The Greene County Democrat

Category: Newswire

  • Newswire: Three Black U.S. Army reservists killed in drone attack near Syrian border

    Three Black soldiers killed in drone attack

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
    

    Three Black American reservists from the 926th Engineer Brigade, based at Fort Moore, Georgia, lost their lives in a drone attack on a U.S. base near the Jordan-Syria border. Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh identified the fallen soldiers as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia.
    The tragedy occurred at the logistics support base at Tower 22 of the Jordanian Defense Network, where approximately 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel are stationed. That base plays a crucial role in providing support for the coalition’s efforts against ISIS, according to Central Command.
    The attack marks the third drone strike on the outpost in the past six months, with the first two occurring in the latter half of the previous year being unsuccessful. Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, chief of the Army Reserve and commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve Command, said the murders of the three Black reservists cut deeply.
    The U.S. government has determined that Iran was responsible for the attack, prompting President Joe Biden to vow a response. “There will be a response,” Biden declared.
    In her last conversation with her mother, Sanders reportedly expressed aspirations to elevate her military career upon returning home from the Middle East. She also revealed her intention to purchase a motorcycle. Sanders was actively involved in coaching soccer and basketball in her hometown of Waycross, Georgia, and worked at a pharmacy. She was pursuing college courses to become an X-ray technician.
    Sanders’ parents shared that she volunteered for deployment to experience different parts of the world. With a history of military service in the family, Sanders had previously deployed to Djibouti and later volunteered for Kuwait, including a stint in Jordan near the Syrian border.
    Rivers enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2011 as an interior electrician, according to the U.S. Army Reserve Command Public Affairs Office.
    He served “with courage, honor, and a deep sense of duty, embodying the best of New Jersey and our nation,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). “His death is a profound loss to his family, friends, colleagues, and our entire country, and a reminder of the heavy debt we owe to our military families for their sacrifice.”
    U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who represents Willingboro, said in a statement that Rivers served this country and local community with great honor and bravery. “We are indebted to him and his loved ones for their service and sacrifice,” Kim stated. “We will never forget what Sergeant Rivers and his fellow fallen soldiers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, gave for our nation. May their memory live on in our continued service to our military families.”
    Moffett reportedly was no stranger to the military as both of her parents were veterans. “I was like no you should, but you know she went anyway, because of her dedication to her county, she really really honored her job,” Saryha Truell, one of Moffett’s lifelong friends, told WTOC-TV.
    “We are reminded that the brave men and women who defend our great nation put their lives on the line each and every day to keep our country safe,” said Brig. Gen. Todd Lazaroski, Commanding General of the 412th Theater Engineer Command.
    “Their service and sacrifice will not be forgotten,” General Daniels stated.

  • Newswire : Reparations gained historic momentum in 2023 because of California’s efforts

    By Curtis Bunn, NBC News

    For the first time, this year advocates seeking reparations for the harms inflicted on Black people during centuries of slavery in America saw a movement for redress that elicits hope.
    Many municipalities either started or are forming commissions to address compensation to the descendants of enslaved Africans.
    California has made the most zealous effort. The state’s reparations task force spent two years researching the impact of the generational damage of the discriminatory practices and produced a 1,100-page report with comprehensive recommendations that it considers to be the blueprint for other cities and states — and the federal government — to follow.
    The blockbuster file includes a method to calculate financial compensation for those eligible for redress. More than 400 organizations have signed on to support reparations in the country’s most populous state. 
    While Evanston, Illinois, became the first city in the country in 2021 to actually pay reparations to its eligible Black residents, and New York recently enacted a commission to study the effects of slavery there, California’s push represents a major swing in the decades long fight for reparations. Yet Californians are looking ahead to the next year to see if any of these recommendations will actually come to fruition — and if there is enough political will to make it so.
    Indeed, the road to reparations remains arduous. Opposition is significant. California’s efforts surpassed those of the federal government. And while many cities and states are creating reparation committees, they are far from getting money into people’s pockets. 
    And then there’s the underlaying reticence of a significant part of the population: “Public opinion — meaning white people and white politicians — is not sympathetic to our plight and how it is tied to slavery,” said Jonathan Wright, a Los Angeles entrepreneur who attended three of the dozen California reparation public hearings. 
    In fact, a 2022 Pew Research Center poll said that 77% of Black adults believe descendants of enslaved Africans in the U.S. should receive reparations in some way, but only 18% of white respondents agreed.
    “Call me a pessimist,” Wright said. “They have benefited from slavery and discrimination for centuries, but they can’t even tolerate the idea that our families for generations have been impacted by this. It’s OK for them to benefit, but not for us to be compensated. That’s what we’re dealing with and that makes me pessimistic.” 
    Those pushing for reparations understand Wright’s position. But many in California and beyond who are committed have a strategy they believe will be decisive. Their plan is to educate the naysayers or uninformed on why reparations are deserved and needed and use that newfound support as leverage with politicians who could bring forward reparation studies and proposals.
    To that end, Assembly member Reginald Jones-Sawyer, who was on the California Reparations Committee, has spent much of his time since the publication of the recommendations report visiting groups and communities of all races, sharing knowledge about reparations, how they would work and why they are important.
    “And I will tell you, it’s been received well,” Jones-Sawyer said. He said there has been strong engagement and people asked questions that conveyed their interest. “We dispelled a lot of misconceptions” and “explained why this push for reparations is still needed in 2023, 2024 and beyond if we’re going to make this a just society.”
    The committee’s report lays out 112 recommendations that include programs around housing, education and public health, among many others. The California Legislative Black Caucus has hired a team of experts to whittle down the massive report to a digestible length. That condensed report will be shared with the public and the California Assembly, which will have to vote on bills based on the recommendations.
    Jones-Sawyer said the group plans to ultimately create and present 12 bills that will cover the report’s recommendations. He said the first five bills will be introduced at the start of 2024 and “will span just about every category in the report, whether it’s racial terror, education, the criminal justice system, incarceration rates, homeownership, the wealth gap.” 
    The members of the CLBC have distinct expertise in each area, Jones-Sawyer said. “We’re going to tackle just about every field of human endeavor. And we have people that have the ability to be able to carry those bills because of their backgrounds.”
    The California Senate is made up of 80% Democrats, which could be a positive for these bills. Gov. Gavin Newsom has expressed support for reparations efforts in the past. However, in September he made a point of emphasizing that reparations in the form of cash payments may not be the recourse. “Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments,” the governor said at the time.  
    Still, for some Black people in California, the hard work does not translate into optimism. Take Amina Ali, a 52-year-old Oakland resident who has followed the reparations hearings since Newsom gave the go-ahead two years ago to create a commission.
    “I won’t hold my breath,” Ali said. “I want it as badly as the next Black person. But I also live in the world. I know the reparations people worked hard for a long time to make the case. I commend them. And they made their very strong case. But I know that there are enough people against it to keep it from happening. Be real: White people don’t want us to have an even playing field.”
    But Kamm Howard, founder of the organization Reparations United and co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, is looking to level the field across the nation. He said the Black voting bloc is so strong that it can influence a federal reparations movement, as President Biden is working to avoid Black voter defection in next year’s election. Black voters have a transformative moment to use their influence to “make a demand of the president and the party,” Howard said.
    “We’ve amassed a significant amount of power within the party by voting Democrat 80%, 90%, for years. We’re a dependable base within the party. And they know that they cannot win an election without us at this point,” the Reparations United founder said.
     “And if he’s totally dependent on the Black vote, then we have the power to leverage that for a reparations commission,” Howard continued. “I believe that the only way Biden can earn the vote and energize Black people and reverse a potential defection of Black voters is to make executive order to create a reparations commission before the election.”
    In 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden supported studying reparations for Black people. Two months later, the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance H.R. 40 to a full vote, the furthest a bill to create a commission to study the effects of slavery has ever moved in Congress in the three decades since the legislation was first proposed. H.R. 40 was re-introduced in 2023; on the federal level, movement beyond that has been slow.  
    Howard said California’s in-depth work is a benchmark on what could be done on a federal level. “What California did was tremendous,” he said. “We want to make reparations and the redressing of past social ills and crimes in America a standard in America, something that is appreciated for the benefit that it will produce.”
    In 2020, a Citigroup study indicated that the U.S. cost itself $16 trillion in the last two decades alone because of racism. “That shows that reparations is not a drain on America,” Howard said. “It would be an investment in America. Every dollar spent on reparations, you get that dollar back plus another dollar or $2 in return on the investment, particularly around Black business development.”
    All of this hopeful thinking requires patience. “We didn’t just get into this position overnight. This is 400 years in the making,” Howard said. “So it’s not something that happens quickly. But I’m in it for the long haul. And a lot of other people are, too.”

  • Newswire: The Sentencing Project unveils final report in ‘One in Five’ series reveals mass incarceration’s negative role: deepening inequality and harming public safety

    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    The collateral consequences of a criminal conviction often amount to a lifelong disadvantage, particularly for African Americans. According to the Sentencing Project, in 2010, one in three (33%) African American adult men had a felony conviction on their record, compared to 13% of all adult men. 

    Researchers found that employers discriminate against job candidates who have criminal histories, especially against those who are Black. Further, application questions about criminal histories deter some people from applying to certain jobs and colleges, with a 2017 study finding that nearly half of unemployed men had a criminal conviction. Additionally, almost one-third of all U.S. jobs require an occupational license, and many licensing boards bar or impose cumbersome obstacles for people with criminal records.
    Fee-based programs to seal criminal records also exacerbate racial disparities., and the Sentencing Project noted that these policies stand in stark contrast to a growing evidence base showing that post-incarceration employment prevents recidivism and that tackling heightened labor market discrimination against Black people with criminal records would reduce recidivism rates.
    The Sentencing Project has again highlighted a critical element causing inequalities in incarceration with “One in Five: How Mass Incarceration Deepens Inequality and Harms Public Safety.” The report highlights laws and policies that worsen inequality and unfairly burden communities of color. Initiated to provide an in-depth analysis of racial inequities within America’s criminal legal system, the series of reports covers a spectrum of topics. 

    From the progress made in the 21st century in reducing the U.S. prison population to disparities in crime and policing, the series also explores the key causes of racial and ethnic disparities in imprisonment. Additionally, it highlights reforms that have played a pivotal role in mitigating these sources of disparity.
    “A primary driver of disparity within the U.S. criminal legal system is the multitude of laws and policies that intensify economic and social inequalities, diverting public spending from effective public safety investments,” stated Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Co-Director of Research with The Sentencing Project and lead author of the report.

    Ghandnoosh emphasized the importance of protecting and expanding promising reforms initiated by states and local jurisdictions nationwide.
    The report delves into various criminal legal laws and policies, including fines, fees, predatory pricing, exploitative wages, collateral consequences, and the diversion of adequate investments in public safety.  The report proposes two key strategies to eliminate racial disparities in incarceration, including addressing sources of inequality by limiting socioeconomic disadvantage resulting from a criminal conviction and significantly increasing investments in effective public safety programs.

    The “One in Five” series concludes with a call to action, emphasizing the need for durable investments in communities of color, a reduction in policing footprint, and ongoing efforts to tackle critical drivers of racial disparity.
    “Certain regulations intensify the marginalization of justice-involved people – who are disproportionately people of color – by wearing down economic and social buffers against crime and increasing the likelihood of police contact,” added Ghandnoosh

  • Newswire: Biden unveils new sweeping Student Loan Debt relief measures, surpassing 3.7 million beneficiaries

    Student loan debt


    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    President Biden continues to make significant strides in alleviating the student loan debt crisis, announcing the approval of debt cancellation for an additional 74,000 student loan borrowers. The latest action contributes to the record-breaking relief the administration has provided to more than 3.7 million Americans.

    Earlier this month, Biden announced the accelerated implementation of a crucial provision under the Student Aid for Voluntary Education (SAVE) plan, which the administration said has helped 3.6 million Americans by canceling their student debt. Biden said the plan aims to create a more affordable student loan repayment structure while providing life-changing support to students and their families.

    “Today, my administration approved debt cancellation for another 74,000 student loan borrowers across the country, bringing the total number of people who have had their debt canceled under my administration to over 3.7 million Americans through various actions,” Biden said in a statement on Jan. 19.

    The beneficiaries of the latest round of relief include nearly 44,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other public service professionals who have earned forgiveness after a decade of dedicated service. Additionally, close to 30,000 individuals who have been in repayment for at least 20 years without receiving relief through income-driven repayment plans will now see their debts forgiven.

    Biden credited the success of these relief efforts to the corrective measures taken to address broken student loan programs. He asserted that these fixes have removed barriers preventing borrowers from accessing the relief they were entitled to under the law.

    The president outlined the broader achievements of his administration in supporting students and borrowers, including achieving the most significant increases in Pell Grants in over a decade, aimed at assisting families with incomes below approximately $60,000 per year. Other accomplishments include fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and introducing the most generous income-driven repayment plan in history, known as the SAVE plan, he said.

    Borrowers are encouraged to apply for this plan at studentaid.gov.
    In response to challenges, including the Supreme Court’s decision on the student debt relief plan, Biden affirmed the administration’s commitment to finding alternative paths to deliver relief to as many borrowers as possible, as quickly as possible.

    “From Day One of my administration, I vowed to improve the student loan system so that higher education provides Americans with opportunity and prosperity, not the unmanageable burdens of student loan debt,” Biden asserted. “I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams.”
     

  • Newswire: World Health Officials say nearly 10,000 global deaths in December were related to COVID; signal deepening health crisis

    WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a staggering total of nearly 10,000 global deaths in December, raising alarm bells about a worsening worldwide health crisis stemming from the continued threat of COVID-19.

    WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also noted pressing humanitarian crises in Gaza, Sudan, and Ethiopia that exacerbates the ongoing challenges related to COVID-19.

    While COVID-19 is no longer classified as a global health emergency, the virus remains a formidable threat, Ghebreyeus warned. He said newer cases, driven by holiday gatherings and the prevalence of the JN.1 variant, led to a 42% increase in hospitalizations and a 62% rise in ICU admissions.

    Ghebreyeus urged governments to maintain surveillance and sequencing and ensure access to tests, treatments, and vaccines. He also noted other emergencies the WHO is responding to, including in Gaza, Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
    Ghebreyesus called it “indescribable” that “this Sunday marks the 100th day of the conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.”

    He said Gaza continues to face an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe to go along with rising health concerns borne out from the pandemic. The conflict has displaced nearly 90% of Gaza’s 1.9 million residents, who continue to endure “excruciating conditions with long queues for limited water and nutritionally inadequate bread,” the director general lamented.

    He said only 15 hospitals are partially operational, and the absence of clean water and sanitation creates a breeding ground for diseases. WHO’s humanitarian aid efforts have encountered “insurmountable challenges” due to intense bombardment, movement restrictions, fuel shortages, and communication breakdowns, Ghebreyeus stated.

    “People are standing in line for hours for a small amount of water, which may not be clean, or bread, which alone is not sufficiently nutritious,” he asserted. “The lack of clean water and sanitation and overcrowded living conditions are creating the ideal environment for diseases to spread. We have the supplies, the teams, and the plans in place. What we don’t have is access.”

    Further, the director general stressed the need for the release of hostages and an imperative for all parties to uphold international humanitarian law, ensuring healthcare protection. He also sounded an alarm about the ongoing situation in Sudan, a nation that’s grappling with nine months of conflict where there’s escalating violence and mass displacement.

    Ghebreyeus said Sudan residents have also experienced the rampant spread of diseases, including cholera. The WHO temporarily suspended operations in Al-Gezira due to security concerns, disrupting the annual harvest and heightening the risk of food insecurity. Even before the conflict, Ghebreyeus said Sudan faced food shortages, intensifying the crisis for vulnerable groups, particularly children under five and pregnant or breastfeeding women.

    Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, the north-western region of Amhara is in the grip of a severe health crisis due to ongoing conflict since April 2023, he said. Communication challenges, damaged health facilities, and restricted movement impede humanitarian assistance. Conflict, drought, and displacement exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks, with cholera, malaria, measles, leishmaniasis, and dengue spreading. Urgent access to affected areas is crucial, the director general affirmed.

    Finally, Ghebreyeus insisted that just as governments and individuals take precautions against other diseases, “we must all continue to take precautions against COVID-19.” The WHO plans to release its Health Emergency Appeal for 2024, outlining how much there’s a need to protect the health of the most vulnerable people in 41 emergencies globally.

    “In 2024, we aim to reach almost 90 million people with lifesaving support,” Ghebreyeus declared. “The coming year will be a test for humanity; a test of whether we give into division, suspicion and narrow nationalism, or whether we are able to rise above our differences and seek the common good.”

     

  • Newswire : Sad circumstances of Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson’s death – far too typical

    Retired Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) poses for a portrait in Washington on Jan. 3, 2019. Just over 100 years ago, the first woman was sworn into Congress. Now a record 131 women are serving in the Legislature. (Elizabeth D. Herman/The New York Times)

    News Analysis by: Barbara Reynolds

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Once  in a private moment  after I had finished producing her weekly cable show for her Dallas district as her communications director,  Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson shared with me what really mattered. “I really love compassionate nursing because nurses can do anything. Keep your eye on them.”  In that one sentence she was sharing what a tough job it was becoming the first registered nurse in 1997 to be elected to Congress,  but nurses could manage that and more.
    To learn from Rep. Johnson’s lawyer that she recently died a “terrible, painful death” in a rehabilitation center without receiving the kind of  compassionate nursing from the profession she loved that could have saved her life was sad and shocking. Yet, it was a reminder that African-American women , no matter who they are, are all often disrespected by the medical profession, a barrier that even Johnson, one of the most recognized and honored women in Texas could not dispel.
    The Congresswoman’s death resulted from a September back surgery that became infected when she was  left to lie in her own feces in her bed at a rehab medical center while she repeatedly pleaded for help that didn’t come, according to Les Weisbrod.  He is a malpractice attorney for the family who is threatening to sue the Dallas Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation for medical negligence.  After undergoing more surgery to treat the infection, Johnson, 89, died from a spinal infection while in hospice care at her home on New Year’s Eve. She retired from Congress last year.
     As horrible as the situation that denied one of the most visible  personalities in Dallas with powerful friends in Texas and in the nation’s capital to die with dignity and unnecessary pain, her plight is not uncommon, according to Weisbrod. “It can happen to anybody, whether they’re a Congressperson or not,” he said. “I’ve probably represented clients suing every major hospital in North Texas.”
    Two problems contributed to the demise of Johnson. First, are how the medical profession shows an institutionalized disregard for people of color, especially women, and how understaffed most nursing facilities are, which calls for patients to enter hospitals with their own medical advocate that will skillfully monitor their nursing care.
    A recent Pew Research study revealed that 49 percent of those studied say a major reason why Black people generally have worse health outcomes is because health care providers are less likely to give Black people the most advanced medical care. A roughly equal share (47 percent) says hospitals and medical centers giving lower priority to their well-being is a major reason for differing health outcomes. Another often heard complaint is  the unfounded belief that Black women can stand more pain than whites resulting in their denial of requested  painkillers,
     Dr. Rhoda Alale is an Ohio registered nursing consultant and a former faculty member of the  Howard University School of Nursing. She charges that the death of  Rep. Johnson  is a stark reminder of how Black people are treated by health care institutions nationwide.  She argues that health disparities for people of color  are at an all-time high, citing recent  personal observations. “My 15-year-old granddaughter received a letter canceling her insurance because they say she had seen too many specialists.”
    Why does sickness disqualify you from insurance? And she also pointed to another patient who consulted her for help when he went into the hospital for a minor illness but came out with a major illness because of an open wound infection, an all-too-common malady.
    Many health professionals are also urging patients to have a medical advocate, preferably a family member or a private nurse within the medical institutions to scrutinize the nursing care.  Alale says that nursing must change and should adopt the pediatric care model with families as inpatients, like some pediatric wards that have an extra bed,  and shower in the room.
    Adding to the systemic problems within nursing are reports of a  desperate shortage of nurses resulting from the COVID epidemic where so many nurses were victims or became burnt out and did not return to the profession.
    Dr. Carthenia Jefferson, RN, an official of the National Black Nurses Assn. which Rep. Johnson was also a member, said she hopes the terrible treatment of the congresswoman will bring national attention for the need for the improvement of quality care in rehabilitation and other health care institutions. “I am saddened beyond words.”
      Dr. Jefferson is so right. If Rep. Johnson’s painful premature death will turn the spotlight on the sickness within the medical profession, her love for the nursing profession will deserve her affection.

     

     

  • Newswire: Jesse Jackson to lead emergency summit in Chicago to address escalating Gaza humanitarian crisis

    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    Religious leaders and human rights advocates, led by Reverend Jesse Jackson, are preparing for what they call a vital emergency summit for Gaza. The “Call to Action” summit is scheduled at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Headquarters in Chicago on Friday, January 12, and Saturday, January 13. Jackson told the Black Press the summit would “address the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, denounce violence against civilians, and urge immediate action to bring an end to the crisis.”

    Organized by a coalition including the Rainbow Push Coalition, the Arab American Institute, and Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen, the summit will feature a diverse lineup of influential speakers, including Jackson, Dr. James Zogby (President of the Arab American Institute), columnist and political commentator Peter Beinart, Congressman Johnathon Jackson, Congressman Chuy Garcia, and others.

    The central focus of the summit is to condemn attacks on civilians and call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire. “We are faith leaders and advocates, united in this moment of moral reckoning to affirm the sanctity of all human life,” Jackson declared.

    The organizers have unequivocally “condemned the Israeli government’s military siege and indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza.” They said there’s a moral obligation to leverage collective power to end the escalation of death and ongoing humanitarian crises.

    The coalition demands an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the rapid release of all Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners held without charges or due process, and they are calling on U.S. leadership to facilitate unimpeded UN-supervised humanitarian aid in Gaza.

    “I recommend that they let everyone out,” Jackson asserted. “The captives should be able to go home under the supervision of the United Nations, and anyone [bought to trial] should be done so in the World Court.” 

    Jackson and the rest of the coalition have also urged America to abide by its regulations and condition funding to Israel on its adherence to U.S. law, like requirements for other nations receiving U.S. military financing.

    The organizers collectively stressed that a ceasefire is just the beginning. The staggering civilian casualties underscore the belief that there is no military resolution that can bring justice for Palestinians and security for Israelis, Jackson insisted. He said there should be a diplomatic solution to “end apartheid and occupation.”

    Further, Jackson said the summit aims to build upon historical legacies and current global movements for peace, justice, and liberation. The civil rights legend and other organizers expressed concern about rising anti-Semitic and anti-Arab incidents.

    They have emphasized the need for unity. “We gather to build upon the historical legacy and current global movements for peace, justice, and liberation,” Jackson emphasized, before adding what he said in Lebanon some 40-plus years earlier. “We do not seek to exchange sufferers, but rather to stop suffering.”

  • Newswire: Civil Rights Leaders 2024 insights on Martin Luther King’s courage

    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at 1963 March on Washington

    By Stacy M. Brown
 NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    During his short life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped on all kinds of powerful toes in his fight for civil rights, and he was a courageous and determined leader who refused to let prison or violence sway his end mission. He also never lost sight of the fact that civil rights—addressing racial and economic injustice—were inextricable from liberation, freedom, equality, and world peace.
    As the founding leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Dr. King led a nonviolent movement to abolish the triple evils crippling American society: racism, poverty, and militarism. Associates said he believed those forces were contrary to God’s will for humanity and that they could only be effectively opposed by a interfaith-inspired nonviolent, multiracial social change movement.
    On April 4, 1967, King spoke publicly and eloquently against the tragedies of the U.S.-led war in Vietnam. Today, as the nation observes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, civil rights leaders, including those who knew the slain leader, offered their thoughts on what his position might be on conflicts in the Middle East and Russia and on the twice-impeached and four-times indicted former President Donald Trump.
    “At the March on Washington in 1964, Dr. King talked about Alabama Gov. George Wallace having his lips dripping with interposition and nullification,” said the Rev. Peter Johnson, who began working for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Plaquemine, La., and later was recruited by Andrew Young to work for King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. “What’s the difference between George Wallace and Donald Trump? You’re not going to hear Trump publicly say the n-word, that’s the only difference,” Johnson remarked. “King would easily have seen that Trump is a bigot in the true sense of the word who actually believes he is superior to people of color.”
    Johnson, Rev. Dr. Jesse Jackson Sr, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr, and others said that the wars between Israel and Hamas and Russia and Ukraine would have stirred Dr. King courageously to declare in King’s own words that “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  Dr. King would again say, “Peace is not just the absence of war; it is the presence of peace.”
    Rev. Jesse Jackson noted that King spoke of a deeper malady in American society. His view was that presidential administrations have been embroiling themselves in conflicts across the globe for the wrong reasons.
    “Dr. King was outspokenly anti-war and anti-racism,” said Rev. Mark Thompson, a civil rights leader who recently joined the National Newspaper Publishers Association as the trade association’s global digital transformation director. “There’s no question King would oppose the war in Ukraine and seek diplomatic solutions. I believe he would also call for a ceasefire in Gaza.”
    “I believe his posture on Congress’s dysfunction would be consistent with the words he used to describe segregationist intransigence in his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech—interposition and nullification,” Thompson declared.
    NNPA President and CEO Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., also an SCLC youth coordinator alum back in the 1960s, concurred. “Dr. King was a nonviolent freedom fighter who believed that we all members of one humanity. His concept of the ‘beloved community’ was all-inclusive and not discriminatory to anyone,” Chavis insisted. “Today’s world realities of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, oppression, war, hatred, and bigotry are void of love for one another. We need Dr. King’s wisdom, inclusive theology, and leadership courage today more than ever before.”
    Johnson said there’s little doubt about where King would stand on today’s issues because the icon never wavered. “I don’t think he would have changed his position fundamentally,” Johnson determined.
    “The Black Press of America, through the NNPA, salutes and pays an eternal salute to the wisdom, vision, and courage of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Chavis declared.  “May the 2024 Martin Luther King National Holiday be a day of reflection, action, freedom movement building, and constructive social change for all people in America and throughout the world.”

  • Newswire : Congress working to avoid shutdown inches closer to a deal

    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    Following weeks of negotiations and just before Congress reconvened from its holiday recess, key Senate and House members announced their consensus on setting the total spending at nearly $1.66 trillion. The deal aligns with the agreement struck last year between President Joe Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a deal that faced strong opposition from conservative factions and led to McCarthy’s ouster by MAGA Republicans.
    The agreement includes a boost in Pentagon spending to $886.3 billion while keeping nondefense funding unchanged at $772.7 billion. The figure incorporates an additional $69 billion agreed upon through an informal arrangement between McCarthy and the White House. As a compromise, lawmakers would accelerate $10 billion in cuts to I.R.S. enforcement and reclaim $6 billion in unspent COVID funds and other emergency allocations. The agreed framework does not include the additional $14 billion requested by Senate appropriators from Republican and Democratic sides for increased domestic and military spending.
    “By securing the $772.7 billion for nondefense discretionary funding, we can protect key domestic priorities like veterans’ benefits, health care, and nutrition assistance from the draconian cuts sought by right-wing extremists,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement.
    Describing it as a “favorable arrangement for Democrats and the nation,” Schumer and Jeffries, stressed the necessity for a bipartisan approach in Congress to “prevent an expensive and disruptive shutdown.”
    In a communication to his GOP colleagues, House Speaker Mike Johnson highlighted the Republicans’ achievement in securing spending reductions, particularly the additional money from the I.R.S. He argued that the outcome translates to tangible savings for American taxpayers and genuine reductions in the federal bureaucracy.
    Although Johnson hailed the agreement as a favorable spending deal for Republicans, he acknowledged that the final spending levels “may not satisfy everyone and do not achieve as much spending reduction as many would prefer.”
    Biden acknowledged that the deal “offers a pathway” to fund the government without significant cuts. He urged Congressional Republicans to fulfill their responsibilities, cease government shutdown threats, and allocate funding for critical domestic and national security priorities, including his supplemental request for Ukraine and Israel.
    With the initial deadline for passing four spending bills on Jan. 19, securing an overall agreement on total funding is just the initial phase of avoiding a shutdown. A subsequent deadline for finalizing the remaining eight appropriations bills, including the one for the Pentagon, looms on Feb. 2.

  • Newswire: Black man who spent 44 years in prison before he was exonerated gets record $25M settlement

    
Ronnie Long stands in a hallway at the Albemarle Correctional Institution east of Charlotte, N.C., in 2007.Peter Weinberger / The Charlotte Observer via AP file

    By Minyvonne Burke, NBC News

     


    A Black North Carolina man who spent 44 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of raping a prominent white woman has been awarded a historic $25 million settlement more than three years after he was exonerated. 
    Ronnie Long, 68, settled his civil lawsuit with the city of Concord, about 25 miles northeast of Charlotte, for $22 million, the city said in a news release Tuesday. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation had previously settled for $3 million, according to Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic. 
    The clinic, which represented Long, said the settlement is the second largest wrongful conviction settlement recorded. 
    “It’s, obviously, a celebratory day today knowing that Ronnie’s going to have his means met for the rest of his life with this settlement. It’s been a long road to get to this point so that’s a great outcome,” clinical professor Jamie Lau, Long’s criminal attorney, said in a phone interview Tuesday. 
    “Have we found justice in this case? Absolutely not. No amount of money will ever compensate Ronnie for all that he lost, but this is a big step forward for him,” Lau said.
    The city also issued a rare public apology to Long. 
    “We are deeply remorseful for the past wrongs that caused tremendous harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends and our community. Mr. Long suffered the extraordinary loss of his freedom and a substantial portion of his life because of this conviction,” the city said. “He wrongly served 44 years, 3 months and 17 days in prison for a crime he did not commit.” 
    “While there are no measures to fully restore to Mr. Long and his family all that was taken from them, through this agreement we are doing everything in our power to right the past wrongs and take responsibility,” the apology continued. “We are hopeful this can begin the healing process for Mr. Long and our community, and that together we can move forward while learning valuable lessons and ensuring nothing like this ever happens again.”
    Sonya Pfeiffer, one of Long’s civil attorneys, said a public apology was a part of Long’s settlement demand.
    “All of us on Ronnie’s team were very pleased with the responsiveness by the city of Concord. He also got a private apology, a direct apology, which was meaningful too,” Pfeiffer said. 
    Chris Olson, another civil attorney for Long, said the settlement was “significant” and important “after this horror of four decades.”
    Long was convicted by an all-white jury on Oct. 1, 1976, after he was accused of raping a white woman. He was 21 when he was sentenced to life in prison, NBC affiliate WCNC of Charlotte reported. 
    His attorneys detailed numerous issues with his trial, beginning with jury selection. They said that before jury summonses were issued, the chief of police and the sheriff had removed nearly all of the Black potential jurors, his attorneys said. 
    They said there was no physical evidence tying Long to the rape and burglary and he did not match the original description of the suspect — a “yellow or really light-skinned Black male.” A rape kit collected at the hospital and provided to Concord police went missing and has never been found, Long’s attorneys said. 
    They said the prosecution’s main piece of evidence was the victim identifying Long weeks after the attack and it was “the product of a suggestive identification procedure arranged by the police to target Long.”
    There were also numerous pieces of evidence from the scene, including suspect hair and 43 fingerprints, that could have helped exonerate him, according to his attorneys. The evidence, which they said did not belong to Long, was tested by investigators but not disclosed. The attorneys also accused Concord police officers of giving false testimony about the evidence at Long’s trial. 
    The Concord Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. 
    In February 2020, Long appealed his case. That year the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled 9-6 that his due process rights were violated at trial and remanded the case to the district court to decide whether he was innocent, the Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic said. 
    In August 2020, the court overturned his conviction and he was released on Aug. 27, 2020. Gov. Roy Cooper pardoned him four months later, WCNC reported. The following year, the state paid him $750,000. 
    Since his release, Long has put part of his settlement from the State Bureau of Investigation toward helping criminal justice reform, Lau said. He has been “trying to figure out modern society,” according to his attorney, and spending time with his family, including his wife whom he married while in prison, and a son from a relationship before his sentencing. 
    Long and his attorneys hope his case becomes an example of how others should be handled. 
    “One thing he recognizes is that he’s in a position of power now where he’s achieved a record settlement financially so that sets the bar for others,” Pfeiffer said. “If that could be the gold standard for all of these cases, that may be the closest that exonerees get to justice.”