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The Afro-American, August 3, 2013 - August 9, 2013
August 3, 2013 - August 3, 2013, The Afro-American
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have to step outside the box to capture some ones attention and bring these incidents close to home,” Ross said. During the staged funeral, people were able to see a real hearse pull into their neighborhood with a real, but empty casket inside. “This gave them a feeling of what a funeral looks like,” said Ross. As seven men removed the casket from the hearse, young men and women stood in silence. Derasia Kornell,17, who lives in west Baltimore, said she was shocked to see the casket. “I hope what Pastor Ross did was send a message to kids in my age group that it’s not safe out here,” Kornell said. “This was definitely a reality check,” she told the AFRO. Funeral Director John Williams of John Williams Funeral Home, helped Ross stage the event. “I think having something this dramatic, will hopefully show our young men and women that we care about them,” Williams said. “We are killing ourselves, I don’t think they really understand that death is so final,” Williams told the AFRO. “These children need to know that once you pull that trigger, it could very well be over.” Since moving his church to the inner city, from Baltimore County, less than two years ago, Ross wanted to become more involved in community outreach and helping urban neighborhoods. He forged many relationships that gave him opportunities to help and connect with people in the community. In his efforts to fight against violence, Ross partnered with the Lanvale Towers and Canal
Baltimore’s Plan Courts community, the low-income housing developments near Ross’ place of worship. “We needed a pastor to come to us, since so many of our residents aren’t able to get out of their homes to attend church,” Resource Coordinator, Peggy Demby said. “There is a lot of drug activity in this community, however since having a man of God present, it appears that it slowed down.” Ross said he “wants to turn high crime neighborhoods around.” He said that the senseless killings are constant reminders that if we don’t do something the person in the casket could be anyone. “We all know someone that has fallen victim to street violence,” Ross said. Surrounding the long, oak wood casket people in the community stood in prayer and full of emotions yelling, enough is enough.” Ross said he wanted to show the community that the violence that’s occurring isn’t okay. “Bringing the word of God outside the walls of the church, allows us to reach more people in the community,” he said. “I’m taking my ministry to the streets to show unity.” Over the course of a three-hour demonstration against violence, people in the community, residents and church members were able to listen to music, get free haircuts, manicures, food and face painting for the children. Ross also presented everyone with a sermon based around overcoming obstacles that would in turn “allow us to be stronger people and build stronger communities.” “Too many of our people are dying, and it needs to stop,” said Ross.
Courtesy Photo
Community members, residents and church members listen to the word.
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4 percent. Those new employees will have the option of doling out an additional 2 percent, with the city contributing an additional 1 percent. While the city may benefit, employees are likely to question the change from the current defined benefit plan, which guarantees a specific level of retirement benefit based on years of service and age. “Under the defined benefit plan, the employer bears 100 percent of the risk, but under the other system, both the employer and the employee share the risk,” Black said. City Comptroller Joan Pratt further explained in an emailed response, “The investment decision [for how the retirement funds are invested] rests with each individual member. [Therefore,] each member bears the investment risk because they have to select their own asset allocation, whether it is stocks, bonds, stable value, or some other asset class.” Safety personnel, such as police officers and firefighters, and current city employees are exempt from the new retirement plan. However, they, too, have experienced some version of pension reform, which was started in 2010, Black said. For example, security personnel have to serve for a longer period before they can retire and, in the case of civilian employees, they are now required to contribute toward the fund, which they have not been mandated to do since 1979. Those changes elicited some protests and Black said he expects negative reactions to the 401 (k)-type retirement plan as well. “That’s a natural reaction. Anytime you are talking about making changes you create some level of uneasiness,” he said. But the changes are necessary to shore up the retirement system, which has gone from being 103 percent funded in 2003 to 68 percent funded in 2012, officials said. “If we don’t do anything that number will continue to rise,” Black said, “so it’s important to take these measures now to increase the sustainability and viability of the retirement system.” “What led to the unfunded liability was the financial crisis, the global economic crisis, especially in Europe, the recessionary period, market decline, and [poor] investment returns,” Comptroller Pratt said.
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minority voters. During a speech at the National Urban League’s annual convention Attorney General Eric Holder said that, “the State of Texas should be required to go through a preclearance process whenever it changes its voting laws and practices.” Holder plans to use remaining sections of the law go after states that continue practices that intentionally discriminate against voters. Barbara Arnwine, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said that
uncovering and fighting voter discrimination in the current landscape is a daunting task, but she was encouraged to see how much the Department of Justice is strategizing and positioning itself to be a real force in combating racial discrimination. Kasim Reed, mayor of Atlanta, said that civil rights leaders and voting rights advocates will be doing more education than ever. “While there are a number of adverse tactics being used to undermine the right to vote,” said Reed. “While there are a number of adverse tactics being used to undermine the right to vote, if
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we do our job we will make sure that people maintain access to the ballot.” Reed said that he plans to work with mayors across the nation to form partnerships with civil rights organizations to assist in voter engagement and education. Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said that voters must “be particularly vigilant on proposals in state legislatures when they happen, not when they gain momentum, but when they happen.” Arnwine said that her group will be looking at all the states and plans to conduct
hearings nationwide to assist Congress in obtaining the data that will be necessary to create a new voting map. “[President Obama] is committed to making sure that the right to vote is secure and strong and that he’s also calling on people to do everything they can to protect their right to vote,” said Arnwine. “Ultimately, it’s about what the citizens will do.” Arnwine’s group is part of a larger coalition formed to assist embattled voters around the nation. The Election Protection Website is www.866ourvote.org; telephone, 866-OURVOTE. Panelists on the National Urban League’s Redeem the Dream panel were (l to r) Al Sharpton, Lennox Yearwood, Melanie Campbell, Marc Morial, DeVon Franklin, Barbara Arnwine and Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
The status of Baltimore’s retirement system is not unlike that of other retirement funds all over the country and reflects the economic realities of the times. According to a Pew Charitable Trust study, Baltimore is among “30 cities at the center of the nation’s most populous metropolitan areas “ that are looking at “ $192 billion in unpaid commitments for pensions and other retiree benefits, primarily health care, as of fiscal 2009 and are employing a variety of strategies to address these shortfalls.” The cities are facing a “long-term shortfall
“Anytime you are talking about making changes you create some level of uneasiness.”
-- Harry Black
of $88 billion for pensions and $104 billion for retiree health care and other non-pension benefits.” “For retiree health care, the most serious underfunding per household was in New York at $22,857, followed by Boston at $18,962, Detroit at $15,682, San Francisco at $13,487, and Baltimore at $10,208,” The Pew study, dated March 2013, said. But while the current outlook may seem grim, the situation can change for the better, she said. “The pension board…maintain[s] a broadly diversified asset allocation,” Pratt said. “There are market cycles and they will be volatile but overall the Baltimore Retirement System strategy is investing for the long term.” Similarly, Baltimore continues to be economically viable, Black said. “Baltimore, considering its challenges, is solvent, is fiscally sound,” said the finance chief. “We’re seeing a lot of economic progress in the city. The population is stabilized and actually growing. There’s tremendous interest in terms of economic development.”
First Black to Head Academy Awards Board By AFRO Staff Cheryl Boone Isaacs, film industry marketing veteran and one of the few Black Hollywood insiders, was named president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences July 30 in Los Angeles, Calif. The election of the Lionsgate motion picture group co-chair, who is already an Academy member, by Cheryl Boone Isaacs the 48-member board marks the first time an African American will oversee the group that bestows coveted Oscars for cinematic works. The action comes during a period in which the commercial film industry is under pressure to demonstrate ethnic diversity. “I think it’s wonderful. She’s a person who has paid her dues for the academy. She knows all the ins and outs of the academy. She doesn’t have to start at the beginning,” said former academy president Tom Sherak.” these vast oceans of poverty amid all the plenty. So many are doing well and so many people are left behind.” He said many U.S. tax and trade policies are misguided. “American public policy is focused on job creation,” Morial said. A significant part of it is focused on job creation in the wrong places. For example, there’s a huge infrastructure rebuilding program that the people of the United States are paying for. The problem is it’s for the reconstruction of and rebuilding of Bagdad. It’s for the reconstruction of Kandahar…Your and my tax dollars are being invested. That could be and should be redirected to Philadelphia, to Baltimore, to Boston. Secondly, United States trade and tax policies are encouraging job creation. But they are encouraging job creation in China, in India and overseas.” Morial said recent changes in federal student loan programs are threatening the existence of some historically
Sounding more like an evangelical preacher than the lawyer that she is, Arnwine drew loud applause when she said, “You need a state law that says to employers that credit checks have nothing to do with your ability to work. If your credit is bad, it’s because you don’t have a job. Get real.” Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, said the private sector needs to assume a larger role in reducing Black unemployment, which stood at 12.7 percent when Obama took office and rose to 13.7 percent in June, twice the White employment rate of 6.6 percent. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 2.5 million Blacks are unemployed. National Urban League Photo by Lawrence Jenkins “Ever since President Obama has been in, there has been an increase in jobs in the private sector, but Black unemployment has not decreased. Why? Black colleges. Because we work [disproportionately] in the public sector,” he explained. “So while the private Morial recounted a recent conversation with Norman Francis, president of Xavier University corporations who now don’t have to deal with us because the Supreme Court is knocking down in New Orleans, who noted that changes to the student loan program will “cost the member affirmative action, they are not hiring us. The public sector is being cut down with agencies and colleges of the United Negro College Fund $50 million.” programs – we’re being minimized in the public sector.” “There is something deeply flawed when young people who have gone to high school, But Sharpton said Blacks have the economic leverage to force companies to hire more graduated from high school, gotten admitted to colleges and universities, successfully completed African-Americans. one year and cannot go back even if they have A’s and top-level scores. They can’t go back “We need to renegotiate Black America’s understanding – we called them covenants – with because of money.” the private sector,” he said. “The court can say all it wants about affirmative action, we have the Morial said if the Federal Reserve can lend money to banks at zero interest rates, similar consumer power to say to companies that do business in our communities that, ‘You must have targets of doing jobs in our community.’ They can’t make us buy from those who won’t hire us.” accommodations need to be made to save HBCUs. In response to a question from a convention delegate about whether there should be a Jesse Jackson said that all levels of government should also be held accountable. national boycott of Florida, where George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder for shooting “In Chicago, there are 81,000 vacant lots,” he stated. “They cut public housing and they Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American, Sharpton said he would support a boycott if it foreclosed on private housing. They’ve cut public transportation, cut trauma care. Cut public were carefully planned, saying, “You got to hurt who has hurt us.” schools. There is no present plan to bring us out of that isolation. And I think the government The death of Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old, was mentioned throughout the panel has some obligation.” discussion about how to strike down Stand Your Ground laws. “We’ve got a $15 trillion economy in the United States of America, the largest economy in “We are now right back where we were 50 years ago, where states are superseding our the world,” according to Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “And federal civil rights,” Sharpton said. it is unacceptable – Dr. King talked about it and Whitney Young talked about it – for there to be