Greene County Democrat

Category: Community

  • Bias hinders diversity in hiring for environmental organizations

    By Anthony Advincula

    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from New America Media

    panel-on-diversity

     Panel of experts comments on report on diversity in environmental groups

    Diversity at the leadership level in the environmental sector remains low despite a high proportion of well-educated and qualified people of color in the United States, according to a report released last Thursday. The problem: systemic bias in the hiring process, but also environmental organizations’ unwillingness to mandate diversity when using a search firm.

    Diversity Derailed: Limited Demand, Effort and Results in Environmental C-Suite Searches, produced by Green 2.0, found that nearly 90 percent of search consultants – which are frequently used by mainstream environmental NGOs and foundations – have encountered bias on the part of the organizations using them during their search for senior-level positions.

    Search firms often hold the key to diverse hiring in executive positions – the question now is how organizations can use search firms effectively. According to Green 2.0’s report, most search firms allow their client organizations to take the lead in terms of whether or not they’re interested in mandating a diverse slate of applicants. If a client does not mention that diversity is a priority, less than half of search firms report mandating a diverse slate.

    Notably, only 28 percent of environmental NGOs and 44 percent of environmental foundations mandate that there must be some sort of diversity represented on their short lists for candidates. The result? People of color account for just 12 to 16 percent of the staff at mainstream environmental organizations. And there’s even less diversity in upper management, according to Green 2.0 executive director Whitney Tome.

    The methodology used in the study includes surveys and in-depth interviews of 85 executive managers, hiring directors, and search consultants in the environmental field.

    University of Connecticut associate professor of sociology Maya Beasley, who authored the study, says that while there has been an increasingly diverse constituency in the United States, there has been a limited effort to address why environmental organizations are still racially homogeneous.

    “This [study] is one of the few to examine the specific organizational practices that show workplace inequality, not only in the environmental sector but in any sector or industry,” she says. “And it is the first study that solely focuses on the efficacy of search firms on the practices that they employ to increase diversity.”

    Although nearly three-quarters of NGOs and foundations could identify benefits associated with diversity in an organization, most admitted to having trouble diversifying, particularly at senior levels. Their reasons include that their organizations “do not have a culture of inclusivity,” that there is always a “bad cultural fit for applicants of color unrelated to their qualifications,” or that the people of color that they do recruit are “not well known so members of the search committee may be reluctant to support their candidacy.”

    But even beyond culture, nearly half of NGOs and one-fourth of foundations “agreed that there are not enough qualified [people of color] applicants.”

    On this, many environmental advocates and academics do not agree. “I can attest to the growing qualifications of people of color. We have a large pool of highly educated candidates,” says Michelle DePass, dean of the New School’s Milano School of International Affairs and director of Tishman Environment and Design Center. “The environmental leadership has still been white; that should not be so in the 21st century.”

    According to Beasley, it may be a long journey to fully achieve diversity at the leadership level in every sector, but it should start with major players in each organization. “What I’d like to emphasize is that the solution is not to take the bias out of people – that doesn’t work,” said Beasley. “Instead, what we want to work on is minimizing the impact of bias in searches, and it will work with organizations thereafter.”

    The study came up with several recommendations to increase diversity in leadership hiring:

    • Mandate diverse slates of candidates.
    • Minimize bias in the hiring process by using a diverse search committee and diverse interviewers, and by structuring the interview process as much as possible.
    • Assess diversity on an ongoing basis throughout the process and share the information with others.

    “The nonprofit sector is the third largest workforce in the world, after retail and manufacturing,” said Patricia Hampton, vice president and managing partner of Washington, D.C.-based Nonprofit HR. “But, unfortunately, we [people of color in NGOs and foundations] often have the quietest voice.”

     

     

  • Voter suppression laws helped Trump take the White House

     

    By Barrington M. Salmon (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    Shortly after the United Sates Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican state lawmakers began a calculated assault on the ballot box at the expense of Black and poor people across the nation; a coalition of civil and voting rights organizations fought back, primarily in the courts, against a wave of laws that restricted early voting, required photo IDs, limited pre-registration for 16- and 17 year-olds and closed polling centers.

    Now critics of those laws say that those measures may have tipped the November 8 presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor.

    Ari Berman, a political reporter and investigative journalist with “The Nation,” calls the GOP’s attack on voting rights the most under-reported story of 2016 and his reporting during the election campaign encapsulates the fallout from Republican lawmakers’ relentless and sustained voter suppression tactics on the election.

    “There were 25 debates during the presidential primaries and general election and not a single question about the attack on voting rights, even though this was the first presidential election in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act,” he noted in a post-election story.             “Fourteen states had new voting restrictions in place for the first time in 2016 – including crucial swing states like Wisconsin and Virginia – yet we heard nary a peep about it on Election Day except from outlets like ‘The Nation.’ This was the biggest under-covered scandal of the 2016 campaign.”

    Berman continued: “We’ll likely never know how many people were kept from the polls by restrictions like voter-ID laws, cuts to early voting, and barriers to voter registration. But at the very least this should have been a question that many more people were looking into. For example, 27,000 votes currently separate Trump and Clinton in Wisconsin, where 300,000 registered voters, according to a federal court, lacked strict forms of voter ID. Voter turnout in Wisconsin was at its lowest levels in 20 years and decreased 13 percent in Milwaukee, where 70 percent of the state’s African-American population lives, according to Daniel Nichanian of the University of Chicago.”

    Rev. Dr. William Barber II has called his home state of North Carolina “ground zero for voter suppression.” “The court ruled on the most sweeping, retrogressive voter suppression bill that we have seen since the 19th century and since Jim Crow, and the worst in the nation since the Shelby decision,” said Barber, the president of the North Carolina state branch of the NAACP and also one of the lead plaintiffs in lawsuit against the state of North Carolina in a case that led to a federal court striking down the law. “The ruling in North Carolina was intentional discrimination of the highest order. They were retrogressing racially through redistricting. Over the past two election cycles, North Carolina has had an unconstitutionally constituted General Assembly. We should be appalled that anyone could rule that long.

    The macro question is that after Shelby, we’re in a different place in that there was no protection for civil rights. Shelby took us back across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. If preclearance was in place, they wouldn’t have passed these laws. They spent between $5 million – $6 million fighting us. To have the loss of the Voting Rights Act is an affront to the country.”

    Berman said North Carolina is a case study for how Republicans have institutionalized voter suppression at every level of government and made it the new normal within the GOP. He fears the same thing could soon happen in Washington when Trump assumes power.

    Going forward, Scott Simpson, the director of media and campaigns for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said that civil rights groups have a daunting, but not impossible task before them.

    “The important thing to note about this election is that it started in June 2013,” he said. “For all the laws, statewide and locally, the vast majority, the wheels were set in motion well before Election Day.”

    Simpson was referring to the raft of voter suppression laws passed by Republican lawmakers in a number of states in the aftermath of the 2013 Supreme Court decision to invalidate a key section of the landmark Voting Rights Act; Wisconsin, Georgia, Texas, Kansas and North Carolina were among those states that passed laws that made it harder to vote.

    “It’s so clear that the loss of the Voting Rights Act had an impact on the election,” Simpson explained. “People were scared off, turned away from polling places, saw long lines and left without voting and with all the changes, some were left confused. It was a travesty. In North Carolina, you had a razor-thin election and in Wisconsin you had a very close election, because of the voter ID law.”

    Simpson continued: “You shave a couple of percentage points in an election, say one or two percent, and there will be an impact.” Simpson said the recent election was framed in rhetoric and racial hostility “and we now have the Department of Justice with a man in charge (Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III of Alabama) who opposes the Voting Rights Act.”

    Berman said that we can already glimpse how a Trump administration will undermine voting rights, based on the people he nominated to top positions, those he has advising him, and his own statements.

    Berman wrote: “[Trump’s] pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, wrongly prosecuted Black civil rights activists for voter fraud in Alabama in the 1980s, called the Voting Rights Act ‘a piece of intrusive legislation,’ and praised the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 saying that “if you go to Alabama, Georgia or North Carolina, people aren’t being denied the vote because of the color of their skin.”

  • Kwanzaa was started 50 years ago. Here’s why

    This festival of lights was conceived during a period of darkness

    By: Olivia B. Waxman, Time Magazine

    kwanzaa

    Kwanza kinara – candles it on each night of the holiday for a different Kwanza principle

     

    Dec. 25, 2016     When Kwanzaa begins the day after Christmas, the seven-day holiday—which incorporates traditions from Continental African and African-American cultures—will have more to celebrate than usual: this Kwanzaa marks 50 years since the festival was first celebrated.

    The fact that Kwanzaa was conceived in 1966 is no coincidence. The festival of lights, which is rich with symbolism, was conceived during one of darkest periods in Los Angeles’ history, during a key moment in the civil rights movement.

    A key event that sparked the idea began in August of 1965, after the Watts riots, a series of clashes between police and African-Americans in the L.A. neighborhood, which left 34 dead, 1,000 injured, and $40 million worth of property damaged. The rebellion came within a week after Los Angeles police officer Lee Minikus arrested Marquette Frye on Aug. 11, 1965, on suspicion of driving drunk. The event was a breaking point in the community’s resentment of L.A. police chief William Parker “and what they considered his double standard toward [African Americans] and whites,” according to LIFE magazine’s editorial prefacing its Aug. 27, 1965, cover story on the riots. (Parker compared Watts rioters to “monkeys in a zoo.”) High levels of unemployment and segregation, cuts to federal anti-poverty programs, and a lack of affordable housing meant that racial tensions were already high when the riots broke out.

    “Watts is the kind of community that cries out for urban renewal, poverty programs, job training. Almost anything would help,” TIME explained in an Aug. 20, 1965, cover story about the riots.

    One potential source of help, once the chaos subsided, came from a community organization called “US” (meaning “as opposed to them”), which was formed by members of a discussion group called the “Circle of Seven,” led by Malcolm X’s cousin Hakim Jamal and one of Malcolm X’s disciples, a UCLA Africana Studies doctoral student who was born Ron Everett but changed his name to Maulana Karenga. As the group’s influence increased, Karenga came up with Kwanzaa. He spread the word about the concept through Black Power conferences that he helped organized. (His organization US went on hiatus when Karenga was arrested in 1971, and a jury found him guilty in a trial in which it was testified that two women were tortured by Karenga and his followers. He was released on parole in 1975, but the holiday had already started to take on a life of its own, not defined by one person.)

    “[Karenga] saw that black people here had no holidays of their own, and felt that holidays give a people a sense of identity and direction.” Imamu Clyde Halisi, national chairman of US in 1972, told TIME. Muminina Jaribu, a member of the Committee for a Unified Newark, described it to the magazine as a “time of making commitments to the liberation of our people.” (And as for the timing, Halisi added that the Dec. 26 start to the holiday meant “we’ll be in a position to benefit from the after-Christmas sales.”)
    By 1992, the holiday had lost much of its radical implication. It was being practiced more and more by middle-class professionals “seeking to give their children a sense of black pride,” TIME reported in a 1991 feature. ”My children grew up in a fairly white community, and that motivated me to teach them the value of the African-American heritage,” a 50-year-old El Cajon, Calif.-based lawyer who celebrates with her physician husband and their five children, told TIME.

    Now, Karenga heads up the Africana Studies department at California State University-Long Beach and is the Executive Director of the African American Cultural Center in Los Angeles. “Kwanzaa is clearly a celebration of family, community and culture, but it is also a celebration of freedom,” he said in a statement on the 50th anniversary. “It is an act of freedom in its recovery and reconstruction of African culture, our return to its best values and practices and our resistance to the imposition of Eurocentric ways of understanding and engaging the world.”

  • Eutaw City Council approves formal resolution accepting Branch Heights roads

    officer

    Chief Derick Coleman and new officer Patrick Shearry.

     

    At its regular meeting on December 13, 2016, the Eutaw City Council approved a resolution accepting the streets within Branch Heights for city maintenance.
    The resolution discusses the history of problems with repairs to the streets and roadways in the Branch Heights Subdivision, a predominantly Black housing area that was built with HUD funds through the Greene County Housing Authority. The subdivision is named for the first Black Probate Judge of Greene County. Some of the houses have been sold to individual families after the family had occupied them for at least 15 years.
    In 2004, Branch Heights was annexed into the City of Eutaw and the city has made some repairs to the streets on an “as needed” and “as funds were available” basis without formally accepting responsibility for the streets.
    This resolution officially accepts the streets in the William Mckinley Branch Heights subdivision for city ownership and maintenance and pledges to seek funds for the repair of the streets. The resolution lists the streets to be maintained as including the following:
    – William McKinley Branch Drive
    – Joseph Wilder Circle
    – John Chambers Court
    – Vassie Knott Court
    – Howard Irvin Drive
    – Office Lane
    – Levi Morrow Sr. Court
    – Harry Means Court
    – Frenchie Burton Road
    – Howard Brown Court
    – Joseph Court
    Many of these streets were named for pioneering Black members of the Greene County Commission and Greene County Housing Authority.
    In other business, the Eutaw City Council:
    • approved payment of November claims and bills;
    • heard a report that Mason and Gardner, CPA’s were updating the city computer system to handle the digital self-reporting water meters;
    • were introduced to new police officer, Patrick Shearry, of Scoba, Mississippi, who has completed officer training; and told by Chief Coleman that two other officers: Marlo Jackson and Tommie Johnson Jr. are planning to attend the police academy training in Tuscaloosa;
    • approved travel for Councilman Joe L. Powell to attend a committee meeting of the Alabama League of Municipalities
    • deferred the December 27, 2016 meeting due to the holidays; and set December 23 and 26 and January 2 as official holidays.
    Mayor Steele reported that the city employees were working to fix leaks in the water system to increase water pressure for the system. Work will soon be starting on the major $3.1 million approved USDA Rural Development water project. The Mayor also announced that work was about to begin on the resurfacing of Prairie Avenue.
    Council members reported problems with street lights on Springfield Avenue and the need to remove a dilapidated house on Tuscaloosa Street adjacent to the Eutaw Elderly Village.
    Councilwoman Sheila Smith asked about the policies on vicious dogs. She was told by the Mayor and Chief of Police that vicious animals, like Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and Doberman Pinchers had to be identified and secured by their owners to prevent attacking and biting people. “Stray dogs in Eutaw, have always been a problem and we have to pay animal control from Tuscaloosa to round them up and carry them away, “ said Chief Coleman. Smith said, “ I hope this policy on vicious dogs is being carried out because people have been bitten and intimidated by dogs in recent days.”

  • Dr. Carter and board promote positive learning environment for students

    The Greene County Board of Education, at its regular meeting held Monday, December, 19, 2016, approved a declaration that the entire school system must work to create and promote a positive learning environment for all students. The statement asserts that this is the responsibility and duty of every principal, teacher and all other personnel of the system.
    The board established that “…every principal, teacher and other personnel must establish a positive learning environment for all students. An assessment of the positive learning environment will be conducted at the end of each academic year. If sufficient progress has not been made in establishing a positive learning environment, then the principal, teacher and or other personnel may be reassigned or terminated pursuant to the laws of Alabama.”
    In his report to the board, Superintendent James H. Carter, Sr. brought further emphasis to the board’s position. “It is imperative that students have challenging standards and curriculum if they are going to be College and Career Ready. If students are going to achieve at their maximum level there should be a genuine partnership between school, family, and the entire school community,” Carter stated.
    In his remarks, Dr. Carter said that in order to raise our students’ aspirations, there are two major components necessary. “The first is caring. There must be heartfelt care for students exhibited in all aspects of the education community. Secondly, students must feel like they belong. Every teacher and administrator will be encouraged to speak to each student as they enter the school building and the classroom. Teachers and principals will continue encouraging students to graduate from Greene County High School and take the next step.”Other aspects of Superintendent’s Carter’s remarks were as follows:
    * Teachers and students must be sufficient in the use of technology. Technology must be integrated into all subject areas.
    * Students will be encouraged to become actively involved in community services.
    * Each school will be asked to schedule a school pride day and a school clean-up day.
    * Teachers and Principals will set aside 10 minutes per day to have Get to Know My Students Time
    * Students should be allowed to have a garden on their campus. This will educate students about the importance of growing your own food. It will also teach students not to be wasteful of food that is prepared for them.
    * Professional Learning Community can change the way of educating our children. We know that educators meet regularly, share expertise and work collaboratively to improve teaching skills and improve the academic performance of students.
    * Students will have an Early Dismissal at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 20th
    * Board Appreciation Month – January 2017.
    The board approved the following personnel items:
    * Termination of Sondra Terry, Part-time Health Science teacher.
    * Resignation of Ivory Robinson, Elementary Teacher at Robert Brown Middle School.
    * Payment for additional services contract for 2016 – 2017: (Separate Contract): Codarrin Wilson – Asst. Football Coach; Angel Cardona – Dance Line Sponsor.
    * Resignation of Mr. Leon Dowe, Jr., CSFO Greene County Board, effective January 18, 2017.
    * Search for a new CSFO.
    * Appointment of Mrs. Cillia Morrow, Long-term Substitute Math Teacher at Robert Brown Middle School effective December 19, 2016.
    * Authorized signatures of superintendent, board president and board vice-president at Bank of Tuscaloosa.
    The board approved the recommended administrative services:
    * Authorized the Superintendent to develop procedures for sale of properties at Paramount Jr. High School and Carver Middle School.
    * Authorized Superintendent to advertise the sale of surplus equipment and supplies owned by the Greene County School Board.
    * Authorized the Superintendent to have drinking water tested for lead.
    * Authorized Superintendent to complete refurbishing the restrooms at Robert Brown Middle School.
    * Create a career tech public database of real world improving projects that student of all ages can do.
    * Field Trip Request for Robert Brown Middle School’s 7 – 8 grade to participate in the Disney YES (Youth Educational Series) Program in Orlando, FL on May 7, 2017.
    * Renaming bank account at Citizen’s Trust Bank to Robert Brown Middle School.
    * Payment of all bills, claims, and payroll.
    * Bank reconciliations as submitted by Mr. Leon Dowe, CSFO.
    The board approved the following instructional services:
    * Develop a RFP format regarding Public Charter School Authorizer. The Public Charter School RFP will focus on At-Risk Students Program.
    * Integrate attendance as part of a teacher performance evaluation.
    * A positive learning environment must exist for all students. Therefore, every principal, teacher and other personnel must establish a positive learning environment for all students. An assessment of the positive learning environment will be conducted at the end of each academic year. If sufficient progress has not been made in establishing a positive learning environment, then the principal, teacher and or other personnel may be reassigned or terminated pursuant to the laws of Alabama.

     

  • Federation steps in to halt Wendy Hills foreclosure

    Minutes before the foreclosure sale on Thursday, December 15, 2016, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, PLBA Housing Development Corporation and USDA Rural Development reached an agreement to sell the Wendy Hills Subdivision to the Federation. This averted the foreclosure sale, which was set for 11:00 AM at the Courthouse steps in Livingston, Alabama.
    “We are pleased that we were able to secure funding to purchase Wendy Hills and avoid a foreclosure which would have caused an untold upheaval to the forty families living there. We want to continue to provide good housing for very low income people in Sumter County, which was the original intent and goal of Wendy Hills,” said Cornelius Blanding, Federation Executive Director.
    Blanding continued, “ We know that we have to make some improvements to the property to bring it up to standards. We plan to secure financing for these improvements to the apartments as well as insure fire protection and safety for all of the residents.” “Our first step will be to insure the continued rental assistance, currently provided by HUD, to allow very low income persons to live in north Sumter County,” said Blanding.
    Commissioner Drusilla Jackson, whose district includes the Wendy Hills Subdivision, said “ I was very concerned about this foreclosure and its impact on people in my district. I pledge to assist the Federation in any way I can to help insure that the housing is maintained for the residents who live there.”
    The Wendy Hills Subdivision currently consists of 36 units, 10 one bedroom, 8 two bedroom, 8 three bedroom and 10 four bedroom apartments; an office and a playground area. Fire destroyed four of the original 40 units and they have not been rebuilt.
    Mayor Carrie Fulghum of the Town of Gainesville and General Manager of the PLBA Housing Development Corporation said “ I am glad, as mayor of the closest town, that we were able to prevent the foreclosure of Wendy Hills and I am dedicated to insuring a safe and secure place for the residents of the Subdivision.”
    For more information contact: Cornelius Blanding at 404/765-0991 or cornelius@federation.coop

  • Deltas team with DHR providing Christmas gifts for children

     

    DST Christmas.jpg

    One of the community service goals of the Greene County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is supporting the Annual Adopt-A-Family Program of the Greene County Department of Human Relations.
    The Greene County DST Chapter adopted two families and provided the children with an assortment of gifts. The Deltas gave the children clothes and toys which included four bicycles, electronic games, books, board games and other delights.
    All the gifts were selected to fulfill the Christmas wishes of each child in the respective families. The various lists of the children were provided by the staff of DHR.

    Ms. Jacqueline Allen serves as chairperson of the DST Chapter’s Adopt-A-Family Committee. Ms. Andrea Perry is Chapter President. Mr. Wilson serves as director of the Greene County DHR office.

  • Black people are still in the dark when it comes to HIV

    By Angelo C. Louw (NNPA Newswire Guest Columnist)

    angelolouw_3089_web120Angelo C. Louw is the former editor-in-chief of South Africa’s largest youth magazine, UNCUT. He is currently a Fulbright/Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow based at the University of Maryland.

    With new infection rates and AIDS-related deaths on a decline globally, it seems we are finally gaining ground in the fight to end the epidemic. However, an alarming world trend in new HIV infections suggests that Black people have been left by the wayside.

    In an open letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the L.A.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation noted that while African-Americans made up a mere 12 percent of the total U.S. population, they accounted for close to half of new infections in the country. Yet, only one in every ten people on Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a drug which has been proven to be effective in preventing the spread of HIV, were Black.

    “We call on you to re-balance your prevention efforts to align with what patients want and need so that we can achieve better success in preventing new infections,” the letter said.

    As an HIV-prevention campaigner, I know very well the struggle of addressing the “wants and needs” of people who are most likely to get HIV. Sometimes healthcare workers are guilty of making broad assumptions about their daily lives — I suppose, a consequence of the shoestring budgets at our disposal.

    “Black African men and women are advised to have an HIV test and a regular HIV and STI screen if having unprotected sex with new or casual partners,” suggests HIV in UK – Situation Report 2015 for targeted HIV-prevention messaging.

    This report found that even in the U.K., where White people make up the larger population of people living with HIV, Black people were more likely to contract HIV, because it was much more prevalent in that minority population.

    However, making sweeping assumptions about Black sexuality is counterproductive and it also feeds into the social stigma that is attached to the virus, a major driver of HIV, deterring people from seeking healthcare and family planning, because of what others might say.

    Growing up in what has been dubbed the world’s HIV capital, South Africa, I am all too familiar with false, racist rhetoric blaming high HIV prevalence in Back people on wayward sexual behaviors. The fact of the matter is, as Brazilian researcher Kia Caldwell points out, HIV is spread due to socio-economic circumstance and not bad sex habits.

    In a 2016 report on how HIV affects Afro-Brazilian females, Caldwell stressed the need for an intersectional approach to HIV research and health policy in her home country, which saw a decline in new HIV infections in all population groups, but Black females. She blames the Afro-Brazilian experience of HIV on widespread poverty and violence, and a lack of access to healthcare and employment, perpetuated by structural bias based on skin color.

    The South African Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute noted this exact experience in its 2013 study of access to healthcare in South Africa. It found while healthcare services are available, poor Black people were less likely to visit local clinics as it often meant a day of unpaid leave, a precarious proposition for a casual employee.

    A researcher friend working in rural South Africa once told me that for a lot of men-who-sleep-with-men in these more remote communities, access to a safe setting for sex was hard to come by, let alone condoms or the time to find them. They struggle to have sex safely, even if they wanted to.

    The intricacies in the way HIV affects different groups of people can no longer be ignored, if we are to achieve UNAIDS 90-90-90 goals by 2020. The inclusion of local voices in HIV research, messaging and advocacy is essential — and I am not the only one who thinks so.

    UNAIDS states in its 2016 global HIV update: “Beneath this global figure lies multiple disparities—across regions, within countries, between men and women and young and old, and among specific populations being left behind. These disparities must be addressed in order to achieve the reductions required to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.”

    If we are to stop the spread of HIV, we need to understand the real reasons why it’s still spreading in certain communities. To that end, including the voices of those most at risk is vital.

     

     

  • Despite the haters, Black Santa thrives at Mall of America

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    black-santa

     Black Santa fist bumps with a young white child

    Many White Americans cling to the notion that major religious and cultural figures are and have been represented as Caucasian, according to one professor when asked about the controversy surrounding the Black Santa Claus at the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

    “When this reality is disrupted, as in the case of Black Santa, it makes many White people uncomfortable, because it challenges a taken-for-granted religious cultural landscape whose substance is White privilege,” said Adam Szetelaand, an assistant professor in the liberal arts department at Boston’s Berkley College of Music who has penned op-eds, peer-reviewed articles and book chapters that deal with issues of race in America.

    Still, the headlines have become as comical as the controversy over the Mall of America employing an African-American to portray Santa Claus.

    “Racists Freak Out Over Black Santa At Mall of America,” The Huffington Post screamed in its December 5 headline.

    Even “The Washington Post” ran the curious headline, “The Mall of America’s first Black Santa: Santa Comes in Many Different Colors.”

    And, not to be outdone, apparently concerned — or curious — headline writers trotted out this eye-catching banner for the “Minneapolis Star Tribune” on Dec. 13; “Is Mall of America’s Black Santa Now all of America’s Santa?”

    To critics — particularly those hiding behind screen names on social media — the answer is a resounding “No.” The race rhetoric and much of the hate that permeated the recently completed presidential election campaign, has spilled over to the holly, jolly Christmas season.

    “I don’t understand why Santa would be Black. He is a White character,” social media commentator Chris Guy wrote. “Just seems kind of racist to make him Black for the sake of having a Black Santa. I don’t really care, but in our racially sensitive society, I don’t see how this is considered okay,” said Guy, who concluded with this gem: “O, the hypocrisy.”

    Another social media darling who called herself Laquisha Reynolds pointedly responded with, “I hope every self-respecting White parent does not take their children to this atrocity…this imitation of traditional White characters from television and movies to historical figures such as ‘Hamilton’ is a cancer that must be stopped,” said Reynolds. “If [Martin Luther King] were played by a White person, Blacks would try to kill him.”

    If that bit of commentary weren’t bad enough, many decided to remind Mall of America officials and others of Minneapolis’ large Somali population and a September incident where a Somali immigrant stabbed shoppers at another mall in Minneapolis.

    “I…fully expected that they would pick a Somali to play Santa,” Victor Edwards wrote on social media. “Have a radical Muslim who hates America and the western world play Santa. Give him a gun and some knives under his red suit.”

    Others, however, were thrilled about the Black Santa Claus.

    “I thought it was good what the Mall of America did and I support that,” former pro basketball star Baron Davis said in a statement. “I support all Santas, of all colors. There are a lot of people in this world that enjoy conflict,” said Davis, who in November founded “The Black Santa Company,” which aims to create diverse heroes and role models through the art of storytelling.

    Over a four-day period, a reported 550 families including 1,200 children, came to see Larry Jefferson, the premiere attraction for the Santa Experience at the 25-year-old Mall of America. Jefferson, the first Black Santa in the Mall’s history, is a retired U.S. military veteran from Texas and he was chosen over 1,000 other candidates – all of whom were White.

    “It’s no big deal, I’m still Santa, I just happen to be a Santa of Color,” Jefferson told reporters gathered at the mall. “Santa is still just Santa.” Jefferson greeted passersby, passed out candy canes and encouraged young ones to, “Clean your rooms, eat your vegetables and do what your mommy and daddy say all year.”

    While those who spewed hate hid in the dark shadows of the Internet and behind made-up or assumed names, others were openly thrilled with Black Santa. “I think I just started believing in Santa again,” Carlos Rosales-Silva tweeted. “Santa Larry is a good Santa. He’s an awesome Santa and I love [that] he and his beard. He is a blessing for us all in this awful time,” wrote another poster who goes by the screen name of “Hugo the Buck.”

    Mark Buchanan noted that, “The Mall of America has a Black Santa and racists done lost their minds. Santa Larry is awesome. He’s also a vet and deserves respect.” Landon Luther, the co-owner of the Santa Experience – a storefront enterprise that has booked semi-private meetings with Santa and families at the Mall of America for a decade – called Jefferson’s appearance as Santa “incredible.”

    Luther said the response has been overwhelmingly positive. “Santa Larry was fully booked. People flew from Washington, New York, Oklahoma,” Luther said.In the end, Jefferson himself noted that his race should not matter. Most importantly, he said, children could care less what color he is.

    “What they see most of the time is this red suit and candy. A good spirit,” Jefferson said. “I’m just a messenger to bring hope, love and peace to girls and boys.”

  • Congressman Cedric Richmond of Louisiana to lead the Congressional Black Caucus

    By Frederick Lowe

    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

    cedricrichmond

    U. S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.)

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond has been elected chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 115th Congress, which begins Jan. 3, 2017.

    “I commend Representative Richmond on becoming the new chairman,” said G. K. Butterfield, the outgoing chairman. “We have much work ahead of us during the 115th Congress, and I am confident Representative Richmond will provide strong leadership on issues we champion to ensure all Americans have an equal and equitable opportunity to achieve the American Dream.”

    The 43-year-old Richmond represents Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes most of New Orleans. He is a native of New Orleans.

    Richmond is a member of Committee on the Judiciary and Homeland Security. He has focused on reforming the criminal justice system.

    Richmond is a graduate of Morehouse College. He earned a law degree from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans.  Richmond is also a graduate of the Harvard University Executive Education Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

    Since the last election, the Congressional Black Caucus has grown and it now has 49 members. The CBC was founded in 1971.