Vol. 48 No. 34
December 14, 2017 - December 20, 2017
This publication is a Certified DBE/ SBE / MBE in the State of California CUCP #43264 Metro File #7074 & State of Texas File #802505971 “If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.” Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro
TV One Cancels Roland Martin’s Newsone Now
Editor in Chief’s Corner Email: sbamericannews@gmail.com Clifton Harris Publisher of The San Bernardino AMERICAN News
Who Is Judge Deborah Robinson? The Manafort Indictment Is In Her Hands Now Original story by SUMMER LIN
By Stacy M. Brown (The Washington Informer/NNPA Member)
Source: Charles Dharapak/ AP/REX/Shutterstock
TV One cancels Roland Martin’s NewsOne Now. Urban One plans to bring back NewsOne Now under a different format. (Screenshot/ YouTube.com) The only Black daily newscast on television is no more. TV One is canceling Roland Martin’s morning show “NewsOne Now” due to budget cuts. “They called a meeting on Wednesday and told the staff they were canceling the show. They’re having significant financial problems and they have to scale back,” a source told The New York Post. “After four years of award-winning programming and distinguished service to our viewers as the only Black daily newscast on television, the network has made the difficult decision to suspend the production of NewsOne Now as a daily morning news show. The last live show is scheduled Thursday, December 21, 2017,” TV One’s Interim General Manager Michelle Rice wrote in a memo. The news shocked staffers— including Martin—as the network had just expanded the morning show to two hours in September, according to Page Six. “There were lots of tears…The
staff was completely caught off guard,” Page Six reported a source as saying. Neither Martin nor his producers returned calls on Wednesday seeking comment. TV One management did not return messages on Wednesday. According to Page Six, the memo added: “While we will continue our long-standing partnership with Roland Martin to ensure his important voice can be heard across all Urban One platforms examining issues of importance to the Black community, we regret this decision adversely affects several of our valued colleagues whose positions will be eliminated with the suspension of the show.” The news caught viewers off guard and many, including highprofile journalists, took to social media. “Maybe if the viewers make enough noise, TV One will reconsider canceling Roland Martin’s NewsOne Now,” said journalist Jawn Murray. “The only news show geared toward African Americans—and ditch the dozen
or so Black crime shows they air.” Author and media personality Tariq Nasheed tweeted: “Damn…TV One just canceled Roland Martin’s NewsOne show.” Gregory H. Lee, Jr., the editorial director at NBA.com and the past president of the National Association of Black Journalists called the cancelation of NewsOne Now “crazy.” Lee wrote: “Roland Martin’s morning show had real substance and covered the issues of our community. On Thursday morning, Martin read more from the memo that was sent out to employees of the Urban One company. “We are committed to providing quality news content to our viewers, but now realize a daily news program is not sustainable in this current financial climate,” Martin read from the memo. “Our plan is to take a moment to regroup and restructure NewsOne Now in 2018 under a new format that will serve the needs of our diverse audience and the business.”
Martin noted that, during the show’s run, there were a number of stories that were covered on NewsOne Now that weren’t covered anywhere else. “For me, my voice will not be silenced,” said Martin. “You have numerous platforms, numerous opportunities the ability to be able to communicate with folks through social media as well, that voice will always be there, speaking to our issues.” Martin continued: “The most important thing for us to understand is that we move forward…speaking to our issues and our concerns. I understand that a lot of people are hurt and disappointed by this…between now and December 21 we’re going to keep doing our jobs, keep giving folks hell, keep holding folks accountable and doing and saying what is required.” The Washington Informer is a member publication of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Learn more about becoming a member at www.nnpa.org.
The False Slogan of Right to Work: An Attack on Worker Freedom By Lee Saunders
Lee Saunders Today's economy is rigged against working families and in favor of the wealthy and the powerful. That's not by accident. CEOs and the politicians who do their bidding have written the rules that way, advancing their own interests at the expense of everyone else. Now, they're trying to get the rigged system affirmed by the
United States Supreme Court. In a few months, the justices will hear a case called Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, which would make so-called "right-towork" the law of the land in the public sector, threatening the freedom of working people to join together in strong unions. The powerful backers in this case have made no secret about
their true agenda. They have publicly said that they want to "defund and defang" unions like the one I lead. They know that unions level the economic playing field. They know that unions give working people the power in numbers to improve their lives and communities, to negotiate a fair return on their work while keeping the greed of corporate special interests in check. Union membership is especially important for communities of color, historically providing a ladder to the middle class, helping them earn their fair share of the wealth and the value they generate. More than half of AfricanAmericans make less than $15 per hour. But belonging to a union is likely to lead to a substantial pay raise and superior benefits. African-American union members earn 14.7 percent more than their non-union peers. The union ad-
vantage for Latinos is even greater: 21.8 percent. When unions thrive, everyone benefits. Wages, protections and labor standards for all working people rise. In New Jersey, my union has set up a training fund that provides young people a pathway to high-demand nursing careers. The result is not just good jobs, but a better health care system. In Minnesota, teachers' unions speak up together to make sure their students get the resources they need to succeed. Meanwhile, right to work isn't just anti-union; it actually has its roots in the racial brutality of the Jim Crow South. The misleading term was coined by a Texas oil lobbyist named Vance Muse, an unapologetic white supremacist who thrived on pitting workers of different races against each and (continued on page 7)
When News broke that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had officially brought charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Manafort’s business associate Rick Gates. U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson will preside over the Manafort indictment, and a look into Robinson’s storied 30-year career behind the bench shows her overseeing several high-profile cases involving drug lords, top White House officials, a former D.C. mayor, and even an NBA All-Star. Robinson is no stranger to overseeing political scandals involving high-profile figures. In 2005, Robinson presided over a guilty verdict case that involved President Bill Clinton’s former national security advisor Sandy Berger. Berger ultimately pleaded guilty to purposefully removing classified documents dealing with Sept. 11 terror threats from the National Archives and destroying them by cutting them up with scissors, according to NBC News. Robinson also upped the fine from $10,000 to $50,000 for Berger, saying that would more “sufficiently reflect the seriousness of the offense.” Robinson also presided over the trial of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former White House aide in the George W. Bush administration. Libby was convicted in 2007 of lying to authorities and interfering with a 2003 investigation into the leak of a CIA agent’s identity, according to The Washington Post. Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison before President Bush commuted his sentence later that year. In 2007, Robinson also denied a bid to revoke former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry’s probation after he failed to file tax returns for the seventh year in a row. Barry was sentenced to probation in 2006 over misdemeanor charges of failing to pay federal taxes and Robinson ruled that prosecutors couldn’t prove that Barry “willfully” failed to file his tax returns in 2005, according to The
Washington Times. In non-political cases, Robinson presided over the 1989 preliminary hearings in the case against Rayful Edmond III, a notorious drug kingpin who was responsible for establishing one of Washington D.C.’s largest drug distribution networks and has been credited with introducing cocaine to the city during the 1980s, according to The Washington Post. Edmond was sentenced to life without parole in 1990, and federal authorities revealed that Edmond has since become a government informant in order to catch more drug dealers in D.C. Perhaps one of Robinson’s most famous defendants was Allen Iverson, a star player for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. In 2005, Iverson was arrested for getting into a fight in a D.C. night club, and a lawsuit was brought against him for assault. Robinson denied Iverson’s request to give his testimony in Philadelphia instead of Washington D.C. Judge Robinson is one of few black women to serve as a judge in D.C. and one of the district’s three term-appointed magistrate judges. In Washington, D.C., a city whose population is nearly half black, only one of the 13 judges serving on the U.S. District Court is a black woman. A graduate from Morgan State University and Emory University Law, Robinson was sworn in as magistrate judge on July 18, 1988. Robinson previously spent eight years as an assistant U.S. attorney and prosecuted criminal cases in the Superior Court and the U.S. District Court. Robinson has argued in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia Circuit, as well as served in the Civil Division. Manafort and Gates are currently being charged with 12 counts of “conspiracy against the U.S., conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.” Manafort was seen arriving at the FBI’s Washington office on Monday; he and Gates are being processed separately for the charges.
See Article On Page 3
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