By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Joe Morgan, Cincinnati second baseman
Joe Leonard Morgan, one of the all-time greatest second basemen in Major League Baseball history, and a key cog in Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine, has died at the age of 77. Over 22 mostly magnificent seasons, the left-handed batting Morgan, who memorably flapped his left arm before each pitch thrown to him, totaled 2,517 hits, 1,650 runs scored, and a .271 lifetime batting average. Additionally, he slugged 268 home runs and stole 689 bases. Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, Morgan began his illustrious career with the Houston Colt .45s in 1963. He remained with Houston, which in 1965 changed its nickname to the Astros for nine seasons. In 1971, the Astros traded Morgan to the Cincinnati Reds. In Cincinnati, he joined Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey Sr., George Foster, and others to form the renowned Big Red Machine. In 1975, the Reds defeated the Boston Red Sox in one of the most memorable World Series ever, an epic matchup where five of the seven games were decided by one run. The following year, Morgan helped lead the Reds to a sweep of the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic to capture a second straight title. Morgan earned League Most Valuable Players in each of those seasons. He earned selection to the All-Star team 10 times and won five Gold Gloves. In 1983, Morgan joined the Philadelphia Phillies and helped lead them to a World Series appearance against the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore won the series in five games, and Morgan would play one more season, ending his career with the Oakland A’s. Morgan’s death is the latest among several legendary baseball players over the past several months, including fellow Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals, Tom Seaver of the New York Mets, and Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Eli Lilly announced this week that it would pause a government-sponsored COVID-19 clinical trial because of a potential safety concern. The drug manufacturer did not specify the concern, but the experimental vaccine is reportedly similar to the one President Donald Trump has claimed cured him of the coronavirus. Earlier, Johnson & Johnson put the brakes on a COVID-19 vaccine trial after the company noted an “unexplained illness” reported by a participant. In September, Great Britain officials held off on a potential vaccine when a participant reported a concerning reaction. The difficulty in producing a vaccine for the deadly virus comes as a new wave of COVID-19 infection has begun. Data provided by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland revealed that the U.S. surpassed 51,000 new daily cases on Oct. 13, marking the first time in over two months that the number exceeded 50,000. The average daily number of new cases stands at 48 percent higher than two months ago when 34,354 were reported. More than 36,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized on Oct. 13, the highest number recorded since August. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that African Americans remain three times as likely as whites to contract the coronavirus, five times as likely to end up in the hospital, and twice as likely to die from COVID-19. While the race and ethnicity of those who contract the virus are known in just 52 percent of cases, 7 of the 10 U.S. counties with the highest death rates from COVID-19 have populations where people of color make up the majority, according to data compiled by USA Today.Of the top 50 counties with the highest death rates, 31 are populated mostly by people of color. “Put simply, America’s history of racism was itself a preexisting condition,” study authors wrote for USA Today. Additionally, one report noted that had African Americans died at the same rate as whites; approximately 20,800 Black people would still be alive. Dr. James Hildreth, the president of the historically Black Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, told the Black Press that his school is among four HBCUs preparing to host on campus COVID-19 clinical trials. Dr. Hildreth previously advised against any vaccine touted by Trump, where the president exclaimed would be ready before Election Day. “It’s true that Black people have little trust in clinical trials, and that’s understandable,” Dr. Hildreth stressed. “We’ve engendered a level of trust with communities of color that other organizations just don’t have, and it’s imperative for us as HBCUs to rise to this occasion.” Dr. Hildreth noted that Meharry’s trial would feature a vaccine made by Novavax. “I’ll be the first patient,” Dr. Hildreth said, again punctuating the trust that’s needed to secure African American participants. “By engaging with the four Black medical schools, [participants] will have individuals who look like them, sitting across the table, having these conversations, and we think that’s going to make a huge difference.”
By Barrington M. Salmon, NNPA Newswire Contributor
Armed white extremist militia members
In recent months, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, and several lower-level Trump administration officials had been warning about the danger posed by homegrown domestic terrorists. Those concerns escalated throughout the summer after clashes between protestors who were marching to remonstrate against the police-involved murder of George Floyd in May and white nationalist Trump supporters. Those fears were realized last week when the agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, her staff and Michigan state law enforcement, apprehended 13 men tied to two militia groups who are charged with hatching a plot to kidnap, try and murder Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, kill those in law enforcement, kick off a civil war and overthrow the government. Whitmer, Nessel and other critics argue that white extremists in Michigan and elsewhere are animated by dangerous racist and inflammatory rhetoric from President Donald Trump. They have castigated his embrace of white nationalist militias, his unwillingness to condemn their violence and intimidation tactics and his complicity in the recent rise of rightwing violence. “My greatest fear is what’s different now than when I was working these cases in 1990s, there was no rhetoric coming from the White House supporting White supremacy and law enforcement is failing to properly react to that violence that occurs,” said Mike German, a retired FBI agent and a fellow at the Brennan Centre’s National Security Program. “This makes these groups and individuals feel that they have a greenlight.” German, a writer, author and scholar, has been monitoring and studying white identity extremists, white nationalists and other domestic terror groups for a number of years. This follows his time in the FBI in the 1990s working undercover and infiltrating white supremacist and right-wing militant groups. He said he’s deeply concerned about the increase in violence perpetrated by far-right individuals and groups over the past three years. Of equal concern, he said, is that these groups have been allowed to operate with very little response from the Department of Justice, the FBI and local law enforcement and with the sympathy of the White House. In September 17, 2020 testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, Wray said “many of these violent extremists, both domestic and international, are motivated and inspired by a mix of ideological, sociopolitical, and personal grievances against their targets, which recently have more and more included large public gatherings, houses of worship, and retail locations.” “Lone actors, who by definition are not likely to conspire with others regarding their plans, are increasingly choosing these soft, familiar targets for their attacks, limiting law enforcement opportunities for detection and disruption ahead of their action,” Wray continued. “Domestic violent extremists (DVEs) pose a steady and evolving threat of violence and economic harm to the United States.” The FBI director said trends may shift, but the underlying drivers for domestic violent extremism – such as perceptions of government or law enforcement overreach, sociopolitical conditions, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, and reactions to legislative actions – remain constant. He said the FBI is most concerned about lone offender attacks, primarily shootings, as they have served as the dominant lethal mode for domestic violent extremist attacks. But the rise of groups like the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, the Hell Shaking Street Preachers, the G416 Patriots, Odinsvakt Kindred, Stormfront and others belies the FBI analysis and narrative of the lone wolf domestic terrorist. German and Wray said more deaths were caused by DVEs than international terrorists in recent years. For example, 2019 was the deadliest year for domestic extremist violence since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Wray added that the top threat America faces from domestic violent extremists stems from those in law enforcement has identified as racially/ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVE). RMVEs were the primary source of ideologically motivated lethal incidents and violence in 2018 and 2019 and have been considered the most lethal of all domestic extremists since 2001. “Of note, the last three DVE attacks, however, were perpetrated by anti-government violent extremists,” Wray said. Experts who monitor White nationalist extremist groups have watched with increasing alarm at the rash of violent clashes, the shootings, use of vehicles to injure protestors and brawls that have broken out between the Proud Boys and other far-right, neo-fascist, armed and unarmed militia groups and protestors seeking social and racial justice. Yet, to the consternation of many, Trump, Attorney General William Barr, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been spending their time and effort since Trump came into office targeting Black Lives Matter activists, the broad coalition of multiracial social justice advocates involved in protests and members of Antifa, all while ignoring the real threat that confronts this country. In response to massive social justice protests, Mr. Trump and top officials such as Attorney General William Barr, have emphasized the threat posed by leftist groups like Antifa, but rarely mentioned or blamed far-right groups involved in the majority of the violence. Mr. Trump himself has regularly downplayed the threat of White supremacist violence during his presidency and has recently described Black Lives Matter as “a symbol of hate.” “This administration is not unique for not prosecuting right-wing violence. The fact that the murderers involved in the Greensboro massacre in 1979 were never caught illustrates that,” said DC-based talk show co-host and longtime social justice activist Jacqui Luqman. “The Klan was openly communing with law enforcement. The danger now is the danger that has always been allowed to exist. We’ve already seen it.” “There is a long history of violence these groups have waged against Black people and their allies who have shown up to confront this anti-Black racism. Recently, they have attacked people with cars and other vehicles and there have been several shootings with one person killed. There have been assaults of protestors committed by far-right wing people armed with baseball bats and other weapons. They have shown their willingness to commit violence because time-and-time again, the police has not stopped them. Officers are very slow to apprehend them if they have done so at all. They know they can be violent because the police are on their side and Donald Trump and Barr have sanctioned what they’re doing.” An FBI affidavit points out that the plotters seemed to be motivated at least in part by their belief that state governments, including Michigan’s, were violating the Constitution. Militia members were and are opposed to stay-at-home orders, limitations of public movement and other restrictions, and in response, the plotters talked about targeting police officers in their homes, blowing up Whitmer’s country home and kidnapping her. “There has been a disturbing increase in anti-government rhetoric and the re-emergence of groups that embrace extremist ideologies,” said Nessel in a statement announcing the charges. “These groups often seek to recruit new members by seizing on a moment of civil unrest and using it to advance their agenda of self-reliance and armed resistance. This is more than just political disagreement or passionate advocacy, some of these groups’ mission is simply to create chaos and inflict harm upon others.” In a news conference after the arrests, Whitmer reiterated that she had made “tough choices to keep our state safe.” And she placed the problem squarely on Trump. “When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight,” she said. “When our leaders meet with, encourage, or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions, and they are complicit.” Trump, she said, “refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups like these two Michigan militia groups” and told one far-right group to “stand back and stand by.” With less than a month before the presidential election, federal and local law enforcement officials are watching closely and are ready to stamp out any flare up of politically motivated violence by domestic terrorists.
Oct. 12, 2020 (GIN) – Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has at least two African partners stepping up on the global stage and telling world leaders to “wake up” and recognize the dangers to women and girls of climate change.
In a speech broadcast as part of the Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture, Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate tied climate change to poverty, hunger, disease, conflict and violence.
“See the danger we are in,” Nakate urged the leaders at the Tutu peace lecture.
The lecture is given every year to coincide with the South African Nobel Peace Prize winner’s birthday. Tutu turned 89 on Oct. 7. The pre-recorded speeches, not given in person this year because of the pandemic, called for “climate justice globally.”
Nakate’s speech focused on the African continent, which contributes the least to climate change but stands to suffer its effects the most.
“Climate change is a nightmare that affects every sector of our lives,” she said. “How can we eradicate poverty without looking at this crisis? How can we achieve zero hunger if climate change is leaving millions of people with nothing to eat? We are going to see disaster after disaster, challenge after challenge, suffering after suffering … if nothing is done about this.”
“Leave your comfort zones and see the danger we are in and do something about it. This is a matter of life and death,” she called out the world leaders.
There were also messages from South African climate activist Ayakha Melithafa and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who praised the younger generation’s work.
South African Melithafa is from a small farming town in the Eastern Cape which is also crippled by drought. She joined “Project 90 by 2030”, a social and environmental justice organization and now works as a recruitment official and spokesperson for the African Climate Alliance.
“We do need more people of color in the fight against climate change,” Melithafa told Daily Maverick, a South African news publication. “I want people to know that not only privileged people are aware of climate change. The privileged people might be protesting because the quality of the water is getting bad, but people of color have been drinking that water all along, and they feel lucky just to have water,” the young teen said.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Robert Gibson (born Pack Robert Gibson — in his father’s honor — November 9, 1935 – October 2, 2020) played his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Gibson was arguably the greatest African American hurler in baseball history and certainly the greatest pitcher ever to play with the Cardinals. He announced in July 2019 that he had pancreatic cancer and died on October 2 at 84. Ironically, Gibson’s death came 52 years to the day he dominated the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series, striking out a record 17 batters. All but four of those batters went down on “swings and misses.” Over 17 electrifying big-league seasons, Gibson won 251 games, compiled a career 2.91 earned run average and 3,117 strikeouts – not counting the World Series record 17 K’s against the Detroit Tigers in the 1968 Fall Classic. “Bob Gibson quite literally changed the game of baseball. He was a fierce competitor and beloved by Cardinal Nation,” the Cardinals wrote in a message posted on the organization’s official Twitter feed. “We will miss him dearly.” Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981, Gibson earned a profusion of awards, including two Cy Youngs, two World Series Most Valuable Player trophies, nine Gold Gloves and a league Most Valuable Player award. His best year came in 1968 when the hard-throwing right-hander turned in one of the greatest seasons ever produced from a starting pitcher. Gibson went 22-9, boasting a surreal 1.12 earned run average (ERA). He recorded 28 complete games and 13 shutouts. Gibson’s performance served as the catalyst for Major League Baseball’s decision to shorten the pitcher’s mound by five inches in height, lowering it from 15 inches to 10 inches. On August 14, 1971, Gibson recorded his only career no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates. During that game Gibson fanned 10 Bucs, leading the Cardinals to an 11-0 victory. “This was the greatest game I’ve pitched anywhere,” Gibson declared at the time. “I didn’t think I’d ever throw a no-hitter.” Born November 9, 1935 in Omaha, Nebraska, Gibson overcame childhood illness to excel in youth sports, particularly basketball and baseball. At Creighton University, he starred on the hardwood and later signed with the Harlem Globetrotters. After briefly He is regarded as one of the most intimidating pitchers to ever take the mound, known for pounding the inside part of the plate and, at times, staring down sluggers who believed he had intentionally brushed them back. “Don’t dig in against Bob Gibson; he’ll knock you down,” Home Run King Hank Aaron reportedly warned Los Angeles Dodgers star Dusty Baker. “He’d knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him. Don’t stare at him, don’t smile at him, don’t talk to him. He doesn’t like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don’t run too slow, don’t run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don’t charge the mound, because he’s a Gold Glove boxer.” Before Gibson won his first Cy Young Award in 1968, Dodgers ace Don Newcombe stood as the only Black player to earn such honors. Vida Blue of the Oakland A’s, Ferguson Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs, Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets, CC Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians, and David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays would later join Newcombe and Gibson as African Americans who’ve won the award. Gibson stood with other athletes, liked playing under contract to both the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and the St. Louis Cardinals organization (the Cardinals offered him a contract in 1957), Gibson decided to continue playing only baseball professionally. Gibson emerged as a raw, but immensely talented rookie who would not be denied stardom. He became a full-time starting pitcher in July 1961 and earned his first All-Star appearance in 1962. Gibson won two of three games he pitched in the 1964 World Series, then won 20 games in a season for the first time in 1965. Gibson also pitched three complete game victories in the 1967 World Series. Gibson stood with athletes, like Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and others who expressed strong support for the civil rights movement. He credited the Cardinals for the team’s diversity and praised them for not forcing Black players to live in segregated housing during the baseball season. After retiring as a player in 1975, Gibson later served as pitching coach for his former teammate Joe Torre. At one time a special instructor coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, Gibson was later selected for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Gibson was the author of the memoir Pitch by Pitch, with Lonnie Wheeler. Gibson’s death came weeks after the death of his former teammate and fellow Hall of Fame member Lou Brock, and one month after another baseball legend and former Gibson rival, Tom Seaver of the New York Mets. “Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever saw,” retired Cardinal catcher Tim McCarver once said. “He always pitches when the other team doesn’t score any runs.” Gibson is survived by three children: Anette, Chris and Renee, and his widow, Wendy.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Minneapolis Police Officer, Derek Chauvin with knee on George Floyd’s neck
Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis police officer facing murder charges in the killing of George Floyd, was released from custody after posting $1 million bond. The Hennepin County Department of Corrections confirmed on Oct. 7 that Chauvin posted the bond and walked out of the maximum-security Minnesota Correctional Facility in Oak Park Heights shortly after 11 a.m. Chauvin initially was housed at the Ramsey County Jail in St. Paul before authorities transferred him temporarily to Hennepin County Jail. Prior to his release, Chauvin was incarcerated at the Oak Park Heights prison. He faces second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the May 25 killing of Floyd, a hip-hop artist, truck driver, security guard, and mentor. Video of the incident showed Chauvin pressing his knee on the neck of a handcuffed and subdued Floyd for more than 8 minutes. Three other officers stood by and did nothing as Floyd struggled to breathe and call out for his mother. Prosecutors charged the other officers, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao, with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Hennepin County terminated each of them. “Mr. Floyd was treated with particular cruelty,” prosecutors wrote in court filings. “Despite Mr. Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe and was going to die, as well as the pleas of eyewitnesses to get off Mr. Floyd and help him, [Chauvin] and his codefendants continued to restrain Mr. Floyd.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appointed State Attorney General Keith Ellison as lead prosecutor in an effort to quell growing racial tensions and to ensure justice in the case. “Unfortunately, our constituents, especially constituents of color, have lost faith in the ability of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to fairly and impartially investigate and prosecute these cases,” Walz wrote in a letter explaining the appointment of Ellison, an African American. Chauvin’s release from custody comes within weeks after a Grand Jury in Louisville, Kentucky, failed to indict police officers in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, an African American woman who was sleeping in her home when officers served a late-night warrant. At the scene, police reigned a barrage of bullets into the apartment, hitting Taylor 8 times and killing her. After Floyd’s death, demonstrations took place worldwide in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Major corporations, including Disney, Hulu, and Pepsi, called for racial justice and social change. When American professional sports leagues resumed play, athletes kneeled during the National Anthem. The NFL played “Lift Every Voice,” the Black National Anthem, at every stadium during its opening week. NBA players, led by Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James walked off the court and halted play in protest. In subsequent negotiations with the players, team owners agreed to several demands, including establishing a social justice coalition to focus on increasing access to voting, promoting civic engagement, and advocating for meaningful police and criminal justice reform. The agreement also included NBA owners opening their arenas to serve as polling places around the country. It was unclear who posted Chauvin’s bond. Bail bond companies in Minnesota charge a non-refundable premium of up to 10 percent of the bond amount, meaning, at most, Chauvin needed $100,000. A trial date for Chauvin and the other officers hasn’t been set.
By Charlene Crowell, Senior Fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending
America’s persistent racial income and wealth gaps are the result of four intertwined factors: housing, education, business ownership and access to credit. Closing these gaps would facilitate inter-generational wealth creation for Black America and also expand the nation’s economy by $5 trillion over the next five years. These findings come from an extensive report newly-released by a major bank. According to Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps: the Economic Costs of Black Inequality in the U.S., published by Citi Global Perspective and Solutions, centuries of bias and institutionalized segregation have generated grave societal and economic losses that reverberate throughout America. Had these gaps been addressed 20 years ago, the report finds that the nation could have: • Generated an additional $13 trillion in business revenue; • Created 6.1 million jobs each year if Black entrepreneurs had access to fair and equitable lending; • Enabled Black America to earn $2.7 trillion more in income; and • Resulted in 770,000 more Black homeowners and boosted the economy by $218 billion. • Its foreword, written by Raymond J. McGuire, Citi’s Vice Chairman and Chair of its Global Banking and Capital Markets addresses recent deaths from the pandemic and from police violence against communities of color. “My two brothers and I were raised in Dayton, Ohio by our single mom and her parents, who had migrated from Georgia to escape the injustice and terror of Jim Crow. They worked tirelessly as janitors, social workers, and leaders at our local church to give us every opportunity.” “Yet even today, with all those credentials and as one of the leading executives on Wall Street,” wrote McGuire, “I am still seen first as a six-foot-four, two-hundred-pound Black man wherever I go — even in my own neighborhood. I could have been George Floyd. And my wife and I are constantly aware that our children could have their innocence snatched away from them at any given moment, simply for the perceived threat of their skin color.” McGuire’s forward weaves his personal journey with startling findings of the untold and unmet quest for financial justice that suppresses all of Black America – including how the current public health and economic crisis make this quest much harder to achieve. Last year, 2019, data cited by the report show Black families remained the most likely racial group to be denied a mortgage for home purchase or refinance. Denial rates for Black applicants seeking to refinance their mortgages to a lower interest rate were more than double that of Black applicants seeking to purchase a home. The rate of rejection on home purchase was slightly over 15% and rejections to refinance was 35%. By comparison, denial rates for White mortgage applicants were respectively 5% and 15% for home purchase and refinance. The higher denial rate for Black families, according to the report, was due to: higher debt-to-income ratios, poor credit histories, and incomplete applications. This finding mirrors an analysis of 2019 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) that found the share of home purchase loans made to Black and Latino borrowers remained below their population share. Although Blacks comprise 13.4% of the population, they represented 7% of loans. Similarly, Latinos are 18.3% of the total population but received 9.2% of loans. Nationwide, 16 states have a greater than average percent of the total population, and include: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. “Traditional banks in predominately Black neighborhoods, tend to require higher initial opening deposits, and higher minimum balances,” according to the report. “This translates into Black accountholders needing to deposit a higher percentage of their paychecks into accounts to avoid fees or closure.” Further, with many Blacks segmented into lower-paying jobs and professions, the ability to save for a home is also diminished. Citi found that Black workers are overrepresented in occupations frequently paying less than $25 per hour, and under-represented in careers usually paying wages of at least $40 per hour. Asserting that multiple initiatives will be required to reverse these and other long-standing trends, Citi’s report authors call on government at all levels to share a part in progressive change. For example, Citi’s report calls for the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank, to include reducing racial inequity as part of its mission. About the same time as the report’s release, the Fed published its own 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances which showed that Black families, on average, have less than 15 percent of the wealth of White families. Again, all of these metrics occurred before the onset of the current deadly and economically devastating pandemic. Nikitra Bailey, a CRL EVP, notes that the Fed has a key role to play in updating the Community Reinvestment Act, commonly known as CRA. The CRA is a civil rights law designed to address financial opportunity and the legacy of discriminatory lending practices like redlining. This law requires banks to meet the credit needs of the same communities in which they are chartered.“The Federal Reserve should ensure that updated regulations account for the harsh realities of discrimination that still plague today’s financial marketplace,” noted Bailey recently. “CRA was designed to undo the injustices created by the horrific practice of redlining and to expand financial opportunity, equity, and help spur investments in underserved areas.” “Our nation’s most recent reckoning with racial injustice has elevated the recognition and urgency to enact significant reforms to address structural racial barriers and provide opportunity to low-and-moderate income (LMI) families and people of color,” Bailey continued. “CRA must be one of the major tools to provide these long overdue reforms.” In late September, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve took the first step toward reforming how the CRA regulates the banks it oversees. Earlier in May, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized its version of a CRA, which civil rights advocates say will reduce already limited opportunities for LMI people. To date, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the third regulator charged with implementing CRA, has not supported either proposed rule, or offered yet another version. Hopefully the three federal regulators will reach consensus on an updated CRA that is true the law’s legislative intent. Meanwhile, consumer advocates have proposed a range of policies to both address the current pandemic and economic crisis. Their shared goal is to correct policies that perpetuate today’s racial wealth gap and include reforming housing finance, direct federal support for Black businesses, broad-based student debt cancellation, and strong regulation of financial services and products. There are also important roles for corporate America to increase equity and opportunity. Equal pay and enhanced opportunities for professional development are crucial and must include financial institutions that have contributed to the nation’s inequality gaps. Specifically, banks must invest in Black entrepreneurs, and do more to equitably bring more mortgage-ready Black homebuyers already identified by Freddie Mac into the marketplace. Increased mortgage lending would include 1.7 million millennials now left out, according to the Urban Institute, a DC-based, non-profit think tank. The common thread of all these proposals is an essential and measurable commitment to eliminate racial income and wealth gaps. How well America embraces this challenge will determine whether our collective financial futures will be better than our history. Charlene Crowell is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Gov. Gavin Newsom signs legislation
On September 30th, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law historic legislation that paves the way for African Americans and descendants of slaves in the Golden State to receive reparations for slavery. The bill, authored by California Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, establishes a nine-person task force that will study the impact of the slave trade on Black people. It does not commit to any specific payment, but the task force will make recommendations to legislators about what kind of compensation should be provided, who should receive it, and what form it would take. “After watching [the presidential] debate, this signing can’t come too soon,” Newsome declared during a videoconference with lawmakers and other stakeholders, including the rapper Ice Cube, who championed the bill. “As a nation, we can only truly thrive when every one of us has the opportunity to thrive. Our painful history of slavery has evolved into structural racism and bias built into and permeating throughout our democratic and economic institutions,” the governor stated. At the abolishment of slavery in the United States in 1865, Union General William T. Sherman promised freed slaves would receive 40 acres and a mule from a redistributed tract of Atlantic coastline. That promise was certified by President Abraham Lincoln and the U.S. Congress. Still, only slave owners received reparations, and African Americans continued to toil in the face of oppression – suffering during infamous eras like Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement and white supremacy. Earlier this year, Asheville, North Carolina, made headlines when its City Council formally apologized for its role in slavery and voted unanimously to provide reparations to African American residents and their descendants. “Hundreds of years of Black blood spilled that fills the cup we drink from today,” said Councilman Keith Young, one of two African American members of the City Council that voted 7-0 in favor of reparations. “It is simply not enough to remove statutes. Black people in this country are dealing with systemic issues,” Young declared. Asheville’s resolution did not include monetary payments to African Americans but promised investments in areas where Black people face disparities. Weber, a San Diego Democrat, said her bill signed by Newsom recommends reparations not just for slavery, but also for some of the institutional practices that continue to disproportionately affect African Americans. “This is an extremely important time for all of us,” Weber demanded. “California tries to lead the way in terms of civil rights, and we have a responsibility to do that.” “California has come to terms with many of its issues, but it has yet to come to terms with its role in slavery. After 400 years, we still have the impact.” U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) has worked closely with former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer on pushing a platform on slavery reparations on the federal level. Earlier this year, Congress members examined the topic of reparations for African Americans over slavery at a hearing on a proposed study on the issue from Jackson Lee. It marked the first time in more than a decade that such hearings took place. “This is long overdue,” Jackson Lee declared. “Slavery has never received an apology.” Weber made clear that the new California law wasn’t a knee-jerk response to the murders of George Floyd, Ahmad Arbery, and other Black people at the hands of law enforcement. “This is not just because of the circumstances we face. What happened is that, of course, those circumstances reinforced the fact that what we were saying all along was true,” Weber said. “Some think we’re just responding to the moment, but we’re responding to the history of California and the life of Black people in California and in this nation.”
BY:MORGAN CHALFANT,MIKE LILLIS;SCOTT WONG,the Hill
President Trump said Tuesday (October 6) that he has instructed his top aides to stop negotiating with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on future coronavirus stimulus legislation until after the November election, a risky move just weeks before voters head to the polls. Trump, who is himself currently being treated for COVID-19, accused Pelosi in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon of “not negotiating in good faith” and seeking “bailouts” for states he says are poorly run by Democratic officials. “I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump tweeted. The message marked a sharp reversal for the president, who just three days earlier had urged leaders of both parties to come together to finalize an agreement that can hit his desk before the Nov. 3 elections. “OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE,” Trump tweeted on Saturday afternoon, a day after he checked into the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to be treated for COVID-19. Pelosi quickly condemned Trump’s move Tuesday, accusing the president of neglecting his office by refusing to provide help to those struggling under the health and economic weight of the pandemic. “Today, once again, President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress,” she said in a statement. The Democratic leader added that the White House “is in complete disarray.” In derailing the talks, Trump seems to be betting that his best shot at reelection is not in getting new emergency funding out the door before Nov. 3, but instead dangling the promise of more aid for after voters go to the polls – particularly if he wins. The president singled out one area of the talks where both sides have remained far apart for weeks: help for state and local governments. Pelosi is seeking more than $430 billion for those localities, while Republicans have rejected that figure as far too high, wary that Democrats simply want to rescue blue states facing budget crunches as the result of policy decisions made before the pandemic started. “Nancy Pelosi is asking for $2.4 Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States, money that is in no way related to COVID-19,” Trump tweeted. “We made a very generous offer of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith.” The strategy is a risky one. Millions of Americans remain out of work; thousands of businesses are on the brink of collapse; the major airlines have furloughed tens of thousands of employees in recent days; and American consumers have been wary of returning to restaurants, theaters and public transit, even in regions where they’ve reopened. Earlier Tuesday, Jerome Powell, head of the Federal Reserve, warned that the long-term effects on the economy could be devastating if Congress fails to act quickly with more emergency relief – comments not overlooked by Pelosi, who has leaned heavily on Powell’s grim forecasts as leverage throughout the talks. And stocks immediately plunged after Trump announced he would call off the negotiations until after the election, which is now four weeks away. Trump’s tweets came shortly after the president hosted a call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and top congressional Republicans – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) – about the status of the talks. McConnell and McCarthy have both been cold to the idea of adopting another massive round of stimulus. And the fact that it was their message, not Mnuchin’s, that resonated with the president is some indication of the level of Republican distrust in the Treasury secretary, who has come under fire from the GOP in earlier negotiations for giving away too much to Pelosi. Trump’s actions appeared to come as a surprise to Pelosi and the Democrats. Mnuchin has been speaking daily with Pelosi, and just minutes before Trump’s tweets, Pelosi told rank-and-file Democrats on a private conference call that she and Mnuchin continued to make progress and that she was waiting to hear back from the White House on state and local funding and other Democratic priorities. Trump is currently trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden in national and swing-state polling. The president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a central issue in the election. Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows have been negotiating with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) since late July on a fifth bipartisan coronavirus relief package but have been unsuccessful in reaching an agreement. The president has remained largely on the sidelines in the negotiations, allowing Meadows and Mnuchin to take the lead on the discussions. Trump and Pelosi have a particularly chilly relationship and have not had a meaningful conversation for an entire year. In lieu of a deal in August, Trump signed a handful of executive orders aimed at halting federal evictions, extending expanded unemployment benefits and deferring the payroll tax. The president returned to the White House on Monday evening after 72 hours of treatment for the coronavirus at Walter Reed. Trump, who was diagnosed with the virus on Thursday, has sought to project an image of strength by showing that he has returned to work amid his illness. Some pundits speculated that the President’s decision may have affected by the medications he is taking for the virus. Trump has also urged Americans not to fear the virus or allow it to “dominate” their lives, remarks that have been met with scrutiny from health experts who argue that he has dangerously minimized the threat from COVID-19.
Sep. 28, 2020 (GIN) – An ET-SMART-RSS Earth Observation smallsat, designed in Ethiopia with Chinese funds, is preparing for launch into orbit as soon as next month.
The satellite is the second to be launched into space by Ethiopia – just months after the launch of the county’s first ETRSS-1 satellite in December.
The satellites analyze weather patterns to extract data and enhance the county’s preparedness in the case of drought, according to a report in Satnews, a provider of satellite news and other industry information in commercial and military enterprises worldwide.
A team of engineers at the Entoto Observatory and Research Center is manning the latest initiative that grew out of an agreement with China signed by Ethiopia’s former minister of Science and Technology, the current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Designed and built at a cost of $8 million, China paid about $6 million of the capsule’s price.
“This will be a foundation for our historic journey to prosperity,” Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen said at the launch.
Eleven African countries (Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Sudan) have successfully launched over 40 satellites since 1999, reports War on the Rocks, a national security newsletter “for insiders, by insiders.” By 2024, at least 19 African countries will have launched at least one satellite into space, with the total number of satellites launched by African countries rising to over 90, says Space in Africa, a Nigeria-based authority on news, data and market analysis for the African space industry.
U.S. critics have downplayed Africa’s entrance into the space age as a vanity project at best and a corruption scheme at worst, notes War on the Rocks. But innovations in satellite technology have lowered the cost of the devices, making it more viable for low-income African nations to design or manufacture their own small satellites, the analysts point out.
Africa’s space industry is projected to grow to over $10 billion in the next five years, according to Space in Africa’s African Space Industry Annual Report, which faults the U.S. for missing the boat on this investment opportunity.
“The U.S. private sector could build new satellites, sell ground station equipment, provide capacity training, and offer launch services… These investments in the region’s space sector could support America’s goal of substantially increasing two-way trade,” the report points out.
The U.S. may now be reversing course, hoping to recapture its position in the space investment race – in the face of a planned Chinese space station that involves Kenya and that Beijing hopes will be operational by 2022. NASA’s full report can be read here: BusinessDailyAfrica.com/bd/economy/kenyachinese-space-station-deal-alarms-us-2371670
