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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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  • Activists Challenged to Motivate Voters

    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.

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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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  • 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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U.S. Rep. John Conyers
U. S. Rep. John Conyers, Jr.

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. Rep. Hansen Clarke was defeated for re-election in Michigan's 14th District.

Clarke's loss means that for the first time since the 1960s, Michigan will have only one African-American in Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus, which Conyers helped found in 1971, will also lose one member. Currently, there are 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters defeated Clarke in Michigan's 14th in a battle between incumbents. Clarke faced a tough battle in his district, said Dr. David A. Bositis, senior research associate for Civic Engagement and Governance at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank for Black Elected Officals.

"Members of Congress are most vulnerable in their sophomore year because they have not been around long enough to secure their seats, but they have been in office long enough to make mistakes," said Bositis, adding that Clarke did not make any major blunders. The 14th District also has lost a large percentage of its black population and some black ministers endorsed Peters, who is white, Bositis added. Clarke defeated incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in the Aug. 3, 2010, Democratic primary. Although Clarke is of Bangladeshi descent, he is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Clarke said his mother was black.

U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke
U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke
It was better news for Conyers. He defeated four opponents to win the primary in Michigan's 13th district. 

Conyers, 83, will face Harry Sawicki, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary. The two will face off in the November general election. The mostly Democratic district, however, is expected to send Conyers back to Congress, where he has been a member since 1965. He is the second-most senior member of Congress.

Michigan's 13th Congressional District has a population of 662,563 and is 60.8 percent black. The district includes the east side of Detroit, portions of Detroit's west side and the inner suburbs of River Woods, Harper Woods, Ecorse, Lincoln Park, Wyandotte and Grosse Point, a wealthy suburb of Detroit.

Before the primary, Conyers predicted the race would be a tough fight.

Michigan's population is 14 percent African-American.

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