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August 9, 2012

  • Job Growth Spurts in July but Not for Black Men

    Job Growth Spurts in July but Not for Black Men by Frederick H. Lowe The nation’s nonfarm businesses added 163,000 jobs in July, but black men didn’t catch a break. Except for white women, the jobless rate for African-American men shot up in July, compared with June’s numbers.

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  • Employment-Population Ratio Drops in July

    Employment-Population Ratio Drops in July by Frederick H. Lowe The employment population ratio for black men and black women 20 years old and older dropped in July compared with June, the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Research and Education, reported on Friday.

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  • Juneteenth Foundation Names Board Members

    Juneteenth Foundation Names Board Members by Frederick H. Lowe The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation named two new board members at its recent annual board meeting and convention in Indianapolis.

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  • Drought is Expected to Grow Higher Food Prices

    Drought is Expected to Grow Higher Food Prices Although Americans spend less each week on food than they did in the late 1980s, this summer’s Midwest drought is expected to dramatically increase food prices.

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  • Coalition Sues Pennsylvania Over Voter Materials

    Coalition Sues Pennsylvania Over Voter Materials A coalition of organizations has sued top officials of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in federal court, charging that they have not provided voter-registration materials to welfare recipients in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.

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  • U.S. Rep. Fined $10,000 by Ethics Committee

    U.S. Rep. Fined $10,000 by Ethics Committee by Frederick H. Lowe The U.S. House Ethics Committee has fined U.S. Representative Laura Richardson $10,000 for forcing her congressional staff to work on her re-election campaign and then covering up or altering evidence to thwart an investigation. The committee levied the fine on Aug.

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  • Man Killed in a Cop Car

    Man Killed in a Cop Car Family outraged that police claim the man killed himself (TriceEdneyWire.com) - The FBI is investigating how a 21-year-old black man ended up shot and killed while handcuffed in a Jonesboro, Ark.

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  • Kofi Annan Resigns as Special Envoy to Syria

    Kofi Annan Resigns as Special Envoy to Syria by Frederick H. Lowe Kofi Annan, who announced last Thursday that he is stepping down at the end of August as United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, that the international community was unable to reach a unified plan to resolve the country’s ongoing civil war. “I have made it clear that one of the key ingredients, one of the key, essential attributes for a mediator to succeed in this sort of situation is the unity of the international community,” Annan said.

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  • Haitian Museum Awarded $148,000

    Haitian Museum Awarded $148,000 Congressman Frederica Wilson announced recently that a $148,769 grant had been awarded to the Haitian Heritage Museum, which is located on the outskirts of Miami where the largest number of Haitians live outside of Haiti. The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Washington, D.C.-based federal agency that supports museum and libraries, awarded the grant to the Haitian Heritage Museum.

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  • Black Museums Receive $1.4 Million

    Black Museums Receive $1.4 Million The Institute of Museum and Library Services, a Washington, D.C.-based independent agency that provides financial support to the nation’s museums, last month awarded $1.

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  • DOJ Orders New Orleans Police Reforms

    DOJ Orders New Orleans Police Reforms (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Seven years after a series of high-profile murder cases involving the New Orleans Police Department rocked the nation, the U.S.

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  • Sikh Temple Shooter Was A White Supremacist

    Sikh Temple Shooter Was A White Supremacist Wade Michael Page, who Wisconsin police said murdered six people at a Sikh temple on Sunday before he was killed, was an active member of the white power music scene, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups. Page, a U.S.

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  • Mau Mau Fight Their Way to UK Court

    Mau Mau Fight Their Way to UK Court By Njeri Mbure (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Three elderly Kenyans are in court, seeking compensation and an apology for extreme torture by the British during its colonial rule of Kenya.

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  • Black Justice Coalition Hires Policy Director

    The National Black Justice Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights organization dedicated to empowering the black gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community, has named Michael J.

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  • Lightning Bolt Strikes Again

    Lightning Bolt Strikes Again Usain Bolt successfully defended his 100-meter title on Sunday in the 2012 London Olympic Games, setting an Olympic record of 9.63 seconds, the second-fastest time ever recorded.

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  • Stevie Wonder No Longer Blinded by Love

    Stevie Wonder No Longer Blinded by Love He files for divorce Singer Stevie Wonder is no longer singing to “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”  to his wife, Kai Millard Morris, because they are getting a divorce, according to the TMZ, the entertainment news website. According to divorce papers, Wonder, whose given name is Stevland Morris, cited irreconcilable differences.The couple has lived apart since October 2009.

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  • 2nd Woman Sentenced to Death by Stoning

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Rights groups are demanding a review of the sentence of stoning issued against a 23-year-old Sudanese woman, convicted of adultery. It is the second such case in recent months.

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  • Victories and Stereotypes

    Victories and Stereotypes By Julianne Malveaux (TriceEdneyWire.com) - If you don’t follow Olympic gymnastics, you may not have heard about Gabrielle Douglas before this year.

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  • The NorthStar’s Week in Black History

    The NorthStar’s Week in Black History August 9 through August 15 August 9 1994 ----- The general assembly of the United Nations proclaimed in December 1994 that August 9 was to be the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.

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  • Congressional Black Caucus Loses a Member

    Congressional Black Caucus Loses a Member Conyers wins but Clarke loses in Michigan by Frederick H. Lowe U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Jr., on Tuesday won the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District The Congressional Black Caucus, however, lost a member when U.S.

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  • Steve Harvey's TV Talk Show to Debut

    Steve Harvey's TV Talk Show to Debut Steve Harvey, host of the game show Family Feud, will host an hour-long nationally syndicated talk show originating from Chicago, beginning on Sept. 4, NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution announced on Monday.

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Voters

Activists Challenged to Motivate Voters

By Hazel Trice Edney
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - With black unemployment rates still stuck in double digits while whites’ jobless rates remain consistently below the national average, economic frustration and suffering in the black community is making it difficult for grassroots organizers to motivate people to go to the polls Nov. 6.

“We are in crisis,” says Baltimore Pastor Jamal-Harrison Bryant, whose Empowerment Movement is holding a “Code Red” conference Aug. 15-17 at the Empowerment Temple where he pastors.

“In 2008, we were excited to see a black man running for president,” he said. “But we were so excited by the prospects of a black president that we failed to establish a black agenda.”

Bryant says President Obama is simply “not motivating black people to go to the polls,” and the pastor has found that many who are planning to vote “can’t even articulate why” they will vote for the candidate they’ve chosen.

Blacks turned out for Obama at a record 98 percent four years ago. This time around doesn't appear so certain as the frustration appears pervasive and black leaders are struggling to create a sense of urgency.

Lee Saunders, the first black president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, made it plain before a packed house with hundreds of activists and youths last week at the A. Philip Randolph Institute National Education Conference in Washington, D.C.

“Sisters and brothers, make no mistake about it. We’ve got to work like hell and re-elect Barack Obama as our President in November,” he said. Saying that Mitt Romney has sent jobs to other countries, exploited tax loopholes while refusing to show his tax returns, and wants to give tax breaks to millionaires, Saunders told the applauding audience, “Sisters and brothers we’ve got to make sure that the only way that Mitt Romney gets into that White House is that he stands in that line with everybody else and he’s on a tour.”

Both young and seasoned grassroots activists interviewed at the conference described the uphill battle they face.

“A lot of our young people are actually not real excited about this election,” says Jessica Brown of Tampa, Fla., national field coordinator for Black Youth Vote, a program for the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP). “They feel that there were some things that should have changed or should have happened over the last four years that didn’t, so they really don’t feel the need to get out and vote.”

She says she tries to inspire her youthful peers by telling them that it’s not just about the presidential election but the sentiment also trickles down to state and local leaders. “We really try to teach them about what voting is and bring it home literally to their communities,” she says.

But, their frustration links to real life says, William C. Kellibrew, IV, who manages Black Youth Vote as deputy director of NCBCP. “Young people are out of work right now. You can go to any city and find 50 percent unemployment rate or over 40 percent unemployment rate for young people, so it’s a huge issue, and they’re looking for jobs at this point. So, who’s going to be creating jobs at this point?”

In Florida, with its infamous history of voter disenfranchisement, African-American activists are being creative in their get out to vote efforts.

Salandra Benton, manager of the Unity Campaign in Florida, says other than jobs, a major concern is the number of convicted felons who have not had their voting rights restored.

“We’re also encouraging those people who have felonies and cannot vote to take five [registered] people to the polls to vote,” she said.

The Unity Campaign is a partnership between the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization of African-American trade unionists, and the NCBCP. Letetia Jackson, of Alabama, manager of the Unity Campaign nationally, says the effort is targeting 14 states where African-Americans can make a specific impact.

“We understand that people had high expectations, and there’s still a lot of hurt,” Jackson said. She specifically described black males who have lost jobs and can’t feed their families and the loss of black wealth through the housing foreclosures.

“I don’t think the national agenda is talking about the pain that’s being felt in these communities with our voters, our constituencies, and our people that turned out in such large numbers in 2008 and had such high hopes,” she added.

Despite the positives, such as health-care reform, there is still much to be done Jackson said. Jackson says the Unity Campaign attempts to motivate people by educating them about the alternatives.

“We talk to them about what’s at stake, about the issues, what the alternatives are, how we have to continue the growth and the changes that we started in 2008. It doesn’t end with just one election and let them know really and truly the alternative is so much worse,” she said.

Compounding the voter apathy is the fact that some black pastors have withdrawn their support for Obama because of his support for same-sex marriage, Bryant points out.

The Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the National Black Church Initiative, says his organization has taken an informal poll of approximately 1,000 of its members, and 23 percent say they will not support President Obama because of his support of gay marriage, the slow growth of jobs in the black community and various issues pertaining to his use of the military.

“This is clear evidence that the support for our beloved President Barack Obama is beginning to erode among black churches and black congregants,” Evans says. “Beyond him changing his position on gay marriage I don’t see anything that could turn this tide around.”

But if activists like Jackson have their way, African-Americans will at least go to the polls: “We have to make people understand that while we haven’t gotten everything we needed and everything we wanted, we still have an opportunity to fight and to improve our community. Things are just turning around, so in the midst of things starting to turn around for us, we can’t change the game. We have to stay the course.”

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