For the first time since President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act a year ago, his administration has threatened to withhold stimulus money from a transit agency because it failed to comply with federal civil rights laws.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) threatened to pull $70 million in stimulus funds from Northern California's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system because it failed to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits agencies that receive federal funds from discriminatory practices.
Transportation equity advocates say the action signals a new era of stepped up enforcement of civil rights law—and a major change from the government's behavior when George W. Bush was president.
“Before, we were pretty lucky if we got a response,” said Guillermo Mayer, an attorney at the civil rights group Public Advocates. “Under Bush, there was a huge backlog of unaddressed, uninvestigated complaints,” he said. The FTA's speedy and decisive action points to a new level of ramped up enforcement under Title VI.
The FTA faulted the BART District for not adequately analyzing how a connector to the Oakland International Airport would affect low-income and minority riders. The FTA requires this type of fairness analysis as a part of its Title VI enforcement.
In a letter to BART and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff said the Bay Area could lose the $70 million entirely if BART failed to come into compliance by March 5.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission faced making a decision on the fate of the funds: either keep the money with BART and risk losing the federal funds if BART cannot satisfy the requirements, or reallocate the money to other transit agencies. On Jan. 27, commissioners voted to give BART more time to comply with FTA civil rights rules.
The FTA conducted an investigation in response to a complaint filed in September by Public Advocates on behalf of Oakland-based community advocacy groups Genesis, Urban Habitat and TransForm.
“In the Bay Area, all transit agencies are facing a shortfall,” said Mr. Mayer. “At a time when people are hurting most, BART moves forward with a project that benefits mostly affluent riders.”
The three-mile Oakland Airport Connector would replace an existing bus shuttle from BART to the airport for an estimated $500 million. The project would double the round-trip cost of going to the airport to $12—on top of the cost of a regular BART ticket. Advocates say the increases would cause economic hardships for many low-income and minority riders, including thousands of airport workers.
The proposed tram would also not make any stops along its route in Oakland, depriving residents in a low-income, primarily Black and Latino neighborhood of access to jobs and retail opportunities along a main business corridor.
“At the same time, across the Bay Area, local bus service, which many people depend on, is getting cut and fares are going up,” said Bob Allen, transportation and housing program director at Urban Habitat.
In a letter responding to the FTA, BART said it intended to seek federal funding beyond stimulus money for its Oakland Airport Connector project, and said it intends to comply with civil rights rules. BART also said the project would create thousands of construction jobs.
Advocates say the commuter rail system will be scrutinized not only for its airport tram project, but also system-wide on issues such as language access for riders with limited English proficiency and public participation. Results of a broader FTA investigation of BART are pending.
In an email response to NAM's request for comment, BART spokesperson Linton Johnson sent a press release issued Jan. 28 detailing its compliance plan. In it, BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger said:
“According to our records, we have had no prior Title VI findings or deficiencies in any of the triennial audits conducted by the FTA of our activities over the past decade. This audit did, however, raise deficiencies and we are now addressing them. We have been engaged actively with FTA headquarters staff over the seven working days since we received the Administrator's letter. The schedule that the MTC staff is recommending is aggressive for all parties. We are committing the time and the resources to meet our schedule. We plan to submit a draft plan to the FTA this week.”
“The civil rights community embraces transportation issues because transportation is how communities get linked to opportunities,” said Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink, a national research institute in Oakland. “It's how people connect to each other and get to work, school, stores and church,” she said.
Mr. Mayer and Mr. Allen say transportation funds could instead go to bolster existing transit services, and they say studies show funds spent on transit operations create twice as many jobs as those spent on transit construction.
In its decision Jan. 27, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted to maintain funding for the Oakland airport connector, on the condition that BART submit an “action plan” and get FTA approval by Feb. 16. If BART fails to meet the deadline, the funds would be shifted to other regional transit agencies.
Commissioners made the decision after hearing hours of heated testimony from community members, area trade unionists, rank-and-file transit workers, and transportation advocates during its Jan. 27 public meeting.
King Brooks, an apprentice with the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 3 and a longtime Oakland resident, urged commissioners to fund the airport connector. Oakland, he said, is in desperate need of jobs.
“I've been out of work for a while,” he said. “I've lost my health benefits. My family is without health care. I'm just trying to go back to work.”
Transit workers from bus operators to bus cleaners also testified, arguing the money allocated for building the airport connector could be better used to maintain service and prevent layoffs. Because of cuts to bus cleaners, one worker called conditions on some city buses “abominable.”
Nancy Schiller, 70, of Berkeley asked commissioners to use the stimulus money to bolster local bus service, which she says she will depend on when she's no longer able to drive.
If BART fails to get an action plan approved come Feb. 17, regional bus systems and other transit services, struggling with budget shortfalls, would get a much-needed shot in the arm that could reduce layoffs, service cuts and fare increases.
Under the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's contingency plan, BART, which has a $25 million deficit, would get $17 million, as would MUNI, San Francisco's bus system. But, that wouldn't close their budget holes.
MUNI faces a nearly $53 million budget gap next year, and city officials are considering steep fare increases and service cuts to keep the deficit from ballooning to $103 million.
Transit agencies across the country, including those in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and D.C., are also facing budget shortfalls, and increasingly they are eyeing stimulus funds.
“Agencies have to make a choice,” Mr. Mayer said. “Preserve the system we have or build out new projects, and cut existing service and increase fares, which have the biggest impact on people of color.”
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Black Adoption Task Force To Help In Haiti
WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - The Institute of the Black World 21st Century's Black Family Summit, under the leadership of Leonard Dunston, president emeritus of the National Association of Black Social Workers, has formed a National Task Force to help address the growing crisis of orphaned children in Haiti.
“On radio talk shows callers have been asking: Are there any Haitian-owned orphanages in Haiti? Should Haitian children be taken out of their homeland or remain in Haiti? Why don't we see Haitian Americans or African Americans adopting Haitian children? Are there any Black owned agencies involved in the adoption process,” said IBW President Ron Daniels at a press conference February 3 at the National Press Club. Dr. Daniels is also founder of the Haiti Support Project, which has been doing on the ground development work, supporting education and promoting cultural tourism for over 15 years in the country.
“After the issue was discussed on Rev. Al Sharpton's nationally syndicated radio talk show, Keeping It Real, the staff at the National Action Network reported that the lines were flooded with inquiries of Black families expressing a willingness to adopt Haitian children.”
He added, “Black adoption agencies from around the country report a similar response. And Omarosa Stallworth, an original Apprentice and Gardner C. Taylor, Fellow at United Theological Seminary—who traveled to Haiti in 2007 with the Haiti Support Project—has stepped forth to say she and her family are ready and willing to adopt a Haitian child if appropriate.”
The task force has organized the directors of seven Black adoption agencies, leading Black psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and sociologists and representatives of several national organizations specializing in Black family issues. A major earthquake Jan. 14 destroyed Haiti's capital and other areas, leaving the country in crisis, some children orphaned and others separated from family members.
“While our initial tendency may be to rush, we must with clear minds take deliberate action to be responsive first and foremost to the victims of this disaster by providing our skill set and expertise, establish workable partnerships and reciprocal relationships, particularly with other Black organizations and design our long term capacity to share our mission with those in need,” said Dr. Benson George Cooke, president of the Association of Black Psychologists.
This group is ready to send Black psychologists to Haiti.
“African American adoption agencies have a collective interest in being a resource for the children who are homeless and or without custodial care in Haiti. We are concerned both about their vulnerability and the associated dangers and also about the negative repercussions of well intended, yet misguided efforts to provide alternatives for the children of Haiti who are in need of care,” according to task force declaration of intent.
The press conference and collaboration came as major news agencies focused on 10 Americans charged in Haiti Feb. 4 with child kidnapping and criminal association.
The group, which included members of the Idaho Central Valley Baptist Church, was stopped and arrested at the Dominican Republic border with 33 children in a bus. None of the children had documents allowing them to leave and several told Haitian police they were not orphans and wanted to go home. Media outlets have now reported that the group's leader, Laura Silsby, initially said the children were orphans, that she didn't know she needed paperwork to take Haitian children to another country and that they were headed to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. CNN reported that she lied on all three counts: Some children had parents. Others had warned her she could not simply take the children across the border and the so-called orphanage is a 40-room hotel.
“This is similar to what happened in Chad with Zoe's Ark,” explained Abdul Akbar Muhammad, international representative for the Nation of Islam.
In 2007 the so-called philanthropic organization Zoe's Ark tried to get 103 children out of Chad to adoptive families in France.
“The operation was aborted when the driver saw the French putting bandages on the children who didn't have any injuries and thought something strange was going on,” said Mr. Muhammad.
The story went international and to the highest levels of the French government. The Zoe's Ark employees were convicted as child traffickers, sentenced to eight years of hard labor but later released to France and their sentences were thrown out.
The new task force wants to prevent that from happening in Haiti.
“This is an unprecedented and positive collaboration. It's heartwarming to see our people coming together in the spirit of the Million Man March and the Millions More Movement. This work bodes well for the future to confront issues in Haiti as well as in this country,” said Dr. Daniels.
His group is taking Black journalists to Haiti, including Final Call editor Richard Muhammad, to report on conditions in the country. The trip was scheduled to begin Feb. 9.
“We want our journalists to be on the ground telling the story,” said Dr. Daniels. “We're also taking one of the heads of the Black adoption agencies to see what's going on also. We'll return with a report on our findings,” he said.
“On radio talk shows callers have been asking: Are there any Haitian-owned orphanages in Haiti? Should Haitian children be taken out of their homeland or remain in Haiti? Why don't we see Haitian Americans or African Americans adopting Haitian children? Are there any Black owned agencies involved in the adoption process,” said IBW President Ron Daniels at a press conference February 3 at the National Press Club. Dr. Daniels is also founder of the Haiti Support Project, which has been doing on the ground development work, supporting education and promoting cultural tourism for over 15 years in the country.
“After the issue was discussed on Rev. Al Sharpton's nationally syndicated radio talk show, Keeping It Real, the staff at the National Action Network reported that the lines were flooded with inquiries of Black families expressing a willingness to adopt Haitian children.”
He added, “Black adoption agencies from around the country report a similar response. And Omarosa Stallworth, an original Apprentice and Gardner C. Taylor, Fellow at United Theological Seminary—who traveled to Haiti in 2007 with the Haiti Support Project—has stepped forth to say she and her family are ready and willing to adopt a Haitian child if appropriate.”
The task force has organized the directors of seven Black adoption agencies, leading Black psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and sociologists and representatives of several national organizations specializing in Black family issues. A major earthquake Jan. 14 destroyed Haiti's capital and other areas, leaving the country in crisis, some children orphaned and others separated from family members.
“While our initial tendency may be to rush, we must with clear minds take deliberate action to be responsive first and foremost to the victims of this disaster by providing our skill set and expertise, establish workable partnerships and reciprocal relationships, particularly with other Black organizations and design our long term capacity to share our mission with those in need,” said Dr. Benson George Cooke, president of the Association of Black Psychologists.
This group is ready to send Black psychologists to Haiti.
“African American adoption agencies have a collective interest in being a resource for the children who are homeless and or without custodial care in Haiti. We are concerned both about their vulnerability and the associated dangers and also about the negative repercussions of well intended, yet misguided efforts to provide alternatives for the children of Haiti who are in need of care,” according to task force declaration of intent.
The press conference and collaboration came as major news agencies focused on 10 Americans charged in Haiti Feb. 4 with child kidnapping and criminal association.
The group, which included members of the Idaho Central Valley Baptist Church, was stopped and arrested at the Dominican Republic border with 33 children in a bus. None of the children had documents allowing them to leave and several told Haitian police they were not orphans and wanted to go home. Media outlets have now reported that the group's leader, Laura Silsby, initially said the children were orphans, that she didn't know she needed paperwork to take Haitian children to another country and that they were headed to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. CNN reported that she lied on all three counts: Some children had parents. Others had warned her she could not simply take the children across the border and the so-called orphanage is a 40-room hotel.
“This is similar to what happened in Chad with Zoe's Ark,” explained Abdul Akbar Muhammad, international representative for the Nation of Islam.
In 2007 the so-called philanthropic organization Zoe's Ark tried to get 103 children out of Chad to adoptive families in France.
“The operation was aborted when the driver saw the French putting bandages on the children who didn't have any injuries and thought something strange was going on,” said Mr. Muhammad.
The story went international and to the highest levels of the French government. The Zoe's Ark employees were convicted as child traffickers, sentenced to eight years of hard labor but later released to France and their sentences were thrown out.
The new task force wants to prevent that from happening in Haiti.
“This is an unprecedented and positive collaboration. It's heartwarming to see our people coming together in the spirit of the Million Man March and the Millions More Movement. This work bodes well for the future to confront issues in Haiti as well as in this country,” said Dr. Daniels.
His group is taking Black journalists to Haiti, including Final Call editor Richard Muhammad, to report on conditions in the country. The trip was scheduled to begin Feb. 9.
“We want our journalists to be on the ground telling the story,” said Dr. Daniels. “We're also taking one of the heads of the Black adoption agencies to see what's going on also. We'll return with a report on our findings,” he said.
Nation Of Islam Observes 80 Years Of Service With 2010 Saviour's Day Celebration
FinalCall.com) - With extremely tough economic times, high levels of crime and violence, a confusing new political reality, and the fear of more horrific natural disasters such as the recent earthquake in Haiti, guidance from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is needed now more than ever.
The Nation of Islam's Annual Saviours' Day Convention will be held February 26 and 27, at the Stephens Convention Center, located at 5555 N. River Road in Rosemont, IL and culminate with a keynote address "The Time and What Must Be Done" by the leader of the Nation of Islam on Feb. 28 at the United Center located at 1901 W. Madison in Chicago.
"I intend in my Saviours' Day address to provide Divine warning and guidance from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to the Black community to the American people and to our brother, President Barack Obama," said Min. Farrakhan. "It is critical that everyone understand the time in which we live so that we can act in the manner that could save our lives," he continued.
Established in 1930, this year's convention marks the 80th year of the Nation of Islam's service to the oppressed and down trodden in North America. Each year, to also commemorate the birth of Master W. Fard Muhammad--the founder of the Nation of Islam--members, world leaders, celebrities, and supporters from all walks of life make the journey to Chicago to attend the annual assembly. The weekend of events equips attendees with the necessary tools to forge self-improvement, community empowerment and global change.
Among the many expected to attend this year include several high profile names such as Raheem DeVaughn,"the Real Freeway" Rick Ross, Frank Lucas, Wyclef Jean, former Jamaican Ambassador Dudley Thompson, Pam Africa, Filmmaker Allen Hughes, Iyanla Vanzant and Susan Taylor of the National Cares Mentoring Movement.
During the entire weekend, much attention will be placed on the current disaster in Haiti where Min. Farrakhan has already been marshalling aid and assistance efforts from the Black community.
"Haiti needs all the assistance she can get. We in the Nation of Islam are organizing our efforts to provide relief and in the spirit of the Million Man March, The Millions Women's March and the Millions More Movement we encourage everyone to organize their efforts into a National Response to Haiti "If we come together and speak with one voice and use the brightest and best of our minds to organize an effective response to this from the entire Black and Hispanic community of America, what a statement that would make. After we assess what we have done and the success of it, we have a working model for bad days that may soon come upon us," said Min. Farrakhan.
The Saviours' Day Convention begins at 9:00 am on Friday February 26 in Rosemont and culminates with the Saviours' Day address on Sunday. Doors open at 12 noon at the United Center and the program begins at 2:00 pm.
The Nation of Islam's Annual Saviours' Day Convention will be held February 26 and 27, at the Stephens Convention Center, located at 5555 N. River Road in Rosemont, IL and culminate with a keynote address "The Time and What Must Be Done" by the leader of the Nation of Islam on Feb. 28 at the United Center located at 1901 W. Madison in Chicago.
"I intend in my Saviours' Day address to provide Divine warning and guidance from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to the Black community to the American people and to our brother, President Barack Obama," said Min. Farrakhan. "It is critical that everyone understand the time in which we live so that we can act in the manner that could save our lives," he continued.
Established in 1930, this year's convention marks the 80th year of the Nation of Islam's service to the oppressed and down trodden in North America. Each year, to also commemorate the birth of Master W. Fard Muhammad--the founder of the Nation of Islam--members, world leaders, celebrities, and supporters from all walks of life make the journey to Chicago to attend the annual assembly. The weekend of events equips attendees with the necessary tools to forge self-improvement, community empowerment and global change.
Among the many expected to attend this year include several high profile names such as Raheem DeVaughn,"the Real Freeway" Rick Ross, Frank Lucas, Wyclef Jean, former Jamaican Ambassador Dudley Thompson, Pam Africa, Filmmaker Allen Hughes, Iyanla Vanzant and Susan Taylor of the National Cares Mentoring Movement.
During the entire weekend, much attention will be placed on the current disaster in Haiti where Min. Farrakhan has already been marshalling aid and assistance efforts from the Black community.
"Haiti needs all the assistance she can get. We in the Nation of Islam are organizing our efforts to provide relief and in the spirit of the Million Man March, The Millions Women's March and the Millions More Movement we encourage everyone to organize their efforts into a National Response to Haiti "If we come together and speak with one voice and use the brightest and best of our minds to organize an effective response to this from the entire Black and Hispanic community of America, what a statement that would make. After we assess what we have done and the success of it, we have a working model for bad days that may soon come upon us," said Min. Farrakhan.
The Saviours' Day Convention begins at 9:00 am on Friday February 26 in Rosemont and culminates with the Saviours' Day address on Sunday. Doors open at 12 noon at the United Center and the program begins at 2:00 pm.
New Black Panther Party Uses Old School Tactics To Serve Poor
NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - Angel, a 34 year old unemployed resident of Spanish Harlem, stood in 26 degree temperatures enjoying a plate of food doled out by volunteers from the People Survival Program. Their presence in his high poverty neighborhood made the remaining line of hungry men and women smile in warm appreciation for their turn to eat.
This was Angel's first hot meal since the day before, he said.And, like most of the nation's unemployed, he wants to work but cannot find opportunity.“This feeding program is key,” he explained, “I see lots of hardship, homelessness while top execs scam the government and leave the little people in need.”
The presidential election of 2008 was the triumphant culmination of year-long rallies that brought tens of thousands of White and Black Americans to the rallying cry of, “Yes We Can!” It was another pivotal moment when a Black person was pushing America's moral potential to correct a perilous plummet into war, unemployment, foreclosures, loss of industrial capacity, unparalleled debt and loss of respect among the world's nations.
This volunteer food program in Harlem reflects a growing realization that the hoped for change from the top must give way to people saving themselves and their communities.
The People Survival Program is gaining the attention of government funded and non-profit organizations because the successful six month experiment by the New Black Panther Party has pulled 14 groups together for the common interest of feeding and clothing the needy.The task was made easy for the party because of its ongoing food program that brought it into contact with other groups on the same mission, said Shaka Shakur, New York chairperson of the party led by Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz.
“This is the first time in my experience where Black people see Black people doing for one another without interference from others,” said Mr. Shakur. “In fact, the working together to feed and clothe our people is a humbling experience and you don't have big egos getting in the way when you see the needy close up.”
The New Black Panther Party members are a youthful group attempting to recapture the energy of self-pride and community action indicative of the 1960s and 1970s. Towards that end they have actively sought the knowledge of original Black Panthers and even the Young Lords, the Puerto Rican activist group that upset the status quo in Spanish Harlem.Mr. Shakur explained that the veterans of struggle have been very forthcoming about the strengths and weaknesses of that earlier period.
“Both the Panthers and Young Lords have told us that feeding our people is key and that you must have a spiritual base of ethics and morals to guide the membership,” Mr. Shakur continued.“Therefore, areas where we set up food tents have the greatest concentration of need which means that our good deeds will have that greater impact, like this area on Lexington between 124th and 126th Streets which is filled with men and women who need motivation and hope.”
The presence of the food program every second Friday draws an immediate line where hundreds of men congregate before getting on city buses that take them to Wards Island, a complex of homeless shelters that can accommodate 800 people.
“Imam Jamil Al-Amin has clear words of wisdom for activists,” Mr. Shakur said while nodding to the line of hungry people, “and, that is a hungry man's revolution is food and a naked man's revolution is clothing.Furthermore for anyone undertaking coalition building they need to pay attention to the Mission Statement of The Million Man March and the ministries concept of the Millions More Movement.”
As the food ran out other volunteers came forward to give out winter coats to another line of men and women, some with children.One of these volunteers, Brother Yoda, said they could serve food all day; they just need more people to step forward to offer food.“What warms my heart is the appreciation spoken and the smiles,” he said, “because we're repeating a successful time in history of the original Panthers and Young Lords feeding the poor and conveying self-respect and this time we've added our own flavor, coalition building with other groups and therefore our efforts have a more powerful and lasting impact.”
According to Shaka Shakur, the 14 groups brought together under the People Survival Program are: the Almighty Universal Zulu Nation, The Fraternal Order of Black Spades, Black Law Enforcement Alliance, Street Corner Resources, Harlem Single Stop, Harlem Tenants Council, Church of El Barrio, Black Student Union of City College, Safyia Bukhari and Albert Nuh Foundation, Black Panther Commemoration Committee, United Muslim Alliance, Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theater, and the New Black Panther Party.
This was Angel's first hot meal since the day before, he said.And, like most of the nation's unemployed, he wants to work but cannot find opportunity.“This feeding program is key,” he explained, “I see lots of hardship, homelessness while top execs scam the government and leave the little people in need.”
The presidential election of 2008 was the triumphant culmination of year-long rallies that brought tens of thousands of White and Black Americans to the rallying cry of, “Yes We Can!” It was another pivotal moment when a Black person was pushing America's moral potential to correct a perilous plummet into war, unemployment, foreclosures, loss of industrial capacity, unparalleled debt and loss of respect among the world's nations.
This volunteer food program in Harlem reflects a growing realization that the hoped for change from the top must give way to people saving themselves and their communities.
The People Survival Program is gaining the attention of government funded and non-profit organizations because the successful six month experiment by the New Black Panther Party has pulled 14 groups together for the common interest of feeding and clothing the needy.The task was made easy for the party because of its ongoing food program that brought it into contact with other groups on the same mission, said Shaka Shakur, New York chairperson of the party led by Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz.
“This is the first time in my experience where Black people see Black people doing for one another without interference from others,” said Mr. Shakur. “In fact, the working together to feed and clothe our people is a humbling experience and you don't have big egos getting in the way when you see the needy close up.”
The New Black Panther Party members are a youthful group attempting to recapture the energy of self-pride and community action indicative of the 1960s and 1970s. Towards that end they have actively sought the knowledge of original Black Panthers and even the Young Lords, the Puerto Rican activist group that upset the status quo in Spanish Harlem.Mr. Shakur explained that the veterans of struggle have been very forthcoming about the strengths and weaknesses of that earlier period.
“Both the Panthers and Young Lords have told us that feeding our people is key and that you must have a spiritual base of ethics and morals to guide the membership,” Mr. Shakur continued.“Therefore, areas where we set up food tents have the greatest concentration of need which means that our good deeds will have that greater impact, like this area on Lexington between 124th and 126th Streets which is filled with men and women who need motivation and hope.”
The presence of the food program every second Friday draws an immediate line where hundreds of men congregate before getting on city buses that take them to Wards Island, a complex of homeless shelters that can accommodate 800 people.
“Imam Jamil Al-Amin has clear words of wisdom for activists,” Mr. Shakur said while nodding to the line of hungry people, “and, that is a hungry man's revolution is food and a naked man's revolution is clothing.Furthermore for anyone undertaking coalition building they need to pay attention to the Mission Statement of The Million Man March and the ministries concept of the Millions More Movement.”
As the food ran out other volunteers came forward to give out winter coats to another line of men and women, some with children.One of these volunteers, Brother Yoda, said they could serve food all day; they just need more people to step forward to offer food.“What warms my heart is the appreciation spoken and the smiles,” he said, “because we're repeating a successful time in history of the original Panthers and Young Lords feeding the poor and conveying self-respect and this time we've added our own flavor, coalition building with other groups and therefore our efforts have a more powerful and lasting impact.”
According to Shaka Shakur, the 14 groups brought together under the People Survival Program are: the Almighty Universal Zulu Nation, The Fraternal Order of Black Spades, Black Law Enforcement Alliance, Street Corner Resources, Harlem Single Stop, Harlem Tenants Council, Church of El Barrio, Black Student Union of City College, Safyia Bukhari and Albert Nuh Foundation, Black Panther Commemoration Committee, United Muslim Alliance, Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theater, and the New Black Panther Party.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Gangs Use Of Social Networking Websites Leads To Arrests, Prosecution
Just like many businesses and organizations, gangs are using Facebook and Twitter to dessiminate information and interact with the masses. Police are keeping tabs of suspected gang member’s Internet activities and its leading to arrests, convictions and taking illegal drugs and weapons off the streets. From TheNewsTribune When a gang member was released from jail soon after his arrest for selling methamphetamine, friends and associates assumed he had cut a deal with authorities and become a police informant. They sent a warning on Twitter that went like this: We have a snitch in our midst. Unbeknownst to them, that tweet and the traffic it generated were being closely followed by investigators, who had been tracking the San Francisco Bay Area gang for months. Officials sat back and watched as others joined the conversation and left behind incriminating information. Law enforcement officials say gangs are making greater use of Twitter and Facebook, where they sometimes post information that helps agents identify gang associates and learn more about their organizations. “You find out about people you never would have known about before,” said Dean Johnston with the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, which helps police investigate gangs. “You build this little tree of people.” In the case involving the suspected informant, tweets alerted investigators to three other gang members who were ultimately arrested on drug charges. Tech-savvy gangsters have long been at home in chatrooms and on Web sites like MySpace, but they appear to be gravitating toward Twitter and Facebook, where they can make threats, boast about crimes, share intelligence on rivals and network with people across the country. “We are seeing a lot more of it,” Johnston said. “They will even go out and brag about doing shootings.”
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
AIG Set To Roll Out Bonuses Again; Draws Wrath Of White House And Main Street
Most employees currently at the financial-products unit of American International Group Inc. have indicated they will accept cuts in a batch of March retention awards if the bonuses are paid out as early as next week, people familiar with the matter said.
AIG sought the arrangements to help meet requests from U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg that the government-controlled insurer reduce its promised $195 million in March 2010 bonuses to AIG Financial Products employees and recoup $26 million of what it paid out last year.
The company is trying to defuse a potential showdown over the bonus payments at the unit, which was behind the problematic trades that brought the company to the brink of failure in September 2008 and is now in the midst of winding down its businesses.
AIG last week asked current employees of AIGFP if they would accept a 10% reduction in previously promised retention bonuses that are to be paid out by March 15; it indicated that those who agreed would get the discounted payouts by Feb 5.
Employees were given until this past Tuesday to make a decision.
More than 95% of employees told the company they would accept, according to people familiar with the matter. A few volunteered to take a reduction bigger than 10%, the people said.
The reductions for current employees would total roughly half of the $26 million AIG is attempting to recoup, they added. The company is hoping to get the rest from former AIGFP employees who are still entitled to payouts in March.
"The thinking was that employees would work together as a group to find a way" to resolve the bonus issue, said one person familiar with the matter. The person added that the agreements to take lower bonuses are "completely voluntary," and while some employees haven't repaid money they said they would return, others are helping to make up the difference.
Last year, public and congressional outrage erupted over $168 million in retention payments made in March 2009. The outcry led to demands that the money be repaid. By last August, employees indicated they would return a total of $45 million, of which $19 million had been collected, a government audit noted in October. That left $26 million to go, and AIG is trying to reduce the March 2010 payments by more than that amount, using some of the money it saves to cover the 2009 amounts that have to be recouped.
Some of the bonuses AIG is obligated to pay by March 2010 are slated for AIGFP employees who left the company after parts of the business were wound down or sold. AIG asked former employees if they would accept a 20% reduction in the bonuses to get early payouts.
The company hasn't come up with a tally on how many former employees will accept bonus reductions. Some ex-employees in other countries have been hard to reach, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Over the past 16 months, the number of staffers at AIGFP has gone down to 237 from 428, as the company has unwound large amounts of derivatives trades and closed offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong. The firm still has outstanding derivatives with a notional value of $940 billion, and needs to unwind most of the trades in an orderly manner over at least the next year.
The March 2010 awards represent the last batch of retention bonuses that the company committed to pay under contracts written two years ago. Mr. Feinberg is reviewing new 2010 pay packages for a group of AIG's most highly paid executives, including some at AIGFP.
AIG sought the arrangements to help meet requests from U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg that the government-controlled insurer reduce its promised $195 million in March 2010 bonuses to AIG Financial Products employees and recoup $26 million of what it paid out last year.
The company is trying to defuse a potential showdown over the bonus payments at the unit, which was behind the problematic trades that brought the company to the brink of failure in September 2008 and is now in the midst of winding down its businesses.
AIG last week asked current employees of AIGFP if they would accept a 10% reduction in previously promised retention bonuses that are to be paid out by March 15; it indicated that those who agreed would get the discounted payouts by Feb 5.
Employees were given until this past Tuesday to make a decision.
More than 95% of employees told the company they would accept, according to people familiar with the matter. A few volunteered to take a reduction bigger than 10%, the people said.
The reductions for current employees would total roughly half of the $26 million AIG is attempting to recoup, they added. The company is hoping to get the rest from former AIGFP employees who are still entitled to payouts in March.
"The thinking was that employees would work together as a group to find a way" to resolve the bonus issue, said one person familiar with the matter. The person added that the agreements to take lower bonuses are "completely voluntary," and while some employees haven't repaid money they said they would return, others are helping to make up the difference.
Last year, public and congressional outrage erupted over $168 million in retention payments made in March 2009. The outcry led to demands that the money be repaid. By last August, employees indicated they would return a total of $45 million, of which $19 million had been collected, a government audit noted in October. That left $26 million to go, and AIG is trying to reduce the March 2010 payments by more than that amount, using some of the money it saves to cover the 2009 amounts that have to be recouped.
Some of the bonuses AIG is obligated to pay by March 2010 are slated for AIGFP employees who left the company after parts of the business were wound down or sold. AIG asked former employees if they would accept a 20% reduction in the bonuses to get early payouts.
The company hasn't come up with a tally on how many former employees will accept bonus reductions. Some ex-employees in other countries have been hard to reach, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Over the past 16 months, the number of staffers at AIGFP has gone down to 237 from 428, as the company has unwound large amounts of derivatives trades and closed offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong. The firm still has outstanding derivatives with a notional value of $940 billion, and needs to unwind most of the trades in an orderly manner over at least the next year.
The March 2010 awards represent the last batch of retention bonuses that the company committed to pay under contracts written two years ago. Mr. Feinberg is reviewing new 2010 pay packages for a group of AIG's most highly paid executives, including some at AIGFP.
Jackson Family Attorney: Charge Doctor With Second-Degree Murder In Michael's Death
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson's family believes involuntary manslaughter charges against the pop singer's physician would be "just a slap on the wrist," attorney Brian Oxman said Wednesday.
Oxman told CBS' "The Early Show" that Dr. Conrad Murray displayed recklessness in dispensing powerful drugs to help Jackson sleep, warranting a second-degree murder charge. Involuntary manslaughter — the charge prosecutors reportedly plan to seek — carries a maximum jail sentence of just four years.
"That is just a slap on the wrist, and a slap in the face, because Michael Jackson was someone who we knew was in danger of being brought to his knees, brought his death, by the use of these medications," Oxman said.
Murray's attorney said the doctor is ready to surrender to authorities if prosecutors file charges. While there is no public timetable for charges to be filed against Murray, there are strong indications the move is imminent.
Murray, who has a practice in Houston, came to Los Angeles last weekend and spent Tuesday afternoon meeting with his newly assembled team of three lawyers. The district attorney's office has not said if it will file charges but lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff said Murray is ready for such a move.
"I haven't received any phone call from anybody asking for the doctor to surrender," Chernoff said. "If we get the call, we'll be happy to."
A law enforcement official last month told the AP that prosecutors had decided to seek a grand jury indictment on an involuntary manslaughter charge. On Tuesday, a second law enforcement official said prosecutors were sticking with the charge but planned to file a criminal complaint to avoid the appearance of secrecy in the closely watched case.
Both officials requested anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
David Walgren, the deputy Los Angeles County district attorney handling the case, declined to comment.
Jackson, 50, hired Murray to be his personal physician as he prepared for a strenuous series of comeback performances in London. His death on June 25 in Los Angeles came after Murray, tending to Jackson in the star's rented mansion, administered the powerful anesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, which ruled the death a homicide.
Propofol is only supposed to be administered by an anesthesia professional in a medical setting. The patient requires constant monitoring because the drug depresses breathing and heart rate while also lowering blood pressure, a potentially deadly combination.
Murray, a cardiologist, has maintained from the outset that nothing he gave the singer should have killed him. Administering propofol to Jackson wasn't illegal, so prosecutors must show Murray deviated from accepted medical norms when he administered it in a non-medical setting while Jackson already had other sedatives in his system.
A criminal complaint would pave the way for a preliminary hearing in the case, where a judge would publicly hear evidence and decide if it should go to trial.
Such a hearing would provide a valuable glimpse into the strength of the government's case and could help Murray determine if he should negotiate with prosecutors for a plea deal, said criminal defense attorney Roger Rosen, who is not a part of the case.
"You get a flavor for what you are dealing with," he said.
Chernoff recently hired attorneys Joseph Low, who has worked in the media spotlight representing Marines accused of wrongful killings in Iraq, and J. Michael Flanagan, who represented Britney Spears in a hit-and-run case.
Los Angeles Police Department investigators spent months gathering evidence, with detectives talking to numerous medical experts to determine whether Murray's behavior, which included talking on his cell phone and leaving Jackson's bedside, fell outside the bounds of reasonable medical practice.
To bring a manslaughter charge, prosecutors must show there was a reckless action that created a risk of death or great bodily injury. If a doctor is aware of the risk, there might also be an issue of whether the patient knew that risk and decided to take it.
Murray was in dire financial shape when he signed on as Jackson's doctor, owing a total of at least $780,000 in judgments against him and other payments. Low declined to comment on what financial arrangements the lawyers had made to represent Murray.
Oxman told CBS' "The Early Show" that Dr. Conrad Murray displayed recklessness in dispensing powerful drugs to help Jackson sleep, warranting a second-degree murder charge. Involuntary manslaughter — the charge prosecutors reportedly plan to seek — carries a maximum jail sentence of just four years.
"That is just a slap on the wrist, and a slap in the face, because Michael Jackson was someone who we knew was in danger of being brought to his knees, brought his death, by the use of these medications," Oxman said.
Murray's attorney said the doctor is ready to surrender to authorities if prosecutors file charges. While there is no public timetable for charges to be filed against Murray, there are strong indications the move is imminent.
Murray, who has a practice in Houston, came to Los Angeles last weekend and spent Tuesday afternoon meeting with his newly assembled team of three lawyers. The district attorney's office has not said if it will file charges but lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff said Murray is ready for such a move.
"I haven't received any phone call from anybody asking for the doctor to surrender," Chernoff said. "If we get the call, we'll be happy to."
A law enforcement official last month told the AP that prosecutors had decided to seek a grand jury indictment on an involuntary manslaughter charge. On Tuesday, a second law enforcement official said prosecutors were sticking with the charge but planned to file a criminal complaint to avoid the appearance of secrecy in the closely watched case.
Both officials requested anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
David Walgren, the deputy Los Angeles County district attorney handling the case, declined to comment.
Jackson, 50, hired Murray to be his personal physician as he prepared for a strenuous series of comeback performances in London. His death on June 25 in Los Angeles came after Murray, tending to Jackson in the star's rented mansion, administered the powerful anesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, which ruled the death a homicide.
Propofol is only supposed to be administered by an anesthesia professional in a medical setting. The patient requires constant monitoring because the drug depresses breathing and heart rate while also lowering blood pressure, a potentially deadly combination.
Murray, a cardiologist, has maintained from the outset that nothing he gave the singer should have killed him. Administering propofol to Jackson wasn't illegal, so prosecutors must show Murray deviated from accepted medical norms when he administered it in a non-medical setting while Jackson already had other sedatives in his system.
A criminal complaint would pave the way for a preliminary hearing in the case, where a judge would publicly hear evidence and decide if it should go to trial.
Such a hearing would provide a valuable glimpse into the strength of the government's case and could help Murray determine if he should negotiate with prosecutors for a plea deal, said criminal defense attorney Roger Rosen, who is not a part of the case.
"You get a flavor for what you are dealing with," he said.
Chernoff recently hired attorneys Joseph Low, who has worked in the media spotlight representing Marines accused of wrongful killings in Iraq, and J. Michael Flanagan, who represented Britney Spears in a hit-and-run case.
Los Angeles Police Department investigators spent months gathering evidence, with detectives talking to numerous medical experts to determine whether Murray's behavior, which included talking on his cell phone and leaving Jackson's bedside, fell outside the bounds of reasonable medical practice.
To bring a manslaughter charge, prosecutors must show there was a reckless action that created a risk of death or great bodily injury. If a doctor is aware of the risk, there might also be an issue of whether the patient knew that risk and decided to take it.
Murray was in dire financial shape when he signed on as Jackson's doctor, owing a total of at least $780,000 in judgments against him and other payments. Low declined to comment on what financial arrangements the lawyers had made to represent Murray.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Criminal Complaint, Charges Eyed Against Doctor In Michael Jackson's Death
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors plan to charge Michael Jackson's doctor with manslaughter rather than take the case to a grand jury, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press Tuesday. Prosecutors will file a criminal complaint against Dr. Conrad Murray, who practices in Houston, instead of taking the case before a grand jury, which is done in private, the official said. The person is not authorized to speak publicly about the case and only spoke on condition of anonymity. The complaint would be the prelude to a public hearing in which a judge would weigh testimony from witnesses to decide if there is probable cause to try him on an involuntary manslaughter charge. Jackson died June 25 from an anesthetic overdose. Murray maintains nothing he gave Jackson should have killed him. Murray arrived in Los Angeles last weekend in anticipation of a charging decision from the district attorney's office, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. "Dr. Murray is in Los Angeles for a dual purpose — on family business and to be available for law enforcement," said spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik. "We're trying to be as cooperative as we can." There is no official word on when an announcement about any charges might come. David Walgren, the deputy Los Angeles County district attorney handling the case, declined to comment Tuesday. The district attorney's office has for weeks been working closely with Los Angeles Police Department investigators to build a case against Murray. Jackson, 50, hired Murray to be his personal physician as he prepared for a strenuous series of comeback performances in London. He died in Los Angeles after Murray administered the powerful general anesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, which ruled the death a homicide. Murray has denied any criminal wrongdoing. "We continue to maintain that Dr. Murray neither prescribed nor administered anything that should have killed Michael Jackson," Sevcik said. ___ Associated Press reporter Ken Ritter contributed from Las Vegas.
Monday, February 1, 2010
President Obama To Increase HBCU Funding
The proposed 2011 federal budget will include a $98 million funding increase for historically Black colleges and universities.
In a recent television interview Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the Obama Administration wants to do what it can to help HBCU’s “thrive.”
Administration officials are hoping the funding will stave off criticism from black college presidents and alumni, who complained last year the administration’s decision not to pursue renewing a George W. Bush-era HBCU funding program actually resulted in a budget cut to the cash-strapped schools.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, appearing Sunday on TV One’s “Washington Watch with Roland Martin,” announced Obama’s intention ahead of the White House’s official rollout of its estimated $3.8 trillion budget proposal.
“We have great news, that, going forward, we’re proposing in the budget an increase of $98 million annually for HBCUs, so that’s a tremendous commitment,” Duncan said in response to a question from Martin. “I said from Day One we desperately need HBCUs not just to survive, but to thrive.”
In addition, Duncan said the administration is seeking increases in Pell grants – with an eye towards doubling Pell opportunities for HBCU students – Perkins Loans and tuition tax credits.
In a recent television interview Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the Obama Administration wants to do what it can to help HBCU’s “thrive.”
Administration officials are hoping the funding will stave off criticism from black college presidents and alumni, who complained last year the administration’s decision not to pursue renewing a George W. Bush-era HBCU funding program actually resulted in a budget cut to the cash-strapped schools.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, appearing Sunday on TV One’s “Washington Watch with Roland Martin,” announced Obama’s intention ahead of the White House’s official rollout of its estimated $3.8 trillion budget proposal.
“We have great news, that, going forward, we’re proposing in the budget an increase of $98 million annually for HBCUs, so that’s a tremendous commitment,” Duncan said in response to a question from Martin. “I said from Day One we desperately need HBCUs not just to survive, but to thrive.”
In addition, Duncan said the administration is seeking increases in Pell grants – with an eye towards doubling Pell opportunities for HBCU students – Perkins Loans and tuition tax credits.
50th Anniversary Of Greensboro Sit-Ins
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The four college freshmen walked quietly into a Greensboro dime store on a breezy Monday afternoon, bought a few items, then sat down at the "whites only" lunch counter — and sparked a wave of civil rights protest that changed America.
"The best feeling of my life," McCain said, was "sitting on that dumb stool."
"I felt so relieved," he added. "I felt so at peace and so self-accepted at that very moment. Nothing has ever happened to me since then that topped that good feeling of being clean and fully accepted and feeling proud of me."
They weren't afraid, even though they had no way of knowing how the sit-ins would end. What they did know was this: They were tired, they were angry and they were ready to change the world.
The number of protesters mushroomed daily, reaching at least 1,000 by the fifth day. Within two months, sit-ins were occurring in 54 cities in nine states. Within six months, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was desegregated.
The sit-in led to the formation in Raleigh of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which became the cutting edge of the student direct-action civil rights movement. The demonstrations between 1960 and 1965 helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
"Greensboro was the pivot that turned the history of America around," says Bill Chafe, Duke University historian and author of "Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina and the Black Struggle for Freedom."
On Monday, the 50th anniversary of that transformative day, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum will open on the site of the Greensboro Woolworth store. The dining room is still there, with two counters forming an L-shape. One counter is a replica because the fixture was divided into parts and sent to three museums, including the Smithsonian. But the original stools and counter remain where the four sat and demanded service.
The building remains because two men — county commissioner Skip Alston and city council member Earl Jones — arranged to buy it in 1993 for $700,000 from a bank that planned to turn the space into a parking lot.
"It is my fervent wish, hope and desire that this great edifice ... will be a grand monument to the struggle of all people who strive for freedom," said Blair — now named Jibreel Khazan — in a telephone interview. He took the new name in 1968 and has worked as a teacher, counselor, motivational speaker and storyteller.
McCain went on to become a research chemist and sales executive, while McNeil retired as a two-star major general from the Air Force Reserves in 2001 and also worked as an investment banker. Richmond died in 1990.
The four freshmen at N.C. A&T State University were part of an NAACP youth group started by Ella Baker, known as the mother of SNCC. They spent much of the fall semester discussing how to make real the unfulfilled promise of the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Other sit-ins had occurred — in Durham, in 1957; in Oklahoma City and Wichita City, Kan., in 1958; and in several northeastern cities even before that. But they didn't catch fire the way the one in Greensboro did.
The time was right, Chafe says: Six years had passed since the Brown decision that did away with the legal concept of "separate but equal," but little had changed. Rosa Parks and the 1955 bus boycotts in Montgomery, Ala., also had faded into memory. And the place was right as well: Greensboro's white leaders believed theirs was a progressive city and they wouldn't stomach brutality.
And the four young men were right for the job too. Raised to believe in their country and themselves, they were ready to die if that's what it took to end segregation.
McCain says he had tried to follow the advice of his parents and grandparents: Believe in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution; get a good education; respect your elders and do good deeds.
"I did all those things, but it was business as usual coming back from society in general," McCain said in a phone interview.
He still had no dignity, no respect and few rights, all of which filled him with hate, "not for people but for a system that I thought had betrayed me."
It was when McNeil returned to school on a bus from New York that they decided to act. As the bus traveled further and further south, the atmosphere became more and more oppressive. McNeil wasn't allowed to dine at the restaurant in Richmond where the bus stopped so passengers could eat.
He became furious.
Few people expected a group of young men, just 17 and 18 years old, to be so determined, McNeil says. They underestimated the students' ability "to take on something difficult and sustain the effort for a long period of time," he said.
"We were quite serious, and the issue that we rallied behind was a very serious issue because it represented years of suffering and disrespect and humiliation," McNeil says. "Our parents and their parents had to endure the onus of racial segregation and all that it did in terms of being disrespectful to human beings and the difficulties it places in so many ways of life, not just public accommodations, but in areas like employment and education.
"Segregation was an evil kind of thing that needed attention."
___
On the Net:
http://www.sitinmovement.org
"The best feeling of my life," McCain said, was "sitting on that dumb stool."
"I felt so relieved," he added. "I felt so at peace and so self-accepted at that very moment. Nothing has ever happened to me since then that topped that good feeling of being clean and fully accepted and feeling proud of me."
They weren't afraid, even though they had no way of knowing how the sit-ins would end. What they did know was this: They were tired, they were angry and they were ready to change the world.
The number of protesters mushroomed daily, reaching at least 1,000 by the fifth day. Within two months, sit-ins were occurring in 54 cities in nine states. Within six months, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was desegregated.
The sit-in led to the formation in Raleigh of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which became the cutting edge of the student direct-action civil rights movement. The demonstrations between 1960 and 1965 helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
"Greensboro was the pivot that turned the history of America around," says Bill Chafe, Duke University historian and author of "Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina and the Black Struggle for Freedom."
On Monday, the 50th anniversary of that transformative day, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum will open on the site of the Greensboro Woolworth store. The dining room is still there, with two counters forming an L-shape. One counter is a replica because the fixture was divided into parts and sent to three museums, including the Smithsonian. But the original stools and counter remain where the four sat and demanded service.
The building remains because two men — county commissioner Skip Alston and city council member Earl Jones — arranged to buy it in 1993 for $700,000 from a bank that planned to turn the space into a parking lot.
"It is my fervent wish, hope and desire that this great edifice ... will be a grand monument to the struggle of all people who strive for freedom," said Blair — now named Jibreel Khazan — in a telephone interview. He took the new name in 1968 and has worked as a teacher, counselor, motivational speaker and storyteller.
McCain went on to become a research chemist and sales executive, while McNeil retired as a two-star major general from the Air Force Reserves in 2001 and also worked as an investment banker. Richmond died in 1990.
The four freshmen at N.C. A&T State University were part of an NAACP youth group started by Ella Baker, known as the mother of SNCC. They spent much of the fall semester discussing how to make real the unfulfilled promise of the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Other sit-ins had occurred — in Durham, in 1957; in Oklahoma City and Wichita City, Kan., in 1958; and in several northeastern cities even before that. But they didn't catch fire the way the one in Greensboro did.
The time was right, Chafe says: Six years had passed since the Brown decision that did away with the legal concept of "separate but equal," but little had changed. Rosa Parks and the 1955 bus boycotts in Montgomery, Ala., also had faded into memory. And the place was right as well: Greensboro's white leaders believed theirs was a progressive city and they wouldn't stomach brutality.
And the four young men were right for the job too. Raised to believe in their country and themselves, they were ready to die if that's what it took to end segregation.
McCain says he had tried to follow the advice of his parents and grandparents: Believe in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution; get a good education; respect your elders and do good deeds.
"I did all those things, but it was business as usual coming back from society in general," McCain said in a phone interview.
He still had no dignity, no respect and few rights, all of which filled him with hate, "not for people but for a system that I thought had betrayed me."
It was when McNeil returned to school on a bus from New York that they decided to act. As the bus traveled further and further south, the atmosphere became more and more oppressive. McNeil wasn't allowed to dine at the restaurant in Richmond where the bus stopped so passengers could eat.
He became furious.
Few people expected a group of young men, just 17 and 18 years old, to be so determined, McNeil says. They underestimated the students' ability "to take on something difficult and sustain the effort for a long period of time," he said.
"We were quite serious, and the issue that we rallied behind was a very serious issue because it represented years of suffering and disrespect and humiliation," McNeil says. "Our parents and their parents had to endure the onus of racial segregation and all that it did in terms of being disrespectful to human beings and the difficulties it places in so many ways of life, not just public accommodations, but in areas like employment and education.
"Segregation was an evil kind of thing that needed attention."
___
On the Net:
http://www.sitinmovement.org
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