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Volume 122 No. 12
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OCTOBER 26, 2013 - NOVEMBER 1, 2013
President Appoints Two Blacks to High Federal Positions
Economic Quagmire Deepens for Blacks By Zenitha Prince Special to the AFRO About a week ago, Ernest, a 40-year-old husband and father of two girls, lost his job. For three years, the Baltimore man, who has a degree in accounting and years of experience, said he worked in a series of menial, part-time jobs because he could not find employment in his field. About a month ago, he left his janitorial job for an office position that promised upward mobility, permanency and the ever-important benefits. But the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be a train. The company that just hired him hit a rough patch and had to let him go. Now, he is on the unemployment rolls again, and he and his family are living in a transitional housing facility operated by the nonprofit St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore. “As a man it hurts. I want to be a provider. I want my family to have the best. I don’t want to depend on the government or anyone for assistance,” said the African-American man, who asked not to be identified by his last name. “I want a 401 (k), I want a pension plan, I want a health insurance plan, I want to pay my bills and take care of my family. [But] I’ve been having
Homeland Security Chief and Federal Claims Court Chief Justice By Avis Thomas-Lester AFRO Executive Editor
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a hard time finding permanent employment.” Sadly, Ernest’s story of unemployment, homelessness and poverty is becoming all too familiar, as reflected by a recently released U.S. Census Bureau survey on poverty, incomes and health insurance that bears witness to the ongoing toll of the Great Recession on American families. “It’s not a positive report,” said Elise Gould, economist and director of health care research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. “All the trends in the data have been pretty flat. Incomes have not increased. The poverty rate has Continued on A4
INSIDE
DHS chief nominee Jeh C. Johnson
President Barack Obama has selected Jeh C. Johnson, who supervised 10,000 civilian and military lawyers at the Department of Defense, as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He also recently named Judge Patricia E. CampbellSmith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to serve as the chief judge. She is the first African American to be designated. If confirmed, Johnson, who would leave private Continued on A3
Black Clergy Pushes Affordable Care Act
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It’s Not Your Parents’ School Cafeteria Anymore
Declare Support as Glitches Are Worked Out Howard debaters
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The Art of Aniekan Udofia INSERT • Walmart
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‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws: Amend or Repeal? The rivalry between Howard University and Hampton University heated up Oct. 18 when the two HBCUs debate teams squared off in a battle of intellect. The teams tackled the controversial topics of social media privacy and Stand Your Ground laws. The verbal joust took place at Cramton Auditorium on Howard’s campus and featured intense rhetoric, quick-fire responses and even a few personal barbs as both teams sought to win over the crowd. The Howard-Hampton “special exhibition” debate began with the coin flip by moderator Gregory Carr, Ph.D., a Howard professor.
Hampton won the toss, allowing the team to choose its topic. The Hampton competitors opted to argue in favor of repealing Stand Your Ground laws, which gained notoriety when they were widely discussed after the slaying of Black teenager Trayvon Martin, 17, in Sanford, Fla., by George Zimmerman. Hampton debaters described the law as a failed policy. “[The law] opens the door of misconceptions and prejudice amongst Americans,” Hampton debater Ivana Thomas said. Howard debaters, in their uphill battle to defend the laws, said the goal should be to amend Stand Your Ground legislation, not to repeal them outright, because of self-
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is not an overtly religious man. He and his family rarely attend church, and he almost never elaborates in public about his own relationship to his Christian faith. But away from the public eye, advisers say, the president has carefully nurtured a sense of spirituality that has served as a grounding mechanism during turbulent times, when the obstacles to governing a deeply
divided nation seem nearly insurmountable. Every year on Aug. 4, the president’s birthday, Obama convenes a group of pastors by phone to receive their prayers for him for the year to come. During the most challenging of times, prayer circles are organized with prominent religious figures such as megachurch pastor Joel Hunter, Bishop Vashti McKenzie of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a
Obama Nurtures His Faith Away from the Spotlight 18
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The Howard-Hampton Debate
By Shakaria Buckson Special to the AFRO from Howard University
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defense concerns. “At times, people are threatened for their lives,” said Howard debater, Abraham Williamson, who is also president of the team. The teams also debated whether prospective employers should have access to students’ social media accounts. Howard debater Jarrell Blakemore said the policies infringe on students’ personal lives and privacy. At stake wasn’t a giant trophy or a fat check. This contest was strictly about bragging rights. In exhibitionstyle debating, neither side is selected the winner. The debate left the major question of the day unanswered: Which of the two HUs is the “Real HU.” The rivalry continues.
Official White House Photo
President Obama quietly prays prior to meeting with his Economic Advisors. civil rights activist. Each morning for the past five years, before most of his aides even arrive at the White Continued on A5
A group of African-American preachers recently sent a letter to President Barack Obama affirming their “commitment to the Affordable Care Act” even as the President has ordered the website overhauled. “We believe that access to quality health care is a
“Historically, over 7 million AfricanAmericans have been uninsured and denied access to care with devastating consequences.” fundamental civil and human right in America. Historically, over 7 million African-Americans have been uninsured and denied access to care with devastating consequences,” the Continued on A3
NAACP Names Interim Prez/CEO By Zachary Lester AFRO Staff Writer Lorraine C. Miller, an NAACP national board member and real estate executive who served as the first Black clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, has been named interim president and CEO of the NAACP. She will oversee the organization until a successor is found for Wikimedia Commons retiring President and CEO Lorraine Miller, interim Benjamin Todd Jealous. prez Miller’s appointment was announced by NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock at the civil rights organization’s national board of directors meeting recently in Las Vegas. Theresa Dear, of Bartlett, Ill., was designated to head the search committee. Washington, D.C. resident Lamell McMorris will serve as the committee’s vice chair. Both are members of the NAACP national board. “Lorraine is a natural fit as interim president of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization,” Jealous said in a statement. “She comes into this position with two decades of experience working for the U.S. House of Representatives and Continued on A4
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