Activists here used the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to call out the Obama administration on the persistent issue of discrimination and racial disparity in the United States.
The International Day for Racial Discrimination is commemorated annually on March 21 to coincide with the date in 1960 when police opened fire and killed 69 Black South Africans gathered in Sharpeville for a peaceful demonstration against apartheid, the system of racial segregation and White minority rule in the country at the time.
Youth protests police brutality.
“There are persistent race disparities in almost every sphere of life, especially evident in economic inequality,” noted Ejim Dike, of the Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center, in describing the race divide inside America.
The administration is reluctant to deal with relatively recent disparities that go back to the 1990s, when the U.S. was enjoying a period of prosperity, Ms. Dike explained to The Final Call. Even in the best of economic times for the United States, there was uneven progress based on race. “And the worst part of this is that the administration has made no clear acknowledgement that there is a problem,” she said.
The Justice Center listed some disparities: Blacks hit by a high rate of unemployment, 25.8 percent, as result of the recession, while Latino unemployment stands at 25.3 percent and unemployment for Whites stands at 9.4 percent. Poverty for Black children stands at 35.7 percent—while the national child poverty rate is 20.7 percent. For every dollar of net worth possessed by White Americans, Blacks possess only seven cents.
“We need an effort that will include more than enforcing civil rights laws that we have,” Ms. Dike added.
Human rights organizations in the U.S. want President Obama to adopt a national plan of action to fully implement America's obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, which is also known as CERD.
In 1994, the U.S. ratified the UN-sponsored convention which defines in its Article 1, racial discrimination is “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national ethnic origin, which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.” Activists argue that means looking at racial disparity and taking immediate and committed steps to eliminate shortfalls—and not simply responding legally when civil rights violations are charged.
Demonstrators take to streets after killing of young girl during Detroit police raid. Rights activists say the Obama administration has failed to deal with race or acknowledge depth of the problem. They want a national human rights institution to deal with racial inequity.
On March 18, the U.S. government said in Geneva, Switzerland that it supports recommendations made last November during a review of U.S. race relations and racial progress to adopt a comprehensive national plan of action to address discrimination.
Human rights activists, including Ajamu Baraka of the U.S. Human Rights Network, expressed disappointment with the lack of U.S. action since the review. The Obama administration has not established a national human rights institution to monitor rights compliance, they said.
“The initial response from the U.S. government to the UPR (review) process makes for depressing reading,” Mr. Baraka said, in a statement. “It seems that the Obama administration is simply continuing with the policies of the Bush administration when it comes to human rights, despite pretense of being engaged with the international community on human rights.”
U.S. human rights advocates needs to take a hard look at what consultations and work with the administration actually achieved and go back to the drawing board, Mr. Baraka added.
He stated that the groups should continue to push the U.S. to honor commitments made to eliminate discrimination, racism and its impact.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, of the Nation of Islam, wisely counseled the government of America in his 1993 book “A Torchlight for America” that it is the wrong time to deny just pursuits of liberty.
“It's a dangerous time to play with people whose hunger and thirst is for justice and truth,” Min. Farrakhan wrote.
“It is the purpose of the wickedly wise to hide the truth so that people won't see a way to get themselves out of their present circumstances, so those who rule can continue to dominate and subjugate the people to feed their own lusts and greed,” the Muslim leader noted.
Saladin Muhammad, national chairman of Black Workers for Justice, attended the review meeting in Geneva. He found a “condescending” attitude by U.S. officials dealing with racial discrimination “quite disturbing.”
Mr. Muhammad said the condescending attitude was apparent in the opening statement of Harold Hongju Koh, a legal adviser from the U.S. State Department, who presented the administration's answer to the review: “Our society as a whole is transformed for the better through our work to protect and promote the civil and human rights of its least powerful members. That tradition explains why I, the child of Korean immigrants who came to America to search for a better future, sit before you today to represent our country.”
Mr. Koh's next statement, according to participants, seemingly dismissed the importance of the review.
On March 7, a coalition of human rights organizations sent a letter to the UN Committee on the Elimination of racial discrimination. “People of African descent in the United States continue to face intentional, structural, and de facto forms of discrimination which manifest in unequal access to quality education, housing, health services, employment, electoral disenfranchisement and discrimination in the criminal justice system, among many other issues,” the letter said.
A full text of the letter is available on line at: http://goo.gl/AHmQB
Some of the organizations signing onto the letter include the American Civil Liberties Union, Asian American Justice Center, Center for Constitutional Rights, Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights, U.S. Human Rights Network and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
“The goal of the letter was to inform the UN committee of efforts by civil rights organizations in the United States urging the government to adopt a coordinated approach to complying with the CERD treaty and by doing so ensure that CERD obligations are integrated into domestic laws addressing racial discrimination,” said Marcia F. Johnson-Blanco, co-director of the Voting Rights Project for the Lawyer's Committee, in an e-mail.
Prior to the Geneva meeting, some activists felt with the U.S. officially responding to questions about racism and discrimination, it was a chance to lead by example, not just rhetoric. That opportunity appears to be squandered.
“I came away from Geneva feeling that unless there are extended struggles on the ground, also developing a strong Black Manifesto, what we did on March 18 will be looked at as just a complaint. And that means all of our efforts so far won't be impactful,” Mr. Muhammad said.
Ms. Dike's organization is drafting a petition asking the administration to come up with a timeline for creation of a national plan to end racial discrimination in America. It may help highlight the problem, but doesn't appear likely to push America toward finding solutions.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Housing & Urban Development Report Exposes Low Income Renters Suffering Most In Midst Of Recession
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released its bi-annual report to Congress on the housing needs of low income Americans.
It shows an increased number of very low income households have severe housing difficulties, particularly housing costs that far exceed what they can afford.
The findings of the 66-page“Worst Case Housing Needs 2009: Report To Congress,” released Feb. 1, reveal that in 2009 there were 7.1 million worst case needs households in the country, up significantly from 5.9million two years prior.
HUD defines these worst case needs households as very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and who either paid more than one-half of their income for rent, lived in severely inadequate conditions, or both.
“This report makes clear that worst case needs cut across all regions of the country; all racial and ethnic groups; boundaries of all cities, suburbs, and rural areas; and all household types,” said a HUD assistant secretary.
Fewer than one in four very low income renters currently receive housing assistance. HUD's report finds that these worst case housing needs can be linked to three factors: Declines in renter's income, the availability of housing assistance not meeting the increasing need, and the increased competition for affordable rental units.
By race, Hispanic very low-income renters had the highest incidence of worst case needs in 2009, with 45.3 percent. White renters had the next highest incidence, with 42.7 percent, followed by Black renters, with 36.5 percent, according to the report.
During the 2007–2009 period, the number of very low-income renters increased by 11 percent for Blacks compared with 7.7 percent growth for Whites and 5.9-percent for Hispanics, the report says.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition, based in Washington, D.C., is calling on Congress and the Obama administration to spare federal housing aid programs from the budget cuts.
Increases in these two types of housing need have occurred just as many in Congress have suggested that the path to the nation's economic sustainability is through cuts to safety net programs like affordable housing, the group warns.
“Cuts to the programs in existence today would cause increases in many of the other indicators of need tracked by HUD, such as the rising rate of homelessness in the U.S. These data show that the imperative should be to expand and improve low income housing programs,” Sheila Crowley, president of NLIHC, in a released statement.
The group further believes that if the government directs more resources to solve the housing problems of the lowest income families it would create more jobs in construction, a sector that has a 20 percent rate of unemployment, over twice the overall rate of 9.4 percent.
The coalition is also pressuring the government to fully fund the National Housing Trust Fund at $15 billion a year for the next decade. They believe this could double the number of housing vouchers, and preserve all existing federally assisted housing units. Their recommendations were sent to White House policy chiefs Jan. 21 in a letter signed by 32 other organizations representing thousands of housing, civil rights, and social needs advocates across the country.
It shows an increased number of very low income households have severe housing difficulties, particularly housing costs that far exceed what they can afford.
The findings of the 66-page“Worst Case Housing Needs 2009: Report To Congress,” released Feb. 1, reveal that in 2009 there were 7.1 million worst case needs households in the country, up significantly from 5.9million two years prior.
HUD defines these worst case needs households as very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and who either paid more than one-half of their income for rent, lived in severely inadequate conditions, or both.
“This report makes clear that worst case needs cut across all regions of the country; all racial and ethnic groups; boundaries of all cities, suburbs, and rural areas; and all household types,” said a HUD assistant secretary.
Fewer than one in four very low income renters currently receive housing assistance. HUD's report finds that these worst case housing needs can be linked to three factors: Declines in renter's income, the availability of housing assistance not meeting the increasing need, and the increased competition for affordable rental units.
By race, Hispanic very low-income renters had the highest incidence of worst case needs in 2009, with 45.3 percent. White renters had the next highest incidence, with 42.7 percent, followed by Black renters, with 36.5 percent, according to the report.
During the 2007–2009 period, the number of very low-income renters increased by 11 percent for Blacks compared with 7.7 percent growth for Whites and 5.9-percent for Hispanics, the report says.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition, based in Washington, D.C., is calling on Congress and the Obama administration to spare federal housing aid programs from the budget cuts.
Increases in these two types of housing need have occurred just as many in Congress have suggested that the path to the nation's economic sustainability is through cuts to safety net programs like affordable housing, the group warns.
“Cuts to the programs in existence today would cause increases in many of the other indicators of need tracked by HUD, such as the rising rate of homelessness in the U.S. These data show that the imperative should be to expand and improve low income housing programs,” Sheila Crowley, president of NLIHC, in a released statement.
The group further believes that if the government directs more resources to solve the housing problems of the lowest income families it would create more jobs in construction, a sector that has a 20 percent rate of unemployment, over twice the overall rate of 9.4 percent.
The coalition is also pressuring the government to fully fund the National Housing Trust Fund at $15 billion a year for the next decade. They believe this could double the number of housing vouchers, and preserve all existing federally assisted housing units. Their recommendations were sent to White House policy chiefs Jan. 21 in a letter signed by 32 other organizations representing thousands of housing, civil rights, and social needs advocates across the country.
Standoff Between Democrats & Republicans Over Federal Budget May Lead To Government Shutdown; What Does This Mean For You?
The ongoing standoff in Washington over the federal budget is now less than three days away from its deadline, with Republicans and Democrats still locked in disagreement in the House of Representatives. If the parties can't pass a spending plan by the end of Friday, money will stop flowing from federal coffers, and the government will start to shut down on Saturday. But what does that mean, exactly?
For the general public: Unless you are one of 4.4 million people who work for the federal government, you probably won't notice the shutdown at first, especially since many federal offices are closed on the weekend anyway. Employees considered essential — including soldiers, security personnel and intelligence workers — will remain on the job, but operations like the Smithsonian will close. As the New York Times points out, "the National Zoo will close but the lions will get fed." Federal courts will stay open for at least a couple of weeks, operating from funds they have on hand. "After that, who knows?" courts spokeswoman Karen E. Redmond told the Times. The Post Office will stay open, as it is owned, but not operated by the federal government, but the IRS will close. That means many people waiting on refund checks will have to keep waiting. However, Social Security checks will go out.
For federal employees: Some or all of the 1.9 civilian government employees could be furloughed if they are deemed non-essential. According to the Washington Post, "any workers scheduled to take paid leave would not be able to, and some would be eligible for unemployment benefits if a shutdown continued for more than a few days." Furloughed congressional staffers have been paid in the past, the Times reports, "but the political climate now is different, and lawmakers might be less willing to do so." If the shutdown lasts more than a week or so, members of the military — deemed essential personnel — may have to go to work without pay. Reports the Post: "If the current funding expires on Friday, in the middle of the military’s two-week pay period, the Defense Department would distribute paychecks for the first week."
For Congress: A group of 21 Senate Democrats is trying to pass a bill to halt pay for Congress and the President, but that seems unlikely, the Post reports.
“Our bill is simple: If we cannot do our work and keep the government functioning, we should not receive a paycheck,” the Senate Democrats wrote to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “If we cannot compromise and meet each other halfway, then we should not be paid.”
Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, responded that House Republicans’ “goal is to cut spending, not shut down the government – and we’ve passed a bill to just that,” a reference to the $61 billion in proposed cuts passed by the House in February but later rejected by the Senate.
For state governments: States that are far more cash-strapped than they were during the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996 will have a very hard time. Not only will state programs funded by federal grants — such as higher education, research, and law enforcement training — likely be delayed or stopped, but the trickle-down effect of unpaid government contracts, closed national parks and shuttered federal offices would mean local industry and tourism would suffer.
Both parties claim they want to avoid a shutdown at all costs, and as Reuters points out, the public will blame both equally if one occurs. The Associated Press talked to some economists who said a shutdown could drag the economy back into a recession "very quickly." We've got a little less than 72 hours to get the bill passed, so lawmakers, roll up those sleeves and get to compromising.
For the general public: Unless you are one of 4.4 million people who work for the federal government, you probably won't notice the shutdown at first, especially since many federal offices are closed on the weekend anyway. Employees considered essential — including soldiers, security personnel and intelligence workers — will remain on the job, but operations like the Smithsonian will close. As the New York Times points out, "the National Zoo will close but the lions will get fed." Federal courts will stay open for at least a couple of weeks, operating from funds they have on hand. "After that, who knows?" courts spokeswoman Karen E. Redmond told the Times. The Post Office will stay open, as it is owned, but not operated by the federal government, but the IRS will close. That means many people waiting on refund checks will have to keep waiting. However, Social Security checks will go out.
For federal employees: Some or all of the 1.9 civilian government employees could be furloughed if they are deemed non-essential. According to the Washington Post, "any workers scheduled to take paid leave would not be able to, and some would be eligible for unemployment benefits if a shutdown continued for more than a few days." Furloughed congressional staffers have been paid in the past, the Times reports, "but the political climate now is different, and lawmakers might be less willing to do so." If the shutdown lasts more than a week or so, members of the military — deemed essential personnel — may have to go to work without pay. Reports the Post: "If the current funding expires on Friday, in the middle of the military’s two-week pay period, the Defense Department would distribute paychecks for the first week."
For Congress: A group of 21 Senate Democrats is trying to pass a bill to halt pay for Congress and the President, but that seems unlikely, the Post reports.
“Our bill is simple: If we cannot do our work and keep the government functioning, we should not receive a paycheck,” the Senate Democrats wrote to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “If we cannot compromise and meet each other halfway, then we should not be paid.”
Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, responded that House Republicans’ “goal is to cut spending, not shut down the government – and we’ve passed a bill to just that,” a reference to the $61 billion in proposed cuts passed by the House in February but later rejected by the Senate.
For state governments: States that are far more cash-strapped than they were during the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996 will have a very hard time. Not only will state programs funded by federal grants — such as higher education, research, and law enforcement training — likely be delayed or stopped, but the trickle-down effect of unpaid government contracts, closed national parks and shuttered federal offices would mean local industry and tourism would suffer.
Both parties claim they want to avoid a shutdown at all costs, and as Reuters points out, the public will blame both equally if one occurs. The Associated Press talked to some economists who said a shutdown could drag the economy back into a recession "very quickly." We've got a little less than 72 hours to get the bill passed, so lawmakers, roll up those sleeves and get to compromising.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Tiger Mother's Daughter Gets Accepted Into Harvard
Amy “Tiger Mother” Chua, the Yale professor who enraged much of the United States’ parenting population earlier this year when she wrote a Wall Street Journal piece about her strict child-rearing techniques, can safely say her rigidity accomplished something.
According to Above The Law, Chua’s eldest daughter Sophia has been accepted to Harvard University. Young Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld received her acceptance letter earlier this week and “has already made up her mind that Harvard is where she’ll attend college.”
Amy Chua received ample criticism in January, when she penned “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” in the Wall Street Journal and listed some of the restrictions she’d given her daughters. The rules included but were not limited to: not being allowed to attend sleepovers, have play dates, participate in school plays, complain about not being able to do school plays, get anything less than an A, play any instrument other than the piano or violin, or opt out of playing the piano or violin.
Catherine Connors, a writer and award-winning parenting blogger, told The Daily Caller in January that Chua’s parenting decisions are “beyond extreme” and could make children fall ill.
“When I heard about this article, my first reaction was that this had to be satire,” Connors told TheDC. “But obviously, it wasn’t, so my second reaction was that this is a borderline abusive parenting style. If these kids are shamed and harangued into performing well, what you end up seeing is they end up being sick.”
Others have opposed Chua’s methods and dubbed her abusive for name-calling her daughters and possibly bullying the young girls into perfection. But Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld herself stood up for her mom soon after the national outrage against Tiger Mother ensued.
In a letter to the New York Post titled “Why I Love My Strict Chinese Mom”, new-Harvard bound cub Chua-Rubenfeld wrote, “Having you as a mother was no tea party. There were some play dates I wish I’d gone to and some piano camps I wish I’d skipped. But now that I’m 18 and about to leave the tiger den, I’m glad you and Daddy raised me the way you did.”
Like most students who get into Harvard, Chua-Rubenfeld is no newbie to success. At 14, she made her Carnegie Hall piano debut. She also comes from a sharp family, as her Tiger Mother and father attended Harvard.
According to Above The Law, Chua’s eldest daughter Sophia has been accepted to Harvard University. Young Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld received her acceptance letter earlier this week and “has already made up her mind that Harvard is where she’ll attend college.”
Amy Chua received ample criticism in January, when she penned “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” in the Wall Street Journal and listed some of the restrictions she’d given her daughters. The rules included but were not limited to: not being allowed to attend sleepovers, have play dates, participate in school plays, complain about not being able to do school plays, get anything less than an A, play any instrument other than the piano or violin, or opt out of playing the piano or violin.
Catherine Connors, a writer and award-winning parenting blogger, told The Daily Caller in January that Chua’s parenting decisions are “beyond extreme” and could make children fall ill.
“When I heard about this article, my first reaction was that this had to be satire,” Connors told TheDC. “But obviously, it wasn’t, so my second reaction was that this is a borderline abusive parenting style. If these kids are shamed and harangued into performing well, what you end up seeing is they end up being sick.”
Others have opposed Chua’s methods and dubbed her abusive for name-calling her daughters and possibly bullying the young girls into perfection. But Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld herself stood up for her mom soon after the national outrage against Tiger Mother ensued.
In a letter to the New York Post titled “Why I Love My Strict Chinese Mom”, new-Harvard bound cub Chua-Rubenfeld wrote, “Having you as a mother was no tea party. There were some play dates I wish I’d gone to and some piano camps I wish I’d skipped. But now that I’m 18 and about to leave the tiger den, I’m glad you and Daddy raised me the way you did.”
Like most students who get into Harvard, Chua-Rubenfeld is no newbie to success. At 14, she made her Carnegie Hall piano debut. She also comes from a sharp family, as her Tiger Mother and father attended Harvard.
Manning Marable Book Revises Image Of Malcolm X
Manning Marable died just three days before the publication of his long-awaited book on Malcolm X, the product of 20 years of intense work. Accordng to the New York Times, the book, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, challenges many of the accepted facts about the former Black Muslim leader. Marable concluded that much of what appeared in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, his collaboration with Alex Haley, was "fictive," exaggerating his life of crime. He also suggests that the FBI and the New York City police did not act on threats to Malcolm's life because he was seen as a "dangerous rabble-rouser."
Working from sources not previously available, including 6,000 pages of FBI files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Marable reinforces earlier reports that two of the three men convicted of Malcolm's assassination were not at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom on that day. Instead, Marable says, two of the men actually responsible are still alive and have never been charged. The book suggests that one of the reasons for Malcolm's break with the Nation of Islam was oedipal: his discovery that the religion's leader, Elijah Muhammad, had impregnated a young woman Malcolm had loved for many years.
The book also highlights Malcolm's expanding global vision after his break from the Nation.
Malcolm X’s subsequent trip to Mecca in 1964 -- a likely turning point in his religious evolution -- was recounted in both the autobiography and the biopic. The Marable book, however, provides extensive new material about a second, 24-week trip to Africa and the Middle East later that year, drawing on Malcolm X's own travel diary and providing details on a campaign he waged to have the United States condemned for racism in a vote at the United Nations.
As part of that effort to open a foreign front for the civil rights struggle, which was closely monitored by American governmental agencies, Malcolm X met with numerous African heads of state as well as Chinese and Cuban diplomats. The Johnson administration was so upset, Mr. Marable writes, that Nicholas Katzenbach, the acting attorney general, considered prosecuting him for violating a law that bans United States citizens from negotiating with foreign states.
Working from sources not previously available, including 6,000 pages of FBI files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Marable reinforces earlier reports that two of the three men convicted of Malcolm's assassination were not at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom on that day. Instead, Marable says, two of the men actually responsible are still alive and have never been charged. The book suggests that one of the reasons for Malcolm's break with the Nation of Islam was oedipal: his discovery that the religion's leader, Elijah Muhammad, had impregnated a young woman Malcolm had loved for many years.
The book also highlights Malcolm's expanding global vision after his break from the Nation.
Malcolm X’s subsequent trip to Mecca in 1964 -- a likely turning point in his religious evolution -- was recounted in both the autobiography and the biopic. The Marable book, however, provides extensive new material about a second, 24-week trip to Africa and the Middle East later that year, drawing on Malcolm X's own travel diary and providing details on a campaign he waged to have the United States condemned for racism in a vote at the United Nations.
As part of that effort to open a foreign front for the civil rights struggle, which was closely monitored by American governmental agencies, Malcolm X met with numerous African heads of state as well as Chinese and Cuban diplomats. The Johnson administration was so upset, Mr. Marable writes, that Nicholas Katzenbach, the acting attorney general, considered prosecuting him for violating a law that bans United States citizens from negotiating with foreign states.
In Memoriam: Dr. W. Manning Marable (1950-2011)
Manning Marable, Historian and Social Critic, Dies at 60
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Manning Marable, a leading scholar of black history and a leftist critic of American social institutions and race relations, whose long-awaited biography of Malcolm X, more than a decade in the writing, is scheduled to be published on Monday, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 60.
His wife, Leith Mullings, said that the cause was not known but that Mr. Marable, who lived in Manhattan, had entered the hospital with pneumonia in early March. In July 2010, he had undergone a double lung transplant.
Mr. Marable, a prolific writer and impassioned polemicist, addressed issues of race and economic injustice in numerous works that established him as one of the most forceful and outspoken scholars of African-American history and race relations in the United States.
He explored this territory in books like “How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America” (1983), “Black Liberation in Conservative America” (1997) and “The Great Wells of Democracy” (2003), and in a political column, “Along the Color Line,” which was syndicated in more than 100 newspapers.
At nearly 600 pages, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,” to be published by Viking, presents a hefty counterweight to the well-known account “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.”
The autobiography, long considered a classic of the 1960s civil rights struggle, was an “as told to” book written with Alex Haley and published in 1965.
Mr. Marable, drawing on new sources, archival material and government documents unavailable to Mr. Haley, developed a fuller account of Malcolm X’s politics, religious beliefs and personal life, as well as his role in the civil rights movement and the circumstances of his assassination.
He also offers a revisionist portrait of Malcolm X at odds with Mr. Haley’s presentation of him as an evolving integrationist.
“We need to look at the organic evolution of his mind and how he struggled to find different ways to empower people of African descent by any means necessary,” Mr. Marable said in a 2007 interview with Amy Goodman on the radio program “Democracy Now.”
Mr. Marable’s political philosophy was often described as transformationist, as opposed to integrationist or separatist. That is, he urged black Americans to transform existing social structures and bring about a more egalitarian society by making common cause with other minorities and change-minded groups like environmentalists.
“By dismantling the narrow politics of racial identity and selective self-interest, by going beyond ‘black’ and ‘white,’ we may construct new values, new institutions and new visions of an America beyond traditional racial categories and racial oppression,” he wrote in the essay collection “Beyond Black and White: Transforming African-American Politics” (1995).
In a telephone interview on Friday, the scholar and author Cornel West called Mr. Marable “our grand radical democratic intellectual,” adding, “He kept alive the democratic socialist tradition in the black freedom movement, and I had great love and respect for him.”
William Manning Marable was born on May 13, 1950, in Dayton, Ohio. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin before receiving his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1976.
He directed ethnic studies programs at a number of colleges, notably the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University and the Africana and Latin American Studies program at Colgate University.
He was the chairman of the black studies department at Ohio State University in the late 1980s and also taught ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
At Columbia University, where he became a professor of public affairs, political science, history and African-American studies in 1993, he was the founding director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies and the Center for the Study of Contemporary Black History.
In addition to his wife, who teaches anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and who co-edited several of his books, Mr. Marable is survived by three children, Joshua Manning Marable of Boulder; Malaika Marable Serrano of Silver Spring, Md.; and Sojourner Marable Grimmett of Atlanta; two stepchildren, Alia Tyner of Manhattan and Michael Tyner of Brooklyn; a sister, Madonna Marable of Dayton; and three grandchildren.
His other books included “Race, Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1982” (1984) and “The Great Wells of Democracy : The Meaning of Race in American Life” ( 2002), as well as two biographies published in 2005, “W. E. B. DuBois: Black Radical Democrat” and “The Autobiography of Medgar Evers,” which he edited with Myrlie Evers-Williams, Evers’s widow.
He was the general editor of “Freedom on My Mind: The Columbia Documentary History of the African American Experience” (2003).
In 1992 he published “On Malcolm X: His Message and Meaning,” a work that prefigured the consuming project of his later years. “Beyond Boundaries: The Manning Marable Reader,” a selection of his writings, was published in January by Paradigm.
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Manning Marable, a leading scholar of black history and a leftist critic of American social institutions and race relations, whose long-awaited biography of Malcolm X, more than a decade in the writing, is scheduled to be published on Monday, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 60.
His wife, Leith Mullings, said that the cause was not known but that Mr. Marable, who lived in Manhattan, had entered the hospital with pneumonia in early March. In July 2010, he had undergone a double lung transplant.
Mr. Marable, a prolific writer and impassioned polemicist, addressed issues of race and economic injustice in numerous works that established him as one of the most forceful and outspoken scholars of African-American history and race relations in the United States.
He explored this territory in books like “How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America” (1983), “Black Liberation in Conservative America” (1997) and “The Great Wells of Democracy” (2003), and in a political column, “Along the Color Line,” which was syndicated in more than 100 newspapers.
At nearly 600 pages, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,” to be published by Viking, presents a hefty counterweight to the well-known account “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.”
The autobiography, long considered a classic of the 1960s civil rights struggle, was an “as told to” book written with Alex Haley and published in 1965.
Mr. Marable, drawing on new sources, archival material and government documents unavailable to Mr. Haley, developed a fuller account of Malcolm X’s politics, religious beliefs and personal life, as well as his role in the civil rights movement and the circumstances of his assassination.
He also offers a revisionist portrait of Malcolm X at odds with Mr. Haley’s presentation of him as an evolving integrationist.
“We need to look at the organic evolution of his mind and how he struggled to find different ways to empower people of African descent by any means necessary,” Mr. Marable said in a 2007 interview with Amy Goodman on the radio program “Democracy Now.”
Mr. Marable’s political philosophy was often described as transformationist, as opposed to integrationist or separatist. That is, he urged black Americans to transform existing social structures and bring about a more egalitarian society by making common cause with other minorities and change-minded groups like environmentalists.
“By dismantling the narrow politics of racial identity and selective self-interest, by going beyond ‘black’ and ‘white,’ we may construct new values, new institutions and new visions of an America beyond traditional racial categories and racial oppression,” he wrote in the essay collection “Beyond Black and White: Transforming African-American Politics” (1995).
In a telephone interview on Friday, the scholar and author Cornel West called Mr. Marable “our grand radical democratic intellectual,” adding, “He kept alive the democratic socialist tradition in the black freedom movement, and I had great love and respect for him.”
William Manning Marable was born on May 13, 1950, in Dayton, Ohio. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin before receiving his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1976.
He directed ethnic studies programs at a number of colleges, notably the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University and the Africana and Latin American Studies program at Colgate University.
He was the chairman of the black studies department at Ohio State University in the late 1980s and also taught ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
At Columbia University, where he became a professor of public affairs, political science, history and African-American studies in 1993, he was the founding director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies and the Center for the Study of Contemporary Black History.
In addition to his wife, who teaches anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and who co-edited several of his books, Mr. Marable is survived by three children, Joshua Manning Marable of Boulder; Malaika Marable Serrano of Silver Spring, Md.; and Sojourner Marable Grimmett of Atlanta; two stepchildren, Alia Tyner of Manhattan and Michael Tyner of Brooklyn; a sister, Madonna Marable of Dayton; and three grandchildren.
His other books included “Race, Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1982” (1984) and “The Great Wells of Democracy : The Meaning of Race in American Life” ( 2002), as well as two biographies published in 2005, “W. E. B. DuBois: Black Radical Democrat” and “The Autobiography of Medgar Evers,” which he edited with Myrlie Evers-Williams, Evers’s widow.
He was the general editor of “Freedom on My Mind: The Columbia Documentary History of the African American Experience” (2003).
In 1992 he published “On Malcolm X: His Message and Meaning,” a work that prefigured the consuming project of his later years. “Beyond Boundaries: The Manning Marable Reader,” a selection of his writings, was published in January by Paradigm.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Minister Louis Farrakhan Takes U.S. To Task Over Libya, Warns Of Destruction Headed For U.S. At Press Conference
(FinalCall.com) - America is facing a major earthquake as part of God's divine judgment against the country for her evil, warned the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan during a March 31 press conference at the Nation of Islam's flagship Mosque Maryam.
The Minister called the news conference to address U.S. policy in the Middle East and military attacks on Libya. He again condemned U.S. military action against Libya and warned the president about tricks that could lead to his disgrace and ruin.
The bombing of Libya has ended hope in Africa and in the Middle East that President Obama would usher in a different type of U.S. policy and hurt the president's popularity, he said. Satanic advisers have shifted the president away from a moral position and into a dangerous one, he said.
Col. Gadhafi has been hated by America for his revolutionary ideology and stand against imperialistic exploitation of poor nations, the Minister said. While Americans are losing their homes and have no health care, Libyans have been given free health care, free education and free housing, Min. Farrakhan noted. Oil money was also used to build hospitals and a major water project stretching from the Sahara Desert almost to Tunisia, he added. While Libya was the poorest country in the world in the 1950s, it current income is double that of Egypt, saidMin. Farrakhan.
The western image of Col. Gadhafi doesn't fit what I know about him and his history, he continued.
The Libyan leader who has supported the Nation of Islam with loans for purchasing its headquarters and starting the POWER economic program and opened doors to relations with African leaders, is not a mad dog or the ugly person depicted by America, he said.
America has supported dictators around the world and already has CIA agents in Libya according to media reports, said Min. Farrakhan.
America will suffer grave loss and massive death as God's chastisement strikes the country and steadily increases, Min. Farrakhan said.
"My teacher was not only a messenger but a warner to you (Blacks) and America and the nations of the earth. He knew what was coming and put it in Muhammad Speaks and in the minds of his ministers," said Min. Farrakhan.
Mr. Muhammad taught that America would suffer four great judgments from God--the judgments of rain, hail, snow and earthquake, the Minister said.
Elijah Muhammad was a Moses speaking to a modern pharaoh saying let Black people go and I am his Aaron, said Min. Farrakhan. I am a man you will have to deal wih and you cannot deal with me as you have ordinary negroes and you won't be able to kill me, he said.
"I love Muammar Qaddafi and I love our president. It grieves me to see my brother president set a policy that would remove this man," Min. Farrakhan said.
The Minister called the news conference to address U.S. policy in the Middle East and military attacks on Libya. He again condemned U.S. military action against Libya and warned the president about tricks that could lead to his disgrace and ruin.
The bombing of Libya has ended hope in Africa and in the Middle East that President Obama would usher in a different type of U.S. policy and hurt the president's popularity, he said. Satanic advisers have shifted the president away from a moral position and into a dangerous one, he said.
Col. Gadhafi has been hated by America for his revolutionary ideology and stand against imperialistic exploitation of poor nations, the Minister said. While Americans are losing their homes and have no health care, Libyans have been given free health care, free education and free housing, Min. Farrakhan noted. Oil money was also used to build hospitals and a major water project stretching from the Sahara Desert almost to Tunisia, he added. While Libya was the poorest country in the world in the 1950s, it current income is double that of Egypt, saidMin. Farrakhan.
The western image of Col. Gadhafi doesn't fit what I know about him and his history, he continued.
The Libyan leader who has supported the Nation of Islam with loans for purchasing its headquarters and starting the POWER economic program and opened doors to relations with African leaders, is not a mad dog or the ugly person depicted by America, he said.
America has supported dictators around the world and already has CIA agents in Libya according to media reports, said Min. Farrakhan.
America will suffer grave loss and massive death as God's chastisement strikes the country and steadily increases, Min. Farrakhan said.
"My teacher was not only a messenger but a warner to you (Blacks) and America and the nations of the earth. He knew what was coming and put it in Muhammad Speaks and in the minds of his ministers," said Min. Farrakhan.
Mr. Muhammad taught that America would suffer four great judgments from God--the judgments of rain, hail, snow and earthquake, the Minister said.
Elijah Muhammad was a Moses speaking to a modern pharaoh saying let Black people go and I am his Aaron, said Min. Farrakhan. I am a man you will have to deal wih and you cannot deal with me as you have ordinary negroes and you won't be able to kill me, he said.
"I love Muammar Qaddafi and I love our president. It grieves me to see my brother president set a policy that would remove this man," Min. Farrakhan said.
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