The Negro Leagues baseball league that helped spark integration of professional sports in the U.S. is honored on two commemorative U.S. postage stamps. The first stamp highlights a play at the plate; the second features the league's founder, Andrew "Rube" Foster. Meanwhile, a fundraising campaign is under way to create an education and research center named after Buck O'Neil, the longtime ambassador of Negro Leagues baseball. O'Neil died in 2006 at age 94.
Black farmers suffer setbackWASHINGTON – Black farmers, due $1.2 billion for a legacy of discrimination by the Agriculture Department, suffered a new and disheartening setback this week, despite the national spotlight provided by the quickly disavowed firing of a black department worker. The Senate refused again to pay the bill. Opponents say it is a question of where the money would come from, and that is a major issue with an election nearing and voters up in arms about federal spending. Even the attention the Shirley Sherrod case brought to the issue of discrimination at the Agriculture Department could not bring lawmakers together on a deal. Instead, Republicans and Democrats alike proclaimed support for the funding, while blaming the other side for not getting anything done. The result: Thousands of black farmers and Indian landowners will keep waiting for checks that most lawmakers agree should have been written years ago. Protesters rally in death, dragging of black man Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said Saturday about 70 people had gathered for a march called by the New Black Panther Party, but that number grew 200 at the courthouse square where party members made speeches. Foster said no arrests were made. New Black Panther president Malik Zulu Shabazz wants federal authorities to investigate the June 2 death of 30-year-old Anthony Hill as a hate crime. Police have charged Gregory Collins, 19, with murder. Investigators say Hill was shot to death and then was dragged 11 miles behind a truck. School busing policy leads to arrests in N.C. The protesters held hands, locked arms and chanted against resegregation, refusing to leave the podium in the meeting room. More than a dozen officers intervened and took the protesters to a Division of Prisons inmate transfer bus. During the incident, school board member Keith Sutton was briefly caught in a scuffle between protesters and police. Earlier in the afternoon, the head of North Carolina's NAACP chapter was one of three people arrested at the Wake County Schools building before the meeting started. Katrina victims to get $16.25 million hospital Landrieu announced that the city will purchase the Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital site for $16.25 million. "It has been nearly five years since Hurricane Katrina, and it is shameful that more than 80,000 residents
still have to drive up to 30 minutes to an emergency room," Landrieu said. "This is a matter of life and death. That's why I've been so focused on putting together a plan that will give the people of the East a quality, full-service hospital as quickly as possible." I-75 in Kentucky renamed 'Tuskegee Airmen Trail' Gov. Steve Beshear joined local leaders in Frankfort to unveil a memorial naming the 191-mile section of I-75 that passes through Kentucky in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, America's first black fighter pilot group in World War II. Beshear says the memorial will honor the the soldiers "brave commitment to the safety and freedom of our nation." Fisk University wins top science award The school won an R&D 100 Award for the third time. The award is sponsored by R&D magazine. Fisk is the only historically black institution to ever win the award, school officials say. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, research of crystal growth has been under way at Fisk for approximately 25 years. Name of Klan founder removed from dorm The residence hall named after William Stewart Simkins will now be known as Creekside Residence Hall, University of Texas regents announced after a unanimous vote to remove Simkins' name. The two-story brick building was built in the 1950s. Simkins, who was a Confederate colonel, helped organize the Klan in Florida after the Civil War. He taught law at the university from 1899-1929 and gave speeches and wrote papers promoting the Klan and terrorizing blacks. Regents also voted to change the name of Simkins Park, a small green space next to the dorm named after Simkins' brother, Eldred Simkins, who served on the university board from 1882-1896.
Six officers indicted in post-Katrina killings(New Orleans NNPA) – Six New Orleans police officers are facing federal civil rights charges in the shooting deaths of two unarmed civilians and shootings of four other residents during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The Justice Department indicted the six officers on charges of federal civil rights law violations and a subsequent cover-up in the fatal shootings of Ronald Madison, 40, and 17-year-old James Brisette. Four members of Brisette’s family also were shot. Four officers – Robert Faulcon, Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso – are in jail on homicide and obstruction of justice charges in the shootings that occurred minutes apart along the Danziger Bridge. If convicted, they could face the death penalty. Two police department supervisors Arthur Kaufman and the now-retired Gerard Dugue are charged with participating in a cover-up to make the shootings look justified. Charges against them include obstruction of justice. Kaufman faces up to 120 years in prison and Dugue could get 70 years in prison. The officers had responded to the Danziger Bridge days after the hurricane hit following reports of looting and shots fired at other officers. According to the Justice Department, Brisette and five members of the Bartholomew family were walking across the bridge to get food and other supplies from a grocery store when the officers began shooting. Brisette was killed and four other people were wounded. Minutes later, the officers then allegedly shot at two brothers, including Madison, who was mentally disabled, and officer Bowen allegedly kicked the man repeatedly. The officers contended they fired in self-defense. But Justice Department officials say the victims were shot without cause. According to the department, a gun was planted at the scene and fictional witnesses were created as part of a cover-up. Civil rights activists applauded the federal grand jury indictments. “Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama administration deserve a lot of credit,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League and a former New Orleans mayor. “That investigation had been stalled and many of us worried that it would be swept under the rug,”he said. “These are a very important set of charges that demonstrates that this administration cares about the issue of police brutality.” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that his department is working with officials in New Orleans to restore residents’ trust in the police department. “Put simply, we will not tolerate wrongdoing by those who are sworn to protect the public,” Holder said. Danatus King, president of the New Orleans Chapter of the NAACP, said the New Orleans community has known for a while about credibility problems surrounding the police department.
Social fight for freedom still unfulfilled, Michelle Obama tells NAACP delegatesBy Hazel Trice Edney KANSAS CITY – Those who struggled, bled and died fighting for freedom and racial equality during the civil rights movement left a legacy that remains unfulfilled, First Lady Michelle Obama told delegates at the NAACP’s annual convention this week.
“I know that I stand here today – and I know that my husband stands where he is today – because of this organization and because of the struggles and the sacrifices of all those who came before us,” Obama said during a passionate speech punctuated with spirited applause. “But I also know that their legacy isn’t an entitlement to be taken for granted,” she added. “And I know it is not simply a gift to be enjoyed. Instead, it is an obligation to be fulfilled.” Obama said caring for the health, education and welfare of the nation’s Black children should be one of Black America’s primary goals. “When so many of our children still attend crumbling schools, and a Black child is still far more likely to go to prison than a White child, I think the founders of this organization would agree that our work is not yet done,” Obama said. “When African-American communities are still hit harder than just about anywhere by this economic downturn, and so many families are just barely scraping by, I think the founders would tell us that now is not the time to rest on our laurels. “When stubborn inequalities still persist – in education and health, in income and wealth – I think those founders would urge us to increase our intensity, and to increase our discipline and our focus and keep fighting for a better future for our children and our grandchildren.” Obama, who grew up in a working class neighborhood in Chicago, said one of her foremost issues as First Lady is fighting childhood obesity, which often results from economic inequities. “And that’s why I really wanted to come here today; because I wanted to talk with you about an issue that I believe cries out for our attention – one that is of particular concern to me, not just as First Lady, but as a mother who believes that we owe it to our kids to prepare them for the challenges that we know lie ahead. And that issue is the epidemic of childhood obesity in America today,” she said. “Just like with so many other challenges that we face as a nation, the African American community is being hit even harder by this issue,” she said. “African-American children are significantly more likely to be obese than are White children. Nearly half of African-American children will develop diabetes at some point in their lives. People, that’s half of our children.” Even as illnesses that derive from obesity such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, mental and emotional health and low self-esteem issues can result in economic crisis for many families, that crisis also costs the nation, Obama pointed out. “And we’re already spending billions of dollars in this country a year to treat these conditions,” she said. “And that number is only going to go up when these unhealthy children reach adulthood.” “So we need to take this issue seriously, as seriously as improving under-achieving schools, as seriously as eliminating youth violence or stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS or any of the other issues that we know are devastating our communities,” she said. She illustrated the problem with statistics that the audience easily recognized: “Studies have found that African-American children spend an average of nearly six hours a day watching TV – and that every extra hour of TV they watch is associated with the consumption of an additional 167 calories,” she said. Drawing laughter from the audience as she pulled examples from her own life, she appealed for parents to put vegetables on every plate; limit treats like sodas, and cut back on sweets. “Surely the men and women of the NAACP haven’t spent a century organizing and advocating and working day and night only to raise the first generation in history that might be on track to live shorter lives than their parents.” Obama has planted a garden on the South Lawn of the White House and launched a “Let’s Move” campaign to promote exercise. She recommended that parents and children visit the new website, Letsmove.gov. The movement must start with self-example, she said. “Believe it or not, if you’re obese, there’s a 40 percent chance that your kids will be obese as well. And if you… and the child’s other parent are obese, that number jumps to 80 percent,” she said. At the end of the day, the entire civil rights movement was about providing a brighter future for our children, Obama said. Whether it was fighting for a better economic lifestyle or better health, it was all about wanting “something better for their children and for their grandchildren. That’s why they did it,” she concluded. “And in the end, that’s what has driven this organization since its founding.”
Black students closing gap on state testsWASHINGTON – Black students have made gains on state reading and math tests and have narrowed achievement gaps with white students since the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law took effect in 2002, according to a new study from the Center on Education Policy (CEP). The percentages of African American students scoring at the proficient level on state reading and math tests have increased since 2002, the report shows. For example, 31 of the 36 states with sufficient data showed gains for African Americans in grade 4 reading, and 32 of 36 states posted gains for Black students in grade 4 math. African Americans also have narrowed achievement gaps with white students in both reading and math at grades 4, 8, and the tested high school grade in most states. The center – an independent advocate for public education and better schools – analyzed 2008 state test results, as well as trends since 2002 in the Black-white achievement gap. The findings were drawn from test data from all 50 states. The report’s findings, however, were not all good. Despite modest gains, achievement gaps remain large, the report shows, and Black students as a group are not achieving at the levels needed for success beyond high school. “The test score gains and the narrowing of the achievement gap by African-American students are encouraging,” said the center’s president and CEO, Jack Jennings. “But, we still have a serious problem on our hands because African-American students are too often the lowest scoring group of students.” African American students as a group often had the lowest performance among racial/ethnic groups on 2008 state tests at grades 4, 8, and the high school grade assessed for No Child Left Behind. This pattern was evident in states with the greatest numbers of African American students, the report shows, as well as many other states. African American students often were the lowest-performing group in the nine states with the highest number of African-American test-takers. These states, which together enroll more than half of the nation’s African American test-takers, include Georgia, Texas, Florida, New York, California, Illinois, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Michigan. States in which African Americans were the lowest-performing group tended to have a relatively large share of students attending African-American-isolated public schools, the report shows. “These findings suggest that the greatest problem is in racially isolated schools,” Jennings said. “We must concentrate on improving those schools, and we should also return to the goal of reducing racial segregation in the schools.” Possible policy actions for raising test scores for Black students include improving course offerings and instruction in schools with high concentrations of African American students and distributing effective teachers more equitably to these schools, the report suggested. Other actions might include improving the cultural awareness of teachers of African American students, reducing racial and economic segregation in the educational system, and addressing a variety of out-of-school factors that affect learning.
Black high school drop-out rate rises among blacksBy Gregory Dale New data from the U.S. Department of Education reveals that black students continue to drop out of high school at a much higher rate than whites and nearly 40 percent fail to earn a high school diploma on time. According to the report, 234,121 white students in the United States dropped out of high school in 2008, the most recent year for which data was available, comprising 2.8 percent of all white students enrolled in public high schools. That same year, there were 159,407 black students who dropped out of high school, totaling 6.7 percent of all black public high school students. The report also found that, nationwide, just fewer than 75 percent of all students received high school diplomas within four years. That number ranged from 91 percent for Asian and Pacific Islander students and 81 percent for white students, to 63.5 percent for Hispanic students and 61.5 percent for black students. “Today’s report confirms that our nation faces a dropout crisis. When 25 percent of our students—and almost 40 percent of our black and Hispanic students—fail to graduate [from] school on time, we know that too many of our schools are failing to offer their students a world-class education,” Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education said in a statement. American Indians and Alaska Natives had the highest dropout rate at 7.3 percent, while Asian and Pacific Islanders had the lowest at 2.4 percent. The dropout rate for Hispanics was 6 percent. In Maryland, statewide aggregate data for the class of 2006 showed there were 10,000 more first graders than graduating students; 19,000 more 9th graders than graduating seniors and 3,000 more 12th graders than graduating seniors. The dropout crisis has been an ongoing issue in the United States. A study released by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston and the Alternative Schools Network in Chicago on May 5, 2009 stated that, “America is currently in the throes of a persistent high school dropout crisis that has been a long time in the making, with substantial disparities in dropout rates across race, ethnic and income groups and geographic areas.” That report found that in 2007, 16 percent of people between the ages of 16 and 24 are high school dropouts, with a wide majority being men and more than 18 percent of them black. “I believe that improving our nation’s graduation rate is absolutely essential to the future of our economy and the future of our nation,” Duncan said in a statement. “I look forward to working with educators across America to raise graduation rates and improve the lives of millions of high school students.”
Witnesses: Law against racial profiling neededBy Larry Margasak He was patted down. His bag was searched. And then the security officer went through his prized possessions: his first ``Elmo’’ book, his second ``Elmo’’ book, his mini-mail truck. Azaad, whose name means ``freedom,’’ is an American and a Sikh. Azaad’s father, Amardeep Singh, told a hearing in the House of Representatives on Thursday that he is unsure how he will one day explain to Azaad why he and his Sikh family seems always to need extra screening. The House Judiciary civil rights subcommittee is exploring potential legislation to stop racial profiling. Witnesses proposed that Congress require studies to document how often particular groups of victims are stopped or arrested and whether they were threats to the United States. Legislation also should provide for legal redress for those who were wronged. Witnesses told the committee that profiling remains a national problem for black Americans; Hispanics are increasingly victims, especially in states and communities that have cracked down on illegal immigrants; and, since Sept. 11, 2001, Muslims and Sikhs have been regularly targeted. Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the civil rights group has more than 2,200 membership units in every state, ``and I would wager that every NAACP unit has, at some point, received at least one complaint of racial profiling. Many NAACP units report receiving hundreds, if not thousands, of complaints.’’ ``It’s not fair. It’s not safe. It’s not American,’’ said Singh, who was returning from a family vacation in Mexico two months ago when the incident occurred in Fort Lauderdale. He is director of programs of The Sikh Coalition, a civil rights organization to quash violations of Sikhs’ constitutional rights. He testified wearing a traditional Sikh turban. The police chief of Salt Lake City, Chris Burbank, said profiling will only get worse in communities where police are required to enforce immigration laws. ``By increasing our role in civil immigration action, state and local law enforcement is placed in the untenable position of potentially engaging in unconstitutional racial profiling, while attempting to maintain trust within the communities we protect,’’ Burbank said. ``Officers are forced to detain and question individuals for looking or speaking differently from the majority, not for their criminal behavior. How is a police officer to determine status without detaining and questioning anyone who speaks, looks or acts as if they might be from another nation?’’ A Utah law that takes effect July 1 allows local police officers to enforce federal immigration law. |
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