jurors who served in the two-year period.
The ratio of whites to blacks on D.C. juries has been a concern among many lawyers and even judges at Superior Court. Last year, Judge Neal E. Kravitz sided with defense attorneys in a criminal trial involving a black defendant and called for a new panel of jury prospects after 70 candidates -- 61 white, eight black and one Asian -- were sent to his courtroom.
Although Boasberg said the process is not perfect, he found no discrimination. He said the Public Defender Service failed to meet two tests required in such a challenge: that blacks are underrepresented and that it was due to "systemic exclusion."
"The data uncovered in this litigation conclusively prove that black jurors are not unconstitutionally underrepresented in Superior Court [lists] -- in fact, they are overrepresented in summonses issued -- and there is also no systematic exclusion of black jurors," Boasberg wrote in the ruling.
The Public Defender Service had also argued that the databases used by the court to identify jurors illegally exclude many blacks. Boasberg rejected that claim, saying that the District "has one of the most inclusive systems in the country."
The court uses lists of voter registrations, driver's licenses and non-driver identification cards as well as records relating to income tax forms, temporary aid to needy families and unemployment benefits.
Although it determined that the system is just, the court made some changes in the selection process because of the case. It will begin tapping into lists of residents who receive food stamps or receive subsidized health care through Medicaid or the DC Healthcare Alliance. Officials said the additions will add only about 5,000 names, because those receiving food stamps or health care are probably receiving other benefits included in the court's database.
In April, the court began reviewing the status of people who were taken off jury rolls because of pending criminal cases to see whether those charges were dismissed. If so, they will join the jury pool, officials said.
The court is also checking on people who on the first try were unable to understand English to determine whether that is still the case. Similar checks are being done on people once deemed illiterate. Officials said they also are about to install a new computer system to improve the process.
Duane Delaney, who has been clerk of courts for 12 years, said he was pleased with the judge's decision. "It just confirms everything I've always believed. I never thought there was discrimination against African Americans," he said.
The Public Defender Service did not respond to requests for comment. But other defense lawyers said they were heartened by the court's changes and Boasberg's work on the issue.
"I'm delighted that Judge Boasberg took this issue seriously and the court is making some real changes to address some of the issues that were raised," Nikki Lotze said.
By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Judge James E. Boasberg said that he found no evidence of a "systemic exclusion" of black jurors and that, if anything, they could be overrepresented in the pool of potential candidates summoned for service.
The ruling came after the most extensive examination of the D.C. jury system in decades. For years, the D.C. Public Defender Service had complained about racial disparity at the courthouse. In this case, as Boasberg wrote, he gave the agency "wide latitude" to pursue the claims over the past year.
The Public Defender Service waged the challenge in the case of Odell Powell, a black Northeast Washington resident arrested in 2006 on charges including assault on a police officer. The defense lawyers argued that the jury system was unconstitutional and sought to have Powell's indictment dismissed or his trial delayed until changes were made. The U.S. attorney's office and the District argued that the system is fair.
The public defenders and U.S. attorney's office recruited outside experts who looked into how the court determines its jury list and those who serve. The clerk of courts and others answered questions in depositions conducted by the defense team and provided data for a two-year period ending in November, all under orders issued by the judge.
The Public Defender Service presented the court with a startling statistic: In a city that was 60 percent black during that period, 36 percent of Superior Court jurors were black, it said.
With that, the judge could have ruled that the city's jury selection system violates the right to a jury representing a cross-section of the community. Such a decision could have opened the door for hundreds of defendant appeals.
But Boasberg found the defense's statistical analysis argument to be "wholly misleading." He gave more credence to a separate analysis, done for the U.S. attorney's office, that found a much closer match. The U.S. attorney's office said census figures show that blacks make up 56 percent of the city's adult population, calling that a more relevant figure because only adults can be jurors. And it concluded that black residents made up about 53 percent of the jurors who served in the two-year period.
The ratio of whites to blacks on D.C. juries has been a concern among many lawyers and even judges at Superior Court. Last year, Judge Neal E. Kravitz sided with defense attorneys in a criminal trial involving a black defendant and called for a new panel of jury prospects after 70 candidates -- 61 white, eight black and one Asian -- were sent to his courtroom.
Although Boasberg said the process is not perfect, he found no discrimination. He said the Public Defender Service failed to meet two tests required in such a challenge: that blacks are underrepresented and that it was due to "systemic exclusion."
"The data uncovered in this litigation conclusively prove that black jurors are not unconstitutionally underrepresented in Superior Court [lists] -- in fact, they are overrepresented in summonses issued -- and there is also no systematic exclusion of black jurors," Boasberg wrote in the ruling.
The Public Defender Service had also argued that the databases used by the court to identify jurors illegally exclude many blacks. Boasberg rejected that claim, saying that the District "has one of the most inclusive systems in the country."
The court uses lists of voter registrations, driver's licenses and non-driver identification cards as well as records relating to income tax forms, temporary aid to needy families and unemployment benefits.
Although it determined that the system is just, the court made some changes in the selection process because of the case. It will begin tapping into lists of residents who receive food stamps or receive subsidized health care through Medicaid or the DC Healthcare Alliance. Officials said the additions will add only about 5,000 names, because those receiving food stamps or health care are probably receiving other benefits included in the court's database.
In April, the court began reviewing the status of people who were taken off jury rolls because of pending criminal cases to see whether those charges were dismissed. If so, they will join the jury pool, officials said.
The court is also checking on people who on the first try were unable to understand English to determine whether that is still the case. Similar checks are being done on people once deemed illiterate. Officials said they also are about to install a new computer system to improve the process.
Duane Delaney, who has been clerk of courts for 12 years, said he was pleased with the judge's decision. "It just confirms everything I've always believed. I never thought there was discrimination against African Americans," he said.
The Public Defender Service did not respond to requests for comment. But other defense lawyers said they were heartened by the court's changes and Boasberg's work on the issue.
"I'm delighted that Judge Boasberg took this issue seriously and the court is making some real changes to address some of the issues that were raised," Nikki Lotze said.
By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Noose Ban on Way to Louisiana's Governor
BATON ROUGE -- Trying to intimidate someone with a hangman's noose, a symbol of racial lynchings in the Old South, will be a crime in Louisiana if Gov. Bobby Jindal goes along with legislation unanimously passed by the House and Senate.
House Bill 726 by Rep. Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, will make it a crime for a person to place a hangman's noose, or a picture of one, on another person's property or on public property with "the intent to intimidate." Conviction could bring fines up to $5,000 and up to a year in prison.
A 37-0 vote in the Senate late Monday, following a 97-0 House vote earlier in the legislative session, sent the measure to Jindal for his signature. His office did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the bill, which is modeled after an existing law outlawing cross burning.
There was little discussion in either chamber but Hardy, during a committee hearing on the bill in May, noted the noose's history as a symbol of racial lynchings.
He also touched on a 2006 incident at Jena High School in central Louisiana, where three students were suspended after nooses were found hanging from a tree on campus. That incident became one of the focal points of a civil rights march that drew some 20,000 demonstrators to Jena last September.
The district attorney said there was no state law under which the three could be prosecuted. A U.S. attorney later told members of Congress that the Justice Department decided not to prosecute because the federal government typically does not bring hate crimes charges against juveniles.
The Jena case gained national attention when, a few months after the nooses were placed in the tree, six black students were arrested in the beating of a white student at Jena High School.
Five of the six were originally charged with attempted murder, causing an uproar among civil rights leaders who said that the charges, which eventually were reduced, were out of proportion to the crime.
Although the district attorney and a federal prosecutor have said there was no link between the noose hangings and the attack on the white student, the noose issue was cited by many during the September demonstration.
After the demonstration, an 18-year-old man from nearby Colfax was arrested for driving past some of the marchers with a noose tied to the back of the truck. He eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor federal hate crime, carrying a possible penalty of up to a year in prison. He will be sentenced in August.
In May, the state of New York outlawed the display of a noose as a threat, following several high-profile cases involving the symbol: Nooses were found last year on a black professor's door at Columbia University, outside a post office near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in Manhattan, and on Long Island. They also have shown up in a black Coast Guard cadet's bag aboard a cutter and on a Maryland college campus.
Connecticut passed a bill this year making noose displays a misdemeanor unless property is damaged, which would be a felony.
The AP
House Bill 726 by Rep. Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, will make it a crime for a person to place a hangman's noose, or a picture of one, on another person's property or on public property with "the intent to intimidate." Conviction could bring fines up to $5,000 and up to a year in prison.
A 37-0 vote in the Senate late Monday, following a 97-0 House vote earlier in the legislative session, sent the measure to Jindal for his signature. His office did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the bill, which is modeled after an existing law outlawing cross burning.
There was little discussion in either chamber but Hardy, during a committee hearing on the bill in May, noted the noose's history as a symbol of racial lynchings.
He also touched on a 2006 incident at Jena High School in central Louisiana, where three students were suspended after nooses were found hanging from a tree on campus. That incident became one of the focal points of a civil rights march that drew some 20,000 demonstrators to Jena last September.
The district attorney said there was no state law under which the three could be prosecuted. A U.S. attorney later told members of Congress that the Justice Department decided not to prosecute because the federal government typically does not bring hate crimes charges against juveniles.
The Jena case gained national attention when, a few months after the nooses were placed in the tree, six black students were arrested in the beating of a white student at Jena High School.
Five of the six were originally charged with attempted murder, causing an uproar among civil rights leaders who said that the charges, which eventually were reduced, were out of proportion to the crime.
Although the district attorney and a federal prosecutor have said there was no link between the noose hangings and the attack on the white student, the noose issue was cited by many during the September demonstration.
After the demonstration, an 18-year-old man from nearby Colfax was arrested for driving past some of the marchers with a noose tied to the back of the truck. He eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor federal hate crime, carrying a possible penalty of up to a year in prison. He will be sentenced in August.
In May, the state of New York outlawed the display of a noose as a threat, following several high-profile cases involving the symbol: Nooses were found last year on a black professor's door at Columbia University, outside a post office near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in Manhattan, and on Long Island. They also have shown up in a black Coast Guard cadet's bag aboard a cutter and on a Maryland college campus.
Connecticut passed a bill this year making noose displays a misdemeanor unless property is damaged, which would be a felony.
The AP
Tuskegee Airmen to Be Subject of George Lucas Film
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The black airmen whose lives will be the basis of a George Lucas movie know the picture will highlight their record of successfully escorting thousands of U.S. bombers in World War II.
They also feel it should tell of the trials they encountered stateside, like seeing German prisoners of war being treated better and afforded rights that were withheld from black American citizens.
Now that "Red Tails" is in preproduction, some of the airmen say they are excited their story is coming to the big screen but torn over how much it should devote to each of their two historic fights — against Adolf Hitler abroad and Jim Crow at home.
Lt. Col. Eldridge F. Williams, 91, wants the film to recount the discrimination they had to overcome in their own country. Williams, who served in the military from August 1941 to November 1963, said a white doctor's false diagnosis of an eye condition kept him from achieving his dream of being a pilot, though he became a navigator.
"I think the story that has not been told is stories like mine in which the home battle that was waged ... shall we say, helped open the door so that the unit could enter combat and demonstrate its capabilities and be successful," he said.
Col. Herbert Carter, who also was with the airmen in the '40s, said the racism the men encountered should definitely be mentioned but not dwelled upon in the Lucas film.
"So many want the movies to focus in that sense and that's bitter history that has been thoroughly emphasized and publicized," the 88-year-old said in an interview.
He said the real story is how they blew apart the notion that blacks could not fly planes in war.
Producer Rick McCallum said both elements are addressed in a script by John Ridley that "balances difficult and painful issues with what is, at its heart, the story of men with a dream to fly and serve their country."
Lucas hopes to begin shooting by year's end or early 2009, McCallum said. The movie's title refers to the color of their fighter planes' tails, which were distinctive and allowed U.S. bomber crews to know they were being escorted by the aggressive Tuskegee Airmen.
"It is a story of incredible adventure and enormous courage," said the producer, who's scouting locations for "Red Tails" in Prague, Czech Republic, and Italy. "I think the story will speak to anyone who has ever wanted to succeed at something others told them was impossible."
At first called the "Tuskegee Experiment," the first aviation cadet class began with 13 students at the Tuskegee Army Air Field, about 40 miles east of Montgomery, in July 1941. Black people weren't allowed to fly in the military at the time and the "experiment" was to see whether they could pilot airplanes and handle heavy machinery.
Over the next four years, the airmen went on more than 15,000 combat trips throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa.
Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field before its 1946 closing, after which the men from the all-black units were sent to an air base in Ohio. President Truman's 1948 order to desegregate the country's armed forces eventually led to a racially mixed military.
The men have been the subject of several documentaries and books. But a 1995 HBO movie "The Tuskegee Airmen," starring Laurence Fishburne, was the film that jump-started much of the attention the airmen have received in recent years, said Christine Biggers, a park ranger at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.
The HBO movie "was about 50 percent Hollywood, but it gave a good overview and got the word out. People all over the world saw it and it whetted their appetite to want to know more," Biggers said.
Lucas plans for the movie to be based on the historic record that brought the Tuskegee Airmen fame, drawn from their own accounts.
Carter was one of several airmen who were invited to Lucas' Skywalker Ranch a few years ago to record their oral histories, which will be used in developing the film.
Carter tells of the constant adjustment of being respected as a soldier on base, then having that dignity snatched away once off-base, where they were "just another Negro in Alabama in the eyes of the civilian population."
But he said the real story is how they overcame an environment that said "they didn't have the ability, dexterity, physiology and psychology to operate something as complicated as aircrafts or tanks."
The black airmen's response was "train me and let me demonstrate I can," Carter said. "We said the antidote to racism was excellence and performance and that is what we did."
from AP
They also feel it should tell of the trials they encountered stateside, like seeing German prisoners of war being treated better and afforded rights that were withheld from black American citizens.
Now that "Red Tails" is in preproduction, some of the airmen say they are excited their story is coming to the big screen but torn over how much it should devote to each of their two historic fights — against Adolf Hitler abroad and Jim Crow at home.
Lt. Col. Eldridge F. Williams, 91, wants the film to recount the discrimination they had to overcome in their own country. Williams, who served in the military from August 1941 to November 1963, said a white doctor's false diagnosis of an eye condition kept him from achieving his dream of being a pilot, though he became a navigator.
"I think the story that has not been told is stories like mine in which the home battle that was waged ... shall we say, helped open the door so that the unit could enter combat and demonstrate its capabilities and be successful," he said.
Col. Herbert Carter, who also was with the airmen in the '40s, said the racism the men encountered should definitely be mentioned but not dwelled upon in the Lucas film.
"So many want the movies to focus in that sense and that's bitter history that has been thoroughly emphasized and publicized," the 88-year-old said in an interview.
He said the real story is how they blew apart the notion that blacks could not fly planes in war.
Producer Rick McCallum said both elements are addressed in a script by John Ridley that "balances difficult and painful issues with what is, at its heart, the story of men with a dream to fly and serve their country."
Lucas hopes to begin shooting by year's end or early 2009, McCallum said. The movie's title refers to the color of their fighter planes' tails, which were distinctive and allowed U.S. bomber crews to know they were being escorted by the aggressive Tuskegee Airmen.
"It is a story of incredible adventure and enormous courage," said the producer, who's scouting locations for "Red Tails" in Prague, Czech Republic, and Italy. "I think the story will speak to anyone who has ever wanted to succeed at something others told them was impossible."
At first called the "Tuskegee Experiment," the first aviation cadet class began with 13 students at the Tuskegee Army Air Field, about 40 miles east of Montgomery, in July 1941. Black people weren't allowed to fly in the military at the time and the "experiment" was to see whether they could pilot airplanes and handle heavy machinery.
Over the next four years, the airmen went on more than 15,000 combat trips throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa.
Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field before its 1946 closing, after which the men from the all-black units were sent to an air base in Ohio. President Truman's 1948 order to desegregate the country's armed forces eventually led to a racially mixed military.
The men have been the subject of several documentaries and books. But a 1995 HBO movie "The Tuskegee Airmen," starring Laurence Fishburne, was the film that jump-started much of the attention the airmen have received in recent years, said Christine Biggers, a park ranger at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.
The HBO movie "was about 50 percent Hollywood, but it gave a good overview and got the word out. People all over the world saw it and it whetted their appetite to want to know more," Biggers said.
Lucas plans for the movie to be based on the historic record that brought the Tuskegee Airmen fame, drawn from their own accounts.
Carter was one of several airmen who were invited to Lucas' Skywalker Ranch a few years ago to record their oral histories, which will be used in developing the film.
Carter tells of the constant adjustment of being respected as a soldier on base, then having that dignity snatched away once off-base, where they were "just another Negro in Alabama in the eyes of the civilian population."
But he said the real story is how they overcame an environment that said "they didn't have the ability, dexterity, physiology and psychology to operate something as complicated as aircrafts or tanks."
The black airmen's response was "train me and let me demonstrate I can," Carter said. "We said the antidote to racism was excellence and performance and that is what we did."
from AP
Video Shows NJ State Trooper Drawing Gun on Jim Jones
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - State police say a plainclothes state trooper was trying to regain control when he drew his gun on rapper Jim Jones and his entourage.
State police say it happened after Jones' bodyguard assaulted another trooper backstage following the rapper's performance at the "Summer Jam" concert at Giants Stadium this month.
A video posted on the Web site whatspoppin.net shows the trooper, wearing a red T-shirt and Devils cap, pointing the gun with his finger off the trigger.
A member of Jones' entourage is heard on the tape saying the trooper didn't identify himself. That led Jones to refer to Sean Bell, who was shot and killed by New York City police.
Capt. Al Della Fave tells The Record of Bergen County the troopers identified themselves. Della Fave also says the video fails to show the arrest of Jones' bodyguard.
Charles Chandler was accused of grabbing a trooper's face and head for taking pictures.
from newsday.com
State police say it happened after Jones' bodyguard assaulted another trooper backstage following the rapper's performance at the "Summer Jam" concert at Giants Stadium this month.
A video posted on the Web site whatspoppin.net shows the trooper, wearing a red T-shirt and Devils cap, pointing the gun with his finger off the trigger.
A member of Jones' entourage is heard on the tape saying the trooper didn't identify himself. That led Jones to refer to Sean Bell, who was shot and killed by New York City police.
Capt. Al Della Fave tells The Record of Bergen County the troopers identified themselves. Della Fave also says the video fails to show the arrest of Jones' bodyguard.
Charles Chandler was accused of grabbing a trooper's face and head for taking pictures.
from newsday.com
Black Farmers Gather in Tuskegee to Ask for Federal Help
Black farmers from around the state were in Tuskegee Monday learning how to apply for federal assistance denied them years ago. It's money the federal government agrees is owed to them. The problem is thousands of black farmers were never told about the deadline and missed it. Now,the federal government is giving them another chance.
They've come to Tuskegee from all over Alabama and even the southeast. "My name is Vanessa Wright from Tuscaloosa, Alabama." Another is from out of state. "We drove up from Hattisberg, Mississippi because we want to thank you for what you have done."
It's Congressman Artur Davis who helped get the farm bill through congress so black farmers who missed the deadline the first time can still claim their money. The farmers say they were never told about the deadline and that's why congress voted to extend it. U.S. Representative Artur Davis, (D) Alabama says "The result right now is the door was slammed in the face of a whole lot of folk in this room. Now, the door has been open for you. That's progress."
The Congressman and other experts came to Tuskegee to hear what the farmers are thinking and they got an earful. One man said, "If these people denied over 50% of black folks in the first lawsuit what makes us think they're not going to deny 50% of the black folks as we go forward?" Davis explained, "This is a new cause of action. It is not trough the administrative process. It's no monitor. It's no facilitator. It's gone into court." That means the outcome will be decided in court this time and not by an administrator. Davis is hoping it will became a class-action lawsuit so it will be settled quicker, within a year, but he's also thinking about what's going to happen two years from now. "I'll be very candid with you about this. Whether two years from now we look at this happily or unhappily is going to depend on who the next agriculture secretary is."
But, some of the folks don't want to wait that long. They want it now. One man seemed very upset. "We're ready for action. Time is now. Martin Luther King say 'How long? Too long.' Ten years done passed and we're still on this same subject about the black farmers' settlement."
It is estimated that some 63- Thousand farmers missed the original deadline so it has been extended to May of 2010.
The settlement will be for black farmers who applied for loans with the federal government but were discriminated against. There are also lawsuits for women farmers as well as Native American and Hispanic farmers.
If you want more information you can call..... 800-646-2873 or 877-924-7483.
On another note, Congressman Davis says he will make an announcement in six months about his political future whether he'll be a candidate for governor.
They've come to Tuskegee from all over Alabama and even the southeast. "My name is Vanessa Wright from Tuscaloosa, Alabama." Another is from out of state. "We drove up from Hattisberg, Mississippi because we want to thank you for what you have done."
It's Congressman Artur Davis who helped get the farm bill through congress so black farmers who missed the deadline the first time can still claim their money. The farmers say they were never told about the deadline and that's why congress voted to extend it. U.S. Representative Artur Davis, (D) Alabama says "The result right now is the door was slammed in the face of a whole lot of folk in this room. Now, the door has been open for you. That's progress."
The Congressman and other experts came to Tuskegee to hear what the farmers are thinking and they got an earful. One man said, "If these people denied over 50% of black folks in the first lawsuit what makes us think they're not going to deny 50% of the black folks as we go forward?" Davis explained, "This is a new cause of action. It is not trough the administrative process. It's no monitor. It's no facilitator. It's gone into court." That means the outcome will be decided in court this time and not by an administrator. Davis is hoping it will became a class-action lawsuit so it will be settled quicker, within a year, but he's also thinking about what's going to happen two years from now. "I'll be very candid with you about this. Whether two years from now we look at this happily or unhappily is going to depend on who the next agriculture secretary is."
But, some of the folks don't want to wait that long. They want it now. One man seemed very upset. "We're ready for action. Time is now. Martin Luther King say 'How long? Too long.' Ten years done passed and we're still on this same subject about the black farmers' settlement."
It is estimated that some 63- Thousand farmers missed the original deadline so it has been extended to May of 2010.
The settlement will be for black farmers who applied for loans with the federal government but were discriminated against. There are also lawsuits for women farmers as well as Native American and Hispanic farmers.
If you want more information you can call..... 800-646-2873 or 877-924-7483.
On another note, Congressman Davis says he will make an announcement in six months about his political future whether he'll be a candidate for governor.
Monday, June 16, 2008
FEMA Director Defends Giving Away Hurricane Katrina Supplies
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The director of Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday defended giving away an estimated $85 million in hurricane relief supplies, blaming Louisiana officials for turning down the stockpiles.
"We still have quite a few left if Louisiana needs those," David Paulison said. "But we did find out, we did ask Louisiana, 'Do you want these?' They said, 'No, we don't need them.' So we offered them to the other states."
A CNN investigation revealed last week that FEMA gave away 121 truckloads of material the agency amassed after 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The material was declared surplus property and offered to federal and state agencies -- including Louisiana, where groups working to resettle hurricane victims say the supplies are still needed.
Paulison told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" his agency distributed more than 90,000 "living kits" to people in Louisiana whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Katrina. The kits included cleaning supplies, mops, brooms, pots and pans.
After CNN reported on the giveaway, Louisiana officials asked that the supplies be redirected to the state, which originally passed on them. John Medica, director of the Louisiana's Federal Property Assistance Agency, told CNN he was unaware Katrina victims still needed the items because no agency had contacted his office.
Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, an outspoken critic of FEMA's response to the hurricane, told CNN the supply giveaway was "just a shame."
"It's just another example of the failings of the federal bureaucracy," said Landrieu, who wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last week to request an explanation. "We're still trying to fix it. It's going to take a lot more work."
Paulison said much of the stockpile included "things we don't normally store -- refrigerators, stoves, coolers, diapers, things like that." States, meanwhile, were requesting those items, he said.
"It didn't make any sense for FEMA to sit on this much stuff and supplies we normally don't even keep. We have plenty of supplies in place if we have another disaster. We can duplicate that type of commodities and get them for people in need," he said.
The agency's chief spokesman, James McIntyre, had declined a request for an on-camera interview and told CNN the giveaway was "not news."
Paulison said the story "just really missed the mark" -- that the supplies given away were not exclusively for Katrina victims, but were "donated from disasters all around the entire country."
But e-mails from McIntyre and from the General Services Administration, which manages federal property, contradict Paulison's account.
In an e-mail sent in April, McIntyre told CNN "in many cases, items were purchased in the field by FEMA."
And in a phone interview with CNN, McIntyre said, "That is property that was purchased in response to Katrina. We purchased most of that equipment because of the catastrophic nature of that disaster."
General Services Administration spokeswoman Viki Reath wrote the supplies given away were "surplus from the Katrina and [hurricane] Rita disasters... some purchased by FEMA, some donated by foreign countries and federal government agencies."
McIntyre said FEMA's storage costs were running more than $1 million a year, and that GSA officials wanted to tear down the Fort Worth, Texas, warehouses in which the stockpiles were being kept.
CNN.com
"We still have quite a few left if Louisiana needs those," David Paulison said. "But we did find out, we did ask Louisiana, 'Do you want these?' They said, 'No, we don't need them.' So we offered them to the other states."
A CNN investigation revealed last week that FEMA gave away 121 truckloads of material the agency amassed after 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The material was declared surplus property and offered to federal and state agencies -- including Louisiana, where groups working to resettle hurricane victims say the supplies are still needed.
Paulison told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" his agency distributed more than 90,000 "living kits" to people in Louisiana whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Katrina. The kits included cleaning supplies, mops, brooms, pots and pans.
After CNN reported on the giveaway, Louisiana officials asked that the supplies be redirected to the state, which originally passed on them. John Medica, director of the Louisiana's Federal Property Assistance Agency, told CNN he was unaware Katrina victims still needed the items because no agency had contacted his office.
Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, an outspoken critic of FEMA's response to the hurricane, told CNN the supply giveaway was "just a shame."
"It's just another example of the failings of the federal bureaucracy," said Landrieu, who wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last week to request an explanation. "We're still trying to fix it. It's going to take a lot more work."
Paulison said much of the stockpile included "things we don't normally store -- refrigerators, stoves, coolers, diapers, things like that." States, meanwhile, were requesting those items, he said.
"It didn't make any sense for FEMA to sit on this much stuff and supplies we normally don't even keep. We have plenty of supplies in place if we have another disaster. We can duplicate that type of commodities and get them for people in need," he said.
The agency's chief spokesman, James McIntyre, had declined a request for an on-camera interview and told CNN the giveaway was "not news."
Paulison said the story "just really missed the mark" -- that the supplies given away were not exclusively for Katrina victims, but were "donated from disasters all around the entire country."
But e-mails from McIntyre and from the General Services Administration, which manages federal property, contradict Paulison's account.
In an e-mail sent in April, McIntyre told CNN "in many cases, items were purchased in the field by FEMA."
And in a phone interview with CNN, McIntyre said, "That is property that was purchased in response to Katrina. We purchased most of that equipment because of the catastrophic nature of that disaster."
General Services Administration spokeswoman Viki Reath wrote the supplies given away were "surplus from the Katrina and [hurricane] Rita disasters... some purchased by FEMA, some donated by foreign countries and federal government agencies."
McIntyre said FEMA's storage costs were running more than $1 million a year, and that GSA officials wanted to tear down the Fort Worth, Texas, warehouses in which the stockpiles were being kept.
CNN.com
KRS-One Crusades Against Violence
When it comes to crowning one of hip-hop's pioneers "The Most Prolific Storytellers of All Time," KRS-One ("Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") is the man hands-down. As one half of the legendary rap collective Boogie Down Productions (BDP), KRS-One shaped an influenced the landscape of recording gritty urban folklore about inner city street life.
Whether it was 1987's cult classic "Criminal Minded or the reggae-tinted "9mm Goes Bang" and "The Bridge is Over," his lyrical arsenal of hardcore, political and conscious rhymes has always been a testament to his diverse talent as a rapper. His gift of rhyme and reason instilled pride and a revolutionary consciousness in a generation of hip-hop lovers that needed to feel empowered and wanted to be educated. And for those lessons he earned the nickname "The Teacher."
Today, the Brooklyn-born rapper's commitment to educate through song, lectures and concerts continues with his Stop The Violence Movement, which began 19 years ago when a young fan was killed during one of his concerts with Public Enemy. Essence.com talked with the MC about the purpose of STVM, his son's suicide and why he's got Obama's back.
Essence.com: Kudos to you for taking a stand with your Stop the Violence Movement and traveling across America to encourage dialogue about how to prevent our communities’ fits of aggression. What is its purpose?
KRS-One: The Stop the Violence Movement is all about bringing aggressive artists who might put forward an aggression agenda through their art, writing, sport or whatever to pledge peace. The movement is not a record or raising money. I’m for non-violent conflict resolution.
Essence.com: Who are you targeting?
K.R.S.O.: The Stop the Violence Movement isn't going after the Commons, Talib Kwelis or Mos Defs. We want the brothers who are aggressively shooting each other to come together. That moment of rage that you might feel is not important. So let's sit down and really think this through and save lives and communities.
Essence.com: Do you think the media romanticizes violence?
K.R.S.O.: No doubt. But I don’t see enough peace talk in our society. Back in the day even commercials tried to be pro-active. Remember when they cracked an egg and dropped it in a skillet and as it fried they said, "This is your brain on drugs-don't do it!"? We don't have enough of that today—people paying to put out those messages.
Essence.com: The world could always use more education and peace. Speaking of peace, we learned that you were hurt by a fan during a recent performance. How are you feeling physically?
K.R.S.O.: The bottle-throwing incident was a weird situation because I invite people onto the stage and this guy was so overwhelmed by the songs—dancing and singing along—that security removed him from the stage. He was upset and threw a bottle at them but it hit me. At the time, no one knew who was doing what and the crowd was pretty upset. But I said, “Let it go.” Security threw him on the ground and I kept saying to the crowd, “We’re all going to laugh about this later.” Everyone was upset that the concert was interrupted. The police questioned the guy and he said, “I love KRS! I wasn’t trying to hit him, I was throwing it at you!” Once the public found out it became that the guy intentionally hurled a bottle at me. I wish it was a bit more dramatic, so that I could really use it as an example of why we need to stop the violence but it was nothing really.
Essence.com: The irony is that it happened during your Stop the Violence Movement concert. Is this non-violent crusade a pre-cursor to a bigger cause?
K.R.S.O.: Yes and it brings us right to the core of the movement. I'm also recording and creating our DVD film as we travel across the country. The 20th anniversary of the Stop the Violence Movement, which began in 1989, is next year. So I’m starting now with these talks across the country. In 2009, I’m planning a major launch, which will be a culmination of everything I’m doing right now. It’s a symbol for our community that rappers are coming together to participate in the movement. If KRS-One and Nelly can put their differences aside so can you. I’m also hoping to settle beef between Fat Joe and 50 Cent.
Essence.com: That’s right Nelly and you did have beef, but refresh our memory please.
K.R.S.O.: It was a major battle in 2003 and he accused me of dissing him on this song “Clear Em Out,” but I didn’t. So in response he called me out on “Rock Da Mike Remix.” It was a good battle and we went back and forth but since then we’ve kissed and made up and now he’s joined me on the Stop The Violence Movement.
Essence.com: We love to hear about happy and peaceful endings. What would you say is the fundamental cause for this ongoing violence in the Black community?
K.R.S.O.: First we need to look at the fact that these are patterns of every generation so let's add precedence to that. Another issue I will raise is gentrification. I’ve been looking at this for a minute but I’m in a bit of a paradox so maybe you can help me out. It’s a weird feeling that I get now when I visit New York because I lived in the Bronx most of my life as well as Harlem, then I spent my teenage years in Flatbush Brooklyn. The areas I once frequented in these boroughs were heroin-infested and gun-slinging communities so if you didn’t have to walk down certain blocks you avoided them. Now I come back and the demographic of the neighborhood, the culture, the ethnicities, businesses and buildings have all changed. Brooklyn and Harlem look beautiful.
Essence.com: What has been the most astonishing for you about some of the by-products of these changes throughout New York's boroughs?
K.R.S.O.: Well, I just attended a movie premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the Magic Johnson theater on 125th Street in Harlem. I’m up there with Harrison Ford on 125th Street. I’m thinking, Harrison Ford is on 125th Street? I love him! I always loved Indiana Jones and then I thought, This is where you have to come to get business done? I know Harrison Ford wasn't in Harlem just to show Black folk that he liked them, but he was there on a business decision. This never happened even when entertainers came to the Apollo. You would drive your car to the front of the theater and had your car waiting to pick you up the moment you left. This is what I look at as gentrification.
Essence.com: That's so true. However, it appears our communities are progressing because they've become prettier on the surface with celebrities hosting star-studded events yet they still remain ugly at the core when someone is gunned down in the same neighborhood.
K.R.S.O.: Hmmmmm... stay right there because that is the crux of the Stop the Violence Movement and that’s what I go to sleep thinking, Here I am KRS-One, how can I help? This speaks to the idea of whether or not you consider yourself a role model. The quick answer is yes. But I also understand the mentality of some of these younger rappers who might think, What difference does it make if we’re partying up the block? We aren’t responsible. I’m doing what I am supposed to do as is Harrison Ford. Why are we being penalized for doing what we're supposed to be doing? That’s why a lot of rappers will say they aren't role models so you can get away without a conscience of partying one block away from a murder. The difference is I care and my caring helps to bring more form to my character and personality, which has motivated the movement. Although I don’t think like that, I understand that way of thinking. Now when I wake up in the morning do I think I’m a role model? Yes. I’m not trying to have a pristine image because a real role model shows you to the good and ugly. For me I see myself as a role model because everything I do there is a person somewhere who needs to hear me spread a message of non-violent conflict resolution.
Essence.com: You're dead on. Although we know how The Man plays a role in all of this what is the Black community’s culpability especially when they don't crusade together to help stop the violence?
K.R.S.O.: I look back and I see how our people—not just White people or the elite—but our people along with everyone else, bankers, land developers asked themselves, How are we going to clean up our community? Their mentality is we’re going to let the drug wars escalate—let the drug dealers shoot it out, kill their rivals and the winners we'll cart off to jail for the rest of their lives. Then, the working poor we'll make them homeless by raising the rent so they can no longer afford to pay. As a result, the poverty level sinks lower. Folks will either move down South or be homeless. I protest that people are being thrown out of their communities.
Essence.com: Again, the irony of the building up of a community only for its people to be torn down and suffer economically. But have the results of this cycle of violence truly benefited us or the futures of our children and grandchildren?
K.R.S.O.: That's an excellent question. Now, I look back and the results of that horrible reality of gentrification is beautiful. So beautiful that my children can now walk down the same streets I walked down when I was their age as if they were in the suburbs and not the inner city. So what do I prefer? The childhood I had or the one that is offered to my children now? I raise this analogy to address the cycle of violence and to ask what is perpetuating this rage, anger and senseless killing? Personally, I think it’s all orchestrated.
Essence.com: There was a time that hip hop was fun not violent. How has hip-hop assisted played in orchestration of this cycle of violence?
K.R.S.O.: When I look back I don’t know that hip hop was fun. But then again, we did have artists like Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, Salt 'N' Pepa that no longer exist in hip hop today. Even the younger artists are not being that. We had real characters in the hip-hop culture that were not gangsters. Not having a lot of these kind of artists made us want to hear the gangster music a lil’ more because that was considered new and fresh. I’m reluctant to put Rakim in that category, but his image was on the street level as well as Schooly D and Just Ice. I think the real tragedy is that those like myself are not speaking up loud or quick enough.
Essence.com: Why do you think that more of the older hip-hop aficionados are not more vocal about this issue?
K.R.S.O.: We’re bogged down saving our own families and children. Activists go through family trauma that sometimes pushes our wigs back too. In one breath you want to devote your heart to principles and agendas that will uplift your community, but then your son takes his life in the middle of the movement and you’re like, Wow. It could have been anything else but it would happen to be this and at such a crucial time. Losing my son, was devastating. Yeah, I could brag about our strength, which we have, and how my family and me will bounce back which again is true in a sense, but really that’s all publicity. Underneath that crust we are still mourning the death of our son [Randy]. And we are mourning from several levels—not just because of his decision to take his life, but also DJ Scott La Rock was a homicide and now Randy is a suicide. I look at this and ask God, What message are you trying to deliver to me? Why would you put me in this situation with Scott and then Randy? Whether either of these events occurred in my life, I still would have been on a peace mission. What people don't realize is that I wrote "Stop the Violence" with Scott before he was killed for the 1988 By All Means Necessary album. When we wrote that it was a cry out against club violence and we used to perform it at Latin Quarters in New York, but it was only after his death that I was able to produce and publish it.
Essence.com: Wow, we know you have stories and want to know when is the autobiography coming?
K.R.S.O.: I don’t know how to tell the story of my life in one book. Each year would be a book. I keep a journal as well and so when I finally get serious about that. I’ve just begun to think more about the KRS-One brand name and my legacy. So it's that time of year that I usually do some spring cleaning and I try to get a copy of all the music I’ve recorded and just try to keep up with myself in that sense since I am 43 now.
Essence.com: Earlier you spoke of your responsibility as a role model. Considering Obama's historic win, do you believe he can help foster the change we desperately need in our community?
K.R.S.O.: Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t trust him at all yet I trust him with my life. He’s the leader.
Essence.com: What exactly don't you trust about him?
K.R.S.O.: Let me rephrase that. I don’t trust any politician. It doesn’t matter whether it is Barack Obama or my mama (laughs). I’m just not that dude. I think hip-hop can create its own nation and we can do a better job. But my respect for Barack Obama outweighs my distrust. I respect what he is saying, how he handled his campaign and the challenges. I've also read in his book.
Essence.com: Yet you won't commit to trusting him?
K.R.S.O.: At the end of day, I don’t argue with skill and victory even if I disagree with the person who is skilled and victorious. Professionally, it's about judging a man by his maturity, sense of duty and activism—all of that outweighs my distrust. Of course, my distrust of politicians is still at the core of my being, but this man could make a change and who am I to stop that change with rhetoric that doesn’t make any sense and ain’t gonna help nobody, nowhere?
Essence.com: Is it more that you don't feel you know enough about him or just your overall dislike of politics?
K.R.S.O.: I would say it is an observance that I’m dealing with right now. I don’t know him. We read the book, we watched the campaign on television, but I don't know him or Michelle, but for the sake of our ancestors like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who died for these rights and wanted this then I support Obama.
Essence.com: Do you believe Obama will deliver for our community?
K.R.S.O.: No politician has ever delivered for the people in my lifetime. Again, it's bigger than that and even stronger and broader than that is the love I have for my parents and grandparents. Dr. King wanted it and Malcolm X might have supported it so I would urge the hip-hop community to vote for Obama because he deserves it because our ancestors surround him. There’s a divine reason he’s half Black and White. He is the face of America.
Essence.com: You said you would encourage the hip-hop community to vote for Obama. Do you think they will take heed?
K.R.S.O.: A lot of people respect what I say pertaining to politics and social life as it pertains to hip-hop so I’m telling White, Latino, Asian, Native American hip-hoppers let’s put this man in office. As a community we don’t vote but voting gives us so much ammunition.
Essence.com: What is your take on the excessive use of the racial epithet 'nigger' in rap music?
K.R.S.O.: My stance on the word is that if our elder leaders like Jesse Jackson, Calvin Butts and Al Sharpton are offended by the word nigger then stop saying it. Of course, philosophically I would debate the use of the word but regardless of my philosophy I think we should stop saying it. Forget the fact that you are right or wrong. If after hearing us out, one of our elders like Quincy Jones still says he feels uncomfortable, then out of respect for who he is and what he has accomplished in his life, then just stop saying it. If it wasn't for him none of us might never have had a rap career. So I apply that to Barack Obama's candidacy too. It’s about change—voting and respecting one another so together we can stop the violence.
By Kenya N. Byrd for essence.com
Whether it was 1987's cult classic "Criminal Minded or the reggae-tinted "9mm Goes Bang" and "The Bridge is Over," his lyrical arsenal of hardcore, political and conscious rhymes has always been a testament to his diverse talent as a rapper. His gift of rhyme and reason instilled pride and a revolutionary consciousness in a generation of hip-hop lovers that needed to feel empowered and wanted to be educated. And for those lessons he earned the nickname "The Teacher."
Today, the Brooklyn-born rapper's commitment to educate through song, lectures and concerts continues with his Stop The Violence Movement, which began 19 years ago when a young fan was killed during one of his concerts with Public Enemy. Essence.com talked with the MC about the purpose of STVM, his son's suicide and why he's got Obama's back.
Essence.com: Kudos to you for taking a stand with your Stop the Violence Movement and traveling across America to encourage dialogue about how to prevent our communities’ fits of aggression. What is its purpose?
KRS-One: The Stop the Violence Movement is all about bringing aggressive artists who might put forward an aggression agenda through their art, writing, sport or whatever to pledge peace. The movement is not a record or raising money. I’m for non-violent conflict resolution.
Essence.com: Who are you targeting?
K.R.S.O.: The Stop the Violence Movement isn't going after the Commons, Talib Kwelis or Mos Defs. We want the brothers who are aggressively shooting each other to come together. That moment of rage that you might feel is not important. So let's sit down and really think this through and save lives and communities.
Essence.com: Do you think the media romanticizes violence?
K.R.S.O.: No doubt. But I don’t see enough peace talk in our society. Back in the day even commercials tried to be pro-active. Remember when they cracked an egg and dropped it in a skillet and as it fried they said, "This is your brain on drugs-don't do it!"? We don't have enough of that today—people paying to put out those messages.
Essence.com: The world could always use more education and peace. Speaking of peace, we learned that you were hurt by a fan during a recent performance. How are you feeling physically?
K.R.S.O.: The bottle-throwing incident was a weird situation because I invite people onto the stage and this guy was so overwhelmed by the songs—dancing and singing along—that security removed him from the stage. He was upset and threw a bottle at them but it hit me. At the time, no one knew who was doing what and the crowd was pretty upset. But I said, “Let it go.” Security threw him on the ground and I kept saying to the crowd, “We’re all going to laugh about this later.” Everyone was upset that the concert was interrupted. The police questioned the guy and he said, “I love KRS! I wasn’t trying to hit him, I was throwing it at you!” Once the public found out it became that the guy intentionally hurled a bottle at me. I wish it was a bit more dramatic, so that I could really use it as an example of why we need to stop the violence but it was nothing really.
Essence.com: The irony is that it happened during your Stop the Violence Movement concert. Is this non-violent crusade a pre-cursor to a bigger cause?
K.R.S.O.: Yes and it brings us right to the core of the movement. I'm also recording and creating our DVD film as we travel across the country. The 20th anniversary of the Stop the Violence Movement, which began in 1989, is next year. So I’m starting now with these talks across the country. In 2009, I’m planning a major launch, which will be a culmination of everything I’m doing right now. It’s a symbol for our community that rappers are coming together to participate in the movement. If KRS-One and Nelly can put their differences aside so can you. I’m also hoping to settle beef between Fat Joe and 50 Cent.
Essence.com: That’s right Nelly and you did have beef, but refresh our memory please.
K.R.S.O.: It was a major battle in 2003 and he accused me of dissing him on this song “Clear Em Out,” but I didn’t. So in response he called me out on “Rock Da Mike Remix.” It was a good battle and we went back and forth but since then we’ve kissed and made up and now he’s joined me on the Stop The Violence Movement.
Essence.com: We love to hear about happy and peaceful endings. What would you say is the fundamental cause for this ongoing violence in the Black community?
K.R.S.O.: First we need to look at the fact that these are patterns of every generation so let's add precedence to that. Another issue I will raise is gentrification. I’ve been looking at this for a minute but I’m in a bit of a paradox so maybe you can help me out. It’s a weird feeling that I get now when I visit New York because I lived in the Bronx most of my life as well as Harlem, then I spent my teenage years in Flatbush Brooklyn. The areas I once frequented in these boroughs were heroin-infested and gun-slinging communities so if you didn’t have to walk down certain blocks you avoided them. Now I come back and the demographic of the neighborhood, the culture, the ethnicities, businesses and buildings have all changed. Brooklyn and Harlem look beautiful.
Essence.com: What has been the most astonishing for you about some of the by-products of these changes throughout New York's boroughs?
K.R.S.O.: Well, I just attended a movie premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the Magic Johnson theater on 125th Street in Harlem. I’m up there with Harrison Ford on 125th Street. I’m thinking, Harrison Ford is on 125th Street? I love him! I always loved Indiana Jones and then I thought, This is where you have to come to get business done? I know Harrison Ford wasn't in Harlem just to show Black folk that he liked them, but he was there on a business decision. This never happened even when entertainers came to the Apollo. You would drive your car to the front of the theater and had your car waiting to pick you up the moment you left. This is what I look at as gentrification.
Essence.com: That's so true. However, it appears our communities are progressing because they've become prettier on the surface with celebrities hosting star-studded events yet they still remain ugly at the core when someone is gunned down in the same neighborhood.
K.R.S.O.: Hmmmmm... stay right there because that is the crux of the Stop the Violence Movement and that’s what I go to sleep thinking, Here I am KRS-One, how can I help? This speaks to the idea of whether or not you consider yourself a role model. The quick answer is yes. But I also understand the mentality of some of these younger rappers who might think, What difference does it make if we’re partying up the block? We aren’t responsible. I’m doing what I am supposed to do as is Harrison Ford. Why are we being penalized for doing what we're supposed to be doing? That’s why a lot of rappers will say they aren't role models so you can get away without a conscience of partying one block away from a murder. The difference is I care and my caring helps to bring more form to my character and personality, which has motivated the movement. Although I don’t think like that, I understand that way of thinking. Now when I wake up in the morning do I think I’m a role model? Yes. I’m not trying to have a pristine image because a real role model shows you to the good and ugly. For me I see myself as a role model because everything I do there is a person somewhere who needs to hear me spread a message of non-violent conflict resolution.
Essence.com: You're dead on. Although we know how The Man plays a role in all of this what is the Black community’s culpability especially when they don't crusade together to help stop the violence?
K.R.S.O.: I look back and I see how our people—not just White people or the elite—but our people along with everyone else, bankers, land developers asked themselves, How are we going to clean up our community? Their mentality is we’re going to let the drug wars escalate—let the drug dealers shoot it out, kill their rivals and the winners we'll cart off to jail for the rest of their lives. Then, the working poor we'll make them homeless by raising the rent so they can no longer afford to pay. As a result, the poverty level sinks lower. Folks will either move down South or be homeless. I protest that people are being thrown out of their communities.
Essence.com: Again, the irony of the building up of a community only for its people to be torn down and suffer economically. But have the results of this cycle of violence truly benefited us or the futures of our children and grandchildren?
K.R.S.O.: That's an excellent question. Now, I look back and the results of that horrible reality of gentrification is beautiful. So beautiful that my children can now walk down the same streets I walked down when I was their age as if they were in the suburbs and not the inner city. So what do I prefer? The childhood I had or the one that is offered to my children now? I raise this analogy to address the cycle of violence and to ask what is perpetuating this rage, anger and senseless killing? Personally, I think it’s all orchestrated.
Essence.com: There was a time that hip hop was fun not violent. How has hip-hop assisted played in orchestration of this cycle of violence?
K.R.S.O.: When I look back I don’t know that hip hop was fun. But then again, we did have artists like Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, Salt 'N' Pepa that no longer exist in hip hop today. Even the younger artists are not being that. We had real characters in the hip-hop culture that were not gangsters. Not having a lot of these kind of artists made us want to hear the gangster music a lil’ more because that was considered new and fresh. I’m reluctant to put Rakim in that category, but his image was on the street level as well as Schooly D and Just Ice. I think the real tragedy is that those like myself are not speaking up loud or quick enough.
Essence.com: Why do you think that more of the older hip-hop aficionados are not more vocal about this issue?
K.R.S.O.: We’re bogged down saving our own families and children. Activists go through family trauma that sometimes pushes our wigs back too. In one breath you want to devote your heart to principles and agendas that will uplift your community, but then your son takes his life in the middle of the movement and you’re like, Wow. It could have been anything else but it would happen to be this and at such a crucial time. Losing my son, was devastating. Yeah, I could brag about our strength, which we have, and how my family and me will bounce back which again is true in a sense, but really that’s all publicity. Underneath that crust we are still mourning the death of our son [Randy]. And we are mourning from several levels—not just because of his decision to take his life, but also DJ Scott La Rock was a homicide and now Randy is a suicide. I look at this and ask God, What message are you trying to deliver to me? Why would you put me in this situation with Scott and then Randy? Whether either of these events occurred in my life, I still would have been on a peace mission. What people don't realize is that I wrote "Stop the Violence" with Scott before he was killed for the 1988 By All Means Necessary album. When we wrote that it was a cry out against club violence and we used to perform it at Latin Quarters in New York, but it was only after his death that I was able to produce and publish it.
Essence.com: Wow, we know you have stories and want to know when is the autobiography coming?
K.R.S.O.: I don’t know how to tell the story of my life in one book. Each year would be a book. I keep a journal as well and so when I finally get serious about that. I’ve just begun to think more about the KRS-One brand name and my legacy. So it's that time of year that I usually do some spring cleaning and I try to get a copy of all the music I’ve recorded and just try to keep up with myself in that sense since I am 43 now.
Essence.com: Earlier you spoke of your responsibility as a role model. Considering Obama's historic win, do you believe he can help foster the change we desperately need in our community?
K.R.S.O.: Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t trust him at all yet I trust him with my life. He’s the leader.
Essence.com: What exactly don't you trust about him?
K.R.S.O.: Let me rephrase that. I don’t trust any politician. It doesn’t matter whether it is Barack Obama or my mama (laughs). I’m just not that dude. I think hip-hop can create its own nation and we can do a better job. But my respect for Barack Obama outweighs my distrust. I respect what he is saying, how he handled his campaign and the challenges. I've also read in his book.
Essence.com: Yet you won't commit to trusting him?
K.R.S.O.: At the end of day, I don’t argue with skill and victory even if I disagree with the person who is skilled and victorious. Professionally, it's about judging a man by his maturity, sense of duty and activism—all of that outweighs my distrust. Of course, my distrust of politicians is still at the core of my being, but this man could make a change and who am I to stop that change with rhetoric that doesn’t make any sense and ain’t gonna help nobody, nowhere?
Essence.com: Is it more that you don't feel you know enough about him or just your overall dislike of politics?
K.R.S.O.: I would say it is an observance that I’m dealing with right now. I don’t know him. We read the book, we watched the campaign on television, but I don't know him or Michelle, but for the sake of our ancestors like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who died for these rights and wanted this then I support Obama.
Essence.com: Do you believe Obama will deliver for our community?
K.R.S.O.: No politician has ever delivered for the people in my lifetime. Again, it's bigger than that and even stronger and broader than that is the love I have for my parents and grandparents. Dr. King wanted it and Malcolm X might have supported it so I would urge the hip-hop community to vote for Obama because he deserves it because our ancestors surround him. There’s a divine reason he’s half Black and White. He is the face of America.
Essence.com: You said you would encourage the hip-hop community to vote for Obama. Do you think they will take heed?
K.R.S.O.: A lot of people respect what I say pertaining to politics and social life as it pertains to hip-hop so I’m telling White, Latino, Asian, Native American hip-hoppers let’s put this man in office. As a community we don’t vote but voting gives us so much ammunition.
Essence.com: What is your take on the excessive use of the racial epithet 'nigger' in rap music?
K.R.S.O.: My stance on the word is that if our elder leaders like Jesse Jackson, Calvin Butts and Al Sharpton are offended by the word nigger then stop saying it. Of course, philosophically I would debate the use of the word but regardless of my philosophy I think we should stop saying it. Forget the fact that you are right or wrong. If after hearing us out, one of our elders like Quincy Jones still says he feels uncomfortable, then out of respect for who he is and what he has accomplished in his life, then just stop saying it. If it wasn't for him none of us might never have had a rap career. So I apply that to Barack Obama's candidacy too. It’s about change—voting and respecting one another so together we can stop the violence.
By Kenya N. Byrd for essence.com
FAMU Ranked No.1 Producer of Black Grads
Florida A&M was recently ranked the No. 1 producer of black bachelor degree holders in a report by Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine's June 12 edition.
The report ranked the university solely by the number of students who graduate during a school year. For FAMU, that meant 1,256 graduates in the 2006-2007 year.
"They appear to be doing a pretty good job," said Toni Coleman, associate editor of the magazine.
She said FAMU's distinction means the university produces "the most degrees (to) African Americans.
"That makes sense," she said. "They are the (largest) historically black university."
FAMU President James Ammons said the recognition "validates the valued role FAMU plays in American and global higher education."
"This announcement ... speaks volumes concerning FAMU's unique contributions to the nation and the international community at large," Ammons said.
Two years ago, FAMU was named the top university for black students by Black Enterprise magazine. It's been 11 years since FAMU has been named College of the Year from Time Magazine-Princeton Review.
By Angeline J. Taylor • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
The report ranked the university solely by the number of students who graduate during a school year. For FAMU, that meant 1,256 graduates in the 2006-2007 year.
"They appear to be doing a pretty good job," said Toni Coleman, associate editor of the magazine.
She said FAMU's distinction means the university produces "the most degrees (to) African Americans.
"That makes sense," she said. "They are the (largest) historically black university."
FAMU President James Ammons said the recognition "validates the valued role FAMU plays in American and global higher education."
"This announcement ... speaks volumes concerning FAMU's unique contributions to the nation and the international community at large," Ammons said.
Two years ago, FAMU was named the top university for black students by Black Enterprise magazine. It's been 11 years since FAMU has been named College of the Year from Time Magazine-Princeton Review.
By Angeline J. Taylor • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Black Barbers Demand Investigation
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (NNPA) - Making a point of the historical importance of the barbershop and beauty parlor in Black communities, a group of barbers, church leaders and community activists across the Inland region and the nation has demanded a federal investigation into the raids targeting six mostly Black-owned Moreno Valley business establishments early this month.
''We are demanding an immediate Justice Department full probe,'' said Kevon Gordon, owner of The Hair Shack since 1984.
Gordon and other barbers allege that the raids violated their 4th Amendment right of ''probable cause'', undermined their businesses, targeted them based on race and threatened to fracture the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology's reputation as a career builder.
Barbers and patrons involved in the raids say a strike team of California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA)/Board of Barbering and Cosmetology (BBC) inspectors, city code compliance inspectors and officers from the Moreno Valley Police Department/Riverside County Sheriff burst into their establishments without search warrants under the guise of a BBC-led crackdown on business license and health and safety violators.
According to BBC officials Moreno Valley police initiated the raids ''apparently to shut down drug operations''.
At presstime DCA officials and Moreno Valley city leaders had not responded to formal requests for reaction to the barbers' demands.
''My phone has been ringing off the hook. People are outraged,'' said Gordon. He told the Black Voice News barbers targeted in the raids have been further humiliated by a police and city hall information blackout.
''When we called police and code compliance asking for an incident report - we were told ‘there isn't one'.'' Gordon said despite multiple requests for information from the three agencies, he and other barbers targeted in the raids have been ''systematically denied.''
Adding insult to injury Gordon says several customers have expressed concern over bringing their loved ones to his shop. ''My reputation and livelihood of 24 years has been damaged. Collectively we intend to fight back.''
Gordon said the Hair Shack located in a strip mall along busy Sunnymead Boulevard has no prior history of police trouble.
''Incidents like this are not going to be tolerated anymore, and we're going to speak out. This was an attack not just on African-Americans, but all ethnic business establishments.''
The barbers stopped short of publicizing their demands saving the details for an upcoming news conference. Gordon confirmed he has contacted civil rights and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorneys.
Gordon and barber Ron Jones were cited for what BBC inspectors call 11 ‘cleaniness' (towel drawers, comb, supply cabinets not labeled) violations plus a $1,500 fine. The operation which included Hair Sculptures a beauty salon co-owned by Jackie Brazeau, a Latino, netted 2 arrests, 49 health and safety citations and failure to show an independent contractor's business license, violations and $20,000 in BBC and code compliance fines.
Barbers from fifteen Black owned area business establishments plan to meet at an undisclosed location to develop strategies they say will more than likely involve legal action, boycotts, and formal complaints to the Department of Justice, NAACP and ACLU.
''It was a smack in the face that something like this could happen in Moreno Valley,'' said veteran barber and business owner Ray Butler.
Butler and his sister Fay, a barber for 30 years are part of family owned Ray's Barber and Beauty Hair Salon nestled in a strip mall less than a mile from Hair Shack.
Butler, a barber for 53 years with active professional licenses in four states, wants a top down probe. ''People made decisions to unlawfully attack ‘us' they should be brought to justice. Cosmetology inspectors fronting for police is virtually unheard of in any state.''
Moreno Valley barber Kevon Gordon says the police raids undermined his business of 24 years, humiliated Black barbers and visciously attacked one of the Black communities most sacred bastions: the barbershop.
''From Moreno Valley police officers to members of City Councils to ‘Lil Stevie Wonder and Motown music mogul Berry Gordy, I've left my mark on a many heads but this mess threatens to rock the entire industry,'' he says.
The Butlers whose business was not raided, displayed a show of solidarity by taping a copy of the Black Voice News paper article chronicling the raids on the shops' front window.
''We want our patrons to know the culture of our police. We will not stand back and allow anyone to run up in our shops without a search warrant asking customers if they have warrants. We're going to make sure this doesn't happen again,'' said Fay Butler.
Former patron James Wright, a Los Angeles pastor, said, ''It's not one barbershop, it's not one place, it's not one time, this kind of abuse of power is taking place in minority communities across the nation, the difference now is, we're speaking out.''
Word of the raids spread like wildfire throughout the region. Across the nation barbers activists and bloggers engaged in lively online debate. Gordon said barbers, law enforcement, church leaders, civil rights attorneys and patrons in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego counties have called with offers of assistance.
''As customers we have a duty to speak out against these raids. When I come to get my hair cut I have a right to be respected. If someone ran a warrant check on me without probable cause, the next call I'd make would be to a civil rights attorney,'' said barber Harold Park's patron of 10 years, Reginald Richard.
''Moreno Valley today Atlanta tomorrow,'' said Andrew Fahiem a 2007 barber college graduate. He pointed to fresh text messages from barbers in Atlanta and Chicago who learned about the raids online. One text read, ''Brothers, what the hell is going on out there? We're behind you.''
Moreno Valley contracts police service from the Riverside County Sheriffs Department. Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the Black Voice News request for a statement on the raids and reaction to the demand for an investigation had been passed on the Sheriff Stanley Sniff for review.
''This kind of affront sends up a red flag to young brothers like me who have worked hard to stay away from gangs and drugs in favor of legitimate practices. It sends the wrong message.''
Still Gordon who says his business has suffered financially since the raids, admits the controversy has a silver lining, ''It got barbers fired up. It brought us together. That's good.''
Pastor Lacy Sykes of CrossWord Christian Church stated:
''I actually go to Hair Shack Barbershop. Ron Jones is a member of my church and it was inappropriate from the standpoint that it appears that it was a raid on minority barbershops.
''I know they (police) have challenges in Moreno Valley and the police are doing the best they can do, but it does not circumvent the police from obtaining the proper search warrants. Minority businesses have been around a long time in Moreno Valley and are doing great things within the community and deserve their respect.''
Like the Black church, the barbershop and beauty salon is for many a sacred institution where those who enter meet all strata of community including, the shoe shine boy, preacher, church sister, teacher, chorus girl, doctor and the occasional pimp.
Black Moreno Valley barbers and a growing list of community activists have vowed to ‘serve and protect at all costs' this physical and psychological atmosphere conductive to unrestrained expression, real or imagined, richly embroidered with Black idiom canvassing topics from personal and community issues, religion and war to race relations, sports, prostitution and politics.
by Chris Levister from BlackVoiceNews.com
''We are demanding an immediate Justice Department full probe,'' said Kevon Gordon, owner of The Hair Shack since 1984.
Gordon and other barbers allege that the raids violated their 4th Amendment right of ''probable cause'', undermined their businesses, targeted them based on race and threatened to fracture the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology's reputation as a career builder.
Barbers and patrons involved in the raids say a strike team of California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA)/Board of Barbering and Cosmetology (BBC) inspectors, city code compliance inspectors and officers from the Moreno Valley Police Department/Riverside County Sheriff burst into their establishments without search warrants under the guise of a BBC-led crackdown on business license and health and safety violators.
According to BBC officials Moreno Valley police initiated the raids ''apparently to shut down drug operations''.
At presstime DCA officials and Moreno Valley city leaders had not responded to formal requests for reaction to the barbers' demands.
''My phone has been ringing off the hook. People are outraged,'' said Gordon. He told the Black Voice News barbers targeted in the raids have been further humiliated by a police and city hall information blackout.
''When we called police and code compliance asking for an incident report - we were told ‘there isn't one'.'' Gordon said despite multiple requests for information from the three agencies, he and other barbers targeted in the raids have been ''systematically denied.''
Adding insult to injury Gordon says several customers have expressed concern over bringing their loved ones to his shop. ''My reputation and livelihood of 24 years has been damaged. Collectively we intend to fight back.''
Gordon said the Hair Shack located in a strip mall along busy Sunnymead Boulevard has no prior history of police trouble.
''Incidents like this are not going to be tolerated anymore, and we're going to speak out. This was an attack not just on African-Americans, but all ethnic business establishments.''
The barbers stopped short of publicizing their demands saving the details for an upcoming news conference. Gordon confirmed he has contacted civil rights and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorneys.
Gordon and barber Ron Jones were cited for what BBC inspectors call 11 ‘cleaniness' (towel drawers, comb, supply cabinets not labeled) violations plus a $1,500 fine. The operation which included Hair Sculptures a beauty salon co-owned by Jackie Brazeau, a Latino, netted 2 arrests, 49 health and safety citations and failure to show an independent contractor's business license, violations and $20,000 in BBC and code compliance fines.
Barbers from fifteen Black owned area business establishments plan to meet at an undisclosed location to develop strategies they say will more than likely involve legal action, boycotts, and formal complaints to the Department of Justice, NAACP and ACLU.
''It was a smack in the face that something like this could happen in Moreno Valley,'' said veteran barber and business owner Ray Butler.
Butler and his sister Fay, a barber for 30 years are part of family owned Ray's Barber and Beauty Hair Salon nestled in a strip mall less than a mile from Hair Shack.
Butler, a barber for 53 years with active professional licenses in four states, wants a top down probe. ''People made decisions to unlawfully attack ‘us' they should be brought to justice. Cosmetology inspectors fronting for police is virtually unheard of in any state.''
Moreno Valley barber Kevon Gordon says the police raids undermined his business of 24 years, humiliated Black barbers and visciously attacked one of the Black communities most sacred bastions: the barbershop.
''From Moreno Valley police officers to members of City Councils to ‘Lil Stevie Wonder and Motown music mogul Berry Gordy, I've left my mark on a many heads but this mess threatens to rock the entire industry,'' he says.
The Butlers whose business was not raided, displayed a show of solidarity by taping a copy of the Black Voice News paper article chronicling the raids on the shops' front window.
''We want our patrons to know the culture of our police. We will not stand back and allow anyone to run up in our shops without a search warrant asking customers if they have warrants. We're going to make sure this doesn't happen again,'' said Fay Butler.
Former patron James Wright, a Los Angeles pastor, said, ''It's not one barbershop, it's not one place, it's not one time, this kind of abuse of power is taking place in minority communities across the nation, the difference now is, we're speaking out.''
Word of the raids spread like wildfire throughout the region. Across the nation barbers activists and bloggers engaged in lively online debate. Gordon said barbers, law enforcement, church leaders, civil rights attorneys and patrons in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego counties have called with offers of assistance.
''As customers we have a duty to speak out against these raids. When I come to get my hair cut I have a right to be respected. If someone ran a warrant check on me without probable cause, the next call I'd make would be to a civil rights attorney,'' said barber Harold Park's patron of 10 years, Reginald Richard.
''Moreno Valley today Atlanta tomorrow,'' said Andrew Fahiem a 2007 barber college graduate. He pointed to fresh text messages from barbers in Atlanta and Chicago who learned about the raids online. One text read, ''Brothers, what the hell is going on out there? We're behind you.''
Moreno Valley contracts police service from the Riverside County Sheriffs Department. Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the Black Voice News request for a statement on the raids and reaction to the demand for an investigation had been passed on the Sheriff Stanley Sniff for review.
''This kind of affront sends up a red flag to young brothers like me who have worked hard to stay away from gangs and drugs in favor of legitimate practices. It sends the wrong message.''
Still Gordon who says his business has suffered financially since the raids, admits the controversy has a silver lining, ''It got barbers fired up. It brought us together. That's good.''
Pastor Lacy Sykes of CrossWord Christian Church stated:
''I actually go to Hair Shack Barbershop. Ron Jones is a member of my church and it was inappropriate from the standpoint that it appears that it was a raid on minority barbershops.
''I know they (police) have challenges in Moreno Valley and the police are doing the best they can do, but it does not circumvent the police from obtaining the proper search warrants. Minority businesses have been around a long time in Moreno Valley and are doing great things within the community and deserve their respect.''
Like the Black church, the barbershop and beauty salon is for many a sacred institution where those who enter meet all strata of community including, the shoe shine boy, preacher, church sister, teacher, chorus girl, doctor and the occasional pimp.
Black Moreno Valley barbers and a growing list of community activists have vowed to ‘serve and protect at all costs' this physical and psychological atmosphere conductive to unrestrained expression, real or imagined, richly embroidered with Black idiom canvassing topics from personal and community issues, religion and war to race relations, sports, prostitution and politics.
by Chris Levister from BlackVoiceNews.com
Sunday, June 15, 2008
South Africa in for Tough Times After Stretch of Solid Growth
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, is braced for a slowdown after a stretch of solid growth, as higher interest rates coupled with rising food and fuel costs are set to bite.
Growth in the first quarter measured 2.1 percent on a 12-month basis, down sharply from 5.3 percent in the last quarter of 2007, government statistics show.
The dip has been blamed on energy constraints which led to massive power cuts that forced mines and other industries to shut down.
The country's economy has been growing at an average of three percent since the end of apartheid in 1994 -- a significant improvement from the meagre one percent yearly increase during whites-only rule.
But economists said Thursday's 50-basis-point increase of the key repo rate, bringing it to 12 percent, will hit economic growth and put further strain on consumers' pocketbooks.
"I believe the interest rates will remain high for most of the year," said T-Sec economist Mike Schussler.
"Consumers are starting to tighten their belts and retail sales and vehicle sales are lower. House sales are slowing and prices are under pressure. These factors may contribute to a slowdown in the economy."
Banks have already announced that they will increase mortgage rates by 0.50 percent to 15.50 percent.
Interest rates began shooting up in June 2006 and have gone up nine times by a cumulative 450 basis points.
Central Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has maintained that raising interest rates is the right tool to meet the bank's inflation target of between three and six percent -- a target not being met at present.
Consumers prices, measured by the consumer price index (CPI), leapt 10.4 percent on a 12-month basis in April and economists predict that inflation will not return to within the target range for about two years.
"The central cank has revised its own inflation forecasts, now expecting that CPI will peak at 12 percent later this year, returning to target by third quarter of 2010," said Standard Chartered Bank economist Razia Khan.
"However these forecasts do not account for the possibility of a greater-than-inflation increase in electricity tariffs. Although South Africa has backed away from an all-in-one go 53-percent hike in electricity prices, a sharp increase in electricity prices is nonetheless more probable than not."
With household debt at a record high 78 percent of disposable income, the majority of South Africans are likely to slump even further in debt, according to First National Bank (FNB) economist John Loos.
Add to that escalating food and oil prices, as well as electricity, education and medical costs, and the future does not look bright, added Loos.
Fuel costs reached new highs this month when petrol went up to 9.96 rand a litre and diesel to 11 rand (1.36 dollars, 0.88 euros).
Commuters have been hardest hit by fuel prices, with bus and taxi fares also on the rise.
The impact is evident as well in the number of cars being repossessed by banks, with vehicle repossessions reportedly shooting up by 25 percent in the first two months of the year.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the country's largest trade union federation, has threatened protests over the escalating cost of living.
"Companies, especially small ones, will face crippling increases in their costs and thousands of jobs could be lost," said COSATU in a statement.
by Sibongile Khumalo for AFP
Growth in the first quarter measured 2.1 percent on a 12-month basis, down sharply from 5.3 percent in the last quarter of 2007, government statistics show.
The dip has been blamed on energy constraints which led to massive power cuts that forced mines and other industries to shut down.
The country's economy has been growing at an average of three percent since the end of apartheid in 1994 -- a significant improvement from the meagre one percent yearly increase during whites-only rule.
But economists said Thursday's 50-basis-point increase of the key repo rate, bringing it to 12 percent, will hit economic growth and put further strain on consumers' pocketbooks.
"I believe the interest rates will remain high for most of the year," said T-Sec economist Mike Schussler.
"Consumers are starting to tighten their belts and retail sales and vehicle sales are lower. House sales are slowing and prices are under pressure. These factors may contribute to a slowdown in the economy."
Banks have already announced that they will increase mortgage rates by 0.50 percent to 15.50 percent.
Interest rates began shooting up in June 2006 and have gone up nine times by a cumulative 450 basis points.
Central Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has maintained that raising interest rates is the right tool to meet the bank's inflation target of between three and six percent -- a target not being met at present.
Consumers prices, measured by the consumer price index (CPI), leapt 10.4 percent on a 12-month basis in April and economists predict that inflation will not return to within the target range for about two years.
"The central cank has revised its own inflation forecasts, now expecting that CPI will peak at 12 percent later this year, returning to target by third quarter of 2010," said Standard Chartered Bank economist Razia Khan.
"However these forecasts do not account for the possibility of a greater-than-inflation increase in electricity tariffs. Although South Africa has backed away from an all-in-one go 53-percent hike in electricity prices, a sharp increase in electricity prices is nonetheless more probable than not."
With household debt at a record high 78 percent of disposable income, the majority of South Africans are likely to slump even further in debt, according to First National Bank (FNB) economist John Loos.
Add to that escalating food and oil prices, as well as electricity, education and medical costs, and the future does not look bright, added Loos.
Fuel costs reached new highs this month when petrol went up to 9.96 rand a litre and diesel to 11 rand (1.36 dollars, 0.88 euros).
Commuters have been hardest hit by fuel prices, with bus and taxi fares also on the rise.
The impact is evident as well in the number of cars being repossessed by banks, with vehicle repossessions reportedly shooting up by 25 percent in the first two months of the year.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the country's largest trade union federation, has threatened protests over the escalating cost of living.
"Companies, especially small ones, will face crippling increases in their costs and thousands of jobs could be lost," said COSATU in a statement.
by Sibongile Khumalo for AFP
To NASCAR, Perception of Racism Damaging Enough
For NASCAR, the glass ceiling has always been the sports-talk radio dial. For some strange reason this country developed general sports fans and racing fans, two camps that exude similar passions but often an odd disdain for one another. Chairman Brian France has tried to close that gap, to get NASCAR into the conversation on sports-talk radio alongside every other game. But it's not an easy, or always welcome, endeavor. When ESPN broke away from a race last season to provide an update on Barry Bonds' home run chase, some irate race fans acted as if the Giants outfielder had spun out Jeff Gordon.
So this is still a sport that exists primarily within its own bubble, piquing the interest of the casual sports fan chiefly during extraordinary times -- the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s move to Hendrick Motorsports, Juan Montoya's victory at Sonoma, Michael McDowell's spectacular crash at Texas. Now the sport is on the brink of another one of those times thanks to Mauricia Grant's $225 million lawsuit against NASCAR, a complaint that charges a pattern of racial and sexual harassment at the hands of her fellow officials on what is now called the Nationwide Series.
It's a sensational 40-page document, one some national columnists have already dug into, one more casual sports fans and mainstream sports writers are certain to discover. People who have never been to a racetrack, who will never go to a racetrack, are going to opine that the details in Grant's lawsuit reinforce every racist, redneck stereotype you've ever heard about the sport. All the diversity initiatives the series has rolled out over the years are going to be shot down by one complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Because when it comes to NASCAR, just the perception of racism is damaging enough. This is a sport that, regardless of the programs it's implemented to try and diversify its competitive base, still has one strike against it in many minds because of its all-white (save Montoya) driver lineup. No matter that individual teams hire those drivers. No matter that there are several minority team executives, crew members or Sprint Cup officials working today. No matter that the garage has far more faces of color in it than it did just a decade ago. People with no connection to or no interest in this sport are going to read about one official allegedly sending Grant racist text messages, or another allegedly boasting about friends in the Ku Klux Klan, or another allegedly exposing himself to her, and think -- well, that's NASCAR for you. Which is sad.
Is Grant telling the truth? That's for a jury to decide, if it gets that far. She and her attorney certainly seem to be overreaching, watering down their argument by interpreting such things as a warning to be careful in Mexico City, remarks about Grant's Los Angeles hometown, comments from fans or compliments on Grant's appearance as racist or sexist in nature. The complaint is often quite vague on dates. And it's riddled with errors -- no, Grant did not work the Daytona 500, the former Busch Series did not have an all-star race, and Martinsville Speedway is not in South Carolina, all things mentioned in the complaint. Certainly, those mistakes seem small when compared to the allegations. But attorneys can use anything to chip away at credibility.
And then there's the requested $225 million in compensatory and punitive damages, an amount so exorbitant, it automatically raises questions as to the motive of an official who was fired by NASCAR for unspecified reasons in 2007. "Graphic and lewd jokes? She participated in them," Mike Wilford, a former official named in the complaint, told The Associated Press. "She laughed, she would never say it was inappropriate."
But this isn't about money. This is about reputation. If some of Grant's fellow Busch officials did act like the drunken frat boys they're painted as in the complaint, a sport that's always said the right things about becoming more diverse suffers a serious black eye. Because on the subject of race, NASCAR has zero room for error. Everyone who wears the circuit's logo on their shirt needs to understand that, or find someplace else to work. Something like what's alleged in Grant's complaint can happen in the NFL, and people will accept that it was the result of a few blockheads with primitive worldviews and poor senses of humor. But it happens in NASCAR and it's viewed as a sign of something endemic, even if it's not.
France, to his credit, seems to realize the stakes. In the wake of Grant's lawsuit, the chairman reportedly sent an e-mail to all NASCAR employees reminding them of the importance of fostering a more diverse workplace. As he surely knows, diversity is good business. Nothing would do more to expand NASCAR's fan base than a few more faces of color in the garage area, or one behind the wheel. People in NASCAR want to see that happen. In the decade I've covered this sport, I've gotten the sense that series executives and even team owners want very deeply to see more diversity within their ranks. Of course, I don't hang out with Nationwide Series officials very often, either.
Even if Grant drops her lawsuit tomorrow, she's still dredged up the old racial demons -- Wendell Scott not getting his trophy, Confederate flags in the infield, fans saying the sport was "no place for n-----s" during a 2001 MTV documentary on Dale Jr. -- that NASCAR executives have worked for so long to shake. If she's right, and all these appalling things did indeed happen, then the sanctioning body needs to settle this and roll out a host of new diversity initiatives to show the organization's dedication to the cause. But if she's lying, if all of these lurid allegations are shot down, then NASCAR needs to countersue. For defamation of character.
David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
So this is still a sport that exists primarily within its own bubble, piquing the interest of the casual sports fan chiefly during extraordinary times -- the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s move to Hendrick Motorsports, Juan Montoya's victory at Sonoma, Michael McDowell's spectacular crash at Texas. Now the sport is on the brink of another one of those times thanks to Mauricia Grant's $225 million lawsuit against NASCAR, a complaint that charges a pattern of racial and sexual harassment at the hands of her fellow officials on what is now called the Nationwide Series.
It's a sensational 40-page document, one some national columnists have already dug into, one more casual sports fans and mainstream sports writers are certain to discover. People who have never been to a racetrack, who will never go to a racetrack, are going to opine that the details in Grant's lawsuit reinforce every racist, redneck stereotype you've ever heard about the sport. All the diversity initiatives the series has rolled out over the years are going to be shot down by one complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Because when it comes to NASCAR, just the perception of racism is damaging enough. This is a sport that, regardless of the programs it's implemented to try and diversify its competitive base, still has one strike against it in many minds because of its all-white (save Montoya) driver lineup. No matter that individual teams hire those drivers. No matter that there are several minority team executives, crew members or Sprint Cup officials working today. No matter that the garage has far more faces of color in it than it did just a decade ago. People with no connection to or no interest in this sport are going to read about one official allegedly sending Grant racist text messages, or another allegedly boasting about friends in the Ku Klux Klan, or another allegedly exposing himself to her, and think -- well, that's NASCAR for you. Which is sad.
Is Grant telling the truth? That's for a jury to decide, if it gets that far. She and her attorney certainly seem to be overreaching, watering down their argument by interpreting such things as a warning to be careful in Mexico City, remarks about Grant's Los Angeles hometown, comments from fans or compliments on Grant's appearance as racist or sexist in nature. The complaint is often quite vague on dates. And it's riddled with errors -- no, Grant did not work the Daytona 500, the former Busch Series did not have an all-star race, and Martinsville Speedway is not in South Carolina, all things mentioned in the complaint. Certainly, those mistakes seem small when compared to the allegations. But attorneys can use anything to chip away at credibility.
And then there's the requested $225 million in compensatory and punitive damages, an amount so exorbitant, it automatically raises questions as to the motive of an official who was fired by NASCAR for unspecified reasons in 2007. "Graphic and lewd jokes? She participated in them," Mike Wilford, a former official named in the complaint, told The Associated Press. "She laughed, she would never say it was inappropriate."
But this isn't about money. This is about reputation. If some of Grant's fellow Busch officials did act like the drunken frat boys they're painted as in the complaint, a sport that's always said the right things about becoming more diverse suffers a serious black eye. Because on the subject of race, NASCAR has zero room for error. Everyone who wears the circuit's logo on their shirt needs to understand that, or find someplace else to work. Something like what's alleged in Grant's complaint can happen in the NFL, and people will accept that it was the result of a few blockheads with primitive worldviews and poor senses of humor. But it happens in NASCAR and it's viewed as a sign of something endemic, even if it's not.
France, to his credit, seems to realize the stakes. In the wake of Grant's lawsuit, the chairman reportedly sent an e-mail to all NASCAR employees reminding them of the importance of fostering a more diverse workplace. As he surely knows, diversity is good business. Nothing would do more to expand NASCAR's fan base than a few more faces of color in the garage area, or one behind the wheel. People in NASCAR want to see that happen. In the decade I've covered this sport, I've gotten the sense that series executives and even team owners want very deeply to see more diversity within their ranks. Of course, I don't hang out with Nationwide Series officials very often, either.
Even if Grant drops her lawsuit tomorrow, she's still dredged up the old racial demons -- Wendell Scott not getting his trophy, Confederate flags in the infield, fans saying the sport was "no place for n-----s" during a 2001 MTV documentary on Dale Jr. -- that NASCAR executives have worked for so long to shake. If she's right, and all these appalling things did indeed happen, then the sanctioning body needs to settle this and roll out a host of new diversity initiatives to show the organization's dedication to the cause. But if she's lying, if all of these lurid allegations are shot down, then NASCAR needs to countersue. For defamation of character.
David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
Africa: Cultural Double Standards Undercut HIV/Aids Fight
The United Nations says religion and culture continue to have a significant impact -- both good and bad -- on the spread and prevention of HIV/AIDS worldwide.
The practice of male circumcision, prevalent in some cultures, has decreased the risk of HIV transmission in men, while male sexual promiscuity in some societies has put married women at high risk of contracting the deadly disease.
But the jury is still out on polygamy -- where men demand their right to have multiple wives -- long considered a key factor in the spread of HIV infections in Africa.
A 248-page study by the U.N. Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA), released last week, says the evidence on polygamy is inconsistent.
"Polygamous behaviour has been considered one of the major factors promoting the spread of HIV in Africa, where higher rates of HIV infection often are found in areas with high rates of polygamy," it noted.
Still, in Ghana, where 44 percent of marriages in the north are polygamous, the prevalence of HIV infection was the lowest.
As of December 2007, there was an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide living with HIV, according to the United Nations. But the annual number of AIDS deaths has declined, from 3.9 million in 2001 to 2.1 million in 2007.
The cultural double standards on the sexual behaviour of men and women are also a key factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.
At a CGHA interactive session in Africa, one participant is quoted as saying: "In our societies, men have a 'cultural license' to demand sex, unprotected, at any time, and the woman cannot say no, even if she knows he is infected. This has to change."
"In our polygamous society," another participant complained, "it is accepted that men have multiple partners, while women have to be faithful to one."
The role of religion, on the other hand, has often been a positive factor in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Conscious of the importance of religion in most societies, the United Nations is deploying religious leaders and faith-based organisations to raise awareness on AIDS.
Under its HIV/AIDS regional programme in the Arab states, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) held its first-ever training programme on AIDS awareness for 135 Sunni and Shiite religious leaders in Bahrain last year.
In Somalia, some 130 religious leaders attended seminars, while 500 women attended lectures on HIV/AIDS. And in Djibouti, 24 imams have received voluntary counseling and testing for HIV, thereby reducing the social stigma attached to the disease.
The United Nations also says that HIV/AIDS education kits, with references from the Quran or the Bible, are increasingly popular advocacy tools for religious leaders worldwide. The government of Morocco is using these kits for HIV education to all 31,000 imams in that country.
Sr. Maura O' Donohue of Caritas International says that governments give a very rosy picture of what is happening in their countries.
"But they very rarely acknowledge that NGOs, faith-based organisations, and other grassroots organisations are providing at least 30 percent of the services for five percent of the money," she added.
Addressing a panel discussion on the margins of a high-level General Assembly meeting on AIDS, the executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Ines Alberdi, said because HIV is most often transmitted sexually, unequal relationships between men and women, together with gender stereotypes, fuel its spread.
"We need to empower young women to know and exercise their rights -- to education, health services, economic opportunities, and freedom from violence," she said.
Secondly, she said, "We need to find ways to engage men and boys in combating gender-based stereotypes and behaviour that fuel this (AIDS) pandemic, starting in the home."
"Action is needed to promote male behaviour that is based on respect for women's rights, responsibility, and that is non-violence and non-abusive," she declared.
She also quoted Elizabeth Mataka, the U.N. special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, who said that in addition to more money, "We need to use those funds to be bold, and challenge the cultures and norms that generate behaviours like violence against women and perpetuate the spread of this deadly pandemic."
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), said: "We need to pay more attention to women and young people, especially those who are living with HIV, and engage them as experts in the response."
"Young people have called for greater engagement in plans, policies and programmes and a dramatic expansion of AIDS education and youth-friendly services. Let us work with them to scale up the services they need," she told IPS.
Obaid also said: "We need to integrate interventions for AIDS and for sexual and reproductive health so that they are mutually reinforcing."
The overwhelming majority of HIV infections, she pointed out, are sexually transmitted or associated with pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. Thus, integrated services are essential to meet the needs of women and couples.
To be effective, we must redouble efforts to address gender inequities, she added.
At the conclusion of the high-level meeting, Jun. 10-12, the president of the General Assembly, Srgjan Kerim, said that an effective response to the pandemic must have human rights and gender equality at its core.
Besides several heads of state and health ministers, the participants at the meeting also included more than 500 representatives from civil society organisations.
Linda Hartke, of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, was more blunt. "We have heard millions of words and hundreds of speakers in these three days and all of them agree that the response to HIV is urgent, and shamefully that we are falling behind."
"All governments must do more and do better, turning the words into actions. And each and every citizen is called to hold their government accountable," she added.
Meanwhile about 60 non-governmental organisations signed a statement urging national governments and the U.N. system to keep their promises to men and girls who continue to be at an alarming risk of HIV infection and of receiving inadequate prevention, treatment, care and support.
These shortcomings, the statement said, was the result of persisting social, cultural and economic subordination, structural inequalities, as well as pervasive violence in homes, communities, schools, workplaces, streets, markets, police stations, hospitals, and situations of institutional confinement.
Thalif Deen
United Nations
From allafrica.com
The practice of male circumcision, prevalent in some cultures, has decreased the risk of HIV transmission in men, while male sexual promiscuity in some societies has put married women at high risk of contracting the deadly disease.
But the jury is still out on polygamy -- where men demand their right to have multiple wives -- long considered a key factor in the spread of HIV infections in Africa.
A 248-page study by the U.N. Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA), released last week, says the evidence on polygamy is inconsistent.
"Polygamous behaviour has been considered one of the major factors promoting the spread of HIV in Africa, where higher rates of HIV infection often are found in areas with high rates of polygamy," it noted.
Still, in Ghana, where 44 percent of marriages in the north are polygamous, the prevalence of HIV infection was the lowest.
As of December 2007, there was an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide living with HIV, according to the United Nations. But the annual number of AIDS deaths has declined, from 3.9 million in 2001 to 2.1 million in 2007.
The cultural double standards on the sexual behaviour of men and women are also a key factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.
At a CGHA interactive session in Africa, one participant is quoted as saying: "In our societies, men have a 'cultural license' to demand sex, unprotected, at any time, and the woman cannot say no, even if she knows he is infected. This has to change."
"In our polygamous society," another participant complained, "it is accepted that men have multiple partners, while women have to be faithful to one."
The role of religion, on the other hand, has often been a positive factor in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Conscious of the importance of religion in most societies, the United Nations is deploying religious leaders and faith-based organisations to raise awareness on AIDS.
Under its HIV/AIDS regional programme in the Arab states, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) held its first-ever training programme on AIDS awareness for 135 Sunni and Shiite religious leaders in Bahrain last year.
In Somalia, some 130 religious leaders attended seminars, while 500 women attended lectures on HIV/AIDS. And in Djibouti, 24 imams have received voluntary counseling and testing for HIV, thereby reducing the social stigma attached to the disease.
The United Nations also says that HIV/AIDS education kits, with references from the Quran or the Bible, are increasingly popular advocacy tools for religious leaders worldwide. The government of Morocco is using these kits for HIV education to all 31,000 imams in that country.
Sr. Maura O' Donohue of Caritas International says that governments give a very rosy picture of what is happening in their countries.
"But they very rarely acknowledge that NGOs, faith-based organisations, and other grassroots organisations are providing at least 30 percent of the services for five percent of the money," she added.
Addressing a panel discussion on the margins of a high-level General Assembly meeting on AIDS, the executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Ines Alberdi, said because HIV is most often transmitted sexually, unequal relationships between men and women, together with gender stereotypes, fuel its spread.
"We need to empower young women to know and exercise their rights -- to education, health services, economic opportunities, and freedom from violence," she said.
Secondly, she said, "We need to find ways to engage men and boys in combating gender-based stereotypes and behaviour that fuel this (AIDS) pandemic, starting in the home."
"Action is needed to promote male behaviour that is based on respect for women's rights, responsibility, and that is non-violence and non-abusive," she declared.
She also quoted Elizabeth Mataka, the U.N. special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, who said that in addition to more money, "We need to use those funds to be bold, and challenge the cultures and norms that generate behaviours like violence against women and perpetuate the spread of this deadly pandemic."
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), said: "We need to pay more attention to women and young people, especially those who are living with HIV, and engage them as experts in the response."
"Young people have called for greater engagement in plans, policies and programmes and a dramatic expansion of AIDS education and youth-friendly services. Let us work with them to scale up the services they need," she told IPS.
Obaid also said: "We need to integrate interventions for AIDS and for sexual and reproductive health so that they are mutually reinforcing."
The overwhelming majority of HIV infections, she pointed out, are sexually transmitted or associated with pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. Thus, integrated services are essential to meet the needs of women and couples.
To be effective, we must redouble efforts to address gender inequities, she added.
At the conclusion of the high-level meeting, Jun. 10-12, the president of the General Assembly, Srgjan Kerim, said that an effective response to the pandemic must have human rights and gender equality at its core.
Besides several heads of state and health ministers, the participants at the meeting also included more than 500 representatives from civil society organisations.
Linda Hartke, of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, was more blunt. "We have heard millions of words and hundreds of speakers in these three days and all of them agree that the response to HIV is urgent, and shamefully that we are falling behind."
"All governments must do more and do better, turning the words into actions. And each and every citizen is called to hold their government accountable," she added.
Meanwhile about 60 non-governmental organisations signed a statement urging national governments and the U.N. system to keep their promises to men and girls who continue to be at an alarming risk of HIV infection and of receiving inadequate prevention, treatment, care and support.
These shortcomings, the statement said, was the result of persisting social, cultural and economic subordination, structural inequalities, as well as pervasive violence in homes, communities, schools, workplaces, streets, markets, police stations, hospitals, and situations of institutional confinement.
Thalif Deen
United Nations
From allafrica.com
Saturday, June 14, 2008
South Africa Scarred by Immigrant Attacks
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — Since arriving 15 years ago from Mozambique, Nelson Nyangane eked out a life in one of the slums surrounding South Africa's richest city.
But a month ago, it was all gone — the tin shack the 31-year-old welder shared with his wife and child, their radio and television, his tools — in a wave of anti-foreigner violence provoked by fears that immigrants were stealing South African jobs.
"Nobody knows at the end of the story where I will be," he said, warming himself by a small fire amid a stretch of white U.N.-donated tents where he now lives.
The attacks have subsided — after leaving 62 dead and 100,000 displaced — but the consequences are just being understood.
South Africa was seen as the region's strongest economy and most stable democracy. That reputation will take some time to recover from images like front page pictures of a Mozambican man who had been set alight, reminiscent of the violent past.
"The real damage and aftereffects of these acts of criminality, committed in the name of our people, will still be felt in our country long after the tents have been dismantled, and way beyond the street patrols of police and soldiers in our communities," Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said in Parliament this week.
The attacks also raised questions about South Africa's ability to cope with a large disaster — even as it prepared to host the 2010 soccer World Cup.
Some worry that the hastily built immigrant camps will become permanent foreigner ghettos. Authorities say they are temporary measures, but it is unclear where the displaced will go.
Jonathan Whittall from the international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said there was much uncertainty among those in the camps and "high levels of fear."
There were also still isolated incidents of violence, he said.
"Basic standards (in the camps) are being met, but with the cold it is difficult for this to be sufficient," he said.
Situated between a busy highway and a railway line, Nyangane's sparse but orderly camp is exposed to icy winds coming off a nearby marsh.
While women fill plastic containers from a large water tank and hang washing out to dry in the weak winter sun, a group of men kick around a deflated soccer ball and young children wander around, barefoot and thinly clothed.
The government is determined to see that those who want to stay in South Africa are reintegrated into communities by the end of July, government spokesman Themba Maseko.
But he acknowledges it won't be easy, saying that officials "should not romanticize the process" of returning foreign workers to the areas that turned against them.
Prince Mashile, of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, said "the kind of hatred that propelled the event will not go away" easily.
"There needs to be a bit of time to heal emotionally. Two months is not enough," he said.
Government and observers say that at the heart of the violence is deep frustration at the slow pace of growth for South Africa's poor — something the ruling African National Congress will have to address as it goes into an election next year.
Also of concern is that an unexpected consequence of the attacks might be an increase in anti-foreigner sentiment. At least 21 South Africans died when foreigners retaliated and there is growing resentment at the perceived special treatment of those displaced.
"Conditions (in the camps) are relatively better compared to where these people come from," analyst Mashile said. "Before they had to fend for themselves, not knowing where the next meal is coming from. Now they know."
Nde Ndifonka, from the International Organization of Migration, said there have long been hints of deep-seated xenophobia in South Africa.
"Unfortunately, the solutions are long term. It doesn't end with stopping the violence," he said. "The root causes need to be addressed."
In the Ramaphosa settlement outside Johannesburg, the scene of some of the worst violence, residents eye strangers suspiciously and all around are the signs of the recent destruction. There are large gaps in the ramshackle maze of shacks where homes were burned. All around are piles of charred wood, metal, clothes and even a Bible.
Patricia Lepota and her sister carry a metal bed frame and foam mattress through the litter-strewn, muddy streets.
Lepota, who is South African, said her house was burned down in the violence. Fortunately, she and her family were away at the time.
"My heart is broken," the unemployed 34-year-old said. "All my blankets, baby clothes, everything is gone. I don't know how I am going to start again."
She and her family have managed to build a new shack from salvaged sheets of iron and her husband Samuel Manweng was painstakingly filling tiny holes with mattress foam as insulation.
Her sister, Mandisa Seipati, said she is frightened about what will happen if the immigrant workers return.
"They can kill us," she said.
By CELEAN JACOBSON for AP
But a month ago, it was all gone — the tin shack the 31-year-old welder shared with his wife and child, their radio and television, his tools — in a wave of anti-foreigner violence provoked by fears that immigrants were stealing South African jobs.
"Nobody knows at the end of the story where I will be," he said, warming himself by a small fire amid a stretch of white U.N.-donated tents where he now lives.
The attacks have subsided — after leaving 62 dead and 100,000 displaced — but the consequences are just being understood.
South Africa was seen as the region's strongest economy and most stable democracy. That reputation will take some time to recover from images like front page pictures of a Mozambican man who had been set alight, reminiscent of the violent past.
"The real damage and aftereffects of these acts of criminality, committed in the name of our people, will still be felt in our country long after the tents have been dismantled, and way beyond the street patrols of police and soldiers in our communities," Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said in Parliament this week.
The attacks also raised questions about South Africa's ability to cope with a large disaster — even as it prepared to host the 2010 soccer World Cup.
Some worry that the hastily built immigrant camps will become permanent foreigner ghettos. Authorities say they are temporary measures, but it is unclear where the displaced will go.
Jonathan Whittall from the international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said there was much uncertainty among those in the camps and "high levels of fear."
There were also still isolated incidents of violence, he said.
"Basic standards (in the camps) are being met, but with the cold it is difficult for this to be sufficient," he said.
Situated between a busy highway and a railway line, Nyangane's sparse but orderly camp is exposed to icy winds coming off a nearby marsh.
While women fill plastic containers from a large water tank and hang washing out to dry in the weak winter sun, a group of men kick around a deflated soccer ball and young children wander around, barefoot and thinly clothed.
The government is determined to see that those who want to stay in South Africa are reintegrated into communities by the end of July, government spokesman Themba Maseko.
But he acknowledges it won't be easy, saying that officials "should not romanticize the process" of returning foreign workers to the areas that turned against them.
Prince Mashile, of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, said "the kind of hatred that propelled the event will not go away" easily.
"There needs to be a bit of time to heal emotionally. Two months is not enough," he said.
Government and observers say that at the heart of the violence is deep frustration at the slow pace of growth for South Africa's poor — something the ruling African National Congress will have to address as it goes into an election next year.
Also of concern is that an unexpected consequence of the attacks might be an increase in anti-foreigner sentiment. At least 21 South Africans died when foreigners retaliated and there is growing resentment at the perceived special treatment of those displaced.
"Conditions (in the camps) are relatively better compared to where these people come from," analyst Mashile said. "Before they had to fend for themselves, not knowing where the next meal is coming from. Now they know."
Nde Ndifonka, from the International Organization of Migration, said there have long been hints of deep-seated xenophobia in South Africa.
"Unfortunately, the solutions are long term. It doesn't end with stopping the violence," he said. "The root causes need to be addressed."
In the Ramaphosa settlement outside Johannesburg, the scene of some of the worst violence, residents eye strangers suspiciously and all around are the signs of the recent destruction. There are large gaps in the ramshackle maze of shacks where homes were burned. All around are piles of charred wood, metal, clothes and even a Bible.
Patricia Lepota and her sister carry a metal bed frame and foam mattress through the litter-strewn, muddy streets.
Lepota, who is South African, said her house was burned down in the violence. Fortunately, she and her family were away at the time.
"My heart is broken," the unemployed 34-year-old said. "All my blankets, baby clothes, everything is gone. I don't know how I am going to start again."
She and her family have managed to build a new shack from salvaged sheets of iron and her husband Samuel Manweng was painstakingly filling tiny holes with mattress foam as insulation.
Her sister, Mandisa Seipati, said she is frightened about what will happen if the immigrant workers return.
"They can kill us," she said.
By CELEAN JACOBSON for AP
Capri Capital Lands $2 Billion Real Estate Deal
Capri Capital Partners L.L.C. (No. 4 on the BE ASSET MANAGERS list with $4.48 billion in assets) signed an agreement valued at $2 billion to develop part of the central business district in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), Saudi Arabia. The city, which has been in development since 2005, is envisioned as an economic epicenter modeled after Dubai.
According to Quintin E. Primo III, chairman and CEO of Capri Capital, the agreement makes the company the first international real estate investment firm to develop a world-class, mixed-use commercial and residential project in the city. “Saudi Arabia will operate as the starting point for what will be the firm’s expansion in essentially five key markets,” Primo says. He adds that over the next five to seven years, the company will expand into Brazil, Russia, India, China, and into more of Saudi Arabia. “All are major international emerging markets that have significant growth projects and that have bourgeoning middle classes which are driving the growth.”
This is Capri’s first overseas development deal, but Primo expects its overseas investments to quickly become part of the company’s core business. “The United States is no longer the monopoly in terms of power and markets. Even though the U.S. is a deep market with a $13 trillion economy and 300 million people, we’re now having to share power and share markets with the likes of Russia, China, and India,” he says. “And we think that Saudi Arabia—with 25% of the world’s proven oil reserves, with a tremendous transfer of wealth occurring, and oil near $140 a barrel—is a country that the U.S. must share power with and share markets with.”
Primo says that these overseas investments will propel company assets to $20 billion within the next five to seven years, mainly driven by international expansion and a focus on urban markets in the U.S. “When we hit $20 billion, we believe it’ll be 50% U.S., 50% overseas.”
Capri’s project will feature two one-million-square-foot office towers, two 300-400 room hotels, for which Capri is currently in negotiations with Waldorf and St. Regis. The project will also have a 500,000-square-foot retail mall at the base of the towers and two residential condominium projects consisting of 200-300 units each. Lastly, it will have a convention center along with a convention center hotel with 1000 rooms. Capri Capital will also own the land. When completed, KAEC is expected to become the third largest city and biggest seaport in Saudi Arabia.
The deal was signed with Dubai-based Emaar, one of the world’s largest publicly traded real estate companies, and Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, the government-created branch that handles foreign investment. Emaar is the master developer on KAEC, the largest private sector-led project in the region. The planned city has six key components: the seaport, industrial zone, central business district (including the financial district), resort district, educational zone, and residential communities.
blackenterprises.com
According to Quintin E. Primo III, chairman and CEO of Capri Capital, the agreement makes the company the first international real estate investment firm to develop a world-class, mixed-use commercial and residential project in the city. “Saudi Arabia will operate as the starting point for what will be the firm’s expansion in essentially five key markets,” Primo says. He adds that over the next five to seven years, the company will expand into Brazil, Russia, India, China, and into more of Saudi Arabia. “All are major international emerging markets that have significant growth projects and that have bourgeoning middle classes which are driving the growth.”
This is Capri’s first overseas development deal, but Primo expects its overseas investments to quickly become part of the company’s core business. “The United States is no longer the monopoly in terms of power and markets. Even though the U.S. is a deep market with a $13 trillion economy and 300 million people, we’re now having to share power and share markets with the likes of Russia, China, and India,” he says. “And we think that Saudi Arabia—with 25% of the world’s proven oil reserves, with a tremendous transfer of wealth occurring, and oil near $140 a barrel—is a country that the U.S. must share power with and share markets with.”
Primo says that these overseas investments will propel company assets to $20 billion within the next five to seven years, mainly driven by international expansion and a focus on urban markets in the U.S. “When we hit $20 billion, we believe it’ll be 50% U.S., 50% overseas.”
Capri’s project will feature two one-million-square-foot office towers, two 300-400 room hotels, for which Capri is currently in negotiations with Waldorf and St. Regis. The project will also have a 500,000-square-foot retail mall at the base of the towers and two residential condominium projects consisting of 200-300 units each. Lastly, it will have a convention center along with a convention center hotel with 1000 rooms. Capri Capital will also own the land. When completed, KAEC is expected to become the third largest city and biggest seaport in Saudi Arabia.
The deal was signed with Dubai-based Emaar, one of the world’s largest publicly traded real estate companies, and Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, the government-created branch that handles foreign investment. Emaar is the master developer on KAEC, the largest private sector-led project in the region. The planned city has six key components: the seaport, industrial zone, central business district (including the financial district), resort district, educational zone, and residential communities.
blackenterprises.com
Adoption System Failing Minority Kids
ATLANTA (Reuters) - When Theresa Alden adopted two black boys from an agency in Philadelphia, she changed her lifestyle for them and they changed her outlook on race.
Alden, who is 50 and white, started attending a black church near her home in Lancaster, established a network of black friends and acquaintances, began listening to more black music and buying children's books by black authors.
"My boys will be in a minority here. How do you face the issues that go along with that?" she said when asked about her attempts to give them role models and points of reference.
Alden's children, Gavin and Graem, are two of around 140,000 adopted in the United States each year. Of those, around 20,000 are adopted by adults of a different race.
But black children in foster care are less likely to be adopted into a family than children from other races and U.S. laws governing adoption are failing, according to a major new report.
One of those laws requires state agencies to seek adoptive homes with people of the same ethnic background but prevent a child from not being placed in a home on the basis of race or ethnicity.
There are many reasons for the imbalance that gives a vulnerable group -- black children in foster care -- an added disadvantage, said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, which published the report.
Some parents say children adopted from foster care will be harder to bring up, while others are nervous about bureaucracy surrounding the process of adopting from foster care or reluctant to deal with the complexity surrounding race when it comes to adopting black children.
The trend worries social workers, not least because black children, who represent 15 percent of all children in the country, make up 32 percent of those waiting for adoption -- more than any other group.
"The system is not getting them into the homes at the rate they are supposed to," Pertman said.
'WE'LL MISS YOU'
Transracial adoption, particularly of black children by non-black parents, raises complex issues in a country with a history of discrimination and a struggle to overcome it.
The process was illegal in many states before the 1960s because it violated laws about racial mixing.
Some people challenge whether it is appropriate for white parents to bring up a black child, fearing that the child's black cultural heritage will be lost.
In one example, Betsy Hyder, who with her husband adopted two black children in Georgia, said people regularly affirmed her decision to adopt transracially but not all.
Once at a hospital, a black man told her boy "We'll miss you, young man" as though she had stolen a child from its race, said Hyder, who now lives in California.
"What's weird is that in my (family) life we feel so normal. I can't imagine us being together any other way but I know that's not how we are perceived (by all)," she said.
Children brought up by parents of a different race can feel inferior to people from their own race but also superior or just isolated from them, said Joseph Crumbley, a consultant, family therapist and author of books on transracial adoption.
ACCEPTANCE
One finding of the Donaldson report said parents seeking to adopt a child from another race should get more help in dealing with the complexities of the decision.
The laws require training for parents adopting from another country but offer no similar help for parents adopting an American child transracially on the grounds it would conflict with the ideal of a "colorblind" society that does not take race into account.
But the debate over how to make transracial adoption serve a colorblind ideal, while reasonable, should be framed around the best interests of the child, according to Pertman.
Since adopting Gavin and Graem in 2002 and 2003, Alden has set up a support group for families who have adopted children of a different race.
While settled about her family and confident about her children's ability to form a positive racial identity, she said her own views on race had been altered by her experience.
"As soon as someone sees our family we look different and the questions that come up are out of ignorance. It's not that people are trying to be unkind, it's just that they are just not aware," said Alden.
"If you adopt a girl from China then you are high on the acceptance level of the population around you ... As the (child's) color gets darker, it's less accepted by your community, your church, your city, your people."
By Matthew Bigg from Reuters
Alden, who is 50 and white, started attending a black church near her home in Lancaster, established a network of black friends and acquaintances, began listening to more black music and buying children's books by black authors.
"My boys will be in a minority here. How do you face the issues that go along with that?" she said when asked about her attempts to give them role models and points of reference.
Alden's children, Gavin and Graem, are two of around 140,000 adopted in the United States each year. Of those, around 20,000 are adopted by adults of a different race.
But black children in foster care are less likely to be adopted into a family than children from other races and U.S. laws governing adoption are failing, according to a major new report.
One of those laws requires state agencies to seek adoptive homes with people of the same ethnic background but prevent a child from not being placed in a home on the basis of race or ethnicity.
There are many reasons for the imbalance that gives a vulnerable group -- black children in foster care -- an added disadvantage, said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, which published the report.
Some parents say children adopted from foster care will be harder to bring up, while others are nervous about bureaucracy surrounding the process of adopting from foster care or reluctant to deal with the complexity surrounding race when it comes to adopting black children.
The trend worries social workers, not least because black children, who represent 15 percent of all children in the country, make up 32 percent of those waiting for adoption -- more than any other group.
"The system is not getting them into the homes at the rate they are supposed to," Pertman said.
'WE'LL MISS YOU'
Transracial adoption, particularly of black children by non-black parents, raises complex issues in a country with a history of discrimination and a struggle to overcome it.
The process was illegal in many states before the 1960s because it violated laws about racial mixing.
Some people challenge whether it is appropriate for white parents to bring up a black child, fearing that the child's black cultural heritage will be lost.
In one example, Betsy Hyder, who with her husband adopted two black children in Georgia, said people regularly affirmed her decision to adopt transracially but not all.
Once at a hospital, a black man told her boy "We'll miss you, young man" as though she had stolen a child from its race, said Hyder, who now lives in California.
"What's weird is that in my (family) life we feel so normal. I can't imagine us being together any other way but I know that's not how we are perceived (by all)," she said.
Children brought up by parents of a different race can feel inferior to people from their own race but also superior or just isolated from them, said Joseph Crumbley, a consultant, family therapist and author of books on transracial adoption.
ACCEPTANCE
One finding of the Donaldson report said parents seeking to adopt a child from another race should get more help in dealing with the complexities of the decision.
The laws require training for parents adopting from another country but offer no similar help for parents adopting an American child transracially on the grounds it would conflict with the ideal of a "colorblind" society that does not take race into account.
But the debate over how to make transracial adoption serve a colorblind ideal, while reasonable, should be framed around the best interests of the child, according to Pertman.
Since adopting Gavin and Graem in 2002 and 2003, Alden has set up a support group for families who have adopted children of a different race.
While settled about her family and confident about her children's ability to form a positive racial identity, she said her own views on race had been altered by her experience.
"As soon as someone sees our family we look different and the questions that come up are out of ignorance. It's not that people are trying to be unkind, it's just that they are just not aware," said Alden.
"If you adopt a girl from China then you are high on the acceptance level of the population around you ... As the (child's) color gets darker, it's less accepted by your community, your church, your city, your people."
By Matthew Bigg from Reuters
Nigerian Teachers End Pay Strike
LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian teachers have ended their three-day strike after the government agreed to heed their demand for a pay rise, a union leader said Saturday.
"We have suspended the warning strike because the government has agreed to implement an improved pay package for our members," union leader Ade Ademosu told AFP.
He said the Nigerian Union of Teachers, the umbrella body of primary and secondary school teachers in the oil-rich west African country, will meet on Monday on the development.
"We would not hesitate to call an indefinite strike if the government again renege on its promise," he warned.
The teachers launched the strike on Wednesday to force the government to implement the promised pay deal after talks to avert the work stoppage broke down.
Teaching is among the worst paid professions in the country of 140 million people.
from AFP
"We have suspended the warning strike because the government has agreed to implement an improved pay package for our members," union leader Ade Ademosu told AFP.
He said the Nigerian Union of Teachers, the umbrella body of primary and secondary school teachers in the oil-rich west African country, will meet on Monday on the development.
"We would not hesitate to call an indefinite strike if the government again renege on its promise," he warned.
The teachers launched the strike on Wednesday to force the government to implement the promised pay deal after talks to avert the work stoppage broke down.
Teaching is among the worst paid professions in the country of 140 million people.
from AFP
Friday, June 13, 2008
Philadelphia Owns Up to More of Its History of Slavery
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Thousands of tourists watched last summer as archaeologists, working in the shadow of Independence Hall, unearthed remnants of the home where George Washington lived with his wife and several slaves.
Now, the city's best-known Colonial-era church is dramatically bringing to light how slaves worshipped alongside parishioners like Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross.
Historians have long known that slaves attended Christ Church — and were baptized, married and buried there. But it has not been publicized much in Philadelphia, where all men were declared to be created equal.
"I think it's the right time in our city's history, it's the right time in our nation's history," said Neil Ronk, a church historian and senior guide. "Maybe it can spark a discussion."
Or continue one.
The city's ties to slavery emerged in 2007 as an estimated 250,000 people witnessed the excavation of a slave passageway in the President's House, where Washington lived while Philadelphia was the nation's capital.
Then in March, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama gave a stirring speech on race relations at the National Constitution Center, just blocks from Independence Hall and the Christ Church burial ground.
The recent decision by church officials to spotlight the congregation's slave past was spurred in part by the Episcopal Church's 2006 Conference, which mandated "a full, faithful and informed" accounting of its history, Ronk said.
Founded in 1695, Christ Church was the first parish of the Church of England in Pennsylvania and the birthplace of the U.S. Episcopal Church. Tours are given daily, but special presentations on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons offer slavery-related narratives.
Actress Diane Johnson portrays "Sarah," a fictional slave who puts a human face on the grim statistics: In 1760, Philadelphia's population was 11,000; about 1,100 were black, and nearly 900 of them were slaves.
Johnson's monologues, based on historical research, tell of her life as slave cook and maid for a merchant's family.
"When I read the script, I fell in love with it," said Johnson, who hopes the performances "will make people think, reflect and maybe change some of our archaic thoughts."
Though the church has been aware of its slave congregants, it is still researching actual practices. For instance, Ronk said church officials are still trying to determine where slaves sat — with their masters, or separate from the rest of the congregation.
Previous church tours have referred to slavery, notably mentioning parishioner Absalom Jones, a one-time slave who bought his freedom and became the first black priest of the Episcopal Church. Yet it was never a guiding theme until now.
"Sarah" appears in costume at both the church and the burial ground a few blocks away, discussing snippets of daily life, her family's history, how she came to be owned by her master and the role of slaves during Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemic.
Christ Church's cemetery has always been a popular tourist attraction because it is where Franklin is buried. Slaves, slave traders and slave owners are interred there as well, said John Hopkins, burial ground coordinator.
The slaves are listed in the church's burial register by first name only, along with their owners: Violet, slave of the widow Plumstead; Charles, belonged to Mr. Taylor; William, belonged to Jos. Rich; and an unnamed child slave.
Among the slave owners are Franklin, who had at least seven; Benjamin Rush, a prominent physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence who owned one; and John Kearsley, one of the main financiers of Christ Church, who owned four.
"It hurts me to know that they did that, especially Franklin," Hopkins said.
College student Diana Hill, 37, recently toured the church and burial ground with her African-American history class. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Hill said she had no idea of the city's slave ties until seeing a TV story last year about the memorial planned for the site of the President's House.
"That's when I realized that I needed to take a class," she said. "This is just ... kind of astounding."
By KATHY MATHESON for AP
Now, the city's best-known Colonial-era church is dramatically bringing to light how slaves worshipped alongside parishioners like Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross.
Historians have long known that slaves attended Christ Church — and were baptized, married and buried there. But it has not been publicized much in Philadelphia, where all men were declared to be created equal.
"I think it's the right time in our city's history, it's the right time in our nation's history," said Neil Ronk, a church historian and senior guide. "Maybe it can spark a discussion."
Or continue one.
The city's ties to slavery emerged in 2007 as an estimated 250,000 people witnessed the excavation of a slave passageway in the President's House, where Washington lived while Philadelphia was the nation's capital.
Then in March, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama gave a stirring speech on race relations at the National Constitution Center, just blocks from Independence Hall and the Christ Church burial ground.
The recent decision by church officials to spotlight the congregation's slave past was spurred in part by the Episcopal Church's 2006 Conference, which mandated "a full, faithful and informed" accounting of its history, Ronk said.
Founded in 1695, Christ Church was the first parish of the Church of England in Pennsylvania and the birthplace of the U.S. Episcopal Church. Tours are given daily, but special presentations on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons offer slavery-related narratives.
Actress Diane Johnson portrays "Sarah," a fictional slave who puts a human face on the grim statistics: In 1760, Philadelphia's population was 11,000; about 1,100 were black, and nearly 900 of them were slaves.
Johnson's monologues, based on historical research, tell of her life as slave cook and maid for a merchant's family.
"When I read the script, I fell in love with it," said Johnson, who hopes the performances "will make people think, reflect and maybe change some of our archaic thoughts."
Though the church has been aware of its slave congregants, it is still researching actual practices. For instance, Ronk said church officials are still trying to determine where slaves sat — with their masters, or separate from the rest of the congregation.
Previous church tours have referred to slavery, notably mentioning parishioner Absalom Jones, a one-time slave who bought his freedom and became the first black priest of the Episcopal Church. Yet it was never a guiding theme until now.
"Sarah" appears in costume at both the church and the burial ground a few blocks away, discussing snippets of daily life, her family's history, how she came to be owned by her master and the role of slaves during Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemic.
Christ Church's cemetery has always been a popular tourist attraction because it is where Franklin is buried. Slaves, slave traders and slave owners are interred there as well, said John Hopkins, burial ground coordinator.
The slaves are listed in the church's burial register by first name only, along with their owners: Violet, slave of the widow Plumstead; Charles, belonged to Mr. Taylor; William, belonged to Jos. Rich; and an unnamed child slave.
Among the slave owners are Franklin, who had at least seven; Benjamin Rush, a prominent physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence who owned one; and John Kearsley, one of the main financiers of Christ Church, who owned four.
"It hurts me to know that they did that, especially Franklin," Hopkins said.
College student Diana Hill, 37, recently toured the church and burial ground with her African-American history class. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Hill said she had no idea of the city's slave ties until seeing a TV story last year about the memorial planned for the site of the President's House.
"That's when I realized that I needed to take a class," she said. "This is just ... kind of astounding."
By KATHY MATHESON for AP
Poll: Many in World Look to US Election for Change
WASHINGTON (AP) — People around the globe widely expect the next American president to improve the country's policies toward the rest of the world, especially if Barack Obama is elected, yet they retain a persistently poor image of the U.S., according to a poll released Thursday.
The survey of two dozen countries, conducted this spring by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, also found a growing despondency over the international economy, with majorities in 18 nations calling domestic economic conditions poor. In more bad news for the U.S., people shared a widespread sense the American economy was hurting their countries, including large majorities in U.S. allies Britain, Germany, Australia, Turkey, France and Japan.
Even six in 10 Americans agreed the U.S. economy was having a negative impact abroad.
Views of the U.S. improved or stayed the same as last year in 18 nations, the first positive signs the poll has found for the U.S. image worldwide this decade. Even so, many improvements were modest and the U.S. remains less popular in most countries than it was before it invaded Iraq in 2003, with majorities in only eight expressing favorable opinions.
Substantial numbers in most countries said they are closely following the U.S. presidential election, including 83 percent in Japan — about the same proportion who said so in the U.S. Of those following the campaign, optimism that the new president will reshape American foreign policy for the better is substantial, with the largest segment of people in 14 countries — including the U.S. — saying so.
Andrew Kohut, president of Pew, said many seem to be hoping the U.S. role in the world will improve with the departure of President Bush, who remains profoundly unpopular almost everywhere.
"People think the U.S. wants to run the world," said Kohut. "It's not more complicated than that."
Countries most hopeful the new president will improve U.S. policies include France, Spain and Germany, where public opposition to Bush's policies in Iraq and elsewhere has been strong. Strong optimism also came from countries where pique with U.S. policies has been less pronounced, including India, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa.
Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon have the strongest expectations the next president will worsen U.S. policies, consistent with the skepticism expressed on many issues in the survey by Muslim countries. Japan, Turkey, Russia, South Korea and Mexico had large numbers saying the election would change little.
Among those tracking the American election, greater numbers in 20 countries expressed more confidence in Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, than John McCain, the Republican candidate, to handle world affairs properly. The two contenders were tied in the U.S., Jordan and Pakistan. Obama's edge was largest in Western Europe, Australia, Japan, Tanzania and Indonesia, where he lived for a time as a child.
The U.S. was the only country where most expressed confidence in McCain. Besides the countries where he and Obama were tied, McCain's smallest gaps against his rival were in India and China, where neither man engenders much confidence.
The U.S. is seen as the world's leading economic power by 22 countries in the survey. Yet in 11 countries, more think China will replace the U.S. as the world's dominant superpower or has already done so than predict that will never happen.
At the same time, China's favorable ratings have edged downward since last year, with widespread worry over its military power, pollution and human rights record. The survey was taken during China's crackdown on unrest in Tibet, but before last month's earthquake in China.
The poll also found:
_Sixty percent or more had favorable views of the U.S. in South Korea, Poland, India, Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa. One in five or fewer had positive impressions in Egypt, Argentina, Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey.
_Nine in 10 in South Korea and Lebanon say their economies are in bad shape, while eight in 10 Chinese, seven in 10 Australians and six in 10 Indians say theirs are strong.
_Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lost the Democratic nomination to Obama, generally was rated higher than McCain overseas but lower than Obama.
_There is growing pessimism that a stable democratic government will take hold in Iraq, with majorities only in Nigeria, India and Tanzania predicting success.
_Only in the U.S., Britain and Australia do most want U.S. and NATO forces to say in Afghanistan.
_Iran is viewed mostly negatively. Even the eight countries in the survey with large Muslim populations have mixed views. In six of those eight, Muslims oppose Iran getting nuclear weapons.
The polling was conducted from March 17-April 21, mostly in April, interviewing adults face to face in 17 countries and by telephone in the remaining seven. Local languages were used.
The number interviewed in each country ranged from 700 in Australia to 3,212 in China. All samples were national except for China, Pakistan, India and Brazil, where the samples were mostly urban. The margins of sampling error were plus or minus 3 percentage points or 4 points in every country but China and India, where it was 2 points.
By ALAN FRAM for CNN
The survey of two dozen countries, conducted this spring by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, also found a growing despondency over the international economy, with majorities in 18 nations calling domestic economic conditions poor. In more bad news for the U.S., people shared a widespread sense the American economy was hurting their countries, including large majorities in U.S. allies Britain, Germany, Australia, Turkey, France and Japan.
Even six in 10 Americans agreed the U.S. economy was having a negative impact abroad.
Views of the U.S. improved or stayed the same as last year in 18 nations, the first positive signs the poll has found for the U.S. image worldwide this decade. Even so, many improvements were modest and the U.S. remains less popular in most countries than it was before it invaded Iraq in 2003, with majorities in only eight expressing favorable opinions.
Substantial numbers in most countries said they are closely following the U.S. presidential election, including 83 percent in Japan — about the same proportion who said so in the U.S. Of those following the campaign, optimism that the new president will reshape American foreign policy for the better is substantial, with the largest segment of people in 14 countries — including the U.S. — saying so.
Andrew Kohut, president of Pew, said many seem to be hoping the U.S. role in the world will improve with the departure of President Bush, who remains profoundly unpopular almost everywhere.
"People think the U.S. wants to run the world," said Kohut. "It's not more complicated than that."
Countries most hopeful the new president will improve U.S. policies include France, Spain and Germany, where public opposition to Bush's policies in Iraq and elsewhere has been strong. Strong optimism also came from countries where pique with U.S. policies has been less pronounced, including India, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa.
Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon have the strongest expectations the next president will worsen U.S. policies, consistent with the skepticism expressed on many issues in the survey by Muslim countries. Japan, Turkey, Russia, South Korea and Mexico had large numbers saying the election would change little.
Among those tracking the American election, greater numbers in 20 countries expressed more confidence in Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, than John McCain, the Republican candidate, to handle world affairs properly. The two contenders were tied in the U.S., Jordan and Pakistan. Obama's edge was largest in Western Europe, Australia, Japan, Tanzania and Indonesia, where he lived for a time as a child.
The U.S. was the only country where most expressed confidence in McCain. Besides the countries where he and Obama were tied, McCain's smallest gaps against his rival were in India and China, where neither man engenders much confidence.
The U.S. is seen as the world's leading economic power by 22 countries in the survey. Yet in 11 countries, more think China will replace the U.S. as the world's dominant superpower or has already done so than predict that will never happen.
At the same time, China's favorable ratings have edged downward since last year, with widespread worry over its military power, pollution and human rights record. The survey was taken during China's crackdown on unrest in Tibet, but before last month's earthquake in China.
The poll also found:
_Sixty percent or more had favorable views of the U.S. in South Korea, Poland, India, Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa. One in five or fewer had positive impressions in Egypt, Argentina, Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey.
_Nine in 10 in South Korea and Lebanon say their economies are in bad shape, while eight in 10 Chinese, seven in 10 Australians and six in 10 Indians say theirs are strong.
_Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lost the Democratic nomination to Obama, generally was rated higher than McCain overseas but lower than Obama.
_There is growing pessimism that a stable democratic government will take hold in Iraq, with majorities only in Nigeria, India and Tanzania predicting success.
_Only in the U.S., Britain and Australia do most want U.S. and NATO forces to say in Afghanistan.
_Iran is viewed mostly negatively. Even the eight countries in the survey with large Muslim populations have mixed views. In six of those eight, Muslims oppose Iran getting nuclear weapons.
The polling was conducted from March 17-April 21, mostly in April, interviewing adults face to face in 17 countries and by telephone in the remaining seven. Local languages were used.
The number interviewed in each country ranged from 700 in Australia to 3,212 in China. All samples were national except for China, Pakistan, India and Brazil, where the samples were mostly urban. The margins of sampling error were plus or minus 3 percentage points or 4 points in every country but China and India, where it was 2 points.
By ALAN FRAM for CNN
Gitmo detainees win rights from U.S. court
Suspected terrorists and foreign fighters held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have the right to challenge their detention in federal court, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The decision marks another legal blow to the Bush administration's war on terrorism policies.
The 5-4 vote reflects the divide over how much legal autonomy the U.S. military should have to prosecute about 270 prisoners, some of whom have been held for more than six years without charges. Fourteen of them are alleged to be top al Qaeda figures.
Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, "the laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system reconciled within the framework of the law."
Kennedy, the court's swing vote, was supported by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, generally considered the liberal contingent.
At issue was the rights of detainees to contest their imprisonment and challenge the rules set up to try them. Watch how the 5-4 ruling is a major blow for the Bush administration »
A congressional law passed in 2006 would limit court jurisdiction to hear so-called habeas corpus challenges to detention. It is a legal question the justices have tackled three times since 2004, including Thursday's ruling.
Each time, the justices have ruled against the government's claim that it has the authority to hold people it considers "enemy combatants."
Preliminary hearings have begun in Guantanamo for some of the accused. A military panel this month arraigned five suspected senior al Qaeda detainees, including the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was transferred to the prison camp in 2006.
The Bush administration has urged the high court not to get involved in the broader appeals, saying the federal judiciary has no authority to hear such matters.
Four justices agreed. In a sharp dissent, read in part from the bench, Justice Antonin Scalia said the majority "warps our Constitution."
The "nation will live to regret what the court has done today," Scalia said.
He was supported by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
President Bush, who is traveling in Europe, said he disagreed with the Guantanamo ruling but promised to abide by it.
"Congress and the administration worked very carefully on a piece of legislation that set the appropriate procedures in place as to how to deal with the detainees," he said. "We'll study this opinion, and we'll do so with this in mind to determine whether or not additional legislation might be appropriate so that we can safely say, truly say to the American people, 'we are doing everything we can to protect you.' "
The Pentagon declined to comment, and the Justice Department said it was reviewing the decision and was expected to comment later Thursday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, welcomed the ruling, saying the Supreme Court upheld the Constitution.
"I have long been an advocate of closing Guantanamo, so I would hope this is in furtherance of taking that action," Pelosi said.
The appeals involve noncitizens. Sixteen lawsuits filed on behalf of about 200 prisoners were put on hold pending a ruling last year by a federal appeals court upholding the government's right to detain and prosecute suspected terrorists and war criminals.
An attorney for one of the detainees, Salim Ahmed Hamdan -- Osama bin Laden's alleged driver and bodyguard -- said he would file an appeal asking that charges be dropped against the Yemeni native.
"The clearest immediate impact of this ruling is to remove the remaining barriers for closing Guantanamo Bay. It means, in legal terms, Guantanamo Bay is no different than Kansas," attorney Charles Swift said.
Now the ruling has been issued, a flood of similar appeals can be expected.
The lead plaintiffs are Lakhdar Boumediene, a Bosnian, and Fawzi al-Odah of Kuwait. They question the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act, passed by Congress in October 2006. The law addresses how suspected foreign terrorists and fighters can be tried and sentenced under U.S. military law.
Under the system, those facing trial would have a limited right to appeal any conviction, reducing the jurisdiction of federal courts.
The suspects also must prove to a three-person panel of military officers they are not a terror risk. But defendants would have access to evidence normally given to a jury, and CIA agents were given more guidance in how far they can go in interrogating prisoners.
The law was a direct response to a June 2006 Supreme Court ruling striking down the Bush administration's plan to try detainees before military commissions.
In 2004, the justices also affirmed the right of prisoners to challenge their detention in federal court. Congress and the administration have sought to restrict such access.
The Justice Department wanted the high court to pass on these appeals, at least until the first wave of tribunals had a chance to work. Administration officials also argued the prisoners have plenty of legal safeguards.
The White House has said it is considering whether to close the Guantanamo prison, suggesting some high-level al Qaeda detainees could be transferred to the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, and to a military brig in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Most of the dozens of pending cases have been handled in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, which in February 2007 upheld the Military Commissions Act's provision stripping courts of jurisdiction to hear "habeas" challenges to the prisoners' confinement.
But a three-judge panel of the same circuit expressed concern about why the U.S. military continues to limit attorney access to the Guantanamo men.
The detainees' legal team alleges the government is unfairly restricting access to potentially exculpatory evidence, including documents they may not know exist before pretrial hearings.
Legal and terrorism analysts said the issues presented in these latest sets of appeals are unlike those the justices have delved into previously.
"The difference in this case is that they have a congressional enactment cutting back on habeas corpus that they have to wrestle with," said Edward Lazarus, a leading appellate attorney and author of a book on the high court, "Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court."
"And that, from a constitutional point of view, is really a different question."
In a separate decision, the court refused to intervene in the case of two American citizens convicted in Iraqi courts but held by the U.S. military.
The high court rejected lawyers' arguments that Mohammad Munaf and Shawqi Ahmad Omar should be released, saying that U.S. courts are not allowed to intervene in foreign courts.
From Bill Mears
CNN Supreme Court Producer
The decision marks another legal blow to the Bush administration's war on terrorism policies.
The 5-4 vote reflects the divide over how much legal autonomy the U.S. military should have to prosecute about 270 prisoners, some of whom have been held for more than six years without charges. Fourteen of them are alleged to be top al Qaeda figures.
Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, "the laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system reconciled within the framework of the law."
Kennedy, the court's swing vote, was supported by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, generally considered the liberal contingent.
At issue was the rights of detainees to contest their imprisonment and challenge the rules set up to try them. Watch how the 5-4 ruling is a major blow for the Bush administration »
A congressional law passed in 2006 would limit court jurisdiction to hear so-called habeas corpus challenges to detention. It is a legal question the justices have tackled three times since 2004, including Thursday's ruling.
Each time, the justices have ruled against the government's claim that it has the authority to hold people it considers "enemy combatants."
Preliminary hearings have begun in Guantanamo for some of the accused. A military panel this month arraigned five suspected senior al Qaeda detainees, including the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was transferred to the prison camp in 2006.
The Bush administration has urged the high court not to get involved in the broader appeals, saying the federal judiciary has no authority to hear such matters.
Four justices agreed. In a sharp dissent, read in part from the bench, Justice Antonin Scalia said the majority "warps our Constitution."
The "nation will live to regret what the court has done today," Scalia said.
He was supported by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
President Bush, who is traveling in Europe, said he disagreed with the Guantanamo ruling but promised to abide by it.
"Congress and the administration worked very carefully on a piece of legislation that set the appropriate procedures in place as to how to deal with the detainees," he said. "We'll study this opinion, and we'll do so with this in mind to determine whether or not additional legislation might be appropriate so that we can safely say, truly say to the American people, 'we are doing everything we can to protect you.' "
The Pentagon declined to comment, and the Justice Department said it was reviewing the decision and was expected to comment later Thursday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, welcomed the ruling, saying the Supreme Court upheld the Constitution.
"I have long been an advocate of closing Guantanamo, so I would hope this is in furtherance of taking that action," Pelosi said.
The appeals involve noncitizens. Sixteen lawsuits filed on behalf of about 200 prisoners were put on hold pending a ruling last year by a federal appeals court upholding the government's right to detain and prosecute suspected terrorists and war criminals.
An attorney for one of the detainees, Salim Ahmed Hamdan -- Osama bin Laden's alleged driver and bodyguard -- said he would file an appeal asking that charges be dropped against the Yemeni native.
"The clearest immediate impact of this ruling is to remove the remaining barriers for closing Guantanamo Bay. It means, in legal terms, Guantanamo Bay is no different than Kansas," attorney Charles Swift said.
Now the ruling has been issued, a flood of similar appeals can be expected.
The lead plaintiffs are Lakhdar Boumediene, a Bosnian, and Fawzi al-Odah of Kuwait. They question the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act, passed by Congress in October 2006. The law addresses how suspected foreign terrorists and fighters can be tried and sentenced under U.S. military law.
Under the system, those facing trial would have a limited right to appeal any conviction, reducing the jurisdiction of federal courts.
The suspects also must prove to a three-person panel of military officers they are not a terror risk. But defendants would have access to evidence normally given to a jury, and CIA agents were given more guidance in how far they can go in interrogating prisoners.
The law was a direct response to a June 2006 Supreme Court ruling striking down the Bush administration's plan to try detainees before military commissions.
In 2004, the justices also affirmed the right of prisoners to challenge their detention in federal court. Congress and the administration have sought to restrict such access.
The Justice Department wanted the high court to pass on these appeals, at least until the first wave of tribunals had a chance to work. Administration officials also argued the prisoners have plenty of legal safeguards.
The White House has said it is considering whether to close the Guantanamo prison, suggesting some high-level al Qaeda detainees could be transferred to the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, and to a military brig in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Most of the dozens of pending cases have been handled in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, which in February 2007 upheld the Military Commissions Act's provision stripping courts of jurisdiction to hear "habeas" challenges to the prisoners' confinement.
But a three-judge panel of the same circuit expressed concern about why the U.S. military continues to limit attorney access to the Guantanamo men.
The detainees' legal team alleges the government is unfairly restricting access to potentially exculpatory evidence, including documents they may not know exist before pretrial hearings.
Legal and terrorism analysts said the issues presented in these latest sets of appeals are unlike those the justices have delved into previously.
"The difference in this case is that they have a congressional enactment cutting back on habeas corpus that they have to wrestle with," said Edward Lazarus, a leading appellate attorney and author of a book on the high court, "Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court."
"And that, from a constitutional point of view, is really a different question."
In a separate decision, the court refused to intervene in the case of two American citizens convicted in Iraqi courts but held by the U.S. military.
The high court rejected lawyers' arguments that Mohammad Munaf and Shawqi Ahmad Omar should be released, saying that U.S. courts are not allowed to intervene in foreign courts.
From Bill Mears
CNN Supreme Court Producer
Shaq: I Can Help Homeowners Fight Off Foreclosure
Shaquille O'Neal says he wants to build a legacy -- literally -- in Orlando.
The NBA star said he is working on plans for real-estate-development projects in Orlando, with an eye toward helping those who are facing foreclosure on their homes.
"I want to come in not to kick them out, but to work with them and save them so they can stay in their homes," O'Neal told the Orlando Sentinel during an impromptu stop Tuesday at Orlando City Hall.
Attorney Mark NeJame, who arranged the visit along with longtime friend and Realtor Curtis Cooper, said the star center wants to buy the mortgages of homeowners who have slipped into foreclosure because of high interest rates. He would sell the homes back to those troubled buyers with more affordable terms, hoping to make a small profit.
"He's become a businessman with a conscience," NeJame said, adding that Shaq might also develop an affordable-housing project. "He's looking to find out where he can make a significant investment in Orlando -- specifically downtown Orlando -- but also all over Central Florida."
Details still shaping up
O'Neal said he isn't ready to share details of his plan and simply wanted to introduce himself to key players in city government.
"This isn't the big powwow meeting," he said. "I just wanted to say, 'Hi, this is my group, and we're interested in helping.' "
At City Hall, O'Neal posed for photos with star-struck city commissioners and economic-development staffers. Mayor Buddy Dyer was out of town on vacation, but O'Neal did have his picture taken in the mayor's chair.
It wouldn't be O'Neal's first foray into real estate. In 2006, he announced the formation of The O'Neal Group to pursue commercial and residential development. At the time, the new company said O'Neal had amassed a real-estate portfolio valued at $50 million during his time in the NBA.
His ventures range from carwashes and strip malls to a financial stake in Metropolitan Miami, a luxury development under construction in downtown Miami that will include what's billed as the tallest residential tower south of New York.
He is also a partner in the 24 Hour Fitness chain, and there are plans for one of the gyms to anchor part of the SoDo mixed-use development being built south of downtown Orlando.
So far, most of his development interests have been elsewhere, including Atlanta and New Jersey. O'Neal said he wants that to change.
O'Neal, traded to the Phoenix Suns in February, began his NBA career with the Orlando Magic. He maintains a mansion in Isleworth and has made no secret of his desire to return to Orlando when he retires.
More than once, he has said he would like to be sheriff of Orange County.
Reality TV another idea
O'Neal said he's also interested in developing a television reality show based on his Orlando development plans that he would call Shaq's Big Save, a sequel to a 2007 weight-loss show Shaq's Big Challenge.
Helping to bankroll the venture shouldn't be a problem. O'Neal is paid $20 million a year by the Suns, and industry experts suggest he earns at least that much annually from endorsements.
O'Neal found a receptive audience at City Hall.
"It was not very detailed, but I what I heard sounded good," Commissioner Phil Diamond said. "They made a point of saying they are not going to ask the city for money, so I was pleased with that."
Mark Schlueb | Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
The NBA star said he is working on plans for real-estate-development projects in Orlando, with an eye toward helping those who are facing foreclosure on their homes.
"I want to come in not to kick them out, but to work with them and save them so they can stay in their homes," O'Neal told the Orlando Sentinel during an impromptu stop Tuesday at Orlando City Hall.
Attorney Mark NeJame, who arranged the visit along with longtime friend and Realtor Curtis Cooper, said the star center wants to buy the mortgages of homeowners who have slipped into foreclosure because of high interest rates. He would sell the homes back to those troubled buyers with more affordable terms, hoping to make a small profit.
"He's become a businessman with a conscience," NeJame said, adding that Shaq might also develop an affordable-housing project. "He's looking to find out where he can make a significant investment in Orlando -- specifically downtown Orlando -- but also all over Central Florida."
Details still shaping up
O'Neal said he isn't ready to share details of his plan and simply wanted to introduce himself to key players in city government.
"This isn't the big powwow meeting," he said. "I just wanted to say, 'Hi, this is my group, and we're interested in helping.' "
At City Hall, O'Neal posed for photos with star-struck city commissioners and economic-development staffers. Mayor Buddy Dyer was out of town on vacation, but O'Neal did have his picture taken in the mayor's chair.
It wouldn't be O'Neal's first foray into real estate. In 2006, he announced the formation of The O'Neal Group to pursue commercial and residential development. At the time, the new company said O'Neal had amassed a real-estate portfolio valued at $50 million during his time in the NBA.
His ventures range from carwashes and strip malls to a financial stake in Metropolitan Miami, a luxury development under construction in downtown Miami that will include what's billed as the tallest residential tower south of New York.
He is also a partner in the 24 Hour Fitness chain, and there are plans for one of the gyms to anchor part of the SoDo mixed-use development being built south of downtown Orlando.
So far, most of his development interests have been elsewhere, including Atlanta and New Jersey. O'Neal said he wants that to change.
O'Neal, traded to the Phoenix Suns in February, began his NBA career with the Orlando Magic. He maintains a mansion in Isleworth and has made no secret of his desire to return to Orlando when he retires.
More than once, he has said he would like to be sheriff of Orange County.
Reality TV another idea
O'Neal said he's also interested in developing a television reality show based on his Orlando development plans that he would call Shaq's Big Save, a sequel to a 2007 weight-loss show Shaq's Big Challenge.
Helping to bankroll the venture shouldn't be a problem. O'Neal is paid $20 million a year by the Suns, and industry experts suggest he earns at least that much annually from endorsements.
O'Neal found a receptive audience at City Hall.
"It was not very detailed, but I what I heard sounded good," Commissioner Phil Diamond said. "They made a point of saying they are not going to ask the city for money, so I was pleased with that."
Mark Schlueb | Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
Thursday, June 12, 2008
West Fails to Condemn Ethiopia Rights Abuses: Rights Group
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Western donors have failed to condemn war crimes by Ethiopian forces during a year-old campaign against separatist fighters in the country's eastern Ogaden region, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
"The Ethiopian army's answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director of the U.S.-based group.
"These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity. Yet Ethiopia's major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes."
Ethiopian government officials in Addis Ababa routinely reject such allegations against their counter-insurgency operations in the rocky, arid region, which borders Somalia.
They also accuse the rebels of abusing locals.
But officials had no immediate comment on the new report.
Ethiopia, a key regional ally of the United States, launched its latest offensive after the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) attacked a Chinese-run oil field in the region in April 2007, killing more than 70 people.
Human Rights Watch said its 130-page report was based on interviews by its researchers with more than 100 victims and eyewitnesses of abuses by soldiers.
Ridwan Sahid told how an Ethiopian soldier pushed him into a ditch and tried to kill him by taking a metal rod used to clean his gun and ramming it down his throat.
When Ridwan fought him off by twisting his fingers, more troops rushed over and tried to strangle him with a rope. Ridwan passed out and woke up later under the cold body of a friend.
BEATINGS, TORTURE
One 31-year-old Ogaden shopkeeper told HRW he was arrested and beaten by troops who demanded he admit being an ONLF member.
"They tied both my legs and lifted me upside down to the ceiling with a rope, and kept beating me more, saying I had to confess," he was quoted as saying.
"For two months, we underwent this same ordeal, being taken from our rooms at night and being beaten and tortured."
The report also includes accounts of villages being burned by the military, which HRW said it had confirmed using satellite imagery. Witnesses said at least 150 civilians were executed.
HRW said the government was limiting all access to the region, that the violence was ongoing, and that staff believed their findings represented only a fraction of the actual abuses.
Gagnon said the army's tactics were fuelling a looming humanitarian crisis and threatening the survival of thousands of ethnic Somali nomads who cross the area with their livestock.
Western nations give Ethiopia more than $2 billion a year in aid, she said, but must speak out now to halt the bloodshed.
"The government's attacks on civilians, its trade blockade, and restrictions on aid amount to the illegal collective punishment of tens of thousands of people," Gagnon said.
"Unless humanitarian agencies get immediate access to independently assess the needs and monitor food distribution, more lives will be lost."
Also accused of abuses by its military in Somalia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said in the past human rights groups are selectively and falsely attacking him after falling for propaganda by Ethiopia's enemies.
By Daniel Wallis
"The Ethiopian army's answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director of the U.S.-based group.
"These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity. Yet Ethiopia's major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes."
Ethiopian government officials in Addis Ababa routinely reject such allegations against their counter-insurgency operations in the rocky, arid region, which borders Somalia.
They also accuse the rebels of abusing locals.
But officials had no immediate comment on the new report.
Ethiopia, a key regional ally of the United States, launched its latest offensive after the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) attacked a Chinese-run oil field in the region in April 2007, killing more than 70 people.
Human Rights Watch said its 130-page report was based on interviews by its researchers with more than 100 victims and eyewitnesses of abuses by soldiers.
Ridwan Sahid told how an Ethiopian soldier pushed him into a ditch and tried to kill him by taking a metal rod used to clean his gun and ramming it down his throat.
When Ridwan fought him off by twisting his fingers, more troops rushed over and tried to strangle him with a rope. Ridwan passed out and woke up later under the cold body of a friend.
BEATINGS, TORTURE
One 31-year-old Ogaden shopkeeper told HRW he was arrested and beaten by troops who demanded he admit being an ONLF member.
"They tied both my legs and lifted me upside down to the ceiling with a rope, and kept beating me more, saying I had to confess," he was quoted as saying.
"For two months, we underwent this same ordeal, being taken from our rooms at night and being beaten and tortured."
The report also includes accounts of villages being burned by the military, which HRW said it had confirmed using satellite imagery. Witnesses said at least 150 civilians were executed.
HRW said the government was limiting all access to the region, that the violence was ongoing, and that staff believed their findings represented only a fraction of the actual abuses.
Gagnon said the army's tactics were fuelling a looming humanitarian crisis and threatening the survival of thousands of ethnic Somali nomads who cross the area with their livestock.
Western nations give Ethiopia more than $2 billion a year in aid, she said, but must speak out now to halt the bloodshed.
"The government's attacks on civilians, its trade blockade, and restrictions on aid amount to the illegal collective punishment of tens of thousands of people," Gagnon said.
"Unless humanitarian agencies get immediate access to independently assess the needs and monitor food distribution, more lives will be lost."
Also accused of abuses by its military in Somalia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said in the past human rights groups are selectively and falsely attacking him after falling for propaganda by Ethiopia's enemies.
By Daniel Wallis
Ex-Black Panthers Want Freedom After Decision
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two former Black Panthers convicted of killing a prison guard in 1972 should be freed after a federal magistrate found a previous attorney made mistakes during a trial, their current lawyers said Wednesday.
Magistrate Judge Christine Nolan wrote that Albert Woodfox's conviction should be overturned because his former attorney should have objected to testimony from witnesses who had died after his original trial and to letting a prosecutor testify about the chief prosecution witness's credibility. The attorney's omission denied Wilcox a fair second trial in 1998, Nolan wrote in a recommendation Tuesday to U.S. District Judge James Brady, who will rule later.
Woodfox, 61, and Herman Wallace, 66, spent 36 years in solitary confinement after being convicted in the stabbing death of guard Brent Miller on April 17, 1972. They said they were targeted because they helped establish a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party.
Wallace has been appealing his conviction based on arguments similar to Woodfox's.
Attorneys plan to meet soon with prosecutors to discuss both cases, in hopes of settling them without any further review, said Attorney Nicholas Trenticosta, who represents Woodfox and Wallace.
But First Assistant State Attorney General John Sinquefield said he plans to ask U.S. District Judge John Brady to reject Noland's recommendations. Sinquefield prosecuted Woodfox in 1973 as an assistant district attorney and was called as a witness during his retrial in 1998.
Along with another ex-Black Panther convicted of killing an inmate at the prison, the trio became known as the "Angola Three" because they were held in isolation for about three decades at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., about 40 miles northwest of Baton Rouge.
The witnesses who died before Woodfox's second trial included the prosecution's main witness — an inmate who made a deal in exchange for his testimony — and an expert who talked about blood spatters on clothing that state officials said had been lost, Nolan wrote.
Asked Wednesday about his testimony regarding the witness, Sinquefield said, "I was subpoenaed, and I testified under a subpoena over there and told the truth the best I could remember it."
The attorney also should have asked for money to hire experts to testify about blood, DNA and fingerprints and other evidence in Woodcox's defense, the magistrate wrote.
Noland also noted strong evidence of misconduct by prosecutors but said she declined to go into detail because the ineffective counsel alone was grounds to overturn the conviction.
Trenticosta asked the Louisiana Supreme Court on Wednesday to consider Wallace's case. Although a state court commissioner had recommended overturning his conviction, a district judge refused and a state appeals court rejected Wallace's arguments last month.
Wallace and Wilcox were kept in solitary confinement from 1972 until March, when they were moved to a maximum-security dormitory. Woodfox was serving 50 years for armed robbery before the 1972 charge.
The third member of the "Angola Three" spent 29 years in isolation before his conviction was overturned in 2001. Robert King, known as Robert King Wilkerson in the 1970s, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was freed.
King said he now lives in Austin, Texas, and supports himself by giving talks about his case and that of Woodfox and Wallace. "I keep the focus on Herman and Albert," he said.
When they went to Angola, the prison was known as America's bloodiest. Murders were common and, according to testimony at Woodfox's 1998 trial, there were widespread problems with rape, Noland wrote.
Asked about the long years in isolation, King said, "It's like being in hell."
By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY
Magistrate Judge Christine Nolan wrote that Albert Woodfox's conviction should be overturned because his former attorney should have objected to testimony from witnesses who had died after his original trial and to letting a prosecutor testify about the chief prosecution witness's credibility. The attorney's omission denied Wilcox a fair second trial in 1998, Nolan wrote in a recommendation Tuesday to U.S. District Judge James Brady, who will rule later.
Woodfox, 61, and Herman Wallace, 66, spent 36 years in solitary confinement after being convicted in the stabbing death of guard Brent Miller on April 17, 1972. They said they were targeted because they helped establish a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party.
Wallace has been appealing his conviction based on arguments similar to Woodfox's.
Attorneys plan to meet soon with prosecutors to discuss both cases, in hopes of settling them without any further review, said Attorney Nicholas Trenticosta, who represents Woodfox and Wallace.
But First Assistant State Attorney General John Sinquefield said he plans to ask U.S. District Judge John Brady to reject Noland's recommendations. Sinquefield prosecuted Woodfox in 1973 as an assistant district attorney and was called as a witness during his retrial in 1998.
Along with another ex-Black Panther convicted of killing an inmate at the prison, the trio became known as the "Angola Three" because they were held in isolation for about three decades at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., about 40 miles northwest of Baton Rouge.
The witnesses who died before Woodfox's second trial included the prosecution's main witness — an inmate who made a deal in exchange for his testimony — and an expert who talked about blood spatters on clothing that state officials said had been lost, Nolan wrote.
Asked Wednesday about his testimony regarding the witness, Sinquefield said, "I was subpoenaed, and I testified under a subpoena over there and told the truth the best I could remember it."
The attorney also should have asked for money to hire experts to testify about blood, DNA and fingerprints and other evidence in Woodcox's defense, the magistrate wrote.
Noland also noted strong evidence of misconduct by prosecutors but said she declined to go into detail because the ineffective counsel alone was grounds to overturn the conviction.
Trenticosta asked the Louisiana Supreme Court on Wednesday to consider Wallace's case. Although a state court commissioner had recommended overturning his conviction, a district judge refused and a state appeals court rejected Wallace's arguments last month.
Wallace and Wilcox were kept in solitary confinement from 1972 until March, when they were moved to a maximum-security dormitory. Woodfox was serving 50 years for armed robbery before the 1972 charge.
The third member of the "Angola Three" spent 29 years in isolation before his conviction was overturned in 2001. Robert King, known as Robert King Wilkerson in the 1970s, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was freed.
King said he now lives in Austin, Texas, and supports himself by giving talks about his case and that of Woodfox and Wallace. "I keep the focus on Herman and Albert," he said.
When they went to Angola, the prison was known as America's bloodiest. Murders were common and, according to testimony at Woodfox's 1998 trial, there were widespread problems with rape, Noland wrote.
Asked about the long years in isolation, King said, "It's like being in hell."
By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY
Ex-Official Sues NASCAR for $225M Over Discrimination
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - As an aspiring racing official, Mauricia Grant had grown used to working in a man's world.
When she finally made it into NASCAR, Grant was appalled at the way she says she was treated beginning from her first day on the job until her firing last October.
Now she's suing NASCAR for $225 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
"I loved it. It was a great, exciting, adrenaline-filled job where I worked with fast cars and the best drivers in the world," Grant told The Associated Press. "But there was an ongoing daily pattern (of harassment). It was the nature of the people I worked with, the people who ran it, it trickled down from the top.
"It's just the way things are in the garage."
The 32-year-old Grant, who is black, worked as a technical inspector responsible for certifying cars in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series from January 2005 until her termination. In the lawsuit, she alleged she was referred to as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba," by co-workers, was often told she worked on "colored people time," and was frightened by one official who routinely made references to the Ku Klux Klan.
In addition, Grant said she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of whom allegedly exposed themselves to her, and graphic and lewd jokes.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, lists 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination beginning when she was hired in January 2005 through her October 2007 firing.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the organization had not yet reviewed the suit.
"As an equal opportunity employer, NASCAR is fully committed to the spirit and letter of affirmative action law," Poston said, adding NASCAR has a zero tolerance policy for harassment.
In the lawsuit, Grant said she complained numerous times to her supervisors about how she was treated, to no avail. On one occasion, Grant said Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, her immediate supervisor, was dismissive of her complaints, explaining her co-workers were "former military guys" with a rough sense of humor. "You just have to deal with it," she says Balash told her.
On another occasion, she alleged Balash participated in the harassment.
"Does your workout include an urban obstacle course with a flat-screen TV on your back?" she claimed Balash asked her during the week of July 28, 2007 while working in Indianapolis.
Grant told the AP her two younger sisters witnessed racial discrimination against the official while visiting her at Daytona International Speedway in 2006 and encouraged her to document every incident going forward.
The lawsuit details a series of those alleged incidents:
Grant was forced to work outside more often than the white male officials because her supervisors believed she couldn't sunburn because she was black.
While riding in the backseat of her car pool at Talladega Superspeedway, co-workers told her to duck as they passed race fans. "I don't want to start a riot when these fans see a black woman in my car," she claims one official said.
When packing up a dark garage at Texas Motor Speedway an official told Grant: "Keep smiling and pop your eyes out 'cause we can't see you."
When she ignored advances from co-workers, Grant was accused of being gay. She also claimed co-workers questioned the sexual orientation of two other female officials.
After her termination, Grant said she went over her notes and recognized "a pattern of retaliation and discrimination."
"It didn't diminish my love for the sport of auto racing, but the job wasn't always the easiest thing to go to every day," she said.
Grant said she routinely complained to her supervisors. Two weeks after her final complaint, Grant said she was warned during the week of August 18, 2007 at Michigan International Speedway that she had engaged in "conduct unbecoming of a NASCAR representative" and would be fired unless she changed her behavior. She said the warning stemmed from a confrontation with a track official who stopped her as she passed through a gate to use the restroom.
Roughly two months later, Grant was fired, and NASCAR cited a poor work performance in ending her employment. The lawsuit claims other than a previous warning for using "street" language, Grant had never been disciplined for job performance and routinely received positive reviews.
"It is time for NASCAR to realize that not everbody is going to be bought off and not file a complaint," said Grant's attorney, Benedict P. Morelli of Morelli Ratner PC. "Not everybody is going to be intimidated and not file a complaint. Not everybody is going to be blackballed and not file a complaint."
In addition, the suit claims official Heather Gambino was fired in 2006 for complaining about a sexually hostile work environment. The suit also claims former official Dean Duckett, who is black, was reprimanded and ultimately fired last November for using "aggressive language toward a white co-worker."
Among those identified in Grant's suit are Balash, assistant series director Mike Dolan, supervisors Alan Shephard and Dennis Dillon, NASCAR's senior manager for business relations, the human resources director and 17 of Grant's fellow officials. All of the defendants are white.
"My supervisors all praised me. I was hanging in there with the guys," she said. "I am an athletic person. I went over the wall and faced malicious crews and competitive crew chiefs, and I was right there and held it down and was never lazy about it.
"And I knew that once I was terminated, there wasn't going to be an opportunity for me to find another industry like NASCAR to practice my craft."
from foxsports.com
When she finally made it into NASCAR, Grant was appalled at the way she says she was treated beginning from her first day on the job until her firing last October.
Now she's suing NASCAR for $225 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
"I loved it. It was a great, exciting, adrenaline-filled job where I worked with fast cars and the best drivers in the world," Grant told The Associated Press. "But there was an ongoing daily pattern (of harassment). It was the nature of the people I worked with, the people who ran it, it trickled down from the top.
"It's just the way things are in the garage."
The 32-year-old Grant, who is black, worked as a technical inspector responsible for certifying cars in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series from January 2005 until her termination. In the lawsuit, she alleged she was referred to as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba," by co-workers, was often told she worked on "colored people time," and was frightened by one official who routinely made references to the Ku Klux Klan.
In addition, Grant said she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of whom allegedly exposed themselves to her, and graphic and lewd jokes.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, lists 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination beginning when she was hired in January 2005 through her October 2007 firing.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the organization had not yet reviewed the suit.
"As an equal opportunity employer, NASCAR is fully committed to the spirit and letter of affirmative action law," Poston said, adding NASCAR has a zero tolerance policy for harassment.
In the lawsuit, Grant said she complained numerous times to her supervisors about how she was treated, to no avail. On one occasion, Grant said Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, her immediate supervisor, was dismissive of her complaints, explaining her co-workers were "former military guys" with a rough sense of humor. "You just have to deal with it," she says Balash told her.
On another occasion, she alleged Balash participated in the harassment.
"Does your workout include an urban obstacle course with a flat-screen TV on your back?" she claimed Balash asked her during the week of July 28, 2007 while working in Indianapolis.
Grant told the AP her two younger sisters witnessed racial discrimination against the official while visiting her at Daytona International Speedway in 2006 and encouraged her to document every incident going forward.
The lawsuit details a series of those alleged incidents:
Grant was forced to work outside more often than the white male officials because her supervisors believed she couldn't sunburn because she was black.
While riding in the backseat of her car pool at Talladega Superspeedway, co-workers told her to duck as they passed race fans. "I don't want to start a riot when these fans see a black woman in my car," she claims one official said.
When packing up a dark garage at Texas Motor Speedway an official told Grant: "Keep smiling and pop your eyes out 'cause we can't see you."
When she ignored advances from co-workers, Grant was accused of being gay. She also claimed co-workers questioned the sexual orientation of two other female officials.
After her termination, Grant said she went over her notes and recognized "a pattern of retaliation and discrimination."
"It didn't diminish my love for the sport of auto racing, but the job wasn't always the easiest thing to go to every day," she said.
Grant said she routinely complained to her supervisors. Two weeks after her final complaint, Grant said she was warned during the week of August 18, 2007 at Michigan International Speedway that she had engaged in "conduct unbecoming of a NASCAR representative" and would be fired unless she changed her behavior. She said the warning stemmed from a confrontation with a track official who stopped her as she passed through a gate to use the restroom.
Roughly two months later, Grant was fired, and NASCAR cited a poor work performance in ending her employment. The lawsuit claims other than a previous warning for using "street" language, Grant had never been disciplined for job performance and routinely received positive reviews.
"It is time for NASCAR to realize that not everbody is going to be bought off and not file a complaint," said Grant's attorney, Benedict P. Morelli of Morelli Ratner PC. "Not everybody is going to be intimidated and not file a complaint. Not everybody is going to be blackballed and not file a complaint."
In addition, the suit claims official Heather Gambino was fired in 2006 for complaining about a sexually hostile work environment. The suit also claims former official Dean Duckett, who is black, was reprimanded and ultimately fired last November for using "aggressive language toward a white co-worker."
Among those identified in Grant's suit are Balash, assistant series director Mike Dolan, supervisors Alan Shephard and Dennis Dillon, NASCAR's senior manager for business relations, the human resources director and 17 of Grant's fellow officials. All of the defendants are white.
"My supervisors all praised me. I was hanging in there with the guys," she said. "I am an athletic person. I went over the wall and faced malicious crews and competitive crew chiefs, and I was right there and held it down and was never lazy about it.
"And I knew that once I was terminated, there wasn't going to be an opportunity for me to find another industry like NASCAR to practice my craft."
from foxsports.com
Mother’s Obesity a Factor in Newborn Deaths for Blacks
A study led by the University of South Florida sheds new light on obesity’s role in the black-white gap in infant mortality. While maternal obesity appears to have no impact on the early survival of infants born to white women, the situation is different for black women, researchers report in the June 2008 issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Infants of obese black mothers had a higher risk of death in the first 27 days following birth than newborns of obese white mothers, the researchers found. Furthermore, this black disadvantage in neonatal infant mortality widened with an increase in the body mass index (BMI).
“Even if the infant of an obese black woman survives pregnancy, labor and delivery, that baby is at greater risk of dying than a baby born to an obese white woman,” said the study’s lead author Hamisu Salihu, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the USF College of Public Health.
The researchers analyzed more than 1.4 million births recorded from Missouri’s vital records database, covering the period 1978 through 1997. The database linked black and white mother-infant pairs. Among all women, the likelihood of neonatal death (up to 27 days following death) and early neonatal death (up to six days following death) was 20 percent greater than for nonobese women, the researcher found.
Further analysis revealed that the higher risk of neonatal deaths among newborns of obese mothers was confined to blacks only. The rate of neonatal deaths increased significantly with rising BMIs of black women (ranging from 50 to 100-percent increments). However, the offspring of obese white mothers, regardless of the severity of maternal obesity, had no greater risk of neonatal death than the newborns of nonobese women.
The black-white disparity in infant mortality persisted even when the researchers adjusted for certain obesity-associated medical complications more prevalent in black women — high blood pressure, diabetes and preeclampsia.
“This further confirms our findings that high BMI is an independent risk factor for neonatal mortality among blacks but not whites,” Dr. Salihu said.
The researchers also controlled for the amount of prenatal care received since another possible explanation for the black-white disparity may be that obese white women have better access to prenatal care than black women. Their results suggested otherwise, but Dr. Salihu cautions that more study is needed. “We cannot dismiss access to care as a factor because the quantity of prenatal care does not take into account the quality of care received,” he said.
Dr. Salihu suggests that differences in the way fat is distributed in white and black women may play a role in their newborns’ survival. Studies have shown that fat tucked deep inside the waistline may be worse for adults’ health than fat padding the rest of the body. “If we can understand more about the potential association between fat distribution in mothers and likelihood of death in their babies, we might have an avenue for prevention and narrowing the persistent black-white gap in infant mortality,” he said.
The latest study builds on another published last year by Dr. Salihu and colleagues, which reported that the risk for obesity-associated stillbirth was 50 percent greater among blacks than whites.
Dr. Salihu is director of the Center for Research and Evaluation at the Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies at USF. The study was supported by a young clinical scientist award to Dr. Salihu by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute. Researchers from UMDNJ School of Public Health in New Jersey and the University of Alabama in Birmingham were coauthors of the study.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adapted from materials provided by University of South Florida Health.
from Infants of obese black mothers had a higher risk of death in the first 27 days following birth than newborns of obese white mothers, the researchers found. Furthermore, this black disadvantage in neonatal infant mortality widened with an increase in the body mass index (BMI).
“Even if the infant of an obese black woman survives pregnancy, labor and delivery, that baby is at greater risk of dying than a baby born to an obese white woman,” said the study’s lead author Hamisu Salihu, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the USF College of Public Health.
The researchers analyzed more than 1.4 million births recorded from Missouri’s vital records database, covering the period 1978 through 1997. The database linked black and white mother-infant pairs. Among all women, the likelihood of neonatal death (up to 27 days following death) and early neonatal death (up to six days following death) was 20 percent greater than for nonobese women, the researcher found.
Further analysis revealed that the higher risk of neonatal deaths among newborns of obese mothers was confined to blacks only. The rate of neonatal deaths increased significantly with rising BMIs of black women (ranging from 50 to 100-percent increments). However, the offspring of obese white mothers, regardless of the severity of maternal obesity, had no greater risk of neonatal death than the newborns of nonobese women.
The black-white disparity in infant mortality persisted even when the researchers adjusted for certain obesity-associated medical complications more prevalent in black women — high blood pressure, diabetes and preeclampsia.
“This further confirms our findings that high BMI is an independent risk factor for neonatal mortality among blacks but not whites,” Dr. Salihu said.
The researchers also controlled for the amount of prenatal care received since another possible explanation for the black-white disparity may be that obese white women have better access to prenatal care than black women. Their results suggested otherwise, but Dr. Salihu cautions that more study is needed. “We cannot dismiss access to care as a factor because the quantity of prenatal care does not take into account the quality of care received,” he said.
Dr. Salihu suggests that differences in the way fat is distributed in white and black women may play a role in their newborns’ survival. Studies have shown that fat tucked deep inside the waistline may be worse for adults’ health than fat padding the rest of the body. “If we can understand more about the potential association between fat distribution in mothers and likelihood of death in their babies, we might have an avenue for prevention and narrowing the persistent black-white gap in infant mortality,” he said.
The latest study builds on another published last year by Dr. Salihu and colleagues, which reported that the risk for obesity-associated stillbirth was 50 percent greater among blacks than whites.
Dr. Salihu is director of the Center for Research and Evaluation at the Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies at USF. The study was supported by a young clinical scientist award to Dr. Salihu by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute. Researchers from UMDNJ School of Public Health in New Jersey and the University of Alabama in Birmingham were coauthors of the study.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adapted from materials provided by University of South Florida Health.
sciencedaily.com
Infants of obese black mothers had a higher risk of death in the first 27 days following birth than newborns of obese white mothers, the researchers found. Furthermore, this black disadvantage in neonatal infant mortality widened with an increase in the body mass index (BMI).
“Even if the infant of an obese black woman survives pregnancy, labor and delivery, that baby is at greater risk of dying than a baby born to an obese white woman,” said the study’s lead author Hamisu Salihu, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the USF College of Public Health.
The researchers analyzed more than 1.4 million births recorded from Missouri’s vital records database, covering the period 1978 through 1997. The database linked black and white mother-infant pairs. Among all women, the likelihood of neonatal death (up to 27 days following death) and early neonatal death (up to six days following death) was 20 percent greater than for nonobese women, the researcher found.
Further analysis revealed that the higher risk of neonatal deaths among newborns of obese mothers was confined to blacks only. The rate of neonatal deaths increased significantly with rising BMIs of black women (ranging from 50 to 100-percent increments). However, the offspring of obese white mothers, regardless of the severity of maternal obesity, had no greater risk of neonatal death than the newborns of nonobese women.
The black-white disparity in infant mortality persisted even when the researchers adjusted for certain obesity-associated medical complications more prevalent in black women — high blood pressure, diabetes and preeclampsia.
“This further confirms our findings that high BMI is an independent risk factor for neonatal mortality among blacks but not whites,” Dr. Salihu said.
The researchers also controlled for the amount of prenatal care received since another possible explanation for the black-white disparity may be that obese white women have better access to prenatal care than black women. Their results suggested otherwise, but Dr. Salihu cautions that more study is needed. “We cannot dismiss access to care as a factor because the quantity of prenatal care does not take into account the quality of care received,” he said.
Dr. Salihu suggests that differences in the way fat is distributed in white and black women may play a role in their newborns’ survival. Studies have shown that fat tucked deep inside the waistline may be worse for adults’ health than fat padding the rest of the body. “If we can understand more about the potential association between fat distribution in mothers and likelihood of death in their babies, we might have an avenue for prevention and narrowing the persistent black-white gap in infant mortality,” he said.
The latest study builds on another published last year by Dr. Salihu and colleagues, which reported that the risk for obesity-associated stillbirth was 50 percent greater among blacks than whites.
Dr. Salihu is director of the Center for Research and Evaluation at the Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies at USF. The study was supported by a young clinical scientist award to Dr. Salihu by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute. Researchers from UMDNJ School of Public Health in New Jersey and the University of Alabama in Birmingham were coauthors of the study.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adapted from materials provided by University of South Florida Health.
from Infants of obese black mothers had a higher risk of death in the first 27 days following birth than newborns of obese white mothers, the researchers found. Furthermore, this black disadvantage in neonatal infant mortality widened with an increase in the body mass index (BMI).
“Even if the infant of an obese black woman survives pregnancy, labor and delivery, that baby is at greater risk of dying than a baby born to an obese white woman,” said the study’s lead author Hamisu Salihu, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the USF College of Public Health.
The researchers analyzed more than 1.4 million births recorded from Missouri’s vital records database, covering the period 1978 through 1997. The database linked black and white mother-infant pairs. Among all women, the likelihood of neonatal death (up to 27 days following death) and early neonatal death (up to six days following death) was 20 percent greater than for nonobese women, the researcher found.
Further analysis revealed that the higher risk of neonatal deaths among newborns of obese mothers was confined to blacks only. The rate of neonatal deaths increased significantly with rising BMIs of black women (ranging from 50 to 100-percent increments). However, the offspring of obese white mothers, regardless of the severity of maternal obesity, had no greater risk of neonatal death than the newborns of nonobese women.
The black-white disparity in infant mortality persisted even when the researchers adjusted for certain obesity-associated medical complications more prevalent in black women — high blood pressure, diabetes and preeclampsia.
“This further confirms our findings that high BMI is an independent risk factor for neonatal mortality among blacks but not whites,” Dr. Salihu said.
The researchers also controlled for the amount of prenatal care received since another possible explanation for the black-white disparity may be that obese white women have better access to prenatal care than black women. Their results suggested otherwise, but Dr. Salihu cautions that more study is needed. “We cannot dismiss access to care as a factor because the quantity of prenatal care does not take into account the quality of care received,” he said.
Dr. Salihu suggests that differences in the way fat is distributed in white and black women may play a role in their newborns’ survival. Studies have shown that fat tucked deep inside the waistline may be worse for adults’ health than fat padding the rest of the body. “If we can understand more about the potential association between fat distribution in mothers and likelihood of death in their babies, we might have an avenue for prevention and narrowing the persistent black-white gap in infant mortality,” he said.
The latest study builds on another published last year by Dr. Salihu and colleagues, which reported that the risk for obesity-associated stillbirth was 50 percent greater among blacks than whites.
Dr. Salihu is director of the Center for Research and Evaluation at the Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies at USF. The study was supported by a young clinical scientist award to Dr. Salihu by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute. Researchers from UMDNJ School of Public Health in New Jersey and the University of Alabama in Birmingham were coauthors of the study.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adapted from materials provided by University of South Florida Health.
sciencedaily.com
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Dominican Officials Crack Down on Food Smuggling to Haiti
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Dominican officials are cracking down on food smugglers who are sneaking subsidized rice, poultry and eggs across the border into impoverished Haiti.
The Dominican government plans to post 50 extra border guards and put the 11,000 tons of state-subsidized rice it distributes weekly into bright-colored bags to make them easier to spot.
Some 500 guards already patrol the 225-mile border between the two nations.
Sales of smuggled food have increased in Haiti, amid shortages caused by soaring fuel prices and falling local production.
Despite the shortages, Haiti banned Dominican poultry late last year after an outbreak of avian flu.
usatoday.com
The Dominican government plans to post 50 extra border guards and put the 11,000 tons of state-subsidized rice it distributes weekly into bright-colored bags to make them easier to spot.
Some 500 guards already patrol the 225-mile border between the two nations.
Sales of smuggled food have increased in Haiti, amid shortages caused by soaring fuel prices and falling local production.
Despite the shortages, Haiti banned Dominican poultry late last year after an outbreak of avian flu.
usatoday.com
Skinhead Gang in Brazil Attacks Young Afro-Brazilian
Another scene of violence shocked Brazil this past Sunday, June 8. A group of 15 men attacked and almost beat to death a police officer at one of the most boisterous areas of the Brazilian southeast city of São Paulo: Augusta Street, close to Paulista Avenue, one of the town's major financial districts.
The brutality occurred, when a young Afro-Brazilian walking down Augusta Street around 4 am was surrounded by skinheads, a neo-Nazi group. After being called "nigger" by his aggressors, the victim was attacked. A local police officer, who was in the area at the moment of the attack, tried to intervene, with no luck.
The police official was brutally attacked by the gang, who carried weapons including a metal bar. His face was completely disfigured following the episode. A cyclist, who was passing by during the incident, immediately called the local police station. Only five gang members ended up being arrested. Every one of them had a previous criminal record.
It is not the first time an incident of this nature has occurred in São Paulo. In February 2007, University professor Alessandro Ferreira de Araújo was also a victim of the skinhead violence, that time for being homosexual.
According to Decradi (Department of Police for Racial crimes and Racial Intolerance), there are approximately 3000 gang members listed in their database, who are involved in some type of hatred activity.
Punk Threat, Punk addiction, Hooligan Impact, Front 88 to name a
few are some of the names. Gang members normally wear steel boots, camouflage shirts and suspenders. Most of these gangs preach hatred against, Jews, Afro-Brazilians, and homosexuals.
This year Brazil is celebrating 120 years of abolition of slavery. According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), in southeastern Brazil close to 40% of the population is Afro-Brazilian, while in the North and Northeast region this number jumps to 75%.
Written by Edison Bernardo DeSouza from brazzilmag.com/
The brutality occurred, when a young Afro-Brazilian walking down Augusta Street around 4 am was surrounded by skinheads, a neo-Nazi group. After being called "nigger" by his aggressors, the victim was attacked. A local police officer, who was in the area at the moment of the attack, tried to intervene, with no luck.
The police official was brutally attacked by the gang, who carried weapons including a metal bar. His face was completely disfigured following the episode. A cyclist, who was passing by during the incident, immediately called the local police station. Only five gang members ended up being arrested. Every one of them had a previous criminal record.
It is not the first time an incident of this nature has occurred in São Paulo. In February 2007, University professor Alessandro Ferreira de Araújo was also a victim of the skinhead violence, that time for being homosexual.
According to Decradi (Department of Police for Racial crimes and Racial Intolerance), there are approximately 3000 gang members listed in their database, who are involved in some type of hatred activity.
Punk Threat, Punk addiction, Hooligan Impact, Front 88 to name a
few are some of the names. Gang members normally wear steel boots, camouflage shirts and suspenders. Most of these gangs preach hatred against, Jews, Afro-Brazilians, and homosexuals.
This year Brazil is celebrating 120 years of abolition of slavery. According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), in southeastern Brazil close to 40% of the population is Afro-Brazilian, while in the North and Northeast region this number jumps to 75%.
Written by Edison Bernardo DeSouza from brazzilmag.com/
Kenya Parliamentary Polls Test Fragile Coalition
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's fragile coalition government faced its most significant test yet on Wednesday with the two major parties competing in five by-elections to determine who will command a majority in parliament.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Party (ODM) and President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) are each seeking to boost their numbers in parliament. But analysts fear violence could mar the exercise.
The by-elections are to fill seats where two ODM legislators were shot dead and another two constituencies that remained undeclared during the chaotic aftermath of Kenya's disputed December presidential election. The fifth seat is that of Kenya's parliamentary speaker, who resigned from his constituency after clinching the speaker's chair.
Another two ODM legislators -- Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones and Home Affairs Assistant Minister Lorna Laboso -- were killed in a plane crash on Tuesday. Flags flew at half-mast on Wednesday in mourning.
Odinga and Kibaki formed a coalition government in April, with Odinga, a former political prisoner, becoming only the second prime minister of Kenya since the east African country won independence from Britain in 1963.
"Most of the (by-election) seats were already ODM's ... It is PNU who is trying to gain territory, while ODM tries to hold on to theirs," said political analyst Gitau Warigi.
ODM won 99 seats to 43 for PNU in the December vote. But in practice it is an even split because Kibaki-allied legislators from other parties added to PNU's numbers make up half the parliament.
ETHNIC VIOLENCE
Campaigns for the by-elections were marred by some violence among supporters, but nothing like the full-scale fighting earlier this year.
Kilgoris constituency in the Rift Valley was expected to be a flashpoint due to tension between Maasais -- who believe the area to be their ancestral land -- and the Kipsigis, who settled in the area.
"The risk of violence in Kilgoris, in my opinion, is still greater then any other place," Warigi said.
"You can see the sentiments are still very strong. It is not just a party fight, it has very strong tribal undertones."
Western diplomats have warned they do not want a repeat of the bloodshed after Odinga accused Kibaki of stealing the December election, sparking off two months of violence that killed around 1,300 people and displaced 300,000.
In Nairobi's Embakasi constituency, ODM supports former beauty queen Esther Passaris, who made headlines by providing street lighting in the city centre and slums to fight crime.
The outlawed Mungiki gang, which runs the streets of that constituency, has also pledged to support her.
By Wangui Kanina from Reuters
Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Party (ODM) and President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) are each seeking to boost their numbers in parliament. But analysts fear violence could mar the exercise.
The by-elections are to fill seats where two ODM legislators were shot dead and another two constituencies that remained undeclared during the chaotic aftermath of Kenya's disputed December presidential election. The fifth seat is that of Kenya's parliamentary speaker, who resigned from his constituency after clinching the speaker's chair.
Another two ODM legislators -- Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones and Home Affairs Assistant Minister Lorna Laboso -- were killed in a plane crash on Tuesday. Flags flew at half-mast on Wednesday in mourning.
Odinga and Kibaki formed a coalition government in April, with Odinga, a former political prisoner, becoming only the second prime minister of Kenya since the east African country won independence from Britain in 1963.
"Most of the (by-election) seats were already ODM's ... It is PNU who is trying to gain territory, while ODM tries to hold on to theirs," said political analyst Gitau Warigi.
ODM won 99 seats to 43 for PNU in the December vote. But in practice it is an even split because Kibaki-allied legislators from other parties added to PNU's numbers make up half the parliament.
ETHNIC VIOLENCE
Campaigns for the by-elections were marred by some violence among supporters, but nothing like the full-scale fighting earlier this year.
Kilgoris constituency in the Rift Valley was expected to be a flashpoint due to tension between Maasais -- who believe the area to be their ancestral land -- and the Kipsigis, who settled in the area.
"The risk of violence in Kilgoris, in my opinion, is still greater then any other place," Warigi said.
"You can see the sentiments are still very strong. It is not just a party fight, it has very strong tribal undertones."
Western diplomats have warned they do not want a repeat of the bloodshed after Odinga accused Kibaki of stealing the December election, sparking off two months of violence that killed around 1,300 people and displaced 300,000.
In Nairobi's Embakasi constituency, ODM supports former beauty queen Esther Passaris, who made headlines by providing street lighting in the city centre and slums to fight crime.
The outlawed Mungiki gang, which runs the streets of that constituency, has also pledged to support her.
By Wangui Kanina from Reuters
Kucinich: Impeach Bush
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential candidate from Ohio, introduced a resolution to impeach President Bush into the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Kucinich announced his intention to seek Bush's impeachment Monday night, when he read the lengthy document into the record.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly said she would not support a resolution calling for Bush's impeachment, saying such a move was unlikely to succeed and would be divisive.
Most of the congressman's resolution deals with the Iraq war, contending that the president manufactured a false case for the war, violated U.S. and international law to invade Iraq, failed to provide troops with proper equipment and falsified casualty reports for political purposes.
Kucinich also charges that Bush has illegally detained without charge both U.S. citizens and "foreign captives" and violated numerous U.S. laws through the use of "signing statements" declaring his intention to do so.
Other articles address global warming, voting rights, Medicare, the response to Hurricane Katrina and failure to comply with congressional subpoenas.
Last year, Kucinich introduced a resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. But in November when Republicans tried to force a debate on the move, the attempt failed. Democrats voted to send the resolution to the House Judiciary Committee, where committee chairman Rep. John Conyers has taken no action on it.
An earlier resolution to impeach Cheney has languished in the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties since May 2007.
The House of Representatives has voted to impeach two presidents -- Andrew Johnson, in 1868, and Bill Clinton, in 1999 -- but both were acquitted by the Senate and remained in office. No U.S. vice president has been impeached.
Kucinich dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination for president in January to focus on his re-election bid in Ohio. He handily won the Democratic primary in his district on March 4 and faces former State Representative Jim Trakas in the general election.
Kucinich announced his intention to seek Bush's impeachment Monday night, when he read the lengthy document into the record.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly said she would not support a resolution calling for Bush's impeachment, saying such a move was unlikely to succeed and would be divisive.
Most of the congressman's resolution deals with the Iraq war, contending that the president manufactured a false case for the war, violated U.S. and international law to invade Iraq, failed to provide troops with proper equipment and falsified casualty reports for political purposes.
Kucinich also charges that Bush has illegally detained without charge both U.S. citizens and "foreign captives" and violated numerous U.S. laws through the use of "signing statements" declaring his intention to do so.
Other articles address global warming, voting rights, Medicare, the response to Hurricane Katrina and failure to comply with congressional subpoenas.
Last year, Kucinich introduced a resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. But in November when Republicans tried to force a debate on the move, the attempt failed. Democrats voted to send the resolution to the House Judiciary Committee, where committee chairman Rep. John Conyers has taken no action on it.
An earlier resolution to impeach Cheney has languished in the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties since May 2007.
The House of Representatives has voted to impeach two presidents -- Andrew Johnson, in 1868, and Bill Clinton, in 1999 -- but both were acquitted by the Senate and remained in office. No U.S. vice president has been impeached.
Kucinich dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination for president in January to focus on his re-election bid in Ohio. He handily won the Democratic primary in his district on March 4 and faces former State Representative Jim Trakas in the general election.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
UN Funding Shortfall Threatens Darfur Air Aid
The U.N. World Food Programme, the globe's largest humanitarian agency, is cutting back its air service in Sudan because a lack of funding has made it difficult to ferry aid workers to remote parts of Darfur and the southern part of the country, the agency said Tuesday. The cutback will affect the efforts of 14,000 aid workers, it added.
The WFP said it needs an infusion of $20 million by June 15 in order to maintain full service for its Humanitarian Air Service. The agency runs the air service on behalf of all the humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan.
The air service is especially important now because road travel throughout Darfur has become increasingly dangerous in recent months. Dozens of WFP trucks have been hijacked since the beginning of the year, with some drivers still unaccounted for. At least two drivers have been killed.
"Undoubtedly, this is a blow to the humanitarian effort in Sudan," Kenro Oshidari, the WFP representative in Sudan, said in a statement. "The impact will be felt by vulnerable people who depend on the international community for crucial services."
The agency has been struggling since the beginning of the year to meet its funding goals. A contribution in May had allowed it to carry on its operations uninterrupted until now.
About a dozen rebel groups are embroiled in a seemingly intractable war against the Sudanese government that has resulted in widespread violence against civilians.
About 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since 2003 in unrelenting violence in Darfur.
While international attention has focused on Darfur in western Sudan, north-south tensions in the country have worsened.
A government dominated by Arab Muslims in northern Sudan fought a brutal 22-year civil war against black Christians and animists in southern Sudan. The war killed 2 million people and displaced roughly 4 million others. A 2005 peace agreement ended the fighting.
CNN
The WFP said it needs an infusion of $20 million by June 15 in order to maintain full service for its Humanitarian Air Service. The agency runs the air service on behalf of all the humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan.
The air service is especially important now because road travel throughout Darfur has become increasingly dangerous in recent months. Dozens of WFP trucks have been hijacked since the beginning of the year, with some drivers still unaccounted for. At least two drivers have been killed.
"Undoubtedly, this is a blow to the humanitarian effort in Sudan," Kenro Oshidari, the WFP representative in Sudan, said in a statement. "The impact will be felt by vulnerable people who depend on the international community for crucial services."
The agency has been struggling since the beginning of the year to meet its funding goals. A contribution in May had allowed it to carry on its operations uninterrupted until now.
About a dozen rebel groups are embroiled in a seemingly intractable war against the Sudanese government that has resulted in widespread violence against civilians.
About 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since 2003 in unrelenting violence in Darfur.
While international attention has focused on Darfur in western Sudan, north-south tensions in the country have worsened.
A government dominated by Arab Muslims in northern Sudan fought a brutal 22-year civil war against black Christians and animists in southern Sudan. The war killed 2 million people and displaced roughly 4 million others. A 2005 peace agreement ended the fighting.
CNN
Study: Murders Among Young Black Men Rise
WASHINGTON - (AP) Both violent and property crimes declined in 2007 from the previous year, the FBI reported Monday. But one expert warned the figures could mask rising murder rates among young black men.
Because the FBI preliminary figures do not contain the detailed age, race and gender breakdowns available in the final report later in the year, they may unintentionally mask a growing murder rate among black male teenagers and young adults, particularly with guns, said James Alan Fox, professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University.
In preliminary figures for crimes reported to police, the bureau said the number of violent crimes declined by 1.4 percent from 2006, reversing two years of rising violent crime numbers. Violent crime had climbed 1.9 percent in 2006 and 2.3 percent in 2005, alarming federal and local officials.
By: Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press
Because the FBI preliminary figures do not contain the detailed age, race and gender breakdowns available in the final report later in the year, they may unintentionally mask a growing murder rate among black male teenagers and young adults, particularly with guns, said James Alan Fox, professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University.
In preliminary figures for crimes reported to police, the bureau said the number of violent crimes declined by 1.4 percent from 2006, reversing two years of rising violent crime numbers. Violent crime had climbed 1.9 percent in 2006 and 2.3 percent in 2005, alarming federal and local officials.
By: Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press
Hunger in Ethiopia Now Spreading to Adults
SHASHAMANE, Ethiopia (AP) — Like so many other victims of Ethiopia's hunger crisis, Usheto Beriso weighs just half of what he should. He is always cold and swaddled in a blanket. His limbs are stick-thin.
But Usheto is not the typical face of Ethiopia's chronic food problems, the scrawny baby or the ailing toddler. At age 55, he is among a growing number of adults and older children — traditionally less-vulnerable groups — who have been stricken by severe hunger due to poor rains and recent crop failure in southern Ethiopia, health workers say.
"To see adults in this condition, it's a very serious situation," Mieke Steenssens, a volunteer nurse with Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press as she registered the 5-foot-4 Usheto's weight at just 73 pounds.
Aid groups say the older victims suggest there is an escalation in the crisis in Ethiopia, a country that drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million people.
This year's crisis, brought on by a countrywide drought and skyrocketing global food prices, is far less severe. But while figures for how many adults and older children are affected are not available, at least four aid groups interviewed by the AP said they noticed a troubling increase.
"We're overwhelmed," said Margaret Aguirre, a spokeswoman for the International Medical Corps, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based aid agency. "There's not enough food and everyone's starving, and that's all there is to it.
"Older children are starting to show the signs of malnutrition when normally they might be able to withstand shocks to the system," she added. "What's particularly concerning is that the moderately malnourished are soaring. It's increasing so much that it means those children are going to slide into severe malnutrition."
Ethiopia is not alone in suffering through the worldwide food crisis, which is threatening to push the number of hungry people in the world toward 1 billion. Last week, a U.N. summit of 181 countries pledged to reduce trade barriers and boost agricultural production to combat rising food prices.
But in Ethiopia, food production is hampered by drought, meaning the country has been hit with a double blow. Drought is especially disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 percent of people live off the land. Agriculture drives the economy, accounting for half of all domestic production and 85 percent of exports.
Sending more food is one solution, but there already is a global crunch as rising fuel prices drive up the cost of fertilizers, farm vehicle use and transport of food to market. Biofuels, which are made from crops such as sugar cane and corn, are another contentious issue, with critics saying they compete with food crops.
The problem is echoed across Africa, from Kenya and Somalia and farther west. Exacerbating the global rise in food prices, which has sparked protests and riots in several West African nations, is an annual decline in food reserves across the high desert-like region called the Sahel, just below the Sahara Desert.
The so-called "lean season" that begins around June is marked by near-empty grain stores, with the next harvest not due until around September. Locust invasions and poor rains in recent years have only worsened the condition, which leads to deadly malnutrition among young children.
Aid agencies in Ethiopia are issuing desperate appeals for donor funding, saying emergency intervention is not enough. Ethiopia receives more food aid than nearly every other country in the world, most of it from the United States, which has provided $300 million in emergency assistance to relief agencies in the past year.
But despite the international help, the country is again facing hunger on a mass scale. Part of the reason, according to John Holmes, the top U.N. humanitarian official, is the country's climate, chronic drought and the large population of 78 million people.
"The World Food Program feeds some 8 million people already, together with the others in Ethiopia," he said. "But we may need to increase that, because of drought."
The U.N. children's agency has characterized this year's food shortage — in which an estimated 4.5 million people are in need of emergency food aid — as the worst since 2003, when droughts led 13.2 million people to seek such aid. In 2000, more than 10 million needed emergency food.
Studies by the International Medical Corps in southern Ethiopia — the epicenter of the crisis — show that up to one in four young mothers is showing signs of moderate malnutrition.
Ethiopia's top disaster response official, Simon Mechale, insists that the food situation is "under control" and will be resolved within four months. But in the countryside, there are signs that drought has taken a more serious toll.
At a recent food distribution in a village some 155 miles southwest of the capital, more than 4,000 people showed up for free wheat and cooking oil, but only 1,300 rations were available.
Harried health workers picked through the impatient crowd, sorting out the sickest children. Frantic mothers proffered their withered infants, hoping the children's poor state would earn some food for the family.
Ayelech Daka said her 6-year-old son, Tariken Lakamu, has been living on one meal a day for the past three months.
"He was very fat three months ago," said his mother, Ayelech said. "He was normal."
Now, he's skin and bones; he vomits just seconds after taking a bite of a ration offered by an aid worker.
"I'm weak," the child said. "I feel sick. I don't get any food."
Another mother, Ukume Dubancho, rocked a listless infant, trying to squeeze out drops of breast milk for her children, ages 4 months and 4 years, both of whom show signs of severe malnutrition.
Villagers said they simply cannot afford the food on the market. The few mature ears of corn in the market were selling for about 11 cents an ear. Last year, when the rains were good, that money would buy six or seven ears.
"I am not able to walk, even," Ukume said. "I walk for one kilometer and I have to rest."
By ANITA POWELL
But Usheto is not the typical face of Ethiopia's chronic food problems, the scrawny baby or the ailing toddler. At age 55, he is among a growing number of adults and older children — traditionally less-vulnerable groups — who have been stricken by severe hunger due to poor rains and recent crop failure in southern Ethiopia, health workers say.
"To see adults in this condition, it's a very serious situation," Mieke Steenssens, a volunteer nurse with Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press as she registered the 5-foot-4 Usheto's weight at just 73 pounds.
Aid groups say the older victims suggest there is an escalation in the crisis in Ethiopia, a country that drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million people.
This year's crisis, brought on by a countrywide drought and skyrocketing global food prices, is far less severe. But while figures for how many adults and older children are affected are not available, at least four aid groups interviewed by the AP said they noticed a troubling increase.
"We're overwhelmed," said Margaret Aguirre, a spokeswoman for the International Medical Corps, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based aid agency. "There's not enough food and everyone's starving, and that's all there is to it.
"Older children are starting to show the signs of malnutrition when normally they might be able to withstand shocks to the system," she added. "What's particularly concerning is that the moderately malnourished are soaring. It's increasing so much that it means those children are going to slide into severe malnutrition."
Ethiopia is not alone in suffering through the worldwide food crisis, which is threatening to push the number of hungry people in the world toward 1 billion. Last week, a U.N. summit of 181 countries pledged to reduce trade barriers and boost agricultural production to combat rising food prices.
But in Ethiopia, food production is hampered by drought, meaning the country has been hit with a double blow. Drought is especially disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 percent of people live off the land. Agriculture drives the economy, accounting for half of all domestic production and 85 percent of exports.
Sending more food is one solution, but there already is a global crunch as rising fuel prices drive up the cost of fertilizers, farm vehicle use and transport of food to market. Biofuels, which are made from crops such as sugar cane and corn, are another contentious issue, with critics saying they compete with food crops.
The problem is echoed across Africa, from Kenya and Somalia and farther west. Exacerbating the global rise in food prices, which has sparked protests and riots in several West African nations, is an annual decline in food reserves across the high desert-like region called the Sahel, just below the Sahara Desert.
The so-called "lean season" that begins around June is marked by near-empty grain stores, with the next harvest not due until around September. Locust invasions and poor rains in recent years have only worsened the condition, which leads to deadly malnutrition among young children.
Aid agencies in Ethiopia are issuing desperate appeals for donor funding, saying emergency intervention is not enough. Ethiopia receives more food aid than nearly every other country in the world, most of it from the United States, which has provided $300 million in emergency assistance to relief agencies in the past year.
But despite the international help, the country is again facing hunger on a mass scale. Part of the reason, according to John Holmes, the top U.N. humanitarian official, is the country's climate, chronic drought and the large population of 78 million people.
"The World Food Program feeds some 8 million people already, together with the others in Ethiopia," he said. "But we may need to increase that, because of drought."
The U.N. children's agency has characterized this year's food shortage — in which an estimated 4.5 million people are in need of emergency food aid — as the worst since 2003, when droughts led 13.2 million people to seek such aid. In 2000, more than 10 million needed emergency food.
Studies by the International Medical Corps in southern Ethiopia — the epicenter of the crisis — show that up to one in four young mothers is showing signs of moderate malnutrition.
Ethiopia's top disaster response official, Simon Mechale, insists that the food situation is "under control" and will be resolved within four months. But in the countryside, there are signs that drought has taken a more serious toll.
At a recent food distribution in a village some 155 miles southwest of the capital, more than 4,000 people showed up for free wheat and cooking oil, but only 1,300 rations were available.
Harried health workers picked through the impatient crowd, sorting out the sickest children. Frantic mothers proffered their withered infants, hoping the children's poor state would earn some food for the family.
Ayelech Daka said her 6-year-old son, Tariken Lakamu, has been living on one meal a day for the past three months.
"He was very fat three months ago," said his mother, Ayelech said. "He was normal."
Now, he's skin and bones; he vomits just seconds after taking a bite of a ration offered by an aid worker.
"I'm weak," the child said. "I feel sick. I don't get any food."
Another mother, Ukume Dubancho, rocked a listless infant, trying to squeeze out drops of breast milk for her children, ages 4 months and 4 years, both of whom show signs of severe malnutrition.
Villagers said they simply cannot afford the food on the market. The few mature ears of corn in the market were selling for about 11 cents an ear. Last year, when the rains were good, that money would buy six or seven ears.
"I am not able to walk, even," Ukume said. "I walk for one kilometer and I have to rest."
By ANITA POWELL
Report: Black, Poor Children Face Higher Toxic Air Risks
Sixteen-year-old Jeremy Jackson walks to school every day in the East area of Houston. In route to his destination, huge dumping trucks carrying hazardous cargo pass by him on residential streets. The trucks are headed to a nearby waste site that is adjacent to his neighborhood.
Before Jeremy can reach school, the damage has already been done. He closes his eyes to the floating dust, inhales the toxic air and releases a slight cough.
“This is an everyday thing for us in this neighborhood. I’m sure most of us young people will be sick in years to come and develop asthma if we don’t have it already”, Jeremy told The Final Call.
A new report released on May 13 by PolicyLink and The California Endowment presents a strategy to fight the environmental triggers of childhood asthma that is impacting homes, schools, playgrounds and neighborhoods and leaves millions of children gasping for air. The report also lays out a plan for what community residents all can do to make the air of children safer and healthier.
“Too many kids in poor communities are forced to breathe unhealthy air from the moment they get up to the moment they go to sleep,” said Judith Bell, president of PolicyLink.
The report, titled “Breathing Easy from Home to School: Fighting the Environmental Triggers of Childhood Asthma,” states that “the asthma epidemic is clearly a crisis, affecting more than 10 million children nationwide—about one in every seven school-aged kids. In some communities—particularly low-income communities and communities of color—as many as one in four children suffer from asthma.”
Rates for emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and death among children due to asthma are substantially higher in Black children in comparison to White children. Thirteen percent of all children suffering from asthma are Black compared to 8% White. Puerto Ricans lead the nation at 19%.
Within the 60-pages of research, policy recommendations and history, the report also notes that children in high-risk communities are exposed daily to countless environmental hazards: exhaust-spewing cars, trucks and buses on nearby highways; unregulated industrial plants; and schools with poor ventilation and mold.
“We must eliminate the environmental asthma triggers that are leaving millions of our children gasping for air,” said Ms. Bell. PolicyLink advocates that fixing these problems will require the concerted partnership of community organizations and policymakers and that its report builds on the innovative efforts to combat asthma triggers by more than a dozen organizations nationwide based in cities such as New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
Case studies made by advocacy groups in these cities have recognized that overcrowded, substandard housing affects the health of residents, especially children with asthma. Coalitions created projects to better understand the link between health and housing combined with taking action. All the groups have identified similar keys to success: educating, organizing and empowering residents; creating diverse coalitions; and undertaking research and using the results to make the case for achievable and sustainable policy change.
“Unfortunately, children residing in low-income communities are often exposed to unhealthy levels of environmental toxins not found in more affluent communities,” said Dr. Robert K. Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowment. “It is essential we ensure all neighborhoods are free of harmful chemicals and other pollutants that exacerbate asthma symptoms.”
Since 2001, the Healthy Public Housing Initiative in Boston has involved residents in research and action to improve public housing conditions. The project has focused on safe and economical pest control, and reducing asthma triggers, including dust mite exposure and poor air quality, for residents of public housing. In the first phase of the project, public housing residents trained as community health advocates surveyed 238 families about environmental issues in their homes. Homes were found to be infested with cockroaches and mice. Desperate residents were using pesticides extensively, including using illegal and restricted pesticides in their homes to try and get rid of them. Almost 50 percent of households had a high enough concentration of cockroach allergens to trigger asthma. Nearly 60 percent of the tested children showed allergic sensitivity to them.
Dr. Ross added that, “it is essential we ensure all neighborhoods are free of harmful chemicals and other pollutants that exacerbate asthma symptoms.”
Seeded by the work of the advocacy groups, the Breathe Easy report suggests a host of policy and practice changes to significantly reduce childhood asthma, including: rehabilitating schools that have become havens for mold, dust and poor ventilation; using popular global warming legislation to push broader air quality issues; enforcing systematic inspections of rental housing; encouraging the construction of “asthma-safe” homes; and encouraging schools to use “green” cleaning products and non-toxic pest control methods.
By Jesse Muhammad, Final Call Staff Writer
Before Jeremy can reach school, the damage has already been done. He closes his eyes to the floating dust, inhales the toxic air and releases a slight cough.
“This is an everyday thing for us in this neighborhood. I’m sure most of us young people will be sick in years to come and develop asthma if we don’t have it already”, Jeremy told The Final Call.
A new report released on May 13 by PolicyLink and The California Endowment presents a strategy to fight the environmental triggers of childhood asthma that is impacting homes, schools, playgrounds and neighborhoods and leaves millions of children gasping for air. The report also lays out a plan for what community residents all can do to make the air of children safer and healthier.
“Too many kids in poor communities are forced to breathe unhealthy air from the moment they get up to the moment they go to sleep,” said Judith Bell, president of PolicyLink.
The report, titled “Breathing Easy from Home to School: Fighting the Environmental Triggers of Childhood Asthma,” states that “the asthma epidemic is clearly a crisis, affecting more than 10 million children nationwide—about one in every seven school-aged kids. In some communities—particularly low-income communities and communities of color—as many as one in four children suffer from asthma.”
Rates for emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and death among children due to asthma are substantially higher in Black children in comparison to White children. Thirteen percent of all children suffering from asthma are Black compared to 8% White. Puerto Ricans lead the nation at 19%.
Within the 60-pages of research, policy recommendations and history, the report also notes that children in high-risk communities are exposed daily to countless environmental hazards: exhaust-spewing cars, trucks and buses on nearby highways; unregulated industrial plants; and schools with poor ventilation and mold.
“We must eliminate the environmental asthma triggers that are leaving millions of our children gasping for air,” said Ms. Bell. PolicyLink advocates that fixing these problems will require the concerted partnership of community organizations and policymakers and that its report builds on the innovative efforts to combat asthma triggers by more than a dozen organizations nationwide based in cities such as New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
Case studies made by advocacy groups in these cities have recognized that overcrowded, substandard housing affects the health of residents, especially children with asthma. Coalitions created projects to better understand the link between health and housing combined with taking action. All the groups have identified similar keys to success: educating, organizing and empowering residents; creating diverse coalitions; and undertaking research and using the results to make the case for achievable and sustainable policy change.
“Unfortunately, children residing in low-income communities are often exposed to unhealthy levels of environmental toxins not found in more affluent communities,” said Dr. Robert K. Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowment. “It is essential we ensure all neighborhoods are free of harmful chemicals and other pollutants that exacerbate asthma symptoms.”
Since 2001, the Healthy Public Housing Initiative in Boston has involved residents in research and action to improve public housing conditions. The project has focused on safe and economical pest control, and reducing asthma triggers, including dust mite exposure and poor air quality, for residents of public housing. In the first phase of the project, public housing residents trained as community health advocates surveyed 238 families about environmental issues in their homes. Homes were found to be infested with cockroaches and mice. Desperate residents were using pesticides extensively, including using illegal and restricted pesticides in their homes to try and get rid of them. Almost 50 percent of households had a high enough concentration of cockroach allergens to trigger asthma. Nearly 60 percent of the tested children showed allergic sensitivity to them.
Dr. Ross added that, “it is essential we ensure all neighborhoods are free of harmful chemicals and other pollutants that exacerbate asthma symptoms.”
Seeded by the work of the advocacy groups, the Breathe Easy report suggests a host of policy and practice changes to significantly reduce childhood asthma, including: rehabilitating schools that have become havens for mold, dust and poor ventilation; using popular global warming legislation to push broader air quality issues; enforcing systematic inspections of rental housing; encouraging the construction of “asthma-safe” homes; and encouraging schools to use “green” cleaning products and non-toxic pest control methods.
By Jesse Muhammad, Final Call Staff Writer
Monday, June 9, 2008
US Has Become World's Biggest Jailer
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any other country in the world and more than ever before in its history, Human Rights Watch said Friday.
The number represents an incarceration rate of 762 per 100,000 residents, compared to 152 per 100,000 in Britain, 108 in Canada, and 91 in France, HRW said in a statement commenting on Justice Department figures also released Friday.
"The new incarceration figures confirm the United States as the world's leading jailer," said David Fahti, HRW's US program director.
"Americans should ask why the US locks up so many more people than do Canada, Britain, and other democracies," he added.
The newly released figures show a sharp racial imbalance in the US prison population, with blacks outnumbering whites by six to one.
Nearly 11 percent of black men aged 30-34 are in prison, according to Justice Department figures.
HRW said blacks in the United States are 12 times more likely to be sent to jail for drug-related crimes than whites, even though drug use among the two races is about the same.
"Although whites, being more numerous, constitute the large majority of drug users, blacks constitute 54 percent of all persons entering state prisons with a new drug offense conviction," the rights group said.
The number represents an incarceration rate of 762 per 100,000 residents, compared to 152 per 100,000 in Britain, 108 in Canada, and 91 in France, HRW said in a statement commenting on Justice Department figures also released Friday.
"The new incarceration figures confirm the United States as the world's leading jailer," said David Fahti, HRW's US program director.
"Americans should ask why the US locks up so many more people than do Canada, Britain, and other democracies," he added.
The newly released figures show a sharp racial imbalance in the US prison population, with blacks outnumbering whites by six to one.
Nearly 11 percent of black men aged 30-34 are in prison, according to Justice Department figures.
HRW said blacks in the United States are 12 times more likely to be sent to jail for drug-related crimes than whites, even though drug use among the two races is about the same.
"Although whites, being more numerous, constitute the large majority of drug users, blacks constitute 54 percent of all persons entering state prisons with a new drug offense conviction," the rights group said.
Sharpton Plans Bell Protest at Yankee Stadium for All-Star Game
The Rev. Al Sharpton threatened Sunday to disrupt baseball's historic All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium next month unless the state passes new laws to curb police misconduct.
A month after protesters blocked bridges and tunnels during rush hour, Sharpton said he wants to bring the outrage over the Sean Bell shooting to the national stage July 15 by targeting the midsummer classic.
"We have plans to do the same at the All-Star Game," Sharpton said. "We will seriously consider suspending our civil disobedience if we can see some legislative action."
Sharpton would not reveal the nature of the planned protests at the game, which is being held in theBronx to mark the final season at Yankee Stadium. He would not say whether the protesters would demonstrate inside or outside the Stadium.
"It's the time the whole world willbe looking at New York," said Sharpton. "It would be very dramatic."
The activist noted that Bell was a budding baseball star before he died on his wedding day in a hail of 50 police bullets.
"Sean Bell may have been an All Star if he hadn't been killed," he said.
The new protest threat came as elected officials unveiled a series of proposed new laws they believe will reduce police misconduct.
The package of laws would reform the Civilian Complaint Review Board, require drug testing when cops fire their guns and ban arrest quotas, according to a 28-page report.
"We must enact laws that will restore the public's faith in our law enforcement officials," said state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), co-chairman of the New York State Tri-Level Legislative Task Force. "[We must] bridge the divide between our communities and our police departments."
The recommendations come 18 months after Bell was killed only hours prior to his planned wedding to fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell.
Sharpton insisted that he is not against the police and the new laws are designed to support law enforcement.
"I believe this is a pro-police legislative package," he said. "It will remove a cloud of suspicion for themajority of police that are not engaged in misconduct and not engaged in brutality."
BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM
NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A month after protesters blocked bridges and tunnels during rush hour, Sharpton said he wants to bring the outrage over the Sean Bell shooting to the national stage July 15 by targeting the midsummer classic.
"We have plans to do the same at the All-Star Game," Sharpton said. "We will seriously consider suspending our civil disobedience if we can see some legislative action."
Sharpton would not reveal the nature of the planned protests at the game, which is being held in theBronx to mark the final season at Yankee Stadium. He would not say whether the protesters would demonstrate inside or outside the Stadium.
"It's the time the whole world willbe looking at New York," said Sharpton. "It would be very dramatic."
The activist noted that Bell was a budding baseball star before he died on his wedding day in a hail of 50 police bullets.
"Sean Bell may have been an All Star if he hadn't been killed," he said.
The new protest threat came as elected officials unveiled a series of proposed new laws they believe will reduce police misconduct.
The package of laws would reform the Civilian Complaint Review Board, require drug testing when cops fire their guns and ban arrest quotas, according to a 28-page report.
"We must enact laws that will restore the public's faith in our law enforcement officials," said state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), co-chairman of the New York State Tri-Level Legislative Task Force. "[We must] bridge the divide between our communities and our police departments."
The recommendations come 18 months after Bell was killed only hours prior to his planned wedding to fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell.
Sharpton insisted that he is not against the police and the new laws are designed to support law enforcement.
"I believe this is a pro-police legislative package," he said. "It will remove a cloud of suspicion for themajority of police that are not engaged in misconduct and not engaged in brutality."
BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM
NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Ivory Coast Turns to UK in Class Action Over Toxic Waste
British lawyers have mounted the largest class action yet lodged in the UK courts for up to 30,000 Africans allegedly poisoned by toxic waste dumped by an oil tanker.
The action is being brought against Trafigura, a London-based multinational, over the dumping in 2006 of 400 tonnes of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast. The waste, containing high levels of caustic soda, a sulphur compound and hydrogen sulphide, gave off toxic fumes and allegedly led to 100,000 people going to clinics suffering from vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties after exposure to the waste. Ten people died.
The company was accused of dumping the poisonous black sludge, or slops, that arose from removing impurities including sulphur from the raw oil, in rubbish tips, drains, abattoirs and lagoons in Abidjan, the commercial capital of the Ivory Coast, in August 2006.
The Ivory Coast Government was forced to resign and the United Nations paid £30 million to help with the medical costs of setting up free clinics and cleaning up.
Now a team of 15 British lawyers has lodged claims for 17,000 people and has just returned from the Ivory Coast with a fresh tranche of 3,000 claims. At a recent hearing in the High Court in London the lawyers predicted that the total would reach 30,000 by trial. The trial is expected to take place between April and July next year.
Martyn Day, senior partner with Leigh Day & Co, which is funding the group action from its own funds on a “no win, no fee” basis, said it was right that a multinational was held to account in the British courts. “That we can bring a case with 30,000 claimants from a far-off land to trial within three years of the events shows that in England we have a system for group claims that is second-to-none in the world in holding multinationals to account for their actions,” he said.
The law firm was brought in by Greenpeace, which in turn was asked to help by the Ivorean Government. Until 2006 Day was chairman of Greenpeace UK and is still on the executive of the Greenpeace Trust. “We would not be bringing the claims under the ‘no win, no fee’ scheme if we did not think that they had a strong chance of winning,” he said. “The strength of our system is that by allowing us to charge a success fee in the claims we win, we can develop a treasure chest to help to finance large cases like this.”
Legal proceedings began in November 2006 and the court granted an order for the group litigation to proceed in February last year. That same month it emerged that the company had agreed to pay £100 million to the Ivory Coast for the environmental damage caused, in one of the largest settlements of its kind. The money was to enable the State to clean the sites and to make payments to individuals claiming to have been affected by the dumping. The company has made no admission of liability.
The pollution came about after a Trafigura-chartered tanker failed to agree a price to dispose of the waste with the Dutch Government. An Ivory Coast company was awarded the waste disposal contract instead. The director of Trafigura, Claude Dauphin, and two other executives of the trading group found themselves arrested and held in prison in Abidjan when in September 2006 they flew to the country to investigate the pollution. They were released later.
Simon Nurney, a partner with Macfarlanes, who is acting for Trafigura, said: “Not only does Trafigura not accept that it was liable for the events, it also does not consider that the slops dumped by the local company could have caused anything like the symptoms alleged by the claimants in the English court proceedings.
“Trafigura sought reputable local advice in 2006 as to which companies were able to undertake the deslopping operation. It relied on that local advice, together with the fact that the company eventually selected was readily able to provide governmental licences and port approvals for undertaking this type of activity.” Trafigura exercised “far more care” in assessing the local company than usually undertaken by shipowners or charterers for a deslopping operation.
In no way, he added, did the investigation support “the presumption that the slops did, in fact, cause the injuries alleged”. The company paid the £100 million to the Government of the Ivory Coast, he said, “because as a major trading company in West Africa for a number of years, Trafigura believes it has an economic responsibility to the region. It also has considerable sympathy for the people of Abidjan and is working to improve their lives.”
from business.timesonline.co.uk
The action is being brought against Trafigura, a London-based multinational, over the dumping in 2006 of 400 tonnes of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast. The waste, containing high levels of caustic soda, a sulphur compound and hydrogen sulphide, gave off toxic fumes and allegedly led to 100,000 people going to clinics suffering from vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties after exposure to the waste. Ten people died.
The company was accused of dumping the poisonous black sludge, or slops, that arose from removing impurities including sulphur from the raw oil, in rubbish tips, drains, abattoirs and lagoons in Abidjan, the commercial capital of the Ivory Coast, in August 2006.
The Ivory Coast Government was forced to resign and the United Nations paid £30 million to help with the medical costs of setting up free clinics and cleaning up.
Now a team of 15 British lawyers has lodged claims for 17,000 people and has just returned from the Ivory Coast with a fresh tranche of 3,000 claims. At a recent hearing in the High Court in London the lawyers predicted that the total would reach 30,000 by trial. The trial is expected to take place between April and July next year.
Martyn Day, senior partner with Leigh Day & Co, which is funding the group action from its own funds on a “no win, no fee” basis, said it was right that a multinational was held to account in the British courts. “That we can bring a case with 30,000 claimants from a far-off land to trial within three years of the events shows that in England we have a system for group claims that is second-to-none in the world in holding multinationals to account for their actions,” he said.
The law firm was brought in by Greenpeace, which in turn was asked to help by the Ivorean Government. Until 2006 Day was chairman of Greenpeace UK and is still on the executive of the Greenpeace Trust. “We would not be bringing the claims under the ‘no win, no fee’ scheme if we did not think that they had a strong chance of winning,” he said. “The strength of our system is that by allowing us to charge a success fee in the claims we win, we can develop a treasure chest to help to finance large cases like this.”
Legal proceedings began in November 2006 and the court granted an order for the group litigation to proceed in February last year. That same month it emerged that the company had agreed to pay £100 million to the Ivory Coast for the environmental damage caused, in one of the largest settlements of its kind. The money was to enable the State to clean the sites and to make payments to individuals claiming to have been affected by the dumping. The company has made no admission of liability.
The pollution came about after a Trafigura-chartered tanker failed to agree a price to dispose of the waste with the Dutch Government. An Ivory Coast company was awarded the waste disposal contract instead. The director of Trafigura, Claude Dauphin, and two other executives of the trading group found themselves arrested and held in prison in Abidjan when in September 2006 they flew to the country to investigate the pollution. They were released later.
Simon Nurney, a partner with Macfarlanes, who is acting for Trafigura, said: “Not only does Trafigura not accept that it was liable for the events, it also does not consider that the slops dumped by the local company could have caused anything like the symptoms alleged by the claimants in the English court proceedings.
“Trafigura sought reputable local advice in 2006 as to which companies were able to undertake the deslopping operation. It relied on that local advice, together with the fact that the company eventually selected was readily able to provide governmental licences and port approvals for undertaking this type of activity.” Trafigura exercised “far more care” in assessing the local company than usually undertaken by shipowners or charterers for a deslopping operation.
In no way, he added, did the investigation support “the presumption that the slops did, in fact, cause the injuries alleged”. The company paid the £100 million to the Government of the Ivory Coast, he said, “because as a major trading company in West Africa for a number of years, Trafigura believes it has an economic responsibility to the region. It also has considerable sympathy for the people of Abidjan and is working to improve their lives.”
from business.timesonline.co.uk
Mass. Launches Campaign Urging Blacks to Get Tested for AIDS
WORCESTER - State public health officials are launching a new campaign to encourage blacks to get tested for AIDS.
The state Department of Public Health program is the first new AIDS testing campaign in four years and includes billboards and newspaper ads.
Blacks in Massachusetts account for 6 percent of the population, but 28 percent of people with HIV/AIDS.
Health Commissioner John Auerbach said testing is important for individuals and the community.
As part of the program, the health department is also offering free, confidential AIDS testing services.
The program targets five cities including Worcester, Boston, Springfield, Lynn and Brockton.
By Associated Press
The state Department of Public Health program is the first new AIDS testing campaign in four years and includes billboards and newspaper ads.
Blacks in Massachusetts account for 6 percent of the population, but 28 percent of people with HIV/AIDS.
Health Commissioner John Auerbach said testing is important for individuals and the community.
As part of the program, the health department is also offering free, confidential AIDS testing services.
The program targets five cities including Worcester, Boston, Springfield, Lynn and Brockton.
By Associated Press
Sunday, June 8, 2008
U.N. Special Rapporteur Racism- 'something deeper is going on'
After a three-week visit to the United States, a United Nations expert on racism says the candidacy of Barack Obama indicates that “something is going on in the deeper layers of U.S. society.”
Doudou Diène, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, tells CNN he believes that that “every American…has been internally confronted with the issue of racism and has been working it out.” He calls that a “very deeply internal process” that may not have been widely perceived but is now being felt with the candidacy of Barack Obama.
“In a society which has a very strong historical legacy of racism,” Diène says, “the fact that an African-American has reached that level of candidature and success mean something - and I have to assess this in my report - something profound has been going on in the U.S. society, in the mindset.“
Diène has been in the U.S. since May 18, at the invitation of the U.S. government, reviewing the state of racial discrimination. He previously has visited 25 nations, reporting on the same issue. In Washington, D.C. he briefed reporters on his initial conclusions and will issue a full report to the United Nations later this year.
While refusing to give his personal views of Obama, Diène said that political leaders in many parts of the world are watching the presidential race unfolding in the United States very closely. “There is an extreme, intense interest in this process going on, both on the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton candidatures.”
Obama’s success, he tells CNN, “is pushing leaders to reassess their own policies and programs regarding the role and the place of minorities in society, particularly in Europe, where multi-culturalism is one of the key challenges now. One of the key sources of racism in Europe is a refusal to accept diversity and multiculturalism.”
After meeting with government officials, non-governmental organization and community groups in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and San Juan, P.R., Diène says the U.S., “in contrast to other countries, is facing racism openly, not denying it.”
He also says the U.S., after a painful history of racism, has devised a good legal basis to combat racism. Where it has not succeeded, he says, is in failing to make headway in confronting the link between racism and poverty.
The U.S., he says, is going through a “slow process of re-segregation” with most U.S. cities now ethnically divided into white, black and Latino neighborhoods. Other problems, he says, included a weakening of the public education system, a “school-to-prison pipeline,” and the “gentrification” of inner cities.
A “fundamental source of hope,” he says, is that young people are “profoundly rejecting racism…and that means a seed has been planted.”
Jill Dougherty
CNN U.S. Affairs Editor
Doudou Diène, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, tells CNN he believes that that “every American…has been internally confronted with the issue of racism and has been working it out.” He calls that a “very deeply internal process” that may not have been widely perceived but is now being felt with the candidacy of Barack Obama.
“In a society which has a very strong historical legacy of racism,” Diène says, “the fact that an African-American has reached that level of candidature and success mean something - and I have to assess this in my report - something profound has been going on in the U.S. society, in the mindset.“
Diène has been in the U.S. since May 18, at the invitation of the U.S. government, reviewing the state of racial discrimination. He previously has visited 25 nations, reporting on the same issue. In Washington, D.C. he briefed reporters on his initial conclusions and will issue a full report to the United Nations later this year.
While refusing to give his personal views of Obama, Diène said that political leaders in many parts of the world are watching the presidential race unfolding in the United States very closely. “There is an extreme, intense interest in this process going on, both on the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton candidatures.”
Obama’s success, he tells CNN, “is pushing leaders to reassess their own policies and programs regarding the role and the place of minorities in society, particularly in Europe, where multi-culturalism is one of the key challenges now. One of the key sources of racism in Europe is a refusal to accept diversity and multiculturalism.”
After meeting with government officials, non-governmental organization and community groups in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and San Juan, P.R., Diène says the U.S., “in contrast to other countries, is facing racism openly, not denying it.”
He also says the U.S., after a painful history of racism, has devised a good legal basis to combat racism. Where it has not succeeded, he says, is in failing to make headway in confronting the link between racism and poverty.
The U.S., he says, is going through a “slow process of re-segregation” with most U.S. cities now ethnically divided into white, black and Latino neighborhoods. Other problems, he says, included a weakening of the public education system, a “school-to-prison pipeline,” and the “gentrification” of inner cities.
A “fundamental source of hope,” he says, is that young people are “profoundly rejecting racism…and that means a seed has been planted.”
Jill Dougherty
CNN U.S. Affairs Editor
Africom Put on the Back Burner
Controversy surrounding the United States military's new Africa Command has forced the Pentagon to put plans for establishing a headquarters in the continent on a slow track, US defence officials said on Friday.
The Pentagon still hopes to have a command headquarters in Africa, but officials acknowledge it will take time to overcome negative regional perceptions.
"I think what we're talking now is the pace. I think that the initial thinking was that the pace would be fairly quick," said a US defence official who asked not to be identified.
The problem became evident when General William Ward, the head of Africom, toured the region after assuming his post in October and found that Africans were convinced the United States wanted to establish bases and send troops to the region.
The Pentagon insists it has no plans for either permanent bases or garrison troops in Africa, only a more focused effort to help train and
equip African militaries.
"But the image that was portrayed was it was an intervention force onto the continent and that's what had to be repelled. No matter how often we tried to explain, it didn't seem to matter," said the official.
Domestically, some US critics fear that Africom is a military intrusion into foreign policy, traditionally the preserve of the civilian State Department.
Those suspicions were raised because the military had touted Africom as a new kind of military-civil command, designed to prevent conflicts through security assistance synchronized with economic, political and development efforts.
A diplomat was appointed as Africom’s deputy commander, and civilian experts were enlisted from other government agencies.
"We probably didn't do as good a job as we should have when we rolled out Africom," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said last month in remarks to a foreign policy groups.
"My view at this point is that deeds are going to count for more than words. And I think we need to take it a step at a time.
"I don't think we should push African governments to a place that they don't really want to go in terms of these relationships. I think we start with those that are interested in developing relationships," he said.
Africom, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, becomes fully operational October 1. It will stay in Germany for at least several years, defence officials said.
The Pentagon is reviewing options for command headquarters beyond 2010, including the possibility of moving Africom to the US East Coast, officials said.
But defence officials said the military has not given up on its original concept, which was to establish lightly manned regional military headquarters in countries that also host Organisation of African Union offices.
The bulk of the command's 1 300-member headquarters staff would remain outside the region.
With few strategically located African countries willing to host the headquarters, Africom is now looking instead at building up about a dozen existing defence cooperation offices that the military maintains in Africa.
If the Africans see a benefit to the increased US security assistance "they will want this regional presence", the defence official said.
"That will take some time and we're in no rush to do that. And we're not going to rush to the continent to help people if they don't want to be helped," he added. -
AFP
Jim Mannion | Washington, United States
The Pentagon still hopes to have a command headquarters in Africa, but officials acknowledge it will take time to overcome negative regional perceptions.
"I think what we're talking now is the pace. I think that the initial thinking was that the pace would be fairly quick," said a US defence official who asked not to be identified.
The problem became evident when General William Ward, the head of Africom, toured the region after assuming his post in October and found that Africans were convinced the United States wanted to establish bases and send troops to the region.
The Pentagon insists it has no plans for either permanent bases or garrison troops in Africa, only a more focused effort to help train and
equip African militaries.
"But the image that was portrayed was it was an intervention force onto the continent and that's what had to be repelled. No matter how often we tried to explain, it didn't seem to matter," said the official.
Domestically, some US critics fear that Africom is a military intrusion into foreign policy, traditionally the preserve of the civilian State Department.
Those suspicions were raised because the military had touted Africom as a new kind of military-civil command, designed to prevent conflicts through security assistance synchronized with economic, political and development efforts.
A diplomat was appointed as Africom’s deputy commander, and civilian experts were enlisted from other government agencies.
"We probably didn't do as good a job as we should have when we rolled out Africom," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said last month in remarks to a foreign policy groups.
"My view at this point is that deeds are going to count for more than words. And I think we need to take it a step at a time.
"I don't think we should push African governments to a place that they don't really want to go in terms of these relationships. I think we start with those that are interested in developing relationships," he said.
Africom, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, becomes fully operational October 1. It will stay in Germany for at least several years, defence officials said.
The Pentagon is reviewing options for command headquarters beyond 2010, including the possibility of moving Africom to the US East Coast, officials said.
But defence officials said the military has not given up on its original concept, which was to establish lightly manned regional military headquarters in countries that also host Organisation of African Union offices.
The bulk of the command's 1 300-member headquarters staff would remain outside the region.
With few strategically located African countries willing to host the headquarters, Africom is now looking instead at building up about a dozen existing defence cooperation offices that the military maintains in Africa.
If the Africans see a benefit to the increased US security assistance "they will want this regional presence", the defence official said.
"That will take some time and we're in no rush to do that. And we're not going to rush to the continent to help people if they don't want to be helped," he added. -
AFP
Jim Mannion | Washington, United States
Decline in U. S. Dollar Disrupts Caribbean Economy
WASHINGTON(NNPA) - The decline in the U.S. dollar is having a ripple affect on the Caribbean causing islands to suffer a loss in remittances, the money sent home by Caribbean immigrants working in the United States.
“The U.S. dollar dominates everything which causes a rippling effect. In comparison to the US, prices have gone up and the cost of living is high. The money that we receive from family [in the U.S.] helps, but with prices sky rocketing it is quickly used up,” says Trinidadian Joycelyn Wilshire, recently visiting family in New York.
She says that prices have increased up to 120 percent.
In places like Trinidad and Guyana, the standard of living has increased so much that people are encouraged to grow food in their back yards to help each other out.
The current state of the U.S. economy is strenuous to most of its citizens, especially those who work extra hours just to send enough money back to loved ones abroad. Last year, U.S. immigrant workers sent $42 billion dollars abroad, the most from any country, according to the BBC.
Jamaica is the largest recipient of remittances in the English-speaking Caribbean. The BBC reported that up until November 2007, Jamaica received up to $1.8 billion dollars based on money from the U.S., which does not include unofficial money that is sent through family and friends instead of by money order.
Remittances are a very importance source of revenue for families in Jamaica and the depreciation in the dollar can mean depreciation in remittances.
Jamaica is not feeling the impact of the decline in the U.S. economy as much as the rest of the Caribbean according to Andrew Knight, a graduate of the Howard School of Business and a native of Jamaica.
“Since Jamaica gets so much of its cash flow from funds coming from the United States, Jamaica doesn’t feel the impact as hard,” he said. “Nonetheless, the cost of everything is still going up. At the end of the day, if the value of the dollar in the states goes down, so will the value of the remittances.”
According to Kenrick Hunte, a professor of economics at Howard University, it is not safe to determine the impact of a possible recession in the United States on Jamaica at the moment.
He said, “Even though Jamaica receives the largest amount of remittances from around the world, Guyana is the largest receiver of remittances per capita since it has a much smaller population. But, it cannot be determined if the decline in the dollar is going to have an impact on either of these countries without sufficient data.”
In islands like Trinidad, much of the revenue comes from oil. If the price of oil in the United States drops because of the recession and economic hard times, Trinidad will feel the impact. Wilshire said that the cost of transportation has generally increased, but if the price of oil decreases, the amount of money that it will take to operate various businesses will increase, potentially causing the unemployment rate to climb. A situation that is currently apparent in the U.S.
The Labor Department said that 378,000 people filed for claims, much higher than what was expected. According to CNN, economists had expected to see initial job claims rise by 4,000 to 360,000, but unemployment claims have continued to surge, making it the highest level since Hurricane Katrina.
Unemployment benefit applications increased by 38,000 in the span of one week at the end of March. This level of jobless claims, which will undergo more review, is one indicator that the U.S. is in a slight recession or that the country is experiencing negative economic growth.
In addition to remittances, some islands often rely on tourism for a source of income. A downturn in the US economy will ultimately affect tourism in the Caribbean. With prices going up, less people are focusing on traveling to the islands and concentrating more on necessities.
Cherill Lewis, a native of Guyana, would love to go back home but with a series of bills to pay and increasing prices, she finds it hard to do so. “It’s been years since I went back, but now that I want to go, I can’t because I do not have the extra funds.”
Lewis has been living in New Jersey for 19 years but moved to Brooklyn from Guyana in 1985. Since then, part of her income has always gone back home to help her younger sisters.
Said Lewis, “I suggest that the Caribbean starts depending less on the U.S. for income and maybe that will help to alleviate any possible strains the economy may have.”
by Crystal Cranmore
NNPA Special Correspondent from blackpressusa.com
“The U.S. dollar dominates everything which causes a rippling effect. In comparison to the US, prices have gone up and the cost of living is high. The money that we receive from family [in the U.S.] helps, but with prices sky rocketing it is quickly used up,” says Trinidadian Joycelyn Wilshire, recently visiting family in New York.
She says that prices have increased up to 120 percent.
In places like Trinidad and Guyana, the standard of living has increased so much that people are encouraged to grow food in their back yards to help each other out.
The current state of the U.S. economy is strenuous to most of its citizens, especially those who work extra hours just to send enough money back to loved ones abroad. Last year, U.S. immigrant workers sent $42 billion dollars abroad, the most from any country, according to the BBC.
Jamaica is the largest recipient of remittances in the English-speaking Caribbean. The BBC reported that up until November 2007, Jamaica received up to $1.8 billion dollars based on money from the U.S., which does not include unofficial money that is sent through family and friends instead of by money order.
Remittances are a very importance source of revenue for families in Jamaica and the depreciation in the dollar can mean depreciation in remittances.
Jamaica is not feeling the impact of the decline in the U.S. economy as much as the rest of the Caribbean according to Andrew Knight, a graduate of the Howard School of Business and a native of Jamaica.
“Since Jamaica gets so much of its cash flow from funds coming from the United States, Jamaica doesn’t feel the impact as hard,” he said. “Nonetheless, the cost of everything is still going up. At the end of the day, if the value of the dollar in the states goes down, so will the value of the remittances.”
According to Kenrick Hunte, a professor of economics at Howard University, it is not safe to determine the impact of a possible recession in the United States on Jamaica at the moment.
He said, “Even though Jamaica receives the largest amount of remittances from around the world, Guyana is the largest receiver of remittances per capita since it has a much smaller population. But, it cannot be determined if the decline in the dollar is going to have an impact on either of these countries without sufficient data.”
In islands like Trinidad, much of the revenue comes from oil. If the price of oil in the United States drops because of the recession and economic hard times, Trinidad will feel the impact. Wilshire said that the cost of transportation has generally increased, but if the price of oil decreases, the amount of money that it will take to operate various businesses will increase, potentially causing the unemployment rate to climb. A situation that is currently apparent in the U.S.
The Labor Department said that 378,000 people filed for claims, much higher than what was expected. According to CNN, economists had expected to see initial job claims rise by 4,000 to 360,000, but unemployment claims have continued to surge, making it the highest level since Hurricane Katrina.
Unemployment benefit applications increased by 38,000 in the span of one week at the end of March. This level of jobless claims, which will undergo more review, is one indicator that the U.S. is in a slight recession or that the country is experiencing negative economic growth.
In addition to remittances, some islands often rely on tourism for a source of income. A downturn in the US economy will ultimately affect tourism in the Caribbean. With prices going up, less people are focusing on traveling to the islands and concentrating more on necessities.
Cherill Lewis, a native of Guyana, would love to go back home but with a series of bills to pay and increasing prices, she finds it hard to do so. “It’s been years since I went back, but now that I want to go, I can’t because I do not have the extra funds.”
Lewis has been living in New Jersey for 19 years but moved to Brooklyn from Guyana in 1985. Since then, part of her income has always gone back home to help her younger sisters.
Said Lewis, “I suggest that the Caribbean starts depending less on the U.S. for income and maybe that will help to alleviate any possible strains the economy may have.”
by Crystal Cranmore
NNPA Special Correspondent from blackpressusa.com
Archeologists Unearth Pre-Civil War Towns Built by African Americans
BARRY, Ill. –– The three archeologists moved deliberately across a soggy Illinois farm field, marking boundaries for a vanished town where blacks determined their destiny on the American frontier well before the Civil War.
The town, New Philadelphia, turned out to be bigger than they thought.
So, too, scholars believe, is the long-buried story of black Americans during this period.
With fresh scholarship, new grants and high technology, university archeologists are renewing and expanding efforts to explore the Midwestern towns where African-Americans lived in the 1800s. In the last few years they have pried back the earth in Nicodemus, Kan., reconsidered the lessons of places like Buxton, Iowa, and returned this spring to the hilltop site of New Philadelphia, where digging began in 2002.
Tantalizing recoveries from the sites, along with yellowed documents and oral history, have fueled a surge of interest in black towns during the last several years, building hopes that the interest would help rewrite a neglected chapter in American history books. Scholars of African-American history are familiar with the idea of blacks as land speculators and utopian pioneers.
Now archeologists––more recent arrivals to the topic––are adding concrete details.
Every discarded button from a Civil War uniform, shard of china from England or food scrap from trash pits adds to an emerging narrative in which African-Americans faced and surmounted obstacles on the frontier when much of America was consumed with racial turmoil.
"Black people had guns, and they owned the land," University of Illinois scholar Abdul Alkalimat said of New Philadelphia, which was established in 1836. "Whatever the definition of black power is, it certainly existed in New Philadelphia."
Though each town had a different personality, scholars say self-determination tied them together. All are on the National Register of Historic Places and are National Historic Sites or recently nominated for inclusion.
Officials call their appeal universal.
"It is a story of people overcoming hardship and succeeding in the face of what most people would fail at," said Bill Hunt of the National Park Service Midwest Archeological Center.
Freed slaves hoping for a better life far from white America founded Nicodemus in 1877 after a grueling journey from the South ended on the dry plains of northwestern Kansas.
Beginning with sod houses dug out of hillsides, settlers at Nicodemus built a town with two newspapers, three general stores, a school, an ice cream parlor and a literary society. About 40 people still live in Nicodemus, and descendants of settlers hold reunions there on Emancipation Day.
Research at the original settlement site revealed details of the town's beginnings and remarkable rise from them, said Margaret Wood of Washburn University, who led digs at the site in 2005 and 2006. The excavations identified the town's first dugout homes and uncovered such everyday possessions as earthenware bowls and glass bottles, shell buttons and tin cans––and attracted hundreds of curious volunteers and visiting scholars. "It's a growing area of research," Wood said. "The field is coming to a greater maturity."
As it does, scholars are paying renewed attention to previously excavated towns such as Buxton.
A prosperous village founded by a union-busting coal company in 1900, Buxton was home to African-American doctors, lawyers and teachers, two YMCAs (one for children) and interracial swimming pools. Even the Ku Klux Klan confined local marches to nearby towns, said David Gradwohl of Iowa State University, who led excavations at Buxton in the 1980s.
A series of public talks centered on African-American heritage in the Midwest kicked off last week with a speech about his findings. The last digs at Buxton were guided by crumbling building foundations and the hazy memories of former residents who described the Monroe Mercantile Co. warehouse, the White House Hotel and the superintendent's home at the Consolidated Coal Co., Gradwohl said.
When he talks nowadays about the digs in Buxton, he addresses how academics have refined their perspective on black history in the Midwest––a discussion inspired recently by finds in New Philadelphia.
The interracial town on the western Illinois prairie was a short wagon ride from slave markets in Hannibal, Mo. Founded by Frank McWorter, a land speculator and a free black man, Buxton had a population that was two-thirds white and an integrated school.
By the Civil War, it reached a height of 160 people who had gambled that a railroad would pass nearby. When it didn't in 1869, the settlement faded into the prairie, the abandoned structures pried apart and used to patch remaining homes, until all that remained were memories and buried clues.
The Tribune last reported on the digs at New Philadelphia in 2004; a year later, the town joined the National Register of Historic Places.
National Historic Landmark status could come this fall, after more digging this summer.
The project resumed mid-May when archeologists returned to the farm field near modern Barry, trailing measuring tapes.
They walked past the spot where New Philadelphia's blacksmith once pounded out nails, past the shoemaker, cabinetmaker and grocery shops, over the buried town's old main drag and past the fresh wooden stakes where a find of century-old slate pencils rewrote a best guess on the location of New Philadelphia's schoolhouse.
After talking with Christopher Fennell, the U. of I. professor coordinating the summer's digs, archeologists Tommy Hailey of Louisiana and Bryan Haley of Mississippi staked wide metal flashings in the damp ground that are visible from the air.
The next time they see the site, they will be dangling from an ultra-light aircraft, searching for hidden foundations with an infrared camera.
For the first time in generations, someone might see the entire town at once, the archeologists said.
As insights mount, historians have a responsibility to put those lessons into textbooks, scholars say. So far, history books cling to images of blacks as victims benefiting from others instead of bold pioneers, they say.
"Archeology is not just looking at rocks and pieces of pottery. It's what this represents," said Gradwohl, who held broken china from Buxton and saw shattered stereotypes in his hand.
"It's just incredible how this history is there," he said. "And until relatively recently, how it hasn't been a part of our American textbooks and literature."
By James Janega | Chicago Tribune reporter
The town, New Philadelphia, turned out to be bigger than they thought.
So, too, scholars believe, is the long-buried story of black Americans during this period.
With fresh scholarship, new grants and high technology, university archeologists are renewing and expanding efforts to explore the Midwestern towns where African-Americans lived in the 1800s. In the last few years they have pried back the earth in Nicodemus, Kan., reconsidered the lessons of places like Buxton, Iowa, and returned this spring to the hilltop site of New Philadelphia, where digging began in 2002.
Tantalizing recoveries from the sites, along with yellowed documents and oral history, have fueled a surge of interest in black towns during the last several years, building hopes that the interest would help rewrite a neglected chapter in American history books. Scholars of African-American history are familiar with the idea of blacks as land speculators and utopian pioneers.
Now archeologists––more recent arrivals to the topic––are adding concrete details.
Every discarded button from a Civil War uniform, shard of china from England or food scrap from trash pits adds to an emerging narrative in which African-Americans faced and surmounted obstacles on the frontier when much of America was consumed with racial turmoil.
"Black people had guns, and they owned the land," University of Illinois scholar Abdul Alkalimat said of New Philadelphia, which was established in 1836. "Whatever the definition of black power is, it certainly existed in New Philadelphia."
Though each town had a different personality, scholars say self-determination tied them together. All are on the National Register of Historic Places and are National Historic Sites or recently nominated for inclusion.
Officials call their appeal universal.
"It is a story of people overcoming hardship and succeeding in the face of what most people would fail at," said Bill Hunt of the National Park Service Midwest Archeological Center.
Freed slaves hoping for a better life far from white America founded Nicodemus in 1877 after a grueling journey from the South ended on the dry plains of northwestern Kansas.
Beginning with sod houses dug out of hillsides, settlers at Nicodemus built a town with two newspapers, three general stores, a school, an ice cream parlor and a literary society. About 40 people still live in Nicodemus, and descendants of settlers hold reunions there on Emancipation Day.
Research at the original settlement site revealed details of the town's beginnings and remarkable rise from them, said Margaret Wood of Washburn University, who led digs at the site in 2005 and 2006. The excavations identified the town's first dugout homes and uncovered such everyday possessions as earthenware bowls and glass bottles, shell buttons and tin cans––and attracted hundreds of curious volunteers and visiting scholars. "It's a growing area of research," Wood said. "The field is coming to a greater maturity."
As it does, scholars are paying renewed attention to previously excavated towns such as Buxton.
A prosperous village founded by a union-busting coal company in 1900, Buxton was home to African-American doctors, lawyers and teachers, two YMCAs (one for children) and interracial swimming pools. Even the Ku Klux Klan confined local marches to nearby towns, said David Gradwohl of Iowa State University, who led excavations at Buxton in the 1980s.
A series of public talks centered on African-American heritage in the Midwest kicked off last week with a speech about his findings. The last digs at Buxton were guided by crumbling building foundations and the hazy memories of former residents who described the Monroe Mercantile Co. warehouse, the White House Hotel and the superintendent's home at the Consolidated Coal Co., Gradwohl said.
When he talks nowadays about the digs in Buxton, he addresses how academics have refined their perspective on black history in the Midwest––a discussion inspired recently by finds in New Philadelphia.
The interracial town on the western Illinois prairie was a short wagon ride from slave markets in Hannibal, Mo. Founded by Frank McWorter, a land speculator and a free black man, Buxton had a population that was two-thirds white and an integrated school.
By the Civil War, it reached a height of 160 people who had gambled that a railroad would pass nearby. When it didn't in 1869, the settlement faded into the prairie, the abandoned structures pried apart and used to patch remaining homes, until all that remained were memories and buried clues.
The Tribune last reported on the digs at New Philadelphia in 2004; a year later, the town joined the National Register of Historic Places.
National Historic Landmark status could come this fall, after more digging this summer.
The project resumed mid-May when archeologists returned to the farm field near modern Barry, trailing measuring tapes.
They walked past the spot where New Philadelphia's blacksmith once pounded out nails, past the shoemaker, cabinetmaker and grocery shops, over the buried town's old main drag and past the fresh wooden stakes where a find of century-old slate pencils rewrote a best guess on the location of New Philadelphia's schoolhouse.
After talking with Christopher Fennell, the U. of I. professor coordinating the summer's digs, archeologists Tommy Hailey of Louisiana and Bryan Haley of Mississippi staked wide metal flashings in the damp ground that are visible from the air.
The next time they see the site, they will be dangling from an ultra-light aircraft, searching for hidden foundations with an infrared camera.
For the first time in generations, someone might see the entire town at once, the archeologists said.
As insights mount, historians have a responsibility to put those lessons into textbooks, scholars say. So far, history books cling to images of blacks as victims benefiting from others instead of bold pioneers, they say.
"Archeology is not just looking at rocks and pieces of pottery. It's what this represents," said Gradwohl, who held broken china from Buxton and saw shattered stereotypes in his hand.
"It's just incredible how this history is there," he said. "And until relatively recently, how it hasn't been a part of our American textbooks and literature."
By James Janega | Chicago Tribune reporter
Saturday, June 7, 2008
D.C. Police Set Up 'Military-Style Checkpoint'
D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area.
Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers' identification and ask whether they have a "legitimate purpose" to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away.
The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who have been under pressure from residents to stop a recent surge in violence. Last weekend was especially bloody, with seven slayings, including three in the Trinidad area.
"In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing," Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. "We're going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs."
The checkpoint will stop vehicles approaching the 1400 block of Montello Avenue NE, a section of the Trinidad neighborhood that has been plagued with homicides and other violence. Police will search cars if they suspect the presence of guns or drugs, and will arrest people who do not cooperate, under a charge of failure to obey a police officer, officials said.
The enforcement will take place at random hours and last for at least five days in Trinidad, with the option of extending it five more days. Checkpoints could be set up in other neighborhoods if they are requested by patrol commanders and approved by Lanier.
The strategy, patterned after a similar effort conducted years ago in New York, is not airtight. There are many ways to get in and out of Trinidad, not just on the one-way Montello Avenue. And pedestrians will not be stopped, which is something critics say might render the program ineffective.
"I guess the plan is to hope criminals will not walk into neighborhoods," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large). "I also suppose the plan is to take the criminal's word for it when he or she gives the police a reason for driving into a neighborhood."
Since taking over as chief in December 2006, Lanier has struggled with the issue of violent crime. She has added patrols, revived a unit specializing in getting guns off the streets and changed commanders in six of the city's seven patrol districts. Last weekend, officers were close enough in one case that they heard the barrage of gunfire coming from a triple homicide on Holbrook Street in Trinidad.
The program is aimed at the city's most troubled areas. The 5th Police District, which includes Trinidad, has had 22 killings this year, one more than all of last year. Since April 1, the Trinidad neighborhood has had seven homicides, 16 robberies and 20 assaults with dangerous weapons, according to police data. In many cases in Trinidad and across the city, gunshots are fired from passing cars, victims are found in cars or cars are used to make fast getaways.
"We have to try to take away the things that are facilitating the ability to commit crime," Lanier said.
Leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday that they will be watching what happens closely and that legal action is likely.
"My reaction is, welcome to Baghdad, D.C.," said Arthur Spitzer, legal director for the ACLU's Washington office. "I mean, this is craziness. In this country, you don't have to show identification or explain to the police why you want to travel down a public street."
Interim Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said that his office reviewed the initiative and that similar efforts had survived court tests.
"I don't anticipate us being sued," Nickles said. "But if you do want to sue us, the courts are open."
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor said that D.C. officials consulted his office about their plans and that prosecutors suggested some changes to try to ensure that any arrests would hold up in court. "We applaud the District's efforts to make neighborhoods safer," Taylor said. "Whatever we do has to be consistent with the Constitution."
New York police set up a nearly identical checkpoint in 1992 in a neighborhood of the Bronx that was plagued by drug dealing and drive-by shootings. Police ran the Watson Avenue Special Operation on a random basis, mostly in evening hours. Officers stopped drivers, but not pedestrians, coming into the area, to confirm that they had a legitimate reason to be there.
A federal appeals court upheld the legality of the New York effort, saying in a 1996 ruling that it "served an important public concern" and was "reasonably viewed as an effective mechanism to deter crime in the barricaded area."
D.C. police have used various forms of checkpoints for years. In 1988, for example, they blocked streets and searched courtyards in a pair of apartment complexes in Northeast Washington in a bid to drive out drug dealers. That move came during the crack cocaine epidemic, in a year when the city recorded 372 homicides. Last year, the city had 181 killings.
Former D.C. police chief Isaac Fulwood Jr., who led the department from 1989 until 1992, said he liked using checkpoints because his officers were able to make arrests and gather intelligence.
"They are effective. You recover stolen cars and firearms," Fulwood said. "You've got to have a lot of them if you're going to have them. You need to move as the criminal element shifts."
Some residents expressed support for the plan yesterday, saying they are willing to submit to the checks if it makes the neighborhood safer. "We can't endure any more homicides," said neighborhood activist India Henderson.
But others said they were disappointed police have not developed relationships that would allow them to gather information and find criminals without resorting to the stepped-up tactics.
"I knew eventually we'd be a police state," said Wilhelmina Lawson, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. "They don't talk to us, they're not community minded."
One of Lanier's plans, the Safe Homes initiative, has yet to get off the ground because of a community backlash. The plan, announced by Lanier and Fenty at a news conference in March, called for police to go door-to-door in crime-ridden areas and ask residents whether they could go inside and search for guns. Residents and some council members voiced concerns that homeowners would feel intimidated by police. Lanier backed off, but said she plans to move forward soon by having residents call police to set up appointments.
Another plan, to arm hundreds of patrol officers with semiautomatic rifles, starting this summer, also got mixed reviews from residents.
Kristopher Baumann, head of the D.C. police lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he was concerned about public perception of the checkpoints and the potential that it could lead to more citizen complaints. He questioned Lanier's overall approach, saying, "There is no strategy and no mid-term and long-term planning.
"That's the biggest disappointment of Chief Lanier's tenure," Baumann said. "One thing we were excited about and optimistic about was, for once, we'd have strategies to combat crime and not just be reactive. But we haven't seen it. It's been a year and a half."
Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), who represents Trinidad and other parts of Northeast Washington, said he had informal discussions with Lanier in which she had mentioned the possibility of the checkpoint announced yesterday, but he got little notice before the news conference. Civil liberties are always a concern, said Thomas, who maintained that residents are so concerned about violence that they will be willing to give the latest program a try.
"I think the general consensus is that we have to do something because people live in fear," he said. "What would you rather have?" he asked. "A positive pattern of [police] checking things . . . or these folks who come into the community and wreak havoc?"
By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers' identification and ask whether they have a "legitimate purpose" to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away.
The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who have been under pressure from residents to stop a recent surge in violence. Last weekend was especially bloody, with seven slayings, including three in the Trinidad area.
"In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing," Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. "We're going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs."
The checkpoint will stop vehicles approaching the 1400 block of Montello Avenue NE, a section of the Trinidad neighborhood that has been plagued with homicides and other violence. Police will search cars if they suspect the presence of guns or drugs, and will arrest people who do not cooperate, under a charge of failure to obey a police officer, officials said.
The enforcement will take place at random hours and last for at least five days in Trinidad, with the option of extending it five more days. Checkpoints could be set up in other neighborhoods if they are requested by patrol commanders and approved by Lanier.
The strategy, patterned after a similar effort conducted years ago in New York, is not airtight. There are many ways to get in and out of Trinidad, not just on the one-way Montello Avenue. And pedestrians will not be stopped, which is something critics say might render the program ineffective.
"I guess the plan is to hope criminals will not walk into neighborhoods," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large). "I also suppose the plan is to take the criminal's word for it when he or she gives the police a reason for driving into a neighborhood."
Since taking over as chief in December 2006, Lanier has struggled with the issue of violent crime. She has added patrols, revived a unit specializing in getting guns off the streets and changed commanders in six of the city's seven patrol districts. Last weekend, officers were close enough in one case that they heard the barrage of gunfire coming from a triple homicide on Holbrook Street in Trinidad.
The program is aimed at the city's most troubled areas. The 5th Police District, which includes Trinidad, has had 22 killings this year, one more than all of last year. Since April 1, the Trinidad neighborhood has had seven homicides, 16 robberies and 20 assaults with dangerous weapons, according to police data. In many cases in Trinidad and across the city, gunshots are fired from passing cars, victims are found in cars or cars are used to make fast getaways.
"We have to try to take away the things that are facilitating the ability to commit crime," Lanier said.
Leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday that they will be watching what happens closely and that legal action is likely.
"My reaction is, welcome to Baghdad, D.C.," said Arthur Spitzer, legal director for the ACLU's Washington office. "I mean, this is craziness. In this country, you don't have to show identification or explain to the police why you want to travel down a public street."
Interim Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said that his office reviewed the initiative and that similar efforts had survived court tests.
"I don't anticipate us being sued," Nickles said. "But if you do want to sue us, the courts are open."
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor said that D.C. officials consulted his office about their plans and that prosecutors suggested some changes to try to ensure that any arrests would hold up in court. "We applaud the District's efforts to make neighborhoods safer," Taylor said. "Whatever we do has to be consistent with the Constitution."
New York police set up a nearly identical checkpoint in 1992 in a neighborhood of the Bronx that was plagued by drug dealing and drive-by shootings. Police ran the Watson Avenue Special Operation on a random basis, mostly in evening hours. Officers stopped drivers, but not pedestrians, coming into the area, to confirm that they had a legitimate reason to be there.
A federal appeals court upheld the legality of the New York effort, saying in a 1996 ruling that it "served an important public concern" and was "reasonably viewed as an effective mechanism to deter crime in the barricaded area."
D.C. police have used various forms of checkpoints for years. In 1988, for example, they blocked streets and searched courtyards in a pair of apartment complexes in Northeast Washington in a bid to drive out drug dealers. That move came during the crack cocaine epidemic, in a year when the city recorded 372 homicides. Last year, the city had 181 killings.
Former D.C. police chief Isaac Fulwood Jr., who led the department from 1989 until 1992, said he liked using checkpoints because his officers were able to make arrests and gather intelligence.
"They are effective. You recover stolen cars and firearms," Fulwood said. "You've got to have a lot of them if you're going to have them. You need to move as the criminal element shifts."
Some residents expressed support for the plan yesterday, saying they are willing to submit to the checks if it makes the neighborhood safer. "We can't endure any more homicides," said neighborhood activist India Henderson.
But others said they were disappointed police have not developed relationships that would allow them to gather information and find criminals without resorting to the stepped-up tactics.
"I knew eventually we'd be a police state," said Wilhelmina Lawson, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. "They don't talk to us, they're not community minded."
One of Lanier's plans, the Safe Homes initiative, has yet to get off the ground because of a community backlash. The plan, announced by Lanier and Fenty at a news conference in March, called for police to go door-to-door in crime-ridden areas and ask residents whether they could go inside and search for guns. Residents and some council members voiced concerns that homeowners would feel intimidated by police. Lanier backed off, but said she plans to move forward soon by having residents call police to set up appointments.
Another plan, to arm hundreds of patrol officers with semiautomatic rifles, starting this summer, also got mixed reviews from residents.
Kristopher Baumann, head of the D.C. police lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he was concerned about public perception of the checkpoints and the potential that it could lead to more citizen complaints. He questioned Lanier's overall approach, saying, "There is no strategy and no mid-term and long-term planning.
"That's the biggest disappointment of Chief Lanier's tenure," Baumann said. "One thing we were excited about and optimistic about was, for once, we'd have strategies to combat crime and not just be reactive. But we haven't seen it. It's been a year and a half."
Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), who represents Trinidad and other parts of Northeast Washington, said he had informal discussions with Lanier in which she had mentioned the possibility of the checkpoint announced yesterday, but he got little notice before the news conference. Civil liberties are always a concern, said Thomas, who maintained that residents are so concerned about violence that they will be willing to give the latest program a try.
"I think the general consensus is that we have to do something because people live in fear," he said. "What would you rather have?" he asked. "A positive pattern of [police] checking things . . . or these folks who come into the community and wreak havoc?"
By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Diddy, Young Jeezy, Respond To Barack Obama's Historic Nomination; Nas' New Song 'Black Predident'
Now that Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, some of his biggest support is coming from the hip-hop community.
"Today is one of the greatest and proudest moments of my life," Diddy said Wednesday (June 4) of Obama's nomination. "Not just as a black man, but as an American. Senator Obama becoming the Democratic nominee for president is history in the making and proof that we do live in the greatest country in the world!"
"It goes Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama," Young Jeezy raps at the beginning of The-Dream's "I Luv Your Girl." The Snowman says he's been really interested in the political race this year.
"For real, as bad as we try to ignore it and act like it ain't got nothing to do with us, it's real," Jeezy said about what some people in the black community have felt. "What [the rest of the country] feared for a long time, a black president, it could possibly happen right now."
Jeezy said any of this year's presidential hopefuls will do a better job than our current president. He wore a shirt onstage at Sunday's Hot 97 Summer Jam that read, "F--- Bush."
"I know however it comes out, [the election] is gonna affect all of us," Jeezy added. "It's like trying to fix a record label that's bankrupt. These different households — middle class [or] people on Wall Street waking up bankrupt every day when the stocks ain't the same. It's a hard job for any one person to fix the country. It's a lot of people. I can't make everybody happy in my family. I know damn well can't nobody make everybody happy in the country. You gotta deal with too many issues."
For months, hip-hop artists such as Will.I.Am, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, the Game, Jay-Z and 50 Cent have been publicly supportive of Obama's quest for the Oval Office.
"I heard Obama speak," 50 told MTV News earlier this year. "He hit me with that he-just-got-done- watching-'Malcolm X' [thing], and I swear to God, I'm like, 'Yo, Obama!' "
He then threw his fist in the air. "I'm Obama to the end now, baby!"
It's no surprise that the thought-provoking Nas would be the first hip-hop artist to drop a song about Obama's run for the presidency. MTV News has a received a new song by the mic savant called "Black President." (Check out the song right here!) The record conveys Nas' hopes for Obama, should he win the election, and touches on some of the hardships he could face along the way.
The cut, produced by DJ Green Lantern, starts with Obama being introduced as the next president of the United States. It then goes into Obama's speech from Tuesday night. The track builds with a sample of Tupac Shakur's voice: "Although it seems heaven-sent, we ain't ready to have a black president."
Optimism then prevails with a man singing, "Yes, we can change the world." That's emphasized with a sample of Obama yelling, "Change the world!"
Nas' first verse is almost like an open letter to the country: "They forgot us on the block/ Got us in the box/ Solitary confinement, how violent are these cops?"
He ends his verse pointing the finger at some members of the black community. "A president's needed," he reiterates. "These colored folks and Negroes hate to see one of their own succeeding/ America: Surprise us, and let a black man guide us."
When the second verse commences, Nas wonders what Obama might be thinking on election night. "Is it, 'How can I protect my wife, protect my life, protect my rights?' "
Nas himself then expresses the slight misgivings he has about Obama: "I'm thinking, 'I can trust this brother, but will he keep it way real?' "
"I was making the song for the Barack Obama mixtape, and Nas heard the song and called, like, 'Yo, I need that for my album,' " Green Lantern explained of how the song came about. "I said, 'Of course, but it's gotta come out now, 'cause it's so timely.' With his album dropping July 1st, it worked out. I think he does it justice. He not only supports the idea of Obama being the president, he actually questions it in the second verse in true Nas fashion. He's positive, uplifting, but critical at the same time."
Earlier this month, Nas told MTV News that Obama's rise to prominence actually got him interested in politics again. The Queensbridge native did say that he had a very specific agenda he wanted Obama to address if he made it to office — especially in the wake of the Sean Bell case.
"There never been a president to address the slaughter of young black people by this country's police," Nas fumed. "When your government's police are killing one section of people, that's genocide. There's never been a president to even acknowledge it. You don't acknowledge that? That's a big thing President Obama has to recognize when he gets in office.
"I'm five presidents in ... and I ain't seen nothing happen to stop the police murders on young, black people," he added. "Why would I believe in the system? With that being said, I think Barack can cure that disease and help cure the country. Not just in that area with us blacks, but also with all Americans. Women are getting treated like dogs. You know how hard it is for a woman to prove she was raped? The system is warped. They throw young guys — who's starving — in jail just trying to survive on the streets. Throw them in jail forever. Young kids, 18 years old, executed in Texas. Yet, child predators get to come home and do it again. I think it's so much our president can do. [Obama] seems like a human being. I say that because a lot of presidents don't seem like human beings. They seem like straight-up businessmen who care about nothing but the business. Nah, you gotta care about the people."
"Black President" is slated to appear on Nas' forthcoming untitled LP (due next month) as well as his new street CD. The latter, a collaboration between the MC and DJ Green Lantern, will be released toward the end of this week. The mixtape has two covers: One depicting Nas with his mouth taped shut, the other with a photo of police brutality.
from MTV
NAS New Song 'Black Predident':
http://allhiphop.com/stories/multimedia__music/archive/2008/06/06/20045811.aspx
"Today is one of the greatest and proudest moments of my life," Diddy said Wednesday (June 4) of Obama's nomination. "Not just as a black man, but as an American. Senator Obama becoming the Democratic nominee for president is history in the making and proof that we do live in the greatest country in the world!"
"It goes Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama," Young Jeezy raps at the beginning of The-Dream's "I Luv Your Girl." The Snowman says he's been really interested in the political race this year.
"For real, as bad as we try to ignore it and act like it ain't got nothing to do with us, it's real," Jeezy said about what some people in the black community have felt. "What [the rest of the country] feared for a long time, a black president, it could possibly happen right now."
Jeezy said any of this year's presidential hopefuls will do a better job than our current president. He wore a shirt onstage at Sunday's Hot 97 Summer Jam that read, "F--- Bush."
"I know however it comes out, [the election] is gonna affect all of us," Jeezy added. "It's like trying to fix a record label that's bankrupt. These different households — middle class [or] people on Wall Street waking up bankrupt every day when the stocks ain't the same. It's a hard job for any one person to fix the country. It's a lot of people. I can't make everybody happy in my family. I know damn well can't nobody make everybody happy in the country. You gotta deal with too many issues."
For months, hip-hop artists such as Will.I.Am, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, the Game, Jay-Z and 50 Cent have been publicly supportive of Obama's quest for the Oval Office.
"I heard Obama speak," 50 told MTV News earlier this year. "He hit me with that he-just-got-done- watching-'Malcolm X' [thing], and I swear to God, I'm like, 'Yo, Obama!' "
He then threw his fist in the air. "I'm Obama to the end now, baby!"
It's no surprise that the thought-provoking Nas would be the first hip-hop artist to drop a song about Obama's run for the presidency. MTV News has a received a new song by the mic savant called "Black President." (Check out the song right here!) The record conveys Nas' hopes for Obama, should he win the election, and touches on some of the hardships he could face along the way.
The cut, produced by DJ Green Lantern, starts with Obama being introduced as the next president of the United States. It then goes into Obama's speech from Tuesday night. The track builds with a sample of Tupac Shakur's voice: "Although it seems heaven-sent, we ain't ready to have a black president."
Optimism then prevails with a man singing, "Yes, we can change the world." That's emphasized with a sample of Obama yelling, "Change the world!"
Nas' first verse is almost like an open letter to the country: "They forgot us on the block/ Got us in the box/ Solitary confinement, how violent are these cops?"
He ends his verse pointing the finger at some members of the black community. "A president's needed," he reiterates. "These colored folks and Negroes hate to see one of their own succeeding/ America: Surprise us, and let a black man guide us."
When the second verse commences, Nas wonders what Obama might be thinking on election night. "Is it, 'How can I protect my wife, protect my life, protect my rights?' "
Nas himself then expresses the slight misgivings he has about Obama: "I'm thinking, 'I can trust this brother, but will he keep it way real?' "
"I was making the song for the Barack Obama mixtape, and Nas heard the song and called, like, 'Yo, I need that for my album,' " Green Lantern explained of how the song came about. "I said, 'Of course, but it's gotta come out now, 'cause it's so timely.' With his album dropping July 1st, it worked out. I think he does it justice. He not only supports the idea of Obama being the president, he actually questions it in the second verse in true Nas fashion. He's positive, uplifting, but critical at the same time."
Earlier this month, Nas told MTV News that Obama's rise to prominence actually got him interested in politics again. The Queensbridge native did say that he had a very specific agenda he wanted Obama to address if he made it to office — especially in the wake of the Sean Bell case.
"There never been a president to address the slaughter of young black people by this country's police," Nas fumed. "When your government's police are killing one section of people, that's genocide. There's never been a president to even acknowledge it. You don't acknowledge that? That's a big thing President Obama has to recognize when he gets in office.
"I'm five presidents in ... and I ain't seen nothing happen to stop the police murders on young, black people," he added. "Why would I believe in the system? With that being said, I think Barack can cure that disease and help cure the country. Not just in that area with us blacks, but also with all Americans. Women are getting treated like dogs. You know how hard it is for a woman to prove she was raped? The system is warped. They throw young guys — who's starving — in jail just trying to survive on the streets. Throw them in jail forever. Young kids, 18 years old, executed in Texas. Yet, child predators get to come home and do it again. I think it's so much our president can do. [Obama] seems like a human being. I say that because a lot of presidents don't seem like human beings. They seem like straight-up businessmen who care about nothing but the business. Nah, you gotta care about the people."
"Black President" is slated to appear on Nas' forthcoming untitled LP (due next month) as well as his new street CD. The latter, a collaboration between the MC and DJ Green Lantern, will be released toward the end of this week. The mixtape has two covers: One depicting Nas with his mouth taped shut, the other with a photo of police brutality.
from MTV
NAS New Song 'Black Predident':
http://allhiphop.com/stories/multimedia__music/archive/2008/06/06/20045811.aspx
UN: Zimbabwe Aid Cutoff Endangers 2 Million People
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — At least 2 million people in Zimbabwe face greater risk of starvation, homelessness and disease because the government ordered aid groups to halt operations there, according to the U.N.'s top humanitarian official.
John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, spoke Friday after the United States and Britain warned that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime is using food and the threat of hunger as a weapon to cling to power ahead of the June 27 presidential runoff.
Much of the U.N.'s aid in Zimbabwe is funneled through non-governmental organizations.
"If voluntary organizations and NGOs are not able to work, humanitarian aid for at least 2 million of the most poor and vulnerable of Zimbabwe's people, particularly children, will be severely restricted, although we will do our best to make up for this," Holmes said.
On Thursday, Mugabe's government ordered aid groups to suspend field work indefinitely, saying they had violated the terms of their agreement. It has accused at least one group of campaigning for the opposition in the June 27 presidential runoff between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.
The suspension order hampers aid delivery to more than 4 million people and puts at least 2 million at greater risk of starvation, homelessness and disease, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Zimbabwe's U.N. ambassador, Boniface Chidyauskiku, said the relief agencies and the U.S. government have been using food as a political weapon, not Mugabe's government.
"They have gone out into the countryside and they have been telling Zimbabweans that if you don't vote for the opposition, if you don't change your vote, there's no food for you," he said. "So it is the United States using food as a political weapon to effect a regime change in Zimbabwe. This is why we have suspended the activity."
U.S. Ambassador James McGee said Friday that Mugabe's government is distributing food mainly to supporters and people who support the opposition are offered food only if they hand in identification that would allow them to vote. McGee warned that "massive starvation" will result if the situation continues.
British Development Aid Secretary Douglas Alexander described it in similar terms.
"For Robert Mugabe to use the threat of hunger as a political weapon shows a callous contempt for human life," Alexander said. "For the sake of millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Zimbabwe, aid must be allowed to get through."
Holmes stopped short of agreeing with the assessment of U.S. and British officials.
"To describe it as using food as a weapon is a description I wouldn't put on it, at this stage anyway," he said.
Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change beat Mugabe in the March 29 first round, but fell short of the votes needed to avoid a runoff. As the runoff approaches, police have detained Tsvangirai twice and halted his party's rallies.
Movement for Democratic Change officials, blaming state agents, say at least 60 of its supporters have been killed in the past two months.
By JOHN HEILPRIN
John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, spoke Friday after the United States and Britain warned that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime is using food and the threat of hunger as a weapon to cling to power ahead of the June 27 presidential runoff.
Much of the U.N.'s aid in Zimbabwe is funneled through non-governmental organizations.
"If voluntary organizations and NGOs are not able to work, humanitarian aid for at least 2 million of the most poor and vulnerable of Zimbabwe's people, particularly children, will be severely restricted, although we will do our best to make up for this," Holmes said.
On Thursday, Mugabe's government ordered aid groups to suspend field work indefinitely, saying they had violated the terms of their agreement. It has accused at least one group of campaigning for the opposition in the June 27 presidential runoff between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.
The suspension order hampers aid delivery to more than 4 million people and puts at least 2 million at greater risk of starvation, homelessness and disease, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Zimbabwe's U.N. ambassador, Boniface Chidyauskiku, said the relief agencies and the U.S. government have been using food as a political weapon, not Mugabe's government.
"They have gone out into the countryside and they have been telling Zimbabweans that if you don't vote for the opposition, if you don't change your vote, there's no food for you," he said. "So it is the United States using food as a political weapon to effect a regime change in Zimbabwe. This is why we have suspended the activity."
U.S. Ambassador James McGee said Friday that Mugabe's government is distributing food mainly to supporters and people who support the opposition are offered food only if they hand in identification that would allow them to vote. McGee warned that "massive starvation" will result if the situation continues.
British Development Aid Secretary Douglas Alexander described it in similar terms.
"For Robert Mugabe to use the threat of hunger as a political weapon shows a callous contempt for human life," Alexander said. "For the sake of millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Zimbabwe, aid must be allowed to get through."
Holmes stopped short of agreeing with the assessment of U.S. and British officials.
"To describe it as using food as a weapon is a description I wouldn't put on it, at this stage anyway," he said.
Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change beat Mugabe in the March 29 first round, but fell short of the votes needed to avoid a runoff. As the runoff approaches, police have detained Tsvangirai twice and halted his party's rallies.
Movement for Democratic Change officials, blaming state agents, say at least 60 of its supporters have been killed in the past two months.
By JOHN HEILPRIN
Texas Town Still Shadowed by Dragging Death
JASPER, Texas (AP) — Ten years after James Byrd Jr. was dragged to death down a three-mile stretch of country road simply because he was black, some things have changed in Jasper.
Black and white teenagers can be seen playing basketball together at James Byrd Jr. Memorial Park. Blacks now make up a majority on the City Council. And an iron fence no longer separates the graves of whites and blacks in the 171-year-old cemetery where Byrd is buried.
But Byrd's murder, which jolted the nation with its utter brutality and unvarnished racism, still casts a shadow over this timber town in deep East Texas. And many folks here think it always will.
"It is something we have to live with the rest of our lives," said Walter Diggles, a black civic leader and executive director of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments. "It is similar to Dallas, when people think of the JFK assassination, or Memphis, when people think of Martin Luther King's murder."
Ever since three white men beat the 49-year-old Byrd, chained him by the ankles to the bumper of a Ford pickup truck, then pulled him down Huff Creek Road in the early hours of June 7, 1998, Jasper has been almost synonymous with the horrors of racism.
Byrd's remains were found scattered in 75 places along the twisting path that cuts through a pine forest. His head and right arm were discovered about a mile from his mangled torso.
A decade later, according to Diggles, some people are still afraid to visit Jasper, a town of 8,000 where the main intersection is a cluster of fast-food places and restaurants offering chicken fried steak specials. Some businesses have been reluctant to come to town, which is badly in need of industry.
However, Diggles and many others say there is a hopeful part of the story too often overlooked: The murder forced the people of Jasper, a town whose population is almost evenly divided between black and white, to confront their prejudices.
"Afterward, people came together, worked together and healed together," said R.C. Horn, who was mayor at the time and is black. "Some people were not even aware of what was going on inside themselves. But after it happened, everyone took a look at themselves to see what was inside."
Byrd's murderers were quickly arrested and convicted, offering some comfort that justice was served. John William King and Lawrence Russell Brewer are now on death row. Shawn Allen Berry is serving a life sentence.
Clergy — both black and white — called on the people of Jasper to stay calm and stay home when the Black Panthers and the Ku Klux Klan came to march. And the residents did. Many also saw the response of the Byrd family ("We are not hating; we are hurting," James Byrd Sr. said after his son's murder) as inspiring, ennobling.
"This was a mother who lost her son in the most cruel way, yet she showed and taught her family by her example that she is able to forgive," said the Rev. Ronald Foshage, a white priest at St. Michael's Parish. "If people can forgive, and if I can learn to forgive in that fashion, then this tragedy can have a deep impact on our lives."
After Byrd's death, the family created the James Byrd Jr. Foundation for Racial Healing, which conducts diversity workshops, awards scholarships to minorities and helped win passage of a hate crime bill in Texas. The foundation also runs an oral history project on racism; more than 2,600 people have described their experiences.
Foshage and other townspeople said that before the killing, blacks and whites sat separately at football games and in other public settings. But now, they say, they see less of that, with blacks and whites mingling more, and they attribute that to the Byrd family's efforts to fight bigotry.
Similarly, townspeople are attributing the black majority on the City Council to changed attitudes.
Betty Byrd Boatner, Byrd's younger sister, said that before the killing, she didn't see whites and blacks playing basketball together. As for the segregated graveyard, the iron fence came down a few years ago.
On Saturday, as they have every year on the anniversary of Byrd's death, the Byrds will hold a service — not just as a memorial, but also as a challenge to those still shackled by prejudice.
"When you do things that hurt someone else, you need to remember that that person is someone's child," Boatner said. "My brother was someone's child. If it was your family, your brother, your sister, how would you handle it?"
There is still work to do. A few years back, Byrd's gravesite was vandalized and defaced with slurs.
"We're getting there," Boatner said, "but it just takes time."
By MONICA RHOR
Black and white teenagers can be seen playing basketball together at James Byrd Jr. Memorial Park. Blacks now make up a majority on the City Council. And an iron fence no longer separates the graves of whites and blacks in the 171-year-old cemetery where Byrd is buried.
But Byrd's murder, which jolted the nation with its utter brutality and unvarnished racism, still casts a shadow over this timber town in deep East Texas. And many folks here think it always will.
"It is something we have to live with the rest of our lives," said Walter Diggles, a black civic leader and executive director of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments. "It is similar to Dallas, when people think of the JFK assassination, or Memphis, when people think of Martin Luther King's murder."
Ever since three white men beat the 49-year-old Byrd, chained him by the ankles to the bumper of a Ford pickup truck, then pulled him down Huff Creek Road in the early hours of June 7, 1998, Jasper has been almost synonymous with the horrors of racism.
Byrd's remains were found scattered in 75 places along the twisting path that cuts through a pine forest. His head and right arm were discovered about a mile from his mangled torso.
A decade later, according to Diggles, some people are still afraid to visit Jasper, a town of 8,000 where the main intersection is a cluster of fast-food places and restaurants offering chicken fried steak specials. Some businesses have been reluctant to come to town, which is badly in need of industry.
However, Diggles and many others say there is a hopeful part of the story too often overlooked: The murder forced the people of Jasper, a town whose population is almost evenly divided between black and white, to confront their prejudices.
"Afterward, people came together, worked together and healed together," said R.C. Horn, who was mayor at the time and is black. "Some people were not even aware of what was going on inside themselves. But after it happened, everyone took a look at themselves to see what was inside."
Byrd's murderers were quickly arrested and convicted, offering some comfort that justice was served. John William King and Lawrence Russell Brewer are now on death row. Shawn Allen Berry is serving a life sentence.
Clergy — both black and white — called on the people of Jasper to stay calm and stay home when the Black Panthers and the Ku Klux Klan came to march. And the residents did. Many also saw the response of the Byrd family ("We are not hating; we are hurting," James Byrd Sr. said after his son's murder) as inspiring, ennobling.
"This was a mother who lost her son in the most cruel way, yet she showed and taught her family by her example that she is able to forgive," said the Rev. Ronald Foshage, a white priest at St. Michael's Parish. "If people can forgive, and if I can learn to forgive in that fashion, then this tragedy can have a deep impact on our lives."
After Byrd's death, the family created the James Byrd Jr. Foundation for Racial Healing, which conducts diversity workshops, awards scholarships to minorities and helped win passage of a hate crime bill in Texas. The foundation also runs an oral history project on racism; more than 2,600 people have described their experiences.
Foshage and other townspeople said that before the killing, blacks and whites sat separately at football games and in other public settings. But now, they say, they see less of that, with blacks and whites mingling more, and they attribute that to the Byrd family's efforts to fight bigotry.
Similarly, townspeople are attributing the black majority on the City Council to changed attitudes.
Betty Byrd Boatner, Byrd's younger sister, said that before the killing, she didn't see whites and blacks playing basketball together. As for the segregated graveyard, the iron fence came down a few years ago.
On Saturday, as they have every year on the anniversary of Byrd's death, the Byrds will hold a service — not just as a memorial, but also as a challenge to those still shackled by prejudice.
"When you do things that hurt someone else, you need to remember that that person is someone's child," Boatner said. "My brother was someone's child. If it was your family, your brother, your sister, how would you handle it?"
There is still work to do. A few years back, Byrd's gravesite was vandalized and defaced with slurs.
"We're getting there," Boatner said, "but it just takes time."
By MONICA RHOR
Friday, June 6, 2008
Bill Helps Iraqi Refugees, Ignores Katrina Victims
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Congress is prepared to ax a $73-million package to
provide shelter for disabled Hurricane Katrina victims, while the same bill
sets aside $350 million to help Iraqi refugees.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., added the provision for post-Katrina housing
assistance to a $212 billion bill to finance the Iraq war through the Bush
administration and a month into the next president's term. The war
legislation also would provide $100 million for Jordan's military and $50
million to Mexico's armed forces.
But Landrieu's effort to help physically and mentally disabled Katrina
victims is in danger of being cut by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Her staff points out that President Bush has signaled he will veto the war
bill if it is not trimmed to around $108 billion.
Landrieu said the housing money is vital to a recovering city that has seen
its homeless population double to an estimated 12,000 since the 2005
disaster.
"The bill also includes $6 billion for levees to protect us from future
storms," said Landrieu in an e-mail. "I fully support giving our troops the
funding they need and am concerned about the plight of Iraqi refugees. But
we cannot neglect the most pressing emergency here at home along the Gulf
Coast."
Pelosi's spokesman, Brendan Daly, said the speaker recognizes the urgent
need for housing in New Orleans, but may still have to cut the provision as
early as next week.
"She's very supportive of this and other things in the bill that we might
not be able to include," said Daly. "The speaker has made the same point
that we're spending more than $10 billion a month generally on the war, and
we're not spending here at home."
Also pushing the spending cuts is the Blue Dog Coalition, 49 congressional
Democrats who want strict spending policies to tame the national debt. Blue
Dog leader Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., did not comment directly on the prospect
of helping Iraqi refugees while overlooking Katrina's displaced.
But he said in an e-mail Thursday that the $9-trillion national debt
includes significant percentages financed by foreign banks.
"In this bill and others, the Blue Dogs and I are pushing for our priorities
to be paid for, instead of borrowing the money from China that will have to
be paid back with interest by our children and grandchildren," Boyd said.
The Blue Dogs want money raised through tax increases or offset by cuts
elsewhere.
The housing assistance funds would pay for 3,000 rent-aid vouchers for
people who because of mental of physical disability have had trouble pulling
themselves up by their own bootstraps after the August 2005 hurricane.
Katrina flooded 80 percent of New Orleans and killed 1,600 in Louisiana and
Mississippi. In its wake, homelessness has become painfully visible.
A 150-person tent shanty has been evicted from a plaza in front of City Hall
and has since migrated to a freeway underpass near the Louisiana Superdome.
Tourists, professional sports teams, and Presidential candidate John Edwards
have visited, sometimes equating the several blocks of tattered men and
women to a refugee camp.
"When the Katrina disaster happened we couldn't help but notice here was
forced displacement in the richest country in the world," said Joel Charny,
vice president for policy for Refugees International, a humanitarian
advocacy organization based in Washington D.C.
"You just don't want to be in a situation where it's either money for people
who are disabled and really hurting in New Orleans, as opposed to money for
people who are dislocated because of the war in Iraq," he said. "Our view,
at the risk of sounding naive, is that money would be available for both."
Advocates have lobbied for housing vouchers for years. They were cut from
the 2006 war supplemental under similar political pressures.
"I'm pleading with them not to negotiate with the lives of 3,000 of our most
vulnerable citizens," said Valerie Keller co-chair of the Louisiana
Supportive Housing Coalition. "People have been languishing in New Orleans
for two and a half years."
By JOHN MORENO GONZALES
The Associated Press
provide shelter for disabled Hurricane Katrina victims, while the same bill
sets aside $350 million to help Iraqi refugees.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., added the provision for post-Katrina housing
assistance to a $212 billion bill to finance the Iraq war through the Bush
administration and a month into the next president's term. The war
legislation also would provide $100 million for Jordan's military and $50
million to Mexico's armed forces.
But Landrieu's effort to help physically and mentally disabled Katrina
victims is in danger of being cut by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Her staff points out that President Bush has signaled he will veto the war
bill if it is not trimmed to around $108 billion.
Landrieu said the housing money is vital to a recovering city that has seen
its homeless population double to an estimated 12,000 since the 2005
disaster.
"The bill also includes $6 billion for levees to protect us from future
storms," said Landrieu in an e-mail. "I fully support giving our troops the
funding they need and am concerned about the plight of Iraqi refugees. But
we cannot neglect the most pressing emergency here at home along the Gulf
Coast."
Pelosi's spokesman, Brendan Daly, said the speaker recognizes the urgent
need for housing in New Orleans, but may still have to cut the provision as
early as next week.
"She's very supportive of this and other things in the bill that we might
not be able to include," said Daly. "The speaker has made the same point
that we're spending more than $10 billion a month generally on the war, and
we're not spending here at home."
Also pushing the spending cuts is the Blue Dog Coalition, 49 congressional
Democrats who want strict spending policies to tame the national debt. Blue
Dog leader Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., did not comment directly on the prospect
of helping Iraqi refugees while overlooking Katrina's displaced.
But he said in an e-mail Thursday that the $9-trillion national debt
includes significant percentages financed by foreign banks.
"In this bill and others, the Blue Dogs and I are pushing for our priorities
to be paid for, instead of borrowing the money from China that will have to
be paid back with interest by our children and grandchildren," Boyd said.
The Blue Dogs want money raised through tax increases or offset by cuts
elsewhere.
The housing assistance funds would pay for 3,000 rent-aid vouchers for
people who because of mental of physical disability have had trouble pulling
themselves up by their own bootstraps after the August 2005 hurricane.
Katrina flooded 80 percent of New Orleans and killed 1,600 in Louisiana and
Mississippi. In its wake, homelessness has become painfully visible.
A 150-person tent shanty has been evicted from a plaza in front of City Hall
and has since migrated to a freeway underpass near the Louisiana Superdome.
Tourists, professional sports teams, and Presidential candidate John Edwards
have visited, sometimes equating the several blocks of tattered men and
women to a refugee camp.
"When the Katrina disaster happened we couldn't help but notice here was
forced displacement in the richest country in the world," said Joel Charny,
vice president for policy for Refugees International, a humanitarian
advocacy organization based in Washington D.C.
"You just don't want to be in a situation where it's either money for people
who are disabled and really hurting in New Orleans, as opposed to money for
people who are dislocated because of the war in Iraq," he said. "Our view,
at the risk of sounding naive, is that money would be available for both."
Advocates have lobbied for housing vouchers for years. They were cut from
the 2006 war supplemental under similar political pressures.
"I'm pleading with them not to negotiate with the lives of 3,000 of our most
vulnerable citizens," said Valerie Keller co-chair of the Louisiana
Supportive Housing Coalition. "People have been languishing in New Orleans
for two and a half years."
By JOHN MORENO GONZALES
The Associated Press
Young Voters: See Obama's Race as an Asset, Non-Issue
For young voters, Rosa Parks' refusal to sit at the back of a bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955 is schoolbook history. Even the racially charged 1992 riots in Los Angeles are a distant memory.
The United States is far from a blueprint for racial harmony, but for today's young adults — all born after segregation was outlawed in the mid-1960s — race is not the issue it once was.
They have grown up with Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan among their highest-profile and wealthiest role models. And in their everyday lives, they are much more likely than their elders to have friends of another race, studies show.
Is it any wonder, then, that young adults have been the most willing age group to support a black man for president?
Primary exit polls conducted for The Associated Press illustrate the generational shift that has helped Barack Obama secure the Democratic presidential nomination. About 56 percent of Democrats younger than age 30 supported Obama. That number dropped steadily with each age bracket to a low of 30 percent for voters 65 and older.
Many young voters say a diverse background is an asset for a candidate.
"Rather than just being tolerant of race, we embrace and accept our differences," says Alisha Thomas Morgan, a 29-year-old black state lawmaker in Georgia. "We all recognize that racism still exists. But I think younger people are much more willing to get over it."
They also are more accustomed to seeing people of color in positions of power. The country has, for instance, had a black secretary of state for the past seven-plus years.
"I shouldn't say we're taking it for granted. But it's not especially strange to us," says Tobin Van Ostern, a junior at George Washington University who is spending his summer in Chicago as a leader for Students for Barack Obama.
Van Ostern, who is white, says he understands that Obama's victory is historic.
"But it's one that seems appropriate for the direction the country is going," he says. "In numerous ways, it presents a new image of the United States to the world — and not just because of the color of his skin."
Throughout the primary season, Obama supporters endured jabs from pundits and Hillary Rodham Clinton backers who called them "latte drinkers," among other labels. To them, it seemed to suggest elitism and the notion that young adults were taken with the Illinois senator because it was trendy.
Certainly, the chance to vote for a black man is part of the appeal, Morgan says. "It's fine if they vote for him because he's African-American, as long as they don't stop there," she says. "But I would be voting for Obama whether he was white or whatever. The fact that he is African-American is a plus."
The way Patricia Turner sees it, Obama's race is just one factor that makes him more accessible to younger voters. Turner is a professor of African-American studies at the University of California, Davis, a diverse campus where she says no one racial or ethnic group is the majority.
She recalls a conversation at a recent university dinner where her table included a few Asian-American students and a white woman in her 30s who was married to a man of mixed race. Asked what struck them about Obama, they listed everything from his age and rearing by a single mother to the fact that he is biracial.
"There's something about the sophisticated and complex ethnic identity that resonates with younger voters as well," says Turner, who is black. "Younger people are able to say 'we' — and that 'we' includes Barack Obama."
But exit polls also show that young Hispanics were more likely to vote for Clinton, as Hispanics were in general. Many people believe the complicated racial history between blacks and Hispanics has played a role in that outcome.
Some wonder if the welcoming attitude toward a black president has its limits, even among the most racially open young Obama supporters.
Young Han, 25, said race played little role in his decision to vote for Obama in the Washington state caucuses. But he wonders if his peers would be uncomfortable if Obama were a different type of black candidate.
"A person who talks in a black English, engages in 'identity politics,' and comes out of a marching, yelling-out-of-a-megaphone background might be considered 'really' black, whereas a Harvard-educated lawyer who looks non-threatening may be just a guy who happens to be black," says Han, a Korean-American who recently worked for a Washington, D.C., civic education foundation teaching students about government. "Whether this is a valid way by which to judge someone's competence or legitimacy is whole other question. But I think that's how things work."
Like many others, he saw attempts to link Obama to his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as a way to play on that dynamic.
Yet the Wright controversy did not seem to resonate much with young people, even at predominantly white, relatively conservative Clemson University, where political science professor Joseph Stewart Jr. monitored the reaction.
That is striking, says Stewart, a white Southerner who came of age during the civil rights movement. "I did not think I'd live long enough to see a black candidate who was taken this seriously," he says. "I thought racism was just too deeply ingrained."
He sees desegregation as "one of those subtle changes" that have influenced younger generations.
He also has found that many of the youngest voters have little sense of relatively recent incidents of racial strife — for example, the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Rodney King.
"So a lot of the acceptance and the lack of relevance of race is simply a lack of history," Stewart says. "We usually think that's a bad thing — but there may be some positives, too."
For Turner, the progress made is notable and moving.
At age 52, she has vivid memories of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. So Obama's candidacy is a reminder of how far the nation has come.
"There have been times in the Obama campaign when I think, 'I wish Dad could've seen that' or 'I wish my mother were here' to just see him holding his own," Turner says of her parents, who are no longer living.
"They would have been proud."
By MARTHA IRVINE from the AP
The United States is far from a blueprint for racial harmony, but for today's young adults — all born after segregation was outlawed in the mid-1960s — race is not the issue it once was.
They have grown up with Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan among their highest-profile and wealthiest role models. And in their everyday lives, they are much more likely than their elders to have friends of another race, studies show.
Is it any wonder, then, that young adults have been the most willing age group to support a black man for president?
Primary exit polls conducted for The Associated Press illustrate the generational shift that has helped Barack Obama secure the Democratic presidential nomination. About 56 percent of Democrats younger than age 30 supported Obama. That number dropped steadily with each age bracket to a low of 30 percent for voters 65 and older.
Many young voters say a diverse background is an asset for a candidate.
"Rather than just being tolerant of race, we embrace and accept our differences," says Alisha Thomas Morgan, a 29-year-old black state lawmaker in Georgia. "We all recognize that racism still exists. But I think younger people are much more willing to get over it."
They also are more accustomed to seeing people of color in positions of power. The country has, for instance, had a black secretary of state for the past seven-plus years.
"I shouldn't say we're taking it for granted. But it's not especially strange to us," says Tobin Van Ostern, a junior at George Washington University who is spending his summer in Chicago as a leader for Students for Barack Obama.
Van Ostern, who is white, says he understands that Obama's victory is historic.
"But it's one that seems appropriate for the direction the country is going," he says. "In numerous ways, it presents a new image of the United States to the world — and not just because of the color of his skin."
Throughout the primary season, Obama supporters endured jabs from pundits and Hillary Rodham Clinton backers who called them "latte drinkers," among other labels. To them, it seemed to suggest elitism and the notion that young adults were taken with the Illinois senator because it was trendy.
Certainly, the chance to vote for a black man is part of the appeal, Morgan says. "It's fine if they vote for him because he's African-American, as long as they don't stop there," she says. "But I would be voting for Obama whether he was white or whatever. The fact that he is African-American is a plus."
The way Patricia Turner sees it, Obama's race is just one factor that makes him more accessible to younger voters. Turner is a professor of African-American studies at the University of California, Davis, a diverse campus where she says no one racial or ethnic group is the majority.
She recalls a conversation at a recent university dinner where her table included a few Asian-American students and a white woman in her 30s who was married to a man of mixed race. Asked what struck them about Obama, they listed everything from his age and rearing by a single mother to the fact that he is biracial.
"There's something about the sophisticated and complex ethnic identity that resonates with younger voters as well," says Turner, who is black. "Younger people are able to say 'we' — and that 'we' includes Barack Obama."
But exit polls also show that young Hispanics were more likely to vote for Clinton, as Hispanics were in general. Many people believe the complicated racial history between blacks and Hispanics has played a role in that outcome.
Some wonder if the welcoming attitude toward a black president has its limits, even among the most racially open young Obama supporters.
Young Han, 25, said race played little role in his decision to vote for Obama in the Washington state caucuses. But he wonders if his peers would be uncomfortable if Obama were a different type of black candidate.
"A person who talks in a black English, engages in 'identity politics,' and comes out of a marching, yelling-out-of-a-megaphone background might be considered 'really' black, whereas a Harvard-educated lawyer who looks non-threatening may be just a guy who happens to be black," says Han, a Korean-American who recently worked for a Washington, D.C., civic education foundation teaching students about government. "Whether this is a valid way by which to judge someone's competence or legitimacy is whole other question. But I think that's how things work."
Like many others, he saw attempts to link Obama to his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as a way to play on that dynamic.
Yet the Wright controversy did not seem to resonate much with young people, even at predominantly white, relatively conservative Clemson University, where political science professor Joseph Stewart Jr. monitored the reaction.
That is striking, says Stewart, a white Southerner who came of age during the civil rights movement. "I did not think I'd live long enough to see a black candidate who was taken this seriously," he says. "I thought racism was just too deeply ingrained."
He sees desegregation as "one of those subtle changes" that have influenced younger generations.
He also has found that many of the youngest voters have little sense of relatively recent incidents of racial strife — for example, the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Rodney King.
"So a lot of the acceptance and the lack of relevance of race is simply a lack of history," Stewart says. "We usually think that's a bad thing — but there may be some positives, too."
For Turner, the progress made is notable and moving.
At age 52, she has vivid memories of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. So Obama's candidacy is a reminder of how far the nation has come.
"There have been times in the Obama campaign when I think, 'I wish Dad could've seen that' or 'I wish my mother were here' to just see him holding his own," Turner says of her parents, who are no longer living.
"They would have been proud."
By MARTHA IRVINE from the AP
A New Black-Power Movement in Central and South America
Hugo Chávez is known as a revolutionary in many contexts, especially his defiance of the United States. In recent years, however, he's also broken ground on a far less well-exposed subject: the question of race in Latin America. The saga began two years ago, when, during a tour of Gambia, Chávez surprised observers by declaring that "I've always said that if Spain is our mother, Africa, mother Africa, is much more so." Since then, the Venezuelan leader has often revisited the theme at home, even drawing attention to his own African roots. It may not sound shocking. But such language would have been inconceivable from a major Latin American leader just a short time ago.
That's now changing, due to a black-consciousness movement stirring in Central and South America. Emboldened by the success of their indigenous countrymen in pressing for resolution of long-ignored grievances, Afro-descendientes (people of African descent), as they are known, are now lobbying for recognition of their own communities' land rights and for increased spending to improve living conditions in urban slums and rural villages. Local activists have begun urging Latin blacks to take pride in their culture, and with the help of the Internet, leaders are reaching across borders to share tactics and compare notes with their brethren in the Caribbean, the United States and Africa. This "black-power movement has gone way beyond anything that has happened in the past," says Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, director of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. "People are making critiques of racism in their own societies, and there's been a real shift in black consciousness and involvement."
Black power isn't entirely new to the region; for some time now the descendants of African slaves have wielded political clout in a few corners of the hemisphere. That's especially the case in the English-speaking Caribbean, where black heads of state are the rule. And in Brazil, where nearly half the country's 192 million people have African ancestry, Joaquim Barbosa, arguably the most influential member of the Supreme Court, is black; so is recording artist Gilberto Gil, who served as Culture minister under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for five years. Moreover, Lula's predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, once announced that he himself had "one foot in the kitchen"—a colorful way of admitting intermarriage among his ancestors (albeit one that earned him criticism at the time).
In the rest of Latin America, blacks remain a small (they're thought to number about 20 million, though activists claim the figure is much higher) and marginalized minority. Demographics highlight their second-class status. For example, Ecuador's blacks, who make up 5 percent of the population, suffer a 14.5 percent unemployment rate, higher than that of the country's nonblack majority and twice that of indigenous groups. In neighboring Colombia, which is home to 10.5 million Afro-descendientes—giving it the third largest black population in the hemisphere, after Brazil and the United States—only one in five blacks has access to electricity and running water (compared with 60 percent of the rest of the population), and the black infant mortality rate is more than three times the white level.
Now, however, black communities are organizing and pressing for change. In Honduras, for example, locals of African descent, who are known as Garifunas, have staged protests in Tegucigalpa, the capital, against a proposed constitutional amendment that would permit foreigners to purchase property along the Atlantic coast, a region the Garifunas have called home since 1797. And in Ecuador, more than a hundred black housewives and working women joined forces in 2006 to seek more government assistance for housing to combat racial discrimination in the rental market.
The epicenter of the new black activism, meanwhile, is Colombia. That's due as much to circumstance as design: more than a third of the 3.2 million Colombians uprooted by the country's long-running civil war are of African ancestry, as are many of the ragged street vendors and beggars who approach motorists at busy Bogotá intersections. Foreign and local NGOs are now working hard to publicize their plight. Though a landmark 1993 law enshrined the right of Afro-Colombians to obtain formal title to their ancestral lands, including 5 million hectares along the Pacific coast—a unique experiment in ethnic self-government—implementation has lagged, as unscrupulous agribusinesses and paramilitary warlords have seized communal property with near impunity. But recently, as part of its ongoing effort to win U.S. approval for a free-trade agreement, the government of President Alvaro Uribe has begun to expel these companies and restore 8,000 hectares of stolen land to Afro-Colombian community councils.
Throughout the region, individual blacks have also begun blazing new trails. Graciela Dixon became the first black woman to head Panama's Supreme Court in 2005, and Luis Alberto Moore, a cop in Colombia, has reached the rank of general—a first for an Afro-descendiente. "I hope I will serve as an example for other black people in Colombia who will say, 'If General Moore did [it], then so can I'," says the 48-year-old Bogotá native.
But many other Latin blacks remain reluctant to openly acknowledge their background, which makes it hard for their communities to increase their influence. In 2005, for example, when Colombians were asked for the first time to identify their ethnic background in a census, less than half the country's blacks described themselves as such. Doris de la Hoz, a senior Afro-Colombian official in the Ministry of Culture, says that even this percentage represented progress, since more than 4 million people did acknowledge their heritage. But "there is still a strong separation of people by groups," she says, "and many black families try to convince their lighter-skinned children that they are white."
Yet such attitudes also seem to be shifting, albeit gradually. Evelyne Laurent-Perrault, 48, is the daughter of Haitian immigrants and grew up in middle-class Caracas, where she was usually the only black in her classroom and, later on, her office. Over the years she's endured her fair share of cruel jokes. Starting in her 20s, however, Laurent-Perrault, a biologist by training, began to develop a passionate interest in her culture and its links to Africa. She is now working on a Ph.D. at New York University analyzing the topic in the context of Venezuela. "There is [now] more pride in being black," she says. "People are mobilizing, and organizations have arisen in almost all of Latin America to expose inequality and demand that this must end."
Such organizations are drawing inspiration and financing from foreign, largely U.S., sources. In February, African-American journalist Lori Robinson launched a new Web site called vidaafrolatina.com that spotlights news, cultural events and commentary by and about Afro-Latinos. Leading members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, like Rep. Gregory Meeks, have taken a special interest in Afro-Colombians and dispatched staff to advise black Colombian legislators. USAID has funded a variety of social and economic development projects in predominantly black areas of western Colombia, and has provided money and technical assistance to an association of black mayors and groups working on behalf of internal refugees. The groundbreaking presidential bid of a certain young U.S. senator hasn't gone unnoticed in the region, either. "A triumph of Barack Obama would be extraordinary," gushes Ernesto Estupiñan, mayor of the predominantly black Ecuadoran city of Esmeraldas. "It would be a huge encouragement for all of us in terms of minority participation in politics." Indeed, if Obama does reach the White House, one of his familiar slogans could soon take root in the hearts and minds of his fellow Africano-Americanos south of the border: "¡Si se puede!"("Yes we can!")
By Joe Contreras | NEWSWEEK
That's now changing, due to a black-consciousness movement stirring in Central and South America. Emboldened by the success of their indigenous countrymen in pressing for resolution of long-ignored grievances, Afro-descendientes (people of African descent), as they are known, are now lobbying for recognition of their own communities' land rights and for increased spending to improve living conditions in urban slums and rural villages. Local activists have begun urging Latin blacks to take pride in their culture, and with the help of the Internet, leaders are reaching across borders to share tactics and compare notes with their brethren in the Caribbean, the United States and Africa. This "black-power movement has gone way beyond anything that has happened in the past," says Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, director of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. "People are making critiques of racism in their own societies, and there's been a real shift in black consciousness and involvement."
Black power isn't entirely new to the region; for some time now the descendants of African slaves have wielded political clout in a few corners of the hemisphere. That's especially the case in the English-speaking Caribbean, where black heads of state are the rule. And in Brazil, where nearly half the country's 192 million people have African ancestry, Joaquim Barbosa, arguably the most influential member of the Supreme Court, is black; so is recording artist Gilberto Gil, who served as Culture minister under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for five years. Moreover, Lula's predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, once announced that he himself had "one foot in the kitchen"—a colorful way of admitting intermarriage among his ancestors (albeit one that earned him criticism at the time).
In the rest of Latin America, blacks remain a small (they're thought to number about 20 million, though activists claim the figure is much higher) and marginalized minority. Demographics highlight their second-class status. For example, Ecuador's blacks, who make up 5 percent of the population, suffer a 14.5 percent unemployment rate, higher than that of the country's nonblack majority and twice that of indigenous groups. In neighboring Colombia, which is home to 10.5 million Afro-descendientes—giving it the third largest black population in the hemisphere, after Brazil and the United States—only one in five blacks has access to electricity and running water (compared with 60 percent of the rest of the population), and the black infant mortality rate is more than three times the white level.
Now, however, black communities are organizing and pressing for change. In Honduras, for example, locals of African descent, who are known as Garifunas, have staged protests in Tegucigalpa, the capital, against a proposed constitutional amendment that would permit foreigners to purchase property along the Atlantic coast, a region the Garifunas have called home since 1797. And in Ecuador, more than a hundred black housewives and working women joined forces in 2006 to seek more government assistance for housing to combat racial discrimination in the rental market.
The epicenter of the new black activism, meanwhile, is Colombia. That's due as much to circumstance as design: more than a third of the 3.2 million Colombians uprooted by the country's long-running civil war are of African ancestry, as are many of the ragged street vendors and beggars who approach motorists at busy Bogotá intersections. Foreign and local NGOs are now working hard to publicize their plight. Though a landmark 1993 law enshrined the right of Afro-Colombians to obtain formal title to their ancestral lands, including 5 million hectares along the Pacific coast—a unique experiment in ethnic self-government—implementation has lagged, as unscrupulous agribusinesses and paramilitary warlords have seized communal property with near impunity. But recently, as part of its ongoing effort to win U.S. approval for a free-trade agreement, the government of President Alvaro Uribe has begun to expel these companies and restore 8,000 hectares of stolen land to Afro-Colombian community councils.
Throughout the region, individual blacks have also begun blazing new trails. Graciela Dixon became the first black woman to head Panama's Supreme Court in 2005, and Luis Alberto Moore, a cop in Colombia, has reached the rank of general—a first for an Afro-descendiente. "I hope I will serve as an example for other black people in Colombia who will say, 'If General Moore did [it], then so can I'," says the 48-year-old Bogotá native.
But many other Latin blacks remain reluctant to openly acknowledge their background, which makes it hard for their communities to increase their influence. In 2005, for example, when Colombians were asked for the first time to identify their ethnic background in a census, less than half the country's blacks described themselves as such. Doris de la Hoz, a senior Afro-Colombian official in the Ministry of Culture, says that even this percentage represented progress, since more than 4 million people did acknowledge their heritage. But "there is still a strong separation of people by groups," she says, "and many black families try to convince their lighter-skinned children that they are white."
Yet such attitudes also seem to be shifting, albeit gradually. Evelyne Laurent-Perrault, 48, is the daughter of Haitian immigrants and grew up in middle-class Caracas, where she was usually the only black in her classroom and, later on, her office. Over the years she's endured her fair share of cruel jokes. Starting in her 20s, however, Laurent-Perrault, a biologist by training, began to develop a passionate interest in her culture and its links to Africa. She is now working on a Ph.D. at New York University analyzing the topic in the context of Venezuela. "There is [now] more pride in being black," she says. "People are mobilizing, and organizations have arisen in almost all of Latin America to expose inequality and demand that this must end."
Such organizations are drawing inspiration and financing from foreign, largely U.S., sources. In February, African-American journalist Lori Robinson launched a new Web site called vidaafrolatina.com that spotlights news, cultural events and commentary by and about Afro-Latinos. Leading members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, like Rep. Gregory Meeks, have taken a special interest in Afro-Colombians and dispatched staff to advise black Colombian legislators. USAID has funded a variety of social and economic development projects in predominantly black areas of western Colombia, and has provided money and technical assistance to an association of black mayors and groups working on behalf of internal refugees. The groundbreaking presidential bid of a certain young U.S. senator hasn't gone unnoticed in the region, either. "A triumph of Barack Obama would be extraordinary," gushes Ernesto Estupiñan, mayor of the predominantly black Ecuadoran city of Esmeraldas. "It would be a huge encouragement for all of us in terms of minority participation in politics." Indeed, if Obama does reach the White House, one of his familiar slogans could soon take root in the hearts and minds of his fellow Africano-Americanos south of the border: "¡Si se puede!"("Yes we can!")
By Joe Contreras | NEWSWEEK