WHY WASTE TIME ON DUE PROCESS!

Yusef Muhammad, a Black minister, and City Councilor Dan Kelly, a White lawyer, have a lot in common. Both have determined the outcome of the investigation of the incident involving Springfield police and the acting principal of Robert Hughes Academy charter school. The minister is absolutely certain that the responding officers are guilty of brutality and the lawyer is absolutely certain the officers are heroes. The minister would have the officers removed from the force and the lawyer would have them rewarded. And each reached his conclusions well before the investigation into the facts had even begun. With such well-placed wisdom around us, one wonders why we even bother to rely on a system of laws based on fundamental fairness and due process.

BLACK TEEN PREGNANCIES PLUMMET!

I couldn’t resist that headline. Pregnancies, abortions and birth rates among teens are all declining and, guess what? The decline is most pronounced among Black teens between 15 and 17 years old, a fact that was buried in news stories across the country. If Black teens led an increase in pregnancies you can imagine the headlines: “Black Teen Pregnancies Skyrocket.”

BLACK COLLEGES ENROLLING LATINOS

Black colleges are enrolling Latino students in record numbers and administrators attribute the trend to good business. Enrollment of Latino students in Black colleges has increased by nearly 100% to 6,665 from 1976 through 2001, according to the National Center for Education.

JOHN ASHCROFT’S LEGACY?

While federal civil rights complaints filed at the Justice Department remained stable at about 12,000, the number of times the FBI or other federal investigative agencies recommended prosecution has fallen by one third. The results of a study at Syracuse University suggest that civil rights enforcement declined across the board in President Bush’s first term in office.

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?!

The Internal Revenue Service is investigating the NAACP to determine if it should lose its tax-exempt status based on a speech given by Chairman Julian Bond at the annual NAACP convention that criticized President Bush. Where is the outrage?!

BLACK POWER!

Census 2000 found that during the previous decade the number of African Americans grew six times as fast as the non-Hispanic white population. Even more significant, census data show that the mean income of African American households grew by 25.8% between 1990 and 2000, more than four times as fast as that of non-Hispanic white households. As a result, 3.7 million African American households have annual incomes of $50,000.00 or more. Moreover, there are 1.4 million upper-income African American households with an annual income of $75,000.00 or more. The total buying power of all African Americans is projected to reach $682 Billion by 2006. That’s real Black Power!

THINK ABOUT IT!

“Over the last 40 years, despite the advances of the civil rights movement, black politicians have made almost no progress representing anything but predominantly black areas. Since the 1960’s, there have been only two African American senators and a single African American governor—none of whom are currently in office. The reason for the poor showing is that African American candidates for statewide office nearly always end up in a catch-22: Attempts to motivate their African American base usually alienate white moderates. And, when black candidates try to tailor their message to white moderates, they dampen enthusiasm among African Americans and liberals.” Noam Sheiber (analyzing the Barak Obama victory in the Illinois senate primary), The New Republic, May 31, 2004.

A PUZZLING DYNAMIC

Why is it that the Bush administration has made the most high-level Black appointments to high government positions, while the Democrats always complain about not being able to find enough qualified candidates? Democrats, who have enjoyed almost total Black voter loyalty, better watch out. Black people, who are beginning to understand that tokenism is not a fair reward for loyalty, are learning to shop their vote around.

WHY, I ALMOST FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR!

I almost fell out of my chair when I read why Parade magazine named Madame C. J. Walker one of ten people who changed the world. Not because she was born to freed slaves, was doing “backbreaking” work in a St Louis laundry at age 35, reinvented herself as Madame C. J. Walker, a hair and beauty specialist, barnstormed the country selling and teaching the Walker system extending it to budgeting and women’s independence. Not because she developed it into the largest Black business and became the nation’s first Black female millionaire and a celebrity, predating Oprah. No! None of this qualified her? According to Parade, “Her enduring contribution was to show what someone of her race could achieve.” Parade, October 24, 2004. Who was she showing? Don’t the people at Parade read Black History! Would it be appropriate to say that Martha Stewart’s enduring contribution (And she probably started with a silver spoon in her mouth and tons of support) was to show what the Irish could achieve? Damn!

REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE

“Keep your eye on the money.” Remember the 2-1/2 million dollars (5 million?) that the former D. Edward Wells Credit Union was holding for the Community Focus Loan Fund? Well, while the news focuses us on police brutality and Bill Cosby, the money meant for the community is slowly inching its way toward the ever-grasping hands of certain downtown interests, who never forget the golden rule.

It Depends Upon How You Define Success!

Black folks did all right in the 2004 elections. Black voter participation increased by 25% from the last presidential election and the Congressional Black Caucus increased by five—one senator and four representatives. 88% of all Black voters voted for John Kerry while Bush received only 11% of the Black vote. Unfortunately for Kerry, Bush’s Black vote was up about 3% from four years ago. More significantly, in Ohio where the election was decided by a narrow Bush victory, 16% of Black Ohioans voted for Bush. Pollsters, who attribute Bush’s success among Black voters to Bush’s faith-based initiative and his opposition to same-sex marriages, also point to the success of the hip-hop generation, led by Russell Simmons, P. Diddy and others who made it popular for young Black people to get out to vote. n