Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com
Food stamp coupon
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the Trump Administration from cutting off nearly 700,000 Americans from participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under new, more restrictive guidelines they have proposed that will take effect later this year. The lawsuit filed by the state attorneys general seeks a preliminary injunction to prevent the rule from going into effect on April 1, 2020. The lawsuit challenges a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule that would limit states’ ability to extend SNAP or Food Stamp benefits. The changes propose a three-month time limit for SNAP benefits for jobless individuals 18 to 49 who are not disabled or raising children. In addition, the coalition charges that the rule undermines Congress’ intent for SNAP and that the USDA violated the federal rule-making process. New York, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia are coalition members. The states sued the United States Department of Agriculture and George Perdue III, the department’s secretary, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On July 24, the Trump Administration proposed changing the way states calculate who is eligible to receive SNAP benefits. . The federal government pays the full cost of SNAP benefits but shares the cost of administering it on a 50-50 basis. According to the Department of Agriculture’s proposed rule, people with a gross income of $16,000 or with assets of more than $2,500, would no longer qualify for SNAP benefits. SNAP benefits provide the largest nutritional safety net, feeding 37 million Americans. People who are SNAP eligible receive $127 or about $1.39 per meal in SNAP benefits. Nearly 9 million African Americans receive food stamps each month, which is 25 percent of the black population, according the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C., progressive think tank that analyzes federal and state budget policies. “Denying access to vital SNAP benefits would only push hundreds of thousands of already vulnerable Americans into greater economic uncertainty,” said New York State’s Attorney General Letitia James. The states argued that the Trump administration’s proposed changes: § Contradicts statutory language and Congress’s intent for the food-stamp program § Raises health care and homeless costs while lowering economic activity in the states § Amends the law for arbitrary and capricious reasons § Violates the federal rule-making process The SNAP benefits program was established in 1964. Congress amended the program in 1996 to encourage greater workforce participation among recipients.
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com
Homeless man sleeping on a park bench;
Homeless man holding sign
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The total number of homeless is 567,715 and 40 percent or 225, 735 are African-American, although only 13 percent of the nation’s population is Black, according to “The 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.” The numbers are based on “Point-In-Time Estimates of Homelessness” taken one night in January 2020. The Point-In-Time Estimates reported that 27 percent of the 56,381 who were unsheltered were Black. Unsheltered homeless means they are sleeping in cars, on the streets or in parks or on buses, subways and elevated trains. “African Americans have remained considerably overrepresented among the homeless population compared to the U.S. population,” according to the report. Blacks represented 52 percent of the homeless population with children. About 48 percent or 270,607 of the homeless are White. They also comprised just over half of the unsheltered population or 57 percent of 119,487. Asians were 1.3 percent or 7,228 of the homeless population. Hispanics or Latinos were 22 percent or 124,615 of the homeless population. Native Americans were 3.2 percent or 17,966 of the homeless population. Men and boys comprise 343,187 or 60.5 percent of the homeless compared with women who comprise 219,911 or 38.7 percent of homeless.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Rev. William Barber, Poor People’s Campaign
Rev. Dr. William Barber II believes that everyone has a right to live. Through his Poor People’s Campaign, Dr. Barber is continuing to build a movement to overcome systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, militarism of the budget and the false moral narrative of white religious nationalism. In an exclusive telephone conference with the Black Press of America, Dr. Barber and his Poor People’s Campaign Co-Chair, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharris, said America has a moral crisis. “Democrats run from poverty and Republicans racialize poverty,” Dr. Barber stated during the more than one-hour discussion. “We have invited both sides of the political fence. We’ve invited the White House to come and talk with us. They’ve refused,” stated Dr. Barber, the founder of Repairers of the Breach, a national leadership development organization, which expands upon his Moral Monday movement. “This administration has been virtually silent on the issue of poverty. The president talked about unemployment being down, but underemployment is up. The number of people that have dropped out of the workforce is up,” said Dr. Barber, who, along with Dr. Theoharris, and others launched the Poor People’s Campaign, spearheaded initially by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Campaign conducted what it said was a 50-year audit of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, and the war economy in the U.S. They said the findings have already helped to inform and build state and local, nonpartisan fusion movements that are committed to challenging laws and policies that are antithetical to the broad tenets of social justice. Dr. Barber and Theoharris, who is a pastor from New York, told the Black Press that the ranks of the Poor People’s Campaign would increase as they broaden their efforts. They noted figures that show 140 million poor and low-wealth people live in the United States – from every race, creed, sexuality, and place. “We aim to make sure these individuals are no longer ignored, dismissed, or pushed to the margins of our political and social agenda,” Dr. Theoharris stated. With 2020 counting as a pivotal election year, Dr. Barber pointed out that voter suppression laws in many states have only contributed to poverty. The Poor People’s Campaign has noted that, since 2010, 23 states have passed racist voter suppression laws, including racist gerrymandering and redistricting statutes that make it harder to register. Because of this, early voting days and hours have reduced, officials have purged voter rolls, and there have been more restrictive voter ID laws. Following the Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court case, which gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, 14 states had new voting restrictions in place before the 2016 Presidential election, and there were 868 fewer polling places across the country, according to the Campaign. While these laws have disproportionately targeted Black people, at least 17 states saw voter suppression cases targeting American Indian and Alaskan Native voters in 2016, Dr. Barber stated. “Thirteen states that passed voter suppression laws also opted not to accept expanded Medicaid benefits offered under the Affordable Care Act,” he added. “These attacks follow a broader pattern of restricting and curtailing democratic processes by drawing on legacies of racism to undermine local efforts to organize for better conditions,” Dr. Barber stated. As of July 2017, 25 states have passed laws that preempt cities from adopting their own local minimum wage laws. Most of these are in response to city councils passing or wanting to pass minimum wage increases. “We found that people can work a minimum wage job and can’t afford a two-bedroom apartment,” Dr. Barber said. “We found out that there are 2 million people who work every day for less than the living wage. Some of them live in their cars, and they go to work every day.” Dr. Theoharris spoke of Maria, a woman they met in El Paso, Texas, separated from her family because of immigration issues .“We waded into the Rio Grande River – the river that separates the U.S. from Mexico – with an action called “Hugs, not Walls.” Maria got to see her son for the first time in 16 years. And for those couple of minutes that Maria had with her husband and her son were the first and only two minutes that she got to see her family members because of unjust immigration policy,” Dr. Theohoarris stated. The Poor People’s Campaign is organizing the Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, June 20th, during which Dr. Barber said they would rise as “a powerful moral fusion movement to demand the implementation of our moral agenda.” “The fact that there are 140 million poor and low-wealth people in a country this rich is morally indefensible, constitutionally inconsistent and economically insane,” Dr. Barber added. During the march, Dr. Barber said some of those living in poverty would attend and speak for themselves. He stated that it was essential to know that poverty comes in “all colors” and that it’s more than just African Americans who are struggling. He noted that the City of Flint was under emergency management when it decided to switch its water source from the Detroit Water System to the Flint River. That move poisoned a community of almost 99,000, with a 42 percent poverty rate and in which 56 percent of residents are Black, and 37 percent are White. Also, Dr. Barber noted that 6.1 million people had been disenfranchised because of felony convictions, including one in 13 Black adults. During the call, Dr. Barber continued to lash out at the current administration’s controversial immigration policies. The Poor People’s Campaign has found that undocumented immigrants contributed $5 trillion to the U.S. economy over the last ten years. They paid $13 billion in Social Security in 2010, but only received $1 billion in benefits. They also pay eight percent of their income in state and local taxes, while the wealthiest one percent pay just 5.4 percent. Yet undocumented immigrants and most lawfully residing immigrants are barred from receiving assistance under the major public welfare programs, causing hardship for many poor immigrant families. In fact, among the 43.7 million immigrants in the U.S., there are 19.7 million – undocumented and lawfully residing – who cannot vote, Dr. Barber noted. “So, we have to understand the history of systemic racism. And we have to see how systemic racism is impacting not just people of color, but also white people today,” Dr. Barber stated. “When Reverend Barber says that repressed voter suppression can create and further poverty amongst White people, amongst Black people, amongst Latinos, amongst young people and old people.”
Jan. 13, 2020 (GIN) – When Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo pronounced 2019 as the Year of Return, his words resounded with warmth and joy to all people of African descent. So began a year-long calendar of events including concerts, art shows, visits to heritage sites, fashion shows, movie premieres and creative economy and trade conferences, organized on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of African slaves in America. Thus far, Akufo-Addo’s call has been a great success, observed Ghanaian author and journalist Kwabena Agyare Yeboah in a recent online issue of African Arguments. Americans arriving in Ghana increased by 26% to their highest ever rate between January and September 2019. Similarly, the numbers of visitors grew from the UK (24%), Germany (22%), South Africa (10%) and Liberia (14%). All told, Ghana reportedly issued 800,000 visas this year and this week announced that all nationalities will be eligible to receive a visa on arrival for the next month or so due to the heavy demand. It was exhaustive, writes Agyare Yeboah, but could they have done more? Was the exclusive focus on the transatlantic slave trade, with the US at the center, a pardonable weakness? Or did it erase other crucially important aspects and legacies of Ghana’s history of slavery? Missing, he maintains, is the trans-Saharan slave trade in which an estimated 6-7 million people, including from the Sokoto Caliphate and Borno, were forcibly transported to North Africa, Europe and the Middle East, a period ranging over 1,250 years,” he says. “The legacy of this trade is still palpable in Mauritania where slavery is still a present-day reality,”Agyare Yeboah says. “The country only formally abolished slavery in 1981 and local activists estimate that 20% of the population – all black – are still enslaved. “Where are the calls for these descendants to return? Where are the African descendants outside of the US, the Jamaicans, Cubans and Brazilians?” he asks rhetorically. The failure to fully engage with the history of slavery and the focus on just a select portion of African descendants compromises its credibility, he charges. “The Year of Return campaign had the opportunity, and a whole year, to critically engage with the history of Africans and people of African descent in its entirety. On this, it must do more.”
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Calling preparations for the 2020 Census “conspicuously deficient,” the NAACP is suing the U.S. Census Bureau, demanding that the agency send more workers into the field and spend more money on encouraging people to participate in the once-a-decade head count. The civil rights group and Prince George’s County, a majority African American county in Maryland, filed the lawsuit last Friday in federal court in Maryland. It claims the Census Bureau wasn’t planning to put enough workers in the field and hadn’t opened up a sufficient number of field offices. The lawsuit also faulted the bureau for conducting limited testing, particularly when, for the first time, it is encouraging most respondents to answer the questionnaire online. The 2020 census will help determine the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal spending and how many congressional seats each state gets. It starts for a few residents next week in a remote part of Alaska, but most people won’t be able to begin answering the questionnaire until mid-March. “These deficiencies will result in a massive and differential undercount of communities of color,” the lawsuit said. “Such a dramatic undercount will especially dilute the votes of racial and ethnic minorities, deprive their communities of critical federal funds, and undervalue their voices and interests in the political arena.” The Census Bureau didn’t immediately respond to an email for comment on Monday. The bureau plans to hire as many as 500,000 temporary workers, mostly to help knock on the doors of homes where people haven’t yet responded to the census. Although that is less than in 2010, the agency has said it doesn’t need as many workers this year because of technological advances, such as the ability of workers to collect information on their mobile devices. An earlier version of the lawsuit was first filed in 2018, but it was dismissed by the district court. An appellate court last month ruled some of the claims could be raised again in the amended complaint filed Friday. In previous court papers, the Census Bureau has called the lawsuit “meritless.””
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Sen. Doug Jones shaking hands with NNPA’s Ben Chavis;
Jones makes a point to Chavis during interview
The importance of Black voter turnout, the Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, bipartisan politics, the Futures Act and environmental justice, counted among the topics candidly tackled during a historic fireside chat between National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., and Alabama’s Senator Doug Jones, a Democrat. Held inside the Hart Building at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., the engaging hour-long conversation marked the first time that a sitting U.S. Senator sat down for a live-streamed video with the Black Press of America. During the discussion, Jones said that voter turnout – particularly that of African Americans – was crucial to his stunning upset of Republican Roy Moore in the 2017 Alabama Special Election. “The right to vote was hard fought for African Americans in this country, and I think too many people take that for granted. I think we proved that in the special election in 2017, that every vote counts,” said Jones. Jones said voting rights had been under attack since the 2013 Shelby V. Holder decision, which eliminated a lot of voter protections. “It’s not the same as the old Jim Crow laws, but there’s still efforts out there to suppress votes and keep people from having that free access to the booths,” he stated. Jones noted that he’s working to restore “teeth” in the Voting Rights Act, but doubts that the current GOP-led Senate and President Trump’s administration would approve. “I don’t see it happening, so it’s all the more important to get out and vote in the 2020 elections,” Jones stated. Chavis asked Jones about the role Black women played in his winning election to the Senate. “It was critical. We focused on making sure that we got the African American vote out,” Jones stated. “We did get more African Americans as a percentage out than even when President Obama did in his first race, a fact that I was very proud. The Black community came out and worked hard. It’s community engagement; it’s a 365-days a year job. And, that’s why the Black Press is so important because it keeps the community engaged,” he stated. Late last year, Trump signed the Futures Act, a bipartisan measure that would put more funding into Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving institutions. “It was incredibly important. When it comes to federal dollars, there are two pots of money HBCUs get: Mandatory funding and discretionary funding,” said Jones. “The mandatory funding is absolutely critical so they can plan each year. There’s a lot of budgetary tugs that fought us, it wasn’t easy, but we were just persistent, and that’s the key in legislation in Washington, to be persistent,” he noted. Jones continued: “So we were able to get that mandatory funding so that a base amount of money would go to HBCUs. In my two years in Washington, we have been able to get about a 30 percent increase in discretionary funding for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions. “Providing that base is important to them and the economy of states like Alabama and North Carolina, and others.” Chavis spoke to Jones about race relations and asked about the senator’s forecast for the South and whether he sees a more inclusive and diverse South rising. “So many of the divisions we see in the country started in the South. It can also be a place of healing and bringing people back together, and I see tremendous opportunity in the South,” Jones stated. “I think my election was something that people looked at and said the South was changing. The demographics are changing to some extent, but I think people’s hearts and minds are changing,” he added. “We went from a one-party state in Alabama with Democrats, to a one-party state with Republicans. There was never anything in between. When you get competitive political parties, you get people who have to talk to each other, and that’s what you need. “These young people coming up don’t have the same kind of biases and prejudices you saw when I was growing up. They also are beginning to see that the state is better off when everybody in that state benefits from it. I think the South can lead the nation in healing.” Jones also spoke of the importance of closing the achievement gap, although he said it’s a complicated issue. He said education and getting broadband into rural communities are keys to helping close the gap. The senator also noted that he’s a proponent of raising the federal minimum wage, but conceded it couldn’t be done overnight. He stated that Trump’s 2017 tax cuts have helped to provide businesses with the needed resources to make a minimum wage hike possible. With climate change a serious and growing issue, Jones stated the importance of the Black Press to continue to cover topics of environmental justice.“A lot of work needs to be done,” he stated. “But, I don’t have much confidence in the Environmental Protection Agency under this administration, which is why the 2020 election is very important.” Jones concluded the chat by noting the critical role of the Black Press, his disappointment in mainstream media, and his message to veterans in the wake of the new conflict with Iran. “I think the press, in general, is critical. Overall, I’m a little disappointed in mainstream media, and I think the Black Press has a unique role, so the Black Press must stay focused on the issues,” Jones stated.
Urban News Service – Pope Francis named Deontay Wilder, a current heavyweight champion, the Boxers’ Representative and Ambassador for Peace through Sport in a private ceremony in Vatican City. Wilder, a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, met the pontiff earlier this week while on a tour of Rome and the city’s surrounding areas. “He’s truly a remarkable man that represents true love, happiness, and world peace for all human race. He also enjoys pizza and is a huge boxing fan. And you know he’s a part of the BombZquad family baby,” Wilder later said about the meeting on Twitter. “BombZquad” refers to the Deontay Wilder’s fans base. The fighter was nicknamed the “Bronze Bomber” after winning a Bronze Medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. When Wilder won his World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title in 2015. In doing so he became the first American heavyweight champion in nine years — the longest stretch without an American champion in the sport’s modern history. While soccer is the most popular sport in Pope Francis’s native Argentina, boxing is also quite popular and the country has produced several world champions. Wilder met the pontiff inside Vatican City. The heavyweight champion made the stop while touring the greater area of Rome. The tour was planned and sponsored by the Italian Boxing Federation and WBC as part of an effort to increase international cultural diplomacy through boxing. The award Deontay received was recommended to Pope Francis by Scholas Occurentes, the non-religious social awareness organization he founded as an archbishop in Argentina. “Since its inception, Pope Francis dreamed of Scholas as the possibility of giving a concrete response to the call of this era, conferring on him the task of educating in the openness to the other, upon hearing that gathering the pieces of an atomized and empty of meaning world, and start creating a new culture: the Culture of Encounter,” according to a statement posted on the website of Scholas. The organization focuses on giving children from impoverished areas opportunities to commit themselves to sports — the group particularly pushes the sports of soccer and boxing, which they believe can teach children discipline and other important values. “Through the teaching of various boxing techniques, learning experiences are generated linked to values that are at stake: overcoming, effort, respect, companionship.” Scholas’s goal is not simply getting children off the streets. They aim to use sports as a means of teaching morality and life lessons. “By means of these two experiences, and through several disciplines and sports techniques, the purpose is to generate learning spaces and time to develop values such as resilience, team work, respect, honesty, effort and spirit of solidarity.” Wilder’s own story reflects the values promoted by Scholas. As a youth Wilder was a high school football star who dreamed of playing for the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide and later a promising college basketball player. All of that changed when he became a father in 2005 at age 19. His eldest daughter was born with a life-threatening spina bifida. He put education aside to make money for his family and her treatments. He worked a variety of jobs from an IHOP to a Red Lobster. He also worked as the driver of a Budweiser truck while taking up boxing, a path which eventually lead him to great success. Wilder was extremely vocal in his respect for Pope Francis, who he can be seen shaking hands with in several photos of the event. Known for his bombastic attitude in the ring, Wilder has a humble persona outside of the squared circle. He has not posted any non-Vatican related content since the meeting. “Much love from me Pope Francis and I’m wishing you many many blessings your way,” said Wilder after the event on Twitter.“What [an] honor it was to meet the #Pope @franciscus today,” Wilder later posted on social media. In February of next year, Wilder will be fighting another big fan of Pope Francis — British heavyweight Tyson Fury. The pair fought once before in a 2018 match. Contested in Los Angeles, Fury recovered from two knockdowns and the fight was scored a draw. The two are scheduled to meet in a rematch in February 2020. Neither fighter has suffered a defeat as a professional.
What was once a diverse group of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the president became less so Monday when U.S. Senator Cory Booker suspended his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, citing difficulty raising enough money. “It’s with a full heart that I share this news — I’ve made the decision to suspend my campaign for president,” Booker wrote supporters in an email. “It was a difficult decision to make, but I got in this race to win, and I’ve always said I wouldn’t continue if there was no longer a path to victory.” “Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win — money we don’t have, and money that is harder to raise because I won’t be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington. So, I’ve chosen to suspend my campaign now, take care of my wonderful staff, and give you time to consider the other strong choices in the field.” The 59-year-old Booker has represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate since 2013. His departure follows those of U.S. Senator of Kamala Harris of California and Julian Castro, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Obama. Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick remains the only African American candidate in the 12-candidate field, and Andrew Yang is the only Asian. U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is a native of Leloaloa, American Samoa.
Jan. 6, 2020 (GIN) – From a cell inside the court in Khartoum, Sudan’s former President Omar al-Bashir heard the judgement against him – two years in detention for money laundering and corruption. It was a dramatic fall for the former regional power broker who rose through the ranks from paratroop officer to colonel in the Sudanese Army, from Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation to finally all the posts of chief of state, prime minister, chief of the armed forces, and minister of defense. He served as president of Sudan for 30 years. As a brigadier in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. He ruled with an iron fist – his 30-year dictatorship was marked by oppression, genocide, and human rights abuses. In the Darfur region, he fought a war against south Sudanese that resulted in death tolls estimated between 200,000 and 400,000, according to the U.N., from either combat, starvation or disease. This produced an arrest warrant in 2010 for the crime of genocide but it was dismissed by the Sudanese government and opposed by the African Union, League of Arab States and the Non-Aligned Movement as well as the governments of Russia and China. Eight years later, price increases in fuel and bread set off angry protests and finally a demand for Mr. Bashir’s removal from power. After months of unrest, Sudan’s military stepped in and toppled Mr Bashir on April 11, 2019. Al Bashir was finally done in by corruption. Millions of dollars were discovered stuffed in suitcases and a large hoard of foreign currency was found at his home. As Mr. Bashir is over 70, he will serve his 2-year sentence in a state-run reform center. An appeal is being mounted, say his lawyers who called the verdict ‘political.’ Still, many are unsatisfied with the short sentence. “It’s just a slap on the wrist,” said a spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association. “Bashir needs to answer for his role in the 1989 coup, torture and killings including crimes against humanity in Darfur.” Jehanne Henry of a Human Rights Watch who focuses on Sudan, added” “The trial for these charges of financial crimes does not address the human rights violations that so many Sudanese have experienced. So the sentence will not likely satisfy the many thousands of victims of abuses under al-Bashir’s 30 year rule.”
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The fate of a federal lawsuit brought by the Hanover County Branch NAACP in a bid to force the Hanover County School Board to rename two schools currently named for Confederate leaders could be decided on Jan. 14. That’s when U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Payne will hear arguments on the School Board’s request to dismiss the NAACP’s suit seeking a court order requiring new names for Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School. Judge Payne, who will hear the case at the courthouse in Downtown Richmond, Va., has already expressed concerns about the suit that he wants attorneys for the Hanover NAACP to address. In a preliminary order, he directed those attorneys to show that this is a genuine dispute over which the branch is entitled to sue. Judge Payne also ordered the NAACP lawyers to identify any cases that support its arguments or to show that their argument is based “on the extension of existing legal principles.” The lawsuit was launched on Aug. 16 by the Hanover NAACP led by President Robert N. Barnette Jr., who also is president of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. The suit aims to “eradicate the vestiges of a shameful, racist educational system in Hanover County that forces African-American students to champion a legacy of segregation and oppression” by attending schools named for rebels who fought to maintain slavery. The lawsuit argues that the names contribute to a “hostile and discriminatory environment for African-American students” enrolled at the schools. The suit cites incidents of racial harassment against African-American students on the part of staff and other students.The main argument, though, is that the Hanover County School Board is violating the First and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution by forcing African- American students to attend schools with such names. The lawsuit argues that this amounts to government-compelled speech in an “unequal learning environment” and that African-American students are harmed by being forced to experience such speech in everything from school sporting events to graduation ceremonies. Lee-Davis, named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, opened in 1958, and Stonewall Jackson opened in 1969 at a time of heightened racial conflict in a county that was one of the last in Virginia to desegregate its public schools. When the lawsuit was launched, Barnette urged the School Board to come up with a resolution to avoid the cost of a lawsuit. The board, though, has declined and decided just before Thanksgiving not to change the names. “The board is not taking any action on this item,” School Board Chairman Roger Bourassa announced on Nov. 22 following a closed-door discuss ion. Like most governmental entities, the School Board did not comment on pending litigation. In statements made before the Nov. 22 decision, Bourassa said that Lee-Davis High and Stonewall Jackson Middle School eventually would be rebuilt and renamed, in order to comply with current School Board policy that bars any school in the county from being named after a person, living or dead. Barnette questioned the board’s choice to “continue to spend thousands of dollars on a lawsuit” rather than take the initiative to change the school names and forego expensive litigation, particularly in light of Bourassa’s statement. Barnette said, “I guess you could say the ball is in their court.”
