Greene County Democrat

Category: Sports

  • School system and Children’s Policy Council hold Tie Tying Ceremony for 9th Grade Academy

    The Greene County School System held its second annual Tie Tying Ceremony for the students entering the 9th Grade Academy. This event commenced last year with the formation of the Academy to high light the students’ Rites of Passage from Middle School to High School. The Academy is designed to give special attention to students as they transition and prepare for college and career. The designated attire of navy blue jackets, white shirts and ties identifies the 9th grade students as they pursue their academic mission. The ceremony was co-sponsored by the Greene County Children’s Policy Council, where District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne is President. The CPC also donated the ties for the students. School officials and community leaders volunteered to teach and assist the students in the tie tying process.

  • “#DayWithoutAWoman”: for domestic and low-wage workers, the stakes are higher than ever

    By: Ai-Jen Poo, Glamour Magazine

    dayw_owomen

    On March 8 women from every part of the country and the economy will rise together to participate in #DayWithoutAWoman, also known as the Women’s Strike. A follow-up to the historic Women’s March on January 21, #DayWithoutAWoman will fall on International Women’s Day, which honors the social, political, and economic contributions of women globally.

    I sometimes ask domestic workers to imagine what would happen if every nanny, house cleaner, and home care worker in the country decided to go on strike for one day. I ask them to reflect on all the children, seniors, and families who would be touched, and then to think about how those families’ workplaces would be affected—the business people, lawyers, and doctors, all the people who couldn’t work because no one was there to support their needs. The response to this question is often quiet concern for the people they work for, followed by animated banter as they imagine chaos in all the households trying to manage without them. Though society doesn’t value care and cleaning in the home as “real” work, the workers themselves know that their daily work is important, even fundamental.
    Until now, I haven’t posed the question of “a day without domestic workers” in preparation for an actual strike. I’ve asked because it’s rare that we as women, particularly women whose wages are never quite enough to pay the bills, ever think about our collective power in the economy, much less what we could achieve if we directed that power collectively. But in this new political era, it’s time that women do more than simply recognize our power—we must organize it.
    On March 8 women from every part of the country and the economy will rise together to participate in #DayWithoutAWoman, also known as the Women’s Strike. A follow-up to the historic Women’s March on January 21, #DayWithoutAWoman will fall on International Women’s Day, which honors the social, political, and economic contributions of women globally. Originally named International Working Women’s Day back in 1909, March 8 highlights how women’s work—paid and unpaid—drives the economy worldwide. There is a long, yet little-known, history of global women’s activism on this day. For example, on March 8, 1975, the Icelandic women’s strike set the stage for the election of the first woman president in the world, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.
    At its heart, a strike is an action that workers take to disrupt “business as usual.” Strikes both shine a light on injustice and demonstrate—to the strikers and to everyone else—the collective power to change the status quo. If ever there were a time for women to throw a wrench in things, it’s now. We are nearly half of the entire workforce. And we still provide more than 70 percent of the unpaid family care in the United States. We are also a majority of the consumer base (over 70 percent) in this country. It’s our work and our dollars that create wealth for the winners in this economy—from Uber to Walmart.
    As much as some of us may like our jobs, we still face pay inequity, lack of respect, discrimination, and harassment, and lack of access to opportunity for advancement and security. At a time when we should be making progress at light speed on all of these issues, we face powerful opposition, from the government to society at large.
    For women in low-wage jobs like domestic work, the stakes are higher than ever. Women make up two-thirds of the nearly 20 million workers in low-wage jobs—defined as jobs that typically pay $10.10 per hour or less, according to a report from the National Women’s Law Center. Women of color are disproportionately concentrated in low-wage jobs; nearly half of all women in the low-wage workforce are women of color. Home care jobs, for example, are the fastest growing occupation in the economy today, and are overwhelmingly dominated by women, disproportionately women of color and immigrants. Their median annual income? $13,000 per year.
    It’s time for #DayWithoutAWoman. Women from all walks of life will be participating—and there are many ways to participate. Organizers are calling on us to choose among three options: Don’t work, don’t buy things, and wear red. Domestic workers will be participating by wearing red to work. As is the case with many low-wage workers who lack job security, most domestic workers cannot afford to take a day off, or they could risk losing their jobs if they do.
    Those who can take the day off will join restaurant workers, retail workers, and others for the Women Workers Rising solidarity rally at the Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. They will call for fairness in our economy, beginning with the most vulnerable (and increasingly targeted) among us, including poor women, transgender women, women with disabilities, and Black, Muslim and immigrant women. They will be joined by women in more than 40 countries worldwide.
    Each one of these actions helps tell the story of the unrealized power we as women hold to shape our our society. When we don’t work, our absence has a ripple effect, because our work is critical to every sector of the economy and should never be taken for granted. When we don’t shop, businesses suffer. Let Wednesday be the day that we find each other (look for the red!) and commit to acting in solidarity. We can leverage our untapped power to take back our democracy and make our economy work for women—and our loved ones—once and for all.
    Ai-jen Poo is the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and codirector of the Caring Across Generations campaign.

  • Immigrant rights advocates hold rally against Jeff Sessions in front of his Birmingham office


    On Saturday, January 14, 2016, the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ACIJ) supported by other organizations held a rally on the steps of the Vance Federal Building in Birmingham, Alabama to protest Trump’s nomination of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions to become the U. S. Attorney General.

    200 protestors gathered on the street in front of the building, which houses Jeff Sessions district office. The protestors held signs with quotes from Jeff Sessions showing his bias against immigrants, children were dressed with butterfly wings and a giant puppet of Trump with a red hat with the words “Make America Alabama Again!” on it.

    Several speakers, who were hard working immigrants, who had been in Alabama for many years spoke out about Jeff Sessions support for Alabama’s draconian HB56 anti-immigration law. Parts of the law have been challenged and beaten in the courts but the law was the strictest in the nation and forced many undocumented immigrants to flee the state. Speakers addressed their fears that if Sessions is confirmed as U. S. Attorney General that he will support policies that will lead to the deportation of many more immigrants and break up families who have been in this country for many years.

    Several of the speakers were young people who were brought to this country as children by their parents and who participated in President Obama’s DACA program which allowed them to go to college and to work without fear of deportation. These young people are often referred to as “dreamers” because they fought so hard for this program to grow up and become educated and productive U. S. citizens.

    One young lady on the DACA program said, “ I came to this country at three years old. I have lived in Alabama as long as I can remember. I am a participant in the DACA program. I am going to college here in Birmingham and I am fearful of the future if Jeff Sessions becomes Attorney General. I am an Alabamian and I want to live here and contribute to society and my community here. I am undocumented and fear what President Trump assisted by Attorney General Sessions will do to me to end my dreams.”

    Other speakers spoke to Senator Sessions voting record in the U. S. Senate in opposition to voting rights, civil rights, womens rights, labor rights and many basic rights enjoyed by people in this country.

  • New Phone Listing for the Greene County School System

    New Phone Listing for the Greene County School System

    The contact numbers for the Greene County Board of Education are:

    205-372-4030
    205-372-3109
    205-372-2101
    Greene County High School – 205-372-2052
    Robert Brown Middle School 

    ( Grade 4-6)   Fredrick Square – 205-372-3269
    (Grade 7-8)    Barbara Martin – 205-372-9021

    Eutaw Primary School – 205-372-1051

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

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

     

  • Jim Brown and Ray Lewis, former NFL players meet with President-elect Trump

     

    By Des Bieler , Washington Post

    Jim Brown and Ray Lewis.jpgJim Brown and Ray Lewis speak with reporters at Trump Tower. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

    Trump Tower was the scene of NFL royalty Tuesday, as Ray Lewis and Jim Brown met with the president-elect at his New York transition offices. After the meeting, Lewis spoke of addressing urgent economic conditions, saying, “Black or white is irrelevant.”
    Trump, who has been criticized for racially insensitive comments and policy positions, also met Tuesday with pop star Kanye West and former “Apprentice” contestant Omarosa Manigault. “I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future president if we truly want change,” West subsequently tweeted.
    “Urban development and job creation are everything,” Lewis, a former star linebacker for the Ravens, told reporters after his meeting. “What we believe with the Trump administration is if we can combine these two powers of coming together — forget black or white. Black or white is irrelevant. The bottom line is job creation and economic development in these urban areas to change the whole scheme of what our kids see.”
    “I fell in love with him because he really talks about helping African American, black people and that’s why I’m here,” Brown said on CNN after his meeting. At Trump Tower, he told reporters that he hadn’t voted for Trump, but that “we couldn’t have had a better meeting.”
    “The graciousness, the intelligence, the reception we got was fantastic,” Brown said. Brown, a Hall of Famer widely regarded as the greatest running back in NFL history, said he talked to Trump about, among other things, his Amer-I-Can Program, which helps teach life skills to people struggling with poverty.
    Lewis said that, because of the program, “we have 30,000 to 40,000 former gang members who’ve changed their lives.” He also said (via the Baltimore Sun) that he thought Ben Carson was a good pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

  • How Did African Americans Fare In The Obama Era?

    Many say the first Black president didn’t do enough to improve the lives of African Americans.

    Written By Nigel Roberts

    president-obama-copy-3

     President Barack Obama
    Many African-Americans have expressed disappointment in President Barack Obama, even those who voted whole-heartedly for him twice.
    In an October interview, Sean “Diddy” Combs, in an interview on Politics Nation with Al Sharpton, said the Black community “got a little bit shortchanged.”
    He explained it this way: “I feel like we put President Obama in the White House, and when I look back I just wanted more done for my people. Because, that’s the name of the game, this is politics.”
    Here are a few gauges in evaluating how African-Americans fared under the Obama presidency.
    Sense of well-being
    First, are African-Americans really disappointed in the performance of the first Black president? Gallup and Healthways asked Americans to rate their current and future lives throughout his presidency. Researchers found that Americans of all races who say they are thriving have increased. African-Americans’ life evaluations improved nearly 13 points from 2008 to 2010. However, it declined during Obama’s second term, now registering below other races.
    “These results dovetail with Blacks’ collective sentiment that Obama has not done enough to improve Black Americans’ standard of living,” the researchers concluded.

    •Income/Wealth
    Wages remained stagnant for nearly all Americans during the economic recovery. CNN Money reported that income dropped to $33,926 in the period of 2009 to 2011, but then rebounded to $35,398 by 2014. African-Americans were hit particularly hard during the Great Recession, with many falling into poverty. By 2011, the poverty rate within the Black community reached 27.6 percent, which was almost 2 percent higher than when Obama took office. In recent years, it has fallen to 26.2 percent.
    Meanwhile, the wealth gap grew between Black and White Americans during the Obama presidency. The Pew Research Center, based on an analysis of Federal Reserve data, found that family wealth was eight times higher for Whites than Blacks in 2010 and ballooned to 13 times greater in 2013.

    Education
    The academic achievement gap between Black and White students remains stubbornly high. In fact, for many decades Black students have lagged significantly behind their White counterparts on just about all academic measures. However, in October the White House announced that the high school graduation rate reached a record level for all students in the 2014-2015 school year. African-American students made strides toward on-time graduation, increasing by 8 percent since the 2010-2011 school year.

    Unemployment
    The high unemployment rate among Black youths was shuffled around like a political tennis ball, some would say exploited, during the 2016 campaign season. However, CNN Money reported that the unemployment rate in two categories—teens and those 16 to 24—declined more than half during the Obama administration.
    For Black teens, the unemployment rate reached a high of 48.9 percent in Sept. 2010. For job seekers 16 to 24, the unemployment rate spiked to 32.5 percent in Jan. 2010. While still high, the jobless rates dropped this year to 23.3 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively.

    Healthcare
    Access to health care improved significantly for African-Americans, thanks of course to President Obama’s signature policy, the Affordable Care Act. According to White House.gov, since open enrollment in 2013, more than 3 million uninsured African-Americans obtained coverage, reducing the percentage of Blacks who lack health care by more than half during the Obama presidency.

  • ‘Loving’ star Ruth Negga on why interracial couples aren’t a statement “They just wanted to be in love.”

     

    Zeba BlayVoices Culture Writer, The Huffington Post

     

    The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a Virginia law banning marriage between African Americans and Caucasians was unconstitutional, thus nullifying similar statues in 15 other states. The decision came in a case involving Richard Perry Loving, a white construction worker and his African American wife, Mildred. The couple married in the District of Columbia in 1958 and were arrested upon their return to their native Caroline County, Virginia. They were given one year suspended sentences on condition that they stay out of the state for 25 years. The Lovings decided in 1963 to return home and fight banishment, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.
    This image released by Focus Features shows Ruth Negga, right, and Joel Edgerton in a scene from, “Loving.” (Focus Features via AP)

    Joel Edgertgon and Ruth Negga as Richard and Mildred Loving in “Loving.”

     

    She isn’t flashy or overemotional, but rather ignites the screen with a quiet gravitas. She plays the soft-spoken Mildred Loving, a Black and Native American woman who took on the state of Virginia in 1967 for the right to stay married to her husband Richard Loving, who was white. The couple had been sentenced to a year in prison for violating Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924. At the time of the case, a total of 16 states had similar laws, known as “anti-miscegenation” laws.

    Because of the Lovings and their landmark case, Loving vs. Virginia, the laws banning interracial marriage across the South were struck down, deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. And yet, despite a 1996 TV movie and a stellar 2011 documentary by Nancy Buirski, the Lovings and their story are still widely unknown.  The real Mildred and Richard Loving, after the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a Virginia law banning marriage between African Americans and Caucasians was unconstitutional.

    That’s all about to change with “Loving,” written and directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Negga opposite Joel Edgerton as Richard Loving. The film has been building up steady buzz since it premiered at Cannes in May, and various outlets have described it as “Oscar bait.” But it is so much more than that.

    At its heart is Ruth Negga, an Ethiopian-Irish actress known for small roles in films like “World War Z” and “The Samaritan” and a current role on AMCs “Preacher.” Negga is poised for superstardom and accolades thanks to her performance in the film, out Friday, but the 35-year-old actress is far more concerned with making sure the Lovings’ legacy is recognized.

    In a conversation with Negga earlier this week, the actress expounded upon the power of the Loving story, the absurdity of racism, and making space for other actresses of color:

    It’s wild that the Lovings made such an impact on so many lives with their case, and yet very few people are aware of their story. Did you know about the Lovings prior to joining this film?

    I knew about the Supreme Court case, but I didn’t know about the couple behind it until I came upon Mildred’s obituary [a few years ago], which I found deeply emotional. When I auditioned for Jeff he gave me the documentary by Nancy Buirski, and I watched it and I just fell in love with this couple.

    I’ve known about the history [of anti-miscegenation laws], but it’s still quite shocking to watch old footage and hear people give reasons for that racism as if they’re being totally logical. It made me so angry. None of it made sense. None of it. I remember thinking, what’s so terrifying about us? That these laws were made? I thought, “This is a story that really needs to be told.”

    Were you at all daunted by the idea of playing someone like Mildred Loving? Someone so important, but so little known? Did you feel an added responsibility to “get it right?”

    I was daunted, but I wasn’t daunted to the point where I didn’t want to do it. I think I was really propelled by my own need to see people like that on a screen. My own need to see a story like this being told. My own personal need to see people like me on the screen. That became stronger than my fear, which I’m glad about. I felt like I was the right age, had the right spirit. I felt a confidence that I hadn’t felt before. And it wasn’t that I had this huge super ego about it. It was that I felt this was the right story at the right time and I knew I would work hard. I knew I’d have the graft to do her justice.

    What’s so powerful about this story is how ordinary the Lovings were, despite the huge impact that they made. But there’s this idea that interracial relationships are somehow always about making some sort of statement, or that just by virtue of being in an interracial relationship a couple has “solved” racism. What do you think of that? 

    We deify most leaders of any movement because they’re super charismatic and they have this sort of glow, they’re really good orators. This couple wasn’t. And yet they were equally as charismatic and compelling, in a very quiet way. They weren’t making a statement, they just wanted to be in love.

    I think it’s kind of uncomfortable that anyone would accuse a relationship of being a maneuver. I find it very difficult that we still ask people in these relationships to explain themselves, constantly.

    This couple wasn’t giving an “F U” to the establishment. This wasn’t an act of defiance. It was about, “I want to raise my family where I want to. I want to legitimize the rights of my children.” But I do think that the deeper involved they got in this movement, Mildred realized the deep unfairness of this, and that it wasn’t just going to effect her it was going to effect other couples. She felt that that was a good thing if that was the fall out of their struggle. It’s such a complex situation.

    The Lovings have both passed, but they have one surviving daughter: Peggy Loving Fortune. Were you able to connect with her at all? 

    Yeah she was on set with us quite often. We had talks. It’s private. I don’t really want to share our chats because she’s quite a private woman as well. Maybe I should have asked her more questions, maybe I could have asked her more questions, but I don’t really like asking questions that are unnecessary for the sake of asking questions. It’s showing that you’re being a good student rather than doing the work. The thing with Peggy is that, of course we wanted her a approval. But I think we would have known if she was not happy. I do believe that. Because she’s not a pushover. This is her family. And I think that she wanted to be a true legacy.

     

  • President Obama Talks about the Future of HBCUs, at North Carolina A&T

    By Freddie Allen (NNPA Newswire Managing Editor)

    barackobama_fallen_hires_0155.jpg

    President Obama

      During a recent town hall discussion at North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro, President Barack Obama said that historically Black colleges that are producing engineers, doctors and dentists serve as the foundation stone for building Black middle class wealth and success, and are also important to the entire nation.

    President Obama answered audience questions about the future of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), his signature My Brother’s Keeper initiative and social activism at the event hosted by “The Undefeated,” an ESPN website dedicated to the exploration of sports, race and culture.

    As the nation grows more diverse and educational opportunities that were once off-limits to Blacks are now more available, some have questioned the relevancy of HBCUs.    In 2011, the Obama Administration received sharp criticism after changes in the Federal Direct PLUS loan program, disproportionately affected Black students attending HBCUs, forcing many to either delay their dreams of earning a college degree or abandon them altogether. Three years later, the Department of Education issued updated guidelines that were praised by higher education advocates and included less restrictive credit requirements for the loan program.

    Obama said that the challenge with the Parent PLUS program was that some of the loans offered were “particularly expensive” and left too many students deeply in debt without graduating. “The notion was to try to improve the way in which young people were financing their educations,” said Obama. “Part of the challenge here is to make sure, not just that [students] enroll in college, but that [they] graduate from college.”  Obama said that HBCUs receive $4 billion a year from the federal government and noted that Pell grant funding to HBCUs increased by 150 percent, while he’s been in office. The president also expressed concerns over state-level budget cuts to higher education that have had a significant impact on the financial stability of HBCUs.

    “Unless state legislatures pick up some of this slack, there’s only so much the federal government is going to be able to do to fill the void through loans, because ultimately loans mean debt and it adds up and people can get into trouble,” said Obama. “If you’re really concerned about more resources for HBCUs then you better vote. If you don’t vote, you won’t have any say in the decisions that are made in state capitals or in Congress about the support that you receive.”

    Obama also talked about the future of the My Brother’s Keeper initiative (MBK), a program that was launched to address the unique challenges facing young men and boys of color.

    Obama said that the central principle of (MBK) is to have some adult who is taking interest in the young men, “to have somebody that is showing them here’s an alternative here’s a pathway here’s an opportunity that you can seize and you are worth something and you are important and you are a leader.”   Obama added: “It doesn’t take a lot to transform the lives of young men.” MBK has partnered with organizations like the National Basketball Association and major corporations like Sprint have committed to make sure that one million young people have broadband Internet access to start closing that digital gap. Obama said that 250 communities and cities have launched local MBK programs.

    “Some cities are doing better than others, some corporate citizens are investing more than others and we want everybody to get involved,” said Obama.

    When asked about what it takes to manage the challenges of raising a family and a successful career, Obama admitted that balancing professional achievement and family is something that he and the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama have had to wrestle with.

    Managing those responsibilities is particularly burdensome on the mom, said Obama.

    “There’s no doubt that Michelle carried a greater burden than I did, particularly, because the nature of my work required a lot of travel,” said Obama, adding that soon-to-be dads must understand the level of commitment required to balance work and family responsibilities successfully. He said that it was important to understand, that if you’re going to have a real partnership, you have to give and not just take and you have to be there and present at home.

    “On my deathbed I will not remember any bills I passed, I will not remember any speeches I gave, I will not remember getting the Nobel Prize,” said Obama. “What I will remember is holding hands with my daughters and taking them down to a park. That’s one thing I know, that on my deathbed, that is what I will remember and if you approach life with that attitude then you’re going to appropriately invest in what is most important.”

     

  • President Obama defends Colin Kaepernick’s right not to stand for National Anthem at NFL games

    By: Roland Martin NewsOne

     

    colin-kaepernick-takes-a-knee
    SAN DIEGO, CA – SEPTEMBER 1: Eric Reid #35 and Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers kneel on the sideline during the anthem, as free agent Nate Boyer stands, prior to the game against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium on September 1, 2016 in San Diego, California. The 49ers defeated the Chargers 31-21. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)

    Colin Kaepernick joined by teammate Eric Reed take a knee during playing of National Anthem before NFL pre-season game

    President Barack Obama has weighed in on the Colin Kaepernick National Anthem protest controversy and backed the NFL quarterback’s right to protest as being covered under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

    San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, is vowing to sit during the national anthem in protest over police killings of African-Americans. Is he being anti-American by expressing his right to protest which is covered under the First Amendment of the Constitution?

    Despite the endorsement, Kaepernick’s detractors continue to harbor animosity against him.

    During Monday’s edition of NewsOne Now, Roland Martin and his panel of guests discussed the ongoing Kaepernick saga and the protest action that seems to be slowly picking up momentum amongst other pro-athletes after U.S. Women’s Soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who is a lesbian, also took a knee during the National Anthem before a recent soccer match.

    To add to the support, Kaepernick’s football jersey is the top-selling jersey on the NFL’s www.nflshop.com website.

    Martin said Kaepernick’s protest is resonating with many Americans because “he is making a point that is critically important and he’s not some guy who is clueless” on the issues of racism and police brutality.

    Michelle Bernard, President and CEO of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy, said she was disgusted by many of the comments posted on social media by those who do not agree with Kaepernick’s chosen method of protest.             She explained there is a contingent of Americans who have expressed outrage by saying, “How dare you? You make so much money in the NFL, this is not a problem, you shouldn’t be speaking out on this. Take your money, be happy, and this is so unpatriotic.”

    Bernard then refuted those claims: “We live in a country where you are able to speak your mind and if you’re White … not get shot because you’ve done it.”

    Ralph Chittams, Senior Vice Chairman of the Washington, D.C. Republican Party, said Kaepernick is “well within his Constitutional rights. “He has the right to stand, sit, kneel [or] not even come out of the locker room for the National Anthem,” Chittams said. “We’ve gotten to a point in this country where we don’t value dissenting opinions; we demand agreement and uniformity.”

    Bernard added: “The nation pretends that Black men don’t have minds of their own, that they can’t speak and that if you speak on an issue that is important to you, it means that you’re not patriotic and you don’t like the country.”

    Martin reminded viewers Kaepernick is “ticking folks off” because “America never wants to discuss the why of the protest; they only want to discuss the protest.”

    Before delving into the controversy surrounding the football star, Dr. Jason Johnson gave the NewsOne Now audience a little historical context about the Star-Spangled Banner that many may not know.

    In The Root, Dr. Johnson said: The Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key, because he was bitter about the fact that he had lost to a group of Black soldiers and then those same Black soldiers were coming in and trashing Baltimore on behalf of the British.”

    Johnson continued, “The British had offered runaway slaves — if you come and fight for us against the country that enslaved and oppressed you, we will give you your freedom.”

    The whole song, in essence, according to Johnson, “is basically a diss track about a bitter, rich, pro-slavery White man saying ‘I don’t like that Black people are coming for freedom.’”