The Greene County Democrat

Category: Newswire

  • Newswire : Award winmning actor, Robert Guillaume, dies at 89

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    Robert Guillaume

    Robert Guillaume
    Family members, friends and fans are grieving the loss of television and stage icon Robert Guillaume, who died on last week in Los Angeles. Guillaume, 89, is survived by his second wife, Donna Brown, a son and three daughters.
    “He was a pioneer and what he did with his role as [Benson DuBois] was give him integrity,” said actor, director and producer Shiek Mahmud-Bey, who wowed critics earlier this month at a New York Film Festival with his proposed new television series, ‘The Inner Circle.’ “What could have been just another servant or symbolically subservient minority, a butler role, he gave the world an extraordinary insight and exposed us to a human being. The invisible became viable and we all loved it.”
    Anyone who watched “Soap” knew the brilliance of Guillaume, said Mariann Eperjesi-Simms, who hosts the Facebook page, “The Classic Movie Group.”
    “‘Benson’ wasn’t exactly as brilliant as ‘Soap,’ but most things in this world aren’t written to that much perfection. He was a fantastic actor who deserved a lot of recognition,” Eperjesi-Simms said.
    Born Robert Peter Williams in St. Louis in 1927, Guillaume began his acting career in the early 1970s when he made guest appearances on “Good Times,” “Sanford and Son,” and “The Jeffersons.”
    However, his recognition and place in popular culture was cemented when he portrayed Nathan Detroit in the first all-Black version of “Guys and Dolls,” which earned him a 1977 Tony Award nomination.
    Later, Guillaume earned the distinction of becoming the first African American to sing the title role of “Phantom of the Opera,” doing so alongside a mostly, all-White cast.
    Still, it was his role as Benson DuBois in the soap opera satire “Soap,” which also starred Billy Crystal, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Robert Urich, that made Guillaume a legend.
    “The minute I saw the script, I knew I had a live one,” Guillaume said in a 2001 interview. “Every role was written against type, especially Benson, who wasn’t subservient to anyone. To me, Benson was the revenge for all those stereotyped guys who looked like Benson in the 40s and 50s [movies] and had to keep their mouths shut.” The character’s popularity grew so much that it led to a spinoff called, “Benson,” which lasted eight seasons and earned Guillaume an Emmy Award.
    “I always wanted kids of any background to understand the characters I’ve portrayed were…that the solutions they found were true and possible,” he said on his official website. “It has always been important to me to stress that there was no diminution of power or universality, just because my characters are African American.”
    Guillaume, who won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for his role as the voice of “Rafiki” in “The Lion King,” steered clear of Hollywood’s demeaning Black stereotypes and sought quality roles in which he could evoke his characters’ humanity, according to his obituary at Legacy.com.
    Though today he’s remembered widely as a comedic actor, it was the musical theater that was Guillaume’s first love and gave him his entry into the acting world, the Legacy.com obituary said. That entry took place in Cleveland, Ohio, where, after completing his education in the music school at Washington University in St. Louis, he joined the Karamu Theatre and debuted in their production of “Carousel,” Legacy.com reported.
    In the audience for one of those “Carousel” performances was Oscar Hammerstein II, the critically acclaimed playwright, who penned the book and lyrics for the musical. According to Legacy.com, “It was an auspicious start, and Guillaume soon made his way to Broadway, where he both toured and appeared on the Broadway stage.”
    Later, Guillaume would portray Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the movie “Prince Jack”; he also starred as Frederick Douglass on the TV miniseries “North and South.”
    “In 1992, Guillaume and his wife, founded the Confetti Entertainment Co., creating read-along books for children with Guillaume’s voice as narrator,” the Legacy.com obituary said. “In 1995, the Confetti Entertainment books were transformed into the HBO series ‘Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child.’ Narrated by Guillaume and featuring a cast of other stars, the series’ 39 episodes retold classic fairy tales with a multicultural focus.”

  • Newswire : N. Diamini Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa are contesting for the Presidency of South Africa

    anccandidatedlamini-zuma.png
    N.Dlamini-Zuma and C. Ramaphosa

    (TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – With President Jacob Zuma winding up his last term in office, his ex-wife is building up campaign momentum, especially among women. She’s one of two leading candidates for the top job.
    An early anti-apartheid activist, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was an active underground member of the South African Students’ Organization and was elected its deputy president in 1976.
    Later, as a doctor in Swaziland, she met her future husband, current ANC party president Jacob Zuma. Several cabinet positions followed – as Minister of Health, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs. In 2012, she was elected chair of the African Union Commission, serving until January 2017.
    But her accomplishments underperformed, according to some political observers, and in a few cases were serious missteps. During the early years of the AIDS crisis, Dlamini-Zuma along with President Thabo Mbeki endorsed Virodene, a controversial AIDS drug developed in South Africa but rejected by the scientific community. It was later learned that the main active ingredient was an industrial solvent and that businessmen with ties to Mbeki had invested in it.
    More recently, she was chastised for labelling nationwide protests calling for President Zuma to step down as “rubbish” in a tweet which was then deleted from her timeline.
    Her colleagues at the African Union considered her remote, disinterested and often absent from duty.
    Even though there are other women aspiring to the number one spot, Dlamini-Zuma has become the face of the ANC Women’s League’s call that “South Africa is ready for a woman president.”
    While she generally avoids the media and spends little time shaking hands, her stump speeches are turning heads with their focus on “Radical Economic Transformation,” – why white people shouldn’t fear it, and why it is necessary to change ownership patterns.
    She faces a tough fight, however, from ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa who has already racked up nominations from branches in Gauteng, Pretoria, and the West Rand. A successful businessman and trade union leader, he was the ANC’s chief negotiator during the country’s transition to democracy.
    He has an estimated net worth of over $450 million and owns 31 properties. mParticularly disappointing, he opposed the Marikana miners’ strike, which he called “dastardly criminal” conduct, while he served on the board of Lonmin, the miners’ employer.
    Voting for ANC party president takes place in December. National elections are in 2019.

  • Newswire : NAACP Board elects Mississippi’s Derrick Johnson to be its President, will work closely with Black press

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    Derrick-Johnson-NAACP.png

    Derrick Johnson

     

    The future of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is inextricably linked to the future of African Americans and its incumbent upon the nation’s oldest civil rights organization to work with the Black Press to get that message out, said new NAACP President Derrick Johnson.
    On October 21, the executive committee of the NAACP National Board of Directors announced that the Detroit-born Johnson would lead the organization as the president and CEO.
    Johnson formerly served as vice chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors and the state president for the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP.
    Board members said Johnson was selected to guide the organization through a period of reinvigoration and realignment with the current challenges of today’s civil rights movement.
    To accomplish that mission, Johnson said the NAACP will lean heavily on the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the trade association that represents more than 200 African American-owned newspapers and media companies across the country.
    “We must be successful to ensure that democracy works for all and that individuals of African descent are treated with dignity and afforded equal protections under the law,” Johnson told the NNPA Newswire. “We’ve met with [new NNPA Chairman] Dorothy Leavell and [NNPA President and CEO] Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr., and we see a bright future and we are mutually tied to the same reality, because the NNPA is critical, as the delivery source of information for our community.”
    The fact that the NAACP chose Johnson to lead the organization was music to Leavell’s ears. “I believe he is the right leader for the NAACP at this most important time in our history,” she said. “The NNPA looks forward to working with him and the NAACP.”
    Chavis, a former executive director of the NAACP, said he’s known Johnson for a long time and he’s confident that Johnson’s leadership expertise and experience will take the NAACP to greater heights in terms of membership and civil rights activism.
    “If there was ever a person alive that personifies the living spirit of Medgar Evers, it is Derrick Johnson. Thus, the NAACP will grow and expand under the leadership of Derrick Johnson,” Chavis said. “Johnson personifies the courage and genius of a freedom fighter, who will now lead the NAACP forward with fearless boldness.”
    For his part, Johnson, who received a juris doctorate from the South Texas College of Law, called the Black Press an under appreciated institution.
    “It’s incumbent upon the NAACP to work directly with the NNPA to make sure that, as we get control of our narrative, we’re utilizing our most important tool, which is the Black Press,” Johnson said.
    A veteran activist, Johnson, 49, said it’s also important that the NAACP engage and support young people. “We urge the young ones to keep studying and continue advocating to make sure their voices are not suffocated, because of a lack of knowledge,” Johnson said. “I’m encouraged by the number of young people who have taken to the streets with the tools at their disposal to become more active. If they find that the NAACP is a tool they’d like to use, then it is incumbent upon the NAACP to support their ability to do that, because the young activists of today will be our leaders of tomorrow.”
    A regular guest lecturer at Harvard Law School and an adjunct professor at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss., Johnson previously furthered his training through fellowships with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
    As president of the NAACP Mississippi State Conference, he led critical campaigns for voting rights and equitable education, NAACP officials said in a news release. Johnson also successfully managed two bond referendum campaigns in Jackson, which brought $150 million in school building improvements and $65 million toward the construction of a new convention center.
    In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Johnson founded One Voice, Inc., to improve the quality of life for African Americans through civic engagement, training and initiatives, according to Johnson’s bio on the NAACP’s website. One Voice has spawned an annual Black Leadership Summit and the Mississippi Black Leadership Institute, a nine-month training program for community leaders.
    “I really appreciate the support of the chair of the Board of Directors, who invested confidence in me to do this job,” Johnson said. “I think we have to control our narrative and tell our story, because we have units across the country that have been extremely effective in their work, but we haven’t been able to control the narrative.”
    Johnson called controlling that narrative both a challenge and an opportunity. He said the NAACP is working diligently toward the 2018 midterm elections and making sure to tackle voter registration and issues that have worked to deny African Americans the right to cast a ballot.
    “We have to figure out how to maximize the engagement of folks in our community to exercise their right to vote,” Johnson said. “We have a fertile and vibrant pipeline for young people to have a stronger voice in what’s taking place and, at the same time, we can support young people already out there advocating with the understanding that social justice is not a competition, but an opportunity for many individuals to add their voice for progressive change.”

  • Newswire : Civil rights leaders, clergy support Federal crackdown on payday lending

    By Charlene Crowell, communications deputy director with the Center for Responsible Lending

    Richard Corday and  Hilary O. Shelton

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – After five years of field hearings, town hall meetings, multiple research reports, and over one million comments, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced a new rule to rein in predatory payday and car-title loans.
    “These protections bring needed reform to a market where far too often lenders have succeeded in setting up borrowers to fail. . . Faced with unaffordable payments, consumers must choose between defaulting, re-borrowing, or failing to pay basic living expenses or other major financial obligations,” said Richard Cordray, CFPB Director.
    Central to the CFPB’s rule, established Oct. 5, is the establishment of an ability-to-repay principle. High-cost loans of 45 days or less, as well as longer term loans that end in a balloon payment, must first take into account whether the loan is affordable when both borrower income and expenses are considered. These loans allow lenders to seize funds from either a borrowers’ bank accounts (payday loans) or repossess vehicles that were used as collateral (car-title loans).
    Although marketed by predatory lenders as an easy lifeline in a financial emergency, research by CFPB, and other consumer groups found otherwise: payday lending’s business model is the tool that drowns borrowers into a sea of debt. With triple-digit interest rates of 400 percent or higher, payday and car-title loans drain $8 billion in fees on loans averaging $300-$400. Borrowers stuck in more than 10 loans a year generated 75 percent of all payday loan fees. Similarly, 85 percent of car-title loan renewals occur 30 days after a previous one could not be fully repaid.
    Across the country, these high-cost lenders are most-often found in communities of color where Blacks, Latinos, and low-wealth families reside. The data and consistency of business locations in these areas suggest that lenders target financially vulnerable consumers.
    Upon learning of CFPB’s payday rule, clergy and civil rights leaders who have steadfastly opposed payday and car-title lenders’ triple-digit interest rates were swift to speak in support. Their desire to rein-in the debt trap of these unaffordable loans was both strong and consistent.
    “With little accountability for their actions, payday lenders have long preyed upon communities of color and drained them of their hard-earned savings,” said Hilary O. Shelton, the NAACP’s Washington Bureau Director and Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy. “This CFPB rule establishes a much-needed set of transparent responsibilities for lenders and basic rights and protection for borrowers.”
    “We will work to defend and strengthen this rule,” continued Shelton, “so Americans face fewer burdens in establishing financial security.”
    For Reverend Willie Gable, Jr., Pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in New Orleans and Member of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., the country’s largest predominantly African-American religious denomination, the payday rule was both personal and pastoral.
    “In my home state of Louisiana, the average payday loan interest rate is 391 percent,” said Reverend Gable, Jr., “With rates this high – and even higher in other states, cash-strapped people who needed only a couple hundred dollars soon discover they are in financial quicksand, paying loan fees were after week, that only sink them deeper into debt.”
    “As best I can, I comfort those caught in payday lending’s web of debt,” Gable added. “Yet I also know that it is time for change. These shackles of debt must be broken.”
    “President Trump and Congress should get on the side of civil rights advocates, the religious community, consumer organizations, and the public at-large by supporting and strengthening the CFPB’s new rules on payday lending,” challenged Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. “Payday lending is bad for many consumers; but like many predatory scams, it invariably ends up as a weapon against the disadvantaged communities that are least able to bear its terrible burden.”
    Looking ahead, many consumer advocates remain hopeful that CFPB will go even further with its rules, to include similar actions against harmful and longer-term loans.
    At both the state and federal levels, civil rights leaders and consumer advocates must remain watchful to preserve, expand, and enforce existing interest rate caps now in effect in 15 states and the District of Columbia. Advocates must also remain watchful for any congressional actions that may be taken to preempt or undermine consumer protection

  • Newswire – Report: Trump Administration labels Blacks concerned about police brutality as potential terrorists

    By Frederick H. Lowe

    demonstratorsshowmurderedbypolicesign
    Demonstrators display Murdered by Police sign

    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – The Trump administration, FBI and police unions have labeled Black men and Black women who are concerned, angry and distressed about the steady stream of news stories about White cops shooting to death unarmed Black men and not being held accountable for their actions, as possible terrorists who need watching because they may resort to violence in retaliation. The FBI labeled the Black men and Black women who are outraged over the deadly shootings “Black Identity Extremists,” (BIE), reported Foreign Policy magazine, which broke the story titled “The FBI’s New U.S. Terrorist Threat: Black Identity Extremists.
    “Law enforcement calls it a violent movement. Critics call it racist.” Jana Winter and Sharon Weinberger wrote the article published in Foreign Policy’s October 6 issue. Foreign Policy reported Black Identity Extremists is a new term first appearing government documents nine days before the White supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 11, where a counter demonstrator was murdered by a Alt-right supporter.
    The FBI “assesses it is very likely that Black Identity Extremists perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will likely serve as justifications to such violence.”
    Except there is no “BIE movement but in the fertile mind of those within the Trump Administration,” reports The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, which covered the Foreign Policy article. The Brennan Center’s article was written by Andrew Cohen. “No journalist or academics have discovered and chronicled such a movement. No such leaders have come forward to say they are part of a movement. No one has killed a cop in the name of such a movement. The only citations to the movement, the Foreign Policy piece tells us, come from internal law enforcement writings made over the past two months,” wrote the Brennan Center. Knowledge about the alleged movement comes after Trump supported white racists who marched in Charlottesville.
    Conversely, Trump called Black National Football League players who took a knee during the national anthem “sons of bitches” who should be fired because he claims they are disrespecting the American flag and members of the U.S. military, which was far from the truth. The football players are protesting the murders of unarmed black men by white police officers who claim they feared for their lives. So far this year, police and shot and killed 748 people including 168 African Americans.

    Anti-police brutality sign

    “In this sense, the report is the FBI’s version of the cynical “war on cops” argument that President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and police union officials have been pitching as a policy to justify ending the modest judicial reforms implemented by the Obama administration,” reported the Brennan Center. Foreign Policy cited the July 2016 shooting of 11 Dallas cops by Micah Johnson, a former U.S. Army reservist who was angry about police violence against blacks. The shootings occurred during a Black Lives Matter movement, but the FBI doesn’t mention the organization by name. “The tactic here is almost diabolical. To deflect legitimate criticism of police tactic to undermine a legitimate police protest movement that has emerged in the past three years to protest police brutality, the FBI has tarred the dissenters as domestic terrorists, an organized group with a criminal ideology that are a threat to police officers,” the Brennan Center said.
    Critics argue Trump is shifting attention away from right-wing violence to countering Islamic terrorism. The Brennan Center asks if you become a member of BIE if you believe that police brutality is a significant problem hindering criminal justice? Do you become a member of the BIE if you believe that the police too often escape accountability for the use of excessive force on unarmed black civilians? Does the FBI consider every member of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which actually exists, a member of BIE? The Brennan Center then turns to former FBI Director James Comey who Tump fired. Comey has spoken about the FBI’s racist history. Under former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, special agents ginned up evidence that the civil rights movement was a communist plot. Under Comey, there was a major change.

     

  • Newswire : As war widens in Africa, body bags begin to fly home

    Niger soldiers and medics

    Niger soldiers and medics

    (TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – A funeral was held over the past weekend for Sgt. La David Johnson, killed in a country few could find on a map and for a war that few lawmakers knew anything about.
    Sgt. Johnson, a Floridian, was one of a dozen Special Operations and Green Beret forces who, along with 30 Nigerien soldiers, were in southwestern Niger on Oct. 4 in an effort to track down a former member of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa. As the team departed, they were ambushed by members of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
    Four from the U.S. team died in the skirmish as did five Nigerian soldiers. Two Americans were wounded.
    “It turns out that this village was a little contaminated by hostile forces,” said Moussa Aksar, a terrorism specialist interviewed by Voice of America. “The unit stayed a little longer than expected because apparently people were aware that something was going on.”
    Some 800 U.S. service members are in Niger supporting a French-led mission to defeat the Islamic State, al-Qaida and Boko Haram. The U.S. has drone bases in Niger as well as significant intelligence resources.
    Gen. Joseph Dunford, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the American people, including the families of the fallen soldiers in Niger, deserve answers about this month’s deadly ambush.
    But investigative journalist Nick Turse says there is much more to this story. Writing for Vice news, Turse says: “Today, special operators are carrying out nearly 100 missions at any given time — in Africa alone. It’s the latest sign of the military’s quiet but ever-expanding presence on the continent, one that represents the most dramatic growth in the deployment of America’s elite troops to any region of the globe.”
    He continued: “In 2006, just 1 percent of all U.S. commandos deployed overseas were in Africa. In 2010, it was 3 percent. By 2016, that number had jumped to more than 17 percent.
    “In fact, there are now more special operations personnel devoted to Africa than anywhere except the Middle East.” Overall, there are about 6,000 U.S. troops across the African continent. More than half are in Djibouti, with others in Tunisia, Senegal and Somalia.
    In a report obtained by Turse, U.S. Army General Donald Bolduc, who runs the special operations command in Africa (SOCAFRICA) admits: “Africa’s challenges could create a threat that surpasses the threat that the United States currently faces from conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.”
    “We owe the American people an explanation of what their men and women were doing at this particular time,” Dunford said. “And when I say that, I mean men and women in harm’s way anywhere in the world — they should know what the mission is and what we’re trying to accomplish when we’re there.”

  • Newswire :Puerto Ricans suffer apocalyptic nightmare after Hurricanes Irma and Maria

    By Barrington M. Salmon (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    It’s been nearly a month since two, historic hurricanes savaged Puerto Rico, and despite the utter devastation left after the storms, the island’s 3.4 million residents are still waiting for substantive relief from the federal government.
    Help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been slowed, because of glaring lapses in coordination, a lack of guidance of medical and other personnel, as well as what critics and Puerto Rican officials have said was an almost total breakdown in distribution and supply chains. The result has been a yawning gap between the burgeoning humanitarian disaster and the urgent life-and-death needs of the shell-shocked populace.
    Nearly 85 percent of the island is still in darkness, because the storms destroyed the electrical grid. Governor Ricardo Rosselló estimates that it will cost about $5 billion to repair the island’s power grid that was decimated by Hurricane Maria. Cellphone service towers across the island are slowly being restored; there is a critical shortage of food, medicine and other basic supplies; meanwhile, more than half of the commonwealth’s residents are living without potable water.
    The official death toll is 48, but there are reports that the medical examiner’s office in San Juan is holding 350 bodies. There are also fears that, as the authorities reach the most remote parts of the island and as water-borne and other diseases take hold, that the death toll will inevitably rise.
    Last week, FEMA scrubbed important statistics about the availability of clean drinking water and the paucity of electricity on the island, from its website.
    The fierce winds of Hurricanes Irma and Maria left catastrophic damage, tore roofs from buildings, toppled power lines and transformers; stripped trees bare; triggered mudslides and flooding; flattened and demolished trees; and blocked roads. Beleaguered Puerto Ricans can only buy food, supplies and other materials in what is now a mostly cash-only society.
    Yet, in the midst of all this need, more than 10,000 shipping containers loaded with food, medicine and other needed supplies have sat idle at the Port of San Juan and elsewhere, because of red tape, bureaucratic bungling and logistical logjams.
    Aurora Flores, a New York-based activist, painted a harrowing picture that is slowly emerging as information seeps out of the soaked island. n“Oh, my God! I have such a combination of feelings. This is outrageous,” said Flores, a noted cultural historian and musician. “This is Trump’s Katrina. We’re in a dire situation. There is no electricity; people are waiting in line eight, nine hours for gasoline, food and other needs. Right now, we need the United States Army trucks and drivers. There’s no housing…we need cruise ships to come in.”
    Flores continued: “We also need to secure the streets. Armed gangs are roaming. This is horrific. We’ve been shunned, pushed to the side.” Flores said that she had been in contact with family in Puerto Rico, despite the communications difficulties. She assailed the Trump administration for its slow response and castigated Trump for his constant congratulatory comments to first responders, FEMA, and others in his administration.
    “He’s patting himself on the back. [Trump found time] to put down Black athletes over the weekend and not once did he say anything about Puerto Rico,” she said. We’ve been shunned, pushed to side. We don’t need any more excuses. Puerto Rico needs help right now. You don’t do this to other Americans. We need the federal government to come to the rescue. We need compassion and leadership to come together. We’ve fought for and bled for this country. We’re part of America.”
    Critics have chided Trump for ignoring the crisis for the first week after Hurricane Maria slammed into the island. He spent more time tweeting to demand that NFL players kneel for the anthem than expressing any compassion or concern for Puerto Rico’s plight. And to add insult to injury, Elaine Duke, acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security crowed at the end of the first week that the federal efforts on the island as a “good news” story.
    Trump’s nonchalance has angered Puerto Ricans and a raft of other critics, including singer Marc Anthony and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. “Mr. President, shut the f*** up about the NFL. Do something about our people in need in #PuertoRico. We are American citizens, too,” the singer tweeted on September 25.
    During a recent interview on CNN, Yulín Cruz lambasted attempts by the White House to spin the situation in Puerto Rico as a “good news story.” “When you’re drinking from a creek, it’s not a ‘good news story.’ When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a ‘good news story,’” she said. “When you have to pull people down from their buildings because—you know, I’m sorry, but that really upsets me and frustrates me.”
    Yulín Cruz continued: “This is – damn it, this is not a ‘good news’ story. This is a ‘people-are-dying’ story. This is a ‘life-or-death’ story. This is a ‘there’s-a-truckload-of-stuff-that-cannot-be-taken-to-people’ story. This is a story of a devastation that continues to worsen.”
    Latinx activist and community organizer Rosa Clemente said Puerto Ricans have been given the middle finger by Trump and his administration.
    “What’s going on in Puerto Rico is definitely terrifying. People are on the precipice of panic,” said Clemente, during a recent interview. “Right now there are shipping containers stuck on wharfs, because drivers are isolated. Bridges have collapsed, people are trapped…I don’t think Trump would help any people of color. This is who he is. The big issue right now is for Congress to release the aid package.”
    Reuters reported that the Republican-controlled House approved $36.5 billion in in emergency relief for Puerto Rico and other areas hit by recent disasters. “Senate approval is expected in coming weeks,” according to Reuters. “Trump is expected to sign the latest emergency package,” even though the president also suggested that there would be limits on how much federal aid Puerto Rico would receive.
    Clemente, a revolutionary Hip Hop journalist and lecturer—who is the first Black Puerto Rican/Afro Latina to run for vice president of the Green Party—made arrangements to travel with a group of friends to Puerto Rico to hear and document stories from survivors on the ground and to continue to sound the alarm of the catastrophe that has befallen the island.
    In an Oct. 11 Facebook Live post, Clemente detailed the devastation. “What we have now is a total catastrophe—both humanitarian and political. Disaster, crisis, catastrophe, none of these adjectives are describing what we’re seeing,” she said soberly. “People are sick, dying. People are getting infections, babies are sick. The situation in San Juan is bad and in the Western part of the island things are isolated, cut off. This situation is past the critical level. It’s not about getting clothes, food or water. We need generators and chainsaws, SUVs and trucks. We need nurses and doctors.”
    Clemente continued: “They’re letting us die here, but everyone in Puerto Rico is doing everything they can to save themselves. They’ve helping each other, saving each other. Anyone not doing all they can to raise hell is complicit. We need to stop sending things. We need to pressure politically. We cannot talk about rebuilding, if this nation is allowed to collapse.”

  • Newswire : Progressive Randall Woodfin wins Birmingham, Ala., mayoral race in a major upset

    By Terrell Jermaine Starr, The Root

    Randall Woodfin, Birmingham mayor-elect.jpgRandall Woodfin

    Progressive Democratic candidate Randall Woodfin, 36, became the youngest mayor-elect of Birmingham, Ala., in modern history Monday night after defeating two-term incumbent Mayor William Bell with a near 20-point margin of victory. He follows in the footsteps of Jackson, Miss., Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, another Southern progressive supported by national liberal organizations who won city hall this year.
    Woodfin’s win is a strategic victory for the progressive movement in that it challenges conservatives locally on their home turf, where state laws such as voter-ID and anti-LGBTQ legislation often have federal election implications.
    Our Revolution, a national organization devoted to supporting progressive candidates at the local level, backed Woodfin’s race by sending over 11,000 “Get Out the Vote” text messages and making hundreds of calls. Former Ohio state senator and Our Revolution President Nina Turner campaigned for Woodfin in Alabama twice. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also endorsed his candidacy.
    Twitter Ads info and privacy
    Woodfin got a lot of campaign help from Morehouse College alumni, who held fundraisers around the country and came from out of town to knock on doors as volunteers. On the scene when the race was called for Woodfin last night was Morehouse’s interim president, Harold Martin Jr. When they were classmates at Morehouse, Martin said, Woodfin made it clear that he was going back to Birmingham to serve his city. His youth, Martin believes, will be to his advantage.
    “He is a young mayor,” said Martin, who graduated from Morehouse just two years ahead of Woodfin. “But what we’re experiencing in our country and we’re seeing in the city of Birmingham is that young leaders have great ideas, the energy to see them through, and are innovative in their thinking, and Randall is a prime example of that.”
    Considered a long-shot candidate when he jumped into the mayoral race a year ago, Woodfin shocked Birmingham’s political elites when he came in first over Bell in the city’s nonpartisan primary in August. Billing himself as a fresh alternative to Bell, Woodfin vowed to take on the city’s rising crime rates and create ways for young people to pursue a free education at local community colleges. His campaign succeeded in casting Bell’s administration as being too entrenched in the old politics of Birmingham to come up with new ideas on how to move the city forward. (Indeed, Bell has been in city government for as long as Woodfin has been alive.)
    Woodfin said that his first agenda items will deal with job creation and tackling poverty. Just as important is the issue of safety. He gained the support of the local police union after promising to hire more cops, but Bell said that his safety plan will include players other than those from law enforcement.
    “It’s empowering people where they live,” he said. “It’s taking a 21st-century look at how Neighborhood Watch looks. It’s introducing conflict resolution to our boys and girls entering middle school. It’s finding a way to get our young people to understand what empathy means in childhood before they’re adults. It also means tackling poverty head-on and asking young boys to put guns down and stand ready to replace it with a job in their hands.”
    One of Woodfin’s goals is to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Right now it is $7.25. Birmingham’s City Council tried to raise it to $10.10, but the state rejected it.
    Woodfin takes office Nov. 28, so he doesn’t have a lot of time to celebrate his win. He said that he will take a long nap today and respond to a few emails and texts. After that, he’s heading straight to City Hall to begin his plans for Birmingham. “I need to have a conversation with the City Council,” he said. “It’s time to get to work, brotha.”

     

  • Newswire : Unemployment rate for Black men declined, but still twice as high as white men

    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

     

    blackmanjobless

     Black man who is jobless

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – September’s jobless rate for the Black men 20 years old and older dropped, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported.
    The unemployment rate for Black men in this age group was 6.7 percent compared to 7.8 percent in August, BLS said. Despite the dramatic improvement, Black men’s jobless rate was still much higher compared to White men (3.4 percent) and Hispanic men (4.0 percent). BLS did not report a jobless rate for the Asian men 20 and older.
    However, the labor participation rate for the Black men in September was 68.7 percent, higher than any quarter of the last year. The combined unemployment rate for Black men and Black women 20 and older (6.0 percent) reached a 17-year low.
    The bureau noted the overall unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage point to 4.2 percent in September, and the number of jobless persons declined by 331,000 to 6.8 million.
    Hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused a 33,000 drop in jobs because of power failures, flooding and other weather -related circumstances.“The storms caused large-scale evacuations and severe damage to many homes and businesses.,” said William J. Wiatrowski, BLS’s acting director. “In September, 1.5 million workers had a job but were not at work for the entire reference week due to bad weather.”

     

  • Newswire : Rep.Maxine Water seeks to protect consumer with ”Megabank” Bill

    By Freddie Allen (Editor-In-Chief, NNPA Newswire)

     

    waterswellsfargobill_4551_fallen_web120 Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) speaks from the podium about The Megabank Accountability and Consequences Act. Waters is flanked by (from left-right) Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.); Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.); Al Green (D-Texas), and John Sarbanes (D-Md.). (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)
    In an effort to rein in financial institutions that have track

    records for harming consumers, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) recently unveiled The Megabank Accountability and Consequences Act (H.R. 3937).
    The new bill would require, “prudential banking regulators, such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Federal Reserve Board, to fully utilize their authorities to shut down megabanks that repeatedly harm consumers.”
    The original co-sponsors of the Megabank Accountability and Consequences Act are: Representatives Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), Al Green (D-Texas), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), John Sarbanes (D-Md.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Jamie Raskin (D-Md).
    During a press conference to announce the bill, Waters called a report that detailed Wells Fargo’s egregious consumer abuses, “truly eye-opening.”
    The report not only described how Wells Fargo defrauded millions of consumers by opening fake credit card and deposit accounts in their names, it also revealed illegal student loan servicing practices; unlawful mortgage lending practices, such as overcharging veterans for refinance loans; and how bank representatives sold customers auto insurance policies they didn’t need.
    In prepared remarks, Waters said that Wells Fargo “made a routine practice of ripping off and preying on their customers, in a seemingly never-ending avalanche of scandals in which service members, minorities, homeowners, small business owners and many other consumers have been targeted and abused by the bank.”
    The report also noted that fines imposed on the bank did little to deter the abusive practices.
    Waters said that her bill would, “also enable the Consumer Bureau, states and local government authorities to petition the prudential regulators to hold a hearing on whether a megabank engaged in such consumer abuse.”
    Waters continued: “The prudential regulators themselves will now be accountable to Congress and the American public, and have to regularly determine that the megabanks are doing what they are supposed to do—serving their customers and not ripping them off.”
    The bill defines a megabank as “global systemically important bank or GSIB.”
    Waters said that federal regulators will have 90 days to review the “megabanks” they supervise that operate in the United States. If the financial institutions have engaged in a pattern of law violations, Waters said that the federal regulators can, within 120 days of enactment, begin to “wind down the bank” and stop the offending executives from working at other banks.
    “This process is subject to judicial review, and the federal prudential regulators must testify before Congress to discuss their findings,” said Waters.
    The bill also requires that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issue regulations that more closely define the practices that violate federal consumer protection laws that should receive stricter penalties.
    “It is time we truly hold megabanks that demonstrate a pattern of harming consumers accountable,” said Waters. “These institutions must no longer be allowed to abuse hardworking Americans.”