Nov - New York Beacon

Transcription

New York’s
Beacon
website:
NewYorkBeacon.net
Vol. 19 No. 45
Showing the Way to Truth and Justice
E-Mail
newyorkbeacon@yahoo.com
November 8, 2012 - November 14, 2012
75 Cents
OBAMA BY WHISKER
Electoral College to officially declare winner Dec. 17
KISSING BABIES — Broadly smiling President Obama cuddles a baby on campaign stump through Ohio where he was expectedly to win.
(See Story On Page 3)
Voter participation numbers said to be low
(See Story On Page 3)
Attorney General warns against
price gouging following Sandy
BEACON, November 8, 2012 - November 14, 2012 newyorkbeacon.net
2
Jo Ann Jenkins
AARP Foundation sets up
relief fund for Sandy victims
AARP Foundation announces
it has established the AARP
Foundation Relief Fund to support victims in the U.S. devastated by Superstorm Sandy.
AARP and its members are committed to helping those in need,
so to bolster the Foundation’s
relief effort AARP and its affiliates will match contributions
dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000,
assuring up to $1 million in aid.
The matching program will be
administered through AARP
Foundation.
“We realize that people want
to help, and we are here as a resource to provide emergency relief funding to organizations
working with victims of
Superstorm Sandy,” said Jo Ann
Jenkins, AARP Foundation
president. “Our hearts go out to
all who have been impacted by
this terrible storm and we’re encouraging those who can give
to please do so.”
Jenkins continued, “As a
trusted organization, AARP
Foundation will play a vital role
in facilitating the relief effort. All
too often we know that fraud follows disaster, as con artists may
try to take advantage of people who
are looking for ways to help the victims of this terrible storm. Through
our secure web site those who
choose to give can do so with the
confidence that 100 percent of their
tax-deductible donations will be
used to help the victims of this disaster.”
Sadly, the impact of Sandy
continues to increase as news
agencies report it as one of the
biggest and most devastating
“superstorms” ever to hit the
United States. In the states most
severely impacted, more than six
million AARP members, their
families and neighbors are
struggling to recover from the
storm’s initial Oct. 29 impact. An
immediate response to this urgent appeal will allow AARP to
expedite support to those who
need it now. To donate to the
AARP Foundation Relief Fund,
please go to: www.aarp.org/
disasterrelief.
Attorney General Eric T.
Schneiderman has announced
an investigation into post-Hurricane Sandy price gouging after receiving hundreds of complaints from consumers across
the state of New York.
Before the storm made land
fall, the Attorney General issued
an open letter to vendors in areas forecast to be affected by
Hurricane Sandy to warn
against price gouging, the inflation of the price of necessary
goods and services. General
Business Law prohibits such
increases in costs of essential
items like food, water, gas, generators, batteries and flashlights, and services like transportation, during natural disasters or other events that disrupt
the market.
Attorney General
Schneiderman also issued a
guide to New Yorkers recovering and rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, including tips on
how to avoid scams as they restore and rebuild their homes
and businesses.
“Our office has zero tolerance
for price gouging,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “We
are actively investigating hundreds of complaints we’ve received from consumers of businesses preying on victims of
Hurricane Sandy, and will do
everything we can to stop unscrupulous individuals from taking advantage of New Yorkers
trying to rebuild their lives.”
New York State’s Price Gouging Law (General Business Law
§ 396-r) prohibits merchants
from taking unfair advantage of
consumers by selling goods or
services for an “unconscionably excessive price” during an
“abnormal disruption of the
market.” The price gouging law
covers New York State vendors,
retailers and suppliers, including but not limited to supermarkets, gas stations, hardware
stores, bodegas, delis, and taxi
and livery cab drivers.
Eric T. Schneiderman
Although the office cannot
comment on the specifics of ongoing or potential investigations, Attorney General
Schneiderman reported receiving hundreds of complaints from
consumers from New York City,
the Hudson Valley and Long Island. While the largest number
of complaints related to increased gasoline prices, consumers contacted the Attorney General to report possible gouging
for emergency supplies like generators, hotels raising rates due
to “high demand,” as well as increased prices for food and water. The Attorney General noted
that these complaints might not
meet the threshold for coverage
under New York’s gouging statute,
but encouraged consumers to contact his office to report anything
that appears suspicious.
“Our office is taking every complaint seriously. Staff from regional
offices across the state are triaging
and acting on consumer complaints
as they come in. We have contacted the targets as part of a preliminary inquiry and vendors are
now on notice. While most retailers understand that customers are
also neighbors, and would never
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 15)
Mayor details housing, health, small biz and emergency assistance
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
has detailed the assistance available from multiple city agencies
to help New Yorkers get back on
their feet in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Resources, outlined
below, include on-going shelter,
emergency loans, mental health
support and small business support.
“Every day we’re working to
help more people get their lives
back to normal,” said Mayor
Bloomberg. “New York City has
a full array of services – from temporary financial assistance to
food stamp replacement to information for small businesses – to
help our residents get back on
their feet as quickly and as
seamlessly as possible.”
“Hurricane Sandy has disrupted lives and destroyed
homes in a way that no one could
imagine,” said Deputy Mayor for
Health and Human Services Linda
I. Gibbs. “We are committed to doing everything we can to help New
Yorkers put their lives back together.”
“Recovery from this devastating
storm has only just begun,” said
Commissioner for the Human Resources Administration Robert
Doar. “In the coming days and
weeks, we will do everything in our
power to help New Yorkers through
this difficult time. HRA staff, along
with their fellow City employees and
colleagues in the state and federal
government, will be working together to help those who need assistance most.”
The Human Resources Administration has set up sites with information and referrals for those ap-
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
plying for emergency social and
economic assistance. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) is co-located at these
centers and is providing application points for home owners, home
renters and those that have lost
their businesses through federal
small business administration.
Additional sites will be added.
Locations currently include:
·ð ðMount Loretto - 6581Hylan
Blvd, Staten Island
·ð ðNew Dorp High School - Corner of Mill Road and New Dorp
Lane, Staten Island
·ð ðConey Island - MCU Parking
Lot, 1904 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn
·ð ðRockaway - Walbaums Parking Lot, 112-15 Beach Channel
Drive, Queens
·ð ðBreezy Point - Fort Tilden Park
(closest end to Breezy Point) –
Beach Channel Blvd, Queens
·ð ðEdgewater Firehouse Parking
Lot, 1 Adee Place between 9th Avenue and Edge Street, Bronx
Later this week the city and FEMA
will be setting up indoor comprehensive centers. These resiliency centers will provide cross-agency fullservice support.
Housing Resources
The Department of Homeless Services is currently operating 15 hurricane shelter facilities throughout the
five boroughs with a range of services and support to assist those
displaced due to the storm.
A list of the 15 shelter locations
can be found at nyc.gov.
The Human Resources Administration (HRA) will be offering benefits both for Human Resources cli(CONTINUED ON PAGE 16)
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By George E. Curry
NNPA Editor-in-Chief
Tim Sullivan
Jobs report shows
slow, steady growth
work and there is none, it’s harder
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Washington Correspon- to keep trying,” said Tim
Sullivan, federal policy coordinadent
tor for United for a Fair Economy,
Voters were still waiting to elect a nonpartisan organization that
the next president of the United promotes economic justice and
States when the Labor equality. “Even, if you’ve
Department’s monthly jobs report, stopped looking for work and
issued four days before the elec- you find out that your friend got
tion, provided a glimpse into what a job you think, ‘Okay, well,
the American economy might look maybe I can, too.’”
As more Americans find work and
like over the next four years.
The unemployment rate in- the economy climbs slowly out
creased from 7.8 percent in Sep- of the Great Recession, some
tember to 7.9 percent in October, economists wonder if the depresbut economists say that it was for sion in the Black community will
all the right reasons. More work- ever be addressed.
The Black unemployment rate
ers rejoined the labor force and the
economy added 171,000 jobs. In increased from the September
additional good news, the Labor mark of 13.4 percent to 14.3 perDepartment amended the August cent compared while the White
jobs number from 142,000 to unemployment rate that remained
192,000 and the September figures unchanged from over that period
from 114,000 to 148,000.
at 7 percent.
“It points out a glaring moral
Even with the uptick in the unemployment rate to 7.9 percent, failing for the country that a lot
economists point out that more of people would prefer to just igpeople joined the labor force, nore,” said Sullivan. “It’s easier
which signals that “discouraged to say that we live in a post-raworkers” are getting back in the cial country. It’s easier to ignore
game.
“If you’re out there looking for
WASHINGTON (NNPA) –
With Tuesday’s popular election
finally over, President Barack
Obama is looking toward Dec. 17
when the Electoral College officially determines who becomes
the next president of the United
States.
The recently concluded popular vote notwithstanding, a candidate must get a majority of the 538
electoral votes in order to occupy
the White House. Obama is on
track to gain more than the 270
votes needed to claim a majority.
His team mastered the process
four years ago when the Obama/
Biden ticket won 52.9 percent of
the popular vote yet captured 67.8
percent (365 votes) of the Electoral College. The Republican
slate of John McCain and Sarah
Palin won 45.7 percent of the
popular vote in 2008, but only 32.4
percent (173) of the electoral
votes.
With some states solidly Democratic and some reliably Republican, the winner of presidential elec(CONTINUED ON PAGE 16)
Mitt Romney
Despite the high turnout, voter
participation numbers are still low
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – After get out the vote volunteers finish celebrating their efforts in
Tuesday’s presidential election,
the United States will still rank
lower than most industrialized
countries when it comes to voter
participation, according to an international poll.
The International Institute for
Democracy and Electoral Assistance ranked voter turnout in 169
countries and the United States,
the leader of the free world, came
in 120th with a 66.5 percent voter
turnout rate. And presidential turnout is much higher that off-year
elections.
Italy with 89.8 percent was the
only member of the G8, the group
of the world’s largest economies,
Voters turn up in numbers to vote
to crack the top 20. Germany United States in that group with 58.4
scored 85.4 percent, followed by percent.
the United Kingdom (75.2 percent),
Australia ranked No. 1 with 94.5
Canada (73.9 percent) France (73.8 percent turnout rate, penalizing
percent) and Japan 69.5 percent.
Only Russia ranked lower than the (CONTINUED ON PAGE 16)
Legal experts say pardons deserved in Wilmington Ten case
By Cash Michaels
Special to the NNPA from
The Wilmington Journal
WILMINGTON, N.C. (NNPA)
– Revelations about former Assistant New Hanover County
District Attorney James “Jay”
Stroud Jr.’s racial jury gerrymandering, and his plot to cause a
mistrial to impanel a “KKK” type
jury in the Wilmington Ten case
forty years ago were “stunning
and beyond outrage,” say two
veteran civil rights attorneys.
Those facts alone, they add,
justify individual pardons of innocence from NC Gov. Beverly
Perdue for the Wilmington Ten.
“It is stunning, and beyond
outrage, to learn the level of
prosecutorial abuse that domi-
nated, infected, and ultimately
drove the outcome in the
Wilmington Ten trials,” says
Prof. Gene R. Nichol, Boyd
Tinsley Distinguished professor at the UNC School of Law
at UNC – Chapel Hill, after reviewing portions of what is now
known as “the Stroud files.”
“This intense abuse of governmental
authority,
prosecutorial misconduct —
both professional and racial —
casts a long shadow over the
North Carolina system of justice, Prof. Nichol continued. “It
also, of course, worked massive and unforgivable constitutional injury on the lives of
ten North Carolinians.”
“The prosecutor made mockery of his high office by know-
Dr. Benjamin Chavis
ingly, intentionally, and purposefully placing perjured testimony
at the heart of the trial. It is also
clear now, in ways not demonstrated by documentary evidence
before, that he tainted the trial
initiation process and vital jury
selection through patent, overt,
and outcome-determinative racism.”
“It is crucial that North Carolina act to admit and concede
such a potent and defining abuse
of power,” Prof. Nichol maintains.
“To allow public servants to behave in such a fashion, without
remedy, is literally intolerable.”
Al McSurely, a veteran Chapel
Hill civil rights attorney and
NCNAACP Executive Committee
member, also expressed his “outrage.”
The prosecutor’s notes are clear
and convincing evidence that race
was not just a factor in his selection of the ten whites and two
blacks on the Pender jury that convicted the Wilmington Ten,” attorney McSurely said. “Race was the
only factor. Forty years later, we
know his real motives. I believe
when the governor studies this
evidence, she will do the right
thing and sign the pardons.”
“I can barely contain my outrage
at the blatant racism of an officer
of the court,” attorney McSurely
added.
This stinging legal analysis
comes after the fortieth anniversary of the convictions of the ten
civil rights activists for crimes they
3
Electoral College to declare official
presidential winner by December 17
Governor announces extension
for DMV renewals, tax filings
4
Sen Charles Schumer
Schumer urges businesses
to hire vets for tax credit
By J. Zamgba Browne
Special to NY Beacon
Sen. Charles Schumer has put
his campaign in high gear to save
expiring tax credit for businesses
that hire military veterans. With
over 2,000 unemployed veterans
in the Southern Tier Region, the
Senator has made Tax Credit top
priority.
Sen. Schumer has begun visiting with businesses that might
qualify for the tax credit. The Returning Heroes and Wounded
Warriors Tax Credits, enacted in
November 2011, provide tax credits to businesses of up to $9,600
depending on the length of time
a veteran has been unemployed,
and if the veteran has a serviceconnected disability.
“These vital tax credits are
proven successes in helping
qualified businesses to hire more
veterans, and we cannot allow
such a powerful antidote to the
economic recession come to an
end,” Sen. Schumer said.
Sen. Schumer said that reviewing the veterans’ tax credits isn’t
just the smart thing to do for companies and organizations in the
Southern Tier Region and across
the country, it is the right thing
to do to honor the sacrifices made
by these veterans.
“Our veterans spent months
and even years of their lives protecting our freedom, and I am going to fight to renew these tax
breaks so that veterans don’t
spend the same amount of time in
the unemployment line,” said
Schumer.
President Obama signed the Returning Heroes and Wounded Tax
Credits into law on Nov. 21, 2011
as part of the VOW to Hire Heroes
Act, which contained the series of
tax credits for businesses that hire
out-of-work veterans.
As a result of the tax break, businesses that hire veterans who
have been searching for work for
at least four weeks, but less than
six months, are eligible for a tax
credit of up to $2,400 per each veteran hired.
Businesses that hire a veteran who has been looking for
a job for at least six months
would receive a tax credit worth
up to $5,600. If a company hires
a veteran with a service-connected disabilities who has
been seeking work for at least
six months, that business
would be eligible for tax credits
worth $9,600.
Sen. Schumer pushed to extend
the Returning Heroes and
Wounded Warriors Tax Credit in
light of disappointing unemployment numbers for veterans, particularly in Upstate New York.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has
announced extensions for State Department of Motor Vehicles renewal
deadlines for all driver licenses,
learner permits, non-driver ID cards
and vehicle registrations, as well as
extensions for certain State Department of Taxation and Finance tax filing and payment deadlines for taxpayers directly affected by the storm,
in response to emergency conditions
resulting from Hurricane Sandy.
In addition, the Governor also announced extensions for local governments to meet bond payments to
the Environmental Facilities Corporation.
“We are continuing to learn more
about the extent of damage from the
storm across New York, and state
agencies are working hard to measure the needs of New Yorkers and
local governments and to carry out
response efforts,” Governor Cuomo
said. “Therefore, providing extensions for deadlines such as license
renewals and tax and bond payments
means one less thing that New Yorkers impacted by the storm have to
worry about.”
The State Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) announced that due
to the impact of Hurricane Sandy, all
driver licenses, learner permits, nondriver identification cards and vehicle
registrations scheduled to expire on
or before Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 are
extended until Wednesday, Nov. 14,
2012.
This extension applies only to residents of New York City, and the counties of Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk. It does not apply to insurance
coverage requirements. Motor vehicle liability insurance coverage
must be maintained at all times during this extension period.
Vehicle inspections, which expire
on the last day of the month, are not
included in the extension. Also, all
DMV hearings, including Traffic Violations Bureau hearings scheduled
through Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, in New
York City, Nassau, Westchester and
Suffolk counties, are being postponed. If you have a hearing scheduled, please do not appear at the hearing site. You will be notified of a rescheduled hearing date by mail. For
hearings scheduled on or after Monday, November 5, 2012, please check
our web site for updates and additional information at http://
www.dmv.ny.gov/.
Motorists who cannot get to a
DMV or may have forgotten to renew their vehicle registrations on
Gov. Cuomo
time can print a temporary 10-day
proof of registration when they renew their registrations online. This
is one of several online services DMV
offers. By signing up for MyDMV,
customers gain quick and easy access to a variety of personalized and
secure online services without mailing in forms or making a trip to a local
DMV office. For additional information, visit www.dmv.ny.gov.
The State Department of Taxation
and Finance announced the extension of certain tax filing and payment
deadlines for taxpayers directly affected by the storm, in response to
emergency conditions resulting from
the hurricane.
All 62 New York State counties are
eligible for these extensions since
Governor Cuomo had declared a
state of emergency in New York and
President Obama has authorized federal aid and assistance for the State.
Deadlines have been extended to
Nov. 14, 2012. This covers filings and
tax payments due during the period
beginning October 26, 2012 and ending on or before Nov. 13, 2012.
Additionally, the extension applies
to all claims for refunds, including a
protective claim associated with the
Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax. The Department’s
website – www.tax.ny.gov – has
posted two new documents to provide guidance on these extensions:·
Announcement Regarding Hurricane Sandy, N-12-11· Special Waiver
of Highway Use Tax and IFTA credentials Related to Hurricane Sandy
Disaster Relief Efforts, N-12-10.
New York State Tax employees
have been staffing the Hurricane
Sandy Helpline at (888) 769-7243,
with more than 300 state employees
taking calls right now.
The State Environmental Facilities
Corporation (EFC) announced it will
help the Orange County Village of
Greenwood Lake and other communities affected by Hurricane Sandy to
meet bond payments owed on municipal wastewater and drinking water
projects.
EFC will help these communities to
avoid potentially defaulting on their
bond obligations by giving them an
extra month to make their scheduled
payments. Those payments were due
yesterday, but EFC took steps necessary to advance those payments on
behalf of the affected municipalities.
While many communities were able to
make their payments on time, officials
in Greenwood and other municipalities
without power could not transfer the
necessary funds.
EFC is the arm of New York State
government that helps communities
pay for major investments in their
drinking water and wastewater systems. As the administrator of the
nation’s largest revolving funds for
drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, EFC has provided more than
$12.5 billion in grants and loans for
more than 1,550 water-quality projects
throughout the state. As municipalities repay these loans, those dollars
are used for loans to new projects — a
true revolving fund. EFC issues bonds
at AAA/Aaa rates to fund most of the
projects it finances for municipalities,
using the municipal repayments and
investment earnings to repay bondholders.
New York State is known as a national leader in maximizing the federal
and state funds that are allocated each
year to the Clean Water and Drinking
Water State Revolving Funds. EFC
annually finances several hundred millions dollars of drinking water and
wastewater projects, and has continuously developed state-of-the-art investment strategies to generate investment returns to expand the funds available for these projects. EFC’s investment strategies were praised last year
in a report by the Environmental Financial Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Unlike some other states, New York
is using its revolving loan funds and
its top credit ratings to help municipalities take advantage of today’s
lower interest rates. This year, EFC is
refinancing more than $1.1 billion in
local government debt, saving municipalities and local ratepayers more than
$353 million over the next 20 years.
Six tips to juggle career responsibilities and demands at home
November is “National Family
Caregivers Month,” a time to acknowledge the more than 65 million Americans, more than 29%
of the U.S. population, who provide care for chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or
friend during any given year.
In fact, an estimated 25.5 million of those caregivers face challenges as they struggle to balance work responsibilities with
caring for their loved one, according to the AARP. Furthermore,
gender roles are shifting as men
begin to take on the role of family
caregiver – a July Pew Research
Center report says that 45% of
caregivers are men—many of
whom are still trying to hold down
their day jobs.
For African American caregivers,
the need to juggle career and
caregiving responsibilities is particularly strong given that 66 percent are employed full or part-time.
Furthermore, more than half find
themselves “sandwiched” between caring for an older person, a
younger person under age 18, and
caring for more than one older person. African-American caregivers
are also more likely to live with the
care recipient and spend an average of 20.6 hours-per-week providing care.
“As our population ages and
advanced medical technologies
enable people to live at home with
chronic disease and disability, an
increasing amount of responsibility for helping seniors is falling on
family caregivers – and for the
employed, it can feel overwhelming,” says Judy Santamaria, the
director of the Family Caregiver
Support Program at the not-forprofit Visiting Nurse Service of
New York.
“The good news is that many
employers are becoming sympathetic to these demands,” she
says. “It’s important for caregivers
to be honest with their employer
about their role at home to ensure
they take advantage of any resources available. For example,
some companies provide free information, referral services and
flexible hours for caregivers.”
Judy Santamaria offers six tips
to help caregivers balance caring
for a loved one and their respon-
sibilities at work:
GET TO KNOW
YOUR BENEFITS.
Throughout the country, employers are offering a host of new
programs to reduce the workload
placed upon the adult children of
elderly parents. Talk to your
company’s human resources department to find out if your company has an elder care benefit option.
bilities at work. Maintaining an open
line of communication will ensure
that you have the same expectations.
Don’t be afraid to ask for reasonable accommodations.
CONSIDER HOME HEALTH
CARE.
Receiving care at home through a
home care agency is an option that
can ease the burden on both patients and caregivers. It’s an ideal
choice for people who prefer to have
their loved ones with them at home,
rather than in a nursing home.
TAKE CARE OFYOURSELF, TOO.
TALK TO YOUR BOSS.
Being responsible for another
Be sure your manager is aware person’s health and care means it’s
of your situation and let him or even more important to manage
her know that you are making ev(CONTINUED ON PAGE 16)
ery effort to fulfill your responsi-
5
6
Editorial
Looking beyond the election
Beacon
By James Clingman
Blackonomics
Walter Smith: Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Miatta Haj Smith: Co-Publisher & Executive Editor
William Egyir: Managing Editor
Obama’s media coverage
half as positive as 2008
By George E. Curry
NNPA Columnist
Barack Obama campaigned for
president four years ago on a
theme of change. Now, four years
later, he has seen change in the
way the media has covered him –
change for the worse. That’s a
major finding of an exhaustive
study by the Pew Research Center titled, “Winning the Media
Campaign 2012.”
The report stated, “…The
starkest difference is that coverage of Obama is only half as positive this year (19%) as it was in
2008 (36%). And while his percentage of negative coverage in 2012
(31%) is only modestly larger than
four years earlier (29%), neutral
coverage has grown markedly, to
50% this year compared with 35%
in 2008.”
Mitt Romney received more favorable treatment from the media
than Arizona Republican Senator
John McCain did four years ago,
according to the study.
“The percentage of positive
coverage about Romney is very
similar to McCain’s four years
earlier, but there is about one-third
less negative coverage of the
former Massachusetts governor’s
campaign,” the report stated.
“Romney has also seen considerably more neutral coverage than
McCain received in 2008.”
Of the three major networks,
only ABC gave Obama more positive coverage than negative (27
percent to 20 percent). CBS and
NBC were essentially the same. On
CBS, 17 percent of the stories
about Obama had a positive tone
and 28 percent were negative. Of
NBC’s stories, 16 percent had a
positive tone and 29 percent were
negative.
Romney did not fare any better
on the networks. On ABC,
Romney’s negative stories outpaced his positive ones (33 percent to 18 percent). On CBS, 15
percent of the stories about Romney had a positive tone and 29
percent were negative. NBC had
an identical percentage of negative stories, but a slightly higher
percentage of stories with a positive tone (18 percent).
The high-octane, opiniondriven cable networks provided
decidedly partisan coverage of the
two presidential candidates, with
Fox favoring Romney, MSNBC
backing Obama and CNN sandwiched between the two.
After studying the tone of coverage between April 27 and October 21, 2012, the Pew report found
that 46 percent of the stories about
Obama on Fox were negative and
only 6 percent were positive. On
MSNBC, by contrast, 39 percent
about Obama were positive and 15
percent were negative. More nega-
tive than positive stories about
Obama appeared on CNN, but only
by a margin of 21 percent to 18
percent. Of the stories about Romney on Fox, 28 percent were positive and 12 percent were negative.
There was a huge imbalance on
MSNBC, with 71 percent of the
stories about Romney negative
and only 3 percent positive. There
were three times as many negative stories than positive about
Romney on CNN (33 percent to 11
percent).
“MSNBC was especially negative in its treatment of Romney’s
policy prescriptions,” the Pew
study found. “Fully 75% of the
stories focused on Romney’s policies were negative compared with
1% that were positive. For Obama,
by comparison, 32% of policy stories were favorable while 18%
were negative.”
The report stated, “Fox aired
more negative stories about
Obama than positive on every aspect of campaign coverage. When
it came to policy, 6% of the stories
on Fox about Obama were positive and 51% were negative.
“Fox also focused much more
on Obama than on Romney. The
Democratic Party nominee was a
significant figure in 74% of Fox
campaign stories compared with
49% for Romney.”
Over the past year or so, I have
been wondering how Black folks
would react to the election outcome. Two questions kept coming
to mind: What will we do if Obama
wins? What will we do if Romney
wins? Let’s make it personal:
What will you do?
Four years ago I wrote a similar
article titled, “The Morning After,”
that dealt with what Black folks
would do after the inauguration of
Barack Obama. Let’s face it; we
blew it, y’all. Now let’s see if we
learned anything.
Black people are “all in” for
Barack Obama, so we know there
will be sackcloth and ashes if he
loses in the Electoral College,
where all presidential elections are
decided. The same scenario will
take place among Romney supporters if he loses; less weeping
and gnashing of teeth, yes, but
still there will be remorse. For the
most part, other than Herman Cain,
Mia Love, Artur Davis, and Allen
West, Black folks love Obama. But
many White people just tolerate
Romney; they aren’t in love with
him. Besides, many of them
couldn’t care less who wins because they know who and what
really controls this country, and
they are holding a can’t-lose hand.
So what will we do if Barack
wins a second term? Well, for sure
there will be dancing in the streets
again, tears and euphoria, and a
whole lot of Praise the Lords, Hallelujahs, and Amens. I hope there
are no more Peggy Joseph comments. You remember her words:
“I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to
worry about paying my mortgage.
If I help him (Obama) he is going
to help me.”
Will we settle for a big celebration and then go home and fall
asleep again, the way we did four
years ago? Or, will understand that
when he is elected our work will
have just begun? Will we make the
same missteps during the second
term as we did during the first? Will
we organize and mobilize our efforts
around a common goal? Will we
seek reciprocity for our votes?
Here is the other question, and I
know this may be difficult for most
of you, but what will we do if Mitt
Romney wins? Will we declare 30
days of mourning? Will we resign
ourselves to no progress for the next
four years and settle for whatever
happens during that period? Will we
rant, rave, and complain for four
years about how bad things are under Romney? Will we acknowledge
that we did not support him and,
therefore, have nothing coming from
our new president?
I am certain there will also be euphoria and maybe even a little dancing in the streets if Romney succeeds. Surely Hannity, Limbaugh,
Beck, and the others will gloat and
rub salt into the wounds of the
Obama supporters. And, no doubt
there will be sighs of relief among
the super-rich as they review their
portfolios to determine how much
they will make in the next four years.
But what will you do regardless
of who wins? There are answers and
plans that have been developed long
before this election. Ron Daniels has
been planning the State of the Black
World Conference (SOBWC III) for
some time now, part of which is dedicated to our “appropriate” action
after the presidential election – no
matter which candidate wins.
Daniels is bringing the SOBWC
III to Howard University in Washington, D.C. November 14-18, 2012.
You still have time to get in on this
solution-oriented meeting comprising some of the nation’s top thinkers, businesspeople, activists, educators, religious leaders, politicians,
college students, and economists in
this country. Folks from every sector will converge to set us on a path
toward prosperity, strength, and
self-determination.
How can I oppose same-sex marriage when someone I love is gay?
By Regina Griggs and Peter firmed by the state through marriage licenses).
Sprigg
Polls suggest this approach is
Voters in 32 out of the 32 states having an effect. People who know
where it has appeared on the bal- someone who self-identifies as
lot have upheld marriage as the “gay” or “lesbian” are more likely
union of a woman and a man. to support the redefinition of marAdvocates of same-sex marriage riage than people who do not.
are holding out hope that their
Is this connection a logical one?
long losing streak will end on Elec- We argue it is not. How a person
tion Day in Minnesota, Washing- feels about their personal relationton, Maryland or Maine.
ship with a gay friend, acquainIncreasingly, advocates of tance, or relative should not dicsame-sex marriage are abandon- tate their position on the public
ing legalistic arguments about policy issue of whether to change
“equality” and “civil rights,” and the definition of marriage.
appealing to emotion and perWe are both affiliated with Parsonal relationships instead. “We ents and Friends of Ex-Gays and
(gays and lesbians) are your Gays (PFOX), which spreads the
neighbors, your friends, your co- truth that it is possible for sexual
workers, your classmates and orientation to change, and deyour relatives,” the argument fends the civil rights of ex-gays.
goes. “If you respect and care Note, however, that the title of our
about us, how can you deny us organization includes the phrase,
what we want?” (namely, to have “and Gays.” Many of those who
their same-sex relationships af- look to PFOX for support are par-
ents and/or friends of people who
still self-identify as “gay” and engage in homosexual relationships.
This is true of us personally as
well. One of us (Regina) has an
adult child who is openly gay. Peter and his wife have relatives and
family friends who are gay as well.
It is a myth that disapproval of
homosexual conduct equals
“hate” toward homosexuals. If
you are a parent, ask yourself have you ever disagreed with your
child? Have you ever disapproved
of the behavioral choices she or
he has made? The answer is
surely “yes.” Those experiences
are not inconsistent with sincere
love, and can actually be a manifestation of it.
I (Regina) continue to have a
warm and loving relationship with
my child and gay friends despite
the fact that we disagree about
whether homosexual relationships
should be called “marriages.”
My wife and I (Peter) had guests
at our wedding who were divorced
and who had children outside of
wedlock. I do not approve of those
actions any more than I do of homosexual conduct, but that does
not interfere with my love for those
people.
The myth that disapproval
equals rejection stems from the
myth that “being gay” is an intrinsic and immutable identity. Yet the
decades-long search for a genetic
or biological determinant of homosexuality has been a dismal failure.
This is not to say, however, that
people “choose to be gay.” Sexual
orientation is an umbrella term for
a person’s sexual attractions, behavior and self-identification.
People do not “choose” to experience homosexual attractions - but
they do choose their behavior and
self-identification.
Some people with same-sex at-
tractions (SSA) choose to abstain
from homosexual sex. Others seek
professional help to change their
sexual orientation, and many have
succeeded. For a loved one to encourage those responses, rather
than to affirm homosexual behavior,
is just as loving as a parent or friend
trying to encourage other choices
they believe are in the person’s best
interest. Legalization of same-sex
marriage would place an official
stamp of approval on homosexual
relationships, so any person who
thinks that such homosexual attractions are changeable and that homosexual behavior is unhealthy will
logically oppose this redefinition of
marriage - no matter how much they
may love a gay person.
However, opposition to the redefinition of marriage need not even rest
on disapproval of homosexuality itself. The fundamental reason why
7
Paying it forward after beating the odds
By Marian Wright Edleman
Child Watch
“Something that I’ve learned
from my mentor is always pay
things forward, not necessarily
with money, but with actions and
deeds. You’re not alone. You’re
not the only one out there in a
bad situation. Beat the odds and
you’ll
succeed.”-–Maggie
Hobbins
Maggie Hobbins is just a senior
in high school, but she already
knows a lot about making it
through a bad situation. She has
struggled with a learning disability since first grade and spent
years in special education
classes. Other students bullied
her because she couldn’t read
well or afford brand name clothes.
Challenges in school were hard,
but challenges at home were even
worse. Her alcoholic mother was
emotionally absent for much of
her childhood, and her father, a
disabled Vietnam War veteran,
had many health problems that often made it difficult for him to
work. When her family became
homeless after he lost his job, they
moved into a camper on a friend’s
property. What they hoped would
be a temporary solution lasted two
years.
When Maggie was 9 years old,
her parents finally found an affordable house to rent and things
seemed as if they might be looking
up at last. But just a few months
later, her father collapsed and died
of a massive heart attack. For the
next two years her mother sank into
such a deep depression worsened
by the drinking that she rarely got
out of bed and Maggie was essentially left to raise herself.
She got herself to school on her
own, took care of the house, and
was the one to make sure her
mother ate and bathed. She looks
back at that period as the “dark
days” of her life. But even then
Maggie showed an extraordinary
resilience far beyond her years:
“You can’t just sit there and be like,
‘Oh, poor me. My dad’s dead. My
mom is depressed and she’s a
drunk and she’s not there for me,’
or, ‘I’m dyslexic and I can’t read as
well as other people . . .’ So why
not push myself further and
change myself—because other
people can’t change you; you have
to change yourself.”
Maggie kept pushing herself –
and her positive spirit and belief in
herself paid off. After an intervention from Child Protective Services, Maggie’s mother finally got
some of the help she needed and
was able to keep custody of
Maggie. When Maggie was in
sixth grade, a caring landlord and
mentor offered her $100 if she
made the honor roll all four quarters of the school year. Maggie
was already a determined and serious student despite her learning
disabilities and troubles at home,
and this generous promise gave
her just the extra incentive she
needed. She made the honor roll
every quarter that year and every
quarter since.
As she kept on excelling in
school, by the end of eighth grade
she was moved into standard education classrooms. Today, Maggie
takes Honors and AP classes and
has a goal of studying criminal justice because she wants to help
others. The same mentor who encouraged her to make the honor
roll also sponsored her attendance at a Christian summer camp
she fell in love with, and after returning as a camper for many
years, she now serves as a junior
counselor. She is already looking
forward to what comes next:
“There’s college to go to. There’s
graduate school. You’re never
done learning . . . It’s just something I want in my heart. And I’m
going to try my hardest to get it.”
Maggie’s inspiring story has
made her one of this year ’s
Washington, D.C.-area winners
o f t h e C h i l d r e n ’s D e f e n s e
Fund’s Beat the Odds ® scholarship awards, given each year
to high school seniors in eight
cities who have overcome tremendous adversity. For more
than 20 years, the Beat the
Odds program has supported
more than 700 students. This
leadership development program provides each recipient a
$10,000 scholarship, laptop
computer, guidance through
the college admission process,
and an invitation to join CDF’s
servant leadership training programs. It also allows young
people like Maggie to serve as
role models for others, and for
Maggie, this is one way of paying her own success forward.
As she says: “I’m sure
there’s kids going through everything I went through—
maybe not as severe, maybe
more severe—but for me to win
and for other kids to see it, I
think it will instill hope, because
there’s nothing stronger than
hope, other than love. And if I
can beat the odds, why can’t
they? They can see from my example that, ‘Oh, I don’t have to
be this way,’ so they can make
the choices and take the path
that will benefit them—that will
put them out of their situation
and lead them to success.”
Right now there are millions of
young people like Maggie still waiting for just one caring adult or mentor to step in to help them beat the
odds too. If you have the chance to
be that adult for a child in your community—grab it! Learn more about
how you can support young people
beating the odds across the country through the Beat the Odds
scholarship program.
Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund
whose Leave No Child Behind®
mission is to ensure every child a
Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair
Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start
in life and successful passage to
adulthood with the help of caring
families and communities.
For more information go to
www.childrensdefense.org.
Black unemployment still needs to be addressed
By Julianne Malveaux
NNPA Columnist
The problem with having a
deadline at the end of the week, is
that you miss the opportunity to
weigh in on things, such as an
election, that happens on a Tuesday. It is almost torture when you
consider the possibilities face us
on November 7 and beyond. I am
hoping that President Obama can
pull it off, but I am cognizant of
the numbers that suggest that
Willard is nipping at his heels. No
matter what happens, there are
real issues that must be faced not
only in the next few weeks, but
also in the next few years.
The unemployment rate report
that was released last Friday was
good news for President Obama.
The unemployment rate ticked up
just a tiny bit, from 7.8 to 7.9 percent. It stayed below the magic
number of 8 percent, which is a
boost for the president. Behind
the good news, though, there are
issues of concern. For example the
African American unemployment
rate rose significantly from 13.4
to 14.3 percent. Black women took
most of the hit, with unemployment rates rising from 10.9 to 12.4
percent. Meanwhile, Black male
unemployment dropped from 14.2
to 14.1 percent.
There’s more. More than 5 million people have been officially
unemployed for more than half a
year. They have been looking for
work for an average of 41 weeks. I
cannot imagine the pain and misery that is reflected in such a long
job search. One wonders how
many of these folks have left the
labor market because they have
become discouraged. At the same
time, the data shows that more than
600,000 people returned to the labor force as a result of recent
trends.
The most discouraging data
comes from hidden unemployment
and other measures of unemployment. The 7.8 percent overall rate
of unemployment is reported as
14.6 percent. Thus, the Black unemployment rate of 14.3 percent
translates to an overall Black unemployment rate of 26.4 percent.
That means more than one in four
African Americans is unemployed.
In some urban areas, as many as
half of the African American male
population does not work.
When President Obama wins
this election, African American activists, especially those who have
access, must remind our president
of this data. They must suggest
that there is a coordinated and comprehensive response to the disproportionate exclusion of African
Americans in our economy. In the
unlikely scenario that Romney is
elected, it will be a signal for African American people to figure out
how to develop an economic model
that does not depend on government (not a bad idea in any case).
Then make the new administration
understand that they are not only
the leaders of conservatives, but
also leaders of our entire nation.
When African Americans are
marginalized in the labor market,
the whole of our nation suffers.
Any unused human capital is a
drain on our economy and society. Whether Gov. Romney or President Obama is the victor on No-
vember 6, the brain drain that is a
result of high unemployment rates
will not be staunched until there
is focused attention on Romney’s
47 percent. Investments in education are threatened by the
Ryan budget, but following the
Ryan budget is much like eating our seed corn instead of
plating it for the next generation. The focus on education
improvements in China and India are really a focus on the
failure of our nation to fully in-
vest in higher education, especially for those who are
underrepresented.
Our nation’s situation is not
simply about an election, but
about a matter of direction. Too
many of us think that voting is
the most we can do, not the
least we can do. Too many of
us have eschewed the role of
community agitator and activist. Way too many of us feel
that professional success and
community involvement are
mutually exclusive. Too many of
us fail to understand that our
personal success germinates
from community activity.
The unemployment rate data is a
monthly reminder of the State of
Black America. If we are unsatisfied
with the facts, what will we do to
change them?
Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and
writer. She is President Emerita of
Bennett College for Women in
Greensboro, N.C.
Bogus climate change charges
By Harry C. Alford
Beyond the Rhetoric
The environmental activist community slowly started during the
Nixon administration. It morphed
into a replacement for the anti-Vietnam War movement. Groups such
as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace
saw a new angle to this. They
wanted to recruit the civil rights
activists into this cause. I remember Attorney General Janet Reno
(in the Clinton administration) declaring to seek environmental justice. The groups quickly changed
this to environmental racism. They
are basically the same thing. The
former says things are unequal in
the fair implementation of environmental stewardship. The latter
states the reason for the inequity.
We started looking into this
since it was an incredible charge.
After about a year of researching,
surveying and interviewing
people in authority, we came to the
conclusion that to say violating
environmental regulations or laws
was solely the cause of racial hatred was a bit extreme. In fact, it
was a ploy to put fear into people
and gain support against targeted
corporations.
The National Black Chamber of
Commerce (NBCC) decided to
challenge such claims and actually demand proof. Hearings after
hearings, debates after debates
and speeches at various conventions soon turned the tide. The late
Arthur A. Fletcher, when he
chaired the Office of Civil Rights,
did a review of the Environmental
Protection Agency and found it to
be, in fact, in violation of Title VI
of the Civil Rights Act. Thus, it
was the “kettle calling the skillet
black.” The poverty pimps and
other extremists soon backed off
and started looking for other
causes.
Vice President Al Gore was outdone. He started a new approach.
The problem wasn’t necessarily
environment racism but global
warming. That is what is happening
and we are going to become endangered by it. He delivered speeches,
held seminars and gathered many
of the aforementioned individuals
to start changing “global warming.”
He is still shouting this today.
Whenever there is a hurricane, big
blizzard, drought, tornadoes, etc.
there is Al Gore shouting global
warming. He was even awarded a
Nobel Peace Prize for his “work”
proving global warming exists. Recently, he has emerged again claiming Superstorm Sandy was the result of global warming.
Actually, there is no sound science to support the claims of global
warming. If you look at the last 10
years, there has been a sizeable
Opinion
8
New York Post cartoon mocks
Obama as a runaway slave?
Fox News mogul Rupert
Murdoch’s New York Post published last week what some are
calling the most profoundly disrespectful and racist cartoon ever
about President Obama. The cartoon depicts an angry white man
on horseback (Mitt Romney)
chasing down a terrified skinny
black man fleeing on foot (President Obama) - and the Romney
figure is aiming an assault rifle
and attached bayonet at the
Obama figure’s backside.
“The cartoon clearly evokes an
image from the Old South of an
overseer or slave catcher chasing
down a runaway slave,” says a
report by two interpreters of code
language and political cartoons at
www.lyndonlarouchewatch.org/
obama-KKK-new-york-post.htm
“Don’t believe the Post if they
claim this is just payback satire
on the President’s quip about
horses and bayonets that exposed
Romney’s ignorance of defense
issues,” said Dennis King, one of
the authors of the report, referring to the final Presidential campaign debate on Oct. 22. “This
goes way, way beyond satire. For
one thing, Obama’s quip didn’t
refer to assault rifles or to using
horses to chase down black
people. The dog whistle in this
cartoon is so loud that anyone can
hear it if they aren’t in deep denial.”
The report said that the Post
cartoon was an example of “the
knee-jerk hatred of Obama by so
many Republicans [that] goes
back to group fantasies of the Rebellious Slave, or in this case of
the uppity educated n…..who
must be put back in his place.”
The cartoonist, Sean Delonas,
was accused of racism in 2009
when one of his cartoons depicted
a rabid chimpanzee dying on a
sidewalk after being shot by New
York cops. The caption strongly
implied that the chimp was meant
to represent President Obama. The
Post said it was sorry people were
offended, but never fully apologized.
Mr. King is a journalist who has
written extensively on coded
forms of bigotry. His co-author of
the report, Geraldine Pauling, is an
independent scholar and longtime member of the International
Psychohistorical Association,
which is noted for its analyses of
political cartoons.
Contact the authors at
dennisking@safe-mail.net
Honda teams up for EV-charging project
Special to the NNPA from The
With visibility into charging patMichigan Chronicle
terns, energy providers will have
the ability to more effectively manWhen it comes to staying con- age charging during peak hours
nected, IBM, American Honda and create consumer-friendly proMotor Co. and Pacific Gas and grams to encourage electric vehicle
Electric Company are pioneering adoption.
a new frontier – in the green that So what does all that really mean?
is.
In a nutshell, if this EV thing reThe three companies have ally takes off like a lot of people
teamed up for a new pilot project expect, we’ll need to make sure
that will allow communication there’s enough power to go
between electric vehicles (EVs) around.
and the power grid as plug-in veThe joint Honda project has the
hicle counts continue to grow to potential to ease the infrastructure
an expected 2.9 million worldwide and consumer concerns associby 2017.
ated with the mass adoption of
The project aims to demon- EVs, by adding another layer of
strate and test an EV’s ability to agility to the EV charging process.
receive and respond to charge
The idea is to help make charginstructions based on the grid ing seamless for consumers, while
condition and the vehicle’s bat- ensuring the electricity source is
tery state.
reliable and the infrastructure is
stable.
For example, once plugged into a
charge post, a Honda Fit EV will initiate a charge request via the vehicles telematics system, an integrated telecommunication application that is often used for navigation.
The request is then sent to IBM’s
electric vehicle enablement platform
where vehicle data such as battery
state and grid data received from
PG&E, is combined to create a charging schedule, which is then communicated back to the vehicle in seconds.
Using this aggregated data, the
vehicle has the intelligence to
charge to the level that is needed
while factoring any current grid constraints.
Sounds a lot like a scene from the
movie “Tron,” right?
Chris Brown is ordered
to remain on probation
Special to the NNPA from the
St. Louis American
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Waiver to help expedite
relief for Sandy victims
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
announced that the New York
State Health Department has submitted a Section 1135 waiver request to the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services that,
if granted, will assist New York
health care providers in their efforts to meet the immediate needs
of those affected by Hurricane
Sandy.
The waiver would relax certain
administrative and record keeping
rules, including documentation,
patient relocation, and billing requirements, in order to expedite
the delivery of health care to New
Yorkers in need following Hurricane Sandy.
“Millions of New Yorkers and
thousands of patients across the
state’s health care system were
directly affected by the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy,
and we must act quickly to ensure that quality and dependable
care is available to all of those in
need,” Governor Cuomo said.
“The federal government has
been a tremendously helpful part-
ner throughout the storm recovery process, and this waiver
would be a great asset in our efforts to ensure that health care
services are immediately available
as we respond to Hurricane
Sandy.”
On Oct. 31, 2012, HHS Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius determined that
a public health emergency exists,
and has existed since Oct. 27, 2012,
in New York State. The Section
1135 waiver would relax certain
administrative rules and record
keeping requirements, in order to:
Allow for billing and claiming
of services in instances where
providers are unable to submit
the standard documentation·
Relax requirements to better
facilitate the relocation of patients from damaged and unsafe facilities to more secure
settings· Suspend requirements
that potentially limit services
and impede the ability of providers to accept new patients·
Facilitate expedited approvals
for the relocation of provider
operations.
A judge on Thursday ordered Chris Brown to remain on
supervised probation and make
another court appearance after he completes an overseas
tour.
According to the Associated Press, Superior Court
Judge Patricia Schnegg did not
address questions raised at a
previous hearing about
whether the R&B singer had
completed the terms of his
community labor sentence.
A prosecutor said a report
filed for Thursday’s hearing
did not add additional details
about Brown’s service as previously requested by the court.
Instead, it included the same
spreadsheet of Brown’s hours
that Schnegg called “somewhat cryptic” at a September
hearing.
Brown remains on supervised probation for felony assault for an attack on Rihanna
in 2009.
He is scheduled to begin a
tour that spans several countries in Europe and South Africa on Nov. 14.
Brown “appears to be making a sincere effort to comply
with terms and conditions of
probation,” a probation officer
wrote in a report prepared for
Thursday’s hearing. The report recommended that Brown
Chris Brown
remain on probation under the
Brown is scheduled to return
same conditions he has abided to court Jan. 17.
by since pleading guilty to the
Information from The Associattack on the eve of the Grammy ated Press contributed to this reawards.
port.
By Donna Lamb
The Greater Works Deliverance
Church, pastored by Sharlene
Nash-Pryor at 1098 Bedford Ave.
in Brooklyn, is a socially conscious church that believes in
addressing issues that affect the
community. To that end, on a recent Saturday., it hosted a teachin on youth incarceration, featuring the documentary film Juvie,
about youth tried and sentenced
as adults.
The event was organized by the
Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions (CNUS), under the
direction of its executive director,
Dr. Divine Pryor. Growing up,
Pryor himself dropped out of
school and got involved in criminal activity that landed him in jail;
however, he pulled himself up and
went on to become a college professor, law-enforcement consultant and motivational speaker. He
co-founded CNUS, an independent think tank founded and developed by formerly incarcerated
professionals working to increase
justice through system reform,
community empowerment and individual transformation.
CNUS recently launched
Project ReNu, serving individuals returning home from prison,
on parole and/or in recovery from
drug and alcohol abuse. One of
the many services it provides is a
record repair program that helps
individuals obtain, review and
correct their “rap sheets.” Stated
Pryor, “Anyone who’s ever been
arrested should have a copy of
their rap sheet. No one should
ever know things on your record
that you don’t know.”
He went on to say that once
errors are corrected, if the individual wants to file for a Certificate of Rehabilitation, Project
ReNu helps with that, too. The
organization has also launched
workshops teaching people how
to tell their personal narrative so
when they’re sitting before a potential employer, the Housing
Authority, or an educational institution they will be able to talk
about their criminal record in a
way that minimizes the stigma
and allows them to be seen as a
full person.
Pryor then introduced Juvies,
directed by award-winning filmmaker Leslie Neale, who taught a
video production class at Los
Angeles Central Juvenile Hall to
12 juveniles who were all being
tried as adults. Juvies is the product of that class. Narrated by actor Mark Wahlberg, himself a
former juvenile offender, the film
follows the lives of several young
people who will serve most, if not
all, their lives behind bars for
crimes they either did not commit
or were only marginally involved
in.
Among the youth featured in
the film is Duc, who was arrested
when he was 16-year old because
he was driving a car when shots
were fired from it. No one was injured, Duc was not a member of a
gang and had no priors, but, incredibly, he received a sentence
of 35 years to life. After the film
was released, his sentenced was
eventually lowered to 11 years to
life. He went before the California
Parole Board in 2009, but was denied parole.
There was also 14-year-old Anait,
an Armenian immigrant, who drove
two boys to a high school and
dropped them off. The boys got into
a fight with another boy and subsequently killed a third boy who
attempted to break up the fight.
Because she was the driver of the
“getaway” car, Anait was charged
as an accessory to first-degree murder and originally faced 200 years.
She has since taken a deal and is
serving seven years.
Then there was Mayra, a girl
raised in gangs. At 16 she was
asked by her gang to kill a girl - her
best friend - who broke one of their
rules by sleeping with a boy from a
rival gang. Mayra shot the girl, paralyzing her for life. Mayra received
life plus 25 years for her crime.
Interspersed with the youths’
stories are interviews with experts
in juvenile justice and gangs, as well
as former LA District Attorney Gil
Garcetti, who admitted that sen- Dr. Divine Pryor tells audience about Project ReNu initiatives (Photos by Donna Lamb)
Pastor Sharlene Nash-Pryor shares the gut-wrenching story of her
own son’s incarceration as a teenager
tences during his own tenure as DA
were unfair and never should have
happened.
The film also points to the wellknown fact that adolescents’ brains
are not yet fully developed, all too
often causing them to have poor
impulse control and make dumb
choices without any thought as to
consequences. That’s why society
protects youth from adult activities
by restricting the age they can drink,
drive, smoke, vote, marry, and even
watch R-rated movies. Yet, putting
all this aside, each year over 200,000
youth are prosecuted as adults in
the US, even though studies show
that half of those who committed
crimes under the age of 18 will
never go on to commit another
offense but will outgrow their
impulsive behavior and become
productive citizens.
Following the screening, Kate
Kyung Ji Rhee, director of the Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives, led a
teach-in and discussion of the
film. Pastor Sharlene Nash-Pryor
also spoke of her own grueling
experience as a mother when her
son, who is now grown up and
doing well, was in and out of the
system from age 13 to 16. She
Thomas & Tyson Jackson
strongly urged people not to make
the mistake she did by filing a Person In Need of Supervision or
“PINS” Petition in Family Court,
which she thought would help
her son but was damaging instead.
T h e p a s t o r ’s n e p h e w,
Warnell Nash, who has been
out of prison eight years now
and will soon be ordained, said
that he takes some responsibility for her son getting caught
up in bad things because of the
image he projected back then.
Nash said he believes there is
a great need for men to set dif-
ferent trends for the youth to
model themselves on.
A man doing just that is Thomas
Jackson III, who was there with his
eight-year-old son, Tyson. Jackson
said he was in the streets from 13
years on and went into Rikers Island
at age 16. Now, he and his wife are
working hard to break the cycle with
their own sons. They are proud to
say they are succeeding.
The Center for NuLeadership on
Urban Solutions is located at 510
Gates Ave. in Brooklyn. Dr. Divine
Pryor can be reached at (718) 4845879 or (718) 484-5883.
(Photos by Donna Lamb)
Greater Deliverance Church holds
Teach-in on youth incarceration
9
10
AUDREY'S
SOCIETY
WHIRL
Here’s what’s happening at Disney -- The
Great American Family vacation place
By Audrey J. Bernard
Lifestyles & Society Editor
On Wednesday, October 17,
2012, I attended a lovely breakfast
hosted by Walt Disney World and
Disneyland resorts reporting to the
media what’s new and what’s next
at The Great American Family vacation spots. VIP’s and media
mixed and mingled with tourists in
a roped off area outside of New
York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel in
the heart of Times Square just for
the Disney event that featured a
25-foot-tall, 45,000-pound ice castle
that took more than 12 hours to
construct and craft duplicating
everyone’s glass slipper heroine
Cinderella’s home.
Disney officials were on hand to
talk about Disney Parks’ “Limited
Time Magic” that will take place
throughout 2013 at Disney-land
Resort in California and Walt
Disney World Resort in Florida.
The 52 weeks of magical experiences will take place weekly and
feature a different surprise or guest
enhancement for a one-week-only
engagement and will also feature
many never-before-seen surprises
in the Disney Parks, that will include entertainment, dining, character experiences and more. And
just like Cinderella, the weekly
event will disappear after midnight
on the last day to make room for
the next magical surprise. Next
year is already a momentous year
for Disney Parks – with New
Fantasyland as the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history at
Walt Disney World Resort and the
first full year of a reimagined Disney
California
Adventure
at
Disneyland Resort.
Some many stories high amidst
New York’s famed skyline, Marriott
Marquis luncheoneers got a Big
Apple welcome from Disney staff
on what’s new and what’s next at
Disney. During a delicious breakfast, Rene Syler, former CBS “The
Early Show,” moderated a panel of
experts engaged by Disney to talk
about what’s in store for families
visiting the great American parks.
Panelists included Leslie Ferraro,
EVP global marketing, Disney
Parks & Resorts; Susan Newman,
Ph.D.; Alpa Pandya, EVP, managing director, Strategy, Sterling
Brands. Each woman delivered
captivating insights and shared
their experiences with how Disney
is pulling out all stops to make extra certain that each visitor to their
Parks take away a life changing
experience that they will pay forward.
Their discussions provided helpful information about the seven
Disney Parks Ice Castle in Times Square (Photo by David Roark)
Disney Park adventures including:
New Fantasyland Takes Flight;
Disney Cruise Line Sets Sail from
New Destinations; Hit the Road
with Mater and Lightning
McQueen; Dive into ‘Suite’ Fun
with Nemo and Friends; Disney
says ‘Aloha’; Adventures by Disney
introduces Families to the Far East
(2013); and Disneyland Park-New
New Fantasyland Takes Flight
Disney says 'Aloha'
Fantasy Faire Experience (Spring
2013). Other coming attractions
include: Test Track Presented by
Chevrolet (Fall 2012-Epcot);
Splitsville entertainment center
(Fall 2012-Downtown Disney West
Side); and Adventures by DisneyScotland: A Brave Adventure (2013).
The mouse still roars! And Disney
rocks! (Photos courtesy by WDW)
Hit the Road with Mater and Lighting McQueen
Dive into 'Suite' Fun with Nemo and
Friends
Adventures by Disney introduces Families to the Far East (2013)
Fashion, Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .& Stuff
By Audrey Adams
It ‘tis the season!
Audrey Adams
It‘tis the season to be . . . generous. Thanksgiving is just
around the corner and then, we
are off to the start of the rest of
the holiday season. I love this
time of the year. Memories of
past holidays with family and
friends flood my mind. There are
visions of huge festive meals
and gifts piled high underneath
the Christmas tree, the giggles
of delight and squeals of discovery . . . . and a warm and cozy
home with loving parents.
Then there are the daily images on the news, of men, women
and children standing in long
lines waiting for a holiday meal
or bags of food. All very disconcerting when commercials aired
throughout television programs
are urging us to buy, buy, buy!
Economic indicators will be released by the government to let
us know that if we don’t spend
money this holiday season, that
the economy might suffer.
Tell that to those without jobs
or those who lost their homes
and are on the street. My goodness, they would have you think
that you and you alone will rescue the economy if you spend
your hard earned money during
these few weeks of madness! Instead why not focus on the mess
that our politicians have created to
precipitate the increased numbers
of lost jobs? Oh, if only the good
tidings would last year-round!
What seems to be true though is
that the holidays always seem to
bring out the generosity of the human spirit. Organizations host holiday dinners for those less fortunate, gifts are collected for the children of the less fortunate and for a
few short weeks life gets a little better for them. What about the rest of
the year? Their needs are still the
same. They still sleep in homeless
shelters, under bridges, in cars and
go without food and other life necessities; needless to say, money
is scarce. They won’t be shopping
until they drop! Living from day to
day takes up most of their time.
So, while you are enjoying your
holidays, remember that life doesn’t
really change much for people who
struggle everyday just to survive.
Be thankful that you enjoy life’s
basics. Be thankful for your health.
If you can find it in your heart to
remember the less fortunate during
the holiday season; then you can
surely find it in your heart to remember them the rest of the year. Be as
generous as you can every season
because poverty never takes a holiday. Think about it. See you next
week.
Please continue to pray for the
people in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut who have lost family
members, homes and communities,
who are without many of the necessities that we take for
granted.
This week on TALK! with
AUDREY: Forensic Psychiatrist,
DR. LISE VAN SUSTERN joins
me to talk about the psychological effects of Global Warming. A
team of psychiatrists is warning
in a new study a climate that is
likely to be unstable will cost the
U.S. dearly in health costs and
overwhelm the mental health
system, adding significant costs
to the already $317 billion in annual mental health care expenditures and lost productivity in
the U.S. the report says.
Americans and emergency
management experts agree on
one thing. Over the past few
years, the U. S. has experienced
a record number of natural disasters that have destroyed
neighborhoods and cost lives.
What is even more concerning
is what people are doing – or
notdoing – in the wake of an approaching catastrophe.
MICHAEL ROCHE, executive
vice president, Claims, Allstate,
has tips to make sure we are prepared. To listen visit:
TheAdamsReport.com.
In addition to her weekly column you can find Audrey on the
radio each week or watch
Audrey TV for interviews with
thought leaders in health, personal finance and today’s hot
topics. On FB:
AudreyAdamsMedia and on
TWITTER: @ADAMSREPORT
Legal experts say pardons deserved
(from Page 3)
maintain they did not commit.
On Oct. 17th, 1972, nine young
black males and one white female – all led by the Rev. Benjamin Chavis of the United
Church of Christ – were falsely
convicted during their second
trial of conspiracy in connection
with racial violence that gripped
Wilmington in February 1971.
The Stroud files now cast a large
shadow over those convictions.
“The Ten,” as some call them,
were all sentenced collectively
to 282 years in prison, some of
which they all served before
worldwide public pressure
forced early releases. In 1976,
Amnesty International, a respected international social justice agency, labeled the
Wilmington Ten “political prisoners” because they were targeted only after they protested
racial discrimination in their local public school system five
years earlier.
In 1977, the three witnesses
on whose testimony the
Wilmington Ten were convicted
recanted their testimonies before a grand jury, saying that
state prosecutor Jay Stroud
paid them to lie with gifts and
privileges. The CBS News program
“60 Minutes” broadcast an expose’ on the fabrication of evidence in the case, strongly suggesting a false prosecution.
And in 1980, the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, citing
prosecutorial misconduct on
Stroud’s part, among other issues,
overturned all ten convictions.
But the state of North Carolina
has upheld those convictions for
the past 32 years.
It was not until 2011, when the
National Newspaper Publishers
Association (NNPA) – an association of over 200 African-American
newspapers across the nation –
voted to officially seek pardons
of innocence for the Wilmington
Ten, did the effort to legally address the issue begin in earnest,
and the Wilmington Ten Pardons
of Innocence Project was born.
On May 17 of this year, a legal
petition of pardons of actual innocence was formally submitted
to Gov. Beverly Perdue’s Office of
Executive Clemency on behalf of
Dr. Benjamin Chavis; Wayne
Moore; Marvin “Chili” Patrick;
Reginald Epps; James “Bun”
McKoy; Willie Earl Vereen; William “Joe” Wright; Jerry Jacobs;
Ann Shepard and Connie Tindall.
Wright, Jacobs, Shepard and
By Tony Felton
The Right Way!
PROVERBS 22:6/Raise up a child
the way he should go. And when
he is old, he will not depart from
it.
Whether they knew Scripture or
not, the parents of Lisa Lewis, Ray
Mercer, and LaMar Baylor did a
good thing! And no matter however which way they did it (some
parents are hands on), it has resulted in giving the world independent, self reliant, passionate,
physically fit citizens who display
excellent examples of achievement; defying the dreaded ‘47%’
lazy bums looking for “Entitlement” label to be placed on them!
Lewis, Mercer, and Baylor, perform
night after night in one of the most
celebrated blockbuster Broadway
extravaganzas in the history of
musical theater: The Lion King.
Can you imagine if they were in
poor health how that would affect
the work they love to do? Can you
imagine them calling in night after
night with the “I can’t make it to
work. I’m sick again,” excuse? Excessive imagination would not be
required to conclude that they
would not be employed much
longer; perhaps not at all. The
Lion King, or for that matter, any
occupation, desires that the individual performing that task to be
in absolute perfect health. It is the
simple truth: if you are not in good
health, you can’t do anything,
well, for long.
The team of Lewis, Mercer, and
Baylor just happens to be in a profession that not only requires
them to be in perfect health, but
one in which OBESITY is not an
option. Performing in sometimes
scantily designed costumes, body
beautiful is somewhat of a necessity. But so much more important
than physical ‘beauty,’ excellent
health is, should be, the number
one priority for all peoples everywhere—ESPECIALLY WITH
OUR CHILDREN. Childhood
OBESITY has become an epidemic
of disastrous proportions. This
must stop NOW!
“If I were the President of the
United States,” Ms. Lewis informs, “I would put into law mandatory physical activity in our
schools. Kids are not as active as
they used to be. I was shocked to
discover how many schools have
banned physical fitness as a requirement. I never had a weight
problem as a child. I started doing
gymnastic at the age of six. I love
to dance (a former Radio City
Rockette). I love to eat right. I must
be healthy in order to do all of the
other things I love to do.”
Mr. Mercer, who has been with the
company for over ten years, has a
similar view point: “We always had
recess when I was in school. It is so
unfortunate that it has been cut
from the curriculum. As President, I
would mandate proper nutrition and
exercise.”
As President, Mr. Baylor would require well balanced meals. “Of
course nutrition is important,” he
declares, “but I would also limit their
in- take even when it came to nutritional foods.” Adding, “I come from
a big-boned family. Not necessarily
fat, but we definitely have meat on
our frames. I could have been an
overweight kid growing up. It just
didn’t happen. Dancing kept me fit.”
“Working in The Lion King,” Mr.
Mercer adds, “is not only physically but mentally challenging. I did
gymnastics when I was younger. I
ran track. I’m always moving. I go
to the gym four times a week. Being
in the show for so long, seeing so
many changes, working with so
many talented people, being physically fit involves not only my body
but my spirit as well.”
“I take ballet class and I teach yoga,”
says Ms. Lewis. “The Lion King
Company is so gracious in giving
us leaves of absence so that we can
pursue other things. I chose not to
do Radio City this year, but in the
past, I have taken off to perform in
the CHRISTMAS Spectacular.”
“I am very new to The Lion King
(only his second month),” Mr.
Baylor informs. “It is so exciting. So
hard to describe. So different from
anything that I’ve ever done before.
I’m still learning the city. I have to
ask Ray for guidance all the time
(LOL).”
Believe it or not, even the President
of the United States is human: If it
will make any of us feel better, as
physically fit as Lewis/Mercer/
&Baylor are/must be, they do cheat
(Gasp) when it comes to eating food.
Ms. Lewis has a penchant for “Bags
of almonds!” Baylor can be found
sometimes in Popeye’s! And Mr.
Mercer would be right there with
him if they were serving cheeseburgers! But there are some foods, they
insist, they simply refuse to eat: Mr.
Baylor/Brussels sprouts. Lewis/No
red meats. Mercer/Egg plants.
As eclectic as their backgrounds
and upbringings have been (Ms.
Lewis of West Indian descent was
born in Vancouver, B.C. Mr. Baylor
is from Pennsylvania. And Mr. Mercer hails from Omaha, Nebraska),
they all agree that educating our
children on proper dieting starts
with the home. Parents raise up your
children in the way they should go.
So that when they are old they will
remember what they have learned,
will not depart from the knowledge,
and will pass it on to the next generation.
Tindall are deceased. Tindall,
62, died in August.
During the course of researching the case, the original
files of Wilmington Ten state
prosecutor Jay Stroud were
found, and evidence of extraordinary prose-cutorial misconduct uncovered.
North Carolina Central University School of Law Professor Irving Joyner, and James
Ferguson, original lead defense
attorney forty years ago for the
Wilmington Ten – both of whom
filed the petition papers with the
state – spent last summer researching and authenticating
handwritten jury selection
notes by prosecutor Stroud
which indicated during the first
trial in June 1972 in Pender
County how he sought to impanel a “KKK” type jury to
guarantee convictions.
Stroud’s notes also document how he plotted to cause a
mistrial in the first June 1972
Wilmington Ten trial because
there were ten blacks and two
whites on the jury, his star false
witness against the Ten, Allen
Hall, was not cooperating, and
it looked very unlikely that
Stroud could win the case given
Cast members from the Lion King (l-r) Ray Mercer, Lisa Lewis and
the lack of evidence.
Lamar Baylor
11
THE ADAMS REPORT
HEALTH & FITNESS
12
Mortgage rates lowest in three weeks ahead of election
By Matthew Graham
While some of the improvement came in the form of late
day reprices on Friday, mortgage rates are appreciably
lower to begin the week.
Movement varied this morning with some lenders holding fairly steady while others
improved at much quicker
paces. Regardless of the
stratification, the net effect is
a Conventional 30yr Fixed
Best-Execution rate that is
firmly at 3.375%. The closing
costs associated with 3.375%
are the lowest they’ve been
since mid October for most
lenders.
Friday’s Employment Report garnered a paradoxical reaction in markets. Typically, a
stronger-than-expected level
of job creation leads to
strength in stocks and rising
rates in Fixed-Income securities like Treasuries and MBS
(the “mortgage-backed-securities” that most directly influence mortgage rates). But we
saw the opposite this time
around with stocks ultimately
selling off and interest rates falling.
One way to account for that
phenomenon is to suggest that
the stronger jobs numbers did
something to increase the likelihood that Obama would stay in
office. If we had to guess, it seems
that more talking heads think a
Romney victory would be economically bullish. There’s no
way to know if that would turn
out to be the case, but if market
participants THOUGHT it would
turn out to be the case, it could
make sense that stocks and interest rates would decline on Friday despite the stronger jobs
numbers.
Whatever the case, we’ll know
a lot more tomorrow (and even
more on Wednesday morning).
Tomorrow is election day and if
there’s a discernible reaction in
markets, it will go a long way toward confirming or rejecting the
theory laid out above (not our
theory, for what it’s worth, but
the one we chose to talk about
today). Beyond the election, European drama is potentially in-
creasing again with a good
amount of headlines set to hit
later in the week.
Loan Originator Perspectives
“Lenders passed along some
love this morning but rate
sheets dont reflect the recent
gains in my opinion. The consensus has been if Obama wins
re-election rates should hold to
move lower. If Romney wins,
rates should hold to move
higher. That said, i would definitely lock if you feel Romney
wins tomorrow. If you feel
Obama wins, i would float. If
you are unsure, i would lock as
today’s rates are as good as
they have been in quite some
time.” -Victor Burek, Benchmark
Mortgage.
“Looks like it’s “risk off” in
the capital markets today. Rates
improved considerably, and clients who floated may want to
consider taking advantage of
that. Fundamentals haven’t
changed: European situation
isn’t curing itself and US
economy is tepid as fiscal cliff
looms. Doing a lot of loans for
folks who thought 4.25% was a
lifetime best rate. Still can’t believe these rates, but at least
they’re one way to profit in this
economy!” -Ted Rood, Senior
Originator, Wintrust Mortgage.
“We work with clients to set
rate targets they won’t go
above, pre-approve them, then
lock the rates when MBS markets rally and rates dip. Today
some clients are hitting their
rate targets and we’re locking
those rates accordingly. These
are the first such opportunities
we’ve seen since rates spiked
a few weeks ago. The key to this
approach is to set the rate target AND to fully pre-approve
the loan. Locking blindly when
rates dip, then figuring out the
loan after almost always leads
to problems (with a loan approval factor that wasn’t prescreened, or with a rate lock expiring before the loan closes).”
Julian Hebron, Branch Manager, Loan Agent, RPM Mortgage.
Today’s Best-Execution
Rates
* 30YR FIXED -3.375%
* FHA/VA - 3.25% (varies more
between lenders than conventional 30yr Fixed)
* 15 YEAR FIXED - 2.875% 2.75%
* 5 YEAR ARMS - 2.625-3.25%
depending on the lender
Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations
* Rates and costs continue to operate near all time best levels
* Rates could easily move higher
or lower, but given the nearness
to all time lows, there’s generally
more risk than reward regarding
floating
* This will always be the case
when rates operate near all-time
levels, and as 2011 showed us, it
doesn’t always mean they’re
done improving.
* (As always, please keep in mind
that our talk of Best-Execution always pertains to a completely
ideal scenario. There can be all
sorts of reasons that your quoted
rate would not be the same as our
average rates, and in those cases,
assuming you’re following along
on a day to day basis, simply use
the Best-Ex levels we quote as a
baseline to track potential movement.
After the most expensive election campaign
in history, America heads to the polls
NBC has confirmed that an
electronic voting machine in
Pennsylvania changed a vote
from Obama to Romney earlier
today. The machine has been
taken out of service.The most
expensive presidential race in
American history—some $2.6
billion was spent—is finally
coming to an end.
The barrage of political ads
is quieting, and voters now
have the chance to speak.
Polls close in Virginia, Indiana,
Georgia, Kentucky, South
Carolina and Vermont at 7 PM
ET, with other states following close behind. Alaska’s
polling stations, the last to
close, finally shutter at 1 AM
Wednesday.
In the meantime, we’ll be
gathering all the latest news
about the candidates, polling
stations and swing states
here.1:45 PM: NBC has confirmed that an electronic voting machine in Pennsylvania
changed a vote from Obama
to Romney earlier today. The
machine has been taken out of
service.1:20 PM: An estimated
50 million eligible Americans
will not vote today. Here’s
why.1:00 PM: Better late than
never? Google searches for
“who’s running for president”
spiked in November.12:25 PM:
You might want to think twice
before posting your filled out
ballot to Facebook, Flickr, or
Instagram. Propublica reports
that some states have laws
that prohibit people from
showing their ballots to anyone.
Violating the rule can result
in having your ballot thrown
out. See if it’s legal in your
state at the Citizen Media Law
Project site.12:18 PM: In
Washington D.C., There are
reports that some lines are so
long at polling sites that
people are giving up on voting.
How was your polling place? Let
us know in the comments.12 PM:
Republican National Committee
official Tim Miller is complaining
on Twitter that a Philadelphia polling place has put up voting
booths right next to a mural of
Obama. The location of the polling site is 35th ward-D18 Franklin
School, according to the Weekly
Standard. Miller wrote that the
Pennsylvania GOP has filed a
complaint. Electioneering is not
allowed within 10 feet of a polling place. The Philadelphia City
Commissioners’ office is looking
into the complaints.11:40 AM:
Elections officials in Pinellas
county in Florida mistakenly
sent hundreds of robocalls telling voters they had until 7:00
PM Wednesday to vote, the
Tampa Bay Times reports. (The
last polls close at 8 PM Tuesday in the state.) Elections officials sent a second message to
alert voters who received the
calls of the mistake. A majority
of the county voted Democratic
in 2008.11 AM: A Chrysler official wrote on Twitter that the car
company has given its entire
workforce the day off to vote.
Late last month the company
had strongly denied the accu-
racy of an ad from Mitt
Romney’s campaign stating that
the automaker was moving its
Jeep production to China. The
company, in fact, said it recently
added 1,100 jobs in the swing
state of Ohio, where one in eight
jobs is connected to the auto
industry.10 AM: All four major
candidates have cast their ballots. President Barack Obama
voted weeks ago in Chicago as
part of his campaign’s push to
get their supporters to vote
early in states that allow it. Voting on Tuesday: Vice President
Joe Biden, at a Wilmington,
Del., high school; Gov. Mitt
Romney and his wife, Ann, near
their Belmont, Mass., home; and
Paul Ryan cast his ballot in his
hometown of Janesville, Wis.9:40
AM: The first election results are
in—and it’s a tie. In New Hampshire, Dixville Notch’s 10 registered votes split evenly 5-5 between Romney and Obama. The
small village has cast its ballots
at midnight since 1960, giving political junkies an early look at how
candidates are faring in the Granite State.
President Obama carried the
small village in 2008, but Dixville
Notch went to George W. Bush
in both 2000 and 2004.
Disaster recovery center opens in Brooklyn
A Disaster Recovery Center
(DRC) has opened in Brooklyn
for homeowners, renters and
business owners who sustained
damage as a result of Hurricane
Sandy.
The DRC will operate at Cyclone Stadium, 1904 Surf Ave.,
Brooklyn, NY 11224.
Hours of operation are 8 a.m.
to 7 p.m., seven days a week
until further notice.
Specialists from the state of
New York, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) and the U.S. Small
Administration (SBA) will be
on hand to answer questions
about available disaster assistance programs and the registration process.
Individuals may register for
assistance online at:
www.disasterassistance.gov or
via web-enabled phone or tablet at m.fema.gov. They may
also apply by calling 1-800-621-
FEMA (3362) or TTY 1-800-4627585 for the speech- and hearingimpaired. Users of 711-Relay or
Video Relay Services (VRS) may
call 1-800-621-3362.
The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to
10 p.m. EDT, seven days a week
until further notice.
Job openings at Con Ed
Con Edison has immediate
openings (900) for Safety Site
Inspectors stationed in every
borough.
Duties to include placing yellow safety tape around areas
with downed trees ensuring that
the public stay away from trees
or downed lines.
Candidates must have their
own vehicle, clean driver’s license and work boots. Shifts
from 7 a.m. –7 p.m., and 7 p.m. –7
p.m. paying...$25 per hour.
(Company will waive back-
ground checks).
Also, Bi-Lingual Customer
Service Reps (any language
plus English) stationed in
Brooklyn to answer and field
incoming calls. $17 per hour.
These positions are open to
the public at large.
Resume and cover letter required—please carefully proofread your letter and resume
before submitting.
Email resumes or letter of interest to:
dsullivan@winstonstaffing.com
Subscaribe and Advertise
in the New York Beacon
237 W. 37th Street, Suite 203 New York,
New York 10018
Tel: (212) 213-8585
13
14
WEDNESDAY’S WOMAN
Meet L’Oréal USA recipient of distinguished
Fellowships For Women In Science Award
Dr. Erin Marie Williams
Dr. Erin Marie Williams,
The George Washington University (GWU), Washington,
DC, anthropologist, is working
to understand human anatomy
by looking at the tools of our
early ancestors. Her study
came to the attention of L’Oréal
USA who awarded her a Fellowships For Women In Science
Award for her work on breakthrough scientific research
which addresses critical global
challenges that could aid millions around the world.
Dr. Williams is a postdoctoral
fellow and physical anthropologist at GWU’s Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid
Paleobiology. Like most
paleoanthropologists, Dr. Williams leads a double life, professionally speaking. Half of her
time is spent in a biomechanics
laboratory conducting detailed
studies of how people use their
hands, wrists, and arms. The
other half is spent in “the field”
looking for ancient bones and
stone tools.
In both locations, Dr. Williams is investigating the dynamic relationship between our
early human ancestors and their
Paleolithic technology, in order
to understand the influence
they have had on one another
over our evolutionary history,
as well as the evolutionary histories of our closest living relatives, the great apes.
Stone tools represent the
earliest form of technology in
the archaeological record and
were the Paleolithic equivalent
of the modern computer in terms
of their impact on our species.
They accelerated a series of adaptations in our lineage which
culminated in the emergence of
our genus, Homo, and even our
own species, Homo sapiens.
With the dual support of the
L’Oreal USA Fellowship and her
National Science Foundation
postdoctoral fellowship, Dr.
Williams is investigating the
decision-making processes and
abilities of our early human ancestors as evidenced through
their selection of raw materials
for the production and use of
Early Stone Age technologies.
Selecting an appropriate raw
material means balancing the
costs and benefits of a number
of variables, including the energy required for making a tool
from a given material and other
physical costs incurred by the
tool maker and/or user. We currently lack an expedient method
for quantifying the physical
costs imposed by various raw
materials during stone tool behaviors.
Dr. Williams’ research integrates biomechanics, archaeology, and fracture mechanics to
quantify biomechanically- and
raw materially-mediated physical
costs incurred during stone tool
production and use, in order to
test long-standing hypotheses
about the cognitive and decision-making abilities of our early
hominin ancestors from a costbenefit standpoint.
This type of cost-benefit
analysis is a key characteristic
of modern human decision-making processes and understanding when this ability evolved is
critical to our understanding of
the archaeological record and to
the evolution of human cognitive abilities.
Dr. Williams is a National Science Foundation Minority
Postdoctoral Fellow conducting
research at GWU’s Center for the
Advanced Study of Hominid
Paleobiology, where she works
in Dr. Brian Richmond’s and Dr.
Bernard Wood’s joint Human
Evolutionary Anatomy laboratory.
As a student of Dr. Alison
Brooks and Dr. Richmond, Dr.
Williams earned her PhD in
Hominid Paleobiology from
GWU in 2011 for a dissertation
titled “Biomechanical strategies
during Oldowan and Acheulean
stone tool production.” She received a BA in Anthropology
from Grinnell College (Grinnell,
IA) and a MA in Anthropology
from GWU.
As one of five exceptional
post-doctoral female scientists
to receive the L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women In Science
Award honor, Dr. Williams and
her co-awardees will receive up
to $60,000 to continue their postdoctoral research. Additionally,
the L’Oréal USA Fellowships For
Women in Science offers professional development workshops
for the 2012 Fellows to aid and
support these five women to
build networks with accomplished female leaders in corporate, academic, governmental
and scientific fields. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
facilitates this program.
The other four recipients of
the 2012 L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science
Award were Christina Agapakis,
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, synthetic biologist,
is working to engineer new relationships between microorganisms that usually would not find
each other in nature. Lilian
Childress, Yale University, New
Haven, CT, physicist, is working in quantum optics the interactions between quantum states
of light and mechanical motion.
Joanna Lynne Kelley, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA geneticist, is working in biological diversity and characterizing specific pathways that underlie
adaptive change. Jaclyn Winter, University of California, Los
Angeles, CA, biochemist, is interested in chemical diversity of
biologically active natural products.
This national awards program,
created in 2003, supports the advancement of women in the sciences. Criterion included,
among other things, an exemplarily commitment to the
achievement and advancement
of science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.) under the most promising postdoctoral female scientists across
the country.
This year’s awards ceremony was held at The Morgan
Library and Museum in New
York City. The evening program
welcomed honorary guests including: City Council Speaker
Christine C. Quinn and Ambassador of France to the United
States François Delattre. Also
in attendance were members of
various Universities, Colleges,
and New York City High
Schools, as the event was an opportunity to foster interest
among the next generation of
women scientists.
“I am delighted to honor
these women today,” said Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn.
“Beyond what these women do
in their daily work, they are actually achieving something
much larger: they are showing
the world that women can excel
in anything they want to do. I
thank them for their commitment
to the sciences and on issues
that have the potential to affect
the lives of us all. They truly
are role models, especially for
younger people, and an inspiration to us all to be the best at
what we do.”
The L’Oréal USA Fellowships
For Women In Science is a national extension of the global
L’Oréal–UNESCO For Women in
Science program, which, since
1998, has recognized 67 Laureates, two of whom received the
Nobel Prize in 2009. The program has also awarded 864 Fellowships, which have been
granted to young women scientists from 93 countries so that
they can continue their research
projects. The program has become a benchmark of scientific
excellence on an international
scale, revealing the contributions of these scientific women
each year.
Meet one of Savoy magazine’s 2012 Top
Influential Women in Corporate America
Angela Guy
Angela Guy, L’Oréal USA SVP
of Diversity and Inclusion, has
been named by Savoy magazine
as one of its 2012 Top Influential Women in Corporate
America. A special issue will
showcase a cross section of successful business leaders and executives who have made positive
influences on their companies
and surrounding communities.
“The Savoy 2012 Top Influential Women in Corporate
America issue is one of the most
comprehensive and accomplished lists of African American
Women executives ever assembled in a magazine,” said L.P.
Green, II publisher of Savoy
magazine. “The executives
showcased in this issue represent a range of expertise, industries, global brands and
America’s largest corporations.
Celebrating the diligence, leadership and success of African
American Women inspires us
all.”
In her role, Guy is responsible
for shaping the diversity efforts
for L’Oréal USA as a business
imperative that ultimately contributes to the company’s success. Prior to this position, Guy
was the SVP, General Manager
of SoftSheen-Carson, the #1 ethnic haircare brand in the world
and part of the L’Oréal USA Con-
sumer Products Division.
“I am honored to be featured in
Savoy magazine’s Top Influential
Women in Corporate America,”
stated Guy. “In the office of Diversity and Inclusion our goal is
to add value to the divisions and
business units of L’Oréal USA by
identifying, developing and supporting role-modeling initiatives
that position our company as a
market leader, an employer of
choice and a responsible corporate
citizen.”
Ms. Guy is a firm believer in the
“lift as we climb” philosophy and
is committed to several charitable
initiatives in her personal life such
as Harvest of Hope Family Services, Network, Inc., Foster and
Adoptive Family Services and
Womanspace Inc.
“We all have the power to make
a difference” explained Guy. “I
truly believe that all things happen for a reason and if you have
the passion and drive you can
achieve your dreams.”
Guy has also been recognized as
Savoy magazine’s 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate
America, a Black Enterprise Power
Player as well as one of its 75 Most
Powerful Women in Business, and
one of The Network Journal’s 25
Influential Black Women in Business, to name a few.
L’Oréal USA, headquartered in
New York City, with 2011 sales of
$5 billion and 9,800 employees, is
a wholly-owned subsidiary of
L’Oréal SA, the world’s leading
beauty company y. In addition to
corporate headquarters in New
York, L’Oréal USA has Research
and Innovation, Manufacturing
and Distribution facilities across
six other states including New Jersey, Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois,
Ohio, and Texas.
L’Oréal USA, headquartered in
New York City, is the #1 whollyowned subsidiary of L’Oréal SA,
the world’s leading beauty company. In addition to corporate
headquarters in New York, L’Oréal
USA has Research and Innovation
and Manufacturing and Distribution facilities across six other states
including New Jersey, Kentucky,
Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, and
Texas.
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn (3rd, r.) with L’Oreal
USA Fellowship Award winners (l-r) Dr. Jaclyn Winter, Dr. Erin
Marie Williams, Dr. Joanna Kelley, Dr. Christina Agapakis and
Dr. Lilian Childress
Attorney General warns against price gouging following Sandy
think of taking advantage of
New Yorkers during such disruptive times, emergency circumstances always require an
extra sense of vigilance,”
Schneiderman said.
Attorney General Schneiderman urged New Yorkers to
call his office at 800-771-7755 or
log on to his office’s website to
make a complaint.
New York’s price gouging law
takes effect only upon the occurrence of triggering events
that cause an “abnormal disruption of the market.” An “abnormal disruption of the market” is
defined as “any change in the
market, whether actual or imminently threatened,” that results
from triggering events such as
“weather events, power failures,
strikes, civil disorder, war, military action, national or local
emergency, or other causes.”
During an abnormal disruption of the market like Hurricane
Sandy, all parties within the
chain of distribution for any essential consumer goods or services are prohibited from charging unconscionably excessive
prices. “Consumer goods” are
defined by the statute as “those
used, bought or rendered primarily for personal, family or
household purposes.” For example, gasoline, which is vital to
the health, safety and welfare of
consumers, is a “consumer good”
under the terms of the statute.
Therefore, retailers may not
charge unconscionably excessive prices for gasoline during an
abnormal disruption of the market.
New York’s price gouging law
does not specifically define what
constitutes an “unconscionably
excessive price.” However, the
statute provides that a price may
be “unconscionably excessive”
if: the amount charged represents
a gross disparity between the
price of the goods or services
which were the subject of the
transaction and their value measured by the price at which such
consumer goods or services were
sold or offered for sale by the
defendant in the usual course of
business immediately prior to the
onset of the abnormal disruption
of the market.
In other words, a “before-andafter” price analysis can be used
as evidence of price gouging.
Evidence that a price is unconscionably excessive may also include proof that “the amount
charged grossly exceeded the
price at which the same or similar
goods or services were readily
obtainable by other consumers in
the trade area.” However, a merchant may counter with evidence
that additional costs not within
its control were imposed for the
goods or services.
Notably, the price gouging
law does not prohibit any disparity between the price charged
before and after there is an abnormal disruption of the market.
Rather, the statute prohibits a
“gross disparity,” when it is
clear that a business is taking
unfair advantage of consumers
by charging unconscionably excessive prices, and increasing its
profits, under severe circumstances that call for shared sacrifices.
In addition to urging New
Yorkers to remain vigilant against
potential price gouging as we
continue the rebuilding process,
Attorney General Schneiderman
also issued tips on how to avoid
scams related to home repair,
clean up services and tree removal:
• Never pay cash, and don’t pay
the full price up front. Establish
a payment schedule and adhere
to it. Withhold final payment
until the entire project is completed to your satisfaction and
all required inspections and certificates of occupancy are finalized.
• Check with your insurance
Bogus climate change charges
(from Page 7)
drop in hurricanes/cyclones
around the world. When we had
congressional hearings on the
claim, they would always end in a
demand for irrefutable proof, i.e.
scientific data and facts. It would
never come.
The EPA would and still does
“cook their books” when doing
surveys and holding panels. For
example, they will organize a panel
to provide input by representatives of various organizations.
These representatives represent
organizations or institutions that
receive grants and even unsolicited financial support from the
EPA. They aren’t going to cut off
their funding so their statements
are nothing but conflicts of interest.
They love to beat up on our
federal government and the citizens of the United States, saying
we are polluters of the world.
However, they are reticent when
it comes to noting the environmental recklessness of such nations as
China, Russia, India, Brazil and
other growing industrial nations.
The truth is the United States has
come a very long way in improving our carbon footprint. The
Clean Air Act has been a success
in limiting our pollution levels. The
threat is coming from these growing industrial empires that don’t
have a governmental agency trying to stop their growth.
The cap and trade bill that this
current EPA was trying to force
upon American industry would
have been an economic catastrophe. We proved it to Congress that
it was a job killer and a major transfer of wealth from the United States
to foreign nations that could care
less about our future. It was defeated and now the EPA is coming
back with individual rules that are
nothing but pieces of the cap and
trade bill. They are trying to sneak
it in without constitutional legislation.
In regards to climate change,
that is a no brainer. Certainly the
climate changes as time goes on –
sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. So far, there is
no pattern that seems to be very
detrimental to our earth. There is
an ebb and flow and it takes time
to see any significant detrimental
trend. It is like Stevie Wonder
wrote, “When you believe in
things you don’t understand; you
suffer. Superstition ain’t the way.”
Climate change is an important
subject and we should constantly
monitor these trends and interpret
them with good and absolute data.
Factual information will always
trump scare tactics. There is no
need to deliberately make us suffer and force noticeable pain on
our lives and livelihoods.
Harry C. Alford is the cofounder, president/CEO of the
National Black Chamber of Commerce®. Website:
www.nationalbcc.org. Email:
halford@nationalbcc.org.
Looking beyond the election
(from page 6)
It is appropriate that the event
will be held after Election Day because, irrespective of the ultimate
winner, Black people must work
together to define our own political, economic, educational, and
social agendas. We must be
strong and cohesive in our approach if we want to be counted
at the decision-making tables of
criminal and social justice, economic empowerment, educational
excellence, and political inclusion;
and it matters not who is the President.
We cannot win of we are not in
the game, and Ron Daniels and his
team have set forth an agenda for
this conference that, if we attend,
pay attention, and commit to doing the work when we leave, will
bring the victory to Black people
that many of us have longed for
and have fought for through the
years.
There is much work to do, and it
doesn’t matter who lives at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.
The work must be done, and we
must do it.
For more information on the
SOBWC III, call 1-888-774-2921 or
go to www.ibw21.org
Jim Clingman, founder of the
Greater Cincinnati African
American Chamber of Commerce,
is the nation’s most prolific writer
on economic empowerment for
Black people. He is an adjunct
professor at the University of Cincinnati and can be reached
through his Web site:
blackonomics.com.
company. Before making any decisions, be clear about what will
be covered and any steps you
will need to take.
• Ask for references, check for
licenses. Ask about local work
contractors have done. Talk to
the people who hired them; look
at the jobs if you can. Make sure
the contractor has any license
required by your local government.
• Estimates are important: get
it in writing.( Ask that all estimates for work be in writing and
include a description of the material to be used. Be clear that
you will not pay for work done
that is not agreed upon in writing. Verify that the material used
is the same as described in the
estimate. Make sure any
changes to the estimate are in
writing.
• Know your rights. Home improvement contractors are required by law to establish to an
escrow account to hold the
homeowners’ un-disbursed
funds when a contract is in ex-
cess of $500. Also, a homeowner
has a three-day right to cancel a
contract unless during an emergency, the homeowner has waived
the three-day rule in writing.
• Use a contractor with an address you can verify. If your contractor is “here today and gone
tomorrow,” you may find it difficult to enforce the guarantee.
• Always be sure the contractor
has valid insurance. If a worker
is injured, or damage is caused on
your property, you could be held
liable if your contractor does not
have the required insurance.
• Check with your town or city
for required permits. Don’t let a
contractor work without the necessary permits.
Failing to get approvals can delay your project, or prevent you
from occupying a completed
building.
If you believe you are a victim
of price gouging or a post-hurricane scam, contact the Attorney
General’s Consumer Helpline at
800-771-7755 or find a complaint
form online at: www.ag.ny.gov.
How can I oppose same-sex marriage when someone I love is gay?
(from Page 6)
marriage is treated as a public institution - and the reason it has
always been defined as a malefemale union - is the recognition
that there is a unique role of heterosexual unions in reproducing
the human race, and to keep the
mother and father who create a
child together to raise that child.
Men and women are complementary in a way two persons of the
same sex can never be. One need
not consider homosexual relationships to be inferior in order
to recognize that heterosexual
ones are unique in their potential
for natural procreation and the
well-being of a child. While some
same-sex couples raise children,
such households are - by design either motherless or fatherless. This
is why even some openly gay
people, like Maryland political activist Doug Mainwaring, oppose
same-sex marriage.
We at PFOX urge everyone to
love their gay friends and relatives
unconditionally, and never to cut
them out of your life just because
they are gay. But personal relationships should not dictate the definition of our most fundamental social institution.
Regina Griggs, a Virginia resident, is executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and
Gays (PFOX). Peter Sprigg, a
Maryland resident, is on
Obama’s media coverage
half as positive as 2008
(from Page 6)
Unlike Fox and MSNBC, CNN
devoted a similar amount of time
to both candidates (63 percent to
Obama and 59 percent for Romney.
“The biggest change in CNN
coverage from four years ago is
the number of stories with no clear
positive or negative tone,” the report said. “In 2008, about a quarter of the stories for Obama (25%)
and McCain (26%) were mixed in
tone. In this campaign, the count
of balanced stories has more than
doubled in 2012, fully 61% of
Obama’s stories were mixed compared to 53% for Romney.”
The report found social media
far more critical of the candidates
than mainstream media. On Twitter, 48 percent of the discussions
about Obama were negative, compared with 58 percent for Romney.
On Facebook, 53 percent on
Obama were negative versus 62
percent for Romney. Comments
about Romney on blogs were
slightly more negative than those
about Obama (46 percent to 44
percent).
“Throughout the eight-week period studied, a good deal of the difference in treatment of the two contenders is related to who was perceived to be ahead in the race.
When horse-race stories—those
focused on strategy, tactics and the
polls—are taken out of the analysis, and one looks at those framed
around the candidates’ policy
ideas, biographies and records, the
distinctions in the tone of media
coverage between the two nominees vanish,” the report stated.
“With horse-race stories removed,
15% of campaign stories about
Obama were positive, 32% were
negative and 53% were mixed. For
Romney it was 14% positive, 32%
negative and 55% mixed.”
George E. Curry, former editorin-chief of Emerge magazine, is
editor-in-chief of the National
Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA) and editorial director of Heart & Soul
magazine. He is a keynote speaker,
moderator, and media coach.
Curry can be reached through his
Web site, www.georgecurry.com.
You can also follow him at
www.twitter.com/currygeorge.
(from Page 2)
15
16
Electoral College to declare official presidential winner by December 17
(from Page 3)
tions is usually determined by
battleground or swing states,
which are less predictable in their
voting.
“In all but the most lopsided
presidential campaigns, the electoral votes controlled by battleground states will provide the
margin of victory for the winning
candidate,” according to a report
by the Congressional Research
Service (CRS) titled, “The Electoral College: How It Works in
Contemporary Presidential Elections.”
The report noted, “In 2004 and
2008, candidates concentrated
two-thirds of their visits and ad
money in the post-convention
campaign in just six closely divided ‘battleground’ states –
with 98% going to just 15 states.”
Although the final figures are
not in yet, a similar pattern is expected to hold true for 2012. Both
candidates have campaigned in
only 10 states since their respective national political conventions. Even more telling, the
presidential candidates and their
running mates have spent nearly
two-thirds of their recent campaign time in three states – Ohio,
Virginia and Florida.
Trying to find a clear path to at
least 270 electoral votes explains
the frenzied travel schedule of
Obama and Romney in the closing
days of the campaign as they crisscrossed the country in search of
last-minute votes, especially in
Ohio (18 electoral votes), Virginia
(13), Florida (29), Pennsylvania
(20), North Carolina (15), Wisconsin (10), Colorado (9), Iowa (6) and
New Hampshire (4). Every state
except Maine and Nebraska has a
winner take all electoral system.
Because no Republican has ever
won the White House without carrying Ohio, the Buckeye state became the battleground of all battlegrounds.
Romney, who opposed the auto
bailout, ran a misleading TV ad in
the closing days of the campaign
that may have backfired on him.
In the ad, which featured images
of automobiles being crushed, the
announcer said, “Obama took GM
and Chrysler into bankruptcy and
sold Chrysler to Italians who are
going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt
Romney will fight for every American job.”
Chrysler CEO Sergio
Marchionne, who had vowed to
stay away from election politics
this year, felt compelled to respond.
He issued a statement saying, “I
feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production
will not be moved from the United
States to China. Jeep assembly
lines will remain in operation in the
United States and will constitute
the backbone of the brand. … It is
inaccurate to suggest anything different.”
He said Chrysler plans to produce Jeeps in China but only for
local market sales. Most major
automakers now have production
facilities in China to avoid huge
import duties.
Politifact.com noted, “The ad
miscasts the government’s role in
Fiat’s acquisition of Chrysler, and
it misrepresents the outcome.
Chrysler’s owners had been trying
to sell to Italy-based Fiat before
Obama took office. The ad ignores
the return of American jobs to
Chrysler Jeep plants in the United
States, and it presents the manufacture of Jeeps in China as a threat,
rather than an opportunity to sell
cars made in China to Chinese consumers. It strings together facts in
a way that presents an wholly inaccurate picture. We rate the statement Pants on Fire!”
That rating represents the factchecking group’s biggest lie.
Another political accountability
organization, FactCheck.org,
stated, “The ad also misleads Ohio
voters when it says ‘Obama took
GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy.’
That’s true, but not the full story.
The facts are that Romney in 2008
advocated that U.S. automakers go
through a ‘managed bankruptcy’
without the kind of extensive government assistance that Obama ul-
Voter participation numbers are still low
(from Page 3)
wayward citizens that failed to
cast a vote.
As the United States exports
democracy around the world, the
residents of “the shining city on
the hill” fail to exercise one of
their most fundamental rights:
their right to vote.
Yet, the 2008 presidential election raised the bar for minority
participation to 23.7 percent, but
fewer Whites voted in 2008 (66.1
percent) than in 2004 (67.2 percent). For all of the history made
the night the United States
elected its first African American
president, according to the Pew
Research Center, voter turnout
decreased from 63.8 percent in
2004 to 63.6 percent in 2008 (Figures for 2012 are not yet available).
Researchers rattle off a number of reasons for the low voter
turnout, ranging from voter apathy to voter repression. State
voters’ laws that disproportionately affect minorities and the poor
also factor in.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil
Rights Under the Law found that a
number of states enforced voters’
laws that confused the poll workers and the voters. The Lawyers’
Committee reported that poll workers in Florida, Michigan, New
Hampshire, Louisiana, South Dakota Idaho requested photo ID
even though it wasn’t required.
Florida and Ohio, two hotly contested battleground states,
adopted what are considered the
most repressive election laws.
Researchers also found that
Black voters were asked for identification at the polls at a much higher
rate than White, even in states
where IDs are not required.
To combat the confusion around
the new ID regulations, Civil rights
groups ramped up their efforts to
educate voters prior to Tuesday’s
elections.
“At the Advancement Project
we’ve been doing a significant
amount of voter education that we
haven’t had to do in the past,” said
Judith Browne Dianis, co-director
of the multiracial civil rights group.
While some state laws made it
harder for voters to turn out, others implemented the 1993 National
Voter Registration Act that allowed
residents to register to vote when
they renewed their driver’s license.
This often increased voter turnout
by 4.7 percent. Researchers suggested that allowing voters to register on Election Day could boost
voter turnout by an additional 8.7
percent compared instead of enforcing the typical 30-day cut-off
point.
Oregon not only allows voters
to register online, but also permits
them to cast ballots by mail.
When Superstorm Sandy threatened to dampen voter turnout in
his state, New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie approved a measure allowing voters to cast presidential ballots by fax and e-mail.
Mayor details housing, health, small biz and emergency assistance
(from Page 2)
ents and those not normally
served by the agency. Those
who are not current HRA clients
and wish to apply for temporary
assistance, may – if eligible – receive authorization for relocation
expenses, such as a first month’s
rent, a security deposit voucher
equivalent to one month’s rent
as allowed by state regulations,
a broker’s fee equivalent to 50
percent of one month’s rent, a furniture allowance or storage expenses.
People not currently in receipt
of cash assistance but who are
otherwise eligible for cash assistance) and who cannot cook due
to, for example, a loss of power
or temporary evacuation may request a restaurant allowance as an
immediate needs grant at a local
Job Center. Additional information is available at nyc.gov.
The Emergency Loan for 1-4 Unit
Owner Occupants provides
homeowners with loans and grants
to repair water mains, boilers, sewer
lines, sidewalk violations, roof,
plumbing, electrical problems and
other conditions dangerous to
health and safety. The maximum
loan amount is $10,000, with low
interest rates and a maximum term
of five years.
The Emergency loans for 5-20
unit Residential and Mixed-Use
buildings is an emergency loan for
small property owners, corporations, non-for profit owners, inves-
tor, corporations and owner occupants of five-20 units building in
the five boroughs of New York
City. Mixed-use buildings qualify
as long as the loan is used to repair residential units or systems
that affect the residential units. The
maximum loan amount is $25,000,
which is available in increments of
$10,000, $15,000, $20,000 and
$25,000. The funds can be used to:
replace building wide systems;
eliminate code violations; upgrade
vacant apartments; eliminate dangerous health and safety conditions and other essential repairs.
Additional information is available at nyc.gov or via Neighborhood Housing Services of New
York at www.nhsnyc.org or (212)
519-2500.
timately provided.”
Even Mother Nature apparently favored Obama.
Superstorm Sandy, which
wreaked havoc on New Jersey
and New York, costing more than
100 lives, allowed President
Obama to showcase his leadership skills in sharp contrast to the
way George W. Bush responded
to Hurricane Katrina.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie,
one of Romney’s strongest supporters, put politics aside and was
effusive in his praise of Obama’s
handling of the disaster. “The
president has been all over this
and he deserves great credit,” the
governor said on MSNBC’s
“Morning Joe.”
During a television interview
on “Fox and Friends,” Christie
was asked about the possibility
of Romney inspecting the damage in New Jersey.
He replied, “I have no idea, nor
am I the least bit concerned or in-
terested. I’ve got a job to do here in
New Jersey that’s much bigger than
presidential politics, and I could
[not] care less about any of that
stuff.” He added, “If you think right
now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don’t know
me.”
Romney evidently did not know
how well Obama, the former community organizer, had organized his
Electoral College campaign.
Under the Electoral College, the
most populous states hold an advantage. For example, California, the
nation’s largest state, has 55 electoral votes, which is 20.4 percent of
the votes needed to claim a majority. California is followed by Texas
with 38 electoral votes; Florida and
New York with 29 each and Illinois
and Pennsylvania with 20 electoral
votes each. And because Blacks and
Latinos are concentrated in the
larger states, they have significant
influence on the outcome in those
areas.
Jobs report shows
slow, steady growth
(from Page 3)
it than to confront it.”
Economists caution against
looking at the unemployment rate
in a bubble, however. The share
of the Black population that was
employed improved from 53 percent in September to 53.4 percent
in October. The share of the
White population that was employed in October was 59.5 percent, a slight increase from the
59.4 percent in September.
The share of Black men with jobs
increased from 57.5 percent in
September to 58.1 percent in October compared to the share of
White men, which saw a slight
increase from September (59.4
percent to 59.5 percent).
However, the unemployment
rate for Black women jumped from
10.9 percent in September to 12.4
percent in October, much of it attributed to the number of Black
women looking for work. Like
Black men, the share of Black
women that found work also increased from 55.3 percent to 55.9
percent. The unemployment rate
for White women didn’t change in
October (6.3 percent) and the share
of White women that were employed decreased slightly, from 55
percent in September to 54.9 percent in October.
Although the number of jobs
created in October exceeded expectations, economists say that the
economy is still years away from
the pre-recession unemployment
rates that Americans enjoyed in
2006 and 2007.
“A strong unemployment rate is
going to be somewhere between 4
and 5 percent,” said Heidi
Shierholz, an economist with the
Economic Policy Institute based in
Washington, D.C.
To reach the mark in five years,
230,000 jobs would need to be created every month.
Shierholz said that the damage
was so severe from the Great Recession that the economy would
have to add 330,000 jobs every
single month for three years just
to get back to a 5 percent unemployment rate.
She said, “We always need to
keep in mind just how far we have
to go.”
Six tips to juggle career responsibilities
and demands at home
(from Page 4)
your stress and personal health,
especially if you are balancing
caregiving duties and a full-time
job. With such additional stress
comes an increased risk for anxiety, depression, and a weaker immune system.
ASK ABOUT FLEXIBLE
HOURS.
Many corporations are now
moving toward a “virtual” workplace culture. Talk to your boss
and your human resources department about some options that
may work for your situation, such
as
working
part-time,
telecommuting or even a leave of
absence.
JOIN A CAREGIVER SUPPORT
GROUP.
Connecting with others in your
situation can be the best way to
manage your own emotions – like
feeling guilty when you leave a
loved one in the care of another to
do something for yourself. If you
are unable to leave your family member at home when the group meets,
you might consider joining a telephone support group, like the
weekly group VNSNY offers. Your
church or synagogue may have
helpful support groups, and there
are many online support groups that
are really quite helpful.
For a library of caregiver resources, including helpful videos,
please visit www.VNSNY.org/
caregiver. For more information
about the Visiting Nurse Service of
New York, call 1-800-675-0391 or
visit www.VNSNY.org.
By Victoria Horsford
THE OBAMA VICTORY
Tonight’s the night. At NY
Beacon press time, at noon on
Tuesday, 11/6, polls all over
America are open. It looks like
there will be a record turnout,
including those sturdy New
Yorkers and New Jerseyans
who weathered the Sandy
storm last week, many of whom
are homeless. I saw long lines
in Virginia this morning on TV.
More than 30 million Americans, in early voting states
have exercised their precious
right/rite. Rebounding from
Sandy’s devastation last week
along the American mid Atlantic coast, we eagerly await the
joyous news tonight about the
Obama victory on the one
hand, while considering with
disdain the Noreaster scheduled to arrive on Wednesday.
Moreover, today, 11/06 begins
the retrograde Mercury, but
not until 6:04 pm EST, says
astronumerologist Lloyd
Strayhorn, when most of the
country has voted. My gut
feeling tells me that President
Obama will remain our Commander in Chief through 2016.
However, I do not want to have
to live through another presidential election cycle like this
again. The psychological warfare was unbearable. Yes, US
presidential election seasons
are really akin to a blood
sport. And getting to 11/06,
2012 seemed like an eternity.
The incessant GOP debates,
then the Obama/Romney debates keep us on an emotional
roller coaster.
Again, America made history and did the right thing,
returning a real winner Barack
Obama to the White House.
HARLEM UPDATES
Uptown was abuzz with 11/
06 election fever. And most of
the night venues hosted viewing parties, eyeing a long night
probably until 12 or 1 am before we know the results. The
Schomburg; Londel’s Supper
Club, Alyah Horsford’s Cove
Lounge, Maysles on Lenox,
Senator Bill Perkins and the
UFT at Melba’s in the Adam
Clayton Powell State Office
Building and Harlem Tavern
have invited all to attend their
viewing parties.
The Harlem Business Alliance
hosts its 32 nd Annual Awards
Celebration, honoring Carl
McCall; Dr. Khalil Gibran
Muhammad,
Karen
Witherspoon; Dr. Reginald
Manning, Herb Boyd and
Kenroy Watson, on Thursday,
November 8, from 6-8:30 pm at
the Faculty Dining Room at
CCNY on Convent Avenue at
135 Street, Harlem, NY. For tickets, call 347.851.7741 or visit
hbany.com . Tickets are $150.
It is the season’s best networking event.
Ralph Dickerson, former
United Way of New York CEO
was named the new Abyssinian Development Corporation
CEO. Sheena Wright, former
Abyssinian Development Corporation CEO, was recently
named President/CEO of the
United Way of NY. Do they have
a common godfather?
OUT OF AFRICA
The NY Times Sunday
book section seemed like a special promotion for non-fiction
works by Nigerian literary lions,
Wo l e S o y i n k a a n d C h i n u a
Achebe. Soyinka’s Yale University Press book, OF AFRICA, is a meditation of his beloved continent. The reviewer
Adam Hochschild consumes
lot of space saying that “book
abounds in $10 words, .” is pedantic and then goes on to psychoanalyze Soyinka. Methinks
that the NY Times should have
summoned an African writer
like Kenyan Binyavanga
Wainaina to review OF AFRICA, someone more invested
in the continent, its culture, and
its collective unconscious,
multisyllabic words notwithstanding. It is on my must-read
list.
Adam Nossiter reviews
C h i n u a A c h e b e ’s m e m o i r
“THERE WAS A COUNTRY: A
Personal History Of Biafra. ”
Nossiter begins with background info, saying “ Nigeria
is the Texas of Africa; it’s
big..loud…brash, a place of
huge potential, untapped talent,
murderous conflict and petroleum riches.” This sets the
stage for Achebe’s labyrinthine
and textured narrative about
post-independence Nigeria during its civil war, which claimed
more than a million lives. The
review is an invitation to read
A c h e b e ’s r e m e m b r a n c e o f
Biafra, the break-away state
and a nation’s trauma and convulsions and ethnic rivalries.
Apropos of Nigerian writers,
read Third Press Publishers
President/Founder Dr. Joseph
O k p a k u ’s t w o - p a r t e s s a y
“OBAMA: The Second Time
Around,” originally published
in Vanguard, a Nigerian newspaper (vanguardngr.com) on 11/
4. It is accessible at www.
allafrica.com.
Since natural gas has been
discovered in East Africa like
Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique,
and the island nation of Madagascar, they are hot, new Afri-
President-elect Barack Obama
can commercial hubs for the energy-hungry industrialized, international community.
World-class tennis divas, Venice
and Serena Williams, visited the
Homeland last week, stopping in
Nigeria and South Africa on a trek
to promote and encourage excellence among your African athletes.
SCHOOL DAYS
WANTED: HS Seniors, parents, educators to attend the 26 th
Annual New York Urban League
Historically Black College and
Universities Fair will be held on
Saturday, November 11 am to 3
pm, at the Riverside State Park,
located at 679 Riverside Drive at
145 Street. More than 50 HBCUs
are expected to participate. Itinerary includes onsite admissions,
college prep and financial aid
workshops and more. For more
info, visit www.nyul.org/HBCU,
call 212.926.8000, X141, email
collegeready@nyul.org. The
NYUL HBCU Fair partners include
the Malcolm Bernard HBCU Fair;
Riverside State Park; Hot 97; and
the NYUL Young Professionals.
WANTED: Elementary
School educators and administrat o r s . Ve t e r a n e d u c a t o r S a m
Penceal is looking for you to help
him and his partners, who plan to
open an all- boys elementary
school K-5, tentatively named the
David Dinkins Charter School. He
wants education professionals to
provide input for the school’s
master proposal. Contact him at
Princsam@aol.com
NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
Venus Williams
Ruby Dee
Wole Soyinka
November is CUNY MONTH.
Most of the campuses are hosting open houses.
Essie Green Galleries next
exhibit “Energy/Innovation” by
Kimberly Becoat, a contemporary
painter from the Brooklyn creative
artistic tradition, runs from November 10 to December 15, from 4
to 7 pm. The Gallery is located at
419A Convent Avenue and is one
of Harlem’s oldest fine arts venue.
Opening reception is 11/10 from 4
to 7 pm. Call 212.368.9635.
The 40th Annual Audelco
“VIV” Awards Celebration, will be
held on Monday, November 19 at
Symphony Space, located at 2537
Broadway at 95 th Street, Manhattan. The Audelco Awards are the
African- American Tonys, which
recognizes and celebrates excellence in NYC theatre productions.
Tickets are $40, $80 and $140.
George Faison and Cheryl Wills
will be Audelco hosts. African
American Theatre royalty like
Ruby Dee, Micki Grant, and Douglas Turner Ward and among the
glamour, marquee names who will
populate this show of Award
Shows.
A management consultant,
Victoria Horsford is a NY based
journalist and pop culture historian who can be reached at:
victoriahorsford@yahoo.com
WHAT’S GOING ON
17
18
NNPA Award Winner
Enter tainment
By Don Thomas
The Soul Train Awards 2012 — the hippest
award show ever — is headed to Las Vegas
Centric presents The Soul
Train Awards 2012
To celebrate their 25th Awards
show, The Soul Train Awards
2012 three-day experience is
bringing celebrity star power to
Las Vegas, as they honor the best
in music, comedy and entertainment. In addition to the awards
show, hosted by Cedric the Entertainer, the experience will include an All-Star Comedy Show
honoring comedian George
Wallace, a celebrity Golf Tournament hosted by comedian/actor
Bill Bellamy and closing the weekend with the Centric Soul Weekend Concert headlined by Soul
Train Awards 2012 Lifetime
Achievement recipients, New
Edition.
To kick off this celebration,
Centric’s Apollo Live! host Tony
Rock and reality star and singer
Tamar Braxton will host the Soul
Train Awards red carpet preshow, interviewing today’s biggest names in entertainment as
they arrive to the awards. Joining Keri Hilson and Jody Watley
as presenters at this year’s show
are actors Anthony Mackie and
Bill Bellamy, singer Estelle, radio
personality Michael Baisden and
reality stars Tameka “Tiny” Harris and Flavor Flav.
This year’s awards show will
definitely go on record as being
the most soulful, with newly
added performances by the legendary Gladys Knight, male powerhouses Ne-Yo, Anthony
Hamilton, Raphael Saadiq and
Eddie Levert, as well as unforgettable performances by 2 Chainz,
Keyshia Cole and newcomers
Leah Labelle, Elle Varner and
Marcus Canty.
Playing double-duty for the
awards show will be Raphael
Saadiq who will bless the stage
with an energetic performance, as
well as act as musical director for
the show. As previously announced, Charlie Wilson, Fantasia and John Legend will bless
the awards stage with their
memorable performances.
On Friday, November 9, Soul
Train will host their 1st Annual
Celebrity Golf Tournament at the
Paiute Golf Club Resort in Las
Vegas, hosted by comedian/actor Bill Bellamy and special guest
NBA legend Dr. Julius “J” Erving.
For tickets and inquiries, contact
info@soultrain.com.
Later that evening, your favorite comedians from all over the
U.S., will come together to honor
one of their own, comedian
George Wallace for the Centric
All-Star Comedy Show at Planet
Hollywood Live. George has received several accolades for his
standup comedy and live shows
including being slated #93 on
Comedy Central’s list of the 100
Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.
Anthony Mackie
Bill Bellamy
Fantasia
George Wallace
Keyshia Cole
Currently, George has a running
show at The Flamingo Resort and
Casino in Las Vegas. The All-Star
Comedy Show lineup includes
performances by George Wilborn,
Sherri Shepherd, Earthquake, Bill
Bellamy, Chris Spencer, Tony Rock
and Gary Owen. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.
The Soul Train Awards 2012
three-day experience at Planet
Hollywood Live will end on Saturday on a high note, with the Centric Soul Weekend Live in Concert
event featuring today’s hottest
male singers: TGT (Tyrese,
Ginuwine and Tank), funky R&B
star Miguel and Soul Train Awards
2012 Lifetime Achievement Award
recipients New Edition.
This is a concert not to be
missed. Tickets are available at
Ticketmaster.
The Soul Train Awards 2012 will
premiere simultaneously on BET
and Centric on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at 9pm ET/PT. For
more information, go to
www.BET.com/SoulTrain.
To purchase travel packages for
Centric’s Soul Train Awards 2012
three-day experience in Las Vegas, which includes tickets to the
Soul Train Awards, All-Star Com-
Cedric
Jody Watley
Ne-Yo
edy Show, Concert, and other exclusive events and extras, please
visit:
www.soultrainpackages.com/
travel-package.html.
About CENTRIC
Centric is a 24-hour music and
entertainment channel that reflects the lifestyle and sophistication of today’s African-American and multicultural adult
viewer. With a finger on the pulse
of an ever-changing beat, its
compelling music content fuses
Soul, R&B, Neo-Soul, Hip Hop,
Reggae, Gospel, Jazz, Old School,
New School and everything in
between with today’s hottest artists. It is a unique of mix of music, culture and lifestyle programming that embodies the lives,
tastes and aspirations of the
CENTRIC viewer: All you. All
day. All night.
About BET Networks
BET Networks, a subsidiary of
Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B),
is the nation’s leading provider
of quality entertainment, music,
news and public affairs television
programming for the AfricanAmerican audience. The primary
Eddie Levert
John Legend
Raphael Saadiq
BET channel reaches more than
90 million households and can be
seen in the United States, Canada,
the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET
is the dominant African-American
consumer brand with a diverse
group of business extensions:
BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment,
music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment
network targeting the 25- to 54year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET
Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge
entertainment tastes; BET Home
Entertainment, a collection of
BET-branded offerings for the
home environment including
DVDs and video-on-demand; BET
Event Productions, a full-scale
event management and production company with festivals and
live events spanning the globe;
BET Mobile, which provides
ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET
International, which operates BET
in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network
programming for global distribution.
Estelle
Keri Hilson
Tamar Braxton
About Soul Train Holdings
Soul Train is a registered trademark
of Soul Train Holdings, LLC, a limited liability company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. Soul
Train is the longest running, firstrun, nationally syndicated program
in television history. During its 37
year run, the show featured such
staples as the Soul Train line and
performers as important and diverse
as: Al Green, Ike & Tina Turner,
Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson,
Stevie Wonder, Elton John,
Whitney Houston, David Bowie,
Janet Jackson and Beyonce, to
name a few. Soul Train Holdings
was created following the acquisition of the iconic franchise and catalog of more than 1,100 hours of archival footage from Don Cornelius
Productions in June 2008 by
InterMedia Partners and Madvision
entertainment and is part of Vibe
Holdings LLC. Vibe Holdings is a
leading multi-cultural media company consisting of treasured and
celebrated brands including Vibe
Magazine, Vibe.com, Uptown
Magazine and Soul Train. VIBE
Holdings is owned by InterMedia
Partners, Magic Johnson Enterprises and Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa
Companies. (AJB)
FASHION NOBLESE with Fashion & Beauty Editor Audrey J. Bernard
Hooray for Norisol Ferrari who brought curves back to the runway with her salute to curvaceous icons such as Rita Moreno, Marilyn Monroe
and Rita Hayworth at her Spring/Summer 2013 show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center where she turned out a collection
based on real women and their curves featuring iconic models Carol Alt, Alva Chinn, Carmen Dell’Orefice and Karen Bjornson. The show
commanded your attention from start to finish as lots of structured suits and dresses and fabulous tailoring hit the runway. The caramel-colored
gowns, oversized dress pockets, capes, poof skirts and sexy satins and silks conjured up naughty feelings of effortless power. The voluminous
coats and jaw-dropping floor-length evening coats added to the breathless anxiety. In summing up her show Ferrari said, “Think the curves of
Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and Rita Moreno. All strong, confident women who command attention, desire, and respect.” Mission
accomplished as this was a faultlessly fabulous show that was beyond belief! (Photos courtesy Getty Images)
Designer
Norisol Ferrari
Norisol Ferrari brings curvy back to the runway
19
20
KIDDIES KORNER by Lifestyle and Society Editor Audrey J. Bernard
th
Big Apple Circus celebrates 35 season
at Lincoln Center with LEGENDARIUM
The all-new Big Apple Circus – the one-ring phenomenon
— is celebrating its 34th season
production with a spectacular
show at Lincoln Center ’s
Damrosch Park now through
Sunday, January 13, 2013. This
year’s theme is LEGENDARIUM
where big tent attendees will
experience evocative thrills from
shows of yesteryear highlighted
by first-hand views of beauties,
daredevils and clowns from another era. The nostalgic show
is a throwback to a place in time
when circus traditions were created that had villagers in awe of
the dare devil acts including
brazen mid-air flips and the daring men on the trapeze.
The electrifying acts include
a captivating contortionist; an
agile, adept acrobat and her
strapping suitors; a jaw-dropping wire act of sure-footed
strength and stability; dizzying
delights of a daring inventor in
his tumbling, twirling hoop;
stunning, soaring beauty of a
pair on aerial straps; and a
woman held aloft by hanging
silks.
One of the best features of
this show is that no seat is more
than 50 feet from the globes best
of the best circus performers.
LEGENDARIUM will take you
back to a place in time when circus traditions were born that titillated villager – the likes of the
courageous mid-air flips and
catches of a man on the trapeze;
a captivating contortionist
whose flexibility is as impressive
as her steadfast poise; an agile,
adept acrobat and her strapping
suitors; a swaying wire act of
sure-footed strength and stability; the dizzying delights of a
daring inventor in his tumbling,
twirling hoop; the stunning,
soaring beauty of a pair on aerial
straps and a woman held aloft
by hanging silks; a jaw-dropping
juggling tango team performing
to passionate rhythms; bicyclists whose spinning wheels
turn smooth and speedy stunts;
majestic horses with graceful
gaits and playful pups with teasing tricks; and lastly, bumbling
clowns who bring the spirit of
timeless comedy.
Show Information
Welcome to LEGENDARIUM
where performers from around
the world create joyful memories at the Big Apple Circus under the superb artistic direction
of Guillaume Dufresnoy for the
2012–13 season show:
* From the US, the Acrobuffos,
the husband-and-wife clown
team, bring gales of laughter to
the Big Apple Circus with their
slapstick comedy!
* From Bulgaria, Andrey
Mantchev takes to the skies in a
solo trapeze act of mid-air flips
and jaw-dropping catches!
* From China, the all-female
Dalian Acrobatic Troupe performs perilous poses of superior synchronization on bicycles!
* From Canada, Daniel Cyr spirals and spins around the ring
Andrey Mantchev
Desire Of Flight
Acrobuffos
Ox
in a steel hoop of his own invention!
* From Russia, breathtaking duo
Desire of Flight (Valeriy Sychev
and Malvina Abakarova) defies
gravity in soaring stunts on aerial
straps!
* From Russia, Katerina is a lithe
vision of grace wrapped and
whirling in aerial silks!
* From Argentina, Elayne
Kramer astounds with a backbone as flexible as an archer’s
bow!
* From France and the Netherlands, Emily and Menno van
Dyke combine the dramatic passion of tango with rhythmic juggling for a dance of flawless coordination!
* From the US, Jenny Vidbel exudes pure pride with her handsome horses, prancing ponies,
and perky pups!
* From the US, John Kennedy
Kane is a debonair ringmaster
guiding you through the world
of the circus!
* From Hungary, the Quinterion
Troupe demonstrates unparalleled power as sculpted men flip,
Dalian Troupe
Elayne Kramer
throw, and catch a fearless
maiden!
* From China, Zhang Fan faces
the ultimate test of balance, performing stunts of sheer strength
on a swaying slack wire!
Kudos to Big Apple Circus
director West Hyler who is making his directing début along
with assistant director Matt
Williams and have received favorable reviews for this perfect
production for people of all
ages. The dynamic duo is assisted by a dream creative team
consisting of John Lee Beatty
(set designer); Mirena Rada
(costume designer); Tony
Award-winner Howell Binkley
(lighting designer); five-time
winner of the MAC Award for
Technical Direction, JP
Perreaux (sound designer);
and the celebrated and always
magnificent Big Apple Circus
Band under the awesome musical direction of maestro Rob
Slowik.
Ticket Information
Performances of LEGEND-
ARIUM will run for 134 shows
through Sunday, January 13,
2013 under the Big Top at
Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center (62nd Street between
Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues), the second stop on the
Big Apple Circus’s tour, following its world premiere engagement at Dulles Town Center, VA.
Tickets for LEGENDARIUM start
at $25 and are available at
www.bigapplecircus.org or by
calling (888) 541-3750.
The Circus Box Office located
in front of the Big Top. There is
no service charge for tickets purchased at the box office. Hours
of operation: Tuesday through
Saturday from 10 AM to 8 PM,
and Sunday through Monday
from 10 AM to 6 PM. For more
ticket information, group sales,
inquiries about wheelchair–accessible seating or for additional
information please call the Ticket
Info Line at (800) 922-3772. The
Big Top is heated in cold weather
and air–conditioned in warm,
for all–season comfort! The
show runs for 2 hours, including
Jenny Vidbel
Jenny Vidbel
a 15 minute intermission.
About The Big Apple Circus
For 35 years the Big Apple Circus, New York’s original one-ring
circus, has been delighting audiences of all ages under its Big Top
by presenting the finest in live
family entertainment featuring
world-class circus artistry. Experience the instant connection between audience and artist as your
family sits less than 50 feet from
the ring.
The Big Apple Circus is a notfor-profit performing arts and outreach institution committed to invigorating the communities we
serve with the joy and wonder of
classical circus. Tax-deductible
contributions made by corporations, foundations and individuals enable the Big Apple Circus
to bring its special magic to diverse audiences through its outreach programs — Clown
Care[SM], Vaudeville Caravan[SM],
Circus After School[SM], Circus
For All! and Circus of the Senses
— as well as its critically acclaimed performances.
By Marie Moore
Film Critic
James Bond films have always used a number of characters from diverse backgrounds,
including Blacks, and not always in the best light. Of special note, however, is Jeffrey
Wright who played CIA agent
Felix Leiter in Casino Royale
and Quantum of Solace. Prior
to Wright there was Halle Berry
as agent Jinx, a “Bond’s girl”
with special skills, in Die Another Day and preceding her is
Colin Salmon, who was M’s
Chief of Staff in three Bond
movies. Salmon is currently
seen in TV’s “Arrow” as the
Green Arrow’s stepfather, and
Arrow is not very pleased
about that.
In an act of blind casting,
Naomi Harris has been assigned the role of Moneypenny
in Skyfall. Although Skyfall
doesn’t open until November in
the United States, the cast and
filmmakers were in New York
last week at the Crosby Hotel
to talk about this game changing film.
I asked director Sam Mendes
was it his call to cast Harris as
Moneypenny or did Ian
Fleming make mention of these
racial orientations in his books.
“I would love to think that this
has to do with Fleming,” he offered, “but we invented all of
this. I think you know how
times have changed. If you
read the beginning of Live and
Let Die, it’s not entirely racially
sound I would say. So he was
a product of his time. We are
living in a different time and I
hope this movie reflects the
time we live in.”
Also, the movie argues for
old values like trust, friendship,
and courage. And Daniel is doing a huge amount in this film.
He allows himself not only to
appear aging and bruised and
wounded but be told by all the
other characters that because
he is aging, it might be time to
throw in the towel. He is the
bedrock of the film even though
there is a satellite of people
around him. It’s a weird burden of a role incredible skill.
Q: What else can you tell us
about the new Bond?
A: We had a stroke of good
luck on this movie ultimately.
One of the most frustrating
things for us was the temporary
bankruptcy of MGM, which for
me at the time was a bit of a
nightmare. We had to hold everything if you remember for
something like nine months. So
we took the time and care to get
every nuisance, every moment,
every inflection in those
scenes. Of course you have to
cast exceptional actors and I
was unbelievable lucky in that
every single person I asked
said yes.
Sam Mendes (director) and Naomi Harris (Moneypenny)
Q: What was it like making this hash or just recover the same
ground. I felt what I saw in Caparticular film?
sino Royale was a Bond, as an
A: Making this Bond movie, for actor, capable of handling a
me certainly, was like discover- much bigger personal journey.
ing your 13-year-old self. It was I think the thing about Bond for
a great delight for me as some- me while watching the old movbody who has kids to find that ies is that there is a point around
part of myself in making a film Moonraker where it lost some
again? You know all my films of its thriller roots and went into
have been R-rated movies and more of an action adventure, alhere I was trying to get in touch most travelogue type feeling. In
with that part of myself, just try- Casino Royale I felt like Bond
ing to find my inner 13 year-old was back at the center of the
movie. And that doesn’t mean
[laughs].
because he was onscreen the
Q: Was it difficult trying to sell whole time. It means he actuNaomi as Moneypenny to the ally had a journey. You had some
emotional stake. He fell in love
producers?
in that movie. That was the first
A: No. When I met with them, I movie in many years that had
offered
ideas
a b o u t been based on a great Fleming
Moneypenny, Q, and a flam- novel.
boyant villain and they said
yes.
Naomi Harris is
James Bond's new
Miss Moneypenny
Q: Bond has become this almost indestructible action hero
but you choose to show a side
of him we haven’t seen before.
The Internet is known to unWhy was that?
leash hoards of haters who
spew insidious and moronic
A: I wanted to push the fran- messages that go viral. In The
chise into areas it hadn’t been Twilight Saga: New Moon rebefore. Clearly there’s no point leased in 2009, Edi Gathegi
in doing something that is a re- played Laurent. There was a
loud outcry from some
Twihards that felt a Black man
should not have been cast in
that role although the book
described the character as
having olive skin. Fast forward
to 2011 and brilliant director
Kenneth Branagh cast the fine
actor Idris Elba as “Thor,” and
some fans went nuts again.
The exceedingly popular film
that also stars Chris
Hemsworth spawned a sequel,
Thor: The Dark World, and judicious director Alan Taylor
kept Elba on as Heimdall. The
extremely successful Hunger
Games had some fans losing
their minds because Amandla
Stenberg played Rue and
Lenny Kravitz was Cinna. It
got so vicious, a Huffington
Post blogger reported that a
rabid racist’s twitter account
“no longer exists” because of
her attacks against Sternberg.
So not only was that fan biased
but ignorant because in the
“Hunger Games” book, Rue
was Black!
Not letting vitriolic backlashes deter him, multi-Oscar
nominated and Golden Globe
winner Sam Mendes bit the bullet and cast Naomi Harris as
Moneypenny in Skyfall. In
previous James Bond films, the
role went to White actresses.
In an exclusive interview with
Harris, she talked her role in the
iconic franchise that has lasted
50 years, her career choice and
life away from the set. As a
graduate with honors from
Cambridge University and a
degree in social and political
science, I asked Harris what led
her to the acting. “I feel like
I’m 100 different personalities,”
she laughs.
“Seriously, I do. I feel like
that’s the reason why I have
to be an actress because I get
an opportunity to air those different characters. Without that
opportunity I’d probably go
crazy. So, rather than looking
outside of myself to find characters, I look within. So Eve
[character in Skyfall] is definitely within me, that adventurous side, that gung-ho mentality, that running into the
danger. I actually find this exhilarating; to be in the midst of
this all, being rough and
tumble with the guys. All of
that has to be within me or I
wouldn’t be able to play it.
But, yeah I always knew I was
going to be an actress but I
wanted to go to the University
to kind of get another string to
my bow and also because I always felt like if I didn’t go, I’d
have this thing: Are there other
people more intelligent than
me? Now that I’ve been, I know
that’s not true at all. But I
didn’t want to have that kind
of feeling, that fear.”
to do two months of preparation
for the action scenes. I had combat training, running, Yoga and I
was three days a week on the gun
range. Then I was one day a week
doing just combat training with
the stunt guys. I was also doing
the stunt driving twice a week.
So it was a lot more intense. I
was really excited to actually be
working with guns because I’ve
never worked with guns before.
I discovered that I have a real
taste for guns. Who would’ve
thought?
Q : And how was it working with
Daniel Craig?
A: Daniel, you know, is like a really, really funny guy and he was
very, very kind to me because I
was really nervous, coming into
a big franchise like this. It was
hugely intimidating despite the
fact that I’ve done other things.
It was bigger than anything I’ve
ever done before. But Daniel kind
of took me under his wing and
held my hand and said, “We’re
gonna get through it together.”
Q: I really loved The First Grader
and now you’re doing the
Mandela movie. Can you talk
about that?
A: Thank you so much. The
First Grader is a beautiful film
and I really enjoyed working with
Justin Chadwick on it. Justin became a friend and he asked me to
play Winnie about two years ago.
At the time they didn’t have the
finances together. Then it all
came together during Bond. So,
I had two days off after I finished
Bond and I went to South Africa
and played Winnie. It’s called
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. I play Winnie Mandela. It’s
really exciting. I’m really excited
about this role. It’s the most challenging role that I’ve ever played.
Winnie is a fascinating character.
She’s a highly complicated character and a highly polarizing personality as well. So, it was really
fascinating to get the opportunity to play her. Her life story is
incredible. She’s been through
so much, being tortured, being in
solitary confinement, having her
children taken away, and being
harassed by the police all because she married a man that she
fell in love with. It was an amazing experience to play that journey.
Q: What is life like away from
the camera and what’s the ideal
man?
A: Well, I like to cook. I like to
have friends and family over for
dinner parties. That’s what I really enjoy.
Q: What’s the ideal man? Wow!
A: Someone honest, intelligent,
Q: Compared to 28 Days Later, kind, makes you laugh. Yeah,
how extensive was the training just a good human being with a
for Skyfall?
good heart, generous, open to
your family. I’m a real family perA: In 28 Days Later I didn’t son, so I’d have to have somehave to do much in terms of one who respects family and the
action. But in this movie I had importance of family.
21
Skyfall director Sam Mendes
casts Black as Moneypenny
KICKIN’ IT with Lifestyles & Society Editor Audrey J. Bernard
22
Harlem roasts 1st Black woman to
own & operate employment agency
Warm feelings of joy reverberated throughout the second floor of the Harlem State
Office Building at Harlem’s favorite eatery Melba’s 125 restaurant where Friends of Ruth
Clark assembled to roast the
first Black woman to own and
operate a staffing-temporary
service, Clark Unlimited Personnel (CUP), and to celebrate
her birthday on Friday, October 19, 2012 from 6 to 10pm.
CUP was one of the few Blackowned and established personnel firms in New York City
that employed persons in temporary positions of leadership.
Dressed to the nines guests
were greeted by Clark who
dazzled them wearing a gorgeous cherry red velvet dress
topped off with a stunning
contrasting necklace with
matching earrings giving the
Leo an imperial look. The
venue was equally as majestic
with its jaw dropping glow created by many votive lights
adorning each table with orange metallic table clothes
topped off with orange & yellow rose-colored center pieces.
Adding to the Camelotesque
ambiance were chic French
chairs – which Melba purchased from Tavern on the
Green.
The celebration kicked off
with an inspirational invocation by Vy Higginsen, president, Mama Foundation, followed by a delicious menu of
the best of the best of soul
food served up by Melba’s
hospitable staff. Then it was
show time at Melba’s as numerous guests including some
who worked for CUP early on
in their careers saluted the
iconic businesswoman including Dedra N. Tate, entertainment executive, and Curtis
Archer, president, Harlem
Community Development Corporation and former office
manager of CUP’s Wall Street
office. Even some of Clark’s
former clients roasted her, the
likes of Louis Baldwin, former
HR executive, Union Carbide
& Cablevision; Byron Lewis,
former chairman & CEO,
Uniworld Group; and Pierre
“Pepi” Sutton, chairman, Inner City Broadcasting Corp.
Hail and hearty roasts were
also offered by her significant
other of 34 years Gil McGriff;
former members of The Support Network, Inc. Shirley
Scott and The Black Cameo’s
Coreen Simpson; Wilhelmina
“Billie” Holliday-Hayes,
former deputy police commissioner and past president of
Mid-Manhattan NAACP; flautist Bobbi Humphrey; Agustus
Jenkins, owner, Jenkins Funeral Home; Miatta Haj Smith,
publisher, New York’s Beacon
and Philadelphia Observer; Karl
& Faye Rodney, publisher, Carib
News; Lloyd Williams, president
& CEO, The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce; Malaak &
Ilyasah Shabazz, daughters of
Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz;
a n d M e l b a Wi l s o n , o w n e r,
Melba’s Restaurant & Melba’s
125.
Prior to the cake cutting ceremony, the birthday celebrant was
presented with a citation from
Councilmember Inez Dickens’ office citing Clark for her work as a
successful businesswoman and as
founder of CUP; as well as her
philanthropic work as founder
and president of The Support
Network, Inc. that donated millions of dollars in equipment to
Harlem Hospital’s Neo Natal
Clinic. Clark also received a proclamation from Congressman
Charles B. Rangel’s office.
This event could rival any
heavily financed gala and it did
thanks to donations made by
some of Clark’s longtime friends
including Saundra Parks, owner,
A Red Maple Leaf Co who donated flowers and centerpieces;
Helen C. Shelton, senior partner,
Ruder Finn, who provided complimentary wines; and Melba Wilson, owner, Melba’s Restaurant
and Melba’s 125 who provided
the venue and catering. Robert
“Bob” Tate Jr., former advertising
and publishing executive and cofounder of Unlimited Contacts
served as Master of Ceremonies
and kept the program moving
along laced with his funny to-thebone Bobisms. Live entertainment
was provided by R&B singer
Petawane accompanied by Fred
Hammond on Keyboards. The
evening ended on the good foot
as everyone was having such a
great time getting their Wobble
down on the dance floor with
dance-driven music by DJ Tall
Guy that Melba extended it to
midnight. (Photos by Dedra N.
Tate and Gideon Manasseh)
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BEACON
Marc Rasbury
SPORTS
When common sense prevails
By Marc Rasbury
It is often said that society wins
when common sense prevails. It
does not matter which side you
may take up on a particular subject. The right decision should
be based on what is best for the
overall good. That was the cross
road that New York City found itself in when it came to whether it
should cancel this year’s ING
Marathon. After holding steadfast that the race would go on,
New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg conceded and reluctantly put the event on hold at
the 12th hour.
Many felt that this was the right
thing to do. And years down the
road Mayor Bloomberg will come
to the realization that it was best
for the city and this was a blessing in disguise.
One could tell that the Mayor
did not want to cancel the race.
But as the city was in the midst of
digging itself out of the devastation left by Hurricane Sandy, it
was clear that it should not be
hosting such a massive event.
Yes, the Marathon could have
been used as a rallying cry to demonstrate our resolve and toughness, but there was too much despair throughout the tri-state area
for the city to be devoting the resources needed to pull off an
event of that magnitude.
Some of the images that have
been broadcast and shown over
the various forms of media remind
folks of the scenes after Hurricane
Katrina. Water was flowing down
the streets of lower Manhattan as
if it was an extension of the East
River. Not only trees, but homes,
Can you imagine a running a Marathon against this backdrop?
were uprooted from the ground in
Staten Island and Brooklyn. Parts
of Queens looked like war zones.
There was a home behind my
house where a massive tree was
uprooted and crashed on the property. It looked like a knife going a
stick of butter.
Then to hear the horror stories
of what some of our fellow New
Yorkers have gone through over
the past week just brought tears
to your eyes. Just think what that
poor mother, who had her two children ripped out of her hands by
the raging waters in Staten Island,
is going through. Many of our
neighbors and friends were dis-
placed from their homes. And
when they were able to return to
their homes, they found very
little, if anything, to salvage. For
those who just lost power or had
to wait in long lines for gas, consider yourselves among the fortunate. Now how can you run a
race through these neighborhoods?
One would think that the City
would have been best served using some of the resources reserved for the Marathon to aide
in the recovery process. You mean
to tell me that you are transferring patients out of Bellevue Hospital and there are neighborhoods
still in the dark, when you have
thousands of generators along
the route for the race? Think
about all of the water that is normally handed out to the runners.
Do you think that some of our residents could have used the thousands of gallons of water along
with the food set aside for the
event?
I know that the city took a huge
financial hit by not holding the
race and there were cries from businesses and Marathon participants
for not holding the event. But
their pain and sacrifices pale in
comparison to some of the suffering our neighbors are going
through.
During the September 11, 2001,
recovery period, I saw first hand
how the New York Yankees World
Series run lifted the spirits of the
first responders and the country as
a whole. But this was a different situation. The same thing goes with still
holding the Knicks, Nets and Giants
games. Those games were held in a
single location and it was easier to
manage them.
And you know that the media’s
focus would have been more on the
devastation than the race. Instead
of showing the beautiful scenes of
the runners leaving the Verrazano
Bridge in Staten Island or them
coming around the perimeter of
Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, I
could see them sensationalizing images of the still flooded areas or the
damaged homes.
And heaven forbid what would
have happened if a fight broke out
on one of those long gas lines and
it was captured on film. Like I said,
Bloomberg may look at this as one
of the best decisions he has made
during his tenure as mayor of this
city.
The Marathon is one of my favorite events to cover. I also have
worked with the New York City Road
Runners Club in various capacities
associated with the event. But this
would have been a tough assignment for numerous reasons.
A week after the race was to be
held, some people in this City and
its surrounding suburbs are still in
the dark. Lines for gas are up to a
mile long and we still do not know
how many lives this storm took.
Running a Marathon against this
backdrop would not have been a
good look.
New York Knicks off to best start since 1999
By Derrel “Jazz” Johnson
After winning the season opener
against the Miami Heat and taking
a home-and-home series against
the Philadelphia 76ers, the New
York Knicks are off to their best
start since the 1999 NBA season
that saw them make it to the NBA
Finals. It is not only the fact that
the team is 3-0, but also the way
they have done it.
After the postponement of the
road opener at Barclays Center
Thursday, the Knicks hosted the
Heat and they never trailed in the
104-84 Friday’s win. The Knicks
then followed that victory up with
a win at Madison Square Garden
against the 76ers, 100-84 on Sunday. The following night, the team
earned its third victory in as many
games with a 110-88 win in Philadelphia.
The Knicks have won their first
three games by an average of 19.3
points, and have held their opponents to 85.3 points, first in the Na-
Carmelo Anthony
tional Basketball Association
(NBA) through the first week of the
season.
Whatever the Knicks do this
season begins and ends with
Carmelo Anthony, who is off to a
fantastic start. He has averaged 26
points through the first three
games, which is what we have
come to expect from the two-time
Olympic gold medalist, but he is
also averaging 7.3 rebounds a
game. This is key because of the
injury to Amar’e Stoudemire, as
Anthony is now starting at the
power forward position. More importantly, thus far, the all-star is
playing a lot better on defense, and
is leading by example. On Sunday,
Carmelo blocked two shots and
dove in the stands for a loose ball
in the first quarter, a rarity for most
of his career. If he continues his
all-around play, then the Knicks
could be a serious contender this
season.
The leadership of Jason Kidd
and the grittiness of Raymond
Felton, the Knicks starting back
court, has led to an unselfish style
of play thus far. Felton has 18 assists through the first three games,
and Kidd is showing the versatility
of his game that has made him a future Hall of Famer. Combining two
point guards in the starting lineup is
not the norm in the NBA, but thus
far, the move has paid dividends for
the Knicks. The 6’4” Kidd allows
Knicks head coach Mike Woodson
to experiment with the move.
The New York Knicks look to go
4-0 on the season when they host
the Dallas Mavericks Friday night.
With former regular season Most
Valuable Player Dirk Nowitzki expected to be out, there is a strong
chance the Knicks could open up 40. For the first time in quite some time,
the Knicks play on the court is matching the expectations off it to start the
season. If they continue to share the
ball and Anthony competes on the
defensive end of the court, this team
may be able to match the feat of the
1999 Eastern Conference Champions.

Nov - New York Beacon

Transcription

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