December 31, 2012 - January 6, 2013
Vol. 40 No. 1 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
Black churches confront the AIDS epidemic By Maya Rhodan NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Some churches distribute food and clothing to the needy. But Rev. Edwin C. Sanders, II, the Senior Servant and Founder of the Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville, Tenn. decided to distribute something else – condoms. Not to encourage more sexuality, church leaders were quick to point out, but because it is an effective weapon to curb the spread of HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. “We believe in radical love and love to all in the community. We’re open and honest. We distribute condoms because our goal is a healthy community,” says Rev. Terry Terrell, a staff minister. Like many Black churches, Metropolitan was forced to act when the disease could no longer be ignored in the church. When the church was founded in 1981, one of its 12 founding members was HIVpositive and later died from AIDS. The leaders of the church were then moved to address the HIV and AIDS crisis through service and education.
CHURCHES TURN TO 14
Across the country, Black churches, the pillar of the Black community, are stepping forward to ad-dress HIV/AIDS crisis in their community.
Courtesy of NNPA
Adding cops and arming teachers don’t enhance student safety Congressman Ellison warns will push for gun legislation against cutting programs in early next year. Many elected officials are supporting the debt negotiations move.
NNPA
NRA’s Wayne LaPierre faces protester.
By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Rather than deter violence, placing more police officers in schools has led to more students becoming entangled in the criminal justice system for such minor infractions as disorderly conduct, an indepth study of the issue has concluded. Despite that finding by the Justice Policy Institute, a nonprofit group that seeks
ways to decrease incarceration, National Rifle Association (NRA) officials continue to argue that the best way to prevent tragedies such as the killing of 26 people in Newtown, Conn. is to arm teachers and place more police officers in schools. In an appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA said, “If it’s crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children then call
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me crazy.” He added, “I think the American people think it’s crazy not to do it. It’s the one thing that would keep people safe.” After LaPierre made that suggestion Friday at a news conference in which he would not take questions from reporters, Rep. Chris Murphy [D-Conn.] called it “the most revolting tone deaf statement I’ve ever seen.” After the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, President Obama said he
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“I have found the statements by the NRA over the last couple of days to be really disheartening, because the statements seem not to reflect any understanding about the slaughter of children,” said Senator Joe Liberman [I-Conn.]. “But it’s obviously also true that the easy availability of guns, including military style assault weapons, is a contributing factor, and you can’t keep that off the table.” The Justice Policy Institute published a report in November of last year titled, “Education Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in Schools.” It stated, “Fueled by increasingly punitive approaches to student behavior such as ‘zero tolerance policies,’ the past 20 years have seen an expansion in the presence of law enforcement, including school resource officers (SROs), in schools. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the number of school resource officers increased 38 percent between 1997 and 2007. Some cities, like New York City, employ more officers in schools than many small cities’
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By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer With the so called “fiscal cliff” looming a few Democratic Congressmen are voicing concerns that President Obama may give in too much to House Republicans in his debt negotiations. If the president and Congress cannot reach a deal by Jan. 1 – a prospect that seems to be the case – automatic tax hikes and cuts to so called entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits and unemployment benefits will occur automatically. The automatic trigger has been deemed the fiscal cliff, as most economists say the country will fall into a mild recession. But with the prospect of the cliff looming, a few Congressmen are warning the president not to compromise to get a deal if it means devastating cuts in entitlement spending. “I’m not going to support benefit reduction for the most vulnerable to pay for millionaires to keep their tax cuts,” said US Rep. Keith
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Suluki Fardan
U.S. Rep Keith Ellison
Ellison (D-MN). “We don’t have to cut services for the most vulnerable to resolve the deficit.” Ellison spoke out after reports that Republicans want to cut Social Security by
CUTS TURN TO 13
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