B6
FORUM
JULY 11-17, 2018
Roland Martin is pleading our case
Both Black and White professed Christians hate!
(TriceEdneyWire.com)—Kudos to Roland Martin, the pioneering journalist who has taken his departure from TV One and turned it into a digital platform. He’ll be back with a daily program, but he’ll be online instead of traditional media. He has financing from AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and he is also hoping for funding from us, the folks who say they miss the program and say they want unfiltered news. From his website, www.rolandmartin.com, you can join his #BringtheFunk support group and help Roland bring the funk! Roland has had it with the traditional media, and he is right to point out the lack of commentators and hosts on conventional media—the
The other day and how long he while eating Louis ‘Hop’ Kendrick had served as lunch, a person an officer. It was from the past my first time walked over that we had and said, “May been invited so I sit down?” I was somewhat And I said, “Of reluctant to encourse.” gage in a conHe almost inversation about stantly started race, so I just a conversation about race and police listened and allowed another Black killing young Blacks and continued by male guest who they knew to reply. stating, “I hate all White folks.” However, the professed Christian exOnce I got a chance to respond, I said, posed himself when he used the code “First of all, you don’t know all White word, “YOU PEOPLE are confusing,” people and you would do well to find a and that is when it became my opporchurch home.” Now, he’s really agitat- tunity to clarify the confusion. The ed. He says, “I go to church every Sun- questions I asked were basic—how day, I am a Christian who is working many Blacks attend your church? on the building (striving to improve Does the minister ever expound on himself),” and we both laughed. solutions to the racial problems? Are Now he begins to expound on why there any Black neighbors of yours or he hates all White people and I real- any in the school system? How many ly was familiar with all of the argu- Blacks are employed at your workments, but I listened. Father was beat- place? Have you or any of the other en up by racism in the workplace and officers ever suggested to your minisit affected his ability to provide for his ter to address the congregation about family. The school system was second; working to improve the racial situall of the teachers, counselors, janitors ation? Does it disturb you about the were White and had no interest in fact that in your lifestyle, every facet helping Blacks take full advantage of is totally White? the educational system. The next step I then explained to him how the in his career was joining the U.S. Ma- word “picnic” came into our vocaburines and racism was rampant there. lary. It was important that I remind Third, he began to focus on slavery, him about the fact that the Crusades slave masters of yesteryear and mod- killed two million infidels, and last ern versions of slave masters. Now he but not least I reminded all of them concludes by saying how things have that when the KKK was killing, burnchanged, but regretfully too much re- ing, etc., there were the Klan chapmains the same, but Hop, “believe me, lains riding with them. I did not want I am working on the building.” to abuse the fact that I was a firstMy wife and I were guests at an in- time guest so I just slowed down, but terracial dinner that consisted of 16 a guest asked, “Why are you not angry persons, 10 White and six Black. After or full of hate?” My response was simdining it was conversation time and it ply, “I am the son of a Christian family eventually got around to race issues. A who instilled in all of us God’s greatcertain guest was the most outspoken est commandment; LOVE.” (Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a contributor to the and discussed it at length about his involvement in the local organization New Pittsburgh Courier.)
Julianne Malveaux
Commentary networks and the “key” cable outlets. Many of those folks have to toe the line, and can’t be but so “controversial.” But sometimes one person’s controversy is another person’s truth. The corporate media squirms with journalists call our 45th President on his many lies because some of them are still currying favor with him. And unless light shines on the filth that is occurring in Washington, it will continue. Forty-five said he would “drain the swamp,” but he has become one of the world’s great alligators, profiting from his Presidency both through ties to China (even as he imposes tariffs), through his many name-branded hotels, and through all kinds of other shady deals. Chicago Crusader publisher Dorothy Leavell Chairs the Board of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). At the organization’s June conference, she convened a panel that focused on fake news and the Black press. I was privileged to participate with the National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ) President Sarah Glover, pugnacious attorney A. Scott Bolden, and marketing expert Deborah Gray-Young. I think that fake news is not only about the Trump shenanigans and lies, but also about that which is unreported or distorted. For example, how come every time a White person shoots up a classroom, movie theatre, or public space, the focus is on their “mental illness,” while whenever a Black person commits a crime of any sort, the focus is on criminality. Why has Rev. Barber’s Poor People’s campaign been so underreported, and why was the June 12 shackling of faith leaders outside Supreme Court wholly ignored by the mainstream (and even the sidestream) media? Why has there been so little focus on the economic status of African American people, except when 45 crows about all the improvements he has made (not) on the economy! Just the other day, I was commiserating with someone about the ways the mainstream media ignores the African American community. The brother I was talking to said, “this is why I miss Roland.” So Roland is coming back roaring, lifting up the oft-quoted 1827 line from Freedom’s Journal, the nation’s first Black newspaper, “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.” Roland Martin and the NNPA have made the case that if we want our story told, we have to support it. It is a shame that the Black press is so poorly embraced. NNPA papers need ads, and they also need subscriptions, but while many of us talk a good game, we don’t sustain our press enough to help it thrive. So they go seeking ads to survive, perhaps compromising integrity while doing so. The Black press, those who plead our case, must not feel that they have to buck-dance to the whim of advertisers. Advertising, all too often, is contingent on the support of a specific position, or avoidance of controversy. Thus in launching his #Bring the Funk group, Roland is challenging African Americans who want real news to support it. That means contributing a little or a lot to grow the digital platform Roland is building. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. In other words, everyone wants real news, and nobody wants to pay for it. One of the ways to support real news is to take out a subscription to an NNPA newspaper, or three. Another way is to help Roland bring his particular brand of reporting and analysis to us through his digital platform. Check his powerful statement out at www. rolandmartin.com. And check out the ways you support fake news by failing to challenge the mainstream media. Do you write letters to the editor? Reach out to producers? Ask hard questions about representation? Silence is consent. (Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist.)
To Tell The Truth
Do police killings of unarmed Blacks create a national mental health burden? Recently, Pulitcentage is an anzer Prize-winning J. Pharaoh Doss nual pattern, that newspaper colwould be probumnist, Charles lematic, because K r a u t h a m m e r, Black Americans passed away. He are only 14 perwas once asked cent of the U.S. what motivated population. So, it him to write and has to be asked is Krauthammer rethat a fact? plied, “History is Let’s return to shaped by its battleground of ideas, the database. and I wanted to be in the arena, not In 2016, 963 people were fatally shot because I want to fight, but because by the police. Fifty-one were unarmed, some things need to be said, and some 22 were White, 19 were Black, nine things need to be defended.” were Hispanic, and one other person. Some things, also, need to be asked. Unarmed victims were five percent For example, it’s been reported that of the total body count, and unarmed a new study found, “When an un- Black victims were two percent. armed Black American dies at the In 2017, 987 people were fatally shot hands of the police, the emotional im- by the police. 68 were unarmed, 30 pact reverberates so widely that Black were White, 20 were Back, 13 were Americans who didn’t even know the Hispanic, and five others. Unarmed victim report distress, anxiety and victims were seven percent of the todepression, creating a national men- tal body count, and unarmed Black tal health burden nearly comparable victims were two percent. to the stress caused by a chronic illIn 2018 (the database’s last update ness like diabetes.” This report also was June 20), 519 people were fatally stated that in the United States an shot by the police. Twenty-nine were unarmed Black person is three times unarmed, 15 were White, 11 were more likely to be shot by the police Black, two were Hispanic, and one than an unarmed White person, and other person. Unarmed victims are in 2015, 30 percent of Black victims currently six percent of the total body were unarmed compared to 21 percent count, and once again unarmed Black of White unarmed victims. All of this victims are two percent. data came from the Washington Post This new study wants intelligent database that has tracked fatal police people to believe that the deaths of shootings since 2015. six individuals in 2015 and two perHere’s what needs to be asked. cent of the total body count of fatal poWhy is a phrase like “three times lice shootings during the subsequent more likely” used when the database years is straining the mental health of has the actual body count, and why the Black community. Whenever sciwere the percentages of 2015 featured entific research revealed Blacks have when the database includes the fol- lower IQ test scores than other ethnic lowing years? groups the data was immediately disLet’s see. missed as racist pseudoscience, but According to the Washington Post Po- this study brings into question the lice Shooting Database for 2015 there mental strength of the Black commuwere 995 fatal police shootings. The po- nity and it hasn’t been dismissed at lice killed 401 Whites who were in pos- all, and it won’t be, because it reinforcsession of a deadly weapon compared es a divisive narrative fueled by racial to 188 Blacks for the same reason (over causation and single-mindedness. 200 more Whites). There were 94 fatal I think Krauthammer would agree police shootings of unarmed people, 32 that some things need to be dewere White, 38 were Black, 19 were nounced and some things need to be Hispanic, and there were five others. rebelled against. (J. Pharaoh Doss is a contributor to the New When you hear unarmed Black Americans are “three times more likely” to be Pittsburgh Courier.) shot by the police it gives the impression that the difference in body count would be as dramatic as the deadly weapons comparison. But it’s not. The great disparity between Black and White unarmed victims of fatal police shootings in 2015 was six people. So, the percentages (however they were calculated) 30 percent Black, 21 percent White, were used to dramatize the difference. But if this higher per-
Check It Out
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
Jesse Jackson Sr.
Commentary
Arrogant Supreme Court justices trample the law in service of the rich (TriceEdneyWire.com)—We are witnessing an astounding attack on democracy by the five male rightwing majority of the Supreme Court—“black robed rulers,” Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan called them, “overruling citizens’ choices” in a series of 5-4 decisions. These are right-wing lawless judges ignoring the laws and will of our elected representatives and trampling the dictates of legal precedent. Their arrogance seems to have no bounds. The damage that they have already done to our democracy is profound. The most recent 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court was the case of Janus v. AFSCME. The majority, throwing out the laws of state legislatures and legal precedent, ruled that state legislatures cannot authorize public employee unions to collect a fee for the cost of bargaining and representing workers who benefit from the negotiations but don’t want to join the union. Protecting freeloaders seems bizarre, but the court’s ideologues are interested less in upholding the law and far more in weakening the workers’ voice as represented by unions. Now in states across the nation, right-wing corporate funded groups will launch campaigns to get workers to quit their unions in the hope of dramatically weakening the voice of teachers, sanitation workers, police officers and firefighters. The decision is but one of many undermining our democracy. A right-wing majority gutted the Voting Rights Act in Shelby v. Holder. This term, the five upheld Texas redistricting that lower courts found discriminated against minority voters. In Citizens United, five conservative judges—again ignoring law and precedent—held that corporations could not be prohibited from spending money in elections. Somehow corporations, they suggested, had the same political rights as citizens. The gang of five has also systematically favored corporate rights over women’s rights, gay rights, consumer and environmental protection. That the Congress—elected by the people—passes laws expressing different values doesn’t deter them. They have elevated themselves as “black robed rulers,” legislating their own choices from the bench. Now Justice Anthony Kennedy has chosen to resign, apparently timing his announcement so President Trump can use the fight over his successor to rouse his base in the upcoming elections. (That suggestion gains credibility with the revelation that Kennedy’s son, working at Deutsche Bank, lent Donald Trump and his operations nearly a billion—with a b—billion dollars at a time when U.S. banks wouldn’t go near him because of his record of bankruptcies and scams.) Kennedy gained a reputation as a “moderate” because of his votes on abortion and on gay marriage, but he has been a leader in the assault on democracy and the elevation of corporate rights over worker rights. Now, his resignation is timed so that Trump can name, and the Republican majority in the Senate confirm, a younger right-wing zealot to carry on the assault on democracy. In the Civil Rights movement, we looked to the Supreme Court to enforce the Constitution against the Jim Crow laws of the apartheid South. Now we must take back the Congress and the statehouses and rally the democratic bodies against the usurpations of the ideological majority of the court. Only if the pressure is constant will one or more of the Justices realize the dangers and errors of their course. The pushback can start with our election laws and come from the bottom up. Localities and states should be passing laws to make voter registration automatic, to extend the days for voting, to expand the franchise, and rollback restrictions on voting. Districts and states can pass laws matching small donations three or four to one, to encourage independence from the corruptions of big money. Localities might pass legislation demanding that candidates get their “oats and their votes” from the district itself – limiting funds to those provided by those who live in the district. Nonpartisan citizen panels can put an end to partisan gerrymandering, ensuring the voters pick their representatives rather than politicians designing districts to pick their voters. It is long past time that we recognize what the right-wing Supreme Court gang of five is doing. They claim to be simply enforcing the laws, but they overturn legislation and ignore legal precedent. They are lawless in the service of the rich and the corporations. They are expanding the corrupting rule of big money even as they limit the rights of workers, consumers, women and people of color. George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door defying the dictates of the Constitution and the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court. Now a shameless majority of five stands in that door against the laws of the Congress and states, eroding the democracy they are sworn to protect. Just as it took a movement to challenge George Wallace and segregation, it will take a movement to reclaim our democracy from these “black robed rulers.” Progressive activists should demand that every Democratic candidate for elected office at the local, state or national level make empowering workers a central part of his or her platform. They should demand support for measures that will make it easier for workers to organize and crack down on labor law violations. Companies that violate basic worker rights should be penalized in public procurement decisions. At the same time, progressives need to expose the reality that the right wing gang of five in the Supreme Court is trampling the will of the people and overturning established precedents to serve the interests of the plutocrats and the right. These “black robed rulers” are legislating from the bench, scorning even an effort to find common ground with their own colleagues. In a time of deep polarization, the lawless majority of court has chosen to stand with the powerful few against the vast majority. That too will not stand.