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PERMIT NO. 1179
VOL. 47 NO. 1 50¢
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8 - FEBRUARY 15, 2018
A M E S S A GE F ROM OU R PU BL IS H E R
Florida voters at a polling place, in November 2016. (floridapolitics.com)
By Derek Hawkins In a blistering decision that could affect the 2018 midterm elections, a federal judge on Thursday ruled that Florida’s system for barring former felons from voting is unconstitutional and potentially tainted by racial, political or religious bias.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker criticized the state panel led by Florida’s governor that decides whether to restore voting rights to people who have completed their sentences, saying their process is arbitrary and exceedingly slow. “In Florida, elected, partisan officials have extraordinary authority
CBC Chairman Offers Stinging Rebuttal to President Trump’s State of the Union Address
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus wear Kente cloth-inspired prints, during the State of the Union address on January 30. The CBC members stood in solidarity with the Americans, Haitians and the African nations smeared by President Trump’s comments during a bipartisan meeting about immigration at the White House. (Lauren Victoria Burke/NNPA)
The Importance of the Florida African American Vote in 2018 By Akilah Ensley, Finance Director, Andrew Gillum for Governor As we begin 2018, there is strong excitement in black communities all across Florida and the United States in the wake of Senator Doug Jones’ historic win in Alabama. Black voters have always made up the base of the Democratic Party, and in 2018 they’re ready to build on their progress from the past two years. Black women were Secretary Hillary Clinton’s strongest voting bloc at 94 percent — and we fought passionately to ensure the values that matter most to us and our communities were heard. In Alabama, black voters voted for Doug Jones at
96 percent, and black women voted for Jones at 98 percent. As we move forward, we know that OUR community’s votes will matter more so than ever in 2018 - and we must move forward as we always have. It matters more now than ever before. In Florida, our community has the opportunity to make history — electing the first ever black official to statewide office — Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum — as our next Governor. Mayor Gillum is the fifth of seven children, born to Frances and Charles, in Miami. Andrew’s mother worked two jobs as a presser in a dry cleaning store and as a bus driver, and his father was a construction worker. The family later moved to Gainesville, and Andrew went on to be the first in his immediate family to attend (Cont’d on page 8)
to grant or withhold the right to vote from hundreds of thousands of people without any constraints, guidelines, or standards,” Walker wrote. “The question now is whether such a system passes constitutional muster. It does not. “A person convicted of a crime may have long ago exited the prison By Freddie Allen Editor-In-Chief, NNPA Newswire Rep. Cedric Richmond, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus railed against President Donald Trump’s boasts about the economy, especially his claims about the Black community, in a blistering response to the president’s State of the Union (SOTU) address. CBC members also wore Kente cloth-inspired prints to the State of the Union address. Richmond said that every action taken by President Trump, since his election, has been destructive for poor, working-class, and middleclass communities throughout the country, as well as communities of color. Richmond said that nothing that the president said during his speech wiped that slate clean. The CBC chairman also leveled the charge made by lawmakers and economists alike that Trump is just riding the economic wave that
cell and completed probation,” the judge continued in the 43-page order. “Her voting rights, however, remain locked in a dark crypt. Only the state has the key — but the state has swallowed it.” The judge did not rule on how the issue should be remedied — he (Cont’d on page 9) began during President Barack Obama’s tenure. “He boasts about a booming economy, but it is not something he can take credit for,” said Richmond. “Much like the money he inherited from his father to start his business, President Trump inherited a growing economy from President Obama.” Richmond continued: “The low Black unemployment rate he boasted about has been falling for eight years and has only changed by one percent since he took office. In addition, while the Black unemployment rate is at an historic low, it is still double the rate of White unemployment and doesn’t take into account the fact that African Americans are disproportionately underemployed and underpaid.” Janelle Jones, an analyst working on a variety of labor market topics within EPI’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE) told Vox that, “The recovery of employment was happening long (Cont’d on page 9)
To whom much is given much is expected “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10) NKJV By Bobby R. Henry, Sr. As we begin Black History Month, I am forever reminded of how much we have given and how little we have gotten in return. If the premise for our giving to build this country was based on a selfish belief that whatever talents, time and effort we gave we would receive the same in some form of compensation. We would, I do believe, have jumped ship during the American Revolution. Our innate spirit of love for all mankind has (Cont’d on page 11)
NNPA Publishers Address Equity in Education in their Newspapers By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Contributor Today, more than ever before, parents, educators and stakeholders around the country are learning about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the opportunities it presents for school districts to innovate learning in their classrooms and to address academic achievement gaps—through the pages and websites of the Black Press. “It’s critical for [Black] parents to be involved and the Black Press is strategically embedded in our communities, so that we have more opportunities to get the word out about ESSA,” said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). “The NNPA is pleased to partner with and applauds the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for working to raise public awareness throughout the United States about equity in education.” Chavis continued: “Bridging
Brandon Brooks, the managing editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel; Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the NNPA, Dr. Elizabeth Primas, the program manager of the NNPA ESSA awareness campaign; and Dorothy Leavell, the chairman of the NNPA, celebrate the Los Angeles Sentinel for the newspaper’s engagement with the NNPA ESSA awareness campaign during the 2018 NNPA Mid-Winter Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)
the academic gap in education, in particular for African American students and others from disadvantaged communities, is of critical importance.” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with the National Newspaper Publishers Association to create a three-year, multi-media public awareness campaign focusing on the unique opportunities and (Cont’d on page 9)
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