Greene County Democrat

Month: September 2016

  • Lawyers’ Committee files lawsuit challenging discriminatory method of electing judges to highest courts in State of Alabama

                MONTGOMERY, ALA. and WASHINGTON, D.C., September 7, 2016 – Today, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP and four individual black voters alleging that the method of electing Alabama’s most powerful judges violates the Voting Rights Act. The suit maintains that Alabama’s statewide method of electing members of the Alabama Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals and Court of Civil Appeals deprives the African-American community of the ability to elect any judges of their choice. Currently, all 19 of Alabama’s appellate judges are white.

    “In 2016, Alabama’s appellate courts are no more diverse than they were when the Voting Rights Act was signed more than 50 years ago,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee. “It is time for the highest courts in the state of Alabama to reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. This lawsuit seeks to provide African-American voters an equal opportunity to elect judges of their choice, achieve long overdue compliance with the Voting Rights Act and instill greater public confidence in the justice system of Alabama.”

    The Supreme Court of Alabama has nine members and is the state’s court of last resort. Alabama’s intermediate appellate courts, the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Civil Appeals, each has five members. All 19 judges are elected statewide. Because white Alabamians comprise the majority of the voting age population in the state, and because of racially polarized voting, black-preferred candidates are consistently defeated in elections involving the highest levels of the state’s judiciary. Such vote dilution is prohibited by the Voting Rights Act and the state could easily devise a fairer electoral system.

    The Lawyers’ Committee filed today’s suit in partnership with James Blacksher and Edward Still, two long-time Alabama civil rights attorneys, Montgomery-based attorney J. Mitch McGuire, as well as with pro bono counsel Crowell & Moring LLP and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama and is part of the Lawyers’ Committee’s national initiative to bring state courts into compliance with the Voting Rights Act and promote judicial diversity. On July 20, 2016, the Lawyers’ Committee and another set of partners filed a similar suit alleging that the statewide method of electing Texas’s most powerful judges violates the Voting Rights Act.

    In the history of Alabama, only two African Americans have won an election to statewide office. Every other black statewide candidate has been defeated by a white candidate. Alabama’s appellate judges have been all-white for 15 years.

    “The Alabama NAACP continues to fight for equitable representation of all communities in our judicial system at all levels,” said Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP. “Alabama cannot continue to have a system that ignores segments of the community. We believe that a revised method of electing judges will lead to representation of all segments of the community.”

    “The fact that no African-Americans are on the Alabama Supreme Court or any other office elected statewide sends a clear message that black Alabamians remain subordinate to whites in state government, just as the 1901 Constitution intended,” said James Blacksher.

    “Jurors are supposed to represent all of the adult population, yet the State uses a system of electing appellate judges that insures those judges come from only part of the population,” said Edward Still.

    Alabama has the sixth largest black population in the country with African Americans comprising almost 25 percent of the state’s voting age population.  However, with voting polarized along racial lines, African Americans have been underrepresented on the three courts at issue for decades. In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court made clear that the Voting Rights Act applies to judicial elections.

    The courts at issue in this case handle cases of all kinds, including important criminal cases.  Notably, nearly 63 percent of Alabama’s prison population is black.

    “The right to vote is essential to our democracy, and that right must be meaningful for our system of government to function properly,” said Crowell & Moring partner Richard Schwartz.  His partner Keith Harrison explained, “We believe that African Americans must have an effective part in the election of appellate judgeships in Alabama. When judges are elected, equal justice under the law requires meaningful voting rights for all citizens, including Alabama’s African-American citizens.”

    “The right to vote is the right from which all other rights flow,” said Michael Keats of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. “That right to vote takes on a special significance in electing the judges and justices who define our legal rights and obligations, who adjudicate our guilt and innocence. A judiciary elected through a racially-discriminatory system like Alabama’s, deprives African-Americans of their own voice in the administration of justice. That is illegal and this lawsuit will end that discriminatory system.”

     

     

  • Alabama Ethics Commission votes 3-2 against solar company lease on Greene Co. land owned by Chip Beeker, PSC member

    An advisory opinion, issued last Thursday by the Alabama Ethics Commission on a 3-2 vote, ruled that Public Service Commissioner, Chip Beeker, should not sign a lease with a solar energy company that hopes to sell the energy to Alabama Power Company, a utility that the PSC regulates.
    Coronal Development Group, a Virginia-based solar company is actively seeking to sign lease options in the state in anticipation that Alabama Power will be seeking to request proposals for renewable energy projects.
    The Ethics Commission said that PSC Commissioner Chip Beeker of Greene County should not enter a lease that could pay him up to $225,000 a year for a lease on 451 farmland acres he owns in the county. The lease would be at $500 an acre for twenty-five years. If the company leases all of his land for the 25-year period, Beeker could generate $5.6 million in income from this lease.
    Coronal proposes to build a solar farm on the land, which would create jobs in construction and 6 permanent jobs to operate the facility. Coronal applied to the Greene County Industrial Development Authority for traditional tax abatement benefits for new industrial projects and was approved for these tax concessions.
    Beeker’s position on the state board that regulates utilities and the company’s hopes of selling energy to Alabama Power create at least the “perception of a conflict of interest,” the opinion stated. The Ethics Commission members say in the opinion they are not satisfied that, “Mr. Beeker’s public position is irrelevant to Coronal, nor can we conclude that the lease would not present a conflict between Mr. Beeker’s private interests and official responsibilities if executed.”
    James Anderson, an attorney representing Beeker, said Thursday that he was disappointed in the outcome. He likened it to preventing Beeker from leasing the land to a corn farmer because the owner planned to sell ethanol.

    Chip Beeker’s statement on the conflict of interest:
    In a written statement submitted to the Greene County Democrat, Chip Beeker states:
    “I was originally approached by a Coronal representative who explained to me that his company was interested in leasing a particular tract of land I own because electrical transmission lines pass directly over the tract of land in question. He further explained that Coronal needs easy access to transmission lines in order to connect to the grid. As is my regular practice when confronted with potential ethical questions, I decided to seek counsel before entering into a contract for the lease of land with Coronal.

    “I spoke with both the Executive Director of the PSC, who is also the PSC’s ethics compliance officer, and my chief of staff, both of whom are attorneys. Because no vote regarding Coronal was envisioned coming before the PSC at the time (and, to date, still has not come before the PSC) neither of them saw a problem with my entering into such a contract. They both, however, thought that it would be a good idea to solicit an informal opinion from the Ethics Commission. The Executive Director of the PSC sought the opinion and provided the Executive Director of the Ethics Commission with answers to each of his questions. The Executive Director of the Ethics Commission sent an informal opinion in which he concluded that, because a conflict might arise in the future, I should not enter into the contract for the lease of the tract of land.
    “Because I and others thought that the informal opinion was wrongly decided, I retained the services of James Anderson, a former circuit court judge and former Executive Director of the Ethics Commission. After reviewing the facts of my case, Mr. Anderson assured me that he saw no issue, which would prevent me from entering into the contract with Coronal and agreed to represent me before the Ethics Commission.
    “Prior to the initial hearing held on the matter, the Ethics Commission had the ability to fully investigate the facts regarding the offer Coronal had extended to me and to ask any questions they had about the case. The vote regarding whether I could lease my land to Coronal was split two to two; one member of the Ethics Commission was not present at that hearing.
    In seeking both the informal and formal opinions from the Ethics Commission, I followed the process that elected officials should follow when they have a question regarding their conduct. The PSC does not now nor has it ever regulated Coronal. I did not solicit an offer from Coronal. Indeed, Coronal representatives have clearly stated that their offer to lease my land was completely unrelated to my service on the PSC. I have never and will never cast a vote as a member of the PSC when a conflict of interest exists. I look forward to continuing to serve you as a member of the PSC.”
    In his statement, Commissioner Beeker does not address last week’s 3-2 decision by the Ethics Commission indicating that they find that a potential conflict of interest does exist, except to say that he will not cast a vote when a conflict of interest exists.
    Anderson said there was no guarantee Coronal would get the power business or that the company would lease Beeker’s land. “All he was wanting is to enter into a contract that gives them an option,” Anderson said. Anderson had asked the commission to wait until October to issue the opinion so he could be there to answer questions.
    The split decision came after the commission deadlocked earlier.
    Commissioners voiced opposing views Thursday. Ethics Commissioner Stewart Tankersley said there would be a conflict if Beeker had any involvement in setting parameters for alternative energy proposals. “If he voted to set the parameters, and then he benefits from the parameters … I see a problem,” Tankersley said.
    The two commissioners who voted against the opinion said there wasn’t a conflict of interest yet because the project was speculative. “I think the family can use their land any way they want to until there is a conflict,” Commissioner Charles Price said.
    Ethics Commission Director Tom Albritton said the opinion was based on the facts before them. “At this point we cannot say this is OK,” Albritton said.
    The Democrat used portions of an article by Kim Chandler of the Associated Press in preparing this news story.

     

  • Boligee Day celebrates community

     

    The 4th Annual Boligee Day drew crowds near and far to sample food, crafts, music, mule-wagon rides and other activities for children. Community fellowship was shared by everyone. This event was organized by the Boligee Township under the leadership of Mayor Louis Harper.

     

  • Greene County Commissioners recognized for completing training program

     

    Shown L To R: Greene Co. Commissioner Lester Brown, with Ray Long, ACC President and on the right Greene Co. Commissioner Michael Williams and Corey Cockrell

    Greene County Commissioners Lester “Bop” Brown and Michael Williams recently completed the most rigorous training program available to county officials in Alabama, which includes 120 hours of training from the Alabama Local Government Training Institute (ALGTI). The commissioners were recognized for this achievement at the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA) 88th Annual Convention held late last month.
    “The Level II training program that Lester Brown and Michael Williams completed is a set of advanced, ‘issue-oriented’ courses that many county commissioners participate in so they can perform their duties as efficiently as possible,” said ACCA Executive Director Sonny Brasfield. “When Alabama’s county officials share new ideas and information with one another, they learn how to improve the services offered in their own counties. This sort of communication ultimately helps county leaders contribute to a better quality of life for their constituents.”
    Greene County Commissioner Corey Cockrell recently completed 50 hours of training also from the ALGTI on the basic responsibilities of the county commission. Commissioner Cockrell was also recognized for this achievement at the ACCA 88th Annual Convention held last month.

    The ALGTI program emphasizes budgeting, personnel matters, planning, and road and bridge responsibilities. This unique educational program began in 1994 as a mandatory program for first-time county commissioners by act of the Alabama Legislature. Classes are supervised by the ALGTI board of directors, composed of county officials with ACCA, educators and members of the Alabama Legislature.
    “Continuing education for our county officials will always remain one of the Association’s priorities for our membership,” said ACCA Executive Director Sonny Brasfield. “As with any organization, the sharing of new ideas and information is the best way to grow and prosper. The involvement of county employees and officials only enhances our efforts to improve county government and the services it provides at the local level.”

  • Georgetown University to make amends for slavery history

     By: Ian Simpson, Reuters News Service

     

    student-at-georgetown
    WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 28: Georgetown University freshman, Darryl Robinson, 19, poses for a photograph on campus on Wednesday March 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. Robinson said he was unprepared and had terrible study habits when he arrived as a student at Georgetown University. Healy Hall is seen in the background. (Photo by Matt McClain for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

     

    WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Georgetown University apologized on Thursday for its historical links to slavery, saying it would give an admissions edge to descendants of slaves whose sale in the 19th century helped pay off the U.S. school’s debts.

    The 1838 sale, worth about $3.3 million in today’s dollars, was organized by two of Georgetown’s early presidents, both Jesuits. A portion of the profit, about $500,000, was used to help pay off Georgetown’s debts at a time when the college was struggling financially. The slaves were uprooted from the Maryland plantations and shipped to estates in Louisiana.

    The Washington-based university, run by the Roman Catholic Jesuit order, will create an institute to study the history of slavery at the school. It will also rename two buildings that had honored presidents who oversaw the 1838 sale of the 272 slaves, who had worked on church-affiliated plantations in Maryland.

    “The most appropriate ways for us to redress the participation of our predecessors in the institution of slavery is to address the manifestations of the legacy of slavery in our time,” Georgetown President John DeGioia said in a statement.

    The school’s steps go further than those taken by other U.S. universities that are confronting their past association with slavery, including Harvard, Brown, Princeton and the University of North Carolina.

    But some criticized as inadequate the decision to give the descendants of the sold slaves the same admissions preference as the children of faculty, staff and alumni.

    “We remain hopeful that we can forge a relationship with Georgetown that will lead to ‘real’ atonement,” Karran Harper Royal, an organizer of a group of descendants, said in an email.

    She added that the school should have offered scholarships to descendants of the slaves and included them on a panel that made the recommendations.

    The steps follow recommendations by a committee DeGioia appointed in September 2015 on how to recognize Georgetown’s links to slavery.

    The 18,000-student university will also create a memorial for slaves whose work benefited the school, including those sold to plantations in Louisiana to pay off Georgetown’s debts. Descendants of the slaves will be included in a group advising on the memorial.

    The two buildings being renamed by university officials originally paid tribute to the Rev. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the 1838 sale. Now one will be called Isaac Hall to commemorate the life of Isaac Hawkins, one of the slaves shipped to Louisiana in 1838, and the other Anne Marie Becraft Hall, in honor of a 19th-century educator who founded a school for black girls in Washington.

    Students at dozens of U.S. universities staged protests last fall over the legacy of racism on campus. The protests led to the resignation of the president of the University of Missouri and prompted many schools to review their diversity commitments.

    Dr. DeGioia said he planned to apologize for the wrongs of the past “within the framework of the Catholic tradition,” by offering what he described as a Mass of reconciliation in partnership with the Jesuit leadership in the United States and the Archdiocese of Washington.

    “This community participated in the institution of slavery,’’ Dr. DeGioia said, addressing a crowd of hundreds of students, faculty members and descendants at Georgetown’s Gaston Hall. “This original evil that shaped the early years of the Republic was present here. We have been able to hide from this truth, bury this truth, ignore and deny this truth.”

    “As a community and as individuals, we cannot do our best work if we refuse to take ownership of such a critical part of our history,’’ he said. “We must acknowledge it.”

    When Dr. DeGioia invited questions from the audience, a man in a gray suit took the microphone. “My name is Joe Stewart,’’ he said, “and I am a descendant of the 272.”

    Mr. Stewart, a retired corporate executive and an organizer of a group of more than 300 descendants, expressed gratitude to the university’s working group on slavery and to Dr. DeGioia for their efforts. But he said that descendants, who had not been included as members of the committee, must be involved in decision making on these initiatives moving forward.

    “Our attitude is nothing about us, without us,’’ said Mr. Stewart, who was flanked by five other descendants.

     

     

     

  • Black unemployment rate falls to 8.1% in August

    By Freddie Allen (NNPA Newswire Managing Editor)

    The unemployment rate for Black workers improved from 8.4 percent in July to 8.1 percent in August, according to the latest jobs report from the Labor Department. Even though the Black jobless rate has decreased more than a percentage point since last year (9.4 percent in August 2015), it is still nearly double the White unemployment rate (4.4 percent).

    Nationally, the economy added 151,000 jobs in August, but the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.9 percent, the same mark set in July and June.

    The labor force participation rate, which measures the share of workers that are employed or looking for jobs, was 61.9 percent for Black workers in August, an increase from 61.2 percent in July and only a slight uptick from the Black labor force rate last year (61.7 percent in August 2015). The participation rate for White workers was 62.9 percent in August, July and June and has only edged up slightly since last August (62.6 percent)

    The unemployment rate for White workers was 4.4 percent in August, the same mark set in August 2015, and a slight increase from the 4.3 percent rate recorded in July.

    The unemployment rate for Black men over 20 years-old was 7.6 percent in August, an improvement from 8.2 percent in July. The jobless rate for Black women over 20 years-old was 7.1 percent in August, which was a step forward from the 7.3 percent rate a month ago.

    The unemployment rate for White men over 20 years-old was 4.1 percent in August, the same as July. The participation rate, which was 72 percent in July showed no improvement. The unemployment rate for White women was 3.9 percent in August slightly higher than the 3.7 percent mark set in July.

    The unemployment rate for Hispanic workers was 5.6 percent in August 2016 a step back from the 5.4 percent rate set in July.

    According to The Hamilton Project, an economic policy think tank at the Brookings Institution, the economy would need to add 204,000 jobs every month until May 2017 to reach pre-recession employment levels.

    In a statement about the August jobs report, Main Street Alliance, a national network of small business coalitions, noted that growth in the retail and restaurant sectors signaled “increased consumer confidence and spending heading into the holiday shopping season.” The Alliance also reported that Washington state led the nation in small business job growth and Seattle topped the list of metropolitan areas.

    “With job creation and small business success widely attributed to consumer confidence and spending, it is hard to ignore Seattle’s rising minimum wage and the role boosting the wages of the lowest-level earners played in earning them the top spot on the list,” the Alliance statement said.

    The Labor Department also reported upward trends in several service industries, including food services and drinking places.

    Bill Spriggs, the chief economist for the AFL-CIO, a national group of 56 unions that represents more than 12 million workers, noted gains in fast food jobs and in health care in a series of tweets last Friday. “Despite whining about minimum wage increases, fast food establishments gain 34,000 last month, 312,000 over the year,” Spriggs tweeted.

    Spriggs suggested that the Black unemployment rate likely decreased, “for right reasons,” because the employment-population ratio, which is the share of the population that is currently employed. also improved from July (56.1 percent) to August (56.9 percent).

    Spriggs also tweeted that Black workers that earn associate degrees experience a 5.4 percent jobless rate, which is only slightly better than the unemployment rate for White high school dropouts (5.6 percent).

    In a statement recognizing the importance of Labor Day, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), said that although America has made significant strides toward an economic recovery in recent years, too many working people are still going without the basic necessities.

    “It does not have to be this way,” said Scott. “Ensuring that all Americans have the opportunity to make a decent life for themselves and their families is the central challenge of our time. Whether we rise to meet that challenge will define us for generations to come.”

  • Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota fights oil pipeline that threatens water rights and sacred sites

    By: Annalisa Merelli

    protestors-at-standing-rock

     Protestors at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in ND opposing pipeline construction across their lands

     bloody-dog-who-bit-protestors

    Bloody dog, one of several that bit protestors

     

    For months, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota has been protesting the construction of a $3.8 billion (paywall) oil pipeline that would cut through four US states. Last week, the protests reached unprecedented size.

    Hundreds of environmental activists joined the local community of about 8,000. The BBC reports that the largest gathering of Native Americans in over a century, with over 90 tribes represented, is currently underway in Cannonball, North Dakota.

    The Native tribes and environmentalists say the pipeline would disrupt a sacred burial ground, as well as threaten water quality in the area. They say that the Army Corps of Engineers should never have granted permits for its construction.

    Those that support the pipeline, which would carry crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale formation to Illinois, claim it will be spill-proof, and argue that its construction will generate thousands of jobs.

    Because of the protests, which led to the arrest of the Standing Rock Sioux chairman among others, work has temporarily been halted, and a judge who has heard arguments against the construction is expected to rule by Sept. 9.

    Things turned tense on Sept. 3. Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman reported from the scene, where protesters clashed with security forces, who had dogs and reportedly used pepper spray or mace:

    The image of Native Americans being attacked as they try to protect a land that is sacred to them shocked many, among them the commentator Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC whose damning condemnation of their treatment on Aug. 26 has been widely shared:

    “Dakota means friend, friendly,” he begins. “The people who gave that name to the Dakotas have sadly never been treated as friends.”

    In his short, poignant message, O’Donnell calls the events in Standing Rock a “morally embarrassing reminder” of America’s history of mistreatment of Native people, noting that those who lived in the country before European settlers arrived have been “dealt with more harshly than any other enemy in any of this country’s wars.”

    “The original sin of this country is that we invaders shot and murdered our way across the land, killing every Native American we could, and making treaties with the rest,” he says. “This country was founded on genocide.”

    Even after the killings stopped, deals and treaties made with the tribes have been consistently broken. “We piled crime on top of crime on top of crime, against the people whose offense against us was simply that they lived where we wanted to live,” he says.

    He counts the current events at Standing Rock among those crimes. “That we still have Native Americans left in this country to be arrested for trespassing on their own land is testament not to the mercy of the genocidal invaders who seized and occupied their land,” O’Donnell says, “but to the stunning strength and the 500 years of endurance and the undying dignity of the people who were here long before us.”

     

  • President Obama defends Colin Kaepernick’s right not to stand for National Anthem at NFL games

    By: Roland Martin NewsOne

     

    colin-kaepernick-takes-a-knee
    SAN DIEGO, CA – SEPTEMBER 1: Eric Reid #35 and Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers kneel on the sideline during the anthem, as free agent Nate Boyer stands, prior to the game against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium on September 1, 2016 in San Diego, California. The 49ers defeated the Chargers 31-21. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)

    Colin Kaepernick joined by teammate Eric Reed take a knee during playing of National Anthem before NFL pre-season game

    President Barack Obama has weighed in on the Colin Kaepernick National Anthem protest controversy and backed the NFL quarterback’s right to protest as being covered under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

    San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, is vowing to sit during the national anthem in protest over police killings of African-Americans. Is he being anti-American by expressing his right to protest which is covered under the First Amendment of the Constitution?

    Despite the endorsement, Kaepernick’s detractors continue to harbor animosity against him.

    During Monday’s edition of NewsOne Now, Roland Martin and his panel of guests discussed the ongoing Kaepernick saga and the protest action that seems to be slowly picking up momentum amongst other pro-athletes after U.S. Women’s Soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who is a lesbian, also took a knee during the National Anthem before a recent soccer match.

    To add to the support, Kaepernick’s football jersey is the top-selling jersey on the NFL’s www.nflshop.com website.

    Martin said Kaepernick’s protest is resonating with many Americans because “he is making a point that is critically important and he’s not some guy who is clueless” on the issues of racism and police brutality.

    Michelle Bernard, President and CEO of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy, said she was disgusted by many of the comments posted on social media by those who do not agree with Kaepernick’s chosen method of protest.             She explained there is a contingent of Americans who have expressed outrage by saying, “How dare you? You make so much money in the NFL, this is not a problem, you shouldn’t be speaking out on this. Take your money, be happy, and this is so unpatriotic.”

    Bernard then refuted those claims: “We live in a country where you are able to speak your mind and if you’re White … not get shot because you’ve done it.”

    Ralph Chittams, Senior Vice Chairman of the Washington, D.C. Republican Party, said Kaepernick is “well within his Constitutional rights. “He has the right to stand, sit, kneel [or] not even come out of the locker room for the National Anthem,” Chittams said. “We’ve gotten to a point in this country where we don’t value dissenting opinions; we demand agreement and uniformity.”

    Bernard added: “The nation pretends that Black men don’t have minds of their own, that they can’t speak and that if you speak on an issue that is important to you, it means that you’re not patriotic and you don’t like the country.”

    Martin reminded viewers Kaepernick is “ticking folks off” because “America never wants to discuss the why of the protest; they only want to discuss the protest.”

    Before delving into the controversy surrounding the football star, Dr. Jason Johnson gave the NewsOne Now audience a little historical context about the Star-Spangled Banner that many may not know.

    In The Root, Dr. Johnson said: The Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key, because he was bitter about the fact that he had lost to a group of Black soldiers and then those same Black soldiers were coming in and trashing Baltimore on behalf of the British.”

    Johnson continued, “The British had offered runaway slaves — if you come and fight for us against the country that enslaved and oppressed you, we will give you your freedom.”

    The whole song, in essence, according to Johnson, “is basically a diss track about a bitter, rich, pro-slavery White man saying ‘I don’t like that Black people are coming for freedom.’”

  • SOS holds rally at State House to demand that Governor Bentley and Alabama Legislature expand Medicaid to serve the working poor

    The Save Our Selves (SOS) Movement for Justice and Democracy came again to the steps of the Alabama State House in Montgomery on Wednesday, August 24th. According to State Senator Hank Sanders, more than 100 SOS members came from all over the state and held a mock funeral for as many as 1,700 Alabamians who died over the last three years because the Governor has refused to expand Medicaid.
    The SOS members came to lift the deceased by demanding expansion of the state’s Medicaid program for more than 250,000 residents of our state who fall in the gap between Medicaid coverage for children and the very poor and working people who are ineligible for subsidized medical insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
    This group of people, who need health care the most, are being excluded from a benefit of the ACA because the state of Alabama has refused to extend Medicaid coverage to those whose income is below 138 percent of the poverty level income (approximately $17,000 annual income). Most of these low-income people are working at minimum wage or part time jobs and deserve access to the full benefits of the health care system.

    The State of Alabama has refused to extend Medicaid for three years since 2013 when this national benefit became available. The Federal government agreed to pay 100% of this new Medicaid program for the first three years. The state share beginning in the fourth year of the program would have increased over the next four years to ten per cent of the cost.
    A study in 2013 by medical experts, funded by the Kaiser Family
    Foundation showed that in Alabama – 235,084 more people would have been insured for health care if the State of Alabama had expanded Medicaid. The same study showed, based on a complex review of medical conditions in the state that 215 (at the lowest estimate) and 572 (at the highest estimate) would die because of the lack of medical coverage.
    “This is an average of one person a day, for over three years – more than 1,000 fellow human beings – who have died because the State of Alabama has not extended Medicaid to the working poor in our state!” said Shelley Fearson, a spokesperson for the SOS.
    Another more recent study by the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that in the 24 states that have not expanded Medicaid, 6.7 million residents are projected to remain uninsured in 2016 as a result. These states are foregoing $423.6 billion in federal Medicaid funds from 2013 to 2022, which will lessen economic activity and job growth.
    Hospitals in these 24 states are also slated to lose a $167.8 billion (31 percent) boost in Medicaid funding that was originally intended to offset major cuts to their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. According to this study, for Alabama, this means this means 254,000 people who will not be eligible for Medicaid. The state lost $1.5 billion in Federal revenues for 2016 and $14.5 billion for the ten years (2013-2022).
    The impact on hospitals, especially small rural hospitals, is great. Hospitals in Alabama, lost $700 million in reimbursement revenues in 2016 and $7 billion for the ten year period 2013 –2022. The cost of expanding Medicaid to the working poor in the same study was calculated at $105 million a year for 2016 and a little over a billion for the ten year period (2013-2022).
    These hospitals have no way to replace this revenue and in fact must provide “uncompensated care” in emergency rooms and other facilities to these same people who do not have insurance.
    The decision of the state of Alabama not to expand Medicaid means that poor people in other states are receiving Federal funding for their health needs that also should be coming to Alabama. In addition, the cost of insurance to those who have it is higher in Alabama because the cost to hospitals and medical care providers for uncompensated costs are figured into the payment and premium calculations. Expanding Medicaid would be a net plus to the state in tax revenues, jobs and a healthier workforce.
    “We in SOS and our affiliate organizations, support the efforts of the Governor and Legislature to meet the immediate $85 million gap in the Medicaid budget. We implore you to consider closing the health care gap that leaves a quarter of a million of our fellow residents without care. Based on the studies cited above, if the Governor had extended Medicaid in 2013 or agrees to extend it now, the state would benefit economically and avoid the current health crisis that results in at least one unnecessary and untimely death of a fellow Alabamian, ever single day!” said Sanders on behalf of SOS.
    For more information, contact: Shelley Fearson, at 334.262.0932 and alabamanewsouth@aol.com or Senator Hank Sanders at hank23sanders@gmail.com.

     

  • Annual festival celebrates 41 years

    The annual Black Belt Folk Roots Festival celebrated its 41st anniversary on the old courthouse square in Eutaw, AL on Saturday and Sunday, August 27-28. The festival, produced by the Society of Folk Arts & Culture, brings together bearers of the culture, lifting the folk traditions of quilting, basketweaving, jewelry and doll making and sundry other home decorative items. The foodways, including soul food dinners, barbecue, Polish sausage, fish, pork skins, cakes, pies, funnel cakes, shaved ice and more tasty eats, represent local delicacies. The festival goers are planted in their seats under the great tent enjoying the ole timey blues on Saturday and ole timey gospel on Sunday. Many groups schedule family and class reunions as well as vacations in the area to coincide with the annual festival activities. The photos above show Ms. Mattie Dunning with her homemade quilts and Burley and Liz Daniel with the Son of Zion Gospel group. S