Success Story for Native Americans in New Mexico

NEW ORLEANS-A panel of election experts at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s grantee conference for America Healingoutlined the most significant organized efforts to suppress voting rights for Latinos and African Americans over the last 100 years. At the same time, Native Americans have enjoyed a civic engagement success story in New Mexico.

In the last two years, the nation has seen “the most wide-scale, most significant attacks on voting rights that we have seen in a century,” said Judy Browne-Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project. She said the actions were a direct response to the higher turnout rates of African Americans, Latinos and students than in the historic presidential election four years ago.

Browne-Dianis said the American Legislative Exchange Council helped initiate many of the restrictive voter ID proposals in 34 states across the country. The proposals would require unexpired, state-issued photo identification with a current address and signature.

Currently voters must showphoto IDs at polling places in Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin. In South Carolina and Texas, strict photo ID laws have been approved, but under the Voting Rights Act these states must receive approval from the Justice Department for the new laws to be enacted. Without that approval, these states will require only non-photo ID.

“The Brennan Center did a report that showed that actually 21 million Americans do not have state-issued photo identification; 25 percent of African Americans do not have state-issued photo identification,” said Browne-Dianis, adding that tougher restrictions have also been placed on voter registration in some states.

During the panel discussion, Genaro Lopez-Rendon, director of the Southwest Worker’s Union, cited election issues related to Latinos in Texas, while Alvin Warren, principal and executive vice president of Blue Stone Strategy Group, discussed the success of Native Americans in overcoming historic voter suppression efforts in New Mexico.

Maya Wiley, president and executive director of the Center for Social Inclusion and the moderator for the panel, noted the need for citizens to become engaged in defending their right to vote. “Because the more they’re engaged in being able to govern, the more they’re engaged also in fighting,” she said, noting that the restrictive laws “keep them from being engaged.”

In the discussion, Warren noted that Native Americans can have significant voting clout in New Mexico, which is an important swing state in presidential elections. The Native American population has increased from 134,000 in 1990 to almost 220,000, approximately 11 percent of the state’s population.

“In New Mexico, we actually have had very similar experiences to the South when it comes to discriminative, active and intentional, systemic and institutional, with regard to native voting,” Warren said. “…. since 1975, several New Mexico counties that have been under federal monitoring for voting rights violations…. I’m proud to tell you, though, that after all of that, we are in this incredible period of resurgence, of native people regaining our voice and our vote. We have 65,000 registered Native American voters in the state, which I think is going to go up, probably to 70,000 to 75,000. We have 11 counties that have a significant native presence, 91 precincts.”

Warren maintained that by organizing early, Native Americans benefitted from redistricting and organizations are using technology to increase civic participation among the tribes. He said there are 17 Native Americans running for office, their coalitions defeated three voter ID proposals and the state has three state Senate districts and six House districts with a majority of Native American voters and seven additional districts that have a significant percentage. There are only two Native American senators and three representatives, but he said those numbers will increase as civic engagement increases.

“I would say the majority of tribes now are actively involved in doing some kind of voter registration,” he said.“They’re in their communities doing voter education. My community, I’m proud to say, we’ve been actively doing this for the last, oh, five or six cycles.”

But in Texas, Lopez-Rendon said there are 600,000 people who have voted previously but may not be able to vote this year if the Justice Department allows the state to enact its photo ID law. Among those unable to vote would be his grandmother.

“Hundreds of thousands of registered voters already and hundreds of thousands of potentially registered voters in Texas” would be impacted, he said. “So I mentioned my grandma. And my grandma is now 90 years old. She votes in every election. She has not had an ID for the last 20 years…. So my grandma’s going to be one of these 600,000 people that will not be able to vote if this type of proposal goes through.”

The grantee meeting in New Orleans this week was part of WKKF’s America Healing work that provides grants for organizations to promote racial healing and racial equity to improve the lives of vulnerable children in communities.

For more information about America Healing, visit www.AmericaHealing.org.

By Chinta Strausberg

Melech E.M. Thomas, 24, was an intern at the Saint Sabina Church from March of 2009 until April 22, 2012, when he said his good-byes to the congregation he has grown to love and respect telling them how he was kicked out of two schools, erroneously labeled a social misfit but with the grace of God is now headed for Princeton University.

 “I am so appreciative of these past three-years. It taught me a lot about ministry that you would never see watching preachers on TV,” Thomas said Thursday.

“It taught me not just the logistics of ministry but the heart of ministry. There is a sense of service in what you do when the cameras are not there and there are no parishioners present to applaud to you.

“I am so appreciative of Father Mike to be exposed to things I would never be exposed to. I will always be a Saint Sabinian.”

Thomas will be going to Princeton this fall to work on his Master of Divinity degree with a concentration in psychology, religion and the black experience. It is a three-year course. “It’s worth the time,” said Thomas who is a Howard University graduate. 

At 24, Thomas has been through the crucibles of life having been told as a child by a number of teachers that he was dumb, that he was a waste of classroom space, should drop out of school, kicked out of two schools and told he would certainly fail in life.

And if those very personal attacks against Thomas was not enough to brainwash him into thinking he was a born loser, doctors had told his mother because she had ovarian cancer that she would never have a child and if she did her womb would be too weak to hold the baby.

Yet, in spite of those professional warnings, his mother gave birth to Melech even though her umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Ultimately, his mother had four healthy children. Melech is the youngest of four. His mother is not only alive but is preaching the word every day.

But, his critics didn’t know the power of The Word. They didn’t know the forces and power of prayer, and they certainly didn’t understand the covering of The Blood this man was under by his praying parents both of whom are ordained ministers, but God knew and He had Melech’s back all the time. Jesus said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Luke 18:27 (NIV)

Melech is the proud son of Rev. Drs. Michael O. and Debyii Thomas. Both parents have Ph.D.’s in ministry and they come out of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church.

Asked about the violence that is taking place in the black community, Thomas said it won’t end until there is a changing of the hearts of the perpetrators.

“As somebody who has been kicked out of two schools, who graduated from high school with a 1.75 GPA and have been given all the labels a black man can be given by society, one of the ways I found myself on a different path was not just because I was given something to do or given a job, but people worked with me to change the type of person I was, about how I thought about myself and my community and my spirituality.

“They changed my heart about being a child of God. Those are the things that brought me around, Thomas said also crediting the after school programs,” he said. “All those things helped, but it wasn’t until I was able to change myself did my situation change. I believe that our communities need to be more welcoming of these black men.”

Thomas said those black youth who are violating the community should not be tolerated but that “we should open our arms a little bit wider to accept the young black men that even we are skeptical about being a part of our family.”

He believes this because he was brought through the fire of rejection and the glory of redemption thanks only to his praying parents and friends and mentors like Father Michael L. Pfleger.

Kicked out in seventh grade, Thomas said he was one of the smartest students in his school having been tested in the 98 percentile in America on a gifted intelligence test. “Because I felt disrespected by teachers, in my foolish sophomoric wisdom, I decided that if you don’t respect me, I won’t respect you.” He vowed not to do his homework in an act of defiance. His grades were very bad.

And to hurt himself even further, Thomas admitted that he talked all day in class once again in defiance of teacher authority. “I was always cracking jokes, talking about the teacher. I was the class clown,” he said.

During his seventh grade year at St. Margaret of Scotland Early Learning Center in Maryland, he had seen four teachers in four-months. “The principle said to the students I need you to pick out the three most disruptive students and those three will get kicked out of school. My name was the first one” He was kicked out.

While attending the Cardinal Gibbons School in Baltimore, Thomas got into a fight with a white student in class. “He got in-school suspension. I got kicked out,” said Thomas. “They called me a failure, said I was waste of classroom space and said I should just drop out of school. I ended up staying back that year because I got kicked out of school.”

Asked how did he get through all of this negativity and anti-intellectual brainwashing, Thomas said, “I had parents who prayed for me. They just didn’t leave it at prayer, but they encouraged me to get my life together.

“I remember my second tenth grade year waking up every morning getting ready for school I would hear my mother in her prayer closet crying and praying for me, praying that my mind and heart got through the mess I got myself into. It was when I started to hear my mother pray so hard and fervently for me to get my act together that I began to think differently.

“But the key moment for me to get my life together was in 2004,” he said reflecting on the heavy political climate in America. “There was a lot of political rap that came out including Kanye West and a movie by Chris Rock who wanted to be the first black president. After seeing that movie, Thomas said, “I started to connect with that movie. I started to connect a need for me to speak out not just what was going on in my life but also what was going on in the life for my brothers and sisters in the struggle.”

Thomas decided he wanted to be president and comically quipped, but another good talking Negro beat me to that,” he said referring to President Barack Obama.

While he had a change of heart, Thomas couldn’t erase his bad academic record of a high school GPA of 1.75. He credited his success to Howard University’s director of Admissions who gave him a second chance.

 “She said if I took summer classes at a community college and you get straight A’s, then she would allow him to enter as a probationary student. I did exactly what I had to do and Howard let me in their doors, and I’ve never look back since. I am grateful to Howard University, my parents and to God for those second chances.”

After meeting Father Pfleger, Thomas is dedicating his life to helping change the hearts of some troubled young black men. He blames the violence on a lack of education.

“If you condition a society or an environment to treat a certain group of people like animals, sooner or later they are going to start acting like animals. I believe that is what is happening to our young black men.

“The women have been held and protected by our community but with the young black men the need to service, the need to approve or asserts one’s manhood has been placed as the pinnacle of what it means to exist instead of being a righteous person, a person of integrity.

“Now, it’s just we need to survive by any means necessary. We need to do by any means necessary. We need to hustle. If we need to, we need to kill people. We need to sell drugs…. While I deplore the immorality and the” lack of righteousness he says is rampant in the black community, we have to speak out against the system that has caused black people, specifically young black men, to think they are inferior, to continue act like animals, to convince them they are less than.

“When you convince them they are less than, long enough, they will start acting like they are less than,” said Thomas. “They are walking around here as if they are not human beings but rather like they are animals because we’ve conditioned them to like animals.

“When one connects with the relationship with God, we now have a direct line to our Creator who says we are beautifully and wonderfully made in his image, that means there is something great and powerful about us inside of ourselves,” he stated.

“There has no other people who have been deliberately set apart for degradation like black folks, not just slavery or poverty, but when a person’s history has been stripped from them” he says that is the seed of de-humanization that continues today.

Quoting historian John Henrik Clarke, Thomas said, “If you start the history of black people with slavery, everything since then will look like progress but it’s really not. I believe not only do we have to bring people to the knowledge of God the Creator, but we need to bring young black men to a knowledge of themselves.”

He said they should be told about their origins and how it  “didn’t just start on the boat, the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria but rather their “ancestry is a straight line to the beginning of human civilization.”

Research, he said, “connects everything back to Africa and if we start to get that longer view of connection back to Africa, that black folks didn’t start as second class, then I believe our young black men will start to see greater” than the picture painted by this society. “I think we need to not only re-establish our connection with God but also with our knowledge of self,” said Thomas.

When asked who will teach them their history, Thomas said it won’t be the current leadership generation. “And, they may not be the generation of my generation. It’s going to be up to our generation, people in their 20’s and 30’s who need to start seeking after African history and re-connect the dots of a heritage so great and legacy so wonderful now so that when we make our transition into our ancestries, the young black women and men we leave behind will have more to work with in re-connecting the dots.”

Thomas said it won’t happen over night but that it has to start one of these days. His goal is to “add something to that pool.” Thomas plans on getting a Ph.D. in Africana studies. He quoted 2^nd Corinthians: “We live by faith, not by sight.”

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.

Don’t be a ‘co-conspirator’ to murder

By Chinta Strausberg

After watching the play entitled “Tangled” at the ETA Theater late Thursday night involving several fatal shootings, Father Michael L. Pfleger said the “Code of Silence” must be broken and redefined by identifying those who turn in shooters as “lifesavers” rather than “snitches” who are viewed as traitors.

And for those who honor the street code and remain silent when they know the names of the shooters or killers, Pfleger said they are “co-conspirators” to murder and that the blood of the victims are on their hands.

Pfleger’s remarks stunned some of those who attended the play that depicts the affects of gun violence on a female-owned funeral home that was written by Nicole Anderson-Cobb and directed by Kamesha Khan.

In the Urban Dictionary, a snitch is defined as: “Someone who gives up incriminating evidence to people they have no business talking to in the first place. Some snitch because they need attention others snitch because they are scared.” In Webster’s dictionary, snitch means an informer.

When asked how does one break the code of silence that gives cover to killers, Pfleger has his own definition and one he hopes will become acceptable citywide. “I believe that breaking the code of silence is understanding that when someone gives information, they are not a snitch. They’re a lifesaver. We have to start identifying people who speak up to save lives.”

“If you know somebody who did something, and you don’t say anything, then you’re a co-conspirator, and if somebody else gets shot or killed, the blood is on your hands,” Pfleger told the audience.

And to those who say they are afraid to inform on someone who broke the law, Pfleger said, “I have been told that I’m going to die and I’m getting killed so many times, but I’m still here.”

Speaking to people of all faiths including Muslims, Jews or Christians,  Pfleger added: “All of us believe in those three faiths that God is Almighty, God is all powerful whether it is the Torah, the Koran or the bible, but I’m trying to figure out we believe that then go out in the street and be afraid. Then is God a fake, or are we fools?

“Because if God is God and who we say He is, otherwise stop going to the temple, the synagogue, the church. If we really believe in God, then let’s be His disciples in the street instead of being so afraid in the streets to speak out. We got to break that,” he said.

Referring to his foster son, Jarvis Franklin who was killed May 30, 1998 at 79^th and Carpenter eight-days after his 49^th birthday and on the day when he has just conducted a wedding, Pfleger said, “Nobody’s ever been caught for that because nobody would ever talk. It happened at 4 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. There were over 40 people there. That is when I then made my decision for the rest of my breath that I was going to fight against this violence.

“I do not believe in prisons. I hate prisons, but if you shoot and kill, you got to go to prison. You cannot shoot and kill, go to McDonald’s, go home, kick your feet up and watch TV like nothing happened. No, that was a life and we have to make sure that we value lives in our community,” said Pfleger.

In reviewing the play, he told the audience, that it is somewhat depressing in that “it’s so real…. It’s the reality that is all around us. This morning, I sat with a young man who witnessed a killing who wants to tell, but he’s afraid. He saw his friend shot down before his eyes. I sat with a mother and a father whose child was killed who want help to find the murderers.

“What keeps resonating in me is the fact that it’s not whether we can stop this; it’s whether we will.” Referring to Clo, the matriarch of the funeral home who was portrayed by Felisha D. McNeal, Pfleger said, “The line I want to point out to you that struck me in this play was what are we going to do?

“I think we’ve got caught up in the danger in our society of trying to get a quick fix like parents got to do it. We need more police. Bring in the National Guard. There’s no quick fix to this. This thing did not happen over night, and it’s not going to end overnight, but it can end when we decide to have the will,” he said. “And, it’s everything and everybody. Nobody in this room gets a pass. The reality is it’s going to stop when we decide as a community, a city as a country to stop it.” “We all got to do more.”

Referring to the young man he counseled this morning who had witnessed a murder, Pfleger said he was afraid to talk fearing his own death. “The reality was this happened in the middle of the day with 30 or 40 people around. If there were 20 people telling, no one person would be afraid. We have this fear because if one steps forward other people will be silent, sit back and that person becomes a target. My challenge is it’s going to stop when we decide we’re going to stop and we’re going to draw the line in the sand and say we’re tired of children dying and stop adjusting to what has become sick and dysfunctional. The village has become sick, and we got to fix the village so we can raise the children and that is our task. That is deciding what we can all do and how each one of us can get involved.”

Referring to some people putting up bottles, candles, Teddy Bears, police tape “and other landmarks of our communities” at the scene of a crime, Pfleger said, “That has become just as bad as shaking our heads, closing our blinds, praying and saying ‘Oh, God, just take care of this.’ God’s done all He’s going to do. It’s up to us. He gave us everything we’ve got to do it with.”

Before asking the audience what would they do to stem the violence in the community, Pfleger told of how one time he received calls from some residents to help them stop the drug dealing He asked the person to have at least ten people come. About 15 people showed up for the meeting. After asking what time does drug dealing go on which happened at night, Pfleger called for a meeting on a Friday night?

He told them to bring lawn chairs and they would sit on the block. “They looked at me like I was crazy,” said Pfleger. He said a 76-year-old woman said she would go. A man about 82, another man 80 and a 72-year-old woman volunteered. Everyone else was silent. He told them to bring a chair, paper and a pen or pencil and to take notes including license plate numbers.

Pfleger said there was one lady who leaned over and whispered, “Mike, I forgot my damn glasses. I ain’t see nothing.” He told her, “They don’t know that they can’t see. Pretend you can see and start writing down. The next I know she’s saying, “Move away, sir. I can’t see that license plate.” She’s writing down stuff and couldn’t see five feet in front her, but those three elders turned that block around in one week.”

“When we become free enough to not let our fears override our moral authority, when we decide as a group of people to say I’m only here for a moment…,whether I live until I’m 20 or until you’re 90 or 96 like my daddy, we’re here for a moment…(the question is) what are we going” to do with their time?

“That is what we’re going to be judged on, not whether we go to church…,” said Pfleger. “God is going to look at us and say what did you do with the breath I gave you. We can stop this. Three old folks stopped it on their block. Imagine if the community decides to say, ‘you know what? This summer ain’t going to happen.

“We’re going to put our arms around our children. We’re going to talk to our neighbors. We’re going to come out of our houses, and we’re going to report everything we see because we’re not going to allow blood on our streets anymore…. I think it’s that simple when we decide that this community that we live in is what God gave us to watch over and we’re going to take it back,” said Pfleger.

He told the audience of how he complains all the time including calling 911 to the point where when the operator answers, she says, “Hello, Father Pfleger.” He also told of how he sent a message to the mayor that he was ticked off at the city’s response to this violence. He asked the mayor for tools to shut down some of these stores where gangbangers hang out.

Referring to the store located in the 1400 block on West 79^th Street where six people were shot where one died and five were wounded, Pfleger said, “We closed it down and told the guy if you open it back up, I will come in here and drive a truck through your damn store because it’s nothing but a problem. He tried to open it up one day and we went over there and told him to close it down and it hasn’t opened since.”

Pfleger told about the small dog, an 8-pound Pomeranian that ultimately died, that was killed by a Pit Bull. The owner walked away; however, neighbors took pictures of him with his dog and it turns out the owner was an off-duty Chicago police officer.

“Everybody pulled out their cell phones taking pictures of this guy…. If we can get that upset on the North Side about a dog dying, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t, when somebody gets shot out on the street, how come people aren’t pouring out on that street taking pictures”?

Referring to 16-year-old Derrion Albert who in 2009 was beaten to death near his high school during a mob attack, Pfleger said, “Derrion Albert’s people got caught because everybody was taking pictures…and they put those guys in prison and I’m saying the same thing has to happen out on the street….

“If a brother or sister on the street doing wrong things knew that people are going to come out and respond…, they’re going to think twice,” said Pfleger. “They are not afraid of the police, and they have no reason to be afraid of the community because we don’t react and say this is not going to happen. When people respond, they say this is not a good location. We have to go some place else. We have to put pressure on people for programs and the money and if we don’t do that shame on us because I’m going to fight….”

“We have to become aggressive and we have to become the first responders in our neighborhoods…,” he told the audience.

 He opened up the discussion with the audience asking them what can or what are they doing to stem the violence. One woman heard shooting and she said, “I made up my mind that I am not going to walk around and be afraid. The next morning, some of the older guys rode around the neighborhood on their bicycles and we didn’t have anymore problems….”

Referring to gangbangers, Pfleger said, “Do you know how many folks have gotten killed innocently because they were coming after another member of that family. I’ve told some folks in my church, if you got an uncle, cousin or son in the gang, you make the decision if this is what you want to live with and who you want to be with and put yourself in that risk, fine, but you can’t come around this house anymore because you are not going to bring danger to everybody else who lives in this house.”

He said the 6-year-old girl who was killed Pfleger said “They were after a family member. We have to understand that these fools aren’t trained to shoot a gun. They just come to shoot, and they don’t even care if they get the person. If they can get a friend for a family member, they’ve made their point….” He said youth who are in the gangs must be banned from your home.

Jami Garton, who mentors with The Black Star Project’s, said, “our young boys what they’re doing right now are crying out and they’re using a weapon because they’re crying out. They don’t have the older men in our neighborhoods in their families that are reaching out to these young boys. They are not gangsters. They are not thugs. They are crying out for help. It’s our responsibility to take back our families…to take back our communities, our neighborhoods….”

Pfleger urged parents and neighbors to take youth out of their neighborhoods and to expose them to other environments. He told of counseling one 18-year-old boy who was crying. He wanted to die. He had run away from home and was afraid of getting hot.

When asked what did he want to be, the boy said he wants to be a fireman. Pfleger took him to a nearby firehouse and an African American fireman spent 25-minutes talking to him. Pfleger said that gave this youth the hope he needed and he talked to his mother who let him back into her home “because somebody brushed off his dreams that he already head.” He told the youth he could still do this….

Pfleger told a story about meeting an African American woman, who was one of a group of blacks who had worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. King’s son asked Pfleger to come and speak. Pfleger went over to the table of the Montgomery Improvement Association and knelt next to this woman and asked if he could talk to her.

When she told him to sit down, Pfleger told her, “No Ma’am. I don’t have the kind of courage you have. Can you just tell me what you did and why,” he asked referring to the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott.

She said every day she got up and walked to that white family’s house where she worked. She took care of their kids but the man called her nothing but the “N” word. “Every night, I’d walk back home.” And, because of the boycott, Pfleger said the woman recalled how the white man would make her work late. “There would be young people who would try to scare us, call us names and say they were going to kill us to get us to break the boycott…..”

Pfleger said the woman walked home and sat up all night with her feet in a bowl to bring the swelling down so I could put my shoes back on in the morning and walk to his house and do the same thing. He asked her, “What made you do this and kept you doing this for 381-days”? She told Pfleger, “My faith in God and because it was just right.”

“We have to talk to our children. We got to put pressure on the alderman. We have to close down bad stores. We have to run people out of our neighborhoods who are doing bad things and selling bad stuff. We have to do all of that not because we’re going to get a grant not because somebody is going to pay us.

Pfleger said, “It’s like that woman said, we have to answer to a God and number two because it’s just right. It’s time for us as a community to say, we’re going to do it because it’s right and we’re going to stop it; so plays like this are fiction and not real.”

Referring to Clo in the play, Pfleger said,” When Clo decided she was going to do something different, she didn’t need a drink that night.” He said we all have to play a role in taking back our communities and ending the “Code of Silence” is a good start.

The play, “Tangled,” will run through Sunday, May 19, 2012, at the ETA Creative Arts, 7558 S.  South Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60619, featuring Ameena Matthews, activist and star of “The Interrupters.” The play begins at 8 p.m.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.

(Chicago, IL) – The Illinois Association for Criminal Justice bestowed awards to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Congressman
Danny K. Davis and Illinois State Senators Mattie Hunter and Kwame Raoul
today for legislative leadership in criminal justice policy.

The association recognized Senator Durbin for authoring the Fair
Sentencing Act, which was signed into law in 2010 and reduces the
sentencing disparity in the mandatory penalties for possession of crack versus powder cocaine.

IACJ awarded Congressman Davis for sponsoring the Second Chance Act, which provides federal seed grants for programs that assist individuals released from prison to successfully reenter society

Senators Hunter and Raoul also received the group’s recognition for state legislative drug crime reform efforts in Springfield. Hunter successfully sponsored the Illinois Disproportionate Justice Impact Study Commission law that addresses racial disparities in justice system’s response to drug crimes.

Raoul won approval for Illinois Crime Reduction Act, a measure that invests in community-based solutions to non-violent, drug-related crime.

“At the heart of our mission, our goals are to advance criminal justice reforms that guarantee equality for all under the law, create safer communities, and reduce the financial burden of expensive and unnecessary incarceration on taxpayers,” said IACJ President Diane
Williams. “Congressman Davis and Senators Durbin, Hunter and Raoul embody those goals.”

“Our mission is to ensure that services and public policies are in place that will reduce crime and restore individuals to stability and productivity in their communities,” said Pamela Rodriguez, president of TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities), a founding
organizational member of IACJ. “We’re here today because it’s vital to recognize legislative leaders when they take courageous stands in matters of fiscal responsibility and social justice. We care about these issues, we understand the impact of public policy in our communities,
and we’re paying attention to what happens in Springfield and Washington.”

Sponsored by IACJ, the event was held at the Safer Foundation, which provides services education, employment, and support services for people with criminal records. Founded in 2010, the mission of the Illinois Association for Criminal Justice (IACJ) is to ensure quality, comprehensive and coordinated services for people with criminal histories through the education of the public, advocacy, and community capacity building. For more information,
please visit: www.illinoiscriminaljustice.org.

Photo Caption:  Illinois Association for Criminal Justice recognizes legislators for national and state leadership in addressing racial disproportionality in the justice system. Left to right:  Illinois State Senator Kwame Raoul; IACJ Chair Diane Williams; Clarisol Duque on behalf of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin; Congressman Danny Davis; Illinois State Senator Mattie Hunter; IACJ Vice-Chair Pamela Rodriguez. Photo Courtesy of David Ormsby.

(From the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners)

The March 20, 2012 Primary Election will nominate candidates to a variety of offices at the federal, state and local levels. In addition to party nominations, voters in all 50 wards will elect ward committeemen and delegates to the Republican and Democratic parties’ conventions.

Because it is a primary election to nominate candidates for political parties, voters must declare a party affiliation. All wards will offer Democratic or Republican ballots. Only certain wards with committeeman contests will offer Green Party ballots. There also will be a non-partisan ballot in a limited number of precincts in the 35th and 46th Wards that have advisory referendum questions.

To ensure a trouble and fraud-free election, the Chicago Election Board will have more than 200 investigators assigned to Election Day duty. This will include roving investigators assigned to every ward who will be making unannounced inspections of polling places – and investigators who are assigned to respond to calls for assistance.

Voters who witness anything irregular or encounter a problem on Election Day are urged to call the Board’s “Election Central” hotline at (312) 269-7870. These telephone lines will be staffed by Board personnel and attorneys versed in election law. “Election Central” hotlines will be operational on Election Day only.

On Election Day, registered voters may cast ballots only at the polling place assigned to their precinct. Voters who cast ballots in Grace Period Voting or Early Voting cannot return to change their votes. Lists of voters who have already cast ballots will be supplied to every polling place.

69 West Washington Street, Suites 600/800, Chicago IL 60602 ● 1.312.269.7900 ● fax 1.312.263.3649 ● TTY 1.312.269.0027 chicagoelections.com ● email: cboe@chicagoelections.com

Election Board Chairman Langdon D. Neal said voters are strongly encouraged to check their sample ballots and polling places before going to the polls. “Because of recent re-districting, millions of voters across Illinois will be in new local, state and federal election districts. If you can, please visit your local election agency web site to review a sample ballot before you go to the polls.”

The Chicago Election Board web site at www.chicagoelections.com gives voters their: 

• ·Voter registration status
• · Polling place for that precinct, with a map
• · Sample ballots for the Democratic and Republican parties, and, where applicable, the Green Party.
• · Absentee or early-voting ballot status.

For more information before Election Day, voters may visit other sections of the web site or call (312) 269-7900.

New Texting System to Find Your Polling Place

The Election Board also has introduced a new system for Chicago voters to find their polling places by texting the simplified version of their Chicago address (such as 1000 W Washington) to 312-361-8846. The system will send a text with the name and address of the polling place. Voters should text only the basic street address – and not a name, unit, city or ZIP code.

Absentee Ballot Postmark Deadline: Mon., March 19

Absentee voters must return their ballots with a postmark no later than Mon., March 19. Absentee ballots can be counted even if they arrive up to two weeks after the election on April 3. However, absentee ballots postmarked after March 19 cannot be counted.

Voters whose absentee ballots do not arrive in time or whose ballots cannot be returned by that deadline must go to the Polling Place and either surrender their absentee ballot to the Judges of Election and/or sign an affidavit to cast a ballot.

Voter Registration Rolls

A total of 1,288,293 Chicagoans are registered to vote in the upcoming election. The city has 2,369 precincts.

To prepare for the Primary Election, the Election Board completed a mail canvass in the fall and winter of 2011 to determine whether any voters had moved. Under federal law, any voters who might be listed as “inactive” can easily restore their voting rights on Election Day in the polling place by simply showing identification and signing an affidavit to show that they still live at the addresses listed on their registrations.

Also, persons who claim to be legally registered but whose registration records cannot be found may vote a provisional ballot. This ballot will be kept separately. The voter has two days to submit proof of their registration, and the election authority then has 14 days from the election to determine if the voter was qualified and whether that ballot can be added to the count. Ballots cast by eligible voters are then added to the election totals. Two to three weeks after the election, the status of all provisional ballots will be available for voters to check on the Board’s web site.

The Apollo Theater and London’s Hackney Empire present Hackney vs. Harlem, a Transatlantic Talent Competition featuring aspiring artists from the US and UK

US Competitors to Perform in “Amateur Night: Apollo Goes to London Semi-finals” on Wednesday, May 23

Auditions at the Apollo Saturday, March 31and Sunday, April 1 10:00am – 6:00pm

HARLEM, NY – The Apollo Theater announced a new partnership with London’s Hackney Empire for a transatlantic Amateur Night competition set to coincide with the 2012 Summer Olympics. This partnership will give up-and-coming vocalists the opportunity to compete on the legendary Apollo stage and bring a taste of Harlem to London’s Hackney Empire.

On Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1 the world-famous Apollo Theater will hold auditions for “Amateur Night Goes to London.”  Top performers will move on to compete in “Apollo Amateur Night: Apollo Goes to London Semifinals” on Wednesday, May 23. Winners of this Amateur Night will receive an all expense paid trip to London to represent the Apollo Theater at “Live at the Empire & Apollo Amateur Night: Hackney vs. Harlem” on July 14, 2012.

On Sunday, June 8 the Hackney Empire hosts Live at the Empire, the live London qualifying rounds for “Live at the Empire & Apollo Amateur Night: Hackney vs. Harlem,” with special guest performers and judges including the winner of Amateur Night at the Apollo, 2010, Ayanna Witter Johnson. Live at the Empire is the latest in a long history of shows aimed at discovering talent including, “291” and “New Act of the Year,” which have launched the careers of stars including Eddie Izzard, Alistair McGowan, Gina Yashere, Paloma Faith and Leona Lewis, to name a few.

Since its inception in 1934, Amateur Night has been one of New York City’s most popular live entertainment experiences, launching the careers of thousands of performers and attracting audiences from all over the world. The Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night has long been revered by artists as a transformative experience where up-and-coming talent feels the power of the legendary performers who have come before them, and where audience response can help make or break a career. This partnership will bring the Apollo Amateur Night experience to London.

Harlem vs. Hackney Schedule of Events:

• Apollo Theater auditions to be held at the Apollo Saturday, March 31and Sunday April 1 from 10:00 am-3:00pm; producer call backs from 3:00pm-6:00pm. Contestants should be prepared to stay from 10:00am-6:00pm on both days.
• Top talents selected at the auditions vie for a spot in the London competition at “Apollo Amateur Night: Apollo Goes to London Semifinals” on Wednesday, May 23 at 7:30pm at the Apollo.
• Live at the Empire, the live London qualifying rounds for “Live at the Empire & Apollo Amateur Night: Hackney vs. Harlem,” will be held at the Hackney Empire on Sunday, June 8.
• Grand Finale Talent Competition in London to take place on Saturday, July 14.
• Amateur Night at the Apollo on September 19 will feature the winners of the Grand Finale Talent Competition as guest artists.

Fan Travel Package

Amateur Night fans are invited to join the Apollo in London for the Apollo’s Amateur Night Fan London Tour. Individual and group packages are available for fans to experience Amateur Night’s London debut. The Apollo Amateur Night Fan London Package will include roundtrip transportation from New York City to London, England, roundtrip transfers to and from the airport, Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour of London, 3+ Star hotel accommodations, and optional add-on tour packages and special events.

For more information, email apollolondon@zenbiztravel.com or call 800-381-1580.

Tickets and Information

Tickets for Amateur Night begin at $19 and are available at the Apollo Theater Box Office: (212) 531-5305, 253 West 125^th Street and from Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171 or www.ticketmaster.com. Amateur Night’s 2011 Season runs through October 2012 on Wednesday nights at 7:30pm. Tickets for Amateur Night Goes to London are included in the Apollo Amateur Night Fan London Tour Package.

About Amateur Night 

Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has played a major role in the emergence of innovative musical genres including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul and hip-hop.  From its notoriously tough audience to the magic of the Tree of Hope, the Apollo Amateur Night story is the stuff that legends are made of – literally. Amateur Night has been the launching pad for some of the world’s greatest artists including Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five and Lauryn Hill. Long before Ted Mack and the Amateur Hour and American Idol, Apollo Amateur Night was, and continues to be, a primary source for discovering new talent and spotlighting up-and-coming artists, all hoping that the hallowed stage and the approval of the Apollo audience will launch their careers in the entertainment world.

About the Apollo Theater

The Apollo is a national treasure that has had significant impact on the development of American culture and its popularity around the world.  Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has played a major role in cultivating artists and in the emergence of innovative musical genres including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop.  Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis, Jr., James Brown, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and countless others began their road to stardom on the Apollo’s stage. The Apollo Theater’s new artistic vision builds on its legacy.  New Apollo programming has music as its core, driving large scale and more intimate music, dance and theater presentations.  The Apollo will continue to present historically relevant presentations, as well as more forward-looking, contemporary work. Based on its cultural significance and architecture, the Apollo Theater received state and city landmark designation in 1983 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For more information, visit www.apollotheater.org.

About Hackney Empire

‘The most beautiful theatre in London” -The Guardian (UK)

Built in 1901 by legendary architect Frank Matcham, Hackney Empire has been providing quality entertainment for 110 years making it one of London’s oldest and finest Victorian theatres. Since the turn of the last century, many global stars have graced the stage including Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Houdini, Coleridge Taylor, Louis Armstrong and Cliff Richard to name a few. Now it welcomes over 140,000 people a year to its glittering programme of musicals, family shows, gigs, opera and off course the world-renowned pantomime. Situated in the heart of London’s East End, the artists who play the Hackney Empire and its audiences reflect the diversity of the global population of London. The Hackney Empire has a longstanding history of promoting African American and British artists including The Jubilee Singers in the 1900s, Louis Armstrong and Dionne Warwick, Nona Hendrix and Denise Williams. Hackney Empire also runs regular participatory activity for the local community and young people, including workshops; a community choir, talent competitions and much more. For more information or to get involved visit the website hackneyempire.co.uk.

Amateur Night at the Apollo is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company.

The Apollo’s annual season is made possible by lead support from The Coca-Cola Company, The Parsons Family Foundation, the Ronald O. Perelman Family Foundation, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, Reginald Van Lee New Works Fund, the Ford Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Neuberger Berman Foundation.

Lead annual support is also provided by public funds from the City of New York Theater Sub-district Council; with additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; and the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Holds 47^th birthday bash, too

By Chinta Strausberg

CHICAGO, IL – Just two-days before Valentine’s Day, Pastor Ira J. Acree, author of “In Pursuit of Mr. Right,” is holding his first book-signing for this book at 1 p.m., Sunday, February 12, 2012, at the Greater St. John Bible Church of Chicago, 1256 North Waller, in Chicago.

And if that is not a huge achievement, Pastor Acree is also celebrating his 47^th birthday complete with cake, ice cream and light refreshments.

When asked what is his birthday wish, the activist Minister, Pastor Acree, said his ultimate dream and birthday wish is “for each child in Chicago to have an opportunity to receive a quality education.”

In the interim, Acree’s book not only teaches women the art of getting and keeping “Mr. Right” but to do so in a righteous and biblical sense. His book also gives excellent advice to naïve women who want to avoid meeting “deadbeat” men.

Pastor Acree gives women some controversial advice on how to get a man by being aggressive, how to keep him happy, and how to win your man when there is female competition nipping at your heels.

What is his secret solution? Acree uses the bible as his source of reference.

“In Pursuit of Mr. Right is definitely a page turner…. just from the title you’re inclined to dive in and see what biblical principles Pastor Acree has to share. Finally, a book that on point with steps that unlocks secrets to lasting love. This book allows singles liberation without condemnation for wanting to be in the “right” relationship and marriage,” said Effie Rolfe, speaker and radio personality, assistant program director/music director at Inspiration 1390/WGRB AM 1390 and author of “The (K)Nots Prayer Journal & SuperSize Your Thinking.”

Rev. Dr. Marshall Hatch, pastor of New Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church who is professor of Urban Ministry at the Northern Baptist Seminary, said, “I find it interesting that many are reading Steve Harvey’s book, the “King of Comedy,” as if they are reading the bible. Here is Rev. Acree, married almost 25-years and is a pastor. I think people will find his book, one based on the bible, much more helpful.”

Acree is also the author of “The Man in the Mirror,” which was released in January 2011.

For more information, Pastor Acree can be reached at:  773-339-8590.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.

African-Americans are about two times as likely as Caucasians to develop Alzheimer’s disease 

CHICAGO, IL – Because African-Americans are about two times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than Caucasians, and in honor of Black History Month, the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Illinois Chapter is partnering with Chicago State University to train 17 PharmD candidates to deliver much needed programming to the African-American Community.

“It is vitally important that we not only educate our students about diseases plaguing the global community but also equip them with resources and skills to meet the needs of the community as future health-care practitioners, said Angela C. Riley, IPPE Coordinator, Office of Experiential Education, Assistant Professor, Pharmacy Practice, Chicago State University College of Pharmacy and member of the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Illinois Chapter Board of Directors. “We are very excited about the program and all that it entails, as Chicago State University College of Pharmacy is dedicated to the mission of the university to strengthen the provision of culturally competent care and reduce health-care disparities. Working with the Greater Illinois Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association to develop Chicago State University College of Pharmacy students as Alzheimer’s Association community representatives will further support this mission.”

The training will be conducted by Beverly Kimmons , M.S., Director, Diversity Initiatives for the Greater Illinois Chapter.  Once trained the Alzheimer’s Association Community Representatives, will deliver community education programs, attend health fairs on Chapter’s behalf and speak to community groups about the mission, programs and services of the Alzheimer’s Association.  This exciting opportunity will help expand the presence of the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Illinois Chapter within the African-American Community.

In the United States , an estimated 5.4 million people are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and someone develops the disease every 69 seconds.  In Illinois , the number of people aged 65 and older with Alzheimer’s is 210,000; the number is expected to increase by 14% to 240,000 in the next fifteen years.  Alzheimer’s is a brain disease that causes a slow, steady loss of memory, reasoning and other thinking tasks.  The costs associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are substantial – and if left unaddressed will bankrupt our State.  In Illinois , nearly 580,000 caregivers, contribute more that 659 million hours of unpaid care, at an estimated value of more than $7.8 billion.

For more information about Alzheimer’s disease or to learn how to become an Alzheimer’s Association Community Representative call 847.933.2413 or visit www.alz.org/illinois.

About the Alzheimer’s Association

The Alzheimer’s Association, the world leader in Alzheimer research and support, is the largest voluntary health organization dedicated to finding prevention methods, treatments and cure for Alzheimer’s. Since 1980, the donor supported, nonprofit Alzheimer’s Association has provided reliable information and care consultation; created supportive services for families; increased funding for dementia research; and influenced public policy changes. The Greater Illinois Chapter serves 68 counties with offices in Bloomington , Carbondale , Chicago , Joliet , Rockford and Springfield . For more information, call our Helpline at 800.272.3900 or visit www.alz.org/illinois.

By H. Lewis Smith

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — On February 13, 2012, renowned actor Laurence Fishburne will narrate a PBS documentary, Slavery By Another Name. The documentary will show that slavery in America did not end in 1865 with the Emancipation Proclamation as the majority of people have been led to believe. Rather, with the federal government’s quiet complicity, slavery actually ensued for almost another 100 years with all of the evil, horror, and brutal aspects of race-hate escalating to even greater heights.

To maintain the status quo in society, the South’s judicial system was wholly reconfigured, and one of its primary purposes was to coerce African Americans to comply with the social customs and labor demands of whites by any means necessary. As such, the spirit and ways of life under slavery, as well as the inferior mentalities, also continued; and now, even at the hand of the Black community.

Whatever “education” and deformed self-image the slave master imposed upon blacks during slavery has persisted, and been handed down – by Blacks – throughout the generations. The continued self-hatred and minute or unfound self awareness that permeates throughout the Black community is a direct result of 400-plus years of mind control.

The mentality or beliefs that the majority of African Americans presently and voluntarily adhere to is the same unfortunate policy of inferiority and self-hatred Blacks were forced to subscribe to when enslaved: Anyone who is convinced his or her past is empty, backward, shameful or, indeed, totally negative, will normally resist any attempt to revisit that past. Such a person will have no true identity, despise self, and have no real awareness of his/her culture and heritage. This same person will refuse to consciously participate in or relate to any cultural customs, and will resist any attempt to validate any “facts” discovered. They remain in the darkness, helpless, and dependent. The doctrine hasn’t changed one bit.

In order to correct the problem, Blacks must consciously and sub-consciously realize that what they were taught was not for their liberation, but was and still is only in the best interest of the ruling class. History translates into “his-story” – the manner in which one understands or interprets history from his or her own perspective to his or her own benefit. Today, Blacks are living witnesses as to how real black history has been – by “his-story” – distorted, misleading, deceptive and mind controlling. American history teaches that slavery ended in 1865; this misinformation is a blatant example of how the truth can be and is tampered with to seemingly save face for America, “the dream country”. However, the obvious suppression of or disregard for such a critical piece of American history makes one question what other aspects of history, in general, have the people been lied to and deceived about.

Evidence all around the world suggests that Black civilizations were far more advanced than the images portrayed to the black community by the ruling class. The ruling class would have Black America believe that the Black race is limited to huts, spears and jungle life with no trace of civility, culture, organization, and self-sufficiency. Research exposes this as a gross fabrication.

Further, Black America must confront and correct the lies that have destroyed the group as a people. With the exception of the Black man’s image as presented by academics, the average African American knows very little, if anything at all, about his or her African heritage, and has, more than likely, been misinformed. The American-born black man and black woman are completely brainwashed beings who only know, recognize and comprehend or experience what their slave master has decided for them. It’s incumbent upon Black America – as a group – to liberate their own minds.

Secular and non-secular people who have spent centuries strategically and heinously orchestrating the black community’s physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual enslavement are not going to just turn around and set Blacks free; Blacks must remove the shackles of mental enslavement themselves.

Consider a white hunter who sets out to capture a baby elephant. He approaches a baby elephant and its mother. Sensing danger, the mother charges at the hunter who raises his rifle, pulls the trigger, and kills the charging elephant. The baby elephant is captured, tranquilized, and with a cable wrapped around its neck, taken into captivity where it is tied to a post. For five years, it remained tied to that post even though it is now full grown and could have uprooted the post at any time. However, the elephant did not realize it possessed this strength as it had been trained to accept enslavement and that bondage was the norm. Finally, one day, it unintentionally broke free of the cable, and rather than scuffling off, the elephant chose to remain close to the post even though it was now free.

The elephant elected captivity, which is unnatural, because it was so accustomed to being tied down and stuck in one spot. This story is analogous to Black America’s predicament and its use of the n-word. Black Americans’ use of the n-word is a result of being conditioned, programmed and trained to carry out the bidding of a manipulative racist society.

There are many Black African Americans who really do not want or know how to be free, for with freedom come accountability and responsibility. Just as White America continued promoting slavery well after the Emancipation Proclamation – a supposed hard and immediate stop to all forms of slavery, the Black community has [also] allowed the slave mentality to continue: Blacks have continued to promote and keep alive the demise of the Black community and stifled progression by use of the n-word, which was created to hold blacks in an inferior place in society. As such, this has caused learned helplessness, docility and passivity in the black community, keeping many Blacks cerebrally anesthetized no matter the extent of education attained.

Many Blacks have chosen not to move away from the post, and, frankly, that’s quite bewildering. How is it that so many in the black community have chosen to remain captive and stationary? The RIGHT mix of KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, and WISDOM enables one to move away from that post and toward progress. These three essential components that are necessary for resurrection and empowerment are defined as:

1) Knowledge: awareness of the facts, truth, and reality. Black America must undo fables, lies and fantasies. Blacks as a people are more committed to fables, lies and fantasy than facts, truth and reality, which is a tremendous problem.

2) Understanding: comprehending the “right” knowledge, and manifesting it into action.

3) Wisdom: the optimum combination of knowledge and understanding expressed in the ability to make things happen.

Acquiring this enlightenment will automatically cause one to deviate from the norm and move away from that post or bondage. However, many remain captive because they have consciously chosen not to acknowledge and garner the elements needed for resurrection and empowerment.

Until African Americans as a group are ALL free, none are truly free. Need the name Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. be raised? Or the 2004 political incident where the Black Caucus was virtually told to be quiet and sit down by a combined show of force from the Democrat and Republican parties?

Black America has taken non-black man made doctrines – rather, white man made doctrines – as the inflicting rule and guide over and above facts and reality. Blacks have literally accepted that which does not even make sense as fact and truth.

The modern day equivalent of remaining tied to the post is to verbally acknowledge that you are a n**ger/n**ga. The Whoopi Goldbergs, Sherri Shepherds, and Byron Pitts of television land could never publicly deny the n-word and keep their coveted positions. Embracing the word assures them of acceptance. The irony of it all is that they are not feigning or doing it for show – they truly have accepted their so-called place as the n-word.

When listening to the lyrics of rap music, the n-word is used in the same context with violence, drugs, and misogyny. Rappers such as Jay Z, P. Diddy, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, and many others have all benefited exponentially by reassuring the systemic that they are doing their part of keeping Black America in its place and tied to the post. No longer is there a need for the hooded white sheets. Black ventriloquists have voluntarily replaced the KKK , and, to be perfectly honest, are doing a far more masterful job of maintaining the mental enslavement of the Black race.

Black African Americans unhealthy willingness to self-sabotage serves as a testimony to the effectiveness of 400 years of mental abuse (mind control). To overcome! A process that never took place, must and needs to take place… DE-PROGRAMMING!
H. Lewis Smith is the founder and president of UVCC, the United Voices for a Common Cause, Inc. (www.theunitedvoices.com); a writer for the New England Informer Online, Staff Writer for ThyBlackMan.com, and author of “Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Love Affair with the N-Word”. Follow H. Lewis Smith on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thescoop1