Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Obama Justice Department to obtain documents related to the agency’s decision to dismiss the claims against several members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense who were accused of engaging in voter intimidation during the 2008 presidential campaign (U.S. v. New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense).
Judicial Watch filed its original FOIA request on May 29, 2009. The Justice Department acknowledged receiving the request on June 18, 2009, but then referred the request to the Office of Information Policy (OIP) and the Civil Rights Division. On January 15, 2010, the OIP notified Judicial Watch that it would be responding to the request on behalf of the Offices of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, Associate Attorney General, Public Affairs, Legislative Affairs, Legal Policy, and Intergovernmental and Public Liaison. Read More »
Resistance may be especially high among the homeless
Historically, African Americans have led the way when it comes to disparities in many categories. African Americans were the largest ethnic group under-counted in the 2000 Census. At the same time, Whites were over-counted by an estimated 2.2 million people. This is according to facts and data collected by groups like the National Urban League, the NAACP, the Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the Prison Policy Initiative.
In the 2010 Census, African Americans could possibly experience even higher undercounts due to the national foreclosure crisis, displacement from the Gulf Coast hurricanes, and the miscounting of prison populations reported by the Prison Policy Initiative. While many Americans are shocked at these disturbing reports, others are angry about what they see as the government’s blatant disrespect of Black people.
This anger reinforces Black Americans’ lack of trust for the U.S. government, so much so that many have vowed not to participate in this year’s Census. In search of answers from those African Americans about their reluctance to talk with Census enumerators, MSR visited the Salvation Army Harbor Light Worship and Service Center, located next to a homeless shelter downtown where about 60 or 70 people had gathered.
The first person we spoke with was the tallest man in the crowd who gave his name as Tony Mayo. Mayo was very articulate on the subject of Census participation and clearly let us know that he understands the importance of participating in the Census and plans to do so. However, he also understands the resentment, mistrust and anger by some of the homeless. Read More »
By Donald W.R. Allen,II – Minister of Information-USA Radical Black
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”-Rahm Immanuel, Chief of Staff, President Obama
On Sunday, January 17 the BBC reported from Port-au-Prince: “We have been hearing the constant roar of high-powered engines for days as transport planes take off and land. But like the people of Haiti, we have wondered why the cargo has not been getting to its final destination.
The incidents of unrest over food and water have been few and far between, but many people still want answers.
At one of the makeshift camps in the capital, hundreds of people made homeless by the earthquake shelter from the intense heat under a patchwork quilt of tarpaulin, zinc sheet, and blankets.
There are hundreds of men, women and children on the rough ground surviving without the basics.”
While we watch the Democratic machine go in to over-drive to raise funds for Haiti – the country has just become another photo opportunity for President Obama and his cabinet. Our hearts go out to the brothers and sisters and their families who have lost loved ones.
President Obama, who has not addressed the state of Black America, or for that matter stated his position on Africa, might have to finally take a strong stance in regards to the people of Haiti.
Haiti was a human disaster long before the earthquake. Haiti is a by-product of the United States’ gross neglect. The problems with Haiti’s infrastructure could have been addressed decades ago– but we have to keep in mind, this is a Black-led nation. What is most sad is that Haitians were living a nightmare even before this horrible situation (their unemployment rate is 65%), and we need to see the nightmare come to an end.
Long after the fanfare is over, Haiti will continue to be a “human disaster area” much like New Orleans.
Haiti’s regional, historical and cultural position is unique for several reasons. It was the first independent nation in the Americas, the first post-colonial independent Black-led nation in the world. The independence of Haiti was gained in 1791 via a successful revolt of enslaved Africans and free people of color who overthrew the slave regime and the colonial system at the same time.
Why does this become an issue for the Obama administration?
When US President Barack Obama announced that one of the biggest relief efforts in US history would be heading for Haiti, he highlighted the close ties between the two nations. President Obama said, “With just a few hundred miles of ocean between us and a long history that binds us together, Haitians are our neighbors in the Americas and here at home.”
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have indeed become neighbors of Americans.
Some 420,000 live in the US legally, according to census figures. Estimates of the number of Haitians in the country illegally vary from some 30,000 to 125,000.
The history that ‘binds us (Blacks) together” is Slavery and our Blackness.
Haiti has been a poor country past, present and will be in the future. The so-called “curse” of Haiti is its perpetual poverty and the United States’ continuous interference with Haiti’s government, while overlooking the needs of its people. The basics, “food, water and shelter” have never been the top priority- shaping the government to the desires of the U.S. has. The people of Haiti have been starving for too long.
Why does it take a disaster to address an on-going disaster?
American administrations from President Nixon to Obama have well known the true state of Haiti. They knew that the Haitian people mixed dirt with sugar to make “cookies” to have something to eat. A significant part of the population of Port-au-Prince eats dinner out the garbage cans of tourists from the First World.
The catastrophic disaster in Haiti has gained worldwide attention. Nations like Haiti deserve the assistance of the United Nations in a humanitarian way, without the politics of government interference.
Haitian native, Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti at www.yele.org, has come under-fire by larger charities for his fund raising that have gone on long before all eyes where on Haiti. This blog endorses Wyclef and his ongoing efforts to assist his homeland.
Americans give over $100 billion dollars per year to churches, so if we simply gave one month of tithes to genuine Haitian charities, this would be nearly 8 times the Haitian government’s annual budget. Sure, there might be some corruption in charitable fund-raising, but there is corruption everywhere, including the US government.
Again the community is pimped, played and starved.
1.8 million Black Households with children are food insecure – Black households with children experiencing very low food security up 92%
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported yesterday that almost one in four children living in the United States are food insecure. According to the 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States, there is a striking disparity in the prevalence of food insecurity among black children. Nearly two million black households with children were food insecure at least some time during the year, an increase of 25 percent over 2007. In 2008, there were 3.76 million non-Hispanic white households with children that were food insecure. The study also revealed that 146,000 black households with children — a 92 percent increase over 2007 — experienced very low food security, meaning that the food intake of one or more of the household children was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money.
This marks the largest increase in food insecurity rates among African-American households with children since the USDA has been collecting data. Very low food insecurity for non-Hispanic whites rose 35 percent during the same period.
“Importantly, these numbers reflect the state of the nation one year ago, in 2008. Since then, the economy has significantly weakened, and there are likely many more children of varying ethnicity struggling with hunger than this report states,” said Vicki Escara, president and CEO of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. “It is an outrage that one in four children in this nation lives on the brink of hunger and doesn’t have access to adequate amounts of nutritious food.”
The new data reinforces recent findings from a research study conducted by Feeding America reflecting a dramatic increase in requests for emergency food assistance from food banks across the country. Conducted in September, the Feeding America study shows that more than half of its network food banks reported seeing more children as clients.
“This study reveals particularly tragic realities facing many black families with children. We know that inadequate nutrition in children often delays their cognitive development and cannot be restored later in life,” said Escarra. “Feeding America will continue to focus on expanding programs to hungry and at-risk kids to ensure that our future engines of economic growth are strong adults.
“Feeding America’s 200 food banks continue to work on the front lines feeding more than 25 million people each year, through our country’s food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency feeding centers — more than 63,000 agencies in total,” said Escarra. “These establishments, many of which are grass root and faith based centers operated solely by volunteers, serve as an oasis for the more than 4 million people who seek relief weekly to help feed themselves and their families. Emergency food assistance is a critical link in the nation’s response chain to help people through times of crisis.”
Escarra observes, “Our network food banks are calling us every day, telling us that demand for emergency food is higher than it has ever been in our history. Feeding America will continue to work closely with our partners at USDA to ensure that the public and charitable sectors are keeping pace — as best we can — with the dramatically increasing needs for food assistance.”
Minneapolis, MN (Source IBNN.org) – The purpose of the Minneapolis Urban League Glover-Sudduth Center for Economic Development is to do just that. Grow economic development among the Black Minnesotan population. Not to be the DFL political plantation in a cold Jim Crow. The irony is that the top voter turn-outs in Minnesota are cast in the highest populated Black districts. What a way to thank the Black voters!
How can the Minneapolis Urban League reach out to the African American population when the main focus has been to pimp the African American vote for the DFL? African Americans hold the right to vote sacred and the historical importance has been manipulated by those who promise and deliver not much more than a cup of Free Trade Coffee at EJAM’s Founders Day among hippies “slumming it” on the Northside for the day, with their Obama buttons. Community members are only treehuggerinvited when there is a photo opportunity, and when the image of mobilization is needed for organizations such as Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, which although does work on the policy side does little to help the day to day with the trickle down hopes promised. Only deliver a hot mess of benign neglect. Pimped for grants, and yet nothing ever gets done but then again there is always next year. Another example that poverty pimps have a vested interest keeping the Northside oppressed and earn, a nice notation on their resumes. Read More »
By Donald W.R. Allen,II – MOI/ Video is courtesy of KOMO-TV (ABC) Seattle, Washington
KOMO-TV: Do you think it’s fair to send people to jail who don’t buy health insurance? Pelosi…”the legislation is very fair in this respect.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (The Puppet master) is out of touch with the American public. With unemployment in the United States at an all-time-high, how could this government official even part her lips to say or even imply “jail time for those who refuse to by healthcare, or as we call it, Obamacare.
This is the Obama administrations attempt to further crush the middle-class. While Blacks and other people of color look for opportunities here in the United States to gain education, wealth and independence – more heinous threats of legal actions come from our Black Presidents administration. If they really wanted to keep it real, Pelosi would say, “Jail time for anyone that doesn’t agree with the Obama health care plan.”
Change? Keep the “change” if the cost is our freedom! Read More »
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Obama Justice Department to obtain documents related to the agency’s decision to dismiss the claims against several members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense who were accused of engaging in voter intimidation during the 2008 presidential campaign (U.S. v. New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported yesterday that almost one in four children living in the United States are food insecure. According to the 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States, there is a striking disparity in the prevalence of food insecurity among black children. Nearly two million black households with children were food insecure at least some time during the year, an increase of 25 percent over 2007. In 2008, there were 3.76 million non-Hispanic white households with children that were food insecure. The study also revealed that 146,000 black households with children — a 92 percent increase over 2007 — experienced very low food security, meaning that the food intake of one or more of the household children was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money.
Black Agenda Report
Your Black World