special supplement february 2019
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ASALH Announces 2019 Black History Theme, Black Migrations
DR. CARTER G. WOODSON The Father of Black History Month, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, was born in1875 near New Canton, VA. He was the son of former slaves. In 1907, he obtained his BA degree from the University of Chicago. In 1912, he received his PhD from Harvard University. In 1915, he and friends established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. A year later, the Journal of Negro History, began quarterly publication. In 1926, Woodson proposed and launched the annual February observance of “Negro History Week,” which became “Black History Month” in 1976. It is said that he chose February for the observance because February 12th was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and February 14th was the accepted birthday of Frederick Douglass. Dr. Woodson was the founder of Associated Publishers, the founder and editor of the Negro History Bulletin, and the author of more than 30 books. His best known publication is The Mis-Education of the Negro, originally published in 1933 and still pertinent today. He died in 1950, but Dr. Woodson’s scholarly legacy goes on.
FEBRUARY 2019
ASALH’s 2019 theme Black Migrations emphasizes the movement of people of African descent to new destinations and subsequently to new social realities. While inclusive of earlier centuries, this theme focuses especially on the twentieth century through today. Beginning in the early decades of the twentieth century, African American migration patterns included relocation from southern farms to southern cities; from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West; from the Caribbean to US cities as well as to migrant labor farms; and the emigration of noted African Americans to Africa and to European cities, such as Paris and London, after the end of World War I and World War II. Such migrations resulted in a more diverse and stratified interracial and intra-racial urban population amid a changing social milieu, such as the rise of the Garvey movement in New York, Detroit, and New Orleans; the emergence of both black industrial workers and black entrepreneurs; the growing number and variety of urban churches and new religions; new music forms like ragtime, blues, and jazz; white backlash as in the Red Summer of 1919; the blossoming of visual and literary arts, as in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Paris in the 1910s and 1920s. The theme Black Migrations equally lends itself to the exploration of the century’s later decades from spatial and social perspectives, with attention to “new” African Americans because of the burgeoning African and Caribbean population in the US; Northern African Americans’ return to the South; racial suburbanization; inner-city hyperghettoization; health and environment; civil rights and protest activism; electoral politics; mass incarceration; and dynamic cultural production.
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special supplement
Modern Day African American Leaders
LeBron James
Pro Basketball Player Humanitarian Activist
Rev. Edward Pinkney Ex-Political Prisoner Activist
Kay DeBow
Co-Founder of The National Black Chamber of Commerce
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Angela Davis Political Activist Scholar
Colin Kaepernick
Professional Football Player Activist
Dorothy Leavell
NNPA Chairman, Editor and Publisher The Crusader Newspaper Group
Dr. Reynaldo Anderson
Afrofuturism Scholar Educator Activist
Julianne Malveaux
Kiko Davis
First Black Female Bank Owner
Harry Alford
Economist Scholar Author
Co-Founder of The National Black Chamber of Commerce
Omali Yeshitela
Jerry Young
founder of the Uhuru Movement
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President of the National Baptist Convention
FEBRUARY 2019
www.africanamericanvoice.net february 2019 Denver Teachers Refuse to be Intimidated Ahead of Pending Strike By PSL Denver
On Jan. 22, 93 percent of Denver teachers voted to strike, following 14 months of unsuccessful negotiations with Denver Public Schools. This will be their first strike in 25 years and comes on the heels of decades of underfunding, privatization and low wages in Denver schools. In the span of a few years, Denver has become one the most expensive cities in the country. Average rents have increased by more than 50 percent since 2010. In the same time period, teacher wages have stagnated and in many cases declined in real dollars. This is due to a controversial compensation system called ProComp, which is central to the district’s neoliberal school reform agenda.
Following the strike vote, Denver Public Schools requested state intervention to block the strike. The state’s labor department now has 14 days to decide if it will take jurisdiction over the dispute, which at worst could mean a 180 day embargo on any work stoppage action. DPS has taken advantage of this delay to unleash an array of intimidation tactics, but Denver teachers, buoyed by the support of students and parents, remain unbowed. A Decade of False Promises The ProComp system at the heart of the dispute was approved by Denver voters in 2008 with the promise of millions of dollars in increased school funding. ProComp was
billed as a pay-for-performance program of incentives and bonuses which would reward teachers for increased test scores and attract educators to the neediest schools. In practice, like many other school reform experiments in Denver, ProComp has led to teacher attrition, a widening achievement gap and community outrage. Denver students and teachers have been the unwitting guinea pigs for a series of neoliberal school reform experiments championed by for-profit education corporations and bipartisan school privatizers. Similar to other urban school districts like Los Angeles and New Orleans, Denver Public Schools has waged an all-out war on its neighborhood public schools and teachers union for the sake of profit. Denver’s traditional comprehensive community schools–with orchestras, football teams and career teachers–have largely been closed and replaced by charters and “innovation” schools. These schools are allowed to pick and choose which students they accept and do not necessarily have to accommodate disabled students or English learners. Instead of going to their neighborhood schools, Denver students are matched with schools across the city through an online lottery system. Unsurprisingly, Denver schools are notorious for under-serving poor students and students of color, with one of the worst achievement gaps in the country. Denver’s school reform initiatives are not only ineffective, they’re also expensive. The outrageous cost of these policies looms large in the current negotiations. While the district claims there is “not another dime” for teachers, administrative spending has ballooned 138 percent over the past decade,
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outpacing growth in teacher salaries by more than four to one. The current labor dispute is focused on salary because Denver teachers’ master contract–which covers issues like class size, student support services, and teacher benefits–does not expire until 2022. However, the standoff between teachers and the district has repercussions beyond compensation. Denver stands out among nearby districts for its high teacher turnover. More than one in five teachers leaves the district every year, driven away in large part by low wages. High turnover impedes union organizing, decreases institutional memory and most importantly, denies children a stable community of support in their schools. Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions, and until a fair pay system is in place, Denver students will continue to suffer. DPS Resorts To Desperate Tactics To Break the Strike The district has shown its true colors in the midst of the dispute. Violating its supposed core values of “integrity” and “equity,” DPS has reached new lows in its efforts to break the backs of workers. In a move that made national headlines, DPS sent out an email to all Denver Classroom Teachers Association members on work visas threatening to report them to “immigration” if they choose to participate in the strike. Widespread outrage forced the district to walk back the threat and issue an apology. See FINANCIAL, page 6
Malcolm X Warned About These Bourgeois Hustlers By Teodrose Fikre
Growing up, one of my biggest heroes and the person I wanted to emulate when I got older was Malcolm X. This was during my time of militancy and youthful rebellion, when I thought the only way to arrive at justice was through a revolution. The insurgent within me was captivated by Malcolm X’s take no prisoner approach and the way he spoke harsh truths to the status quo. It was not until I matured and learned through hardship and indigence that I realized Malcolm X’s power was not his fiery rhetoric but his unifying message after returning from Mecca. See KNOW YOUR HISTORY, page 10
BLACK PRESS: THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICE!
“The child of a rat is a rat.“ ~ k e n ya n p ro v e r b
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african union
AU in a Nutshell Introduction
The advent of the African Union (AU) can be described as an event of great magnitude in the institutional evolution of the continent. On 9.9.1999, the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity issued a Declaration (the Sirte Declaration) calling for the establishment of an African Union, with a view, inter alia, to accelerating the process of integration in the continent to enable it play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation. The main objectives of the OAU were, inter alia, to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African States; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to promote international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations. Indeed, as a continental organization the OAU provided an effective forum that enabled all Member States to adopt coordinated positions on matters of common concern to the continent in international fora and defend the interests of Africa effectively. Through the OAU Coordinating Committee for the Liberation of Africa, the Continent worked and spoke as one with undivided determination in forging an international consensus in support of the liberation struggle and the fight against apartheid.
Advent of the AU
Vision of the African Union
The vision of the African Union is that of: “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena.” This vision of a new, forwardlooking, dynamic and integrated Africa will be fully realized through relentless struggle on several fronts and as a long-term endeavour. The African Union has shifted focus from supporting liberation movements in the erstwhile African territories under colonialism and apartheid, as envisaged by the OAU since 1963 and the Constitutive Act, to an organization spear-heading Africa’s development and integration.
The Objectives of the AU • • • •
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To achieve greater unity and solidarity between the African countries and the peoples of Africa; To defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States; To accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent; To promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples; To encourage international cooperation, taking due account of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; To promote peace, security, and stability on the continent; To promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance; To promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other relevant human rights instruments; To establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations; To promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies; To promote co-operation in all fields of human activity to raise the living standards of African peoples; To coordinate and harmonize the policies between the existing and future Regional Economic Communities for the gradual 1
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attainment of the objectives of the Union; To advance the development of the continent by promoting research in all fields, in particular in science and technology; To work with relevant international partners in the eradication of preventable diseases and the promotion of good health on the continent.
The Financial Institutions • • •
The African Central bank The African Monetary Fund The African Investment Bank
The AU Commission
The Commission is the key organ playing a central role in the day-to-day management of the African Union. Among others, it represents the Union and defends its interests; elaborates draft common positions of the Union; prepares strategic plans and studies for the consideration of the Executive Council; elaborates, promotes, coordinates and harmonizes the programmes and policies of the Union with those of the RECs; ensures the mainstreaming of gender in all programmes and activities of the Union.
The OAU initiatives paved the way for the birth of AU. In July 1999, the Assembly decided to convene an extraordinary session to expedite the process of economic and political integration in the continent. Since then, four Summits have been held leading to the official launching of the African Union: • The Sirte Extraordinary Session (1999) decided to establish an African Union • The Lome Summit (2000) adopted the Constitutive Act of the Union. • The Lusaka Summit (2001) drew the road map for the implementation of the AU • The Durban Summit (2002) launched the AU and convened the 1st Assembly of the Heads of States of the African Union.
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Chairperson of the African Union
Addis Ababa 28 January 2018 The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) meeting at their 30th Ordinary Session at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, elected on 28th January 2018 a new bureau to pilote the activities of the Union for the year 2018. The newly elected Chair of the African Union is HE. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda. He is taking over from HE. Alpha Conde , President of the
Republic of Guinea who has been chairing the Union for the past year 2017. The Chairperson of the African Union is the ceremonial head of the African Union elected by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government for a one-year term. It rotates among the continent’s five regions. A candidate must be supported by at least two-thirds of the member states or by consensus. The chairperson is expected to complete the term without interruption; hence eligible countries with impending elections may be ineligible
AU History
The historical foundations of the African Union originated in the First Congress of Independence African States, held in Accra, Ghana, from 15 to 22 April 1958. The conference aimed at forming the Africa Day, to mark the liberation movement each year concerning the willingness of the African people to free themselves from foreign dictatorship, as well as subsequent attempts to unite Africa, including the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was established on 25 May 1963, and the African Economic Community in 1981. Critics argued that the OAU in particular did little to protect the rights and liberties of African citizens from their own political leaders, often dubbing it the “Dictators’ Club”. The idea of creating the AU was revived in the mid-1990s under the leadership of Libyan head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi: the heads of state and government of the OAU issued the Sirte Declaration (named after Sirte, in Libya) on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of an African Union. The Declaration was followed by summits at Lomé in 2000, when the Constitutive Act of the African Union was adopted, and at Lusaka in 2001, when the plan for the implementation of the African Union was adopted. During the same period, the initiative for the establishment of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), was also established. The African Union was launched in Durban on 9 July 2002, by its first chairperson, South African Thabo Mbeki, at the first session of the Assembly of the African Union. The second session of the Assembly was in Maputo in 2003, and the third session in Addis Ababa on 6 July 2004. Since 2010, the African Union eyes the establishment of a joint African space agency.
https://au.int/
FEBRUARY 2019
NATIONAL
California Congresswoman Maxine Waters Makes History:
First Black, First Woman to Chair House Financial Services Committee By Charlene Crowell
Charlene Crowell is the Center for Responsible Lending’s Communications Deputy Director. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
“If I never do
anything else in this career as a member of Congress, I’m gonna make somebody pay for what they’ve done to my community and to my people!
”
As 2019 begins, there is also a new Congress with leadership in the House of Representatives that makes history for people of color and women alike. Long-time California Representative Nancy Pelosi returns as Speaker of the House – the first time in 50 years that a Member of Congress has achieved this feat. On a gender note, Speaker Pelosi becomes the most powerful woman on Capitol Hill and the only female in the nation’s history to do so. There’s also another key woman and legislator that is making history. Congresswoman Maxine Waters is now the first Black and the first woman to chair the powerful House Financial Services Committee. Having served on this committee since 1995, and its Ranking Member in the previous Congress, Waters will set the committee’s agenda in key areas affecting the economy, banking, housing, insurance and securities. The House Financial Services Committee oversees the activities and responsibilities for major financial regulators, agencies, and the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve. These agencies include but are not limited to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – that insures monies in depository institutions, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission that is charged with maintaining fair and efficient investment markets. In other words, the fiery and bold Black lawmaker who earned a reputation for challenging Wall Street and major lenders during the housing crisis will now set the direction for a range of financial players, regulators, and institutions. From monetary policy to the production and distribution of currency, and expanding financial access to affordable housing options, a progressive and principled committee chair is running the show. She is also expected to set standards of performance that level the financial playing field and hold lenders accountable when they take advantage of consumers or discriminate in their lending.
FEBRUARY 2019
With the right kind of regulation and committee oversight, the nation may be able to change financial trends that have worsened both racial and gender wealth gaps. For example, a December 2018 report by the Asset Funder’s Network analyzed racial and gender disparities in wealth and found that Black and Latina women have “lost substantial amounts of wealth in the last two decades”. From 2007 to 2016, Black women ages 45-65 had a 74 percent drop in median wealth, compared to that of White women who experienced a 28 percent drop. Further, the Asset Funders Network concluded the median “quasi-liquid” savings for single Black and Latina women aged 45-50 was $0. Earlier in 2017 the Federal Reserve found that nearly 1 in 5 black families have zero or negative net worth — twice the rate of white families. Additionally the median net worth of Black families was one-tenth of that held by White families. These wealth disparities continue to plague communities of color in large part because of disparities in home ownership that enable consumers to build wealth. Year after year, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) report has consistently found that consumers of color are denied access to mortgages, especially private conventional loans that remain the most sustainable and affordable loans. Last year, the Center for Investigative Reporting published its analysis of the most recent HMDA report. “It found a pattern of troubling denials for people of color across the country, including in major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Antonio,” states the report. “African Americans faced the most resistance in Southern cities – Mobile, Alabama; Greenville, North Carolina; and Gainesville, Florida – and Latinos in Iowa City, Iowa.” A second but equally harmful trend is predatory lending that targets these same consumers with high-cost credit that creates debt traps. When consumers find
themselves short of cash before paydays, overdraft fees, payday and car title loans are among the most predatory due to their extremely high interest rates and failure to consider whether borrowers have the financial capacity to repay the loans without taking on additional debt. For all of Black America, as well as consumer advocates and others who believe financial fairness should be the nation’s watchword, an expectation of a new era of accountability, access and transparency is hoped to soon unfold. “She is a tough and savvy defender of consumer protection and holds the feet of the banks and the Trump administration regulators to the fire,” said Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending in a recent interview. Should anyone doubt the resolve of Congresswoman Waters, consider her reaction last fall when she and other prominent progressives faced a series of bomb threats and other violence. “We have to keep doing what we’re doing in order to make this country right,” Waters told the Washington Post. “That’s what I intend to do. And as the young people say, ‘I ain’t scared.’”
-Maxine Waters
“The sun does not forget a village just because it’s small“ ~ african proverb
Dr. Gina Paige, President (left) and Dr. Rick Kittles, Scientific Director (right) the African Ancestry Management Team and Co-founders.
African Ancestry 5614 Connecticut Avenue NW #297, Washington, DC 20015 www.africanancestry.com info@africanancestry.com
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HEALTH
Spinach Enchiladas If you like spinach and Mexican food, you’ll love these easy vegetarian enchiladas made with ricotta cheese and spinach.
Health information provided by Mile High Fitness & Wellness
Kim Farmer
Kim Farmer is the president of Mile High Fitness & Wellness. Mile High Fitness & Wellness offers in home personal training, wellness challenges, onsite corporate fitness classes and seminars including cooking demos.
President
Stay in the KNOW! Ingredients: • 1 tablespoon butter • 1/2 cup sliced green onions • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach , thawed, drained and squeezed dry • 1 cup ricotta cheese • 1/2 cup sour cream • 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese • 10 (6 inch) corn tortillas • 1 (19 ounce) can enchilada sauce • 1 (19 ounce) can enchilada sauce Directions: 1. Pat tofu dry with paper towels. Place 7 teaspoons cornstarch in a large bowl. Add Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion; cook for a few minutes until fragrant, but not brown. Stir in spinach, and cook for about 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat, and mix in ricotta cheese, sour cream, and 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese. 3. In a skillet over medium heat, warm tortillas one at a time until flexible, about 15 seconds. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the spinach mixture onto the center of each tortilla. Roll up, and place seam side down in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour enchilada sauce over the top, and sprinkle with the remaining cup of Monterey Jack. 4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until sauce is bubbling and cheese is lightly browned at the edges.
Join our Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/milehighfitness for special offers and timely fitness and nutrition tips! Mile High Fitness & Wellness was founded by Kim Farmer whose primary mission is to bring fitness and nutrition to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Mile High Fitness & Wellness is the proud provider of many municipalities, private companies, school districts, non-profits and other groups located in and outside of Colorado. She has partnered with many practitioners to travel to various locations to provide high quality, professional personal training and nutrition programs, corporate wellness initiatives, assessments, workshops, speeches and more.
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Yield: 5 servings 510 Calories/serving Total Time: 40 minutes Recipe source: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/59661/spinach-enchiladas/?internalSource=streams&r eferringId=87&referringContentType=recipe%20hub&clickId=st_trending_b
In Home Personal Training & Nutrition Coaching Starting at $30 www.milehighfitness.com
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FEBRUARY 2019
Criminal Justice Women Behind Bars:
THE PUNISHMENT IS THE CRIME This isn’t just a matter of a few repressive states. If each state were listed as a country by their rate of incarceration of women, each U.S. state would exceed nearly every country in the world, often by large margins. For example, Illinois’ incarceration rate for women is on par with El Salvador, where abortion is illegal and women are routinely jailed for having miscarriages. In Tennessee, in the heartland of so-called “land of the free” where Cyntoia Brown is locked up, the rate is 209 per 100,000. The U.S. likes to claim that China lacks democratic rights but incarcerates women at more than 10 times China’s rates.
Oppressed Women Targeted
UPDATE: Due to mass pressure, on Jan. 5, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam granted clemency to Cyntoia Brown, commuting her life sentence. She will be released on Aug. 7, but must spent 10 years on parole. The following is based upon a recent talk given by Sasha Murphy at a Party for Socialism and Liberation meeting in New York City.
Alexander was notoriously denied a “stand your ground” defense. In contrast, in Florida, George Zimmerman was granted such a defense for the racist murder of Trayvon Martin. A mass movement, in which PSL proudly played a part around the country, won Alexander’s release a year ago.
The prison system magnifies all the racist contradictions of capitalist society. The rate of imprisonment for Black women is 103 to every 100,000 compared to white women at 52. A recent study on incarceration rates of sexual minorities found that 42 percent of women in prison and 32 percent of women in jail identify as part of the LGBTQ community; this compares to 9 percent of men in prison and 6 percent of men in jail. (National Inmate Survey, 2011-2012)
When mass incarceration and police terror in Black and brown communities is talked about from a women’s perspective, the conversation tends to shift to its effect on families. But this is only one part of a larger tale of exploitation. While there are fewer women than men in jail, their rate of incarceration has grown at twice the rate of their male counterparts in recent decades. Some cases that have come to national attention indicate that, for women behind bars, the punishment is the crime.
Jazmine Headley
Jails Unjustly Imprison
By Sasha Murphy
Cyntoia Brown
Brown was a teenager, only 16 years old in 2004, when she was forced by a pimp known as Kut Throat into sex trafficking. He ordered her out into the streets to earn money for him one day, and a 43-year-old man named Johnny Allen picked up Brown and drove her to his home. He showed her several guns in his house — a behavior that she felt was menacing. As the evening progressed, Allen reached under his bed. Brown thought he was about to grab a gun and she shot him with a pistol she carried in her purse for safety. Although Brown was a juvenile and a victim of sex trafficking and violence, prosecutors tried her as an adult, and she was convicted of murder in 2006. Already incarcerated for over a decade, on Dec. 6, the state Supreme Court said she won’t even have a chance for parole until she’s 67 years old, in four decades. There’s now an active campaign gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures across the country, calling on the outgoing Republican Governor Bill Haslam to grant Brown clemency before his term ends Jan. 19, but he hasn’t yet done it. Just a few days ago, he granted clemency to 11 others but not to Brown.
Marissa Alexander
Brown’s case recalls that of Marissa Alexander, who was sentenced to the mandatory maximum of 20 years after firing a warning shot into the air on Aug. 1, 2010, warding off her abusive husband, who threatened to kill her. While Tennessee has a Stand Your Ground law on the books,
FEBRUARY 2019
On Dec. 7, the day after Brown was denied parole, a working-class Black woman, Jazmine Headley, was attempting to get her childcare benefits reinstated at a Human Resources Administration building in Brooklyn, New York. Waiting for hours, Headley sat on the floor with her one-yearold son. She was told to move by a security guard. After Headley declined to move, the security guard called the New York City Police Department. The police arrived, would not let Headley leave, violently ripped her son from her arms to put her in handcuffs, and then arrested her. Originally jailed without bail, charges against Headley were dropped only when videos of the police attack taken by shocked and outraged bystanders went viral. Her case highlights the criminalization of poverty. New York cops were called to benefits offices more than 2,000 times in the past year and arrested 97 people. This scenario is being played out throughout the country. Brown, Alexander and Headley are a part of the growing trend of incarceration and criminalization of women of color by a system that profits off the misery and exploitation of the women targeted and their families.
More ominous is the fact that most women in county jails have not even been convicted of anything but are awaiting trial. There are 102,000 women in local/county jails, nearly half of those incarcerated. Unjustly funneled into the prison system, of that number 60 percent have yet to be convicted but are waiting to stand trial. The main reason women have to wait for trial while incarcerated is because they cannot afford bail.
afford bail. Additionally, state and federal agencies such as ICE contract with local jails to hold an additional 13,000 women inmates awaiting trial when their facilities reach capacity.
Incarceration’s Impact On Families
Incarcerating women tears families apart. Spouses file for divorce in nearly 100 percent of the cases where convicted women are sentenced to a year or more. Additionally, many women, who make less than their male counterparts because they are women, are incarcerated awaiting trial because they do not have the means to pay bail. Because women are often the breadwinners and caretakers of their families, this means any task involving caring for their families must be done while incarcerated. Maintaining contact is critical. But the cost of talking to her children over the phone, helping with homework, or checking on them is a huge burden. The largest barrier for families trying to stay in touch are phone and visitation costs. Private phone companies such as the Seurus Corporation, which contracts with over 2,600 correctional facilities, set rates far higher than those of commercial providers. Seurus charges exorbitant addon fees, which make up 40 percent of the average prison phone usage, and contribute to driving the cost of phone calls to $1.22 per minute in some states, while the commercial rate is 4 cents a minute. See COMMENTARY, page #9
U.S. Incarcerates The Most Women
In a recent report, the Prison Policy Initiative documented 219,000 women currently incarcerated: 89,000 in local jails, 99,000 in state prisons, 16,000 in federal prisons, 7,300 in youth correctional facilities, a whopping 7,000 in immigrant detention centers, and 700 in Indian county jails. The number jumps even more when considering the full range of correctional control over women. More than a million women are on probation and parole. Nearly 30 percent of the world’s incarcerated women are in the United States, while only 4 percent of the world’s women live here. In this country, 133 are behind bars for every 100,000 women. The rate of incarceration in China is 16 for every 100,000 women. In Russia, it’s 62 for every 100,000.
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FINANCIAL Losing Your Driver’s License to Debt: 43 States Allow Suspensions Due to Unpaid Court Debt
By Charlene Crowell
Today, personal vehicles transport parents to work, take multiple family generations to school, access medical and/or business services, and more. With a car and a driver’s license, consumers gain mobility to go about their daily lives in all of its multiple dimensions. But what happens when that driver’s license is revoked or suspended? In 43 states and the District of Columbia, driver’s licenses can be suspended because of unpaid court debt. In most locales, once a driver’s license is suspended, it can retain that designation indefinitely. Only four states currently require an “ability-to-repay” or a “willfulness” determination. Otherwise, nonpayment of driver-related charges can lead to the loss of a driver’s license for years. That leaves consumers in 39 other states in a financial quagmire. Whether a license is suspended or revoked, the likelihood is that the driver will incur a range of fees that many consumers find unaffordable. Without a driver’s license to reliably get to a job and its earnings the ability to repay assessed fees becomes nearly impossible. The fees and fines that lead to the revocation of drivers’ licenses strikes the hardest among consumers of color. In 2017, according to the Federal Reserve, Median family incomes by race and ethnicity reveal $215,000 for Whites, $35,000 for Latino families, and only $14,400 for Black families. Further that same year the Fed found that nearly 1 in 5 black families have zero or negative net worth — twice the rate of white families. According to the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia, nearly a million people with a suspended license – 1 in 6 – could not pay their fines. If caught driving on a suspended Virginia license, consumers can be incarcerated for up to a year and also incur a $2,500 fine. Those who are either late or short in paying traffic fines can have their driver’s license suspended. The Commonwealth’s courts and judges can take this action through the assistance of computers – not people, leaving many consumers unaware.
The State of Illinois offers another insightful example: • Nearly 50,000 Illinois licenses are suspended each year because drivers cannot pay their tickets, fines, or fees – including non-moving violations that have nothing to do with driving; and • In Cook County, home to Chicago, people arrested for driving on a suspended license spend an average of 14 days incarcerated at a cost to taxpayers of $5.5 million annually. Fortunately, a growing number of organizations and consumer advocates are now dedicating resources to address this largely unreported trend. These advocates include but are not limited to: National Consumer Law Center’s (NCLC) Racial Justice & Economic Opportunity Project, Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Policy Program, the North Carolina Justice Center, California’s Back on the Road Coalition, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). These advocates oppose these punitive policies and practices, particularly for the financial hardships imposed on the poor. In North Carolina, the Second Chance Alliance has developed a change strategy that is largely based on the real-life experiences of people impacted by these injustices. Further,, their strategy combines reforms directed to local courts as well as legislative initiatives.
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On 2017, according to the Alliance, over 1.1 million North Carolinians had their driver’s licenses suspended indefinitely for failure to either appear in court or pay fines. “Excessive fees and fines pose a fundamental challenge to a fair and effective criminal justice system,” said Larry Schwartztol, executive director of Harvard Law’s Criminal Justice Policy Program. “At their worst, these practices can lead to a two-tiered system of criminal justice, exposing indigent defendants to especially harsh outcomes.” In A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as a Punishment for the Poor, a book written by Dr. Alexes Harris, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington, over seven million Americans are either incarcerated, on probation, or on parole. Further, court-ordered monetary sanctions that compel criminal defendants to pay fines, fees, restitution or other court-imposed costs, bring more difficulty to those seeking to reenter society. “Because they cannot be held fully accountable for their offending when they are unable to pay, the poor experience a permanent punishment,” wrote Dr. Harris in the book’s preface. “Because they cannot be held fully accountable for their offending when they are unable to pay, the poor experience a permanent punishment. Nevertheless, nonelected court bureaucrats enforce this system and assess debtors’ remorse for their crimes based on their own ideas about personal responsibility, meritocracy, and accountability.” This trend of ‘punishing the poor’ gained additional momentum in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis. With plummeting tax collections, many cities, counties and states sought ‘revenue enhancements’ to fund governments. The unfortunate result is that the same communities that were targeted for millions of unsustainable mortgages that led to foreclosures are now being financially hit again. “Black and Brown communities already unjustly bear the disproportionate burden of inequities in our criminal justice system,” noted Lucia Mattox, CRL’s Western States’ Policy and Outreach Associate. “The suspension of drivers’ licenses follows the same trend lines.” “States and local governments have a critical role to play in reversing these trends and policies that unfairly trap people in debt cycles,” added Mattox. “Any entrenchment of racial inequalities denies freedom.” Charlene Crowell is the Center for Responsible Lending’s Communications Deputy Director. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
Continued from FINANCIAL page 1
Similarly, the district has threatened school nurses who strike with disciplinary action, denied sick and personal leave to teachers and demanded that central office employees cross the picket line to substitute teach or lose their jobs. Particularly perverse, DPS targeted furloughed federal workers and promised to fund expedited sub licenses for them if they agreed to cross the picket line. A Must-Win Fight Despite the uncertain position that Denver teachers find themselves in, morale is high. A poll commissioned by the Colorado Education Association found support among nine in 10 DPS parents, as well as 82 percent of community members. On Jan. 28, students independently organized and staged sit-ins at schools around the city in solidarity with their teachers. A mass rally at the Colorado capitol building is planned for Jan. 30. The broad movement that has coalesced around Denver teachers’ fight for fair wages reflects the far-reaching impact it will have on the city for years to come. This is a must-win fight, not only for the teachers, but for the people of Denver.
“You have to be able to accept failure to get better.
”
-LeBron James
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www.africanamericanvoice.net www.africanamericanvoice.net The Black Press Creed The Black Press that Creed The Black Press believes America
The best Black believes that America can leadPress the world away from racial can best lead antagonism the world away from racial and national when it affords andallnational it affords to people antagonism – regardlesswhen of race, color to creed all people – regardless race,rights. color or – their human andof legal or creedno– person their human and legal rights. Hating and fearing no person, Hating no person fearing no person, the Black Press and strives to help every the Black Press to all help person in the firm strives belief that areevery hurt person firmisbelief as long in as the anyone held that back.all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.
FEBRUARY 2019
Beyond the rhetoric
By Mr. Alford & Ms. DeBow Finally, we have a White House that has decided to call out China for the sleazy things it does while doing business in Africa. To the Chinese government, the African Continent is a big, whore to be abused and pimped at every opportunity. You can travel to any nation within Africa and there will be one thing that is constant. China trading interests and influence is there at every airport, many construction projects, railways, dams and various other infrastructure projects. Their practices are plain and simple: “Rape, hustle, steal, swindle, corrupt at every opportunity that is presented.” Theirs is to take from Africa – not improve or advance it. If challenged – sling cash, be arrogant and keep on trucking. No one is going to stop them. It is a living nightmare. The more we complain and scream; the more we are ignored. What we heard during a conference call from the White House last week was simply sweet “music” to our ears. A new, fresh policy towards the African continent is being implemented. America is going to set the example of how to do business via good, honest policy and strict standards. We are going to call out China and show the African governments how good and productive honest business is. Africa, three times the population of North America and the richest natural resources land on earth is overdue to take its natural place in the world. Believe it or not, President Trump has the vision, courage and confidence to make this happen. Brothers and sisters the time has finally come. We need to show you a few examples of what we are talking about. First, let’s go to Ghana and reflect on a major China disaster. President George W. Bush set up a program to reward African nations that
displayed good governance. The reward was known as the Millennium Challenge Account. One of the first winners was Ghana under the leadership of President John Kufuor. Ghana was award $800 million for an infrastructure project. They proposed to build a new national highway system for the nation. It was approved, and the George W. Bush Highway was funded. Guess who got the contract to build it? It
local population. The Chinese construction companies would choose some of the roughest land to build the highway. When the path would go in front of a mountain, rather than go around the mountain they would dig right through it. Why? The scheme was simple. Ghana’s land is full of rich precious minerals. Colonial traders nicknamed the country “The Gold Coast”. It was a big
was China! Our program, our idea, our funding and it went to Chinese interests. That was the beginning. Chinese firms entered the nation to build the highway. They hired strictly Chinese engineering firms replete with their own subcontractors. The laborers were basically Chinese and, apparently, were prison inmates working off their sentences. As these foreign convicts would finish their sentences they would be let go – right there in the outback of Ghana. Not being able to return to their homeland they would blend into the “bush” and live near rural villages – pillaging the
scheme to plunder the soil for its minerals; process them along the highways; load them on 747tankers and fly them to China for processing. China has a monopoly on the world’s richest minerals – this is how that happens – the pillaging of Africa. The highway was finally completed but it came at great expense via the loss of precious metals and the social costs of having Chinese convicts settle in rural areas building “bootleg” gold mines via squatting on various properties and prey on the rural populations of the nation (rape was a common occurrence). This isn’t if
this happened in Ghana please imagine what goes on in the Congo, Uganda and other less civilized nations around the continent. China is pimping Africa in ways that resemble Armageddon. We, America, must begin to check such activity if we want to be a true world leader. Therefore, we have high hopes for this new Power Africa Initiative. We can set the example of good governance and stand up to the international “bully” and “exploiter” known as the Republic of China. Africa is our Motherland and if we don’t get in there and call out these atrocities -who is? God is on our side so let’s get busy.
Mr. Alford is the Co-Founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce ®. Ms. DeBow is the Co-Founder, Executive Vice President of the NBCC. Website: www.nationalbcc.org Emails: halford@ nationalbcc.org kdebow@nationalbcc.org
“To try & to fail is not laziness“
~ african proverb
Mission Statement The National Black Chamber of Commerce® is dedicated to economically empowering and sustaining African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity within the United States and via interaction with the Black Diaspora.
Organization Profile The National Black Chamber of Commerce® was incorporated in Washington, DC in March 1993. The NBCC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of African American communities. 140 affiliated chapters are locally based throughout the nation as well as international affiliate chapters based in Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, France, Botswana, Cameroon and Jamaica and businesses as well as individuals who may have chosen to be direct members with the national office. In essence, the NBCC is a 501(c)3 corporation that is on the leading edge of educating and training Black communities on the need to participate vigorously in this great capitalistic society known as America. The NBCC reaches 100,000 Black owned businesses. There are 2.6 million Black owned businesses in the United States. Black businesses account for over $138 billion in revenue each year according to the US Bureau of Census. The National Black Chamber of Commerce® is dedicated to economically empowering and sustaining African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity within the United States.
FEBRUARY 2019
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A child is a child of everyone ~ S u da n e s e p r o v e r b
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7
Week in Malveaux SHAME AND SHADE IN BIRMINGHAM: IN PRAISE OF ANGELA DAVIS
“To understand
how any society functions you must understand the relationship between the men and the women.
”
-Angela Davis
By Julianne Malveaux If anyone deserves a civil rights award, Angela Davis certainly does. The activist and scholar has been on the front lines of the civil rights movement all of her life. She has been especially active in prison reform matters, but she has also been involved in other civil and human rights issues. When I learned back in October that she would get the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, I was absolutely delighted. I imagined the wide smile the daughter of Birmingham must have flashed when she learned that she would be honored. Everyone in Birmingham wasn’t thrilled, though. Some people in the conservative Southern town seemed disturbed that she had been a member of both the Black Panther Party and the Communist Party. Others were concerned about her support of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement) against the Israeli occupation. She has said that she stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and advocates for their fair treatment in Israel. Some ill informed people consider the BDS movement “anti-Semitic”. They suggest that any questions that one raises about Israel shows a bias against Jewish people. But Davis, a lifelong human rights activist, is concerned about the humanity of Palestinian people, as well as other people. And she is rightfully concerned, as many of us are, about the spate of laws recently passed that downright outlaw the BDS movement. According to the Middle East Monitor, a teacher in Texas, Bahia Amawl, refused to sign an oath that required her to pledge that she “does not currently boycott Israel”, that she will not boycott Israel and that she will “refrain from any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations with Israel”. Texas is among some 25 states that have passed laws forbidding the state from doing business with companies that boycott Israel! It will also not invest pension funds in companies that support BDS. Thirteen more states including Washington DC, have similar laws to the Texas law pending, pitting people’s first amendment rights of free speech against support for Israel. And Florida Senator
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Marco Rubio, in the middle of a government shutdown, had the nerve to introduce national legislation that mirrors the Texas law (actually, Illinois was the first state to pass this discriminatory law). If anyone deserves a civil rights award, first state to pass this discriminatory law). Lots of people in Birmingham aren’t having it. Though the “Civil Rights Institute” has rescinded its award to Dr. Angela Davis, there has been significant protest about the decision. Birmingham’s Mayor, Randall Woodfin, who is a nonvoting member of the Museum Board and did not participate in the decision to rescind the award (the city provides the museum with about a million dollars a year in operating funds) has expressed his dismay about the decision. Three board members have resigned from the board. And Alabama columnist Roy S. Johnson has written a fiery column accusing the Civil Rights Institute of insulting Rev. Shuttlesworth and staining its own legacy. Johnson says the Birmingham Jewish community may have been the loudest, but not the only folks pushing for Davis’ award to be rescinded. Who rescinds an award after it has been granted for statements that were not recently made, but are a matter of record? Angela Davis has long been an outspoken activist, just like Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was. Nothing had been changed from the time Davis was notified of the award and January 4, when it was rescinded. The BCRI did not have to honor Davis, but their canceling the award is a special kind of insult. Fortunately, Angela Davis has a thick skin, and she knows exactly who she is. She didn’t cringe when thenCalifornia governor Ronald Reagan had her fired from UCLA for her membership in the Communist Party. She didn’t flinch when she was incarcerated for a crime she did not commit. And she will not tremble because the BCRI rescinded the award. Indeed, demonstrating the indomitable spirit that she is known for, Angela Davis will travel to Birmingham in February for an alternative event. And the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum has egg on its face. That city showed a young Angela Davis
who they were when the Four Little Girls, some of whom she knew, were killed at the 16 Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. And they are showing her who they are once again. Shame and shade! Unfortunately, I’m not surprised. One of the founders of the Women’s March has demanded the resignations of Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour because they attended one of Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Savior’s Days. Marc Lamont Hill lost his CNN commentary gig because he spoke up for Palestinian rights. Alice Walker has been criticized because she supports BDS. Now Angela Davis is being denied an award. When is enough going to be enough? For the record, I support Palestinian rights. And I support Israel’s right to exist. Are the two incompatible? I think not. The one-state solution, with a right to return, and full citizenship rights for Palestinians makes sense. But Israel is not about to budge, and BDS as an attempt to influence it. States passing laws to outlaw free speech erodes the first principle of our Constitution and undercut the actions at the very foundation of our nation. Remember the folks who dumped tea into the Boston Harbor because of an unfair tax? Today that action might be against the law! Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” is available via www.amazon.com for booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com
“We have to talk
about liberating minds as well as liberating society. -Angela Davis
”
www.africanamericanvoice.net
“Racism, in the
first place, is a weapon used by the wealthy to increase the profits they bring in by paying Black workers less for their work.
”
-Angela Davis
“I decided to
teach because I think that any person who studies philosophy has to be involved actively.
”
-Angela Davis
FEBRUARY 2019
commentary “Recently I wrote a post on Facebook commenting on the number of Black candidates running for Mayor in Chicago...” co-authors along with many other organizations named on the document.) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mvDnfFk 0kJgdPiqxJY1QdllTgImzZ0-l/view
By Cecile Johnson Recently I wrote a post on Facebook commenting on the number of Black candidates running for Mayor in Chicago and this is what I said. “Can these Black candidates in Chicago come together and choose the best one amongst yourself and not leave our community off the table for another 4 years. We cannot afford another 4 years of displacement of our population. Police out of control. Murder of our children. Closed mental health facilities, substandard healthcare, disparate life expectancy, very high Infant mortality and Maternal Mortality and off the chain STD and HIV rates. Our schools are substandard and our children are out of control. We are the only group whose children showed no growth in academics, and allow those lying school district to change standards so all the school look like they are performing, but are not. Could you all get it together for the sake of our community? I need a candidate who can handle the business. Make sure we get our share of the contracts, bring funding to our communities for economic development and bring home some cheese for the people. Your inability to unite to use the tools we have created to highlight our agenda and utilizing our brightest minds to create a better future is so frustrating. Some of you do not need to be running for office. Can you all meet and be strategic like the Latinos. They pass on the baton, you all instead create chaos. Have mercy after all these years the community is politically inept. This is why people don’t vote. Could you give them a candidate who can deliver for us? You all know who you are. May God touch your hearts and remove you and your ego from this race. Our children need a future too. “ What is needed is for the Black community to begin to have an agenda for itself. It starts with understanding the data on your area and coming up with a response to it. A community vision of what we want to see and what we expect from those we elect. A criteria for getting our vote. To create this, intelligent, engaged, and articulate community members are needed to commit to the process of real change and put aside egos and work together. Unity. We created in 2015 a Municipal Candidate Questionnaire which was created in collaboration with a number of black community groups which we called the CBCO COMMUNITY OF BLACK COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS. (African Development Plan and the National Black Agenda Consortium were
FEBRUARY 2019
This questionnaire went to all the Municipal candidates, and their response was scored and shared on a number of websites. It told us who was really about us and our issues. It was very telling for many who talked a good game scored very low. While some who the community was not focused on scored high and would have been better for us as a community. But Rahm already had the pastors in his pocket and the well oiled machine brought him back into power. (It is to be noted that the only Mayoral Candidate at the time who did not respond was Rahm Emanuel, our current/outgoing Mayor.) And the current state of affairs of the Black and Hispanic Community shows why he did not respond. Rahm was never about us as all the data showed. From this we went on to upgrade the National Black Agenda to make it relevant to our time. It addresses 13 areas and tells you what you can do as individuals, groups and elected officials to address specific issues. It helps to begin your local visioning process. And you need someone who can do the data on your area and connect the dots to tell your story. This was and continues to be a part of my role in implementing the Agenda. Who will that person be for you locally? (https://nationalblackagendaconsortium. org/the-agenda/) On the State level in Illinois, there is an Illinois African American Family Commission Act (http://il.elaws.us/ law/20ilcs3903) which addresses the state of Black people in Illinois and the commission which was created to address issues impacting us. This Commission had a community group which met monthly and consisted of organizations, businesses and community activist. A sub-committee was formed to help highlight priorities and what the ask should be. This became the Illinois African American Commission 2015 Collective Action Agenda. It clearly addresses the data and the policy initiatives we felt we needed to address the racial wealth gap, unemployment , low weekly earnings, poverty, hunger, mass incarceration, juvenile arrest , criminal code reform, diversity in state employment, procurement, economic and job development, education, healthcare reform, technology etc. It also highlighted legislative proposals needed. It requires raising up leaders who are not carbon copies of white establishment party politics but courageous souls willing to address the elephant in the room. The state of Black America in their community, racism and the lack of access. People with fresh ideas and new approaches to systemic racism. Ideas which include addressing the support and hand holding our communities are going to need if we intend to become strong and be relevant for ourselves. This support will have to African centered for what has happened to us is unique and must address 400 + years of Anglo oppression, free labor and economic disenfranchisement. We must rebuild our families, our health, our economics, our education and our communities.
Our communities must begin to dream again for without a vision of what you want you will not be able to accomplish any goal for ourselves. This takes a 24/7 and 365 days a year commitment to being the change you wish to see. This race is not for the swift but those who have stamina and courage. When a people lack vision, the people perish. In this 400th year of Anglo oppression towards our Black population do you not think it is time to come together and save ourselves? Cecile Johnson CEO African Development Plan Human Rights Defender for the African Descendants Confederation; Secretary, National Black Agenda Consortium - Chicago 773-431-2788
“You don’t
make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.
”
-Shirley Chisholm
“It i s har d to cure t h e madne ss t h at origi nates in the family ~ african proverb
“If I fall, I’ll fall
five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I’m not backing off.
”
-Fannie Lou Hamer
Continued from CRIMINAL JUSTICE page 5
Real criminals go free
The official justification for imprisoning more people is to bring down crime. But there is no evidence that the increased jailing rate has had any impact on lowering crime. And the real criminals — the politicians who have launched illegal wars in the Middle East, the Wall Street bankers who defrauded millions of homeowners or served as money launderers for big drug cartels, and the cops who frame and murder people daily — never see any jail time.
Profiting off inmate slave labor
The prison-industrial complex is a multimillion-dollar business. Prison workers make furniture, license plates, clothing and much more. In New York City, how many students at the city-run CUNY schools know that almost all the desks they sit at and the blue books they fill out for their final exams were produced by prisoners making pennies a day? But profits alone cannot explain the prison explosion.
Warehouses of the unemployed
Prisons are first and foremost a form or social control. As underemployment and unemployment continue to grow, prisons are used to control and intimidate the population, especially poor communities. Prisons are the ruling class’s solution to the contradiction of “surplus” workers in the era of high-tech and deepening capitalist economic crisis. Crucial to protecting the interests and private property of the capitalist class, prisons function as warehouses of unemployed and poor workers to ensure wages remain low. Working, poor and oppressed women are part of this “surplus” workforce. Women of color are clearly disproportionately jailed. However, as the economic stagnation deepens and factories remain closed, there has been an increase in incarceration rates for white working-class women too, in relation to the opioid crisis. Since its inception, capitalism has generated profits by exploiting and undervaluing women to a greater degree than men. We see this in the everyday economic, gendered exploitation of women, as well as women’s unpaid “double-shift” of caring for family members at home. The capitalists try to hide that this, in itself, is a form of labor and production. The growth of the prison system, and the increase in the incarceration of women, is intimately tied to the intersections of oppression that working people face under this violent and profit-hungry system. The current prison system needs to be dismantled and replaced with a humane and effective set of institutions that will punish the capitalists that thrive off the theft of our labor, and that will bring true restorative justice to our communities. This can be accomplished by replacing capitalism and its drive for profit with socialism, a system based upon meeting human needs. A better world is possible, but we must be willing to fight for it! Let’s start with fighting to “Free Cyntoia Brown!”
“Earth i s th e qu een of bed s. ~ Namibian proverb
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9
know your history
Malcolm X Warned About These Bourgeois Hustlers who really suffer the brunt of brutality and the conditions that exist in this country.”
By Teodrose Fikre Growing up, one of my biggest heroes and the person I wanted to emulate when I got older was Malcolm X. This was during my time of militancy and youthful rebellion, when I thought the only way to arrive at justice was through a revolution. The insurgent within me was captivated by Malcolm X’s take no prisoner approach and the way he spoke harsh truths to the status quo. It was not until I matured and learned through hardship and indigence that I realized Malcolm X’s power was not his fiery rhetoric but his unifying message after returning from Mecca. However, as much as I’ve become an admirer of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz’s latter days, there are still aspects of his earlier reflections that ring true given the times we live in. What I’m referring to are not his blistering speeches where he would call “white” people devils or his addresses where he echoed the teachings of Elijah Muhammad—Malcolm X himself walked away from that type of demagoguery. Rather, what intrigued me the most was his dissection of the political and social dynamics that kept “black” folks subjugated. To this day, one of the most compelling arguments that Malcolm X made about the evils of both political parties is found in a speech he gave about the political and economic state of “black” America. He brilliantly exposed the false-distinction between Democrats and Republicans as a choice between the lesser of the same evil.
“Foxes and wolves usually are of the same breed. They belong to the same family—I think it’s called canine. And the difference is that the wolf when he shows you his teeth, you know that he’s your enemy; and the fox, when he shows you his teeth, he appears to be smiling. But no matter which of them you go with, you end up in the dog house.”
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It took a mean mugging by reality—one that shook me out of cognitive dissonance— for me to realize that Democrats are no different than Republicans. They differ in their methods, but in the end they feast on us regardless of their gang affiliation. Both parties are subsidiaries of corporations and oligarchs; our entire political system is based on two factions bamboozling their respective bases while manufacturing dissension on all sides. Gone When They Get Your Vote Now that I’ve shed my political blinders, I see how this game is played. I’ll be honest here and admit that Democrats irritate me more than Republicans for this one simple reason. I’ve come to expect Republicans to be malicious—there is honesty in their advertisement. However, it’s the Democrats who smile like foxes as they pretend to be our allies only to stab us in our backs the minute they get elected. They have maintained power for decades by successfully treading on the pains of marginalized groups as they concurrently enact legislation and regulations that inflame the very injustices they rail against. If there is one group that has been leveraged the most by Democrats, it’s the descendants of slaves and “black” diaspora as a whole. For generations, supposed liberals—who now call themselves progressives—have cunningly used the pains of “African-Americans” to further their own agendas. The Democrat’s most loyal voting bloc have time and time again been taken advantage of only to be tossed to the side as soon as Democrats gain power. They talk a good game and pretend to be for us right up until election day, soon as the last ballot is counted, they are nowhere to be found. It’s on this front that another observation by Malcolm X comes into clear focus. One of the things that really grabbed my attention while I was reading his autobiography is the way Malcolm described the dynamic between the impoverished masses and the black bourgeoisie during the Civil Rights Era. “There are two types of Negroes in this country. There’s the bourgeois type who blinds himself to the condition of his people, and who is satisfied with token solutions. He’s in the minority. He’s a handful. He’s usually the hand-picked Negro who benefits from token integration. But [it’s the] masses of Black people who
What Malcolm X was describing was the class hierarchy within the construct of race. He railed against the select few “negroes” who willingly stepped on their own people in order to advance their own selfish ambitions. Malcolm X was against integration for this reason; he realized that a modification of a racist system that benefits a fraction of society while keeping the majority repressed was morally bankrupt. This same realization eventually dawned on Martin Luther King Jr when he confided to his closest advisers that he might have “integrated his people into a burning house.” Fast forward fifty years and it’s evident that the bourgeoisie “negroes” who Malcolm X talked about have been unleashed by the establishment to work against the interests of their people. As the majority of “African-Americans” suffer economic inequalities and are burdened by financial uncertainties, black politicians, pundits and so-called “activists” are enriching themselves while they pretend to be fighting injustice. Forget Plymouth Rock, the biggest hoodwink of them all that landed on us was a boulder named Barack. After losing a Congressional primary to Bobby Rush in 2000, Obama’s inner circle realized that he was not embraced by “African-Americans” in Chicago because many did not see him as one of them. He quickly adapted and learned the art of duplicity; Obama perfected his ability to talk eloquently about our issues and suffering as a means to an end. The end was his unabated ego. After he scaled the heights of politics, he ended up enacting policies that exacerbated the wealth gap. For his brazen act of betrayal, Obama was rewarded handsomely. The Audacity of Hope
Barack Obama was not an outlier but the norm when it comes to the tokens who are paraded by Democrats to represent fauxprogress and counterfeit diversity. Kamala Harris is the next black bourgeoisie in line who is hoping to use the plight of AfricanAmericans and the tribulations of “black” folk to win the White House. After spending a career locking up brown and “black” folk with impunity and resurrecting the ugly legacy of penal slavery, she is now
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shamelessly pretending to be the next coming of Sojourner Truth—hers is the audacity of trope. Given the fact that too many are conditioned to think in binary fashion, I must take a pause here to clarify one thing. This is in no way to excuse the pernicious nature of Republicans and the vile racism of Donald Trump. After all, not only are Republicans insidious when it comes to the way they treat “African-Americans” and minorities as a whole, the party of Trump uses the same playbook of feigned concern to dupe their respective side. However, the more I observe the rank opportunism of the Democrat front-runners, the more I appreciate the sagacity of Malcolm X.
It’s not only politicians like Barack Obama and Kamala Harris who traffic in this most insincere form of paternalism, there is a whole cottage industry of black opinion leaders and gate-keepers who actively work against our interests while passively speaking against injustice. They abound on TV, in the press and throughout social media; the surest way to make a name for oneself is to be a part of the “woke” intelligentsia who lull their people into collective comas. Adding insult to injury is the fact that these same bourgeoisie mouthpieces are not only using the pains of the oppressed to advance themselves, they are now employing the injuries of the masses to deflect well-deserved criticism. Identity has been weaponized, instead of addressing the structural nature of racism and sexism, folks like Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and identity politics shysters across the political spectrum are turning the victims of systematic oppression into human shields to intimidate anyone who dares to question their record. Enough is enough! The Talented Tenth There is a broader problem beyond these two-faced grifters. The truth is that the “black” community has become bifurcated; the bourgeoisie class feeling the blessings of capitalism and enterprise while the vast majority are burdened by consumerism and debt. DuBois once talked about the “talented tenth”, an educated sector of blacks leading the bottom 90% out of bondage. Sadly, the talented tenth has been convinced to seek self-enrichment and forget about collective wellness. What is true of “African-Americans” is true of society as a whole. In this richest nation, there exists a breathtaking chasm between the few who have much and the many who have little. Keeping this dynamic in place is a pyramid scheme that transfers wealth upward being kept by the greed of politicians and the indifference of the proletariat. We are being swindled by hustlers to keep this most depraved system intact. See KNOW YOUR HISTORY, page 11
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Continued from KNOW YOUR HISTORY page 10
I don’t expect leaders to be perfect, very few of us are guilt free when it comes to the iniquities of the status quo. We all have have our battles as we vacillate between our better angels and the allure of our desires. All we can do in life is seek to do better; after all, Malcolm X’s very narrative is one of mistakes followed by atonement. My aim is not to be pious nor pretend purity from people, I have way too many planks in my eyes to demand others act blameless. However, there is a vast difference between those who perpetrate infringements by commission versus the rest of us who transgress through omission.
I would be the first person to applaud Harris, Obama, Trump or any politician who sincerely admit their mistakes and try to make amends. Far from doing so, these con artists pretend to do the right thing as they pour fuel on the fire. There is a reason why hypocrisy is the most egregious sin; it’s hard to be forgiven when the offender is lying about his penance. Malcolm X is painted by many in mainstream media and academia as a firebrand who preached from the pulpit of exclusion. But those who know his history understand very well that who he was when his journey concluded was vastly different than the caricature of Malcolm X that is presented by the institutions of power he spoke against. It never fails, first kill the messengers then co-opt their message. The truth is that he changed his approach, disavowed divisive rhetoric and embraced inclusive justice. These were the words uttered by Malcolm X as he spoke against the system of inequality that shackles billions around our planet into lives of servitude and bondage. His decision to pivot from friction and instead seek the light of universal justice is the reason why he was silenced, the status quo rewards charlatans but has a way of killing off unifying voices. On this front, the status quo has succeeded beyond its wildest imagination. We are now being led by a procession of overseers who pretend to be Moses. This hustle will not work too much longer however, more and more people are waking up to their deception and refusing to be doormats of Democrats, Republicans or anyone else. If we are to find redemption, it will not be from the top nor will the revolution be televised. As I noted earlier, I’ve come a long way from my days of would-be revolutionary. Malcolm X had an eye-awakening moment in Mecca upon seeing a broad sea of humanity praying in unison. I had my mecca moment by way of shelters and homeless missions and observing a diverse dissection of Americans made invisible by the malice of the gentry and the indifference of society. It’s for this reason that I disavow sectional movements and pray for a day where all of us unite beyond our trivial differences. We have more that unites us than the issues that divide us; when we realize this is the day we will get the change we all have been waiting for. The revolution that matters is not the one of the gun but the one our hearts.
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know your history Teodrose Fikre is the editor and founder of the Ghion Journal. A published author and prolific writer, a once defense consultant was profoundly changed by a two year journey of hardship and struggle. Going from a life of upper-middle class privilege to a time spent with the huddled masses taught Teodrose a valuable lesson in the essence of togetherness and the need to speak against injustice. Originally from Ethiopia with roots to Atse Tewodros II, Teodrose is a former community organizer whose writing was incorporated into Barack Obama’s South Carolina primary victory speech in 2008. He pivoted away from politics and decided to stand for collective justice after experiencing the reality of the forgotten masses.
February 2003. He also serves as an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He was featured in the BBC Two films Motherland: A Genetic Journey and Motherland – Moving On (released in 2003 and 2004, respectively), as well as in part 4 of the 2006 PBS series African American Lives (hosted by Henry Louis Gates). On October 7, 2007, he was featured on the American TV newsmagazine 60 Minutes. In February 2008 he appeared in part 4 of African American Lives 2. He has published on genetic variation and prostate cancer genetics of African Americans. In addition, he discovered, through of a DNA analysis, he descends mainly of people of Dakar, Senegal, and Nigeria’s Hausa people.
downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. She served as a board member of the Bunce Island Coalition USA, whose mission is to preserve the Bunce Island Slave Fort in Sierra Leone. Additionally, she was a former member of the Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African Art and the Montgomery County African Affairs Advisory Group. Both Diasporan and traditional leaders often find Brown’s Roots to Glory Tours by word of mouth, which is a testament to her dedication to facilitating AfricanAmerican and African unity and dialogue. Programs and excursions offered by Roots to Glory Tours provide Diasporan brothers and sisters first-hand experience with Africa’s music, food, and rich history. Brown simplifies the travel process by arranging personalized tours with authentic experiences of local hospitality, the result of Brown’s long-standing working relationship with Africa’s traditional leaders.
SALES & CUSTOMER CARE 202-723-0900 (Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST) info@africanancestry.com
RICK KITTLES
MAILING ADDRESS: African Ancestry 5614 Connecticut Avenue NW, #297 Washington, DC 20015
Email: roots@rootstoglorytours (410) 429-0804
AFRICAN ANCESTRY INC.
Kittles was raised in Central Islip, New York. He holds a B.S. degree in biology from the Rochester Institute of Technology (1989), where he pledged Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, and a Ph.D. in biology from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (1998). He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. In 1990 he began his career as a teacher in several New York and Washington, D.C. area high schools. From approximately 1995 until 1999, as a researcher with the New York African Burial Ground Project (NYABGP), a federally funded project in New York City, in which Howard University researchers, led by anthropologist Michael Blakey, exhumed the remains of 408 African Americans from an 18th-century graveyard;Kittles gathered DNA samples from the remains and compared them with samples from a DNA database to determine from where in Africa the individuals buried in the graveyard had come. Beginning in 1998, as he was completing his Ph.D. at George Washington University, Kittles was hired as an assistant professor of microbiology at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and also named director of the African American Hereditary Prostate Cancer (AAHPC) Study Network at the university’s National Human Genome Center. Kittles also co-directed the molecular genetics unit of Howard University’s National Human Genome Center. He served in these positions until 2004. Beginning in 2004, he served as an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology & Medical Genetics at the Tzagournis Medical Research Facility of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He is currently the leader of the Washington, D.C.-based African Ancestry Inc., a genetic testing service for determining individuals’ African ancestry, which he co-founded with Gina Paige in
MAILING ADDRESS: Roots to Glory Tours P.O. Box 92 Stevenson, Maryland 21153
ADA ANAGHO BROWN
ROOTS TO GLORY TOURS Ada Anagho Brown, a native of Cameroon, launched Roots to Glory Tours in 2012 with the dream of reuniting African families and returning Africans in the Diaspora to the continent. As the third child of the current Chief of Ngwo of the Njikwa subdivision in Northwest Cameroon, Brown moved to the United States in 1975 when her father was on a diplomatic assignment. With her deep African roots and the strong African values and beliefs passed down to her from her childhood, Brown has facilitated the return of hundreds of African descendants as they traveled to the homeland of their ancestors. Among her many accomplishments, Brown coordinated the Cultural Village at the African American Festival in 2016 – the largest festival on the East Coast with more than 300,000 attendees. Brown was also the lead organizer for the Panafest USA cultural festival, an annual event in
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DR.JAMES TUCKER AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICE
“BLACK HISTORY YEARS commemorated in the United States of America (1619 - 2019) 400 years: An end and new beginning. Our history must not be acknowledged for one month by anyone. We have been making history since the beginning of time. We must not allow others to define and tell us when we should commemorate our history. Please spread widely!”
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FEBRUARY 2019
special supplement
Honoring Our Ancestors
Dred Scott
Homer G. Phillips
Lloyd Gaines
Dred Scott Case: A Black man had no rights a white man was bound to respect.
Founded Homer G. Phillips Hospital Segregated Hospital
Gaines v Canada (University of Missouri). Disappeared shortly after winning the case and was never found
Ida B. Wells
Fannie Lou Hamer
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Journalist Civil Rights Activist Educator
Marcus Garvey Founder UNIA Political leader Publisher Entrepreneur
FEBRUARY 2019
Political Activist Civil Rights Leader
Fred Hampton
Black Panther leader Killed by Chicago policemen
Prominent Civil Rights Leader
Shirley Chisholm First Black woman US Congresswoman Educator
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Arthur Fletcher
Father of Affirmative Action
Birmingham Church Bombing
Martyred during the height of the civil rights movement
Muhammad Ali Professional Boxer Activist
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St. Louis city and St. Louis County Boycott For Economic and Social Justice The St. Louis County and St. Louis City Boycott consist of grassroots organizations dedicated to exposing the injustice and unfair treatment of African Americans. Missouri is ground zero for the modern day civil rights movement.
Remember, Missouri was a slave state.
• Dred Scott Case • Gaines v Canada (University of Missouri) • Jefferson Bank Lawsuit • Housing Lawsuits • Ferguson Uprising • University of Missouri Football Players Boycott
Government agencies continue to fail African Americans by not protecting African Americans civil and human rights.
Arab Businesses
St. Louis Galleria in Richmond Heights
*Study the history of slavery and SLU
“You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.” – Fannie Lou Hamer
We ask conscious people to support the boycott! S4
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FEBRUARY 2019