Tri-County Sentry
Friday
Commentary Beyond the Rhetoric:
Charlene Crowell
Harry C. Alford
more popular he becomes. He has stayed in the press while spending very little money. So far, he has taken no political donations as he makes personal loans to his campaign and leverages his name and persona to get unstoppable media coverage. He knows what the majority wants to hear and he is providing it for them. Americans are fed up with our political environment and are responding to Mr. Trump’s mantra. I am even starting to like what he is saying and believe he means it – unlike a typical politician. You can say what you want about Hillary Clinton but one thing is for sure. She has done it her way! Where do I begin? Here is a former Secretary of State who ignored the pleas for more security from our Ambassador to Libya. Eventually his fears were realized as he was murdered. Hillary and key individuals in the White House concocted a lie about how it happened and delivered to the American people. It was clearly a lie. It was a conspiracy to lie to the families of the four victims who died and to the American public. Still, here she is running for the Presidency of the United States. Surprisingly, she is leading the DNC side of the campaign. I guess it
doesn’t matter to many of the American people. This is troubling to me. The above incident doesn’t even compare to what Hillary has done on the technological side. It is clear that Hillary decided to have her own server placed in her residence to conduct government business. Much of which is classified and some was even secret. All of our government’s security was endangered by this unprotected server. Hackers must have had a field day looking in on what our nation was doing with international matters. Why did she concoct such a scheme? Simply to avoid the Public Records Act. She wanted to do what Hillary does – which is anything she feels like and then keep the truth from getting out. You can say that is a bad habit or behavior that is less than integrity. But the bottom line is: It is illegal!!! Which is why a full FBI investigation is going on. Usually, the longer a FBI investigation takes, the worst the news is going to be. Imagine, over 100 FBI agents and several US Attorneys working full time on one case. ELECTION, See page 12A
This is Why Republicans Continue to Lose the Black Vote Implicit in this bogus argument is that Blacks should only be hired to engage with the Black community. I totally reject this approach. As a matter of fact, if a campaign has a limited budget, they are better served by hiring a Black staffer over a White staffer. Blacks, out of necessity, are forced to live in two worlds simultaneously. We have to be able to live and function within the Black community (where most of us live); but we must also be able to navigate the white community (where most of us work). Most whites could not navigate the Black community effectively since most have absolutely no relationship within the community. So, by hiring a Black staffer, you get a two-fer. I find this an extremely compelling reason to hire a Black staffer. To my utter and total dismay, every Republican presidential campaign, other than one, gets a failing grade on the issue of Black staffers. You never hear the few Black Republicans who have a media platform talk about the lack of Black staffers within every level of the Republican Party. They are too caught up waiting for the proverbial pat on the head from their overseers. You rarely, if ever, see
As a country, America has historically short-changed its people of color in virtually every dimension of life: education, employment, housing, public accommodations and voting to name a few. To remedy discriminatory practices and policies, a series of federal and state laws were enacted over several decades to guarantee fairness and justice. Now as a nation prepares to elect a President, a new Congress, and scores of state and local officials, recent enforcement actions suggest that instead of many businesses and corporations complying with fair lending laws for consumers, huge settlements continue for widespread violations. Further, lack of credit access for minority businesses largely remains an unresolved issue despite the Community Reinvestment Act’s provisions to close this financial void. In a newly-released report on fair lending and equal opportunity, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) chronicled major settlements totaling hundreds of millions in restitution to consumers harmed by discrimination and additional monetary payments. The report also noted that CFPB will add efforts to assist small businesses as it continues to serve
consumers. “Small businesses are a backbone of our nation’s economy and access to credit is critical to their operation and growth. Unlike large businesses, many small businesses are sole proprietorships where the owner’s personal credit – and potentially that of family and friends – may be on the line,” noted Patrice Alexander Ficklin, CFPB’s Director for its Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity. A key highlight of the report on consumer accomplishments was the nearly $33 million settlement with Hudson City Savings Bank (now a part of M&T Bank) to pay in 2015 for its systemic failures to provide fair lending in Connecticut New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. More than 90 percent of the bank’s top 50 brokers’ offices were concentrated outside of minority communities. In Philadelphia and in Camden, none of bank’s 47 loan officers were based in Black and Latino areas. At the time the collaboration with the Department of Justice and the CFPB was the nation’s largestever redlining case – until this past February. An even larger settlement – $470 million – was reached with HSBC Bank USA NA and its affiliates
(collectively, HSBC) to address mortgage origination, servicing and foreclosure abuses. Participating in this case were the Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with 49 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia’s attorney general. “This agreement not only provides relief to borrowers affected by HSBC’s past practices, it puts in place protections for current and future homeowners through tough mortgage servicing standards,” said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. “For years we’ve worked together to hold mortgage servicers responsible for their past conduct. We’re doing that here through this settlement and we’ll continue to address bad conduct in the future.” “Even as the mortgage crisis recedes, the U.S. Trustee Program will continue to combat mortgage servicer abuse of the federal bankruptcy laws so that homeowners are given their legal right to try to save their homes,” said Director COMPANIES, See page 12A
From Power Talking to Power Doing
Raynard Jackson
Those who have followed my writings know that I have been and will continue to be very critical of my Republican Party over the lack of real engagement with the Black community. I am now beginning to question whether there is room for Blacks in this Republican Party. The recently ended Republican primary tells me the answer is “no,” but when party leaders are questioned about it, the answer is always “yes.” Between the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the National Republican Campaign Committee (NCCC), all the state parties, all the 527 political action committees, the Republican Governor’s Association, etc., there are about fifty Black staffers that I am aware of and probably upwards of 90 percent of those work for a member of congress, thus most Republican entities have no Black staffers, advisors, or consultants. Republicans will counter that Blacks are an insignificant part of primary voters (about 2 percent), which is factually true, but that should not prevent the hiring of Black staffers, advisors, or consultants during this process.
Page 11A
Companies Pay Out Millions in Settlements as Discrimination Lingers
The Craziest Election of All Time
I am 68 years old and have been watching presidential races since 1960 (Kennedy over Nixon). The 2016 race is totally different than any I have ever seen. Let me begin by running down some of the finalists. Bernie Sanders is a proclaimed Socialist. His wife and he spent their honeymoon in Moscow during the old Soviet Union days. This is about as close as one can be without being declared a Communist. What is scary is that most Americans are not alarmed by this fact. He wants to tax the hell out of rich people and let government provide free education from pre-K through college. Doesn’t that sound like communism? How did the Democratic National Committee allow him to enter into the contest? What is more shocking is that he is competitive against an establishment opponent – Hillary Clinton. On the Republican side we are seeing something quite unnatural. We have Donald Trump, a businessman with no political experience at all, on the verge of winning the RNC nomination. It is amazing how ridicule, criticism and verbal goofs do nothing to hurt his popularity. The harder they (press, pundits, opponents, etc.) go after him, the
may 20, 2016
James Clingman
them take a principled stand against the party when it comes to the invisible Black man. You see them on CNN mouthing all the words they are told to speak and not bringing light to a party that is lurking in the dark. According to the Gallop, “almost two-thirds of blacks identify as Democrats, with most of the rest identifying as independents. Only 5 percent of Blacks nationwide identify as Republicans.” This means about 29 percent of Blacks label themselves as “Independent.” In business, this 29 percent is called a “target market.” Did we really need an autopsy report after the 2012 election to tell us what needed to be done to diversity our party? This was a cheap political stunt to give the party cover, because they didn’t really want to address the reality starring them in the face. In typical Republican fashion, they appointed two minorities, one Black and one Hispanic, as cochairs (the other three being Whites) of the committee. Then they had a White REPUBLICANS, See page 12A
Veteran radio talk show host Carl Nelson, will present his third Power Talk event on June 17-19, 2016 at Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. The event has featured the likes of Tony Browder, Ashra Kwesi, the late Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing, Pastor Willie Wilson, Dr. Claud Anderson, and Dr. Patricia Newton, among many others. The speakers are called “Power Talkers,” and rightly so because they are most knowledgeable in their particular fields of endeavor. They are unapologetically Black, and they impart their wisdom to a Black audience in an effort to create what I will call, “Power Doers.” But, no matter who is doing the talking, if there is no subsequent follow through, quite frankly, what’s the point? Do we talk merely so that Black people can have more information, or is it merely to repeat the information we already have? Or is information just a “booster shot,” a reinforcement of sorts to keep us from being so discouraged that we give up on ourselves? If we do not respond appropriately to what we hear, specifically by executing strategies to eliminate some of the problems we discuss at these kinds of events, then we
have relegated ourselves to mere cheerleaders for those who share their information with us. We do that so well (“Ase!” “Amen!” “That’s right!” “Teach!” “Tell it!”), but then we leave our haven of knowledge, go back into the real world, and do absolutely nothing except wait for Power Talk Four. Our events should have legacies that we can celebrate and share when we meet again. We should have victories as a result of thousands of us coming together at an event, especially at a Power Talk event that showcases some of our top brothers and sisters. They are not the run-of-the-mill, milquetoast, talking-head Blacks who earn a great living discussing mundane issues and offering meaningless solutions to Black problems. Not only should we hear their words, we should act upon them. At this year’s Power Talk Three, last year’s participants should present something tangible that has taken place over the past year as a result of the information and instructions discussed at last year’s event. Doesn’t that make sense? I was one of the Power Talkers last year and have been invited to come back this year; as many of you know, I am also a “doer” even more so than a talker. So, during my
speech last year I noted 16 things Black folks can do in response to my words. I posited that some of our people are waiting for the world to end; some are waiting to be put into FEMA camps; some are waiting for racism to end; some are waiting for reparations; some are waiting for political fairness; some are waiting for equality; some are waiting to be rescued by who knows whom; and some of us are just waiting to be exterminated by the powers-that-be. My question was: “What are we doing while we wait?” As Red said in the movie, Shawshank Redemption, we had better “Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’,” thus, I offered the following things to do while we wait: • Work to raise our consciousness to a level of “unconscious competency;” • Leverage our collective dollars against injustice and inequity by withdrawing them; • Use our collective consumer dollars to create conscious Black millionaires; • Leverage our collective POWER, See page 12A