December 6, 2009 |
|
Black Opinions On Global Warming Will Be Heard At Climate Change Conference
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington-based think tank for black elected officials, sent a six-member delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference so attendees from around the world can hear African-American concerns about global warming.
The 12-day conference, which begins Monday, Dec.7, in Copenhagen, Denmark, is being held for leaders of nearly 200 countries to agree on a plan to combat global warming, beginning in 2012. The conference ends Dec. 18.
"We are hopeful that our participation in this important conference will lead to a wider understanding that a majority of African Americans want to see climate change addressed and reversed," Ralph B. Everett, president and CEO of the Joint Center, said in a statement. "At the same time, it is vital that our international partners also recognize the concerns among minority populations everywhere regarding how this is going to be done. We need to ensure there are diverse voices at all of the forums where decisions are made so that the benefits of transitioning to a clean-energy economy are broadly shared and appreciated."
Ignoring Global Warming's Effect
Although global warming is frequently written about, its affect on black and other non-white communities worldwide generally is ignored, Minority Rights Group International, a London-based organization founded to promote human respect for ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples, published in a 2008 briefing paper titled, "The Impact Of Climate Change On Minorities and Indigenous People."
"The effects of changing climate are bad enough in themselves--more frequent hurricanes, droughts and burning temperatures, new plagues of diseases and worse floods, for instance. But the general failure to recognize and respond to minorities' resulting problems greatly exacerbates their suffering," writes Rachel Baird, the paper's author and media officer for Minority Rights Group International.
Black families, their homes and their neighborhoods were devastated by global warming in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. The category 5 hurricane, the strongest hurricane category, caused flooding in New Orleans' mostly black Ninth Ward, killing 1,836 residents and causing $125 billion in economic losses, Baird writes.
Two years later, Cyclone Yemyin caused floods that killed more than 2,000 and displaced more than 20 million in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Although New Orleans is thousands of miles away from India, the two areas have much in common. "Minorities tend to live in places that are worst hit by the impacts of climate change, and their poverty exacerbates their vulnerability," Baird writes. "Escaping New Orleans was harder for people in flooded areas because one in five had no access to a car."
There also is another common thread. When the floods hit India, Dalits, an ethnic group, were denied aid, and in New Orleans, African-American victims of Hurricane Katrina had to wait several days before the Bush administration began sending help. As temperatures rise, the world can expect more weather-related disasters.
"The toll of emergencies caused by hurricanes, floods, droughts and other forms of extreme weather has more than doubled over the last decade, from 175 in 1996 to 391 in 2005," according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent's "World Disasters Report."
Observer Status
The United Nations granted Joint Center delegates Civil Society Observer Status to attend the conference.
Observer status is awarded to non-government organizations, allowing groups to attend conference sessions as observers but not as participants.
The Joint Center delegation includes members of its Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change.
They are: Carolyn L. Green, managing partner, EnerGreen Capital Management LLC in Philadelphia; Dr. Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University; Leslie G. Fields, national environmental justice director for the San Francisco-based Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental group; Dr. Julianne Malveaux, economist and president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.; Frank Stewart, president and chief operating officer of the American Association of Blacks in Energy, which is based in Washington D.C, and Dr. Beverly Wright, founder and director of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University in New Orleans.
President Barack Obama is scheduled to attend the conference on the conference's last day, the White House says.
The president's appearance will help the United States assume a leadership role in the climate change debate, and his attendance will elevate concerns African Americans voice about the issue, said Green, who will lead the Joint Center's delegation. The Joint Center says it will publish a series papers from the conference. ^ Top|Share |
|
|
Kasim Reed Certified As Atlanta Mayor
The Fulton County, Ga., elections board has certified former Georgia State Sen. Kasim Reed winner of Atlanta's Dec. 2 mayoral runoff election. The board Saturday declared Reed a winner over Atlanta City Councilwoman Mary Norwood. Reed received 42,348 votes to Norwood's 41,728.
Reed replaces outgoing mayor Shirley Franklin, whose term ends Jan. 4, 2010. Reed is the fifth consecutive African American elected mayor of Atlanta. ^ Top|Share |
|
|
| Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. |
More Than 3.4 Million Black Households Do Not Have Bank Accounts
More than 3.4 million black households do not have banks accounts, resulting in occupants relying on non-bank check cashing services, and expensive non-bank money orders to conduct everyday financial transactions, including paying rent, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s (FDIC) National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households.
The FDIC, an independent government agency that insures deposits of federally chartered banks, also found that 4.9 million black households have a checking or savings account with a traditional bank, but household occupants rely on alternative financial services that include non-bank money orders, payday loans and pawn shops to conduct financial transactions.
The FDIC released results of its first-ever study about the unbanked and underbanked Wednesday, Dec. 2. The U.S. Commerce Department conducted the survey on behalf of the FDIC in January as part of the Commerce Department's Current Population Survey. The Census Bureau surveyed 54,000 of the 118.6 million households in the United States, and 47,000 households responded to the survey.
"The FDIC undertook this effort to address a gap in availability of comprehensive data on the number of unbanked and underbanked households in the United States," FDIC officials said in a statement. "Access to an account at a federally insured institution provides households with the opportunity to conduct basic financial transactions, save for emergency and long-term security needs, and access credit on affordable terms. Many people, particularly low-to-moderate income households, do not have access to mainstream financial products such as bank accounts and low-cost loans."
Black households are most likely to be either unbanked or underbanked.
21% Of Black Households Don't Have Bank Accounts
Some 21.7% of black households are unbanked, compared with 19.3% of the Hispanic households and 15.6% of American Indian/Alaskans. Some 3.3% of white households and 3.5% of Asian households are unbanked. There are 15.5 million black households, 13.2 million Hispanic households, 1.4 million American Indian/Alaskan households, 250,000 Hawaiian/Pacific Islander households, 4.8 million Asian households and 83.5 million white households and 6,000 households classified as other.
There are a total of 9 million unbanked households, according to the FDIC.
Most unbanked households are in the South. Some 9.5% of unbanked households are in the South, 6.9% in the Northeast, 6.8% in the West and 6.2% in the Midwest.
The percentage of underbanked black households also is high.
An estimated 31.6% of black households are underbanked compared with 28.9% of American Indian/Alaskans and 245 of Hispanics. An estimated 7.2% of Asian households and 14.9% of white households are underbanked.
Taken together, 25.6% of U.S. households, close to 30 million, are either unbanked or underbanked, and 60 million adults reside in these households, says an FDIC spokesperson. There are 21 million underbanked households.
The South also leads in the percentage of underbanked households with 20.5%, 17% in the Midwest, 16.2% in the West and 16.1% in the Northeast.
Households are unbanked because occupants are poor.
Nearly 20% or 7 million households earning less than $30,000 annually do not currently have a bank account. "Households with earnings below $30,000 account for at least 71% of unbanked households," the survey says.
The survey also found that households headed by a single woman or a single man are likely to be unbanked. Almost 20% of households headed by a single woman are unbanked and 14.9% of households headed by a single man are unbanked.
Families living nearly half of unbanked households, 46.9%, never have opened a bank account. The balance, 49%, previously had a bank account but closed it.
Some 41.1% of unbanked household occupants said it was "unlikely" they would open a bank account, the survey found. ^ Top|Share |
|
|
Tyler Perry Donated $1 Million To The NAACP
Actor, playwright and filmmaker Tyler Perry donated $1 million to the NAACP, the largest single donation in the civil rights' organization's history given by an individual artist.
"I feel so honored and blessed to be in a position where I can give to the NAACP," Perry said in a statement.
The NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization, will spend the funds on economic equality, education, health care and criminal justice programs, Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement.
Eight of Perry's nine films have debuted at No. 1 at the North American box office. His films include Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which was released in 2005 by Lionsgate.
^ Top|Share |
|
|
Innocence Project Seeks State Compensation For The Wrongfully Convicted
David Shephard spent 11 years in a New Jersey prison before DNA evidence exonerated him for a rape conviction. When he was released from prison it was a happy day and the beginning of a new set of troubles.
While Shephard was in prison, his girlfriend and their son went on welfare. Shephard was released in 2003 and later found a job. The state then garnished his wages for failing to pay child support while he was in prison.
In another case involving a convict exonerated by DNA evidence, the New Jersey Public Defender's office placed a lien on assets owned by Larry Peterson seeking repayment for representing him in court.
The case of Roy Brown is one of the strangest.
Upon any inmate's release from New York's prison system, employees give him $40 and a pair of corduroy pants, but the money and clothing only are for inmates guilty of a crime. Prison employees refused to give anything to Brown because DNA evidence had exonerated him of murder for which he served 15 years in prison. "I didn't even have anything to wear," Brown said after his release.
The Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating those wrongfully convicted through DNA evidence, provided these three examples and others to illustrate the obstacles facing wrongfully convicted men and women after DNA evidence exonerates of crimes they did not commit.
The information is detailed in a report titled "Making Up For Lost Time: What The Wrongfully Convicted Endure And How To Provide Fair Compensation."
"Making Up For Lost Time" outlines and provides examples of the much more serious problems facing the wrongfully convicted, including post-traumatic stress disorder, which occurs when inmates witness violent acts or were victims of prison violence.
"A person suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder may have trouble sleeping, experience recurrent nightmares and have difficulty concentrating," the report says. "He may be irritable, angry or hypervigilant, always tense and alert."
Exoneree Carlos Lavernia says it is difficult to forget such a traumatic experience.
"I dream too much about it all," Lavernia said in the report. "Too much. Almost every day. All the pain. I don't want to go nowhere. I still got it on my mind. All of the time I stay in my apartment complex."
Another major obstacle former inmates face is having very little money.
Jeffrey Deskovic, who was sent to prison at 17 for the 1989 rape and murder of a Peekskill, N.Y., classmate, before DNA evidence exonerated him of the crime in 2006, said he survived on a $135 month disability check and $150 a month in food stamps, following his release. "He ate mostly Cherrios, tuna, canned corn and pre-packaged noodle soups,"the report says.
The Innocence Project, which is affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City, said contrary to the public's belief many states do not provide financial assistance or social services to wrongfully convicted men and women once they are released from prison.
Large Numbers Of States Don't Provide Compensation
"A staggering 23 states do not offer any compensation to the exonerated," a spokesperson for the Innocence Project said in a statement. "Exonerated people who live in one of the 27 states that have a compensation law may file for state compensation, but the average length of time exonerees wait to receive funds is almost three years. In the meantime, the exoneree may lack a source of income, a means of transportation, health coverage and a stable home."
Calvin Willis, for example, served more than 21 years in Louisiana's notorious Angola Penitentiary, the nation's largest maximum security prison, before DNA evidence cleared him of the 1981 rape of a 10-year-old girl. When Willis was released in 2003, Louisiana did not have a law compensating exonerated prisoners. To its credit, the Louisiana legislature passed laws to compensate Willis, but he waited six years to receive the money, according to the report.
The first inmate was released from prison in 1989 when DNA evidence exonerated him of his crime. Since then DNA evidence has freed 244 other men and women, including 17 on death row. The average time spent in prison by these men and women was 13 years, but some sat in jail 31 years. Seventy percent of inmates exonerated by DNA evidence are nonwhite, mostly black men, and 40% or 98 of the exonerees did not receive any compensation.
The Innocence Project, however, is taking steps to change that.
"The Innocence Project will work with local advocates to pass compensation laws over the next several years in several states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Georgia that don't have systems to compensate the wrongfully convicted.
Innocence Project also will work with local advocates to make improvements to existing compensation statues in Florida, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin. Wisconsin pays the wrongfully convicted a maximum total lump sum of $25,000 regardless of the number of years served and New Hampshire pays $20,000. Montana provides only education assistance to the wrongfully convicted. Texas, however, pays up to $80,000 annually for a wrongful conviction and provides compensation for child-support payments.
The Innocence Project's model legislation would provide a minimum of $50,000 in untaxed funds for every year of wrongful imprisonment, and $100,000 in untaxed funds for every year on death row. "This amount is based on the federal government's standard created through the Innocence Protection Act of 2004," a spokesman says.
The proposed legislation also would cover attorney's fees associated with filing for compensation, provide services, including housing, transportation, physical and mental health care and work force development as well as issue an official acknowledgment of the wrongful conviction. The model legislation also would provide compensation for child support payments owed the state by the exoneree while he was in prison.
Because of the growing awareness of wrongfully convicted men and women being released from prison, the public supports the idea of providing compensation.
"In recent years, states have begun to recognize a responsibility to the wrongfully convicted. In the last decade, 13 additional states have adopted compensation statutes," the report says. ^ Top|Share |
|
|
|
