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CONSUMER ADVOCATE
VOL. 1 NO.3
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President Obama's Mission Impossible National Urban League Helping Mortgage Scam Victims ...see page 4
Civil Rights Leader Shuttlesworth Dies ...see page 2
BY H. LEWIS SMITH
U
pon Barack Obama's election to president of the United States, euphoria, jubilation and an aura of disbelief simultaneously enveloped the Black community. Perhaps, it could even be said that many saw him as a Messiah and the primary power-holder to make life and living better for Blacks. Seemingly, Black became complacent and blinded by the historical, unprecedented election of America's first-recognized Black President, thinking him the cure to all the issues ailing the community. Needless to say, since that historical moment, President Obama and the rest of America now have to deal with reality. America's powerful, prominent white ruling elites the true rulers of the country, who are controllers of world banks and financiers of national elections — they who maintain true, constant power
regardless of who is actually president will not discontinue their greedy, exploitative and suppressive practices merely because of President Barack Obama's presence. Because many don't realize this truth or just need someone to blame for America's current condition, continued on page 8
The Math Behind “Class Warfare” — A Middle Class Under Attack First Lady Michelle Obama’s Fight Against Obesity ...see page 14
Why Are So Few Men of Color Graduating High School? ...see page 6
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is to be under siege in an economic war in which the top 10 percent have been winning all of the territory. That nine in 10 Americans have continued on page 10
A Letter From Recently Executed Troy Davis ...see page 7
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BY ISAIAH J. POOLE, NEW AMERICA MEDIA resident Obama said recently that his proposal would bring taxes for millionaires in line with those paid by the middle class. This “is not class warfare; it’s math,” he stated. But he could have easily been referring to math that hasn’t favored working-class and middleclass households for most of the past 30 years. To be among the bottom 90 percent of income earners in the United States
Broken Black Relationships, Where Is the Love?...see page 13
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IN THE NEWS
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Civil Rights Leader Shuttlesworth Passes: The Man Most Feared by the Southern Racist
H
oward K. Smith, commentator for the May 1961, nationally televised documentary, Who Speaks for Birmingham, called Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth “The man most feared by the Southern racist,” and further said of him: “No history written on the Civil Rights Movement would be complete unless it included the name of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. Rev. Shuttlesworth has given more of himself for the ‘Cause of Freedom’ than any man living today.” Shuttlesworth who was bombed, beaten and repeatedly arrested in the fight for civil rights and hailed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for his courage and energy, died on Wednesday, October 5, 2011. He was 89. In his 1963 book "Why We Can't Wait," King called Shuttlesworth "one of the nation's most courageous freedom fighters...a wiry, energetic and indomitable man." Fred Shuttlesworth (born Freddie Lee Robinson on March 18, 1922) was a civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama. He continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took up a pastorate in 1961. He returned to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007. Shuttlesworth, a former truck driver who studied religion at night, became pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in
Birmingham in 1953 and soon was an outspoken leader in the fight for racial equality. "My church was a beehive," Shuttlesworth once said. "I made the movement. I made the challenge. Birmingham was the citadel of segregation, and the people wanted to march." He survived a 1956 bombing, an assault during a 1957 demonstration, chest injuries when Birmingham authorities turned fire hoses on demonstrators in 1963, and countless arrests. "I went to jail 30 or 40 times, not for fighting or stealing or drugs," Shuttlesworth told grade school students in 1997. "I went to jail for a good thing, trying to make a difference." Shuttlesworth was apparently personally fearless, even though he was aware of the risks he ran. Other committed activists were scared off or mystified by his willingness to accept the risk of death. Shuttlesworth himself vowed to "kill segregation or be killed by it". Even after moving to Cincinnati, where he was a pastor for 47 years, Shuttlesworth visited Alabama frequently and remained active in the movement in Alabama. He moved back to Birmingham in February 2008 for rehabilitation after a mild stroke. That summer, the once-segregated city honored him with a four-day tribute and named its airport after him; his statue stands outside the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. And in November 2008, Shuttlesworth watched from a hospital bed as Sen. Barack Obama was elected the nation's first African-American president. The year before, Obama had pushed Shuttlesworth's wheelchair across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma during a commemoration of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. He was 84 when he retired as the pastor of Greater New Light in 2006. "The best thing we can do is be a servant of God," he said in his final sermon. "It does good to
stand up and serve others."l For more information about the life and work of Reverend L. Shuttlesworth visit www. fredshuttlesworthfoundation.org
ABOUT US
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THE CONSUMER ADVOCATE TEAM Publisher I.Q. INC. Editor-in-Chief Pearl Phillip Contributors H. Lewis Smith Isaiah J. Poole Marc H. Morial Jorge Rivas Starla Muhammad John Benjamin Marilyn Silverman Praim Samsoondar Legal Advisor Brian Figeroux, Esq. Graphic & Website Designers Praim Samsoondar Samantha Rosero Lana Delgadillo Marketing Executives Marilyn Silverman Trudy Peynado Marie Wright Chantal Figeroux Corporate Office 26 Court Street, Suite 701 Brooklyn, NY 11242 Tel: 718-771-0988 Fax: 718-222-3153 Email: cariaweekly@aol.com Website: www.myiqinc.com The Consumer Advocate is a publication of the New American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), a 501 (c)(6) organization established to promote, advance and facilitate the success of New American businesses. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer.
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FORECLOSURES & BANKRUPTCY
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National Urban League Helping Mortgage Scam Victims BY MARC H. MORIAL, PRESIDENT & CEO NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE
D
oris Tinson is just one of a growing number of American homeowners, desperate to save their homes from foreclosure, who are being duped by mortgage loan scam artists. Doris was falling behind on her refinanced high mortgage payments and was looking for help. On the way home from church she saw a sign in the median promising loan modification for a fee. But after forking over $2,000 of her hardearned money, after months of waiting for action, and finally receiving a notice that her house was being sold, it became clear that Doris was the victim of a scam. "The thought of my home being taken away is consuming, I can't get to sleep at night, and it’s the first thing I think of when I wake up." said Tinson of Los Angeles. As the mortgage crisis sweeps the nation, it is unfortunately being accompanied by a rise in mortgage fraud. But you don’t have to be a victim. The National Urban League’s network of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved housing counselors has been offering FREE mortgage counseling services for years. Last
year, Urban League affiliates provided housing counseling to over 42,000 clients, including more than 15,000 clients who benefited from default mitigation and foreclosure prevention counseling. The Urban League is also part of a coalition with the federal government, and some 235 community-based partners in the “Loan Scam Alert Campaign,” a nation-wide effort that is empowering homeowners to protect themselves against loan modification scams, find trusted help, and report illegal activity to authorities.
Scam artists may pose as lawyers or real estate agents, promising loan modifications and charging large fees – then disappearing without helping anyone but themselves. If you are a homeowner facing foreclosure, you may unknowingly become a victim of such a fraud, costing your home, thousands of dollars and a damaged credit score. The first thing you should know is that you should never have to pay for counseling. If anyone requests money up front or guarantees they can keep you in your home, these are warning signs of a scam and they should be reported. There
are no promises that anyone can give you. But trained counselors from HUDapproved counseling agencies will work with you and your lender to get the best results at no cost. HUD lists these six warning signs of a foreclosure scam: n Beware of anyone who asks you to pay a fee up front in exchange for a counseling service or modification of a delinquent loan. Assistance from a HUD approved housing counselor is FREE. n Beware of anyone who guarantees they can stop a foreclosure or get your loan modified. Nobody can make this guarantee. n Beware of people who pressure you to sign papers immediately, or who claim they can “save” your home if you sign or transfer over the property deed. n Beware of a company that claims to provide “government-approved” or “official government” loan modifications. They may be scam artists posing as legitimate organizations. n Beware of a company or person you don’t know who asks you to release personal financial information online or over the phone. n Beware of anyone who advises you to stop paying your mortgage company and pay them instead. Never make a mortgage payment to anyone other than your mortgage company/lender. l To learn more or to report a scam visit http://www.iamempowered.com/loanscams
RECESSION & JOBS
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Why Are So Few Young Men of Color Graduating High School? BY JORGE RIVAS, COLORLINES
T
here’s a new way to look at data released earlier this summer on the challenges young men of color face in school. Earlier this summer, the College Board released a new report that offers more detailed insight into what holds many of these young men back in school. The association, which is made up of more than 5,900 educational organizations that sell standardized tests like the SAT, studied four different groups: African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics/Latinos and Native Americans. The research spans the course of their journeys and detours from kindergarden to college. Sadly, the results weren’t surprising. It found that nearly half of young men of color age 15 to 24 who graduate from high school in the U.S. will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead. Of the five groups studied, Native American males with high school diplomas were the least likely to be enrolled in secondary education programs. “At a time when our nation is committed to reclaiming its place as the world leader in higher education, we can no longer afford to ignore the plight of our young men of color,” said Gaston
Caperton, College Board President, shortly after the report was released in June. “As long as educational opportunities are limited for some, we all suffer.” The good news it that the report offers detailed data on how to help curb the problem. It’s got a host on initiatives that are already in the works. “At a time when our nation is committed to reclaiming its place as the world leader in higher education, we can no longer afford to ignore the plight of our young men of color,” said College Board President Gaston Caperton in a written statement. “As long as educational opportunities are limited for some, we all suffer. We rise as one nation and we fall as one nation. But if we keep working hard — if we keep listening to each other and to our students — we can soften our landings and reach historic new heights.” According to The College Board, their report provides the most compre-
hensive data, research findings and recommendations to date to improve the educational experiences and pathways of young men of color. Recommendations outlined in the study include both public policy changes for policy makers and institutional changes for colleges and universities that include summer bridge programs, hot-
lines that help students get all questions answered and transportation services to schools. l You can download the entire report, watch video interviews from young male students of color and examine research findings yourself by visiting youngmenofcolor.collegeboard.org.
NACC Empowerment Seminar Series
THOUGHTS
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A Letter From Troy Davis Below is a letter from Troy Davis who was executed on the night of September 21, 2011, in the state of Georgia, in one of the most controversial death penalty cases of the century.
I
want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness. In the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never-ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today. As I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me, she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime. As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first-hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all; it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty; this is not a case about Troy Davis; this is a case about jus-
tice and the human spirit to see justice prevail. I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all; I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces; I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world; I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist. So thank you and remember, I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you, I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days and weeks to come, this movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me, but through our strength to move forward and to save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country. I can’t wait to stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form. I will one day be announcing, "I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!" Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We Will Win! l
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
President Obama's Mission Impossible many Americans, regardless of ethnicity, now see Obama as an ineffective leader. His popularity, according to the polls, has suffered as a result. Can he rebound from the unfavorable opinions? Yes, he can. Will he rebound? Possibly! Although he has some overwhelming odds to overcome, it is premature to label the president as an ineffective leader. Obama finds himself in a situation unlike that of any preceding president. George Bush left the incoming president a gargantuan mess to clean up, and as a result, no matter the efforts Obama puts forth, he is damned. For Obama to turn around the current state of America in his first four years serving in office is asking a great deal of anyone in his position and, honestly, it would be a miracle if he could somehow make all necessary fixes AND see the upward effects of the changes within his first term. Was his becoming president equivalent to taking on a mission impossible? Obama still has a steady race-mix of black and white supporters. Yet, because people are unable to tangibly see his efforts result in positive, huge wins or improvements in society — as it takes power and momentum to turn around a huge ship in high-tide waters, it seems as though the ship is slowly sinking. Whimsical voter apathy comes with the territory of being president. However, when Obama was elected as president,
Black America was sending praises up as far as the eye could see and the sense of hope or cultural confidence seemed to fill every breath of air. Now that progress isn't occurring as the original plan or as quickly as most would like to see, Black America has become most disenchanted with the president. Before being "completely done" with the president, though, Black America should examine the validity of their dissatisfaction with the president. To piggy-back on a phrase from JFK, ask not what President Obama can do for the Black community, but what can the Black community can do for itself? The answer: PLENTY, if only it would. The community spends almost one trillion dollars a year of which only roughly 5% of the monies remain in the community. Black America seems to refuse to take control of its own destiny, but yet points
8 continued from page 1
an accusing finger at President Obama for not making all right within the Black community. It would help immensely if Black America ever learns to hold itself accountable for its own actions, and look to no one but ITSELF to promote and control its own destiny. Mumblings that Obama is doing more for every other group or movement than for Black America have been made. To be candid, Black America no longer has any clout with that same sob song — even the Gay and Lesbian community have more clout today than Black America does because they are willing to be active for their rights and community. They take advantage of their right to freedom of speech to have their voices heard and laws passed in their name. The gay and lesbian community respects themselves, demands respect from others — and gets it, and wields enormous political clout.
Rather than waiting to be handed something, Black America must realize that nobody owes them anything. The only responsibility the president has is to ensure that opportunity is available and that there is a truly level playing field for all. It's up to each person then to take advantage of the opportunities presented and work just as hard as the next person to have their vision realized and obtain their piece of the American dream. On another note, how can Obama or any other president take Black America seriously when Black America fails to take itself seriously? It seems as though Black America has evolved into a threering circus, displaying no self-respect or dignity whatsoever — for there is absolutely nothing respectful or dignified about being self-anointed n**gahs. Black America's self-respect, dignity, honor and pride has been replaced with denigrating their women, and disrespecting, demeaning and degrading their race with use of the vile, sinister and damnable term n**gah. The promotion and acceptance of violence, drugs or any selfdestructive mannerisms are tolerant from within. Black rappers and hip-hop businessmen have the audacity to join the Jews in protecting their image against anti-Semitic assaults; yet, they still help to assault their own image with the use of the N-word. People with such a tolerant or concontinued on next page
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION continued from previous page flicted mindset are in effect saying that Blacks are not to be held to civilized standards of conduct and principled expectations that might be enforced by others. The anesthetized, barely conscious people — along with our intelligentsia, will argue that there are greater things to worry about than use of the N-word. However, it is safe to disagree. What is a greater concern than the self-inflicted demolition of a people's image on the world stage? As well, if it's not such a big deal to stop using the term, why not tackle this small issue and just stop using the term? PERIOD! On August 22, Maxine Waters chided an Obama official for being timid in his reluctant use of the word "black" when she challenged him with, "Let me hear you say black." A similar challenge needs to be made to Black America: "Let me hear you STOP using the vile and vulgar n-word, n**gah." The continued demise of Black America today is nothing less than a betrayal of Black ancestors' struggles paid with blood, sweat and tears. Previous generations gave their lives to make possible the so-long denied freedoms and opportunities that are being routinely squandered present day. Blacks absolutely refuse to hold one another accountable for anything. It seems as if the common consensus is, "so what if we trash, demean and degrade ourselves?" Then naively wonder and vocally question why the community gets no respect.
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It is abundantly clear that some parts of the country have been disproportionately impacted by the unemployment crisis — that part being Black America. This dismal statistic would be the case no matter who resides as president simply because the community continues to be apathetic, helpless, and to hold victim mentalities. In order for the Black community to truly experience change, a precedent or standard is first going to have to be established from within to overcome adversity. Expecting change to occur in any other fashion will result in Black Americans still playing the victim or race card 100 years from now. The Black community as a whole must discard the 18th-century slave mentality, become self-sufficient, and regain control of its own destiny. It can be done, it's been proven: Blacks achieved this feat during the early 1920's (Tulsa City, Oklahoma) and in the 60's. And it can be done again. To affect change, Blacks must initiate and be the change that they seek. When Blacks think and act in a positive fashion — AS A GROUP — positive things happen exponentially. H. Lewis Smith is the founder and president of UVCC, (the United Voices for a Common Cause, Inc.) (www.theunitedvoices.com); a writer for the New England Informer Online, Staff Writer for ThyBlackMan.com, and author of "Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Love Affair with the N-Word." Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thescoop1 l
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FINANCE & TAXES
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The Math Behind “Class Warfare”— A Middle Class Under Attack continued from page 1 been struggling for decades is a direct consequence of policies that have stacked the deck in favor of corporations and the wealthy. Those policies range from the tax breaks highlighted in Obama’s address, to the decline in wages and benefits received by rank-and-file workers, as unions have lost power. The Racial Wealth Gap? One way to get a sense of the consequences is to go to an Economic Policy Institute website, stateofworkingamerica.org. There, an interactive chart answers the question, “When income grows, who gains?” This handy chart shows that between 1994 and 2000, the richest 10 percent of Americans gained 71 percent of income growth. What remained was spread among the lower 90 percent. Look at what happened from 2002 to 2007, the period featuring the tax cuts of George W. Bush: The bottom 90 percent received only 13 percent of the income growth, while those at the top banked 87 percent. As a whole, African Americans and Latinos have fared the worst. Recent data from the 2010 U.S. Census show that in the past decade the median income of African American households dropped 14.6 percent, while Latino household income fell 10 percent. The result underscores a record racial
wealth gap, the Pew Research Center reported in July. Pew found the median wealth of white households ($113,149) is now 20 times that of black households ($5,677), and 18 times that of Hispanic households ($6,325). The disappearing middle class, the increasing concentration of wealth at the top and the widening wealth gap between white people and people of color coincides with a series of policies championed by the very lawmakers who are invoking the “class warfare” charge today. One particularly pernicious inequity involves capital gains, money made by selling stock and other assets. That income is taxed at a much lower rate than earned income. It is how billionaire Warren Buffet, who earns all of his money through capital gains, pays taxes at a lower rate, usually 15 percent, than his secretary, whose paycheck — likely taxed at 25 percent — -is most, if not all, of his or her income. To his credit, Buffett has called for a higher tax rate on such income. President Obama’s “Buffett rule” would require millionaires to pay taxes at a similar rate as the people who work for them—a simple principle that has promoted the loudest cries of “class warfare.” What’s driving this “class warfare” language is the continuing defense by conservative ideologues of a worldview
that idolizes society’s “haves” and belittles, if not outright scorns, society’s “have-nots.” That view is at the core of the writings of the late Atlas Shrugged author Ayn Rand, a chief inspiration for such conservatives as Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Wisc.,) who led the fight this year to replace Medicare with a voucher for private insurance and who is a chief defender of maintaining the status quo for the wealthy. “Job Creators” Did Little Out of that ideological context comes the constant exaltation of corporations and the rich as “job creators,” even though these members of the moneyed class did precious little hiring — at least not in the United States — with the tax cuts they received from the Bush administration in 2001 and 2003. Between 2003 and 2007— following the economic “dot-bomb” slump — job growth was at the slowest pace of any previous economic recovery this century. Those meager employment gains were more than wiped out by the 2008 economic implosion caused by Wall Street. The combination of policies that President Obama has sent to Congress in the past two weeks at the very least draws the correct contrast between policies designed to rebuild the middle class and have working people share in the fruits of economic growth and policies that would continue to push wealth upward. If anything, the United States needs bolder, more far-reaching policies that would move the nation toward more equi-
table, sustainable growth. It’s no surprise that people who can look down on economically struggling households and command “shared sacrifice” from the comfort of their mansions are pushing back against the bottom 90 percent. The message from those standing up for their interests says, “If you share the sacrifice, you also have to share the prosperity.” Progressive activists are now working on the strategy to overwrite the “class warfare” mantra of conservative lawmakers with the principle of shared benefit. That will be a dominant theme of the “Take Back the American Dream” conference in Washington in October, led by the Campaign for America’s Future and Van Jones’ Rebuild the Dream movement. As President Obama said, it is math; specifically, making the economic math work for working people again. l Isaiah J. Poole is the editor of OurFuture.org, the website of the Campaign for America’s Future.
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If Your Goal Is Success, Image Is Everything! Join NACC BY PRAIM SAMSOONDAR
BY MARILYN SILVERMAN
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s your goal to become a successful business owner in 2011 and beyond and to ensure the prosperity of your family for generations to come? If your answer is an
emphatic yes, which it should be, your first step should be to join the New American Chamber of Commerce (NACC). We can help bring to fruition the American Dream of entrepreneurship, the recessionary economy notwithstanding. We can help you create a business plan, a document that is an absolute prerequisite in obtaining that much needed bank loan to start or expand your business. We can provide a plethora of networking events for you to attend where you can make significant business contacts that can translate into leads. We can invite you to bi- monthly membership meetings where you can hobnob
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nologies in order to effectively bind your company to its marketplace. Regardless of your company's pace, presence or personality, our process allows us to take your company from beginning to end in a complete solution. It is our job to help you adapt a brilliant strategy that allows your company to grow and prosper in all areas in printing. We specialize in high-quality, fastturnaround printing of business cards, brochures, postcards, website design and marketing materials, etc., for large and small businesses, as well as for individuals. We strive to provide our clients the best price for exceptional quality printing and fast turnaround times. GBS’s philosophy is simple — to be leaders within an industry full of top achievers. We are passionate about our work because we love what we do! Our collective experience, skill and focus has allowed us to adapt and grow as the print world has grown. If you realize that no one marketing medium works alone, finding a company that understands how to model your company to find exactly what will work is an art. We offer FREE consultations on all website designs and printing needs, so come in today or visit us at www.gbsnyc.com or email orders@gbsnyc.com. Call 646-434-7349 to schedule that appointment. l
COMMUNITY FOCUS
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Important Tips for Becoming a U.S. Citizen
B
ecoming a naturalized U.S. citizen is not easy, but it is possible if you do your homework and carefully follow the rules. In the past 10 years, more than 500,000 people became naturalized citizens of the United States, obtaining numerous rights, benefits and privileges, including the opportunity to vote in U.S. local, state and federal elections. If you are here legally and would like to become a U.S. citizen, it's important to know that the process can take years. If you are living in the United States illegally (often referred to as being an "illegal alien"), the path to citizenship is much, much more difficult. In both cases, seeking legal help from an experienced attorney who specializes in immigration law is critical because of numerous changes being proposed to immigration laws in statehouses across the country. Here are some tips on how to become a naturalized U.S. citizen: Paths to citizenship. A person can become a U.S. citizen at birth or after birth, by applying for "acquired" citizenship through parents or naturalization. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, naturalization is the
process by which a foreign citizen is granted U.S. citizenship after fulfilling certain requirements set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Meet basic requirements. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the basic requirements for becoming a U.S. citizen through naturalization include being at least 18 years old; being a permanent resident for five years (or less in some situations); being a person of good moral character (i.e., no legal trouble); having a basic knowledge of U.S. history and government; and being able to read, write and speak basic English (with several exceptions to this last rule). Here legally; want to stay. If you are from another country and are living in the U.S. legally, first and foremost, you must obtain and maintain your green card (also known as a permanent resident card), which allows you to live permanently in the United States, to work in the United States and travel abroad for a certain period of time. As a green card holder, the opportunity to apply for U.S. citizenship will be granted after you have established a permanent residence for at least five years (three years if you're married to a U.S. citizen). What happens to your old citizenship? You do not lose your citizenship in
your native country when you become a U.S. citizen. A person who becomes a U.S. citizen through naturalization may keep his or her original citizenship. It is important to consider the decision to apply for U.S. citizenship carefully. While dual citizenship does have some advantages, it can also raise difficult issues since you will have legal rights and obligations in two countries. If you're here illegally. If you entered the United States without proper documentation, or did not enter through a valid U.S. Customs checkpoint, you are living in the United States illegally, making it next to impossible to be eligible for citizenship. The key is to return to your country of citizenship and start the process to becoming a U.S. citizen there. If you have been illegally in the U.S. for more than 180 days, and you leave to pursue legal status and try to re-enter, you may be barred from returning for three years. If you have been in the U.S. illegally for over one year and then leave, you may not be able to return for 10 years. There are a few very narrow exceptions to the general rule that you must return to your home country and start the process there, and this is where you should get the help of an experienced immigration attorney. Get legal help. If you're an immigrant
in the United States, and are in search of legal help, contact an organization such as The Immigrant's Journal Legal & Educational Fund, Inc, a non-profit organization that can assist immigrants with the following legal issues: deportation/removal defense, family-based petitions, naturalization applications, change of status, VAWA (Violence against Women Act) self-petitions, appeals, employment/workplace issues and youth representation. Avoid scams. Each year, the U.S. Department of State conducts a lottery to make diversity visas (DVs) available to 50,000 immigrants who have legally entered the United States. Through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery program, immigrants from under-represented countries have the opportunity to obtain a green card and establish permanent residence. Unfortunately, online scammers often target people who apply for this program through fraudulent websites and emails, so beware. l (ARA)
FAMILY MATTERS
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Broken Black Relationships, Where is the Love? BY STARLA MUHAMMAD, FINAL CALL
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s there a systematic assault on Black marriage? Seemingly every week a new poll, study or blog reports disheartening statistics and commentary on the abhorrent conditions of Black men and Black women in the United States, adding fuel to the often fiery discussion of malefemale relationships and its effect on the disappearing intact traditional Black family. Poverty, unemployment, health disparities, incarceration and financial hardships cut across racial lines, especially among the nation's poor and working class. All are contributing factors to decreasing marriage rates, say analysts. Marriage across-the-board has declined among Blacks, Latinos and Whites since 1960. Marriage among 30-to 44-year-old Whites has dipped from 87 percent in 1960, to 65 percent in 2007, according to a recent brief released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). During the same time there was also a decrease among U.S.-born Latinos from 84 percent to 54 percent with the biggest drop among Blacks from 71 percent to 37 percent, a 34-percent decrease. Data suggests that Black men and women would like to get married. In 2008, 72.5 percent of Black people reported they will likely get married according to the National Survey of American Life, says EPI. In 2010, 65 percent of Blacks said a child needs a home with both a mother and father. Marriage prospects among Blacks suffer because of a shortage of Black males, with 21 percent fewer Black males than Black females ages 30-44 years old not in prison or other institutions, reports EPI. The disproportionate number of unmarried Black women is being used as justification by some in advocating the push for professional Black women to marry nonBlack men. If Black women “limit themselves to Black men,” most will either remain unmarried or wed to a less-educated man who earns less than they do, argues Professor Ralph Richard Banks, author of the recently released book, “Is Marriage for White People? How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone.” The matrimonial dip is not unique to any racial group but because Black men are imprisoned and jailed at higher rates, and suffer higher rates of unemployment, coupled with a declining share of good jobs, this results in the “collateral consequence” of marriage decline, reports EPI. Growing up in Cleveland in a predominately Black neighborhood with plenty of two-parent households, Prof. Banks saw the drastic decline in Black marriages firsthand. He is married to a Black woman he has known since elementary school and has three sisters but says while Black women have achieved tremendous success, they are more likely than others to be unmarried. Nearly 7 in 10 Black women are unmarried and college-educated Black women are twice as likely as their White counterparts to be unwed, he says. “Even as Black women are doing really well in other ways, they have good jobs, they have education; you know they are thriving in many ways but then in this one way life hasn't quite come together as
they've imagined it would,” the Stanford law professor told The Final Call. College-educated Black women will often have more in common with their Asian, Latino or White classmates than with the Black guy they grew up with who did not go to college, argues Prof. Banks. This factor, along with the poor economic and educational realities of many Black men, is why Black women should date outside of their race, says the author of the controversial new book. “I'm African American; I have three boys who will be young Black men in not too many years. So of course I want a world where they can thrive. It's a tragedy that we have as many Black men in jail as we do. That there are so many that are jobless, they're underperforming educationally. That's a failure that's everybody's fault,” says Banks. Banks argues Black women do not marry because they have too few choices, and Black men because they have too many. Further, he insists, somehow the commitment Black women have to Black men “weakens” the Black family. Professor Banks says that federal and state programs are needed to address the many problems plaguing Black men but that his book “is about what to do in the meantime.” The effect of declining marriage is based in the root cause of the legacy and system of White supremacy which has strategically undermined the family in the Black community and skewed the God-centered reality that serves as the foundation of
a strong marriage and to suggest that Black women “look elsewhere” is insulting, argues Black marriage advocates. “There absolutely is an ongoing assault on Black marriage because there is an assault on the Black family because the Black family is the base of wealth and reproduction. The Black family provides stability, self-love and self-acceptance,” says Ava Muhammad, a student minister and attorney for the Nation of Islam and a national spokesperson for Minister Farrakhan. “In order to destabilize the family you want to start at its root, which is marriage,” Muhammad told The Final Call. The concept of family runs in opposition to a society dominated by White supremacy and an economic ideal based on “free” labor when chattel slavery was outlawed, adds the popular author and lecturer. “Law enforcement policies that contribute to higher Black incarceration rates deflate the size of the Black workforce and the pool of marriage-eligible Black men,” notes the “Reducing Poverty and Increasing Marriage Rates among Latinos and African Americans” EPI policy brief. “If 2010 unemployment and incarceration rates for Blacks and Whites were the same, almost two million additional Blacks would have been in the American workforce.” Current policies in America's criminal justice system have ensured that significant numbers of the potential Black workforce is in prison and upon release, it is more difficult to find work, adds EPI. The ability for a man to be in a position to support a fami-
ly before he gets married is an important factor across all racial lines, says the report. “You have two things going on simultaneously. You have the Black man being bombarded with media images and concepts which continually inflict on his brain this idea that his own woman is undesirable. On the side of the woman, you have her now being bombarded with this idea that the man is incapable,” says Muhammad. Why would you look outside of your own kind because of employment and level of education? she asks. “That makes no sense at all because level of education and jobs, they are an effec; they're not a cause of anything,” says Muhammad. Muhammad says that the many successful Black marriages that exist must be promoted and there must be an end to pretending there are no successful ones. “Let's talk about the millions who have worked and struggled to keep their marriages together at a time when 50 percent of all marriages across-the-board are doomed for failure,” she says. “More importantly, this is why we have to become self-contained as a community. We're not able to focus on one another because we're too fixated on attempting to follow, copy and please the children of our slave-masters. And as long as we are with them, we're going to be ruled by them because we're not focusing on self-development; we're focusing on what they think,” says Muhammad. l
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HEALTH MATTERS
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First Lady Michelle Obama Makes Headway with Healthy Foods
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alorie by calorie, First Lady Michelle Obama is chipping away at big portions and unhealthy food in an effort to help America slim down. In the year and a half since she announced her campaign to curb childhood obesity, Mrs. Obama has stood alongside Wal-Mart, Olive Garden and many other food companies as they have announced improvements to their recipes — fewer calories, less sodium, better children's menus. The changes are small steps, in most cases. Fried foods and French fries will still be on the menu, though enticing pictures of those foods may be gone. Highsodium soups, which many consumers prefer, will still be on the grocery aisle. But the amount of sodium in each can will gradually decrease in some cases, and the taste of their low-sodium variety will be improved. On Thursday, the First lady joined Darden Restaurants Inc. executives at one of their Olive Garden restaurants in Hyattsville, Maryland, near Washington, to announce that the company's chains are pledging to cut calories and sodium in their meals by 20 percent over a decade. Fruit or vegetable side dishes and low-fat milk will become standard with kids' meals unless a substitution is requested. Mrs. Obama said Darden's announcement is a "breakthrough moment" for the industry. The company owns 1,900 restaurants in 49 states, including Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Long Horn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52. "I believe the changes that Darden will make could impact the health and well-being of an entire generation of young people," the first lady said. McDonald's, Burger King and more than a dozen other restaurants have also said this summer that they will revamp children's menus. Changing recipes and menu items is good business for the industry because consumers want wider choices — chefs and food manufacturers say consumers are demanding more healthy food than ever before. Nutrition advocates and food industry representatives say that the first lady embraced the issue just as consumers began to demand healthier foods and advocates were making headway in getting the industry to make foods healthier. They say she has been a key catalyst in getting lawmakers and companies to jump onboard. "There's been more progress on nutrition in the last several years than in the whole previous decade," says Margo Wootan, a leading nutrition advocate and lobbyist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest who has been working on the issue for almost 20 years. "There is a lot of momentum in addressing obesity right now and the first lady adds signifi-
cant momentum to that movement." Wootan says Mrs. Obama and her staff have done more than just public appearances, working behind-the-scenes with industry and Congress to affect change. "She does more than use the bully pulpit," says Wootan. The landscape has certainly changed for the food industry since President Barack Obama took office and the first lady launched her campaign. In that time, Congress has passed laws to improve school lunches, improve food safety and require calorie labeling in restaurants, all with industry support. The administration has proposed new food marketing rules for children and the food industry has come at least part of the way with their own proposal to limit marketing to kids. Major companies have launched a joint effort to cut calories and put more nutrition information on food labels. The first lady's effort has had "a dramatic impact on manufacturers, restaurants and retailers," says Scott Faber, a lobbyist for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents all of the major food companies. "Until the first lady launched her initiative there was no one American who was inspiring this generation of kids and parents to do more to have a healthy lifestyle." Mrs. Obama's participation with Darden Restaurants was her latest appearance with retailers and other private-sector players in support of her anti-obesity campaign. In January, she stood with Wal-Mart, the nation's largest grocer, as it pledged to reformulate thousands of products it sells to make them healthier and to push suppliers to do the same. This summer, the first lady applauded as Wal-Mart, Walgreens drugstores and several regional grocers committed to help eliminate "food deserts" by opening or expanding in rural and urban areas that don’t have easy access to healthy foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables. One in three U.S. children is overweight or obese, putting them at greater risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or other health conditions. Mrs. Obama has said her goal is to help today's youngsters become adults at a healthy weight by eating better and getting more exercise. In a speech to the National Restaurant Association one year ago this month, the first lady asked members to "actively promote healthy foods and healthy habits to our kids." Dawn Sweeney, CEO of the association, said that was an "acceleration point" for many restaurants that were already starting to change their menus. "Certainly the focus she has put on food and healthy living has been a great boost to create even broader consumer interest," Sweeney said. l (Black News)
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You're Driving Along and Suddenly You're Hit! What Do You Do Next? BY JOHN BENJAMIN
HEALTH & WELLNESS PRESENTATION
1. Stay at the Scene of the Accident and Wait for the Police and/or EMS to Arrive The most important rule for all car accidents is that you NEVER leave the scene of an accident until it is appropriate to do so. 2. Check on All Drivers and Passengers Before checking property damage, make sure that everyone else involved in the accident is okay. Be sure to get medical attention for anyone who may need it. If a person is unconscious or complains of neck or back pain, DO NOT MOVE THEM until qualified medical personnel arrive.
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3. ALWAYS Call the Police Especially if the accident involves significant property damage, physical injury, or death, you may need to call the police. Ask that a police report be filed in situations where law enforcement officers do arrive at the scene, and obtain the name and badge numbers of any responding officers.
get their names, phone numbers, addresses, drivers' license numbers, license plate numbers, and basic insurance information. If there are passengers in any of the vehicles, obtain their names, telephone numbers, and addresses as well. When talking to drivers of other vehicles, you should try to be cordial and cooperative in determining that everyone is okay and in exchanging basic information.
4. Exchange Information Talk to the drivers of any other vehicles involved in the accident. Be sure to
5. Talk to Witnesses Ask every witness what he or she saw. Get their names, telephone numbers
or addresses, if possible. Write down what they tell you and, if they agree, simply get their name and phone number so that you, your attorney, the insurance company, or the court can contact them again. 6. Take Pictures — Property Damage Estimate Take photographs of any damage to your vehicle as soon as possible after the accident. Having photographic proof will help your insurance adjuster. l
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