Mary Church Terrell, 'What It Means to be Colored in Capital of the U.S.'

I look at my young daughters and nieces and wonder if they are aware of the powerful nubian women in history who blazed a path for them in this world? Do they know about Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)?

Sis. Terrell was an educator, activist and professional lecturer. She was known for for her work as an early civil rights leader, women's rights advocate, founder of National Association of Colored Women, and charter member of the NAACP.

Her skills on the lecture circuit earned her a place on the list of the Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century produced by the folks at American Rhetoric. Mary Church Terrell delivered a speech entitled "What It Means to be Colored in Capital of the U.S." (Top Speech #44) on October 10, 1906 at the United Women's Club in Washington, DC.

Obviously, there is no available video or audio of her speech, however, we do have the full text transcript [SOURCE].

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Thank you very much.

Washington, D.C., has been called "The Colored Man's Paradise." Whether this sobriquet was given to the national capital in bitter irony by a member of the handicapped race, as he reviewed some of his own persecutions and rebuffs, or whether it was given immediately after the war by an ex-slaveholder who for the first time in his life saw colored people walking about like free men, minus the overseer and his whip, history saith not. It is certain that it would be difficult to find a worse misnomer for Washington than "The Colored Man's Paradise" if so prosaic a consideration as veracity is to determine the appropriateness of a name.

For fifteen years I have resided in Washington, and while it was far from being a paradise for colored people when I first touched these shores it has been doing its level best ever since to make conditions for us intolerable. As a colored woman I might enter Washington any night, a stranger in a strange land, and walk miles without finding a place to lay my head. Unless I happened to know colored people who live here or ran across a chance acquaintance who could recommend a colored boarding-house to me, I should be obliged to spend the entire night wandering about. Indians, Chinamen, Filipinos, Japanese and representatives of any other dark race can find hotel accommodations, if they can pay for them. The colored man alone is thrust out of the hotels of the national capital like a leper.

As a colored woman I may walk from the Capitol to the White House, ravenously hungry and abundantly supplied with money with which to purchase a meal, without finding a single restaurant in which I would be permitted to take a morsel of food, if it was patronized by white people, unless I were willing to sit behind a screen. As a colored woman I cannot visit the tomb of the Father of this country, which owes its very existence to the love of freedom in the human heart and which stands for equal opportunity to all, without being forced to sit in the Jim Crow section of an electric car which starts form the very heart of the city– midway between the Capital and the White House. If I refuse thus to be humiliated, I am cast into jail and forced to pay a fine for violating the Virginia laws....

As a colored woman I may enter more than one white church in Washington without receiving that welcome which as a human being I have the right to expect in the sanctuary of God. . .

Unless I am willing to engage in a few menial occupations, in which the pay for my services would be very poor, there is no way for me to earn an honest living, if I am not a trained nurse or a dressmaker or can secure a position as teacher in the public schools, which is exceedingly difficult to do. It matters not what my intellectual attainments may be or how great is the need of the services of a competent person, if I try to enter many of the numerous vocations in which my white sisters are allowed to engage, the door is shut in my face.

From one Washington theater I am excluded altogether. In the remainder certain seats are set aside for colored people, and it is almost impossible to secure others. . .

With the exception of the Catholic University, there is not a single white college in the national capitol to which colored people are admitted. . . . A few years ago the Columbian Law School admitted colored students, but in deference to the Southern white students the authorities have decided to exclude them altogether.

Some time ago a young woman who had already attracted some attention in the literary world by her volume of short stories answered an advertisement which appeared in a Washington newspaper, which called for the services of a skilled stenographer and expert typewriter. . . . The applicants were requested to send specimens of their work and answer certain questions concerning their experience and their speed before they called in person. In reply to her application the young colored woman. . . received a letter from the firm stating that her references and experience were the most satisfactory that had been sent and requesting her to call. When she presented herself there was some doubt in the mind of the man to whom she was directed concerning her racial pedigree, so he asked her point-blank whether she was colored or white. When she confessed the truth the merchant expressed. . . deep regret that he could not avail himself of the services of so competent a person, but frankly admitted that employing a colored woman in his establishment in any except a menial position was simply out of the question. . . .

Not only can colored women secure no employment in the Washington stores, department and otherwise, except as menials, and such positions, of course, are few, but even as customers they are not infrequently treated with discourtesy both by the clerks and the proprietor himself. . . .

Although white and colored teachers are under the same Board of Education and the system for the children of both races is said to be uniform, prejudice against the colored teachers in the public schools is manifested in a variety of ways. From 1870 to 1900 there was a colored superintendent at the head of the colored schools. During all that time the directors of the cooking, sewing, physical culture, manual training, music and art departments were colored people. Six years ago a change was inaugurated. The colored superintendent was legislated out of office and the directorships, without a single exception, were taken from colored teachers and given to the whites. . . .

Now, no matter how competent or superior the colored teachers in our public schools may be, they know that they can never rise to the height of a directorship, can never hope to be more than an assistant and receive the meager salary therefore, unless the present regime is radically changed....

Strenuous efforts are being made to run Jim Crow cars in the national capital. . . . Representative Heflin, of Alabama, who introduced a bill providing for Jim Crow street cars in the District of Columbia last winter, has just received a letter from the president of the East Brookland Citizens’ Association “indorsing the movement for separate street cars and sincerely hoping that you will be successful in getting this enacted into a law as soon as possible.” Brookland is a suburb of Washington.

The colored laborer’s path to a decent livelihood is by no means smooth. Into some of the trades unions here he is admitted, while from others he is excluded altogether. By the union men this is denied, although I am personally acquainted with skilled workmen who tell me they are not admitted into the unions because they are colored. But even when they are allowed to join the unions they frequently derive little benefit, owing to certain tricks of the trade. When the word passes round that help is needed and colored laborers apply, they are often told by the union officials that they have secured all the men they needed, because the places are reserved for white men, until they have been provided with jobs, and colored men must remain idle, unless the supply of white men is too small. . . .

And so I might go on citing instance after instance to show the variety of ways in which our people are sacrificed on the altar of prejudice in the Capital of the United States and how almost insurmountable are the obstacles which block his path to success. . . .

It is impossible for any white person in the United States, no matter how sympathetic and broad, to realize what life would mean to him if his incentive to effort were suddenly snatched away. To the lack of incentive to effort, which is the awful shadow under which we live, may be traced the wreck and ruin of score of colored youth. And surely nowhere in the world do oppression and persecution based solely on the color of the skin appear more hateful and hideous than in the capital of the United States, because the chasm between the principles upon which this Government was founded, in which it still professes to believe, and those which are daily practiced under the protection of the flag, yawn so wide and deep.

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This speech was written over 100 years ago. What do you think about it?

OURstory: Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)

Black History is something that should be shared 24/7/365 ... not just in the month of February. We should glorify OURstory whenever we have the chance to do so.

Villagers, it turns out that a remarkable nubian woman was born on this day (September 23) in 1863. Her name was Mary Church Terrell and she lived for 90 years and had a remarkable influence for African Americans ... particularly women.

You can click here to read her full bio. Here are some excerpts that I found uplifting:

She was a popular speaker and lecturer and wrote many articles denouncing segregation. Her appointment to the District of Columbia Board of Education in 1895 was a first in America for a woman of color. She resigned in 1901, was reappointed in 1906, and held the post until 1911. In 1909, she was one of two Black women (Ida B. Wells-Barnett was the other) invited to sign the "Call" and be present at the organizational meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, thus becoming a charter member of the national organization. She assisted in the formation of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at Howard University in 1914, accepted honorary membership, and wrote the Delta Creed, which outlined a code of conduct for young women.

Mary Church Terrell was involved in the international women's movement on three occasions. She represented Black women on the American delegation to the International Congress of Women at Berlin in 1904 and was the only women to deliver her address in English, German, and French. Her theme was equal rights for women and people of African descent wherever they may be found. In 1919, she received international recognition as a speaker on the program at the Quinquennial International Peace Conference in Zurich, and in 1937 she delivered an address before the International Assembly of the World Fellowship of Faith in London. In 1940, she wrote her autobiography, A Colored Woman In A White World.

This is an example of a powerful African American who may not be known well enough in our community. Villagers, did you know of this sister before today?

OURstory: Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Rosa Parks was born February 4, 1913. She didn't seek notoriety. She was simply a quiet and resolute woman who stood up by sitting down. She became an American civil rights activist.

Rosa McCauley grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and attended the all-Black Alabama State College. Rosa and her husband Raymond Parks were active in Montgomery's chapter of the NAACP. She worked as the chapter's youth adviser; on voter registration drives and was secretary of the NAACP’s Montgomery branch in 1943. As the 1950’s began, the segregated seating policies on public buses were growing as a source of resentment and bitterness within the Black community in Montgomery.

Blacks were required to pay their fares at the front of the bus, and then board again through the back door. The white bus drivers would harass Blacks, sometimes driving away before they were able to get back on the bus. On December 1, 1955, Parks took her seat in the front of the "colored section". When the driver asked Parks and three other Black riders to give up their seats to whites, Parks refused and was arrested; she soon agreed to let the NAACP provide legal council. Rosa Parks' case was filed in United States District Court, which ruled in her favor, declaring segregated seating on buses unconstitutional, a decision later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was more than an inadvertent symbol; she was an experienced activist with strong beliefs. whose arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a bus set in motion the turning point in the African American battle for civil rights. Parks and her husband relocated to Detroit in 1957, where in time, Congressman John Conyers hired her as an administrative assistant, a position she held until 1987.

Rosa Parks, a committed activist died on October 24, 2005. On October 30th, and 31st of that year, she became the first woman to lie in honor in the vast circular room under the Capitol dome. By voice vote the House agreed to the action "so that the citizens of the United States may pay their last respects to this great American."

Related articles

• Rosa Parks - beyond the stereotype
• Missed in History: Rosa Parks Part 1
• A Fuller Tribute to Rosa Parks

NAACP Leads Fight Against Voter Suppression Tactics

My favorite era in American history was known as 'Reconstruction'. This was the era after the end of slavery when our nation had more African Americans in congress, Senate, state legislatures and statehouses than any other time in our nation's history. Of course, the white power structure couldn't stand to see people of color doing so well in politics ... so they began to find ways to 'block the vote'. Poll taxes. Counting jellybeans in a jar. White sheets and hoods. The era of 'Jim Crow' came into fruition and Blacks were driven out of congress, Senate, state legislatures and state houses.

Fast forward to 2008. The first election of an African American to the presidency. An unprecedented number of Black and Latino voters. The white power structure couldn't stand to see people of color doing so well in politics ... so they again began to seek out ways to 'block the vote'. Several states have passed laws requiring voters to present specific types of photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote; creating new rules for voter registration drives; reducing early voting days and voter registration periods; and further preventing ex-felons from voting. 'James Crow, Esquire' hopes to drive President Obama out of the White House.

There are 14 states who have passed such laws this year: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

These are some the findings documented by the NAACP in their recently-released report: 'Defending Democracy'.

NAACP: Defending Democracy Report

View more documents from Wayne Hicks

The NAACP collected this information about early voting advocacy by Black churches in Florida, hoping to convince the Justice Department to strike down a slew of new state voting laws it claims are intended to thwart growing minority participation at the polls ahead of next year’s presidential election.

NAACP President Ben Jealous said the NAACP wants to diligently document how the laws affect African Americans and Latinos, and provide the attorney general ample evidence for finding the laws unconstitutional.

"In some ways, these tactics are not Jim Crow. They do not feature Night Riders and sheets … This is in fact, James Crow, Esq.,” said the Rev. William Barber, NAACP North Carolina president and a pastor. ”...Jim Crow used blunt tools. James Crow, Esq. uses surgical tools, consultants, high paid consultants and lawyers to cut out the heart of Black political power."

For example, a law passed in Florida reduced its early voting period from 14 to 8 days, including the last Sunday before Election Day.

In 2008, 54 percent of Black voters in Florida cast their ballots early, and Blacks comprised 32 percent of the entire statewide turnout on the last Sunday before the election, said Ryan Haygood, director of political participation for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

"It’s widely known in Florida that Black churches would organize what they called ‘Get Your Souls to the Polls’ where they urged their members, after fulfilling their spiritual duties on Sundays to discharge their civic ones by voting," Haygood said.

Florida’s Black and Latino populations grew during the past decade, inching it closer to being a majority-minority state.

Supporters of the new laws, including at least one group funded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, have said the new laws are designed to prevent voter fraud. Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said voter ID laws have wide support, including in the Black community.

“It’s hard for me to believe a serious group like the NAACP would come out to say there’s some grand conspiracy to deny people the right to vote,” von Spakovsky said.

Actually, the only person in the Black community that I know who is supporting these 'voter suppression' efforts is Artur Davis. Anyhow, the NAACP has planned a protest march and rally that will start at the Koch brothers’ offices in New York on Saturday. This blog encourages all 'villagers' in the New York area to participate in this protest march.





We also encourage all 'villagers' to sign the online 'Stand for Freedom' pledge.

NAACP Upset About Taser-Killing of Marcus Brown (Waterbury, CT)

Marcus Brown

Waterbury (CT) police officer Andy Sanchez killed 26-year old Marcus Brown on May 1. Ordinarily this wouldn't cause much public uproar. Except this time there are some facts and circumstances that may be difficult for the police to explain.

Marcus Brown was a small man -- about 5'6" tall, weighing about 125 pounds -- and he was handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser. Brown, father of two, was at a local hospital where he had come to get help. Sanchez decided that he had cause to open the backdoor of the police cruiser and pump 50,000 volts of electricity into Marcus Brown with his taser ... while Brown was handcuffed.

Brown died. Sanchez was placed on administrative leave.

Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches President Scot X. Esdaile announced an independent investigation by attorney Michael Jefferson.





It is hard to see how the Waterbury Police Department is going to weasel their way out of a wrongful death lawsuit and possible criminal charges in this one. What say u?

NAACP Support of Scott Sisters: Damned If They Do, Damned If They Don't

The NAACP continues to struggle to regain its relevance in the Black community. Somewhere along the line the organization lost its voice. NAACP president Ben Jealous works hard to find ways to get the NAACP back in the discussion. The organization is large and has ability to get visibility from the mainstream media on occasion. Of course, because the organization is large ... it is difficult for it to be quick or nimble. As a result, the NAACP often seems to chime in towards the end of the life cycle of a problem.

The NAACP was late to the story of the Jena 6. They were late to the story of Troy Davis. And last month, the NAACP was late to the story of the Scott Sisters.

Some online activists have damned the NAACP for being glory-hounds who simply cherry-pick on issues that are already close to resolution. For example, the Scott Sisters have been imprisoned for over 16 years, yet the NAACP didn't get engaged until September 2010 in spite of a call for their support much earlier.  Evelyn Rasco, the mother of the two sisters, indicates in this radio interview with Nordette Adams that she has not heard from Ben Jealous or anyone else from the NAACP until this past week.

On the other hand, African American Pundit reports that the true hero in the Scott Sisters case is a Black freedom fighter named Nancy Lockhart. Ms. Lockhart has been suing the Internet, and her Free the Scott Sisters Blog, along with radio shows began a grassroots effort to free the Scott sisters.

I suspect that Jamie Scott and Gladys Scott are grateful to the NAACP and anyone else ... late tot he party or not ... who advocated for their release.   At the end of the day ... isn't that the point?   The publicity-hound nature of the NAACP on a national basis is self-evident.  However, would we rather have a publicity-hound NAACP advocating for good causes *or* would we rather that they be silent on those same good causes?

Is the NAACP in a case of being damned if they do and damned if they don't?

Was Frederick Jermaine Carter Lynched in Mississippi?

Frederick James Carter

America is not a post-racial nation yet. That fact is especially true in Mississippi.

Soulclap to JuJuBe for letting me know about the controversial case of Frederick Jermaine Carter.  Last month 26-year old Frederick Jermaine Carter was found hanging from an oak tree in Greenwood, Mississippi. Prior to his death, Carter’s stepfather, a painter, said he and Carter were working in Greenwood and that Carter wandered off after he was instructed to go and get some tools.

The county sheriff ruled the death a suicide and most white folks in Mississippi agreed with him. These folks note that Carter had spent eight months in the state mental hospital in 2008, and tried to kill himself by drug overdose and cutting himself.

County Coroner Debra Sanders said that the autopsy’s preliminary finding of suicide is consistent with what was observed at the scene: that “Carter dragged the frame of an old table from one side of the tree to the other, propped it against the tree trunk, and then tied himself to the lowest limb.” In addition, there were no other footprints by the tree.


Most Black folks in Mississippi disagree. After all, Greenwood is about 12 miles from Money, Miss., the place where 14-year old Emmett Till was lynched after he allegedly made remarks to a white woman. The Black community has a long memory of the horror known as lynching in America.

The NAACP and others feel that Carter was lynched. State Rep. Willie Perkins, president of the Leflore County branch of the NAACP, says that group also "will keep a high scrutiny and watch on any investigative report regarding what was the cause of death."

"There are a lot of concerns there, No. 1 that this individual could not have (hanged) himself without the assistance of someone, if it’s being declared a suicide," he says. "Why would someone from Sunflower County come to North Greenwood, the predominantly white housing area of Greenwood? Why would someone that far away come and hang themselves in North Greenwood by a river? That does not pass the smell test to me."

Another local elected official, state Sen. David Jordan, says the African American community in Greenwood is “very much concerned.”

"This is in a white wealthy area, and Black people just don’t go over there," he says. "There’s not a single Black that’s talked to us who believes that he hanged himself."

I suspect that we will never know the full story of this man's death. However, I do know that America is not yet post-racial.

What are your thoughts on the Frederick Jermaine Carter case? Was it a lynching or a suicide?

Tell President Obama to Reinstate Shirley Sherrod

This blog joins with ColorOfChange in demanding that the Obama Administration reinstate Shirley Sherrod.

The Obama administration just caved in to the right-wing smear machine, firing a Black USDA official after she was smeared by far-right blogger Andrew Breitbart and his friends at Fox News Channel.

On Monday, Andrew Breitbart (a blogger who works closely with FOX News and has a long history of launching deceptive, racially charged smear campaigns) posted a deceptively edited video of USDA employee Shirley Sherrod speaking at an NAACP function. The video shows Sherrod telling a story about how she once was asked for help from a White farmer, and how she didn't "give him the full force of what I could do" to help him, because of his race.

Breitbart touted the video as evidence that the NAACP and the Obama administration tolerated racial discrimination against White people, saying that it showed Sherrod's "federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions." Breitbart's doctored video and false storyline moved quickly to FOX News, where on-air personalities called for Sherrod's firing.

The truth is that Sherrod was telling a 24-year old story about her work for a non-profit organization whose mission was to help Black farmers. Discrimination against Black farmers was rampant, and she described how she was first reluctant when approached by a White farmer named Roger Spooner for help (Sherrod also says that her father was killed by a White farmer 45 years ago). But after seeing that no one wanted to help Spooner, she worked to save his farm, and eventually became good friends with his family.

Yesterday, Roger Spooner said that Sherrod saved their farm and kept them out of bankruptcy. He told CNN, "I don't know what brought up the racist mess. They just want to stir up some trouble, it sounds to me in my opinion."

The NAACP was snookered.   They joined the attack on Shirley Sherrod based on the the edited video.  They should have simply watched the full speech before they rushed to judgement.   The full video is shown below:





It took less than 24 hours for the lies to be debunked. But by that time, it was too late — Sherrod was forced to quit.

Once the truth became known, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a statement saying that whether or not the smear campaign against Sherrod was based in lies, it was necessary to fire her because the "controversy" would make it hard for her to do her job.

The Obama administration is essentially saying that they will always back down in the face of dishonest, race-baiting smear campaigns launched by right-wing propagandists. They've ended the career of someone who did nothing wrong, and by handing a victory to the people who launched this deception, the administration is encouraging them to launch even more smears. All to avoid "controversy." It's pathetic, it's shameful, and it has to stop.

It's not the first time this has happened. Several members of the Obama administration have lost their jobs or been demoted, and nominees to cabinet positions have either stepped down or withdrawn their nominations after becoming the target of smear campaigns launched by FOX News and Breitbart.

It's bad enough that we have to fight the constant smear campaigns and appeals to racial paranoia from FOX and the right-wing media. But it's completely shameful and outrageous for the Obama administration to throw innocent public servants under the bus just to avoid having to fight back against the lies.

Please join us in calling on the White House to immediately give Shirley Sherrod her job back, and to stop bowing to the will of right-wing propaganda artists.

Will You Give NAACP a Second Chance in the 21st Century

NAACP is hosting their annual conference this week in Kansas City. First Lady Michelle Obama made a presentation there the other day. NAACP is working hard to update their online presence on the various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It appears that the new leadership is working hard to make the NAACP relevant in the 21st century.

NAACP Chairman Roslyn Brock stepped up to the podium to give a speech about the future of the NAACP on Sunday. Take some time to listen to what this young and powerful sister had to say:



What say u? Will you give NAACP a second chance to serve you and your community in the 21st century?

NAACP Legislative Report Card

Do you know how your Members of Congress voted in the past year?

The NAACP has just released its Congressional Report Card for the first session of the 111th Congress, which illustrates how your Senators and Representatives voted on key civil rights, economic justice, health care and criminal justice issues - to name just a few.

Click here to see how your representatives voted on crucial civil rights issues and hold them accountable.

According to the latest report card, 59% of Senators and 47% of House Members received an "A" by the NAACP, a significant step up from last year. Some important milestones measured in the report include votes taken on important legislation such as the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

A number of our members of congress have yet to show their commitment to fundamental civil and human rights. In fact, 29% of Senators and 34% of House Members received the failing grade of "F" on the report card.

My representation here in Ohio is mixed. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) is my congressional representative. She received a "F" grade. One of my two senators is George Voinovich (R-OH) also received a failing grade. The only redeeming legislative value in Ohio appears to be Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). He received an 'A' grade with 100% voting record according to the NAACP scale.

How did your congressional delegation do on the NAACP Legislative Report Card for CY-2009?

NAACP Shows No Cojones in Florida Taser Killing of Derrick Humbert

I truly want to give the NAACP the benefit of the doubt. I want them to be relevant at the national level and in each of their local branches around the country. However, the response of the NAACP Manatee County branch regarding the recent taser-killing down in Bradenton (FL) is very disappointing.

The NAACP issued a statement Thursday night:

“The branch looks forward to reviewing the results of the autopsy report so that we can make a well-informed decision on whether there was foul play or excessive force made by the arresting officer.”

A Black man is riding his bicycle at night. He is pulled over by Officer Del Shiflett because his bicycle doesn't have a light. In less than an hour, the Black man, Derrick Humbert, is dead. Humbert is the 41st person involved in a taser-related death this year. Over 40% of those taser killings involve a Black man.

In a telephone interview with a local newspaper, Manatee County NAACP President Ed Bailey, said,

“From what I understand, he was Tasered to be apprehended, and shorty after, he suffered from a medical condition that caused his death. Right now, we feel that’s something we don’t need to act on. If the autopsy doesn’t concur with the statement the police are making, then we will be looking into it further. Right now, we trust what the officers are saying is true.”

The police department has already exonerated Officer Shiflett ... saying that the killing of Humbert with the taser was within police department policy. And now the NAACP is co-signing that conclusion with a mealy-mouthed statement about "a medical condition that caused his death" and "we trust what the officers are saying is true."

Even President Ronald Reagan knew that you had to VERIFY if you were going to trust. That sage advice seems to be more than NAACP leaders in Manatee County can handle at this point.

On the other hand, the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference chapter accused Shifflet of using excessive force, and said it would be closely monitoring the investigation of Humbert’s death.

No wonder Ed Bailey's NAACP branch is losing members to the newly-formed SCLC chapter.

Perhaps NAACP national president Ben Jealous or some of the more progressive NAACP Branch members can give a call to the cojone-challenged Ed Bailey and let him know what the Black community expects from our leadership. If you are not going to protect our interests ... then just SHUT UP!

Health Care Reform in America … The Fierce Urgency of Now

Congress didn't take care of business with health care reform last month. The House of Representatives did create a Health Care Reform Bill for consideration (full bill/HERE or section-by-section summary/HERE) ... but no vote will be taken until after the congressional vacation this month.

I'm not an expert on health care reform. I am self-employed and living on the edge without health insurance at the moment. I am counting on the Obama administration to force legislation that makes a difference in my life.

In any case, drumbeats from Kevin Myles pointed me to recent commentary from Roslyn Brock. Ms. Brock is vice chairwoman of the NAACP National Board of Directors and Director of Advocacy and Public Policy for Bon Secours Health System in Marriottsville, MD. She is an expert on health care reform.

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Over the past several days, I’ve had the most unsettling discussions around health care reform in my entire health policy career. Last Sunday, I spent the afternoon visiting with my uncle who was recovering from knee replacement. My aunt shared with me her dismay with the health care delivery system when upon admittance to the hospital, the attendant immediately asked for $2,400 to pay her portion of the hospital bill. Keep in mind, payment was requested before any services were rendered. Over the weekend, two young boys and their little sister all under 12 years of age from my neighborhood rushed up to me and hastily began a conversation: “We need some money, my dad had to go to the emergency room yesterday and we need money right away to pay for his hospital bill. Can you help us?” They opened a little red and white canister filled with juice packs on ice and asked for a dollar. I was flabbergasted and thought could this be the future of health care in America where children have to beg for money to pay for the rising cost of health care?

Today, during lunch a small business owner lamented how the rising costs of health care for him and his pregnant wife would ultimately cause him to close his business. These distinct encounters are a microcosm of how health care is lived in America.

Reforming the nation’s health care system by expanding access to consistent, high quality and affordable healthcare coverage is a critical issue for all Americans and in particular for African Americans when you consider the fact that over 7 million of the more than 46 million uninsured people in the U.S. are African American, according to the Census Bureau. The poor economy further exacerbates this problem by putting more people out of work and out of insurance. The recession has driven the rate of unemployment among African Americans to 15 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As Congress considers fundamental health care reform, now is the time to ensure the delivery of quality, cost-effective care for minorities and other under-served populations, and to implement measures that improve cultural competency, eliminate barriers to health care, and build a more diverse health care workforce.

A comprehensive health care reform bill must cover all Americans. The White House proposes a public option pan that provides a range of insurance choices for the uninsured. The creation of this plan will not impact those who are currently insured. The biggest fear being promulgated by those in power is that expanded insurance coverage for the poor, vulnerable, immigrants, minorities and small businesses will in some way reduce current options provided to those currently insured. This is simply not true. In the current environment with more than 46 million uninsured, we’ve seen the result of inaction as evidenced by lost benefits, increased premiums and reduced wages. Basic and expanded preventive health care costs over time will stabilize and ultimately decrease because of improved health status and better decision making for accessing care by those who need it most.

President Obama cannot carry the health care reform message alone. Concerned citizens from all walks of life must be moved to action and visit, call and write congressional leaders today urging them to work decisively to achieve comprehensive health care reform without delay. We must speak now and act now with a unified voice for the common good. We need health care reform and we need it now.

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Now that you've heard from Sis. Brock ... What say u?

NAACP Says Blacks Targeted Most by Tasers

NAACP Pittsburgh Branch is openly talking about taser torture in America. Most of the folks at a recent NAACP community meeting said tasers are being used disproportionately against African Americans. [NOTE: Our blog is documenting taser-related deaths in America this year].

“In the African-American community we know it’s different and it can’t be different,” NAACP President M. Gayle Moss said. “I find that these young new police officers are afraid and some of our young men are tired of being assaulted so they just say come on with it.”

The overwhelming conclusion at the July 9 meeting addressing the use of tasers by police was that the police should devise a coherent system for gathering data on taser use and that these records should be made readily available. Currently, although data is recorded regarding when tasers are used and the race of any individual involved in an incident, these two pieces of information aren’t necessarily in the same place.

“In fact, we don’t know who it’s being used on more or less, but that’s because there’s no data,” said panelist David Harris of the University of Pittsburgh Law School. “There’s something about this area. In Pennsylvania, everything is a secret.”

I wonder if other NAACP branches have begun discussions about taser torture in Black America? More to the point, I wonder if they will join in our call for congressional hearings on this issue?

What say u?

(Th)ink by Keith Knight: NAACP Relevance

(Th)ink is an editorial cartoon written and drawnby cartoonist Keith Knight (the K Chronicles).

President Obama Speech to NAACP Convention (video/text)

- It is an honor to be here, in the city where the NAACP was formed, to mark its centennial. What we celebrate tonight is not simply the journey the NAACP has traveled, but the journey that we, as Americans, have traveled over the past one hundred years.

It is a journey that takes us back to a time before most of us were born, long before the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and Brown v. Board of Education; back to an America just a generation past slavery. It was a time when Jim Crow was a way of life; when lynchings were all too common; and when race riots were shaking cities across a segregated land.

It was in this America where an Atlanta scholar named W.E.B. Du Bois, a man of towering intellect and a fierce passion for justice, sparked what became known as the Niagara movement; where reformers united, not by color but cause; and where an association was born that would, as its charter says, promote equality and eradicate prejudice among citizens of the United States.

From the beginning, Du Bois understood how change would come - just as King and all the civil rights giants did later. They understood that unjust laws needed to be overturned; that legislation needed to be passed; and that Presidents needed to be pressured into action. They knew that the stain of slavery and the sin of segregation had to be lifted in the courtroom and in the legislature.

But they also knew that here, in America, change would have to come from the people. It would come from people protesting lynching, rallying against violence, and walking instead of taking the bus. It would come from men and women - of every age and faith, race and region - taking Greyhounds on Freedom Rides; taking seats at Greensboro lunch counters; and registering voters in rural Mississippi, knowing they would be harassed, knowing they would be beaten, knowing that they might never return.

Because of what they did, we are a more perfect union. Because Jim Crow laws were overturned, black CEOs today run Fortune 500 companies. Because civil rights laws were passed, Black mayors, governors, and Members of Congress serve in places where they might once have been unable to vote. And because ordinary people made the civil rights movement their own, I made a trip to Springfield a couple years ago - where Lincoln once lived, and race riots once raged - and began the journey that has led me here tonight as the 44th President of the United States of America.

And yet, even as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of the past one hundred years; even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied; even as we marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folks - we know that too many barriers still remain.

We know that even as our economic crisis batters Americans of all races, African Americans are out of work more than just about anyone else - a gap that’s widening here in New York City, as detailed in a report this week by Comptroller Bill Thompson.

We know that even as spiraling health care costs crush families of all races, African Americans are more likely to suffer from a host of diseases but less likely to own health insurance than just about anyone else.

We know that even as we imprison more people of all races than any nation in the world, an African American child is roughly five times as likely as a white child to see the inside of a jail.

And we know that even as the scourge of HIV/AIDS devastates nations abroad, particularly in Africa, it is devastating the African American community here at home with disproportionate force.

These are some of the barriers of our time. They’re very different from the barriers faced by earlier generations. They’re very different from the ones faced when fire hoses and dogs were being turned on young marchers; when Charles Hamilton Houston and a group of young Howard lawyers were dismantling segregation.

But what is required to overcome today’s barriers is the same as was needed then. The same commitment. The same sense of urgency. The same sense of sacrifice. The same willingness to do our part for ourselves and one another that has always defined America at its best.

The question, then, is where do we direct our efforts? What steps do we take to overcome these barriers? How do we move forward in the next one hundred years?

The first thing we need to do is make real the words of your charter and eradicate prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination among citizens of the United States. I understand there may be a temptation among some to think that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009. And I believe that overall, there’s probably never been less discrimination in America than there is today.

But make no mistake: the pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion for simply kneeling down to pray. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.

On the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination must not stand. Not on account of color or gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United States of America.

But we also know that prejudice and discrimination are not even the steepest barriers to opportunity today. The most difficult barriers include structural inequalities that our nation’s legacy of discrimination has left behind; inequalities still plaguing too many communities and too often the object of national neglect.

These are barriers we are beginning to tear down by rewarding work with an expanded tax credit; making housing more affordable; and giving ex-offenders a second chance. These are barriers that we are targeting through our White House Office on Urban Affairs, and through Promise Neighborhoods that build on Geoffrey Canada’s success with the Harlem Children’s Zone; and that foster a comprehensive approach to ending poverty by putting all children on a pathway to college, and giving them the schooling and support to get there.

But our task of reducing these structural inequalities has been made more difficult by the state, and structure, of the broader economy; an economy fueled by a cycle of boom and bust; an economy built not on a rock, but sand. That is why my administration is working so hard not only to create and save jobs in the short-term, not only to extend unemployment insurance and help for people who have lost their health care, not only to stem this immediate economic crisis, but to lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity that will put opportunity within reach not just for African Americans, but for all Americans.

One pillar of this new foundation is health insurance reform that cuts costs, makes quality health coverage affordable for all, and closes health care disparities in the process. Another pillar is energy reform that makes clean energy profitable, freeing America from the grip of foreign oil, putting people to work upgrading low-income homes, and creating jobs that cannot be outsourced. And another pillar is financial reform with consumer protections to crack down on mortgage fraud and stop predatory lenders from targeting our poor communities.

All these things will make America stronger and more competitive. They will drive innovation, create jobs, and provide families more security. Still, even if we do it all, the African American community will fall behind in the United States and the United States will fall behind in the world unless we do a far better job than we have been doing of educating our sons and daughters. In the 21st century - when so many jobs will require a bachelor’s degree or more, when countries that out-educate us today will outcompete us tomorrow - a world-class education is a prerequisite for success.

You know what I’m talking about. There’s a reason the story of the civil rights movement was written in our schools. There’s a reason Thurgood Marshall took up the cause of Linda Brown. There’s a reason the Little Rock Nine defied a governor and a mob. It’s because there is no stronger weapon against inequality and no better path to opportunity than an education that can unlock a child’s God-given potential.

Yet, more than a half century after Brown v. Board of Education, the dream of a world-class education is still being deferred all across this country. African American students are lagging behind white classmates in reading and math - an achievement gap that is growing in states that once led the way on civil rights. Over half of all African American students are dropping out of school in some places. There are overcrowded classrooms, crumbling schools, and corridors of shame in America filled with poor children - black, brown, and white alike.

The state of our schools is not an African American problem; it’s an American problem. And if Al Sharpton, Mike Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich can agree that we need to solve it, then all of us can agree on that. All of us can agree that we need to offer every child in this country the best education the world has to offer from the cradle through a career.

That is our responsibility as the United States of America. And we, all of us in government, are working to do our part by not only offering more resources, but demanding more reform.

When it comes to higher education, we are making college and advanced training more affordable, and strengthening community colleges that are a gateway to so many with an initiative that will prepare students not only to earn a degree but find a job when they graduate; an initiative that will help us meet the goal I have set of leading the world in college degrees by 2020.

We are creating a Race to the Top Fund that will reward states and public school districts that adopt 21st century standards and assessments. And we are creating incentives for states to promote excellent teachers and replace bad ones - because the job of a teacher is too important for us to accept anything but the best.

We should also explore innovative approaches being pursued here in New York City; innovations like Bard High School Early College and Medgar Evers College Preparatory School that are challenging students to complete high school and earn a free associate’s degree or college credit in just four years.

And we should raise the bar when it comes to early learning programs. Today, some early learning programs are excellent. Some are mediocre. And some are wasting what studies show are - by far - a child’s most formative years.

That’s why I have issued a challenge to America’s governors: if you match the success of states like Pennsylvania and develop an effective model for early learning; if you focus reform on standards and results in early learning programs; if you demonstrate how you will prepare the lowest income children to meet the highest standards of success - you can compete for an Early Learning Challenge Grant that will help prepare all our children to enter kindergarten ready to learn.

So, these are some of the laws we are passing. These are some of the policies we are enacting. These are some of the ways we are doing our part in government to overcome the inequities, injustices, and barriers that exist in our country.

But all these innovative programs and expanded opportunities will not, in and of themselves, make a difference if each of us, as parents and as community leaders, fail to do our part by encouraging excellence in our children. Government programs alone won’t get our children to the Promised Land. We need a new mindset, a new set of attitudes - because one of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way that we have internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little of ourselves.

We have to say to our children, Yes, if you’re African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not. But that’s not a reason to get bad grades, that’s not a reason to cut class, that’s not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands - and don’t you forget that.

To parents, we can’t tell our kids to do well in school and fail to support them when they get home. For our kids to excel, we must accept our own responsibilities. That means putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. It means attending those parent-teacher conferences, reading to our kids, and helping them with their homework.

And it means we need to be there for our neighbor’s son or daughter, and return to the day when we parents let each other know if we saw a child acting up. That’s the meaning of community. That’s how we can reclaim the strength, the determination, the hopefulness that helped us come as far as we already have.

It also means pushing our kids to set their sights higher. They might think they’ve got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can’t all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court Justice. I want them aspiring to be President of the United States.

So, yes, government must be a force for opportunity. Yes, government must be a force for equality. But ultimately, if we are to be true to our past, then we also have to seize our own destiny, each and every day.

That is what the NAACP is all about. The NAACP was not founded in search of a handout. The NAACP was not founded in search of favors. The NAACP was founded on a firm notion of justice; to cash the promissory note of America that says all our children, all God’s children, deserve a fair chance in the race of life.

It is a simple dream, and yet one that has been denied - one still being denied - to so many Americans. It’s a painful thing, seeing that dream denied. I remember visiting a Chicago school in a rough neighborhood as a community organizer, and thinking how remarkable it was that all of these children seemed so full of hope, despite being born into poverty, despite being delivered into addiction, despite all the obstacles they were already facing.

And I remember the principal of the school telling me that soon all of that would begin to change; that soon, the laughter in their eyes would begin to fade; that soon, something would shut off inside, as it sunk in that their hopes would not come to pass - not because they weren’t smart enough, not because they weren’t talented enough, but because, by accident of birth, they didn’t have a fair chance in life.

So, I know what can happen to a child who doesn’t have that chance. But I also know what can happen to a child who does. I was raised by a single mother. I don’t come from a lot of wealth. I got into my share of trouble as a kid. My life could easily have taken a turn for the worse. But that mother of mine gave me love; she pushed me, and cared about my education; she took no lip and taught me right from wrong. Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most of life.

The same story holds for Michelle. The same story holds for so many of you. And I want all the other Barack Obamas out there, and all the other Michelle Obamas out there, to have that same chance - the chance that my mother gave me; that my education gave me; that the United States of America gave me. That is how our union will be perfected and our economy rebuilt. That is how America will move forward in the next one hundred years.

And we will move forward. This I know - for I know how far we have come. Last week, in Ghana, Michelle and I took Malia and Sasha to Cape Coast Castle, where captives were once imprisoned before being auctioned; where, across an ocean, so much of the African American experience began. There, reflecting on the dungeon beneath the castle church, I was reminded of all the pain and all the hardships, all the injustices and all the indignities on the voyage from slavery to freedom.

But I was also reminded of something else. I was reminded that no matter how bitter the rod or how stony the road, we have persevered. We have not faltered, nor have we grown weary. As Americans, we have demanded, strived for, and shaped a better destiny.

That is what we are called to do once more. It will not be easy. It will take time. Doubts may rise and hopes recede.

But if John Lewis could brave Billy clubs to cross a bridge, then I know young people today can do their part to lift up our communities.

If Emmet Till’s uncle Mose Wright could summon the courage to testify against the men who killed his nephew, I know we can be better fathers and brothers, mothers and sisters in our own families.

If three civil rights workers in Mississippi - black and white, Christian and Jew, city-born and country-bred - could lay down their lives in freedom’s cause, I know we can come together to face down the challenges of our own time. We can fix our schools, heal our sick, and rescue our youth from violence and despair.

One hundred years from now, on the 200th anniversary of the NAACP, let it be said that this generation did its part; that we too ran the race; that full of the faith that our dark past has taught us, full of the hope that the present has brought us, we faced, in our own lives and all across this nation, the rising sun of a new day begun. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

Mary Frances Berry’s 'And Justice For All' Calls For Change

I was on a conference call with Dr. Mary Frances Berry the other day. She is an American legend who currently serves as the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches history and law.

Many villagers know Berry from her years as chair of the US Commision on Civil Rights. She now thinks that the Civil Rights Commission is outdated and needs to be blown up and re-started. She doesn't think that the current commission can deal effectively with issues like Torture, Immigration, Police misconduct, Marriage inequality, Educational achievement gap, Racial profiling and Hate crimes.

These tough and thorny issues populate a civil and human rights landscape that demands federal action, says Mary Frances Berry. Drawing upon a tenure on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that traversed five administrations, Berry maintains that the Eisenhower-era panel established as a federal watchdog is sorely out of step with today’s challenges.

Berry calls for abolishing the existing Commission and beginning anew with a more muscular body that can effectively respond to the clamoring for justice. In her recently released book, And Justice For All, The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Continuing Struggle for Freedom in America (Knopf, 2009), Berry offers lessons for the Obama administration and Congress.

"There’s a whole new set of realities that need to be addressed, our conversation has to be about race, but also about gender, immigration, sexual orientation, disability, national origin and religious affiliation," says Berry, "We need a Commission that will vigorously fight for everyone’s right to be treated fairly because of their humanity."

New Vision for Commission - Berry’s vision is of a Human and Civil Rights Commission with greater independent power to investigate rights violations and demand corrective action.

"One of the Commission’s historic strengths has been that we’ve been an equal opportunity annoyance," declares Berry, of the independent panel. "We’ve angered Democratic and Republican administrations alike for exposing problems they wanted kept hidden and for giving a voice to the most vulnerable among us. A robust Commission needs to be able to enforce subpoenas without the president’s permission, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office."

Individuals and private organizations will have the power to file suit if an enforcement agency refuses to act on CRC findings within a specified time under Berry’s reimagining of the Commission. Berry also proposes clarifying the length of Commissioners’ terms and requiring Senate confirmation for those appointed by the president. Bitter legal battles erupted in the past when Commissioners (including Berry) and the White House fought over term expirations.

The current public outrage over torture demonstrates why we need a Human and Civil Rights Commission to scrutinize compliance with international human rights covenants, Berry insists. The existence of an independent and forceful Human Rights Commission to act as a watchdog on U.S. compliance can lessen complaints about the U.S. holding other nations to human rights standards that America does not observe.

The Last Five Years - Berry calls the present Commission virtually invisible and points to its silence on explosive issues including the police shooting of Sean Bell, the lack of funding for No Child Left Behind, the U.S. Attorney firings scandal, and the racially disparate treatment of Katrina victims.

By 2006, Berry argues, the Commission had even lost influence among their conservative congressional allies who ignored the CRC’s advice by overwhelmingly voting to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. Many observers noted that the enormous turnout of African American and Latino voters in 2008 that led to the election of the nation’s first African American president would not have been possible without the Voting Rights Act.

Race in the Age of Obama - Berry offers a ringing dissent to the notion that the election of President Obama means we have become a post-racial society, and argues that his election makes a more universal and revitalized Human and Civil Rights Commission more possible.

"Obama’s success could inspire a renewed determination to end denials of opportunity in our society," she says. "Or it could also result in self-satisfied stagnation if people choose to tell themselves that the successes of Oprah Winfrey and President Obama prove that discrimination no longer exists."

A reinvigorated Commission with a bold mandate could also repair some of the damage to civil rights inflicted by recent Supreme Court decisions.

Race and the Roberts Supreme Court - The Supreme Court term that ends in June may radically transform our racial landscape. The Court heard three cases that are integral to civil rights: on affirmative action, mortgage discrimination, and Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

"A reversal of Section 5 could be a potentially devastating blow for the protection of minority voting rights. If the Court hands down an adverse ruling we will need a revitalized and independent Human and Civil Rights Commission more than ever," Berry opines.

I enjoyed listening to Dr. Berry during the 1-hour conference call. Her deep commitment to issues of civil and human rights was self-evident throughout the call. During our conference call she suggested that the Obama Administration should appoint an envoy to deal specifically with the crisis in Darfur.

I plan to read her book. How about you?