Greene County Democrat

Month: April 2017

  • Black playwright, poet, novelist and critic all win 2017 Pulitzer Prizes

    Written By NewsOne Staff

    Colson Whitehead, Lynn Nottage and Hilton Als

    Three African Americans and one African were the recipients of this year’s Pulitzer Prize, announced on Monday.

    According to Journal-isms.com, of the seven arts and letters prizes, three went to African Americans—Colson Whitehead in fiction for The Underground Railroad, Lynn Nottage in drama for Sweat and Tyehimba Jess in poetry for “Olio.”
    Hisham Matar, who is of Libyan descent, won for biography or autobiography for “The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between,” about his father’s fate under the regime of Muhammar Gaddafi.
    Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad gives a fictional account of the lives of two slaves caught up in a murder mystery as they navigate the “underground railroad,” but in Whitehead’s account, it is actually a train, which that runs underground. Published in August 2016, it was also winner of the 2016 National Book Award.
    The New York Daily News describes Sweat as “a timely drama about blue-collar workers devastated by layoffs in a Pennsylvania factory town.” The Pulitzer jury hailed Sweat as “a nuanced yet powerful drama that reminds audiences of the stacked deck still facing workers searching for the American dream.” Nottage won a Pulitzer in the same category in 2009 for Ruined.
    Hilton Als, theater critic of the New Yorker and a staff writer there since 1994, appeared to be the only African American winner who was not part of a team, reports Journal-isms. Als won the prize for criticism, for “bold and original reviews that strove to put stage dramas within a real-world cultural context, particularly the shifting landscape of gender, sexuality and race.”
    Detroit-based Tyehimba Jess won for his collection of poetry, Olio, released in April 2016. According to one review, Olio is “part fact, part fiction … sonnet, song and narrative to examine the lives of mostly unrecorded African American performers” including Paul Laurence Dunbar, Blind Tom Wiggins, the Fisk Jubilee Singers and Edmonia Lewis.
    With the inclusion of a Chinese American Du Yun, who won in the music category for opera Angel’s Bone, this year’s Pulitzers are made of one of the most diverse classes yet.

  • Nigerians put the brakes on superhighway cutting through rainforest

    ekuriwomanprotestingsuperhighway

    Ekuri woman protesting superhighway

    (TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – Bulldozers approaching the communities of the southern state of Cross River, with orders to raze up to a million homes and cut down an ancient tropical rainforest, were stopped in their tracks as an environmental impact statement for a proposed superhighway was rejected by officials.
    As conceived, the roadway would link northern Nigeria to a proposed deep seaport in the south, covering 162 miles and displacing along the way some 180 indigenous communities, a national park and adjoining forest reserves that are home to some of the country’s most endangered species.
    But this week, at a public hearing with government ministers and stakeholders, the Minister of the Environment admitted the project could not go forward. “The EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) is not of standard, it is too primary and does not qualify as a working document for such an international project,” Minister Ibrahim Jibrin was reported to say.
    The so-called Cross River Superhighway, the brainchild of the state’s governor, Ben Ayade, has been on the drawing board for years. Two years ago it was announced that the “much anticipated construction” was “on course” and that President Muhammadu Buhari would be performing groundbreaking ceremonies Sept. 21, 2015.
    The roadway would have cut through several protected areas such as the Cross River National Park, Ukpon River Forest Reserve, Cross River South Forest Reserve, Afi River Forest Reserve and Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary – home to various threatened species, including Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees, drills, Preuss’s red colobus monkeys, slender-snouted crocodiles and African gray parrots, among others.
    Among the impacted communities is the Ekuri, whose conservation skills were recognized by the U.N. Development Program with a Equator Initiative Award for protecting biodiversity and reducing poverty.
    Ekuri leaders say they supported the highway project at first, believing it would bring better transportation and greater economic opportunities to their people. But in a letter to the governor of Cross River State sent Feb. 7, the leaders withdrew their support, calling the project “a land grab in the guise of a Super Highway.”
    Ekuri communities manage some 83,000 acres of community-owned forest – one of the largest in West Africa. “We require schools, water, electricity but not the kind of road that will take our forest away,” village leaders Stephen Oji and Abel Egbe told Premium Times news.

  • King Whetstone: USDA Director: Agriculture Census important for Black Farmers

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    King Whetstone Ag Census.jpg

     King Whetstone stresses the importance of the USDA Census for Farmers. (Shalyn Whetstone)
    At first glance, King Whetstone might present an unusual visual.

    First, he appears younger than his 40 years—but that’s not why he might stand out.

    Whetstone once played basketball at Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black university and the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Texas, renowned for its engineering and agriculture.

    On the basketball court, Whetstone played against such NBA greats as Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce and helped his team to its only NCAA Tournament appearance in 1998 where they lost to Kansas in the first round.

    Instead of competing in the NBA, Whetstone is promoting “National Ag Day”—“Ag” as in Agriculture.

    And, he’s also trying to reach out to farmers—particularly minorities—as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) prepare for the Census of Agriculture.

    “‘Ag Day’ is a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. Tuesday, March 21 marks the 44th anniversary of ‘Ag Day’ and every year, producers, agricultural associations, corporations, universities and government agencies and others join to recognize the contributions of agriculture,” said Whetstone, the first African-American Northeastern Regional Director of USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS), which covers the six New England states, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

    While Ag Day tops the current list of priorities, Whetstone and others at the NASS make it clear that the census is the primary focus this year, which counts as a comprehensive summary of agricultural activity for the United States and for each state.

    The census includes the number of farms by size and type, inventory and values for crops and livestock, operator characteristics, and other analysis.

    “It’s a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them,” said Whetstone, a Greenville, Texas native who has spent more than 20 years at the USDA in various locations including in New York, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Arkansas and Washington, D.C. He now lives in Pennsylvania with his wife of 15 years, April, and daughter, Shalyn.Whetstone said even small plots of land—whether rural or urban—growing fruit, vegetables or some food animals count during the census if $1,000 or more of those products have been raised and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year.

    NASS has created a new web form for the census to make it easier for respondents to participate.
    Also, mailings, telephone calls and other forms of contacting farmers are planned for the census, taken every five years.

    It looks at land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expenditures. “Our goal is to make sure that we have a complete count,” Whetstone said. “The census [data] is used to help shape the future of agriculture now and in the years to come, so farmers are helping themselves by participating.”

    Through the census, producers can show the nation the value and importance of agriculture, and they can help influence the decisions that will shape the future of American agriculture for years to come, according to the USDA.

    By responding, producers are helping themselves, their communities, and all agriculture across the country and they’re also in line to receive various grants and other benefits that might be available for farmers. Officials stress that accuracy in reporting is key.

    African-American and other minority farmers are of interest to Whetstone, an African-American who oversees a diverse department of about 45 individuals. Whetstone said that it’s historically been a tough task getting Blacks and other minority groups to respond, but stresses that it’s a priority.

    “Part of my job includes making sure farmers want to respond to our surveys and censuses and that researchers choose to use our data because it is the most accurate and unbiased,” Whetstone said.
    In 2012, the census revealed that the number of Black farmers in the U.S. stood at 44,269, a 12 percent increase over the previous survey five years earlier.

    Nationally, Black farmers made up 1.4 percent of the country’s 3.2 million farmers; while 33,371 African-Americans counted as principal operators – the individual in charge of the farm’s day-to-day operations, a nine percent increase over the previous census while principal operators of all farms declined by four percent.

    Although farms with Black operators tend to be smaller than others and with fewer acres and lower sales, Black principal operators sold $846 million of agriculture products in 2012, including $502 million in crop sales and $344 million in livestock while operating 3.6 million acres of farmland.

    Still, getting farmers, especially minorities, to respond to the census is important to Whetstone who, despite his hardwood success, has farming in his blood. Recently, he discovered a World War I draft card of ancestor Neal Whetstone, which listed his occupation as “farmer.” Whetstone’s paternal grandfather also farmed in Lincoln, Texas and a maternal grandfather, Lafayette Garrett, raised cattle in the south.

    “I’m the grandson of a cattle rancher, so intrepid that even after my then seventy-something year-old grandfather was kicked by a horse, he continued to ranch,” Whetstone said in a posting on the USDA website. “I like to think I’ve inherited that tenacious nature and apply it to everything I do, even building awareness of the relevance of agricultural statistics.

    Whetstone continued: “I have found that farmers respond to my agency’s requests for information when they understand how official government statistics help them manage risks, conserve natural resources and promote a healthy agricultural production and marketing system in which they benefit.”

    To sign up for the agricultural census, visit https://www.agcensus.usda.gov.

  • CBC opposes nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to Supreme Court and the Senate should too

    Cong. Cedric Richmond.jpg

    By U.S. Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) (Chairman, Congressional Black Caucus)

    On January 31, President Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. If confirmed, Gorsuch’s lifelong appointment to the court would have serious consequences for all Americans, but especially African Americans and vulnerable communities. Judge Gorsuch has displayed hostility to the rights of minorities, women, people with disabilities, and workers, which is why the Congressional Black Caucus submitted testimony recently opposing his nomination. His judicial record on race and related matters and constitutional and equal rights litigation does not merit our support or the support of the Senate.
    All interpreters of the law should be committed to fairness and justice, not a specific legal philosophy of judicial interpretation. Judge Gorsuch’s commitment to “originalism,” or, interpreting the Constitution in a way that’s consistent with the intent of those who wrote it, often results in him ruling in favor of the big guy instead of the little guy, the strong instead of the weak, and the majority instead of minorities. From 2007 to 2016, Judge Gorsuch issued 14 published judgments related to employee discrimination cases. Nine of those decisions were in favor of the employer. We need a Supreme Court justice who will judge cases on the merits, not based on his or her personal philosophies.
    For example, Judge Gorsuch believes that police officers should be granted qualified immunity, which prevents law enforcement and other government officials from being held accountable for the excessive use of force. In the case of Wilson v. City of Lafayette, Gorsuch decided that a police officer was entitled to qualified immunity from an excessive force claim arising from the use of a stun gun that ultimately killed a young man. In three other cases involving police accountability, Gorsuch ruled in favor of police searches of vehicles without a warrant, minimizing the Fourth Amendment protections against unauthorized search and seizure.

    Judge Gorsuch’s ruling in police accountability cases are particularly troubling given the increasing number of shooting deaths of so many unarmed African Americans by the police, and recent Department of Justice investigations that have found that police departments across the country have had a “pattern and practice” of racial discrimination.
    In addition to his poor judicial record on police accountability, Judge Gorsuch has a poor judicial record on workers’ rights. His record is one of supporting employers over employees, even in the case of employees with disabilities. In Hwang v. Kansas State University, Judge Gorsuch ruled that “showing up” for work is an essential job function and that the Rehabilitation Act should not be used as a safety net for employees who cannot work. This case focused on a professor employed by Kansas State University who was diagnosed with cancer, and, after treatments that weakened her immune system, requested an extension due to a flu outbreak on the campus. Judge Gorsuch denied her request and sided with the university, compromising her health and recovery. He has a similar record when it comes to reproductive rights. In two cases, he sided with companies that wanted to deny women reproductive healthcare.

    The judicial branch has the power to interpret the laws of the land, and thus, impacts every American’s way of life. This is especially true for the highest court in the land. Because of the decisions rendered by the Supreme Court, African-Americans have been granted the opportunity to attend the school of their choice, women have been granted reproductive health rights, and workers have been granted safety and security from exploitative labor practices. Judge Gorsuch’s record in each of these areas raises concerns. His commitment to “originalism” also raises concerns. The Constitution is a living and breathing document that is meant to evolve with our society and it should be interpreted as such.
    As the Senate evaluates Judge Gorsuch’s judicial record, it is imperative that Senators focus on consistency. Judge Gorsuch has consistently used the bench to protect corporations, and limit the rights of minorities, women, and workers. Consequently, the Congressional Black Caucus opposes his nomination and urges the Senate to do the same.
    Congressman Richmond is the 25th Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and represents the 2nd District of Louisiana. On Twitter, follow the caucus at @OfficialCBC and follow Congressman Richmond at @RepRichmond.

  • Civil rights groups alarmed at Justice Department’s review of local police settlements

    AG Jeff SessionsAttorney General Jeff Sessions

    By Del Quentin Wilber and Kevin Rector Contact Reporter
    Los Angeles Times

    Civil rights groups and experts on police reform expressed alarm Tuesday at Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions’ order for a review of more than a dozen federal agreements with police forces that address problems of racial profiling, discrimination and use of excessive force.
    The broad review reflects the Trump administration’s emphasis on bolstering law and order over investigating allegations of police misconduct, and it could lead to changing or scaling back consent agreements or negotiations underway in several cities, including Baltimore and Chicago.
    Proposed consent decrees could be scrapped or overhauled in both cities, officials said, despite Justice Department investigations that uncovered systemic problems in their police departments.
    The review also could affect an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California into police patterns and practices in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
    The administration can’t unilaterally unwind consent decrees without court approval, so it’s unclear whether Sessions’ directive could affect the negotiated settlement that led to federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department, which was the result of a 2003 lawsuit.
    The Justice Department has recommended 272 changes to help improve the scandal-ridden San Francisco Police Department, but the six-month investigation last year did not lead to a consent decree or a federal takeover.
    The Justice Department “is signaling it no longer intends to fully support police reform even in consent decrees they are already active in,” said Christy Lopez, who led the Justice Department’s police investigation efforts under the Obama administration and now is a Georgetown University law professor. “I think it’s incredibly cynical.”
    Lopez said Sessions is signaling that the Justice Department has intruded too far into oversight of local policing, even as the administration threatens to withhold federal grants from cities and other jurisdictions that do not help federal agencies locate and arrest immigrants in the country illegally.
    Sessions, a critic of federal investigations of local police, wrote in a two-page memo released Monday that the “misdeeds of individual bad actors should not impugn or undermine the legitimate and honorable work that law enforcement officers and agencies perform.”
    Sessions said he had ordered his two top deputies to review “collaborative investigations and prosecutions, grant making, technical assistance and training, compliance reviews, existing or contemplated consent decrees and task force participation.”
    The Justice Department has 14 such agreements with local police departments, including a high-profile accord reached with the city of Ferguson, Mo. It was hammered out in the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of an unarmed young black man in 2014, which was followed by weeks of street protests.
    Such decrees are reached in court, overseen by a federal judge and stipulate changes that local law enforcement agencies must make in response to a Justice Department investigation.
    During the Obama administration, the Justice Department launched more than two dozen investigations into local law enforcement agencies accused of misconduct. The goal was to improve both policing and their community relations.
    Justice Department officials sought to downplay the review Sessions has ordered, saying it was normal for a new administration to examine policies and procedures inherited from a previous president.
    Sessions and his team are “actively developing strategies to support the thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country that seek to prevent crime and protect the public,” Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior said in a statement.
    “The department is working to ensure that those initiatives effectively dovetail with robust enforcement of federal laws designed to preserve and protect civil rights,” Prior said. “While this memo includes the review of any pending consent decrees, the attorney general also recognizes the department’s important role helping communities and police departments achieve these goals.”
    On Monday, the Justice Department took its first step under Sessions’ order by asking a federal judge to pause court proceedings for 90 days involving a proposed consent decree affecting Baltimore’s police force.
    Baltimore officials and the Justice Department reached the wide-ranging agreement in the waning days of the Obama administration to address a pattern of discrimination and unconstitutional policing. That investigation was sparked by the 2015 death of another black man, 25-year-old Freddie Gray, from injuries suffered while he was in police custody.
    In its court filing, the Justice Department asked for the three-month pause so its new leadership could review the proposed agreement to assess whether the court-ordered initiatives “will help ensure that the best result is achieved” for Baltimore’s residents.
    A hearing is set for Thursday to allow U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar, who is overseeing the negotiations, to gather public comments on the proposed agreement. Baltimore’s leaders, including its mayor and police commissioner, announced opposition to the proposed pause.
    “Any interruption in moving forward may have the effect of eroding the trust that we are working hard to establish,” Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said.
    The Justice Department is also certain to review its determination that the Chicago police force was systematically abusive, following a series of police shootings of minorities.
    In January, the department issued a scathing report that found that Chicago officers were poorly trained and quick to use excessive force. The report also found the Police Department tolerated racial discrimination. Negotiations on a potential agreement between Chicago and the Justice Department have been in the works. In a joint statement Monday night, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Sessions’ review would not alter their plans to reform police practices.
    Sessions said last month that he had read a summary of the Justice Department report on Chicago and that he worried police officers on the streets were pulling back because they feared getting in trouble if they made a mistake.
    “We need to help police departments get better, not diminish their effectiveness, and I’m afraid we have done some of that,” Sessions told a gathering of state attorneys general. “So we’re going to pull back” on federal investigations of police departments.
    Civil rights advocates said they are concerned about how the Trump administration will respond to police abuses.
    “This directive makes clear that the attorney general sees little to no role for the federal government to play in promoting policing reform, even in those communities where the problems are greatest,” said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonprofit group that has sought greater federal oversight of troubled police departments.

  • Take action to break the silence, 50 years since Dr. MLK’s ‘Beyond Vietnam’ Speech

     

    By: Mary Hladky, Military Families Speak Out, United for Peace & Justice

    mlkmilitaryspendingquote

    Dr. King

    50 years ago, on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church, in NYC, Martin Luther King delivered his powerful and most controversial speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”.   No longer willing to keep silent about the immorality of the Vietnam War, knowing the intense criticism he would receive for speaking out, he nevertheless was compelled to speak, “I am here tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice”.
    He gave this speech, one year to the day before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, assisting garbage workers to get justice and fair wages.
    King spoke against war and its crippling effects on social progress.  He denounced the death and destruction in Vietnam and the waste of billions on an immoral war.  All this at the expense of the poor and those serving in the military.  The destruction done to the Vietnamese is the same destruction we are doing to the Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians, Yemenis, Somalis, Libyans, Pakistanis, and others today.
    “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
    I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else.  For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy.  We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved.  Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor.
    King connected the inherit racism of killing the Vietnamese people with the killing of black people in America through dehumanization and contempt for “other” people.
    King was greatly concerned that the war in Vietnam was destroying the soul of America.  He called for an end to the war, detailing how a foreign policy based on violence and domination abroad, relates to the violence and problems we are afflicted with at home.  He asked us to reassess our values to avoid future mistakes that could destroy our nation.
    “We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society.  When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
    King’s message was not heeded, and our problems have multiplied. Since 1991 the U.S. has been at war in the Middle East, destabilizing the whole region.  In 2016 the U.S. dropped bombs in seven countries:  Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Pakistan & Somalia.
    The U.S. is the world’s #1 exporter of arms.  We have more than 800 bases in over 70 countries.  U.S. Special Forces have been deployed in over 105 countries.   We have launched thousands of drone strikes.
    Our Congressional representatives are cowards.   They are willing to send ground troops into the war in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Syria, while refusing to debate and vote on the use of military force.  Instead they shamefully forego their constitutional duty, to avoid being held accountable to their constituents.
    Congress has voted to spend our taxpayers’ dollars on endless wars at the expense of everything else.  Total defense spending costs our country approximately $900 billion (that’s almost $1 trillion) each year. This $900 billion pays for cost of war, 800 bases, nuclear weapons, intelligence agencies, homeland security, and veterans benefits.   Economist Jeffrey Sachs stated “The U.S. is incurring massive public debt and cutting back on urgent public investments at home in order to sustain a dysfunctional, militarized, and costly foreign policy.”
    The Cost of War project at Brown University reports that war costs since 2001 will run to nearly $5 trillion.  “Yet the cost seems invisible to politicians and the public alike.  The reason is that almost all of the spending has been financed through borrowing – selling US Treasury Bonds around the world – leaving our children to pick up the tab.  Consequently, the wars have had little impact on our pocketbooks.”  “As long as the cost of the war remains hidden from public view, there is no pressure to reexamine our military strategy.” (Linda Bilmes)
    And now we have Trump’s budget proposal.  He is asking for an additional $54 billion to the budget busting $596 million the Pentagon is already allocated.  The Pentagon’s budget is larger than the budgets of the next 7 countries combined.   That proposed increase alone is almost as large as Russia’s entire military budget.  Trump proposes to finance his expanded war budget by making drastic cuts to the EPA, Dept. of Education, State Dept., the UN and its humanitarian aid, and social services.
    These cuts will have devastating effects on the environment, our children’s education, the ability to prevent war through diplomacy with cruel cuts to social services for the poor, sick and elderly.
    We have a choice about how this country spends our taxpayer dollars.  We can remain silent allowing billions to be spent funding endless, futile wars or we can speak out, demanding our tax dollars fund healthcare for all Americans, support climate change initiatives, invest in solar and renewable energy, improve our educational system providing free college, rebuild our infrastructure and end extreme poverty in this country.
    WE CAN NO LONGER REMAIN SILENT.  WE MUST CHALLENGE AMERICAN MILITARISM.  
    MLK’S CHALLENGE TO US

    “Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.”
    “We still have a choice today, nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation.  We must find new ways to speak for peace and justice throughout the developing world a world that borders on our doors.  If we do not act we shall be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”
    “Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter – but beautiful – struggle for a new world.  Shall we say the odds are too great?  Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard?  The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.”
    Beginning this week, on April 4, peace-loving people around the country are participating in actions honoring Dr. King and readings of this speech, in a campaign to rebuild our movement. There’s still time to join or host an event in your community.
    United For Peace & Justice has created a web page with resources for you and your organization to host a reading and begin working on these issues.