Man Of Vision

Recent Tragedies Prove that Gun Violence Isn’t Just a Black, Urban Problem – It’s Everyone’s

2006-10-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

This wasn’t supposed to happen here. Then again, this isn’t supposed to happen anywhere.

Two days ago, a one-room schoolhouse, tucked away in the idyllic, grassy folds of Pennsylvania's Amish country, was turned into an execution chamber when a gunman yielded to old demons and shot 10 young Amish girls before killing himself. Five of the girls died.

The week before, another gunman slipped into a Colorado high school, captured six girls and killed one. The siege ended when he killed himself.

Also that week, a student in rural Wisconsin, apparently fed up with being bullied, acted out his frustration on the school principal. He shot him to death.

Predictably, people are, once again, scrambling for answers to deal with this plague of school violence -- the kind that struck terror into the hearts of suburbanites back in 1999 when two social misfits and Nazi admirers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, massacred 12 people at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Psychologists are getting much air time analyzing the patterns of such killers, and security firms are betting on higher stock prices.

But while I, like any other person with a pulse, empathize with those who have been personally touched by the tragedies of school shootings, I can’t offer a solution as much as I can point to a lesson.

That lesson being that isolated, middle-class white communities don’t provide an escape from the gun violence that is used to characterize -- and to stereotype -- black urban communities. And the idea that one can deal with fears of violence by simply moving away from black people is an idea that should have been shot to hell -- pardon the pun -- at least since the Columbine massacre.

It still persists, though.

mish, whose isolation and old-fashioned ways are part of their religion, many of the people who move to places such as Littleton and Bailey, Colorado are part of a new wave of white flight. For this group, fears of crime and its associated pathologies lead them to leave cities when they become too black or Hispanic. So they move to the suburbs and exurbs, where they settle in and vote for George W. Bush.

What they don’t realize, or what they don’t care to realize, is that when they flee and deplete the tax base, the problem that they claim to be escaping becomes worse. Much of the violence, especially the homicides, among young black men is spawned by turf wars over the drug trade -- the only occupation some of them believe is available to them since many of the legitimate jobs have been outsourced to the suburbs or overseas.

But here’s the thing: While black males have higher rates of homicide than white males, we know that much of that problem can be cured by putting energy into creating jobs. We know that much of that problem stems from issues of disrespect and devaluation, not psychosis. Instead of dealing with that, however, many people would rather view it as an inevitable consequence of being poor and black. And so, they move away.

And in doing so, many of them underestimate the propensity for violence in the white people around them.

Notice, for example, how Klebold and Harris, as well as Duane Morrison, the Bailey high school shooter; and Charles Carl Roberts, the Amish school shooter, killed themselves after committing murder. That should draw attention to the fact that white males commit suicide at higher rates than any other group. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, they account for 73 percent of all suicides and 80 percent of all firearm suicides.

But more than that, it should also draw more attention to the fact that suicide is no longer just a personal thing; that now, a white guy with suicidal tendencies and access to a gun might want to take a few people with him.

We’ve seen it happen.

No doubt, the school shootings are tragic. And this column is not an attempt to blame the victims, but a means to get people to see that there is no escape or safe place from gun violence. It is everyone’s problem.

One that could be dealt with if stereotypes weren’t allowed to get in the way.

A `No' vote on Proposal 2 is a vote against discrimination

2006-10-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has long been a defender of the Constitution, and has been at the forefront when civil liberties have been violated or jeopardized. This is particularly true for discrimination, an undeniable wrong. A constant theme in the American narrative is that the civil liberties of the most vulnerable segments of America are traditionally the most at risk, and usually the first to go. Women, people of color and the poor have been the first victims of discrimination, whose civil liberties are categorically eliminated.

Most important, is that discrimination does not exist in a vacuum, and it was not introduced by the advocates of affirmative action and equal opportunity. Rather, those urging our state to vote ``No'' on Proposal 2, the so-called Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), understand that discrimination now and in the past is why we still need affirmative action and equal opportunity programs. The threat against the civil liberties of women and people of color is ultimately a threat to everyone's civil liberties and to the Constitution itself. This is why the ACLU and more than 200 other organizations actively oppose Proposal 2 -- the MCRI.

In his op-ed of Sept. 17, Bruce Stein, although a fine civil libertarian, is dead wrong on this issue. He falsely claims that affirmative action is discrimination, and makes simplistic and ultimately incorrect comparisons between real discrimination, on the basis of race and gender, and affirmative action, one of the best cures for discrimination. Contrary to Bruce's argument, a ``No'' vote in November on Proposal 2 is the quickest way to equality and a color-blind society.

Bruce's argument that affirmative action constitutes discrimination is based on the premise that this country's greatness is founded on meritocracy: a system of advancement based on ability or achievement. However, meritocracy is a myth. It has never existed in this country. There has always been an elite group starting the race for opportunity 50 yards ahead of women, the poor and people of color, who, in turn, have been held back from the starting line by everything from Jim Crow, to the lack of educational equity and parity, and by glass-ceiling sexism.

So clear is the recognition that racism is alive, well and institutionalized here in this community, that its leadership was continuing the fight against it at the Third Annual Summit on Racism held Sept. 22. The notion that we live in a color-blind society, where merit is the only consideration, is not only disingenuous, it is flatly incorrect. For instance, unless women are allowed the ability to compete equally with men, which is what affirmative action provides, they will continue to earn 67 cents for every male dollar, as is the case today in Michigan.

Affirmative action lets women and people of color start the race for opportunity from the same starting line as white males. But from that point on, they are on their own. Whether they finish ahead or behind is where the real measure of merit should be. The students admitted to the University of Michigan; Latino workers employed by Kalamazoo County; women and minorities participating in public contracting as minority owned businesses still must rely on their own achievement and ability to successfully perform.

According to Bruce, and the proponents of Proposal 2, the very programs that try to diversify business, the trades, industry and higher education, where the presence of women and people of color is lacking, qualify as discriminatory. But leading Fortune 500 CEOs and Chambers of Commerce across the state consider affirmative action a business prerequisite, articulating that a diverse and representative workforce is an essential component of any smart business strategy. Our state, currently spiraling economically downward, can ill afford to subscribe to the reactionary lead of a wealthy Californian and his fringe following, and must safeguard affirmative action to attract more jobs into Michigan. Jennifer Granholm and Dick DeVos know this, and both stand against Proposal 2.

The disparity between white America and people of color in Michigan is an undeniable reality and an impediment for real competition in a meritocracy. By condemning people of color for their alleged failure to measure up to a white male is the product of institutional racism that penetrates all walks of life in the country, and whose elimination is the ultimate goal of affirmative action. Americans have never been similarly situated, and laws have long been used as an instrument to perpetuate this inequality. Those Michigan women who earn 67 cents to every dollar earned by men in the same line of work still have to pay the same price for gas, bread and milk. This year's incoming student body class at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), where affirmative action has been abolished since 1996, will only have 96 African-American students (2 percent), the majority of whom are athletes. Yet, African-Americans in California pay the very taxes that fund this great public university.

The ACLU is deeply committed to defeating discrimination, particularly the misleading MCRI banner which seeks to turn the clock back on civil liberties and civil rights in Michigan. Our unbending commitment to equal protection and the Constitution urges us to stand against the MCRI, and urge Michigan voters to vote ``No'' on Proposal 2 in November.

Web donations help cash-strapped schools

2006-10-07T00:11:00.000-07:00

INDIANAPOLIS - Kindergarten teacher Carolyn Freeman gets $170 from her school for classroom supplies each year — a budget quickly drained by basic items like pencils and crayons for her students, more than 80 percent of whom come from low-income families. So when she wanted $300 for phonics materials, Freeman turned to the Internet, where a philanthropic Web site — DonorsChoose.org — is making teachers' wish lists a reality.

The DonorsChoose program has raised more than $8.2 million for school projects since 2000, when it was pioneered by teachers at a public high school in the Bronx borough of New York City. The program has expanded to seven states and four major cities. DonorsChoose officials hope to eventually offer the service to teachers in all states.

Linda Erlinger, executive director of DonorsChoose Chicago and DonorsChoose Indiana, said the program provides a creative outlet for donors who support education causes.

"People want to help schools, but they don't know how," she said. "They're not going to walk over to the neighborhood school and drop off a $100 check. DonorsChoose is a way they can do it at their desk at work or at home with their kids, picking out projects together."

The wish list is long and varied: a karate program in North Carolina, an incubation kit so students can watch chickens hatch in Los Angeles, a classroom Jeopardy game for students in Mississippi, film-making equipment for a Texas school and phonics materials and ballet barres in Indiana.

Supporters say the program is a boon to cash-strapped schools, especially those with high numbers of poor students.

The program also eases the burden on teachers, who often pay for classroom supplies themselves. A 2003 National Education Association survey found that teachers spent an average of $443 of their own money annually.

At Brookside Elementary School in Indianapolis, 95 percent of the students come from lower-income families. Fourth-grade teacher Lisa Wescott received balances and weights through DonorsChoose.

"I wouldn't be doing this science project without it," Wescott said. "The students get excited about the new stuff we get."

Many donors search for projects based on their areas of interest. Sports fans might shell out money to start an after-school running club, while history buffs can support trips to a local museum. Others, like Joe Power, look for projects at their former schools.

Power, who teaches special needs children in Crown Point, donated money for a video camera at his former high school in a poor area of Alabama.

"It made me feel good to be able to give back and know that it went directly to the school," said Power, who contributed less than $1,000.

Even small donations can help, said Suellen Reed, Indiana's superintendent for public instruction.

"There are a lot of people who can't give $500, but they might be able to give $25," Reed said. "Those add up to getting projects done."

In Indiana, 36 projects have been funded so far and a total of $44,000 has been donated.

Officials acknowledge the program isn't a cure-all.

"DonorsChoose doesn't pretend to fix the challenges facing schools," Erlinger said. "But I think it's underestimated how powerful a new set of calculators or a field trip to the children's museum is for children who haven't had that."

Instead of Reducing Spending on Crime Prevention, We Should Be Increasing It

2006-10-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

Federal funding for a program designed to help American schools pay for and implement strategies to prevent school violence has declined significantly over the last five years. President Bush wants to eliminate the program altogether. According to his spokespeople, schools are basically safe. A research study published last year tells a different story.

In 2002, the year the study was conducted, there were 17 murders and five suicides among school-age children at school. In 2003, about 5 percent of students reported they skipped school because they were afraid. These numbers may not seem dramatic -- not at first. But 22 children dying at school in one year is 22 children too many. And no child should have to choose between feeling safe and going to school. With crime going up around the country, it’s safe to assume that some of that violent behavior will spill over onto school grounds. Without funding to run violence prevention programs, how can America keep its children safe?

In 2001, school violence prevention programs received more than $430 million; in 2007, the same program will receive much less; federal budget recommendations indicate only $310 million will be spent. Bush’s people have often said the program was ineffective. It stands to reason that the lack of funds make it difficult to develop effective programs and measure their impact. Under the current funding system, more than half of the country’s school districts receive $10,000 or less per year. That’s much too little to make a difference. While school shootings are a rare occurrence, they do happen. Effective on-campus anger management and conflict resolution programs could reduce those numbers even more, saving precious young lives.

Hate crimes and gangs are a part of everyday life in many American schools. Close to 12 percent of students reported that someone used hate-related words against them at school, and 21 percent of public and private students said street gangs had a presence at their schools. With proper prevention tactics and counseling programs, both perpetrators and victims will be able to move beyond these offenses and focus on their education. Students aren’t the only ones subject to violence on school grounds. Research shoes that there are close to 65,000 violent offenses committed against teachers at school. Our nation’s educators should be able to focus their energy on preparing our kids to succeed in a competitive society, not worrying about their personal safety.

According to the FBI, there were more than 1 million violent crimes reported in 2005, an increase from the previous year. America has the largest prison population in the industrialized world; it makes sense this country would want to prevent crime among young people. Doing so would reduce the prison population, increase the college attendance rates and, ultimately, save the nation billions of dollars. Instead, we continue to spend money on new prisons, and we continue to squander resources on a war that does not appear to have an end in sight.

Congress has managed to keep the program going, despite the president’s push to bury it. By maintaining the program and increasing funding, Congress can show the president that America’s priorities should focus in on its future.

Most Low-Income Parents are Employed, 2006

2006-10-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Despite low levels of unemployment,[1] average household income has declined substantially since 2000.[2] The number of children living in low-income families has continued to rise. Programs that provide supports for low-income, working parents can increase income and child well-being.

Most children in low-income families have parents who are employed full-time and year-round.[3]

55% of children in low-income[4] families—15.6 million—have at least one parent who works full-time and year-round.
26% of children in low-income families—7.3 million—have at least one parent who works part-time or full-time, part-year.
19% of children in low-income families—5.5 million—do not have an employed parent.

Low-income children, by parents’ work status, 2005

Many low-income parents who work part-year or part-time are unable to find full-time, year-round employment.*
The majority (57%) of low-income parents only working full-time for part of the year reported they could not find full-year work.
33% of low-income parents working part-time reported they did so because they could not find full-time work.[5]
Most low-income parents who did not work at all last year were either disabled or taking care of their families.**
Almost half (44%) of low-income parents with no employment reported they were not working because they were taking care of their families.
An additional 31% of low-income parents with no employment reported they were not working because they had an illness or disability that kept them from working.
Low-income parents who work are more likely to be employed in service occupations.
Workers in service occupations are not only likely to have lower earnings and fewer opportunities for full-time employment, but they are also less likely to receive benefits such as health insurance, paid vacation, or holidays.[6]Working parents employed in service occupations, by income level, 2005

Policy ImplicationsPolicy Implications

Public policy can support low-income working parents—and therefore their children—by providing relief from work-related expense (such as child care and transportation), increasing income, and strengthening the safety net for temporary unemployment spells.

Policy strategies include:[7]

Increase wages. Almost one in three employed, low-income parents works in the service industry—jobs that often pay the minimum wage. Two parents working full-time, year-round for the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour earn less than the poverty level for a family of four.[8] The federal minimum wage has not been increased for 9 years. Twenty-two states plus the District of Columbia have a state minimum wage that is higher than the federal one.[9] In the absence of higher wages, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) increases the value of low-wage work and lifts millions of people out of poverty every year.
Help low-income working parents with child care costs. Despite the expansion of child care subsidies in the 1990s, coverage rates remain low, especially for families with incomes above the poverty level. To maintain employment, working parents need affordable, stable arrangements for their children.
Maintain support for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Providing insurance for families who experience the disability or death of a primary breadwinner can provide a safety net for low-income parents and their children. In the Social Security program alone, over 5 million children benefit as dependents of individuals who have died or become disabled, or as members in households that rely on Social Security.[10] For those who do not qualify for Social Security, SSI provides means-tested assistance for disabled adults and children.

Atlanta Football Classic, Empowering the Community through the Youth

2006-10-03T06:09:00.000-07:00

Bringing two storied teams, two world class marching bands, and two extraordinary institutions of higher learning together for a winner take all game is more than enough. Or is it?

There’s more to college football classics than tailgating, rekindling old friendships, and cheering on the old alma mater. Eighteen years ago, a two-year old group of determined Atlanta businessmen started on a path to take one of these annual events and create a resource for empowering the community.

The Bank of America Atlanta Football Classic was founded by the 100 Black Men of Atlanta in 1988 to fund their Project Success program. Project Success is a five pronged program designed to identify, encourage, mentor and educate the youth of metro-Atlanta.

Through the program, the 100 Black Men hope to equip the participants with the tools to become valued contributors to their community. And while the program brochures are draped in glamorous descriptions, it is by no means a small undertaking. The members of the organization not only mentor and provide educational resources but they also commit to paying the college tuition of its graduates.

John T. Grant, Chief Executive Officer of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, estimates the cost for current participants to complete the full program to be about $16 million.

Even with so much on the table not all students fulfill their commitment to the program. “Not many of us took it serious because it was a new program and then too we were too young to realize its value,” explained program graduate Freddie Boss. Boss, an engineer and entrepreneur, was in the first class to complete the first phase of Project Success.

Increased Police Shootings in Atlanta Area Prompt Review of the Department

2006-10-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - A day after he turned 21, Lorenzo Matthews was killed under murky circumstances by suburban Atlanta's DeKalb County police in the department's ninth fatal shooting this year -- more than even New York City has recorded.

The toll has led to an independent review of police training and use-of-force procedures and brought lawsuits and protests in the county, which has both pockets of poverty and some of the most affluent black neighborhoods in America.

"It's imperative that we have a first-rate police department that is adequately funded, adequately trained and made up of experienced officers," said state Sen. David Adelman, who lives in the sliver of Atlanta that is part of DeKalb County.

Already this year, DeKalb County police have killed three times as many people as they did in all of 2005, bucking a national trend of fewer justifiable homicides by officers.

The fatal police shootings in DeKalb County, with a population of 700,000, are more than the six so far this year in New York City and equal to Los Angeles' death toll, even though the nation's largest and second-largest cities have millions more people and thousands more officers.

At the same time, records obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request show that some of the department's required in-service training in the use of deadly force has been reduced, along with instruction in the use of batons.

Interim DeKalb Police Chief Nick Marinelli blamed the killings in part on loose gun laws in the South and more aggressive criminals. One DeKalb officer has been killed this year, shot to death along with a suspect June 29.

"If I really believe you're going to do serious bodily harm to me or that citizen, I'm going to act with a greater force than you are, hopefully, and I win, you lose," Marinelli said.

He suggested that the increase in killings from the year before was part of a cyclical pattern and that the trend will reverse itself.

An AP investigation found that since 2001, the 966-officer DeKalb County Police Department has logged 64 officer-involved shootings, nearly half of which -- 31 -- resulted in a death to a civilian. Of those shootings, all but six were deemed justified by internal investigators, though most this year are still under review.

Nationwide, justifiable killings by officers while on duty declined from 378 in 2001 to 341 last year, according to the FBI, which does not catalog fatal police shootings that are accidents or not justified.

Among the DeKalb killings: On Aug. 24, an officer with three years on the force shot a man who she says charged her in an apartment and tried to take her gun. On May 17, an officer with 11 years of experience shot a man inside a vehicle; the man's girlfriend said he had a gun and was suicidal.

As for Matthews, he was killed Sept. 12 after officers went into an apartment building in search of a man wanted for questioning in an earlier shooting. There is no indication in the police report that Matthews was armed; the police chief has refused to discuss details.

One of the two officers who confronted Matthews was a 17-year department veteran who also had a role in a fatal shooting June 5. That shooting remained under review, but department policy did not prohibit the officer from returning to duty.

Matthews' stepfather, Andre Hatten, said Matthews didn't have a gun.

"He was getting into a little trouble, but never got into any trouble hurting no one," said Hatten, adding that Matthews was excited about the birth of his son weeks earlier.

DeKalb County police reported 75 homicides last year, the most of any county law enforcement agency in Georgia, down from 79 the year before. Rapes, too, were down, though robberies and aggravated assaults have increased, FBI statistics show.

Nearly half the officers involved in the DeKalb shootings had five years or less of experience at the department, agency records show.

DeKalb officers are required to undergo at least 20 hours of continuing training each year. The department's requirements list zero hours this year under "command in service use of force update/firearms" training; four hours were required each of the past five years. One hour of training in use of force with a baton was required for all officers this year, down from two hours last year and three the year before.

DeKalb County Chief Executive Vernon Jones recently asked a consulting firm headed by Lee Brown, a former Houston mayor and drug czar for President Clinton, to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the police training and procedures for the use of deadly force.

"We want to make sure our policies reflect our core values," Jones said.

Jack Levin, a criminologist at Boston's Northeastern University, said improved training and oversight can help reduce police shootings, but they can accomplish only so much.

"Let's face it, sometimes the police are justified in shooting back and sometimes they're not," he said. Also, "no matter how well you train a police force ... you can't rule out the influence of reflex, the influence of instinct."

Education Dept. Improperly Paid $278 Million in Subsidies

2006-09-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

The Education Department improperly paid lender Nelnet Inc. more than $278 million in student-loan subsidies from early 2003 through mid-2005 and should demand repayment of the money, the department's inspector general said in a report released yesterday.

The department erred in awarding payments that gave Nelnet a much higher return than lenders are ordinarily entitled to receive on federally subsidized student loans, the report said.

The type of subsidy Nelnet claimed has long been criticized as a windfall for lenders, and Congress has sought to curtail it because it guaranteed lenders a minimum interest rate on certain loans even when prevailing rates were much lower. If the department does not stop making the improper payments, Nelnet could receive an additional $882 million, the report said.

Nelnet said in a news release that it followed the rules. The company, based in Lincoln, Neb., told investigators that the department paid its bills without objection, according to the report. Nelnet moved loans through a series of transactions to continue claiming they qualified for the subsidy, and it increased the amount of loans for which it sought government payments from about $551 million in early 2003 to about $3.7 billion in mid-2004, the report said.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings "wants a thorough and comprehensive review of the inspector general's report . . . after which the department will make known how it will proceed," department spokeswoman Katherine McLane said.

No Surprise - Skin Tone Study Reveals Preference for Light-Skinned Employees

2006-09-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

No Surprise - Skin Tone Study Reveals Preference for Light-Skinned Employees

A controversial study on skin tone has revealed what many black folks have been whispering about for years: Light-skinned blacks are often more likely to be considered for jobs over dark-skinned blacks.

The University of Georgia’s unprecedented study indicates that dark-skinned blacks face a distinct disadvantage when applying for jobs, even if they have resumes superior to lighter-skinned black applicants.

Matthew Harrison, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, recently presented his research at the 66th annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Atlanta.

"Our results indicate that there appears to be a skin tone preference in regards to job selection," Harrison said in a statement. "This finding is possibly due to the common belief that fair-skinned blacks probably have more similarities with whites than do dark-skinned blacks, which in turn makes whites feel more comfortable around them."

"I think what was most shocking to me was to find that dark-skinned black males with greater credentials were still recommended less -- or seen as less of a candidate -- than light-skinned blacks with worse credentials."

"I think it has a lot to do with the general comfort level that people have with dark-skinned blacks and light-skinned blacks," Harrison said. "The media depicts dark-skinned black men as violent and threatening."

Harrison said he was reminded of the controversial Time magazine cover that featured O.J. Simpson during his murder trial when the magazine darkened Simpson’s image to make him appear more menacing.

"The findings in this study are, tragically, not too surprising," Harrison said.

"We found that a light-skinned black male can have only a bachelor’s degree and typical work experience and still be preferred over a dark-skinned black male with an MBA and past managerial positions, simply because expectations of the light-skinned black male are much higher, and he doesn’t appear as ‘menacing’ as the darker-skinned male applicant," he said.While there have been other studies of effects of "colorism," in American society, the university said, Harrison’s work is the first study designed specifically to examine how it operates in hiring and in the workplace.

In America especially, Harrison says, when people think of race or race relations, they commonly think of black and white. In fact, skin tone differences are responsible for increasing differences in perceptions within standard racially defined groups such as "blacks," he said.

Harrison, who is black, conducted a study that included 240 undergraduate students at the University of Georgia, some of whom participated in the study voluntarily, while others got class credit for their involvement.

Harrison told BlackAmericaWeb.com that many Americans have "general expectations" of dark-skinned blacks and light-skinned blacks.

For example, he said, if blacks were divided into two groups -- group one being factory workers and custodians, and group two being doctors, lawyers and politicians -- most people, he said, would assume group one are dark-skinned blacks and group two are light-skinned blacks.

Harrison said his study validated what black folks have discussed privately for years.

"I think most black people expect that light-skinned blacks would be preferred and hired over dark-skinned blacks," Harrison told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

A disproportionate number of females in the study (72 percent) was due to the high percentage of women majoring in psychology at UGA, according to the university.

The issue of intra-racial relationships among blacks appears to be a popular subject these days.

In Springfield, IL., The Capital City Courier, a black newspaper, recently published a story entitled "Light Skin Blacks vs. Dark Skin Blacks" written by Kim E. Gordon. The article explores the historical and sociological debate about issues relating to black and light black Americans.

"One of the aims of this newspaper is to talk about and raise issues on the items that we talk about in private but don't generally talk about in public," Michael Pittman, editor-in-chief of the Capital City Courier, told BlackNews.com.

"I continue to take the stance that if blacks as a community are going to overcome," he said, "we must be able to confront the issues that sometimes make us uncomfortable."

Meanwhile, Harrison said he was surprised that skin tone was more important than education when employers evaluate job applicants.

"Given the increasing number of biracial and multiracial Americans, more research similar to this study should be performed so that Americans can become more aware of the prevalence of color bias in our society," Harrison said. "The only way we are going to begin to combat some of the inequities that result due to the beliefs and ideologies that are associated with colorism is by becoming more aware of the prejudices we have regarding skin tone due to the images we are exposed to on a regular basis."

Harrison said he hopes his study will help put an end to age-old stereotypes.

"The more we challenge these images and our own belief systems," he said, "the greater the likelihood we will judge an individual by his or her actual merit rather than skin tone."

2006-09-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

"As Americans age, they need more health-care interventions, and primary care is the most cost-effective way to help them maintain their health," Pugno said.

The number of U.S. medical graduates going into family medicine has been falling — by more than 50 percent from 1997 to 2005 — with many young doctors preferring specialties that pay better and offer more control over work hours.

The group scheduled a rally in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, timed to coincide with the release of its workforce report, which estimates the number of family doctors must grow by 39 percent during the next 14 years to keep up with the nation's needs. All states will need more family doctors by 2020, the report says, with Nevada topping the list.

The doctors group wants Congress to increase Medicare payments to family doctors to help ease the shortage, Pugno said. The group also urges voters to question candidates about health care, an issue as important to those polled by the group as the war in

Iraq and terrorism, Pugno said.

There are about 100,000 licensed family doctors in the United States, a number that has been growing slightly because doctors stay in the workforce longer, said Dr. Larry Fields, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

___

Ad agencies look to recruit minorities

2006-09-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK - Why, city officials demanded, were there virtually no black staffers at New York's elite advertising agencies? The year was 1968. Agencies' executives vowed to fix the problem. They didn't. Now, under steady pressure from advocates and the threat of public embarrassment by city officials, they've renewed those promises.

Sixteen of the city's top ad agencies have agreed to recruit more minorities, especially blacks. They'll also diversify senior management and let city officials monitor them for three years.

As Advertising Week 2006 festivities begin, the agreements signed with the city's Human Rights Commission offer a rare glimpse inside one of New York's core industries — and reveal that its work force doesn't look much like the nation.

"This is a big deal — that advertising agencies actually signed written agreements to make these changes," said Burtch Drake, president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. "Will you see an overnight sea change? No. But over time you'll see other cultures integrated into advertising."

About 3 percent of advertising staffers nationally were black in 2005, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor data, with 1.6 percent Asian and 7.5 percent Latino. In upper management, the diversity is virtually nonexistent, data show.

Under the agreements, big agencies including WPP Group PLC's Ogilvy & Mather, Publicis Groupe SA's Saatchi & Saatchi and Draft New York, part of Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc., will devote staffing and resources to finding and keeping more minority staff members. They will set up in-house diversity councils, and executives who meet the new hiring goals will be rewarded accordingly.

"This strategy is deliberate — we really wanted to change things across the board," said Patricia L. Gatling, head of the human rights commission.

Spokesmen for advertising agencies have mostly declined to comment on the issue. Young & Rubicam, a unit of WPP, issued a statement saying the agency "believes that diversity is a business imperative and we are pleased to have come to an agreement with the Human Rights Commission that reinforces our diversity initiatives." Omnicom Group Inc., parent of DDB Worldwide and BBDO Worldwide, has pledged $1.25 million to diversity initiatives within the company and will help establish a new advertising curriculum at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.

Why did the city focus on advertising? It's hardly the only big industry that lacks racial diversity. City officials said it was time to revisit an issue first raised at their hearings in 1968. And Gatling, a former prosecuting attorney, took a tough approach.

And then there's Sanford Moore.

The veteran black advertising guru, 65, for decades wrote letters, staged protests and pushed public officials to highlight the lack of diversity in advertising. Off and on for 13 years, he's also discussed it on his Sunday night talk show, "Open Lines," on WRKS-FM. His on-air name is Charles W. Etheridge III.

The agreements are a result of Moore's determination, said Eugene Morris, president and CEO of E. Morris Communications, a Chicago-based agency specializing in the African-American market.

"He has been a bulldog," said Morris.

Moore conceded: "I'm obstinate. I've kept records on this since 1968." He added, "I call advertising the last bastion of Jim Crow."

The relationships he built through his lobbying with city public officials, including Gatling and City Councilman Larry Seabrook, prompted the Human Rights Commission to begin subpoenaing advertising agencies' staff records in 2004.

Potentially embarrassing public hearings, at which agency executives would likely have faced tough questions during the industry's annual Advertising Week, had been scheduled for Monday. They were canceled after the diversity agreements were announced earlier this month.

Seabrook will hold hearings Tuesday on a related issue: the struggles that black media have getting big clients to advertise with them.

"The advertising issue isn't just about hiring, it's about doing business," Seabrook said, referring to the vast but mostly white industry of artists, writers and smaller ad agencies that subcontract with big agencies. "African Americans participate as consumers — we spend $350 billion a year in this country. But we are not getting our just due."

Earl G. "Butch" Graves Jr., CEO of Black Enterprise Magazine said that some big corporations refuse to court minority consumers, but much of the blame lies with advertising. "They must hire people from top to bottom that look like society. How can an ad agency be charged with having a worldwide assignment for marketing and have all the people in the room be white men?"

Advertising experts say it's tough to find and keep minority ad professionals. Entry-level salaries are around $30,000 a year, likely unappealing to some potential recruits, said Mary Hilton, vice president of public affairs for the American Advertising Federation.

Black students often must be recruited into college advertising programs, said Jerome Williams, an advertising professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Many have never considered it because they know of no blacks in the industry.

Alicia Evans, a black advertising professional, said when she worked at a large, mainstream agency she won raves from clients. But she was never embraced by her mostly white co-workers and supervisors.

"I needed to be mentored," said Evans, president of Total Image Communications a public relations agency in Westbury, N.Y. When you're black, "you're out there on your own."

Seabrook said that, since the advertising agreements have been made public, he's received calls from around the country.

"People say, 'You think advertising is bad, you should come see where I work,'" he said. "The next journey is going to be Wall Street."

Audit: Bush reading program beset by favoritism, mismanagement

2006-09-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

A scorching internal review of the Bush administration's reading program says the Education Department ignored the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted.

The government audit is unsparing in its review of how Reading First, a billion-dollar program each year, that it says has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement. It suggests the department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum schools must use.

It also depicts a program in which review panels were stacked with people who shared the director's views and in which only favored publishers of reading curricula could get money.

In one e-mail, the director told a staff member to come down hard on a company he didn't support, according to the report released Friday by the department's inspector general.

"They are trying to crash our party and we need to beat the (expletive deleted) out of them in front of all the other would-be party crashers who are standing on the front lawn waiting to see how we welcome these dirtbags," the Reading First director wrote, according to the report.

That official, Chris Doherty, is resigning in the coming days, department spokeswoman Katherine McLane said Friday. Asked if his quitting was in response to the report, she said only that Doherty is returning to the private sector after five years at the agency.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, in a statement, pledged to swiftly adopt all of the audit's recommendations. She also pledged a review of every Reading First grant.

"I am concerned about these actions and committed to addressing and resolving them," she said.

Reading First aims to help young children read through scientifically-proven programs, and the department considers it a jewel of No Child Left Behind, Bush's education law. Just this week, a separate review found that the effort is helping schools raise achievement.

But from the start, the program has also been dogged by accusations of impropriety, leading to several ongoing audits. The new report from the Office of Inspector General — an independent arm of the Education Department — calls into question basic matters of credibility.

When the department fails to follow the law and its own guidance, the report says, "it can only serve to undermine the public's confidence in the department."

The ranking Democrat on the House education committee was furious.

"They should fire everyone who was involved in this," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. "This was not an accident, this was not an oversight. This was an intentional effort to corrupt the process."

About 1,500 school districts have received $4.8 billion in Reading First grants

Legal aid program tried to oust auditor

2006-09-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - Directors of the government's legal aid program for the poor secretly debated how to fire the auditor who exposed their expensive meals, use of limousine services and headquarters move to a ritzy neighborhood

Meeting transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show that Legal Services Corp. board members in 2005 and 2006 disparaged Inspector General Kirt West, whose job is to find fraud, waste and abuse.

In private, the board derided West as abusive, a character assassin, a shoddy investigator with a delusional staff and someone with a "fetish" for independence — even though independence is an inspector general's hallmark.

Board members warned themselves to be careful in their actions toward the internal watchdog, fearful that retaliation would anger Congress and jeopardize their federal dollars.

While board members complained among themselves about how much time they spent discussing their watchdog, the corporation said in a public report that the program for free legal help turned away half the applicants for lack of resources.

Some board members expressed their fears of angering Congress, the source of their funding, by leaving the perception they were retaliating against the inspector general who investigated their actions.

Those fears proved accurate when the board was ready to discuss West's status at a meeting in St. Louis last April. Two senators and a House member, who learned the directors had secretly debated firing West in secret meetings, were convinced that the board would take action in the April session.

Just as the directors were ready to convene after lunch, a congressional aide hand-delivered a letter to the board chairman, Atlanta lawyer Frank Strickland.

Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., and Rep. Christopher Cannon, R-Utah, warned Strickland that any attempt to fire West "would be an egregious action in light of the fact that Mr. West is investigating you, the LSC board, as well as your president."

West still has his job.

He conducted an expansive review of spending by board members, who are part-time, and top full-time program executives. According to an Associated Press account in August, some of the questionable spending that West brought to light included:

_$14 "death-by-chocolate" desserts.

_$400 for a car and driver to take Strickland and other officials to attend meetings and functions within cab distance of the Legal Services headquarters.

_$200 taxi rides in Ireland by the Legal Services president, Helaine Barnett, who was attending a conference.

West also reported the corporation was overpaying by as much as $1.8 million on its 10-year lease in its new headquarters in the upscale Georgetown section of Washington. He also found that the corporation could be overpaying by $7 million for unneeded space.

The board's vice chairman, University of Virginia law professor Lillian BeVier, headed the committee that was evaluating the inspector general. According to a transcript of the board's January 2006 meeting, BeVier summed up comments by a board colleague, Baltimore attorney Herbert Garten:

"I mean I understood Herb to say we should basically say 'You're fired,'" said BeVier.

"Yes, that's my opinion," replied Garten, a Baltimore lawyer. But Garten said he agreed with the board chairman on the need for a formal review to establish a record of the watchdog's performance.

BeVier also addressed board member Thomas Meites, a Chicago lawyer.

"You're just willing to ... take the steps to get him removed, as opposed to a probationary period or you've got six months or something," she said. Meites said he, too, agreed with the chairman that "basic fairness" required a formal review that would give the watchdog a chance to defend himself.

BeVier said, "He should know that he's got ... to shape up or we will ship him out." Then Meites said, "I can't tell you how little I want to spend any time with this guy."

West declined comment on the board discussions, as did Strickland, the board chairman. Both are scheduled to testify Tuesday before a House Judiciary subcommittee led by Rep. Cannon.

Garten declined comment. Messages left with Meites were not returned.

BeVier said in an interview the board had not decided whether to fire West and would not have done so at the April meeting.

"What we were trying to do was find a way to make a decision and find out whether impressions some members had were correct" about West's performance, she said.

Cannon has introduced a bill that would require votes of nine of the 11 Legal Services board members to fire the inspector general; a majority is required now.

The Utah Republican said in an interview that any attempt to fire the inspector general was "unseemly," and "the effect will be much harsher scrutiny by Congress on their activities."

"Instead of scapegoating this guy they should be looking at themselves and solving problems," Cannon said.

Added Sen. Grassley: "It looks like the Legal Services Corporation is busy looking for ways to shoot the messenger."

The nonprofit corporation is financed with a $330.8 million congressional appropriation. Most of the money is distributed to 138 nonprofit legal aid organizations across the country that provide free lawyers in certain types of civil cases — including housing, domestic abuse, worker exploitation, divorce, and

Social Security benefits.

___

A Call to Conscience:

2006-09-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

"Where Do We Go From Here?" Annual Report Delivered at the 11^th Convention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

16 August 1967
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr. Abernathy, our distinguished vice president,, fellow delegates to this, the tenth annual session of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, my brothers and sisters from not only all over the South, but from all over the United States of America: ten years ago during the piercing chill of a January day and on the heels of the year-long Montgomery bus boycott, a group of approximately one hundred Negro leaders from across the South assembled in this church and agreed on the need for an organization to be formed that could serve as a channel through which local protest organizations in the South could coordinate their protest activities. It was this meeting that gave birth to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

And when our organization was formed ten years ago, racial segregation was still a structured part of the architecture of southern society. Negroes with the pangs of hunger and the anguish of thirst were denied access to the average lunch counter. The downtown restaurants were still off-limits for the black man. Negroes, burdened with the fatigue of travel, were still barred from the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. Negro boys and girls in dire need of recreational activities were not allowed to inhale the fresh air of the big city parks. Negroes in desperate need of allowing their mental buckets to sink deep into the wells of knowledge were confronted with a firm "no" when they sought to use the city libraries. Ten years ago, legislative halls of the South were still ringing loud with such words as "interposition" and "nullification." All types of conniving methods were still being used to keep the Negro from becoming a registered voter. A decade ago, not a single Negro entered the legislative chambers of the South except as a porter or a chauffeur. Ten years ago, all too many Negroes were still harried by day and haunted by night by a corroding sense of fear and a nagging sense of nobody-ness. (Yeah)

But things are different now. In assault after assault, we caused the sagging walls of segregation to come tumbling down. During this era the entire edifice of segregation was profoundly shaken. This is an accomplishment whose consequences are deeply felt by every southern Negro in his daily life. (Oh yeah) It is no longer possible to count the number of public establishments that are open to Negroes. Ten years ago, Negroes seemed almost invisible to the larger society, and the facts of their harsh lives were unknown to the majority of the nation. But today, civil rights is a dominating issue in every state, crowding the pages of the press and the daily conversation of white Americans. In this decade of change, the Negro stood up and confronted his oppressor. He faced the bullies and the guns, and the dogs and the tear gas. He put himself squarely before the vicious mobs and moved with strength and dignity toward them and decisively defeated them. (Yes) And the courage with which he confronted enraged mobs dissolved the stereotype of the grinning, submissive Uncle Tom. (Yes) He came out of his struggle integrated only slightly in the external society, but powerfully integrated within. This was a victory that had to precede all other gains.

In short, over the last ten years the Negro decided to straighten his back up (Yes), realizing that a man cannot ride your back unless it is bent. (Yes, That’s right) We made our government write new laws to alter some of the cruelest injustices that affected us. We made an indifferent and unconcerned nation rise from lethargy and subpoenaed its conscience to appear before the judgment seat of morality on the whole question of civil rights. We gained manhood in the nation that had always called us "boy." It would be hypocritical indeed if I allowed modesty to forbid my saying that SCLC stood at the forefront of all of the watershed movements that brought these monumental changes in the South. For this, we can feel a legitimate pride. But in spite of a decade of significant progress, the problem is far from solved. The deep rumbling of discontent in our cities is indicative of the fact that the plant of freedom has grown only a bud and not yet a flower.

And before discussing the awesome responsibilities that we face in the days ahead, let us take an inventory of our programmatic action and activities over the past year. Last year as we met in Jackson, Mississippi, we were painfully aware of the struggle of our brothers in Grenada, Mississippi. After living for a hundred or more years under the yoke of total segregation, the Negro citizens of this northern Delta hamlet banded together in nonviolent warfare against racial discrimination under the leadership of our affiliate chapter and organization there. The fact of this non-destructive rebellion was as spectacular as were its results. In a few short weeks the Grenada County Movement challenged every aspect of the society’s exploitative life. Stores which denied employment were boycotted; voter registration increased by thousands. We can never forget the courageous action of the people of Grenada who moved our nation and its federal courts to powerful action in behalf of school integration, giving Grenada one of the most integrated school systems in America. The battle is far from over, but the black people of Grenada have achieved forty of fifty-three demands through their persistent nonviolent efforts.

Slowly but surely, our southern affiliates continued their building and organizing. Seventy-nine counties conducted voter registration drives, while double that number carried on political education and get-out-the-vote efforts. In spite of press opinions, our staff is still overwhelmingly a southern-based staff. One hundred and five persons have worked across the South under the direction of Hosea Williams. What used to be primarily a voter registration staff is actually a multifaceted program dealing with the total life of the community, from farm cooperatives, business development, tutorials, credit unions, etcetera. Especially to be commended are those ninety-nine communities and their staffs which maintain regular mass meetings throughout the year.

Our Citizenship Education Program continues to lay the solid foundation of adult education and community organization upon which all social change must ultimately rest. This year, five hundred local leaders received training at Dorchester and ten community centers through our Citizenship Education Program. They were trained in literacy, consumer education, planned parenthood, and many other things. And this program, so ably directed by Mrs. Dorothy Cotton, Mrs. Septima Clark, and their staff of eight persons, continues to cover ten southern states. Our auxiliary feature of C.E.P. is the aid which they have given to poor communities, poor counties in receiving and establishing O.E.O. projects. With the competent professional guidance of our marvelous staff member, Miss Mew Soong-Li, Lowndes and Wilcox counties in Alabama have pioneered in developing outstanding poverty programs totally controlled and operated by residents of the area.

Perhaps the area of greatest concentration of my efforts has been in the cities of Chicago and Cleveland. Chicago has been a wonderful proving ground for our work in the North. There have been no earth-shaking victories, but neither has there been failure. Our open housing marches, which finally brought about an agreement which actually calls the power structure of Chicago to capitulate to the civil rights movement, these marches and the agreement have finally begun to pay off. After the season of delay around election periods, the Leadership Conference, organized to meet our demands for an open city, has finally begun to implement the programs agreed to last summer.

But this is not the most important aspect of our work. As a result of our tenant union organizing, we have begun a four million dollar rehabilitation project, which will renovate deteriorating buildings and allow their tenants the opportunity to own their own homes. This pilot project was the inspiration for the new home ownership bill, which Senator Percy introduced in Congress only recently.

The most dramatic success in Chicago has been Operation Breadbasket. Through Operation Breadbasket we have now achieved for the Negro community of Chicago more than twenty-two hundred new jobs with an income of approximately eighteen million dollars a year, new income to the Negro community. [Applause] But not only have we gotten jobs through Operation Breadbasket in Chicago; there was another area through this economic program, and that was the development of financial institutions which were controlled by Negroes and which were sensitive to problems of economic deprivation of the Negro community. The two banks in Chicago that were interested in helping Negro businessmen were largely unable to loan much because of limited assets. Hi-Lo, one of the chain stores in Chicago, agreed to maintain substantial accounts in the two banks, thus increasing their ability to serve the needs of the Negro community. And I can say to you today that as a result of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, both of these Negro-operated banks have now more than double their assets, and this has been done in less than a year by the work of Operation Breadbasket. [applause]

In addition, the ministers learned that Negro scavengers had been deprived of significant accounts in the ghetto. Whites controlled even the garbage of Negroes. Consequently, the chain stores agreed to contract with Negro scavengers to service at least the stores in Negro areas. Negro insect and rodent exterminators, as well as janitorial services, were likewise excluded from major contracts with chain stores. The chain stores also agreed to utilize these services. It also became apparent that chain stores advertised only rarely in Negro-owned community newspapers. This area of neglect was also negotiated, giving community newspapers regular, substantial accounts. And finally, the ministers found that Negro contractors, from painters to masons, from electricians to excavators, had also been forced to remain small by the monopolies of white contractors. Breadbasket negotiated agreements on new construction and rehabilitation work for the chain stores. These several interrelated aspects of economic development, all based on the power of organized consumers, hold great possibilities for dealing with the problems of Negroes in other northern cities. The kinds of requests made by Breadbasket in Chicago can be made not only of chain stores, but of almost any major industry in any city in the country.

And so Operation Breadbasket has a very simple program, but a powerful one. It simply says, "If you respect my dollar, you must respect my person." It simply says that we will no longer spend our money where we can not get substantial jobs. [applause]

In Cleveland, Ohio, a group of ministers have formed an Operation Breadbasket through our program there and have moved against a major dairy company. Their requests include jobs, advertising in Negro newspapers, and depositing funds in Negro financial institutions. This effort resulted in something marvelous. I went to Cleveland just last week to sign the agreement with Sealtest. We went to get the facts about their employment; we discovered that they had 442 employees and only forty-three were Negroes, yet the Negro population of Cleveland is thirty-five percent of the total population. They refused to give us all of the information that we requested, and we said in substance, "Mr. Sealtest, we're sorry. We aren't going to burn your store down. We aren't going to throw any bricks in the window. But we are going to put picket signs around and we are going to put leaflets out and we are going to our pulpits and tell them not to sell Sealtest products, and not to purchase Sealtest products."

We did that. We went through the churches. Reverend Dr. Hoover, who pastors the largest church in Cleveland, who's here today, and all of the ministers got together and got behind this program. We went to every store in the ghetto and said, "You must take Sealtest products off of your counters. If not, we're going to boycott your whole store." (That's right) A&P refused. We put picket lines around A&P; they have a hundred and some stores in Cleveland, and we picketed A&P and closed down eighteen of them in one day. Nobody went in A&P. [applause] The next day Mr. A&P was calling on us, and Bob Brown, who is here on our board and who is a public relations man representing a number of firms, came in. They called him in because he worked for A&P, also; and they didn't know he worked for us, too. [laughter] Bob Brown sat down with A&P, and he said, they said, "Now, Mr. Brown, what would you advise us to do." He said, "I would advise you to take Sealtest products off of all of your counters." A&P agreed next day not only to take Sealtest products off of the counters in the ghetto, but off of the counters of every A&P store in Cleveland, and they said to Sealtest, "If you don’t reach an agreement with SCLC and Operation Breadbasket, we will take Sealtest products off of every A&P store in the state of Ohio."

The next day [applause], the next day the Sealtest people were talking nice [laughter], they were very humble. And I am proud to say that I went to Cleveland just last Tuesday, and I sat down with the Sealtest people and some seventy ministers from Cleveland, and we signed the agreement. This effort resulted in a number of jobs, which will bring almost five hundred thousand dollars of new income to the Negro community a year. [applause] We also said to Sealtest, "The problem that we face is that the ghetto is a domestic colony that's constantly drained without being replenished. And you are always telling us to lift ourselves by our own bootstraps, and yet we are being robbed every day. Put something back in the ghetto." So along with our demand for jobs, we said, "We also demand that you put money in the Negro savings and loan association and that you take ads, advertise, in the Cleveland Call & Post, the Negro newspaper." So along with the new jobs, Sealtest has now deposited thousands of dollars in the Negro bank of Cleveland and has already started taking ads in the Negro newspaper in that city. This is the power of Operation Breadbasket. [applause]

Now, for fear that you may feel that it’s limited to Chicago and Cleveland, let me say to you that we've gotten even more than that. In Atlanta, Georgia, Breadbasket has been equally successful in the South. Here the emphasis has been divided between governmental employment and private industry. And while I do not have time to go into the details, I want to commend the men who have been working with it here: the Reverend Bennett, the Reverend Joe Boone, the Reverend J. C. Ward, Reverend Dorsey, Reverend Greer, and I could go on down the line, and they have stood up along with all of the other ministers. But here is the story that's not printed in the newspapers in Atlanta: as a result of Operation Breadbasket, over the last three years, we have added about twenty-five million dollars of new income to the Negro community every year. [applause]

Now as you know, Operation Breadbasket has now gone national in the sense that we had a national conference in Chicago and agreed to launch a nationwide program, which you will hear more about.

Finally, SCLC has entered the field of housing. Under the leadership of attorney James Robinson, we have already contracted to build 152 units of low-income housing with apartments for the elderly on a choice downtown Atlanta site under the sponsorship of Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is the first project [applause], this is the first project of a proposed southwide Housing Development Corporation which we hope to develop in conjunction with SCLC, and through this corporation we hope to build housing from Mississippi to North Carolina using Negro workmen, Negro architects, Negro attorneys, and Negro financial institutions throughout. And it is our feeling that in the next two or three years, we can build right here in the South forty million dollars worth of new housing for Negroes, and with millions and millions of dollars in income coming to the Negro community. [applause]

Now there are many other things that I could tell you, but time is passing. This, in short, is an account of SCLC's work over the last year. It is a record of which we can all be proud.

With all the struggle and all the achievements, we must face the fact, however, that the Negro still lives in the basement of the Great Society. He is still at the bottom, despite the few who have penetrated to slightly higher levels. Even where the door has been forced partially open, mobility for the Negro is still sharply restricted. There is often no bottom at which to start, and when there is there's almost no room at the top. In consequence, Negroes are still impoverished aliens in an affluent society. They are too poor even to rise with the society, too impoverished by the ages to be able to ascend by using their own resources. And the Negro did not do this himself; it was done to him. For more than half of his American history, he was enslaved. Yet, he built the spanning bridges and the grand mansions, the sturdy docks and stout factories of the South. His unpaid labor made cotton "King" and established America as a significant nation in international commerce. Even after his release from chattel slavery, the nation grew over him, submerging him. It became the richest, most powerful society in the history of man, but it left the Negro far behind.

And so we still have a long, long way to go before we reach the promised land of freedom. Yes, we have left the dusty soils of Egypt, and we have crossed a Red Sea that had for years been hardened by a long and piercing winter of massive resistance, but before we reach the majestic shores of the promised land, there will still be gigantic mountains of opposition ahead and prodigious hilltops of injustice. (Yes, That’s right) We still need some Paul Revere of conscience to alert every hamlet and every village of America that revolution is still at hand. Yes, we need a chart; we need a compass; indeed, we need some North Star to guide us into a future shrouded with impenetrable uncertainties.

Now, in order to answer the question, "Where do we go from here?" which is our theme, we must first honestly recognize where we are now. When the Constitution was written, a strange formula to determine taxes and representation declared that the Negro was sixty percent of a person. Today another curious formula seems to declare he is fifty percent of a person. Of the good things in life, the Negro has approximately one half those of whites. Of the bad things of life, he has twice those of whites. Thus, half of all Negroes live in substandard housing. And Negroes have half the income of whites. When we turn to the negative experiences of life, the Negro has a double share: There are twice as many unemployed; the rate of infant mortality among Negroes is double that of whites; and there are twice as many Negroes dying in Vietnam as whites in proportion to their size in the population. (Yes) [applause]

In other spheres, the figures are equally alarming. In elementary schools, Negroes lag one to three years behind whites, and their segregated schools (Yeah) receive substantially less money per student than the white schools. (Those schools) One-twentieth as many Negroes as whites attend college. Of employed Negroes, seventy-five percent hold menial jobs. This is where we are.

Where do we go from here? First, we must massively assert our dignity and worth. We must stand up amid a system that still oppresses us and develop an unassailable and majestic sense of values. We must no longer be ashamed of being black. (All right) The job of arousing manhood within a people that have been taught for so many centuries that they are nobody is not easy.

Even semantics have conspired to make that which is black seem ugly and degrading. (Yes) In Roget's Thesaurus there are some 120 synonyms for blackness and at least sixty of them are offensive, such words as blot, soot, grim, devil, and foul. And there are some 134 synonyms for whiteness and all are favorable, expressed in such words as purity, cleanliness, chastity, and innocence. A white lie is better than a black lie. (Yes) The most degenerate member of a family is the "black sheep." (Yes) Ossie Davis has suggested that maybe the English language should be reconstructed so that teachers will not be forced to teach the Negro child sixty ways to despise himself, and thereby perpetuate his false sense of inferiority, and the white child 134 ways to adore himself, and thereby perpetuate his false sense of superiority. [applause] The tendency to ignore the Negro's contribution to American life and strip him of his personhood is as old as the earliest history books and as contemporary as the morning's newspaper. (Yes)

To offset this cultural homicide, the Negro must rise up with an affirmation of his own Olympian manhood. (Yes) Any movement for the Negro's freedom that overlooks this necessity is only waiting to be buried. (Yes) As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. (Yes) Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery. No Lincolnian Emancipation Proclamation, no Johnsonian civil rights bill can totally bring this kind of freedom. The Negro will only be free when he reaches down to the inner depths of his own being and signs with the pen and ink of assertive manhood his own emancipation proclamation. And with a spirit straining toward true self-esteem, the Negro must boldly throw off the manacles of self-abnegation and say to himself and to the world, "I am somebody. (Oh yeah) I am a person. I am a man with dignity and honor. (Go ahead) I have a rich and noble history, however painful and exploited that history has been. Yes, I was a slave through my foreparents (That’s right), and now I’m not ashamed of that. I'm ashamed of the people who were so sinful to make me a slave." (Yes sir) Yes [applause], yes, we must stand up and say, "I'm black (Yes sir), but I'm black and beautiful." (Yes) This [applause], this self-affirmation is the black man's need, made compelling (All right) by the white man's crimes against him. (Yes)

Now another basic challenge is to discover how to organize our strength in to economic and political power. Now no one can deny that the Negro is in dire need of this kind of legitimate power. Indeed, one of the great problems that the Negro confronts is his lack of power. From the old plantations of the South to the newer ghettos of the North, the Negro has been confined to a life of voicelessness (That’s true) and powerlessness. (So true) Stripped of the right to make decisions concerning his life and destiny he has been subject to the authoritarian and sometimes whimsical decisions of the white power structure. The plantation and the ghetto were created by those who had power, both to confine those who had no power and to perpetuate their powerlessness. Now the problem of transforming the ghetto, therefore, is a problem of power, a confrontation between the forces of power demanding change and the forces of power dedicated to the preserving of the status quo. Now, power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, and economic change. Walter Reuther defined power one day. He said, "Power is the ability of a labor union like UAW to make the most powerful corporation in the world, General Motors, say, 'Yes' when it wants to say 'No.' That's power." [applause]

Now a lot of us are preachers, and all of us have our moral convictions and concerns, and so often we have problems with power. But there is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly.

You see, what happened is that some of our philosophers got off base. And one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites, polar opposites, so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love. It was this misinterpretation that caused the philosopher Nietzsche, who was a philosopher of the will to power, to reject the Christian concept of love. It was this same misinterpretation which induced Christian theologians to reject Nietzsche's philosophy of the will to power in the name of the Christian idea of love.

Now, we got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. (Yes) Power at its best [applause], power at its best is love (Yes) implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love. (Speak) And this is what we must see as we move on.

Now what has happened is that we've had it wrong and mixed up in our country, and this has led Negro Americans in the past to seek their goals through love and moral suasion devoid of power, and white Americans to seek their goals through power devoid of love and conscience. It is leading a few extremists today to advocate for Negroes the same destructive and conscienceless power that they have justly abhorred in whites. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our times. (Yes)

Now we must develop progress, or rather, a program—and I can't stay on this long—that will drive the nation to a guaranteed annual income. Now, early in the century this proposal would have been greeted with ridicule and denunciation as destructive of initiative and responsibility. At that time economic status was considered the measure of the individual's abilities and talents. And in the thinking of that day, the absence of worldly goods indicated a want of industrious habits and moral fiber. We've come a long way in our understanding of human motivation and of the blind operation of our economic system. Now we realize that dislocations in the market operation of our economy and the prevalence of discrimination thrust people into idleness and bind them in constant or frequent unemployment against their will. The poor are less often dismissed, I hope, from our conscience today by being branded as inferior and incompetent. We also know that no matter how dynamically the economy develops and expands, it does not eliminate all poverty.

The problem indicates that our emphasis must be twofold: We must create full employment, or we must create incomes. People must be made consumers by one method or the other. Once they are placed in this position, we need to be concerned that the potential of the individual is not wasted. New forms of work that enhance the social good will have to be devised for those for whom traditional jobs are not available. In 1879 Henry George anticipated this state of affairs when he wrote in Progress and Poverty:

The fact is that the work which improves the condition of mankind, the work which extends knowledge and increases power and enriches literature and elevates thought, is not done to secure a living. It is not the work of slaves driven to their tasks either by the, that of a taskmaster or by animal necessities. It is the work of men who somehow find a form of work that brings a security for its own sake and a state of society where want is abolished.

Work of this sort could be enormously increased, and we are likely to find that the problem of housing, education, instead of preceding the elimination of poverty, will themselves be affected if poverty is first abolished. The poor, transformed into purchasers, will do a great deal on their own to alter housing decay. Negroes, who have a double disability, will have a greater effect on discrimination when they have the additional weapon of cash to use in their struggle.

Beyond these advantages, a host of positive psychological changes inevitably will result from widespread economic security. The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the assurance that his income is stable and certain, and when he knows that he has the means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts between husband, wife, and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth on a scale of dollars is eliminated.

Now, our country can do this. John Kenneth Galbraith said that a guaranteed annual income could be done for about twenty billion dollars a year. And I say to you today, that if our nation can spend thirty-five billion dollars a year to fight an unjust, evil war in Vietnam, and twenty billion dollars to put a man on the moon, it can spend billions of dollars to put God's children on their own two feet right here on earth. [applause]

Now, let me rush on to say we must reaffirm our commitment to nonviolence. And I want to stress this. The futility of violence in the struggle for racial justice has been tragically etched in all the recent Negro riots. Now, yesterday, I tried to analyze the riots and deal with the causes for them. Today I want to give the other side. There is something painfully sad about a riot. One sees screaming youngsters and angry adults fighting hopelessly and aimlessly against impossible odds. (Yeah) And deep down within them, you perceive a desire for self-destruction, a kind of suicidal longing. (Yes)

Occasionally, Negroes contend that the 1965 Watts riot and the other riots in various cities represented effective civil rights action. But those who express this view always end up with stumbling words when asked what concrete gains have been won as a result. At best, the riots have produced a little additional anti-poverty money allotted by frightened government officials and a few water sprinklers to cool the children of the ghettos. It is something like improving the food in the prison while the people remain securely incarcerated behind bars. (That’s right) Nowhere have the riots won any concrete improvement such as have the organized protest demonstrations.

And when one tries to pin down advocates of violence as to what acts would be effective, the answers are blatantly illogical. Sometimes they talk of overthrowing racist state and local governments and they talk about guerrilla warfare. They fail to see that no internal revolution has ever succeeded in overthrowing a government by violence unless the government had already lost the allegiance and effective control of its armed forces. Anyone in his right mind knows that this will not happen in the United States. In a violent racial situation, the power structure has the local police, the state troopers, the National Guard, and finally, the army to call on, all of which are predominantly white. (Yes) Furthermore, few, if any, violent revolutions have been successful unless the violent minority had the sympathy and support of the non-resisting majority. Castro may have had only a few Cubans actually fighting with him and up in the hills (Yes), but he would have never overthrown the Batista regime unless he had had the sympathy of the vast majority of Cuban people. It is perfectly clear that a violent revolution on the part of American blacks would find no sympathy and support from the white population and very little from the majority of the Negroes themselves.

This is no time for romantic illusions and empty philosophical debates about freedom. This is a time for action. (All right) What is needed is a strategy for change, a tactical program that will bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible. So far, this has only been offered by the nonviolent movement. Without recognizing this we will end up with solutions that don't solve, answers that don't answer, and explanations that don't explain. [applause]

And so I say to you today that I still stand by nonviolence. (Yes) And I am still convinced [applause], and I'm still convinced that it is the most potent weapon available to the Negro in his struggle for justice in this country.

And the other thing is, I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. (That’s right) And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. (Yes) Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. (That's right) Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. (All right, That’s right) Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that. [applause]

And I say to you, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems. (Yes) And I'm going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn't popular to talk about it in some circles today. (No) And I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. (Yes) For I have seen too much hate. (Yes) I've seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. (Yeah) I've seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. (Yes, That’s right) I have decided to love. [applause] If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we aren't moving wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. (Yes) He who hates does not know God, but he who loves has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.

And so I say to you today, my friends, that you may be able to speak with the tongues of men and angels (All right); you may have the eloquence of articulate speech; but if you have not love, it means nothing. (That's right) Yes, you may have the gift of prophecy; you may have the gift of scientific prediction (Yes sir) and understand the behavior of molecules (All right); you may break into the storehouse of nature (Yes sir) and bring forth many new insights; yes, you may ascend to the heights of academic achievement (Yes sir) so that you have all knowledge (Yes sir, Yes); and you may boast of your great institutions of learning and the boundless extent of your degrees; but if you have not love, all of these mean absolutely nothing. (Yes) You may even give your goods to feed the poor (Yes sir); you may bestow great gifts to charity (Speak); and you may tower high in philanthropy; but if you have not love, your charity means nothing. (Yes sir) You may even give your body to be burned and die the death of a martyr, and your spilt blood may be a symbol of honor for generations yet unborn, and thousands may praise you as one of history's greatest heroes; but if you have not love (Yes, All right), your blood was spilt in vain. What I'm trying to get you to see this morning is that a man may be self-centered in his self-denial and self-righteous in his self-sacrifice. His generosity may feed his ego, and his piety may feed his pride. (Speak) So without love, benevolence becomes egotism, and martyrdom becomes spiritual pride.

I want to say to you as I move to my conclusion, as we talk about "Where do we go from here?" that we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. (Yes) There are forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question, "Why are there forty million poor people in America?" And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. (Yes) And I'm simply saying that more and more, we've got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life's marketplace. (Yes) But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. (All right) It means that questions must be raised. And you see, my friends, when you deal with this you begin to ask the question, "Who owns the oil?" (Yes) You begin to ask the question, "Who owns the iron ore?" (Yes) You begin to ask the question, "Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that's two-thirds water?" (All right) These are words that must be said. (All right)

Now, don't think you have me in a bind today. I'm not talking about communism. What I'm talking about is far beyond communism. (Yeah) My inspiration didn't come from Karl Marx (Speak); my inspiration didn't come from Engels; my inspiration didn't come from Trotsky; my inspiration didn't come from Lenin. Yes, I read Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital a long time ago (Well), and I saw that maybe Marx didn't follow Hegel enough. (All right) He took his dialectics, but he left out his idealism and his spiritualism. And he went over to a German philosopher by the name of Feuerbach, and took his materialism and made it into a system that he called "dialectical materialism." (Speak) I have to reject that.

What I'm saying to you this morning is communism forgets that life is individual. (Yes) Capitalism forgets that life is social. (Yes, Go ahead) And the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism, but in a higher synthesis. (Speak) [applause] It is found in a higher synthesis (Come on) that combines the truths of both. (Yes) Now, when I say questioning the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. (All right) These are the triple evils that are interrelated.

And if you will let me be a preacher just a little bit. (Speak) One day [applause], one night, a juror came to Jesus (Yes sir) and he wanted to know what he could do to be saved. (Yeah) Jesus didn't get bogged down on the kind of isolated approach of what you shouldn't do. Jesus didn't say, "Now Nicodemus, you must stop lying." (Oh yeah) He didn't say, "Nicodemus, now you must not commit adultery." He didn't say, "Now Nicodemus, you must stop cheating if you are doing that." He didn't say, "Nicodemus, you must stop drinking liquor if you are doing that excessively." He said something altogether different, because Jesus realized something basic (Yes): that if a man will lie, he will steal. (Yes) And if a man will steal, he will kill. (Yes) So instead of just getting bogged down on one thing, Jesus looked at him and said, "Nicodemus, you must be born again." [applause]

In other words, "Your whole structure (Yes) must be changed." [applause] A nation that will keep people in slavery for 244 years will "thingify" them and make them things. (Speak) And therefore, they will exploit them and poor people generally economically. (Yes) And a nation that will exploit economically will have to have foreign investments and everything else, and it will have to use its military might to protect them. All of these problems are tied together. (Yes) [applause]

What I'm saying today is that we must go from this convention and say, "America, you must be born again!" [applause] (Oh yes)

And so, I conclude by saying today that we have a task, and let us go out with a divine dissatisfaction. (Yes)

Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds. (All right)

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. (Yes sir)

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until those who live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security.

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history (Yes), and every family will live in a decent, sanitary home.

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality integrated education.

Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity.

Let us be dissatisfied (All right) until men and women, however black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not on the basis of the color of their skin. (Yeah) Let us be dissatisfied. [applause]

Let us be dissatisfied (Well) until every state capitol (Yes) will be housed by a governor who will do justly, who will love mercy, and who will walk humbly with his God.

Let us be dissatisfied [applause] until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. (Yes)

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together (Yes), and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid.

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes), and men will recognize that out of one blood (Yes) God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth. (Speak sir)

Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout, "White Power!" when nobody will shout, "Black Power!" but everybody will talk about God's power and human power. [applause]

And I must confess, my friends (Yes sir), that the road ahead will not always be smooth. (Yes) There will still be rocky places of frustration (Yes) and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. (Yes) And there will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. (Well) Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. (Yes) We may again, with tear-drenched eyes, have to stand before the bier of some courageous civil rights worker whose life will be snuffed out by the dastardly acts of bloodthirsty mobs. (Well) But difficult and painful as it is (Well), we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. (Well) And as we continue our charted course, we may gain consolation from the words so nobly left by that great black bard, who was also a great freedom fighter of yesterday, James Weldon Johnson (Yes):

Stony the road we trod (Yes),

Bitter the chastening rod

Felt in the days

When hope unborn had died. (Yes)

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place

For which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way

That with tears has been watered. (Well)

We have come treading our paths

Through the blood of the slaughtered.

Out from the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last (Yes)

Where the bright gleam

Of our bright star is cast.

Let this affirmation be our ringing cry. (Well) It will give us the courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. (Yes) When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair (Well), and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights (Well), let us remember (Yes) that there is a creative force in this universe working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil (Well), a power that is able to make a way out of no way (Yes) and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. (Speak)

Let us realize that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Let us realize that William Cullen Bryant is right: "Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again." Let us go out realizing that the Bible is right: "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. (Oh yeah) Whatsoever a man soweth (Yes), that (Yes) shall he also reap." This is our hope for the future, and with this faith we will be able to sing in some not too distant tomorrow, with a cosmic past tense, "We have overcome! (Yes) We have overcome! Deep in my heart, I did believe (Yes) we would overcome." [applause]

National Youth Employment Coalition

2006-09-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL YOUTH EMPLOYMENT COALITION?

Vision
The National Youth Employment Coalition envisions a nation in which every young person is assured the full range of educational, developmental, vocational, economic and social opportunities, supports, and services s/he may need to become a productive and self-sufficient worker, taxpayer, parent, and citizen.

Mission
The National Youth Employment Coalition improves the effectiveness of organizations that seek to help youth become productive citizens.

Toward this end, the NYEC:

Core Values
The 285+ member organizations that make up the NYEC are linked by a set of shared core values about youth, youth work, and the organizations, schools, and systems that serve youth. The NYEC’s members represent a broad range of organizations, including direct service providers, public agencies, national organizations with networks of affiliates, research and policy organizations, and technical assistance providers.

Our core values reflect a collective belief in access, opportunity, equity, and quality. These values recognize youth as resources, the significance of the youth work field, and the critical importance of work as a development tool:

We believe in the integrity, abilities, and the potential of our nation’s youth and that all work has value that can assist youth in their development.

We believe in the youth we guide and serve, enabling them as leaders and learners who are instrumental in their own development. We believe that young people are entitled to respect and adult advocacy on their behalf.

We believe that all youth-serving programs and institutions must consciously and continuously work to open doors to opportunity and access, preparing youth to confront and to overcome the persistent barrier of institutional racism.

We believe in building communities of learning and effective practice among youth, between youth and adults, and among various professional fields.

We believe that policy informed by proven practice is instrumental for ongoing innovation and change.

OUR CORE BUSINESS

The NYEC offers a range of projects, programs, and activities that fall into one of four areas of core business:

Set and Promote Quality Standards

The NYEC sets standards of effective practice that reflect a blending of the principles, standards, and practices that have emerged from three fields of practice: youth development, workforce development, and education. These standards are grounded in both the latest research and exemplary practice, and are widely accepted and adopted. The NYEC promotes standards of effective practice by sharing them with youth-serving systems, agencies, organizations, and programs across the nation.

Build and Increase Organizational Capacity

The NYEC builds and increases the capacity of youth serving organizations, programs, and systems. The NYEC develops, identifies, distills, and creates accessible tools, resources, information, and research to communicate proven strategies that are responsive to the needs of youth serving organizations, practitioners, and the youth they serve. The NYEC also convenes youth work professionals to share and to learn about effective practices and to network with colleagues from across the nation.

Provide and Support Professional Development

The NYEC promotes and informs the development of the youth work profession and provides professional development opportunities for emerging leaders in the fields of youth development, workforce development, and education.

Track, Craft, and Influence Policy

The NYEC tracks youth policy to inform its members about current developments, emerging issues, and the implications for their work. The NYEC works closely with policymakers to craft legislation and policies informed by practice. The NYEC influences policy and legislation by mobilizing its grassroots membership and through direct advocacy.

NYEC Blends Three Fields of Practice: Youth Development, Workforce

Despite the Obstacles, Providing Quality Public Education Isn’t Rocket Science

2006-09-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

The California state superintendent of public education recently released the latest results of the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program. STAR is composed of four tests designed to measure the proficiency of students in math and English.

The good news is that 50 percent of English learners -- those for whom English is a second -– rated as proficient or above in English and 43 percent in math. The bad news is that overall, only 42 percent of California students scored proficient or higher in English and 40 percent in mathematics. Worse still is the revelation that only 29 percent of black students scored at the proficient or advanced level in English and only 24 percent in math.

I’ll pause a moment so the weight of that information can sink in.

Fifty percent of students for whom English is a second language scored proficient or advanced in English, while only 29 percent of black students were proficient in their native tongue.

The tone of the news release, however, was rather optimistic. I imagine there is a certain “glass as half full” way to look at this. Students of every ethnic and economic group are making steady gains. The overall scores were two percent higher than last year, and one could argue that 50 percent of English learners scoring well is proof that our public schools are doing something correctly. Of course, one could also make the argument that if our education system were really firing on all cylinders, the scores of English learners might be even higher.

Certainly, it is a stretch to apply such optimism to the scores of black children, which are dismal from any vantage point. I can, therefore, only marvel at the lack of shame exhibited by the California Department of Education. Rather than hang their heads in shame at such a colossal failure, they suggest we look on the bright side, and then have the gall to ask for more money. The state of California currently spends more than $60 billion per year to educate 6 million students (more than $11,000 per student), and the average teacher salary is the highest in the nation. Exactly how much does it cost to have at least half the students proficient in math and reading, and exactly when can black parents expect a better return on their investment?

The recipe for the successful education of children requires four key ingredients: high standards, a focus on the basics, leaders empowered to mold the culture and personality of their schools and, most importantly, accountability to parents. Add students and incubate for 12 years until finished.

Amistad Academy, a charter school in New Haven, Connecticut, has used this recipe with terrific results. The students, chosen from the regular student population by lottery, are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic. They enter the academy with the same low scores as their peers and exit scoring above the state averages. What is more, they are confident and enthusiastic about learning. At Amistad, it’s cool to be smart.

Amistad is not unique. There are schools like this in every city across the nation. What they all have in common is they expect children to master difficult material. There is precious little time for excuses because they are too busy studying math, drilling English grammar and usage, reading classic literature and discovering the mysteries of science. Principals are free to cultivate the culture of their schools, instilling a sense of pride and enthusiasm amongst the students. Many have been given the power to hand-select their staffs, hiring and firing teachers based on the teachers’ performance in the classroom. Most importantly, these school leaders work with and are accountable to parents, who work hand in hand with educators to ensure that students are reaching their potential. And they all manage to do it on a shoestring budget.

The children of California are not to blame for their dismal performance on STAR. These kids are not failing; the education system is failing them. There is no monopoly on brainpower! All kids -- black and white, rich and poor -- are capable of proficiency in English and math if challenged to do so and provided the tools.

Education is not rocket science. That is a lesson it is time the education establishment learned.

The Justice Department’s Conservative Bend Has Meant More Politics, Less Justice

2006-09-20T04:58:00.000-07:00

Give Chip Burris his props for trying to light a fire at the Justice Department -- one that may heat up a passion for resolving cases of racist atrocities cooled by time and indifference.

Burris is assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division. He recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was so shocked by the 1946 slayings of George and Mae Dorsey and Roger and Dorothy Malcom, two black couples who were dragged from their cars by a racist mob in rural Georgia and shot more than 60 times, that he ordered the bureau’s field offices to search the files for more such unsolved cases.

Burris says that there may be about 35 to 50 cases of other racial killings, mostly in the South, that have never been solved. So Congress is now weighing whether to create a cold case unit at the department that would reopen cases from the civil rights era.

Yet Burris admits that most of the cases probably won’t be brought to closure. Too many witnesses and suspects are now dead or close to it. For example, in the case of the 1951 Christmas Day firebomb slayings of Florida NAACP field secretary Harry Moore and his wife, Harriette, the four white men who were ultimately charged in the slaying as the result of one suspect’s deathbed confession had already died and gone to hell by the time the case was closed.

Not only that, much of the evidence is gone. In the case of the most sadistic lynchings, key identifying body parts such as fingers can’t be found because mobs took them as souvenirs.

Still, Burris says, the cases need to be reopened because justice can’t forget. And he’s right. But while it’s important for the department to not forget past injustices, it’s even more important for it to not contribute to an atmosphere that once put black people far beyond the protection of any laws.

But right now, at least when it comes to civil rights, it appears that this administration has been on a steady march toward doing exactly that.

When George W. Bush came to the White House in 2000, one of his first acts was to appoint John Ashcroft, a neo-Confederate sympathizer, as his attorney general. Here is a guy who praised a group with members who defend slavery and other justifications for keeping black people in their places, yet Bush saw fit to make him the nation’s top cop.

How chilling.

Ashcroft, of course, has since left. But his legacy remains. Now 42 percent of the department’s lawyers hired since 2003 are grounded more in conservatism than in civil rights.

Two years before that, 77 percent of the newly hired lawyers had civil rights backgrounds, according to the Boston Globe.

What’s more is that the department’s voting rights, employment litigation and appellate sections employ at least 11 lawyers who were members of the Federalist Society -- an ultraconservative legal society that has never liked the 1954 Brown school desegregation decision, and one that passionately touts the rightness of state’s rights.

Problem is, there was a time when state’s rights were all wrong -- when states like Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama believed that it was their right to kill black people like the Dorseys, the Malcoms and the Moores when they got too uppity. Had the country waited for the racist governments in those states to come to Jesus, a whole lot more black people would have gone to Jesus by then.

Then last year, higher-ranking department officials overruled veteran staff lawyers who recommended that Georgia’s voter identification law -- a law that could disproportionately hurt voters who may not be able to obtain photo IDs but ignores fraud in absentee voting -- be rejected because it would discriminate against black voters. Keep in mind that this law that had already been rejected by a U.S. District Court judge who likened it to a Jim Crow era poll tax and a three-judge appellate panel.

It’s hard not to see some backsliding in all of that.

Of course, I can’t blame Burris for that. He’s just trying to get the ball rolling on solving some unsolved murders. That’s good -- if for no reason other than to get closure for the families of the victims and to further force this country come to terms with its own terrorist past.

Yet and still, this Justice Department shouldn’t be allowed to glean a disproportionate amount of credit for opening past cases of racial slayings that are, in all likelihood, never going to be solved as it continues on a march to erode civil rights today.

And as it continues to snuff out black people’s voices with those who are bent on twisting the law -- instead of a rope -- around their necks.

MLK

2006-09-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

Martin L. King 16 August 1967 Atlanta, Georgia -10th Annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Operation Breadbasket-very simple program but powerful. If you respect my dollar, you must respect my person. Where do we go from here?

MEN

2006-09-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other;they don't know each other because they cannot communicate; they cannot communicate because they are separated.

REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR 1968

STILL TRUE TODAY

Jim Crow Laws are Still on the Books

2006-09-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

At first glance, the action of white school bus driver Delores Davis in Coushatta, Louisiana seemed so preposterous that many took it as a sick joke.

Davis made national news recently when she ordered a dozen black children to the back of her school bus, igniting a firestorm of parent protest and rage. A shamed and embarrassed Red River Parish school board backpedaled fast and suspended Davis, promised an investigation and ordered retraining for all bus drivers. Most chalked Davis’ silly, mindless act up to a bad case of one person’s insensitivity or just plain stupidity, claiming that it could only happen in a small, backwash town as Coushatta. That’s hardly a sign that Jim Crow segregation is alive again, they say.

The bitter truth is that it never totally died. The popular myth is that the 1964 civil rights bill and the torrent of voting rights laws, affirmative action rulings, state and federal court decisions and anti-discrimination lawsuits over the years swept all segregation laws into history’s dustbin. They didn’t. Three years after the 1964 civil rights bill ostensibly made legal segregation illegal, Southern cities tried to sneak laws onto the books upholding segregation.

Sarasota, Florida, for instance, passed a city ordinance that authorized the police to arrest interracial bathers at the city’s beaches. Though the Supreme Court outlawed miscegenation laws in dozens of states, some states kept the laws on the books for decades after. It took a voter referendum in Alabama in 2000 to repeal the state’s anti-interracial marriage law. And even then, 40 percent of the voters backed theSix years later, Alabama and nearly 10 other states keep Jim Crow laws on their books. Not all the states are in the South and, despite public embarrassment and repeated demands to cleanse the books of them, state legislators and even voters have resisted taking any action. While the laws are unenforceable, they aren’t laughable, antique relics of a long buried racial past. They insult and degrade and have had -- and still have -- a corrosive affect on law and public policy. In Georgia, teachers that taught at once-segregated private schools are eligible to collect state pensions, and as far as we know, many of them are.

In Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia school officials can close integrated schools. Teachers in Louisiana that are jailed for opposing integrated schools can collect their full salaries. In South Carolina, students that attend segregated public schools can get state and presumably federally supported tuition. Missouri designates a segregated reform school as a school for “Negroes.” And West Virginia law limits the number of blacks that can be hired as school supervisors.

There are almost certainly more such laws tucked away in the back of state statute books.

The time-worn laws have defied countless efforts to get rid of them. The general consensus is that since they can’t be enforced, why bother with them? In Alabama, when a majority of white voters rejected repeal of the state’s school segregation law in 2004, repeal opponents screamed that the issue wasn’t race, but money -- that it would cost the state millions in tax hikes to improve the schools. The Alabama Legislative Black Caucus pounded on the legislator to repeal the law. But that went nowhere. Two years later, there is no indication that state lawmakers are any more inclined to dump the law.

Even when state officials purge the old segregation laws from the books, they downplay their action as symbolic or merely righting a moral wrong. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue called it “a symbolic gesture” when he signed legislation in 2005 that repealed four Jim Crow laws.

They’re more -- much more -- than that. Following the Supreme Court’s Brown school desegregation decision in 1954, a wave of private, whites-only academies sprang up throughout the South and other places. State legislators passed laws that turned over public land and public buildings for the schools. That was a naked taxpayer giveaway to maintain segregation. Some of the schools are still in business, though not officially segregated, and that means that taxpayers in those states are still subsidizing them.

Georgia is one of them. The state still must shell out millions in tax dollars to pay for pensions and benefits to teachers that taught at once-private, segregated schools. Perdue and Georgia legislators did not repeal the law that required those payments.

The known and unknown Jim Crow laws that are still on the books and the reluctance, refusal and downright resistance of state legislators and many voters to dump them are more than a hideous reminder of America’s shameful racial past. They are a dangerous warning that at least part of that racial past is still alive and well and continues to impact law and public policy in many states. The laws are far more hurtful and insulting than anything that Delores Davis did.

?

2006-08-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther King asked a question in 1967

Where do we go from here?

Now

2006-08-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

The society in which we live is about the here and now however we need to begin to think of tomorrow as we get older what will become of us?

Time

2006-08-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

Time is both good and bad depending on what we do with it. There should always be something positive we are doing with our time or it is just wasted.

Life

2006-08-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

One word-LIFE

One Day

2006-08-22T06:38:00.000-07:00

One day I will grow old, one day we all will die, it will be then what you have done with your life will be revealed. Do something with your life.