National News
Civil Rights Leaders Fear Chilling Affect of High Court Decision
By. Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Editor-in-Chief
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – It came as no surprise. Civil rights leaders had predicted
it. Yet, they are dismayed at the U. S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to limit
the voluntary use of race in public school desegregation, undermining the spirit
of Brown v. Board of Education.
“What the court did today is unfortunate. This is not a good day for our
country,” says Ted Shaw, director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and
Education Fund outside the court last Thursday. “The court…walks away from both
the spirit and the substance of Brown and in one fell swoop is overturning years
of precedent.”
Shaw sought to make it clear that the ruling was not a complete overturn of
race-conscious programs to desegregate. “The court did not, under any reading,
ban all considerations of race in elementary and secondary school education…This
decision today is a mile post, not an end point. This does not mean that we will
be done with the issue of racial justice in this country.”
Shaw paraphrased the impassioned dissent of Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
“The last half-century has witnessed great strides toward racial equality, but
we have not yet realized the promise of Brown,” Breyer wrote. “To invalidate the
plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown. The plurality’s
position, I fear, would break that promise. This is a decision that the Court
and the Nation will come to regret.”
The opinion of the Court, rendered by stark conservative Chief Justice John G.
Roberts Jr., said the court would allow the use of race when there is a
“compelling interest” for racial integration, but the program has to be
“narrowly tailored.” But, the court ruled that the Seattle and Jefferson Cases
went too far.
“Before Brown, schoolchildren were told where they could and could not go to
school based on the color of their skin. The school districts in these cases
have not carried the heavy burden of demonstrating that we should allow this
once again – even for very different reasons,” Roberts states. “For schools that
never segregated on the basis of race, such as Seattle, or that have removed the
vestiges of past segregation, such as Jefferson County, the way to achieve a
system of determining admission to the public schools on a nonracial basis…is to
stop assigning students on a racial basis. The way to stop discrimination on the
basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
The cases before the court were upheld as constitutional by federal appeals
courts. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in the Jefferson
County, Kentucky case and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in
the Seattle case, ruled that the programs did not violate the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, meaning that race may be considered as a
factor in the placement of students. An adverse ruling by the reconstituted
Supreme Court, however, could have the affect of overturning the desegregation
mandates set forth in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
Justice Kennedy, who voted with the majority, was less adamant than Roberts.
“The decision today should not prevent school districts from continuing the
important work of bringing together students of different racial, ethnic, and
economic backgrounds,” Kennedy states in a separate opinion. “Those entrusted
with directing our public schools can bring to bear the creativity of experts,
parents, administrators, and other concerned citizens to find a way to achieve
the compelling interests they face without resorting to widespread governmental
allocation of benefits and burdens on the basis of racial classifications.”
Civil rights leaders say they will fight back by pressing to elect a fair
president. The president makes Supreme Court appointments, subject to the
confirmation of the U. S. Senate.
But, Supreme Court appointments are for life. They only change in the cases of
retirements, resignations or deaths.
“We, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, 43 members from 23 states,
representing 40 million Americans will speak out and to mobilize America that
they vote that they change the seat that appoints the power that rules the
Supreme Court,” says CBC Chairman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who also joined the
group of rights leaders outside the court. “Shame on the Court, Justice Thomas
included,” she said of the lone Black on the court, an avowed conservative.
Harvard University law professor, Charles Ogletree, executive director of the
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, said the court not only
diminished the problem of segregation in public education that still exists but
has possibly worsened the affects of racial segregation, such as low quality
education.
“What it means is that today we are approving, at least in theory, the idea of
separate and unequal education,” Ogletree says. “That is that this opinion will
make Seattle not change. And Black students who can’t afford to live in other
parts of the city will still go to lesser schools and White students to better
schools. The same thing will happen in Louisville.”
An NAACP LDF statement explains the cases:
“Concerned about how these trends were affecting their own children and
community, locally-elected school boards in Louisville and Seattle adopted
student assignment measures to foster integrated, diverse schools,” says the
statement. “In doing so, they joined hundreds of other communities around the
country that have also taken steps to see that children from different
backgrounds learn to live, play, and solve problems together.”
Both the Louisville and Seattle lawsuits were filed by parents of White students
who complained that their children weren't allowed to attend the schools of
their choice.
Jefferson County's school-assignment program ensures that each school's
enrollment is between 15 percent and 50 percent African-American. The aim of the
Louisville plan is to diversify a school district that is 58 percent White and
36 percent African-American.
In Seattle, Kathleen Brose claims her daughter, Elisabeth, was separated from
her friends in 2000 when she was denied her choice of a high school because she
is White. In Jefferson County, the district used what they called a “tiebreaker”
system by using race to determine where a student should be assigned.
Breyer vehemently argued that the school programs were well within the
guidelines of earlier court rulings since Brown. He cited a 1971 case:
“School authorities are traditionally charged with broad power to formulate and
implement educational policy and might well conclude, for example, that in order
to prepare students to live in a pluralistic society each school should have a
prescribed ratio of Negro to White students reflecting the proportion for the
district as a whole. To do this as an educational policy is within the broad
discretionary powers of school authorities,” he quoted from Swann v.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.
For months, tension over the new cases by civil rights leaders has been
especially high because they perceive a shrinking window for the voluntary
desegregation plans. Also were also anxious because swing voter Sandra Day
O’Conner has retired from the court. Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia,
Samuel Alito and Roberts are the court’s most ardent conservatives. David
Souter, Ruth Bater Ginsburg, Breyer and Justice John Paul Stephens are
considered liberals. Rights leaders had hoped that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
would emerge as the court’s new swing voter. But, he did not. He joined the four
conservatives, even while expressing reservations.
Some fear the ruling could send a chilling affect beyond school districts.
“Without the use of race in decision-making, polarized communities, poverty
concentration, minimal corporate diversity, limited minority business
initiatives and strangled affirmative action plans will become the norm,” says
Gary Flowers, executive director of the Black Leadership Forum. “Civil rights
advocates must now turn our attention to drafting legislation to protect
minorities and women. It is only through legislation that Brown’s promise will
remain.”
The small window appears not to be enough to prevent other successful challenges
to school desegregation programs or to cause enough fear to prevent them from
even getting started.
Breyer agrees:
“Many parents, white and black, alike, want their children to attend schools
with children of different races. Indeed, the very school districts that once
spurned integration now strive for it. The long history of their efforts reveals
the complexities and difficulties they have faced. And in light of those
challenges, they have asked us not to take from their hands the instruments they
have used to rid their schools of racial segregation,” he writes. “Instruments
that they believe are needed to overcome the problems of cities divided by race
and poverty. The plurality would decline their modest request. The plurality is
wrong to do so.”
''All-American'' Debate Reveals Stratified Black Constituency
By. Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Editor-in-Chief
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The All-American Presidential Forum held at Howard
University last week not only showcased domestic issues of interest to
African-Americans, but has also revealed a Black constituency that, although
admires Sen. Barack Obama, is clearly stratified in its support for several
candidates.
“My favorite candidate at this point is still John Edwards. I think that his
views are most aligned with mine and he presented himself very well,” says Dr.
Rochelle Ford, a Howard University advertising and journalism professor, who
attended the debate.
At the same time, Ford, like other members of the vastly Black audience
interviewed as they pressed their way out of Howard’s Crampton Auditorium, also
held a special allegiance to Sen. Barack Obama. The loan Black candidate, Obama
has reached rock star fame as he runs neck-in-neck with Sen. Hilary Rodham
Clinton for the Democratic nomination.
“I am an Obama supporter. I’d love to see an Obama-Edwards ticket,” says Ford.
She says she did an online test to see which candidate’s views most aligned with
hers. “John Edwards was number one and Obama was number two…And so, a
president-vice president kind of thing I think would work.”
The string of issues presented at last week’s energetic forum, moderated by
Tavis Smiley on PBS, was vast and refreshing to political observers who had
cleared tired debates that almost solely featured discussions about the war in
Iraq and immigration issues. The issues discussed were mostly issues from
Smiley’s best-selling “Convenant With Black America” and “The Covenant in
Action”.
The Supreme Court decision on the consideration of race in school desegregation,
wage disparities, public education, racial profiling, mandatory minimum
sentences, AIDS/HIV in the Black community, the death penalty, crack and powder
cocaine sentencing disparities, jobs and Hurricane Katrina relief were among the
issues directly addressed or mentioned during the forum.
Obama, who has demonstrated that he may be at his best as a keynote in front of
large crowds, drew screams and cheers as he stepped out onto the stage in front
of the 1,500 standing-room only crowd and millions watching by television in the
U.S. and abroad. Earlier, he and his wife, Michele, could hardly press through
the crowd of well-wishers at a PBS reception just before the debate. But, it was
Sen. Hilary Clinton who drew the loudest cheers and applause when she hit home
with people in the audience who have tired of national news attention to the
personal lives of White starlets.
''If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of White women between the ages of
25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country,'' Clinton said as
the audience stood to their feet with applause and Black women cheered.
A Gallup poll taken a week before the debate showed Clinton and Obama running
neck in neck among prospective Black voters, both with favorable views by about
8-to-1 margins over the rest of the candidates. The survey was based on a
telephone survey of 802 Blacks with a margin of error of plus or minus 6
percentage points.
Also, this week, the Federal Election Commission reports that Obama has
surpassed Clinton’s fundraising by $10 million during the second quarter of
their filing requirements, Obama with at least $31 million and Clinton with $21
million for the primary.
Despite the “Run Obama Run!” fever apparently growing across the U. S., Black
constituents and leaders are supporting various candidates.
“I am a national co-chair for Sen. Clinton,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas),
proudly announces in an interview after the debate.
Lee says it is healthy that the Black community is stratified.
“That’s excellent. America is diverse and the African-American community cannot
be perceived as monolithic and it should not be taken for granted,” she says.
“We are fighting for every single vote that we possibly can. I happen to believe
that I have a candidate of her own accord that has a deep understanding or works
to have a deeper understanding about community.”
Lee said Clinton “connects” with Black audiences because of her views on the
issues. “She will make history and we are proud of the other candidates who are
making history as well – an African-American, talented; a Hispanic, committed
and dedicated and talented and all others.”
Candidates participating in the debate were Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware; Clinton
of New York; Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut; former Sen. John Edwards of
South Carolina; former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio;
Obama of Illinois and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.
Smiley, who organized the debate after seeing that there were few domestic
issues in the presidential discourse, told the NNPA News Service before the
debate that people would particularly watch Obama for his perspectives.
“They’re really curious to see whether or not he’s going to step up on issues
that matter to us when he’s in front of us at Howard, being questioned by us.
How is he going to respond?” Smiley said.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), an Obama supporter, says he was delighted at the
range of issues that were discussed and was surprised that some issues had taken
so long to be put on the table.
“This was the first time they discussed education and I was shocked,” he said.
“This just goes to show you why it’s so important that you have African-American
folks asking questions and people that are sensitive to our issues.”
Among the energetic applause for Obama, whose Black father is from Kenya and
White mother is from Kansas, was his identification with often asked questions
in the Black community, concerning America’s relationship with Africa.
“What are we doing with respect to trade opportunities with Africa? What are we
doing in terms of investments in Africa? What are we doing to pay attention to
Africa consistently with respect to our foreign policy? That has been what’s
missing in the White House,” he said to loud applause.
But, at the end of the forum, many in the responsive audience were still
undecided.
“I’m still looking,” says Christopher Emanuel, who works in the Office of Civil
Rights for the Environmental Protection Agency. “Hillary said what she had to
say in order to get where she had to go. Biden, well, that’s flat-line right
there. Gravel, he speaks the truth. I like the things he’s saying, but he
doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. So, all I see is style and little
substance.”
Stephanie Logan, who graduated from Howard in May, says she had hoped to better
distinguish between the candidates during the debate, but that didn’t work.
“Nobody really grabbed me to be honest,” says Logan. “I feel like they were all
saying the same thing. When it comes down to it, unfortunately in politics,
while they all have these wonderful ideas - and I believe they do want to make a
change - but there’s so much theocracy that I wonder if they’ll even be able to
do it. I wish somebody would ask them, ‘How are you going to do it though?’
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a former Democratic presidential contender who drew
applause when he walked into the auditorium, didn’t seem impressed either.
“I thought the candidates were adequate. I’ll tell you where I was disappointed.
I didn’t hear any specifics on, especially the [Supreme Court] decision today on
[race and educaton.]. ‘What kinds of Supreme Court Justices would I appoint?
What would I be looking for?’”
Noting Clinton’s quip concerning the attention given to White women, Sharpton
says, “That was good. I wish I had heard more of that from the candidates.”
Sharpton was less complimentary of Obama. “I think he did good. I don’t think he
hurt himself tonight.”
Smiley and political analysts around the country have predicted that the more
domestic issues are discussed, the candidates will increasingly vie for the
Black vote, which will likely be pivotal in the general election in November
2008.
“This should be repeated and repeated and we should be out in the corn fields,
if you will,” says Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. “We should be out in the urban
centers. We should be out in the churches. We should be out in the schools.
America has to have its trust restored in this election and they’ve got to see
the candidates.”
Judge Breaths Life Into Tucker Lawsuit
By. Garland L. Thompson
Special to the NNPA from the Philadelphia Tribune
PHILADELPHIA (NNPA) - Generation X and the new marketers focusing on Generation
Y are too young to remember the dramatic March on Selma, when C. Delores Tucker
and Martin Luther King led a committed host of young people battling their way
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, braving fire hoses and police dogs to make real
the First Amendment rights trumpeted by rappers such as Russell Simmons and 50
Cent.
Few will soon forget Dr. Tucker, however, because the last march she started —
against demeaning, profane and sexist lyrics in rap music — is still going on.
One month ago, little noticed by the general press, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals, sitting in Los Angeles, issued an opinion heard “‘round the record
industry.”
Judge John T. Noonan, while hearing an appeal by William Tucker, said a jury
should decide whether Charles Ortner, David Kenner, Geoffrey Thomas and their
clients, Interscope Records and Death Row Records, acted with malice in making
“wild criminal charges” against the late Dr. Tucker for campaigning to clean up
rap.
The companies had sued Dr. Tucker in 1995, accusing her of racketeering,
extortion, unfair business practices and other civil wrongs designed to
undermine their business.
Among other claims, the companies alleged that Dr. Tucker tried to induce Death
Row to breach its contract with Interscope to assist in opening a
Black-controlled distribution company through the National Political Congress of
Black Women, a group she founded.
In a 2000 CNN interview, Dr. Tucker explained what she was trying to do:
“I have, since 1993, led a crusade against this gangster, porno rap. And all of
the industry does not support it. In fact, I got involved by two of our
entertainers coming to us and asking us to help. Dionne Warwick and Melba Moore
and many others who did so, but didn’t want their names known.”
Rap artists such as Tupac Shakur, Eminem, and KRS One attacked her in their
recordings. The record companies sued, but later dropped their litigation.
Dr. Tucker and her husband fired right back, alleging malicious prosecution in
two lawsuits, filed in1998 and 1999, naming as defendants the companies and
several attorneys and saying the companies’ claims were retaliation for her
exercise of free speech.
That constitutional right, loudly proclaimed by those who disagree with Dr.
Tucker, is one she personally risked her life to defend, at the Edmund Pettus
Bridge and in other desperate struggles during the battle to end segregation in
the South.
A note on the legal posture: Dr. Tucker and her husband did not sue over
defamation, but the different legal issue of improper use of the courts to
silence a critic.
According to the legal dictionary, malicious prosecution refers to a “wrongful
and groundless criminal or civil action brought against the
plaintiff...malicious prosecution tort law seeks to protect against
unjustifiable and unreasonable litigation.”
That’s different from bringing a lawsuit over being defamed, and Dr. Tucker knew
that distinction when she was bitterly characterized in Shakur’s rant. Legal
malice, where the plaintiff is a public figure such as Dr. Tucker, refers to the
due diligence of the defendant in discovering whether the things being published
about the plaintiff are true. The malice the Tuckers are alleging in this
lawsuit is ill will, a clear attempt to do harm using legal process.
And it now appears that Dr. Tucker’s claims will get their day in court. One man
who thinks they should be aired, and thinks as well that Dr. Tucker is right
about the music industry’s need to clean up its act, is Kenneth Gamble.
Encountered in South Philadelphia during an outdoor prayer session with other
members of the Muslim faith, Gamble said he was glad that the suit was revived.
“We never used to have all this profanity in our music,” Gamble said after he’d
finished afternoon prayers outside the mosque he founded near his home. Walking
through the neighborhood around 15th and Catherine streets, looking over the
Universal Institute Charter School he founded as part of his nonprofit Universal
Companies community development effort, Gamble lamented the sexually explicit
lyrics, violent imagery and harsh use of the N-word in modern entertainment.
Much of it he blamed on the government.
“The FCC never used to allow things like that to be put on the air,” he said.
“C. Delores Tucker is right, especially about that gangster rap. The government
is responsible for letting that happen. But now the genie is out of the bottle,
and you can’t put it back.”
The government was not the only guilty party, Gamble said.
“The Black man put that stuff into the music,” he said. “Now everybody in the
world is trying to follow that (gangster) lifestyle. The Black man calls the
tune — when we say ‘dance,’ everybody dances. We set the tone for so much of the
culture. And we have to clean it up.”
To the point that rappers are artists who should be free to reflect the world in
which they live, an art critic would riposte that an artist also has a
responsibility to do more than reflect, but must work to help people understand
that world. Gamble agrees, but goes further.
“There’s no moral leadership,” he said, “and our whole community is suffering
for it. It will take a total campaign,” he said, “We have to rebuild our whole
community — in education, in housing, in families, in religion. Look at our
community. We have churches on every corner, but no voice that speaks to
everybody.
“So we can have all that immorality in our music, because nobody is teaching our
young people to be moral. You have children who will actually curse their
parents out. That couldn’t happen when I was young. But too many parents today
curse around their children. So the children get it from them.”
Gamble expressed optimism for the future, though.
“There is always a correction,” he said. “The human being always survives.”
One such correction he said, is campaigns such as Dr. Tucker’s, joined by
speakers such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and Illinois Sen. Barak Obama in the wake
of the contretemps over radio host Don Imus’ infamous comments about the Rutgers
University women’s basketball team. In one indication The Associated Press
reported that, reacting to the criticism of rap that surfaced after Imus, the
leaders of four major labels controlling almost 90 percent of the market met in
New York with rap mogul Russell Simmons to “discuss issues challenging the
industry in the wake of the controversy surrounding hip-hop and the First
Amendment.”
The executives promised to hold a press conference afterward, but canceled it
instead.
According to Simmons, the executives included Kevin Liles, executive vice
president of Warner Music; L.A. Reid, chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group;
Sylvia Rhone, president of Motown Records and executive vice president of
Universal Music Group; Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry
Association of America; and Damon Dash, Jay-Z’s former Roc-A-Fella Records
partner. Rapper T.I. also attended, according to the organizers.
Gamble supported the complainers who had sparked the contretemps, “the human
being will always survive.”
So do Dr. Tucker’s lawsuit, and the campaign she launched against rap music that
demeans women and glorifies sexuality, violence and garish display.
In New Orleans: Crime Coalition Releases 100-day Progress Report on Reducing Violent Crime
Special to the NNPA from the Louisiana Weekly
NEW ORLEANS (NNPA) - Local business and community leaders have released a
100-day progress report on the cooperative initiatives focused on reducing
violent crime in New Orleans.
Among those organizations that convened on the steps of the Orleans Parish
Criminal District Court to release the report late last month were:
The Business Council of New Orleans, Citizens For 1 Greater New Orleans, Common
Good, Metropolitan Crime Commission, New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation,
Bridge House, Crimestoppers, Greater New Orleans Inc., Jefferson Business
Council, Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, New Orleans Chamber of
Commerce, New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce, Urban League of
Greater New Orleans and Young Leadership Council.
They stood united as the New Orleans Crime Coalition to urge city leaders to
focus police, prosecution and judicial system resources on convicting and
incarcerating violent criminals.
''During the past 100 days, the New Orleans Crime Coalition has focused on key
initiatives critical to reducing violent crime in our city,'' said New Orleans
Business Council Member and New Orleans Crime Coalition Chairman, Gregory
Rusovich. ''This unprecedented alignment of a diverse group of business and
civic organizations has produced actual, creative results in this essential
fight against crime.''
Since the first announcement of the New Orleans Crime Coalition's initiatives on
reducing violent crime four months ago, the Coalition, joining with city and
federal officials, has achieved the following successes:
- Creation, funding and staffing of a Violent Offenders Unit that specializes in
prosecuting repeat violent crime offenders;
- Secured $6.2 million in federal funding for the following:
- Boots on the Ground: 50 additional officers to support the New Orleans Police
Department,
- District Attorney ''Community'' Prosecutor Unit, housed in each NOPD District,
- Orleans Parish Information Sharing and Integrated Systems project (OPISIS),
- Prison Pre-Release Program for the triage and assessment of individuals
released from jail into the community,
- Witness relocation program to offer voluntary relocation services, and
- Regional police training and professional development for officers and
deputies; Creation of Court Watch NOLA, an organized and sustained effort to
monitor and report on the progress of cases to the public community, and;
Quarterly reporting on New Orleans criminal justice system performance by
Metropolitan Crime Commission, Inc.
Ruthie Frierson, Chairman of Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans and Flozell
Daniels, Chairman of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, continue to urge
volunteerism and city unity.
''We encourage citizen volunteerism for two important initiatives to combat
violent crime, one, volunteer for jury duty in Orleans Parish, two, join our
Court Watch Program,'' said Ruthie Frierson.
Flozell Daniels added, ''As citizens of New Orleans coming together with elected
officials, we can and will create a safer city for our families and children.
Collaboration and employment of a strategic focus on demonstrated best practices
will yield tangible results for the community at-large.''
Lawdy Miss Clawdy Maker Goes from Music Icon to Millionaire
By. Mary Wells
Special to the NNPA from the Washington Informer
WASHINGTON (NNPA)-During a career that has spanned 54 years, music icon Lloyd
Price has used life experiences and business acumen to transform his music
career into a wildly successful and growing food company. He is responsible for
many firsts among African-Americans in both the music and business worlds.
In 1952, as a 17-year-old lad from Kenner, La., he wrote and sang his way to
stardom and music history when he sang about the strong attitude, grace and
beauty of a Southern Louisiana Cajun Queen in the tune “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” When
music producer Dave Bartholomew and Fats Domino saw a special talent in this new
artist, they teamed to co-produce this song and Fats played the piano on the
record.
The song became the “Song of the Year” and stayed on top of the music charts for
seven consecutive weeks, according to Bill Waller of Price’s office. Many music
historians say “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” helped to give birth to the Rock ‘N’ Roll
era.
“This was the first time that teenagers had their own music to dance to,” Price
said in a three-hour phone interview with The Washington Informer recently.
“Before I recorded ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy,’ teenagers listened to what their parents
listened to. The song caught on with teenagers, Black and White. White teenagers
had no where to buy Black records, so they sent Black teenagers into Black music
shops to buy the ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’ record for them.”
According to Art Rope of Specialty Records, which released the recording,
Price’s record was the first Black record to sell a million copies.
There was great demand for Price to perform, so he spent the next few years
performing, writing music and producing his songs until he was drafted into the
U.S. Army.
From 1953 to 1956, Price performed in the Army during the Korean War, much of
the time in Japan and the Far East.
In 1959, Price wrote his version of “Stagger Lee” in February and he wrote
“Personality” in June. He was on the pop charts with “Where Were You (On Our
Wedding Day),” “ I’m Gonna Get Married,” and “Come into My Heart.”
Price recorded 11 straight single records with each record surpassing 900,000 in
unit sales.
Since Price first wrote “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” in 1952, the song has been
re-recorded 169 times by different music icons, including Elvis Presley, Paul
McCartney, Little Richard, Mimi Hendrix, Fats Domino, Travis Tritt, and James
Brown.
More than a Music Man
Price was inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, but the man who
became a multi-millionaire did not stop there.
In 1974, Price and Don King teamed together and co-produced a music festival and
boxing event called a “Rumble in the Jungle” featuring Muhammad Ali vs. George
Foreman in Zaire, Africa. It became the world’s first satellite transmitted live
boxing event in history.
“King and I are still the best of friends and we both were invited to George
Bush’s second inaugural festivities in January ’05,” Price said.
Price is now enjoying his food enterprise, which includes re-tailing products
made from sweet potatoes, cereals, and cereal bars.
His Lawdy Miss Clawdy Sweet Potato Cheesecakes and Lawdy Miss Clawdy Sweet
Potato Cookies are sold in Wal-Mart stores.
“I took just the colorful box which packages the Lawdy Miss Clawdy Sweet Potato
Cookies with my father’s picture on the box to the Bentonville, Arkansas office
of Wal-Mart,” Price explained. “They were impressed just from looking at the
packaging of the cookies…There were no cookies in the box…but we signed a
contract.”
Lloyd Price Icon Food Brands, Inc. is the first and only African-American food
company that offers cereal products for a general market. Those products include
a Louis Armstrong Honey & Almond Crunchy Granola bar and a Sugar Ray Robinson
Raisin & Almond Crunchy Granola bar.
Price plans to open dessert stores known as Len Yap Dessert Stores, similar to
Starbucks Coffee Shops which will be available to franchise owners who can
invest a minimum of $25,000. “Len Yap” is a Creole term for dessert.
“As kids we always asked for Len Yap,” said Price, recalling his youthful days
with his 13 siblings.
Price is proud of his new ventures.
“With these dessert products and granola cereals made by Lloyd Price Icon Food
Brands, we are going up against the big boys and not mom and pop stores.
African-Americans spent more than $68 billion for food in 2004 and each year
more billions were spent. We will be competing with General Mills and the big
boys, not just for the African-American dollars but for the trillion dollars a
year spent on food,” he said.
“We will provide nutritious organic cereals, Lloyd Price Icon Energy-2-Eat Bars
which are now sold in 7-Eleven Stores, and Lawdy Miss Clawdy Sweet Potato
Cheesecakes and Cookies, along with Lawdy Miss Clawdy Sweet Potato Pies and
muffins to be mainstreamed on Wal-Mart shelves and in freezers.”
Go to www.lawdymissclawdy.com for more information on products and franchisees
or about the Southern tour of the food products which will start in Louisiana,
Georgia, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama, with several personal appearances by
Lloyd Price.
Citizens Decry Police’s Use of Deadly Force
By. Marian Hubbard Jefferson
Special to the NNPA from the Dallas Examiner
DALLAS (NNPA) - Members of the Black Panther Party, The Nation of Islam, Olinka
Green and a few others gathered last week at the Mt. Tabor Baptist Church in Oak
Cliff.
The group reportedly gathered to make the Dallas Police Department aware of the
feeling of the Black community concerning four Black men who were killed while
in police custody. The forum also addressed the issue of growing mistrust among
Black citizens and the need to hold both DPD and the Black citizenry accountable
for bringing peace and restoration back to a community that has been sitting on
a virtual tender box since the start of this year.
Few were in attendance at the meeting despite, as Green stated, having passed
out over 800 flyers, but DPD was there in force.
Chief of Police David Kunkle was there, flanked by his second in command, Chief
David Brown and Don Walbrook, Assistant Chief of Investigation. Also present
were Chief Sheryl Scott, Deputy Chief Pat Paul-Hill and Levi Williams.
Representatives from DART were not present. According to Green, they declined to
come because of pending litigation in the shooting death of Bobby Walker, a
15-year-old youth who was killed by a DART police officer.
The Chief told the audience that he was there to subject himself and his office
to criticism and scrutiny and to be open and transparent to the community.
He acknowledged that there were indeed some areas of great strain regarding
community relations but said that there have been milestones reached, citing the
fact that Dallas last year had 187 murders. Kunkle said this was the lowest
murder rate since 1967 despite adding almost 700,000 more people to our city.
The group asked few questions. Most rose to make statements about their
disappointment in the justice system and disillusionment with a lack of
programming designed to bridge the gap between DPD and the community.
Speeches were made by Minister Jeffery Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and
Olinka Green but by far the most poignant moment came when the mother of Robert
“Scooter” Woods Jr. recounted for the audience the day she watched helplessly as
her son was hand-cuffed, beaten, then put on the ground in front of her as he
appeared to be having what some believed was a seizure. She stated that she
watched her son be killed right in front of her eyes while police officers just
stood around doing nothing to help him.
“They killed him,” she said. “They killed him right in front of me and I will
never forget it. If I live thirty more years, I will never forget it.” Someone
near her reached out to try and quiet her, but she would not be contented until
she had told the whole story of how her son was killed and how she had not been
able to find any justice with the justice system.
Insult to injury
Rev. Wright of the SCLC, stated that the troubles for Johnson have not stopped
at the death of her son this past April. Wright told The Dallas Examiner that on
yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Johnson called him and stated that DPD raided her home
with a search warrant looking for her son, Robert Woods Jr. Mrs. Johnson,
according to Wright, stated that they had been present on the street when she
arrived back home from being out in the community. She said they explained that
they had a search warrant for Robert Woods Jr. She then explained that Woods was
dead. What happened then, Wright said, stunned even Johnson. She explained that
it was not enough to have stated that her son was dead. She said the men
demanded that she produce proof that he was dead. She said they asked for her
son’s death certificate and they did not stop there. According to Johnson, they
went back to the bedroom where her husband was resting. According to Wright,
Johnson says this is not the first time police have been back to the house.
Johnson states she is being repeatedly harassed by DPD. The Johnson family plans
to file a law suit against DPD.
Witnesses in shooting overlooked
SCLC is also involved with the case involving Brandon Washington who was killed
by use of deadly force in April. Wright and other community leaders worked hard
to get witnesses to come forward to testify. He stated that despite gathering
witnesses, none were presented to the grand jury and they were never even asked
to appear. He stated further that the whole proceeding was over and done with in
30 minutes and neither the mother of Washington or any other person present on
his behalf was allowed to witness the event.
“We’re going to meet with Craig Watkins this week,” said Wright. The problem is
with the District Attorney’s Office. We worked with the police in bringing them
witnesses, worked to re-educate the community on the importance of talking to
the police and I personally recorded witness statements but on the day of the
grand jury hearing, none of the witnesses were presented…” The Washington family
also plans to file a law suit against DPD.
Getting together
There is power in numbers and not one shot has to be fired for us to get it
done, said Wright. We need to take back our community. For over thirty five
years there has been a problem with the trust factor with the police. Wright
said that the hip-hop culture has had a lot to do with community apathy. Wright
said that nothing will change until we have more unity among our own people and
start holding ourselves accountable. According to Wright, the presence at Mt.
Tabor was a split. He said that the press conference held to highlight the
No-Bill was where the presence should have been. He said that if The Black
Panthers are really serious that they would not show up when things are heated,
but be a constant presence in the community. He posed that they could do more by
working with DART on a proposal to find funding to actually patrol at DART
stations in an effort to bring greater community awareness, presence and unity.
He called the meeting last Thursday, “useless” and that it was nothing more than
rehashing the past. Wright said that everyone needed to work together in order
for the city to move forward.
As of today, we have eight Dallas police shooting investigations, one involving
DART police and one involving Arlington PD for a total of 10. How many persons,
not including officers, have lost their lives as a result of deadly force
shootings this year? As of the end of May, 75 people have lost their lives as a
result of deadly force shootings. One officer, Mark Nix, has died as a result of
a deadly force shooting.
Judiciary Subcommittee Probes Unfair Sentencing
By. James Wright
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspapers
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - By all accounts, Serena Nunn should be an American success
story. She just finished the University of Michigan Law School, considered by
many in the legal profession to be in the top five in terms of education and
training.
A graduate of Arizona State University, she works as a clerk for a criminal
defense attorney in Detroit as she studies for the bar examination. She also has
a gig as a radio host of a public affairs program in that city.
However, there is a darker side to Nunn's life. A native of Minneapolis, Nunn
was convicted of three felony counts involving the distribution of cocaine in
May 1990.
Her conviction came by way of a relationship with a boyfriend known as Monty,
who was also convicted of selling drugs. Nunn, a former high school homecoming
queen and one-year student at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, had no prior
record but because of the federal mandatory minimums, she was sentenced to 15
years and 8 months in prison.
With the help of an attorney in Minneapolis who worked on her behalf pro bono,
Nunn received attention of the media and, over several years, picked up support
from political figures in her state such as Jesse Ventura, who was the governor
at the time. The efforts of Nunn and her attorney led then-President Bill
Clinton to commute her sentence on July 7, 2000.
Nunn was one of the witnesses at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee's
subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security on June 26. Nunn told the
members of the subcommittee her story and said that mandatory minimums were not
just.
''Mandatory minimums negatively affected my life in many ways,'' Nunn said.
''They stole many of my productive years in life because I went to prison at age
20 and was not due for release until age 34.
Fortunately, I received a presidential commutation so I had the opportunity to
redeem myself. However, there are hundreds of women and men serving lengthy
sentences under mandatory minimums that will not receive a presidential
commutation and will serve each day of their sentence.''
The chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Robert Scott (D-Va.), is known for being
against mandatory minimums because of their discriminatory effect on people of
color.
''We are holding this hearing today to see where we are in terms of mandatory
minimums and what changes should be made, if any,'' Scott said. ''The late
(chief justice) William Rehnquist said that the mandatory minimums were time
consuming and costly in terms of the way the federal courts are operating.
We need to see if continuing mandatory minimums is the best way to administer
justice.''
The Congressional Black Caucus has long been opposed to the mandatory minimums,
saying that the distinction between crack cocaine and powder cocaine works
against Blacks. Statistics have shown that Blacks tend to serve longer sentences
because of the possession of crack cocaine while Whites, who tend to sell and
use powder cocaine, get lighter sentences.
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has stated
that one of his priorities will be to look into the disparity of the mandatory
minimums and to do something about it.
Ricardo Hinojosa, chairman of the United States Sentencing Commission, said that
looking into the affect and potency of the mandatory minimums is timely.
''This needs to be looked into,'' Hinojosa said. ''The last report that we
issued on the topic was 16 years ago and we need to see how it is working.''
Hinojosa presented demographic characteristics on the racial affect of mandatory
minimums in 2006. The data showed that while Blacks are 13 percent of the
population, 32 percent of the cases prosecuted under the mandatory minimums are
Black defendants.
Thirty-eight percent of the cases prosecuted are Latino defendants while Whites
constituted 26 percent.
Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, said that mandatory
minimums have been a failure.
''They have not achieved their stated objectives,'' he said. ''When they were
enacted in the late 1980s, it was designed to stem the tide of crack cocaine and
to avoid the abuses that some judges used when they sentenced defendants.
Instead, you have prosecutors who are selectively targeting people for whom they
feel should be put under the guidelines, which in many cases is minorities.''
Mauer said that mandatory minimums do not fight recidivism, or the rate of
returns to prison. Plus, he said, drug abuse and selling of drugs have not been
stemmed.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Cassell, who serves on the Judicial Conference of
the United States' Criminal Law Conference, said that surveys conducted by his
organization show that three-fourths of the American people would want a
mandatory minimum sentence set aside if another sentence for a defendant was
more appropriate.
''Each offender who comes before a federal judge for sentencing deserves to have
their individual facts and circumstances considered in determining a just
sentence,'' Cassell said.
Nunn agrees with Cassell. She plans on becoming a public defender and to
continue to speak out against mandatory minimums and unfair sentencing.
''Mandatory minimums should be abolished to allow judges to regain their
sentencing discretion,'' she said.
The hearing was mostly a fact-finding exercise, Scott said. Conyers said that
there will be additional hearings on the subject before legislation is
considered that would alter or dismantle the mandatory minimums.
New Summer School Program that Deters Youth Violence
By. Kelly Moyer
Special to the NNPA from the Skanner
PORTLAND, Ore. (NNPA) - The
words “summer school” don’t usually invoke images of barbecues, classic hip-hop
tunes and videography classes.
But that’s exactly what’s happening at Oregon Outreach’s “welcome to summer
school” celebration.
On this warm Monday afternoon, DJ Universal Sect is spinning classic Rob Bass
while Northwest Natural volunteers grill burgers and plump up sides of lettuce,
tomatoes, onions and potato salad.
Jeff DeGreef, the summer school teacher, is telling a story about seeing a blues
legend in Arizona during a concert punctuated by great guitar playing — DeGreef
demonstrates on his air guitar — and a massive thunderstorm.
“Oh man, it was awesome,” DeGreef shouts to his co-worker, Valante Coxwell,
practically screaming to be heard above the music. “I’d never seen anything like
that in Iowa!”
Behind DeGreef, teenaged girls have gathered in a circle to giggle at their
teacher and roll their eyes at his animated storytelling. In teen-speak, it’s a
sure sign that they like DeGreef enough to poke fun at his eccentricities.
“He’s so great with the kids,” Oregon Outreach Director Becky Black says of
DeGreef. “He’s just really passionate about what he does.”
A young, White man who grew up in the middle of Iowa, DeGreef isn’t the most
likely teacher of urban youth – most of whom are African-American and have been
all but abandoned by the mainstream school system.
But somehow, using a blend of enthusiasm, empathy and ingenuity, DeGreef makes
it work.
“You have to have so much empathy for these students,” DeGreef says. “If we as
adults could even begin to see their struggles. I mean, they’ve got all of these
bad choices out there that they can make, and when you’re struggling it’s easy
to make a bad choice. ... We have to realize that these are our leaders. They
are intelligent kids, but, academically, they’re getting lost in the shuffle.”
The Oregon Outreach program is there to help.
The summer school program takes in students who are in academic trouble – all of
them need to catch up on credits to graduate or move ahead in their home high
schools – and blends academics, drug and alcohol counseling, job training, and
anti-violence counseling.
“It’s a comprehensive program,” Black says. “We have so many great community
partners. House of Umoja is here to counsel the boys and the girls. Lifeworks
Northwest comes to do (drug and alcohol) counseling. And Larry Dunham, a retired
teacher, is here to do video production classes.”
In the mornings, students get academic help and beef up their computer skills.
In the afternoons, it’s on to job preparation classes and on-site job placement
for the older students. Black creates homemade dishes for lunch and Dunham’s
students are videotaping the entire summer program for a documentary. All of the
work students do in this summer school earns credit for regular high school.
“It’s a great chance for them to catch up on credits,” Black says.
If students partake in all aspects of the summer school and show up everyday,
they could earn as much credit as they would in half a year at a regular high
school. They even get stipends for attending — $5 a day, paid on Mondays, so
they’ll come back after Friday – and the program, unlike most summer schools, is
free for parents.
The program started the week after Portland Public Schools got out for summer
break, and will see the students back to school in the fall, through the month
of September.
So far, says Black, the pilot program has been successful.
“We’ve had 100 percent attendance so far,” Black says. “And we want it to stay
that way.”
Oregon Outreach’s summer school, known officially as the “Summer Education,
Employment Development Program,” is modeled after Black’s McCoy Academy, which
takes in teens who have been expelled from regular high schools.
Over the past eight years, the McCoy Academy has had dozens of success stories.
It is, in the words of Portland Mayor Tom Potter, “a program that works.”
And that’s exactly the type of program that Potter had in mind when he created a
pool of grant money to be doled out by his new Office of Youth Violence
Prevention.
“When I created this office in 2006, gang outreach workers were working 12 hours
or more every day and were struggling to keep their programs going,” Potter
says.
Headed by longtime anti-gang activist John Canda, the mayor’s Office of Youth
Violence Prevention, wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, Canda and his
staff reached out to community organizations that had already proven effective
in the fight against youth violence – organizations like Oregon Outreach.
Two weeks ago, Potter announced that his new office would fund seven community
programs that provide alternatives to gangs for at-risk youth.
Black’s summer program received $25,000. The grant pays for the summer school,
which reaches 25 mainly Black youth from Jefferson, Madison and Roosevelt high
schools.
The Latino Network, which provides educational and recreational activities for
youth younger than 21 in North and Northeast Portland, also received a
short-term, three-month grant for its summertime program.
Five programs received grants for the entire year.
Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers, which works with youth already involved in
gangs, was awarded $62,000 to serve 100 youth through next June.
Tonya Dickens, executive director of Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers, says she’s
“ecstatic” that the city believed in programs like hers enough to fund them
through the next year.
“This is a great start,” Dickens says. “This grant is our entire budget. Before
this, we didn’t have a budget. So I’m excited that they believed in us.”
Asked about the recent media reports of increasing gang violence at the New
Columbia housing development, Dickens says the violence is not a new phenomenon.
“The gangs just take it to a different level,” Dickens says. “They’ve never
actually gone away.”
Dickens’ program brings youth ages 9 to 25 who are involved with gangs into a
safe environment, where they can receive counseling on peer pressure, drug and
alcohol abuse, how to get ahead in school and find employment, teen parenting
and other life challenges.
“This is about young people making bad choices,” Dickens says. “When they have
responsible adults in their lives – whether those adults are family or from
school or the church or the community – it does make a difference.”
Back at the Oregon Outreach summer school, DeGreef echoes Dickens’ thoughts.
“Some of the kids I work with have been given up on,” he says. “They’ve been
kicked out of other schools and they come here with so many challenges. We need
to understand that some of these students are going through some really tough
issues at home, with their friends, at school. And we need to help them take
small steps forward.”
Last year, DeGreef had a student at the McCoy Academy who had slipped so far
through the public education cracks that he had missed his entire freshman year
of high school.
“He missed the whole year!” DeGreef says. “And there was some issue of whether
he had actually passed the eighth grade, so we had to get that straightened out
... but now he’s here and he’s doing really well.”
Portland Police estimate that there are about 2,000 youth involved in gangs in
the city of Portland. It’s a daunting problem, but one that organizations like
Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers and Oregon Outreach are committed to solving.
“All it takes is compassion,” DeGreef says. “That and consistency. We have to
just keep coming at them the same way. They’re intelligent kids ... and they
want a better future.”
D.C. Voting Bill Gathers Steam
By. James Wright
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspapers
WASHINGTON (NNPA)- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has pledged to
bring the D.C. House voting rights bill to the floor in July, though he has not
specified a date. Reid's pledge is among positive developments for the bill that
would give the District of Columbia a voting member in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
On June 13, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
voted, 9-1, to send the Senate version of the D.C. voting rights bill to the
floor. The Senate version, S-1257, would give a voting House member from the
District and an additional seat to Utah, like its House counterpart.
However, the Senate bill stipulates that the Senate is not affected by it and
that if there is a challenge, it would be handled in the federal courts. All
Democratic members of the committee voted for it and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.)
voted against it.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking member of the committee, said she
supported the legislation after considerable consideration.
''I believe that the residents of the District of Columbia should have voting
representation in the U.S. House of Representatives as a matter of fundamental
fairness,'' Collins said. ''The concern that I have always had is how this
representation could be granted to the District in a manner that is consistent
with the Constitution. This complicated question was discussed during our recent
hearing where we heard varying views from constitutional scholars.
''I have concluded that the constitutionality of this legislation is a close
call and is best resolved by the courts.''
The D.C. Republican Party, which has historically stayed out of the fight for
voting rights and statehood, supports giving the District representative a full
vote.
''We support D.C. voting rights in the House because more than half a million
U.S. citizens here, paying federal taxes higher per capita than all but one of
the states, and fulfilling the other obligations of U.S. citizenship, deserve a
vote in the Congress which is ultimately responsible for our governance,''
Robert Kabel, chairman of the party, said in a letter to the 48 Republican
senators. ''In this belief we join distinguished conservative and Republican
constitutional scholars like Viet Dinh and Ken Starr as well as Republican
lawmakers like Tom Davis, Phil Burton, Mike Pence, Orrin Hatch, and retired Sen.
Edward Brooke.''
D.C. Vote Executive Director Ilir Zherka said the next step is to prevent a
filibuster or cloture of the bill.
''In the Senate, you need 51 votes to pass a bill but in order to prevent a
filibuster, you have to have 60 votes to stop it,'' Zherka said. ''We have the
votes to pass the bill and we are working on preventing a filibuster.''
Zherka has targeted Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Arlen Spector (R-Pa.), Gordon
Smith (R-N.H.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Sen. Elizabeth
Dole (R-N.C.) and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.). Republicans supporting the
legislation, in addition to Collins, are Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), Robert Bennett
(Utah), George Voinovich (Ohio) and Norm Coleman (Minnesota).
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that he opposes the
legislation but has not been clear on whether he will seek to filibuster the
bill. Zherka said that McConnell ''should allow an up or down vote.''
''When we call the Republican senators that is what we tell them,'' he said.
''We have the votes to pass the bill and so there should be a vote. I hope Sen.
McConnell understands that.''
'Church lady’ Receives National Invite
By. Bonnie V. Winston
Special to the NNPA from the Richmond Free Press
RICHMOND (NNPA) - Helen L. Carter, now known as the “church lady,” wants
justice.
And Judge Maria Lopez, who dispenses justice five days a week on national
television, wants to give it to her.
The 65-year-old Mrs. Carter has been invited to take her case against a Morning
Star Baptist Church official to New York City, where Judge Lopez wants to hear
and decide her case before a studio audience.
The invitation came in a one-page, “Dear Helen” letter dated May 23. The letter
informs how Carter’s church case was selected “out of hundreds of others — for a
chance to be heard by Judge Lopez in her television courtroom.”
Carter’s civil lawsuit is before the Richmond General District Court. It is
against George Coles, the former chairman of the church’s deacon board. She
alleges that he falsely accused her of trespassing at the Midlothian Turnpike
church last year.
The letter states that the show’s researchers go through public court records
and choose cases “that revolve around matters of principle and not just money.”
If she wins her case against Coles, she is guaranteed that any monetary judgment
against him would be paid, according to the letter. The company also would pay
her travel expenses to New York.
“We’d like to help you fight for justice,” states the letter from the show’s
associate producer, Katya Golberg.
Carter told the Free Press on Tuesday that she’s mulling over the offer.
A show spokesperson told the Free Press on Wednesday that both Carter and Coles
must agree for Judge Lopez to hear the case and for it to be considered for the
show.
The Latina judge, who used to serve on the Massachusetts Superior Court, is
known for her blunt outspokenness. Her 30-minute show, with the monikers “If you
can’t stand the heat, get out of the courtroom” and “Justice will be served
spicy,” is seen in Richmond on weekdays on the CW affiliate WUPV. Back-to-back
shows air at 7 and 7:30 a.m.
Carter was arrested last September and charged with trespassing at the church
when she showed up for the church’s 100th anniversary and homecoming
celebration.
Coles had taken out the warrant for her arrest. The charges against Mrs. Carter
later were dropped.
George Allen ‘the Last Straw’ - Black Republican Quits
By. Bonnie V. Winston
Special to the NNPA from the Richmond Free Press
RICHMOND, Va. (NNPA) - Terone B. Green is throwing in the towell - the
Republican towel, that is.
Disgusted by the lack of support by Republicans — White and Black alike — for
state Sen. Benjamin J. Lambert III in the recent primary election, Mr. Green
said this week that he is not renewing his dues as a card-carrying Republican.
“I’m through with them. I quit,” Green told the Free Press in a telephone
interview on Tuesday. He confirmed the action he signaled he would take in a
letter he wrote to the editor of the Richmond Free Press. His letter denounces
Republican disregard of Black people.
“The Lambert thing is the last straw,” Green said, informing the Free Press that
former GOP Sen. George Allen never donated a dime to Sen. Lambert’s campaign,
despite Sen. Lambert having sacrificed his political career by backing Allen in
last year’s U.S. Senate election.
Mr. Allen was defeated by Democrat Jim Webb.
And in turn, Lambert, a Democrat, lost his state Senate seat in last week’s
Democratic primary. He suffered a backlash from voters angered by his
endorsement of the conservative, pro-Confederate Mr. Allen.
“I don’t see (the GOP) doing anything for my people,” Green said. “And Lambert
put his neck on the line for George Allen, but where was he?”
He described Mr. Allen as “cowardly.”
When contacted on Tuesday by the Free Press, Lambert confirmed that he has
received no contributions from Mr. Allen.
Nor has he received any money from the Good Government Action Fund, a state
political action committee Mr. Allen set up May 31 to help elect candidates to
the General Assembly.
Lambert said that Allen asked before the election what he could do to help. “I
told him I really needed him to get people to come out to vote,” he said. “I was
shocked that I didn’t get the vote I thought I should have — and that was from
Democrats, independents and Republicans alike,” Lambert said.
“I ran an open campaign for everyone. I didn’t criticize anybody,” he continued.
“I did that because, although it was a Democratic primary, it was open to all
people. So I ran a campaign for all people.”
Asked whether he expected Allen to reciprocate and publicly endorse him and
campaign for him, Lambert said, “It was up to Allen to do what he wanted to do.”
Asked whether he expected financial support from Allen, Lambert said, “I put
more than $100,000 of my own money into my campaign (in loans). If anybody wants
to send me a check now, I’ll take it.”
Allen was not immediately available for comment.
The Richmond area’s most vocal and visible black Republican, Green has been
active in GOP circles for more than 10 years. He regularly attends Henrico
County Republican Committee meetings and its monthly breakfast-speaker series.
But he has grown increasingly frustrated by what he sees as GOP lip service to
issues of diversity and ethnic inclusion. He said the party has taken no action
on issues of economic parity or social justice.
What has pushed him to cut his ties to the GOP, however, is the crucial June 12
Senate primary in which Republicans failed to deliver for Lambert.
Lambert was beat by Delegate A. Donald McEachin by an overwhelming 1,700-vote
margin.
Green, who lives in Henrico County, but not within the 9th District boundaries,
contends that Republican help could have changed the outcome of the primary in
Lambert’s favor.
Now that he has left the GOP, Green said he has the freedom to support other
candidates. He said he doesn’t know if he’ll join the Democrats or declare
himself an independent.
“If you see something you don’t like, you change it or move on,” Green said.
“I’m moving on. I’m an army of one. I’m doing what my conscience is telling me
to do.”