SCLC National Magazine - Fall 2022 Issue

Table of Contents

6 Dr. Charles Steele

Presidents Corner

9 Dr. Bernard Lafayette

Chairman’s Corner

13 Mrs. Steele

From The First Lady

655 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017

16 Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas SCLC-GKC Hosts National SCLC President, Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. By: Dr. Vernon Percy Howard, Jr

22 SCLC Honors Civil Rights Movement Icons

By: Debbie Ellison

30 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Reinforces the need for people of color to invest more in political Advocacy

By Kevin B. Kimble, Esq

33 SCLC Votes!

By DeMark Liggins

ABOUT THE SCLC: Established in 1957, the SCLC, whose fi rst president was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is an international organization made up of chapters and affi liates with programs that affect the lives of all Americans: north, south, east, and west. Its sphere of influence and interests have become international in scope because the human rights movement transcends national boundaries. For additional information about the SCLC, visit www.nationalsclc.org.

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NATIONAL EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. President & CEO

Martin Luther King Jr. Founding President Ralph D. Abernathy President 1968 - 1977

Joseph E. Lowery President 1977 - 1997

Martin Luther King III President 1998 - 2003

Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr Chairman

Fred L. Shuttlesworth President 2004 Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. President & CEO

Howard Creecy Jr. President 2011

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

The time is NOW!

By Dr. Charles Steele Jr., SCLC National President & CEO

Civil rights in America and around the world is an ever-evolving door. In 1957 when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was founded by our beloved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the biggest challenge during our time was to be seen as a human being with equal rights and privileges. We wanted to be able to ride the city bus home after a hard day of working and sit down wherever we wanted. Whether it was the front of the bus or the back of the bus, we just wanted to sit down in an empty seat on a first come, first serve basis. We did not want to walk to the back of the bus because of the color of our skin, we didn’t want to drink from a black only fountain or use a black only restroom like we were second class citizens. You see, in 1957 we couldn’t even vote in the South. We were just simply trying to survive and not be killed by the KKK or beat up for the color of our skin. At this particular time, we couldn’t even think about working in corporate society. How could we, when we couldn’t even drink from the same fountain as a white person? We were simply surviving one day at a time, one march at a time, one protest at a time.

My, how things have taken a change in society. Well, our circumstances have certainly changed, but our challenges remain the same. There is however, one small difference…as we started gaining small victories towards equality, we started believing that we were being treated completely equal. It’s understandable, some of us went from riding in the back of the bus to riding in the front of the bus. We started to see with our own eyes the progress that we were making. However, we measured success by what we didn’t have versus what we should have. We let the success of a few be enough for the masses. We became distracted by the media and now social media showing us people who look like us succeeding beyond our wildest dreams. Now, don’t get me wrong…I am proud of our brothers and sisters who are paving the way for other African-Americans. However, as we pave the way for one or two behind us, let us not forget the millions behind them. Let us not forget that according to the

U.S. Census Bureau) Blacks still have the highest poverty rate (19.5%) in America. Let us not forget that Black Americans have consistently had the lowest median income. In 2020, the Washington Post reported that “The black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968”. This makes me wonder why are African-Americans so quiet…we are not finished! The job is not done. We are making progress, but we are a long way from the finish line.

A year ago, I told you about SCLC’s initiative called “From the Streets to the Suites”. If you have forgotten, let me remind you. SCLC has been focused on the evolution of the civil rights movement since 1957. Civil rights is a complexed movement in that it is ever changing in it’s approach to reaching the masses and helping people all over the world. SCLC has always understood that we can’t fix the world without addressing the issues in America. SCLC has to stay in the streets, but we’re moving to the suites. We’re moving to an area of America where Blacks are still struggling to be seen. According to NBC news in 2019, Blacks made up 10 percent of college graduates, but represented less than 1 percentage point of fortune 500 CEOs. This is some series delayed progression. We must do better!

Now, how do we go from the streets to the suites? I’m glad you asked. We have to take that same enthusiasm to ensure equality and justice for all in the workplace as well. The “From the Streets to the Suites” initiative targets corporations. This initiative will look to help those that have been treated unfairly at their place of employment. We will focus on organizations that have been accused of racism and discrimination, especially companies that have been lauded as leaders in diversity, equity and inclusion.

It is written down in history the accomplishments of SCLC and the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. Lead by our co-founder Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr., SCLC was able to help bring about the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act. Not only must we fight injustices in the streets, but we must also fight injustices in the suites. The SCLC’s “From the Streets to the Suites,” campaign is aimed at corporations because they hold the power to close many of the gaps between the races in America, including gaps in income, education, housing, healthcare and public safety. Justice in the streets is just as important as justice in the suites. Civil rights is ever-changing and we will continue to change with it every step of the way. How can you get involved? Well, let’s start by talking to our children about our history. Talk to them about the history of SCLC and other organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Get involved with your local SCLC chapter.

The SCLC has helped many employees and executives receive justice in the suites of corporate America. We believe the most impactful actions we can take at this time are to make sure that corporations build on a strong culture of conscious inclusion and diversity at every level. Join the SCLC today. Every second matters in the fight for justice!

Justice and equality in the STREETS and the SUITES!

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FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Chairman’s Corner

Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Architect of The Voting Rights Act

Written by: Maynard Eaton Managing Editor

“There are those who credit The Selma Movement with getting the Voter Rights bill.” – Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr.

“It was a special honor, not just an award,” That is how SCLC Board Chairman Dr. Bernard Lafayette responds to the city of Selma and county officials and other organizations declaring May 14th annually as “Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr. Day” in a Selma salute.

“That was highly unusual,” says the 81-year-old civil rights icon who was a pivotal player in launching the activism that led to the Voting Rights Act. “It’s kind of hard to even imagine.

“I am grateful and honored to have a street named after me. The irony of it is that I have deliberately avoided being in the limelight because I felt it was important to help others take their rightful training. That is what I focused on, leadership training. I don’t mind saying I have contributed to the development of many leaders in the Movement, and some of them say that very openly.”

May 14, 1963, was the date of the First Mass Meeting of the Selma Voting Rights Movement

Still as we celebrate the 57th anniversary of The Voting Rights Act, which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law on August 6, 1965, many have suggested that Dr. Lafayette had not received his just due. While not always on the front lines being beat and bloodied, he had a significant role. It was his de facto blueprint.

“I feel that the things we accomplished because of the work I participated in was my just due. We accomplished some things that were very significant and that was the reward for me to see those things happen.”

Selma City Council President Billy Young said Lafayette’s recognition is long overdue. “Dr. Bernard Lafayette is a great man who accomplished great things,” Young said at the

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commemoration. “It is important to give someone flowers when they can still smell them.”

Louisiana State Rep. Randal Gaines, who is Vice Chair of SCLC’s National Board tells me he had been unaware. “I was beyond impressed when I learned about the significant role he played. I am astonished by the direct impact the actions he took had. I had a conversation with him at his home recently and he informed me of some things he did. I had no idea he was on the ground and intimately involved in some of the actions that shaped the whole Selma Movement. I consider him a gladiator, a word that appropriately applies to the role Dr. Lafayette played, the actions he took and the commitment he had to The Movement.” Gaines agrees that Lafayette has not received his deserved accolades. “When I watched the movie Selma, which opened up the Civil Rights Movement to a whole new generation of activists, someone played C.T. Vivian and John Lewis’ roles, but I didn’t see an actor in that movie that played Dr. Lafayette’s role and it should have been.”

Dr. Lafayette is a scholar who has two degrees from Harvard University and has studied at MIT and Boston University. He has also taught at Emory University and attended American Baptist Theological Seminary, and later became the school’s president. Additionally, Lafayette has been Dean of Alabama State’s Graduate School. Teaching has been his calling card. I have been in positions at a lot of different schools, but I use the opportunity to show people how they can make change. So, I have learned through the academic approach, but I have also learned the practical applications, and those were important. How do apply your academic learning and research to be able to change certain conditions.”

His role went beyond voter registration, he says.

“What’s interesting about The Movement in Selma, Alabama is that it was not focused on trying to elect a particular person. Voter registration campaigns now are interested either in some political party or some issues. But guess what, when I went to Selma, I didn’t tell anybody to go register to vote.”

Instead, he met with people and asked about their problems such as unpaved roads, poor schools, and the lack of electricity. They began to realize that the officials who had the power to change their plight were voted into office. “We got the people in Selma to associate voting with a problem they are experiencing, and what they could do about it.” said Lafayette. “They began to recognize that the problems they were dealing with was related to their lack of voting and getting the people who make the decisions replaced.”

The Voting Rights Act would prove to be transformative, enfranchising millions of Americans for the first time and empowering many minority voters to elect candidates of their choice to public office.

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Today, Dr. Lafayette remains focused on young people learning how to make change because that is our future, he says. “If they can understand how the system operates, and they can begin to participate in it they are the ones who can make a difference in our lives and most definitely their own lives.

The Voter Rights Bill came out of the Selma Movement which brought people together from around the world. It was global. “We had people from 11 different countries participating in that voter registration movement,” says Lafayette. He adds the people do not recognize, “there was not one Black person from Selma, Alabama that was killed in the Selma Voter Registration Movement. Not one house or church was bombed.”

When I asked the SCLC Chairman how the Selma Movement ranks in his iconic career achievements Dr. Lafayette replied, “I learned a lot from Selma because of my involvement and the way to apply methods that engaged people into thinking about solving their problems. I studied Selma because I wanted to learn how to put organizations and institutions together. The last words Martin Luther King told me was he wanted to institutionalize and internationalize nonviolence, and that’s what we see all over the world.”

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1929 – 1968

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FROM THE FIRST LADY

Our Call to Action

By Cathelean Steele, Founder, Justice for Girls

Lately, I have noticed that almost weekly there are missing children reports in the news media. My concern led me to search the data base of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. To my surprise, I discovered that in the United States there are an estimated 460,000 children reported missing each year. Unfortunately, many of these children are never found.

I was sharing this information with a friend and my comment was that “all children have a right to be protected from harm and as parents we need to do a better job of protecting them.” My friend then pointed out that the world has changed and because of the social media craze we don’t always know who our kids are communicating with when they are online. I considered her viewpoint and then I began to look for answers to this worldwide problem.

My research led me back to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children where I discovered a safety pledge. If you are interested, this pledge can be found at safety pledge. org. This pledge is designed to “help parents, educators, and other caregivers learn more about the risks children face online and empower children in their lives to respond to those safely.”

I would like to share with you a few of the suggestions within the pledge.

I pledge to help safeguard children in my life online by:

1. Being a good digital role model.

2. Checking in regularly concerning their online wellbeing.

3. Being open and available to questions about online life.

4. Checking age-appropriate safety settings on devices.

5. Learning more about online exploitation and how to prevent it.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can be contacted at 703-224-2150 or http://www.missingkids.org.

Although the information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was excellent. I proceeded to research to additional information form the Child Crime Prevention and Safety Center. I was surprised to discover that “every 40 seconds, a child goes missing or is abducted in the United States.” Furthermore, this research listed categories in which children are abducted temporarily or permanently.

1. Family kidnappings

Family kidnappings make up half of all reported abductions in the United States. Children under the age of 6 are most frequently targeted for family abductions and these abductions often occur in the midst of divorce.

2. Acquaintances and Strangers

Acquaintances and strangers make up 27 percent of all child abductions and also have the highest number of female and teenage victims and juvenile offenders. Acquaintance abductions also have the highest number of female and teenage victims and is often associated with other crimes such as sexual and physical assault.

3. Runaways

One in seven children between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away from home and young people between the ages of 12 and 17 are at a greater risk to become homeless than adults. Half of all runaway children reported escaping physical abuse in the home, while 38 percent escape emotional abuse and 17 percent acknowledge being subject to sexual abuse by a family member. Children who run away from home face greater risk of anxiety, depression, suicide, poor health and low esteem. Because of these circumstances they are more likely to be forced into prostitution, drug sales and other illegal activities.

While I was searching for ways to help our youth I can across these tips from the Los Angeles Police Department.

A. Inform your children they are never to go anywhere with anyone without parental permission.

B. Encourage your child to confide in you, even if the subject is uncomfortable.

C. Discourage your child from keeping bad secrets.

D. Encourage your child to walk with friends that you know and no straying from the group.

I will leave you with these words from Oliver Wendell Holmes. Pretty much all the honest truth telling there is in the world is done by children.

SCLC National Magazine/ Fall 2022 Issue

Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas SCLC-GKC Hosts National SCLC President, Dr. Charles Steele, Jr.

SCLC President in from Atlanta, GA, to Address Voter Suppression in Missouri, Threats to Democracy and Civil Rights Crisis in the Nation

By: Dr. Vernon Percy Howard, Jr, Senior Pastor, The Historic St. Mark Church of KCMO President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference-GKC

Dr. Charles Steele, Jr., National President and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference based in Atlanta, Georgia, brought the keynote address as the SCLC-GKC local chapter celebrated it’s 50-year anniversary on August 28th, 2022, 3:30PM, at the Jamison Memorial Temple CME Church located at 3115 Linwood Blvd, Kansas City, Missouri, 64128.

The State of Missouri is a leader in voter suppression and has some of the worst antidemocratic legislation in the country. “We are proud and pleased to host our national president and have him lend his voice in support of our fight here in Kansas City and in Missouri,” said The Rev. Dr. Vernon Percy Howard, Jr., SCLC-GKC president.

“Dr. Steele is coming to Kansas City to support our broad coalition of organizations here in Missouri combatting voter suppression and we expect his strong condemnation of HB 1878 which goes into effect the day of our event,” said Dr. Howard. “Our national president supports our opposition to Amendment 4 as well on the November 8 statewide ballot which further strips Kansas City residents and other municipalities of local control and democratic voice in our own governance.”

SCLC National Magazine/ Fall 2022 Issue At the event Dr. Howard led the local chapter in a ceremony installing the Rev. Dr. Faith Allen, senior pastor of Jamison Memorial Temple CME Church, onto the SCLC-GKC Board of Directors. Voter education, registration, and engagement took place at the event with Dr. Steele delivering a stirring and prophetic message to the crowd stating, “Politics cannot save us, we must save politics. We must fight not for what’s legal. We must fight for what’s right. Slavery was legal, but it wasn’t right. Fight for what is right, and God will be on our side,” stated Dr. Steele, to a roaring rising assembly at the church. Civil rights and faith leaders from across the state including St. Louis and Jefferson City were present.

Dr. Steele was in Kansas City continuing his work and travels speaking and helping to mobilize and inspire local communities to remain steadfast in the important work of protecting our Civil Rights including the right to vote which is the bedrock of the democracy. The national SCLC president and CEO offered a stinging critical analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court’s gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a setback which occurred under the Obama administration in 2013. “That Supreme Court decision turned us back fifty years and gave the racist states and legislatures across the country the power and freedom to change voting laws which suppress the Black franchise,” said Steele. The event marked SCLC-GKC’S 50th year of service to the cause of Civil and Human Rights in Kansas City, the region, and the nation. The chapter’s jubilee celebration this year was catapulted by an Interfaith Service in January of 2022 and a mass celebration the same month which featured a prophetic challenge

by U.S. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II who raised the call for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act legislation to be enacted by the U.S. Congress Now!

The SCLC-GKC Mass Celebration brought the voice and presence of Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the 117th Elected and Consecrated Bishop of the storied African Methodist Episcopal Church to Kansas City. She is the first Black woman to serve in such high episcopal office within the A.M.E. denomination. She is an illustration of the significance of the Black religious institution and the role of women in leading, shaping, and forming our movements.

SCLC-GKC is one of the longest standing and most active local chapters of SCLC in the country. It began during the mid-20th century when Dr. Steel and Congressman Cleaver served on the National SCLC Board of Directors. Rev. Cleaver's local ties with the church, KC activists, and social justice community helped lay foundation for the local chapter as key organizers Brother Leon Dixon, Rev. John Preciphs, and Rev. Kenneth Ray provide the vanguard of leadership, support, and assistance. Founding Board Members of SCLC-GKC included: Rev. Emanuel Cleaver II, Myrna Hendricks, Ivan James, Rosa James, James Reed, Edna Scott, Ella Tolbert, Irma Bolton, Artie Cristwell, Ovita Freeman, Hortense Holt, Rev. Phillip Lawson, Rev. Kenneth Ray, Rubbie Brown, Leon Dixon, Donald Hold, Rev. William Kirtdoll, Rev. Roderick McLean, Rev. Daniel Childs, Sr., Clarissa Thompson.

The early years and middle passage of SCLC-GKC in the late 60’s and early 70’s included the launch “Resurrection City" (Poor People's City) which was a week-long protest at Mill Creek Park on the cusp of the socially upscale entertainment, dining, and commerce center still known today as the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. SCLC-GKC was committed to highlighting and dramatizing the pain and plight of the poor in KC. Over 300 persons camped out in tents during a primarily Black but also multi-racial movement to defend the human rights and human dignity of the poor in KC. Resurrection City launched one week prior to the Missouri primary. The young Cleaver was quoted in the press as saying, "Black and poor people will be waiting...if they (politicians) want our votes they must come to us, and they must come with the intention of giving us the whole thing: total participation in the government, input into the decisions that affect Black people, and a commitment to equality and justice."

SCLC-GKC then began developing arguably the most prolific and longest standing MLK Annual Celebrations in the United States as The Rev. Nelson "Fuzzy" Thompson, Bishop James D. Tindall, Sr., The Rev. Samuel E. Mann, and a new vanguard of KC leaders carry on the legacy of civil rights, human rights, and advocacy for the principles of freedom, peace, justice, and the beloved community national visionary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., dreamed of. Bishop Tindall brought wise counsel and political expertise to SCLC-GKC ensuring its continued viability and sustainability. Rev. Mann brought prophetic and theological groundings to the leadership and the movement undergirding it with strategic and mobilizing efforts. SCLCGKC solicited Ms. Arlana Coleman as event coordinator which helped in later years to spawn arguably the largest and most comprehensive MLK Celebrations in the country.

The Rev. Nelson "Fuzzy" Thompson brought charisma, leadership, and a deep commitment to the cause of civil rights and a belief in the dream of Dr. King to be manifest in KC. Both Bishop Tindall and Rev. Mann remain key leaders within SCLC-GKC today and have been driving forces behind the many victories and initiatives of today's SCLC. Rev. Fuzzy transitioned to be with the Lord in 2015 but his legacy is matchless. He served as president

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of SCLC-GKC for over 40 years, traveled internationally to places like Iran and South Africa to promote civil and human rights, and was the centerpiece of SCLC-GKC's middle passage toward leadership within the civil rights and social justice landscape here in the city, state, and region.

Over the last decade SCLC-GKC has renewed its Kingian Spirit of Protest and Direct Action under the leadership of its current president, Dr. Vernon Howard. In 2013 the late Reverend Nelson "Fuzzy" Thompson, along with SCLC-GKC legacy leaders Rev. Sam Mann and Bishop James Tindall, Sr., summoned Dr. Vernon P. Howard, Jr., to his home and passed the mantle of future SCLC-GKC leadership to his hands. Dr. Howard, a faith leader, activist, and university lecturer, became Executive Vice President for Social Justice. The Board of Directors invited Dr. Howard to serve as president in 2015 after the passing of Rev. Thompson. Together, the leadership of Dr. Howard, chairman Wesley Fields, Esq., The Rev. Chaunia Chandler-Howard, Membership Engagement

Director Kevin Woolfolk, Dr. Bob Hill, Rick Hellman, and many other new and emerging activists and Board members has unleashed a new vigor and vitality marked by the following achievements:

• Medicaid 23 Direct Action Civil Disobedience Action Sparking the movement for Medicaid Passage in Missourim

• 2017 SCLC-GKC Living Wage Ordinance

• The Fulfillment of the historic Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd.

• Coining and Leading the One City 1/8 Cent Economic Development Sales Tax Campaign leveraging $100,000,000 of City-based revenue to Black and inner city development in Kansas City

• Founding of the SCLC-GKC Youth & Young Adult Division called "MOUNTAIN MOVERS"

• Direct Action Civil Disobedience Actions leading to the Removal/Resignation of KCPD Chief Rick Smith

• Launching of the new "Taylor Fields, Esq., Memorial Scholarship" SCLC-GKC is ready for the now and poised for the future. Justice and equity NOW!"

National Magazine/

2022

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SCLC Honors Civil Rights Movement Icons

By: Debbie Ellison

Two icons of the Civil Rights Movement, Ambassador Andrew Young and Rev. Jesse Jackson, were recently honored by the Southern Christian Leadership Council for their past and continued dedication and contribution to SCLC and the Civil Rights Movement.

Both of these leaders have been important parts of SCLC, assisting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the turbulent days of the Movement, and both continue that work today. Their contributions have been significant and helped move the SCLC and the Civil Rights Movement forward.

Ambassador Young was honored at the national SCLC office in Atlanta in March 2022. SCLC Chairman Dr. Bernard LaFayette told Young, “You were my inspiration for my international travels.”

The two traveled throughout Africa. “People all over Africa were bowing to none other than Ambassador Young,” LaFayette said. “Andy is the person who gets things started. And the reason he’s not there to finish it is because he’s starting something else.”

For almost 60 years, Andrew Jackson Young Jr. has worked for the social, political, and economic advancement of oppressed people around the world. In 1954, he became active in the Civil Rights Movement, becoming a close confidant to Martin Luther King Jr. and organizing voter registration drives.

Young joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1961 as director of the organization's Citizenship Schools, formed to teach literacy and leadership skills to rural southern Black women and men. Young was a strategist for some of the most important protests, including the March on Washington in 1963, which led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He served as executive director of SCLC from 1964 to 1968 and executive vice president from 1968 to 1970.

“Andrew Young is the one responsible for leading folks with a global intent,” LaFayette continued. “And most people don’t even know that it was Andrew Young who introduced the bill that created the U.S. Institute of Peace. There are things we can’t even honor Andy for because he’s done so much until folks don’t even remember. There’s some things that they will never know that he’s done quietly.”

Young’s wife, Carolyn, added, “There’s many things that he’s done and he doesn’t want to get the credit. When we went to get our shots two years ago at Morehouse Medical, they said they have Morehouse Medical School because of Andy Young. He had the bill passed and he

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had them get the money.”

“Long ago,” Mrs. Young continued, “people had to pay $2.50 to get food stamps, and that was a lot of money. So he went to President Carter and said, ‘Some people can’t pay $2.50; it should be free.’ Andy told him, ‘Sign an executive order saying that there will be no more money paid for food stamps.’ ”

He also sponsored legislation that established The African Development Bank and the Chattahoochee River National Park, and negotiated federal funds for the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), the Atlanta highway system, and an international airport for Atlanta.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Young to serve as the nation’s first AfricanAmerican Ambassador to the United Nations. He was elected Mayor of Atlanta in 1981 and reelected in 1985. He championed the development of Hartsfield International Airport, which made it possible for Atlanta to attract 1,100 new businesses, $70 billion in foreign direct investment, and 1 million new jobs to the region during his tenure. He also led the successful effort to bring the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta.

Jimmy Carter awarded Young the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian award. Young served as executive vice president of SCLC from 1968 to 1970. In 1972, Young was elected to Congress, becoming the first African-American representative from the Deep South since Reconstruction.

Today, he leads the Andrew J. Young Foundation’s efforts to develop and support new generations of leaders to create global approaches to economic development and alleviation of poverty and hunger.

Honoring another great leader, SCLC Chairman Bernard LaFayette Jr. presented the Living Legend Award to Rev. Jesse Jackson at the SCLC Convention Prayer Breakfast July 21, 2022.

“He’s incredible,” LaFayette said, “He works so hard. He makes things work that can’t work sometimes. And he’s still working. We’re so proud of the work that he’s doing. When I think of all the things we’ve accomplished in this Movement, Jesse is one of the greatest.”

National SCLC President Dr. Charles Steele Jr. agreed. “I am so touched by this great leader,” he said. “We’re giving him this award because not only is he the leader of Black folks and civil rights and disenfranchised folks, he is a leader of the world. Just as many white folks love him as Black folks.”

Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. first became involved in the Civil Rights Movement when he joined the Greensboro chapter of the Council on Racial Equality (CORE) while he was a student at North Carolina A&T, organizing marches, sit-ins, and mass arrests to press for the desegregation of local restaurants and theaters.

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In March 1965, he organized a group of students to march in Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There he met Dr. King, who later hired him to be the Chicago coordinator of Operation Breadbasket, SCLC’s economic development and empowerment program. Jackson organized the Black community to use selective buying and boycotts to support black businesses and to pressure white-owned businesses to stock more of their products and hire more black workers. Impressed by Jackson’s leadership, Dr. King promoted him to national director of Operation Breadbasket a year later.

After King's assassination, Jackson worked on SCLC's Poor People's Crusade in Washington D.C., managing its 15-acre tent city.

Jackson has also been a prominent figure in international diplomacy. In 1972, he went to Liberia. In 1979, he spoke in South Africa against apartheid. He attempted to spread the Civil Rights Movement’s concepts of nonviolent resistance and radical love as political weapons to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict “He got a man released who was a political prisoner,” Dr. Steele praised, “whose plane had fallen down. The government couldn’t get him out. But Rev. Jesse Jackson got this man out.”

This American pilot, Navy Lt. Robert Goodman, had been shot down over Lebanon and was being held by the Syrian government. In 1983, after Jackson traveled to Syria and made a personal appeal to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Goodman was released. Jackson also negotiated the release of 22 Americans being held in Cuba in 1984.

In 1999, he traveled to war-torn Sierra Leone, where he negotiated a cease-fire agreement and the release of more than two thousand prisoners of war.

On the eve of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Jackson negotiated with Saddam Hussein to secure the release of several British and 20 American individuals being held in Syria.

The many heroes of the SCLC and the Civil Rights Movement shine brightly on history’s horizon, and Ambassador Andrew Young and Rev. Jesse Jackson are two of its brightest stars.

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Debbie Ellison is the Executive Director of Global Humanitarians Unite.

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT (IRA) REINFORCES THE NEED FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR TO INVEST MORE IN POLITICAL ADVOCACY

By Kevin B. Kimble, Esq, D.C. Bureau Chief for SCLC and Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Global Policy Initiative

Everybody knows that rising prices squeeze the poorest members of our community the hardest. With inflation setting 40-year records, hitting 9.1% in June, and wage increases failing to keep up, people are struggling to put food on the table, pay the rent, and put gas in the car.

So you might think the legislation just pushed through Congress with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris, called the https:// img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/cfea118f-22ba-4723920b-5d1251bd1d63/IMG_2308.JPG/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:800,cg:true

“Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA), would bring relief to those who need it most - especially communities of color that have long been disadvantaged by structural racism and the economic inequality it perpetuates.

Unfortunately, the Inflation Reduction Act will do virtually nothing for communities of color. Not unlike Opportunity Zones in the Trump Administration, the Infrastructure law passed earlier in the Biden Administration, and other spending and tax proposals from the past, the benefits of the IRA will bypass our communities.

This legislation also fails to address wealth disparities. The median white family had a net worth of $188,200 in 2019. The median net worth for a Black family was $24,100. Add it all up, and there’s a $10 trillion wealth gap between white Americans and their black counterparts. As Vanessa Williamson at the Brookings Institute recently wrote, “If Black households held a share of the national wealth in proportion to their share of the U.S. population, it would amount to $12.68 trillion in household wealth, rather than the actual sum of $2.54 trillion.”

But instead of raising taxes on the rich, this legislation only imposes a new minimum tax on corporations, much of which they will pass on to consumers to preserve shareholder profits. So low-income workers will once again be hardest hit.

To further highlight the lack of effective advocacy by people of color in legislation, while the law includes large subsidies for electric vehicles, a provision to add $100 billion for urgently needed school modernization was removed.

So basically, this legislation was put together behind closed doors without input from representatives of communities of color.

They say the new legislation will lower drug prices by enabling Medicare to negotiate on prescription drugs. That may be so for a handful of approved prescription drugs. But provisions that would have reduced prescription costs for Americans on private insurance were cut from the legislation. And it does nothing to stop giant insurance companies from gaming the system through “pharmacy benefit managers,” or PBMs, to maximize their profits at the expense of the most vulnerable patients.

Some 50+ years since the Poor People’s campaign, it is imperative that we increase our advocacy and let our elected representatives know that this legislation is little more than a handout to the wealthy. They should insist that our communities get the much-needed hand-up they need, and we must demand they withhold their votes from legislation that does not include benefits for their constituents.

Kevin B. Kimble, Esq. –Mr. Kimble is a 25-year veteran of Capital Hill and has held positions as chief of staff for a senior member of congress and chief lobbyist for one of the nation’s largest financial services firms. As current D.C. Bureau Chief for the national chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Kevin has unparalleled access to minority communities and civic leaders around the country. He is routinely called upon and advises members of congress on policy and legislative issues and has been asked to speak to state and local government and testify at hearings.

Mr. Kimble is a 25-year veteran of Capital Hill and has held positions as chief of staff for a senior member of congress and chief lobbyist for one of the nation's largest financial services firms. As current D.C. Bureau Chief for the national chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Kevin has unparalleled access to minority communities and civic leaders around the country. He is routinely called upon and advises members of congress on policy and legislative issues and has been asked to speak to state and local government and testify at hearings.

MOBILIZE. ENGAGE. REGISTER.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SOCIAL WORK ADVOCACY AT SOCIALWORKERS.ORG

NASW SUPPORTS:

» Passing the For the People Act to expand Americans’ access to the ballot box and reduce the influence of big money in politics.

» Passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

» Making Election Day a national holiday.

» Restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated citizens who have served their sentences.

SCLC Votes!

By: DeMark Liggins

“Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.

Give us the ballot , and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an antilynching law; we will by the power of our vote write the law on the statute books of the South and bring an end to the dastardly acts of the hooded perpetrators of violence.

Give us the ballot, and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens

Give us the ballot, and we will fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill and send to the sacred halls of Congress men who will not sign a “Southern Manifesto” because of their devotion to the manifesto of justice.

Give us the ballot, and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly and love mercy, and we will place at the head of the southern states governors who will, who have felt not only the tang of the human, but the glow of the Divine.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

May 17, 1957

Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom Washington, DC

The SCLC understands that maintaining the right to vote is an ongoing task. Dr. King first led a demonstration on voting in 1957, when the Voting Rights Act was first introduced. That legislations did not pass until 1965, almost ten years later and after continued marches and demonstrations, including the infamous Bloody Sunday March in Selma, led by SCLC leader, Josea Williams. Then as now we will continue to press the issue and importance of voting.

Our National President/CEO, Dr. Steele is often quoted saying, “Politics has never freed the oppressed, the oppressed must free politics!” That is as relevant now as it has ever been. Groups that are experiencing the oppressing force of voting disenfranchisement, the oppression placed on women regarding their reproductive health, those who are suffering from economic despair from lack of lending and the crushing effect of inflation, communities where over-policing leads to violence and incarceration, families

National Magazine/ Fall 2022

who are forced to live with the effects of poverty from crime to lack of quality education and more this is our time to come together and say enough!

On November 8th, Americans will go to the polls for the 2022 midterm elections. Every election is important, yet this election could have ramifications that reverberate for years to come. There are so many important social pillars that were gained through the blood and sacrifice of many, including the founding members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the thousands of foot soldiers that marched with us during the movement of the 50s, 60s and beyond.

Unfortunately though, we are now seeing the results of the gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that took place in June of 2013. That day, Dr. Charles Steele descended on the steps of the courthouse at the US Supreme Court to sound the alarm of what was to come. He warned this ruling was going to have a chilling and sweeping effect on the voting rights of Americans. His concern the United States, particularly the Black community was still high of the euphoria of having the first Black President while the wheels were set in motion to deny that same community to the ability to effect legislation through voting. As we look at the upcoming midterms his concern have come to fruition.

There is a concentrated effort to roll back voting rights across the country. Not just in the south, where the Voting Rights Act initially sought to protect citizens, but nationwide from Georgia, to Arizona, to Michigan and beyond. In addition to these attacks on the right to vote, key protections that we have enjoyed as citizens are being stripped away such as the recent ruling on repealing Roe v. Wade. Aside from the blatant and unwarranted attacked on the reproductive rights of women, this ruling is designed to set the framework to begin the removing away protections from issues related to contraception and the right to marry. It is not a stretch to see where these precedents could effect cases such as Brown v. Board.

This rollback of rights is predicated and dependent on the belief that we will not vote nor will our allies vote with us. It is up to us to prove them wrong! The Southern Christian

SCLC National Magazine/ Fall 2022 Issue

Leadership Conference, through our efforts at the national office and through are network of chapters are committed to galvanizing the communities we are in to vote. Dr. Steele, is a sought out speaker and advisor on this issue at the federal level, state, and local areas across the country. Through his leadership, we have also launched SCLC VOTES; Voting, Organizing, Teaching and Empowerment Sessions. These sessions connect the dots between the issues that we read about in the media and how voting effects it.

Through nonviolent action and community advocacy we must exercise our right to vote and continually demonstrate in order to protect our right to vote. The time is now to ensure that politicians on both sides of the aisle stand up for the rights of the minority, the poor and the disenfranchised. We must free politics and it starts this November 8th at the ballot.

DeMark Liggins is a proud alum of Alabama State University, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and involved in several civic organizations in the Atlanta area. He is married to his wife Atoya and they have three children, Reagan (13), Darden (7) and Deuce (7).

2022

AL ABAMA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

We stand proud in support of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and it’s mission to educate the youth and adults United Teachers Los Angeles is committed to exercising our collective power in a transformative fight for equity in our public schools and the communities they serve.

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the

in its mission to build strong communities and promote social, economic and political justice

The USW represents 1.2 million active and retired members across North America employed in many industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, the service and public sectors and higher education.

VOTE WITH POWER

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has lived out the spirit of numerous civil rights leaders since its founding by educating communities on advocacy and civil rights, including the right to vote. Alabama Power is honored to partner with the SCLC to continue achieving social, political, and equal justice for all.

We proudly support the SCLC 63rd national convention.