People Of Color Committee

Florida slavers are found guilty

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:27:51 +0000

A Florida jury convicted a mother and daughter charged with enslaving and abusing a Haitian girl for six years before she escaped to tell her story. Evelyn Theodore, 74, and Maude Paulin, 52, now face seven to 10 years in prison for violating Simone Celestin’s 13th Amendment right to be free from slavery and for forcing her to work for them. Celestin, now 22, said that she was 5 years old when she was stolen from her mother and grandmother in a remote mountain village in Haiti and forced to pretend she was an orphan at an orphanage that Theodore operated with her husband. When Celestin was 14, she was taken to the United States on a work visa and, for the next six years, slaved away for 15-hour days with no pay. In 2005 – after years of beatings, no schooling, sleeping on the floor, bathing with a hose and having too little to eat or to wear – Celestin escaped. Theodore and Paulin used their hands, shoes, curling irons and other objects to administer their whippings, Celestin said. Testifying in court Wednesday, Celestin said that she often considered suicide. What kind of sentence do you think is fair?

U.S. Pressuring Sudan To Allow International Troops

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:22:47 +0000

The east African nation is responsible for the deaths of nearly 250,000 people
By the end of last December, 26,000 troops were supposed to descend upon the Darfur region of Sudan to help stanch a half-decade of senseless murder and destruction. But the deadline for the agreement, signed by the government of Sudan, the United Nations and the African Union, has long passed, and the violence and its impact goes unabated. “Given the humanitarian suffering, given the instability and violence that’s going on, its way past time for talk,” said Ambassador Richard Williamson, as President Bush’s special envoy to Sudan, who was appointed at the beginning of the year. “We have to have action including accelerating deployment of African Union-United Nations troops on the ground.” His comments to reporters followed his meeting Wednesday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. During Bush’s first term, the U.S. government took the extraordinary step to characterize Sudan’s actions in western Sudan as genocide, blaming the Arab-controlled government of sanctioning the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads to annihilate the nation’s ethnic African peoples. To day, according to humanitarian agency observers, some 250,000 people have been slaughtered and more than 2 million people driven from their homes over the past five years. Officials from the Sudanese government have held up the deployment of all but 9,000 peacekeepers – 7,500 military personnel and 1,500 police officers – saying that the United Nations reneged on its promise to ensure that the force be composed of African Union troops. Williams said he has met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to request that he allow 1,600 troops from Nepal and Thailand if the soldiers do not arrive until after thousands of African troops arrive first. “He did not reject it,” Williamson said. “We’re going to have some follow up discussions. All we want is results on the ground, so there can be alleviation of humanitarian suffering, so there can be some stability,” he said. “I think we’re wrong to obsess about the helicopters. Our immediate obsession should be to try to get peacekeepers on the ground.”

Mortgage Mess Reaches A New Level of Despair

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:21:26 +0000

Nearly a million homeowners, disproportionately Black, are losing their properties
Nearly a million homeowners are floundering in the nation’s mortgage monsoon, and there’s no reason to believe the storm will subside anytime soon, experts agree. The latest figures show that more Americans are losing their homes than at any other time in memorable history. A new survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that banks have swooped down on 900,000 households. “Declining home prices are clearly the driving factor behind foreclosures, but the reasons and magnitude of the declines differ from state to state,” said Doug Duncan, MBA’s Chief Economist said in a statement. “In states like Ohio and Michigan, declines in the demand for homes due to job losses and out-migration have left those looking to sell their homes with fewer potential buyers, particularly with the much tighter credit restrictions borrowers now face. In states like California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, overbuilding of new homes created a surplus that will take some time to work through.” Meanwhile, in Illinois, Attorney General Lisa Madigan has subpoenaed Countrywide Home Loans Inc. and Wells Fargo Financial Illinois as the state investigates whether they violated fair lending and civil rights laws by targeting Blacks and Latinos for high-interest, high-risk loans. For the second consecutive year, Illinois’ largest city, Chicago, leads the nation in the number of such loans. And the disparity between minority and White borrowers is stark. A Chicago Reporter study found that Black borrowers were three times as likely as their White counterparts to receive a high-cost loan, while Hispanics were twice as likely as Whites to do so. “The difference in cost between the home loans sold to white borrowers and those sold to African-American and Latino borrowers is alarming,” Madigan told The Chicago Sun-Times. The thing that has civil rights leaders in an uproar is in large part the fact that the wealthiest African-American homeowners are still far more likely than the poorest White homeowners to get strapped with high-cost loans. “The aim of these investigations is to find out the reasons for these pricing disparities, and if those reasons are not based on valid underwriting criteria and creditworthiness to hold the lenders responsible for their actions,” Madigan said.

U.S. Catches Criticism For Its Treatment of Katrina Victims

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:20:37 +0000

A U.N. panel says that America is discriminating by tearing down low-income homes
Rapper Kanye West once suggested that the U.S. government dissed Hurricane Katrina victims because President Bush doesn’t like Black people. Now, the United Nations is looking into whether the United States actually violated a treaty on racism based on the way the government is treating survivors of the killer storm of 2006. On Friday, a U.N. panel – egged on by two advisers who have called the U.S. government’s decision to raze a swath of ramshackle low-income homes in New Orleans “discriminatory” – will determine whether the violation occurred. But critics say that such a conclusion is not justified, arguing that the advisers never even bothered to visit New Orleans, and that they ignored the fact that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will retain several of the city’s other housing complexes. HUD even provided vouchers that former public-housing residents can use to rent apartments across the city, The Times-Picayune reports. For the past several months, activists have blasted the government for its decision to demolish four low-income housing projects in New Orleans, saying that such action makes it more difficult for poor and African-American residents to return home after leaving in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita’s destruction. Statements by U.N. panelists Miloon Kothari of New Delhi, India, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s specialist on adequate housing, and Gay McDougall of Washington, D.C., the U.N. independent expert on minority issues, sided with opponents of the demolition. Destroying the homes, they said, would end up “increasing poverty and homelessness,” especially for African-American hurricane victims. What’s needed, they noted, is more input from residents and former residents, the Times-Picayune reports. As for the U.S. housing department’s plans, they are too slow and insufficient for the 5,000 people who traditionally have relied on public housing, they said. The statement, which was released in Geneva, Switzerland, last week, didn’t help America’s image abroad. Today, the U.N. panel will determine whether the United States and 11 other nations, are adhering to the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In the past, the United States has spoken out boldly against Australia’s treatment of Aborigines and the genocide in Darfur, in western Sudan. Do you agree that America is discriminating?

Rapper Could Get 25 Years Prison Time

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:19:24 +0000

Jury selection begins in Remy Ma shooting case
Potential jurors are being interviewed in the felonious assault trial of rapper Remy Ma. She’s alleged to have shot a long-time acquaintance twice in the abdomen last summer after a dispute about money. Remy reportedly accused Makeda Barnes-Joseph of stealing $2,000. Jury selection in the trial began Thursday in New York. Remy Ma has pleaded not guilty and is free on bail. She faces up to 25 years in prison, if convicted. Do you think she’ll get time?

A U.N. commission asks the U.S. to step up its game in NOLA

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:18:04 +0000

The U.S. government must do more to return affordable housing to New Orleans, where low-income neighborhoods were washed out by Hurricane Katrina three years ago, a United Nations treaty commission ruled Friday. A good start would be for the feds to give displaced residents a say in the plans for poor communities, said the U.N. committee, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Should the government get community input in rebuilding poor neighborhoods?

Mayors balk on scandal-ridden Detroit as annual meeting place

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:17:02 +0000

The nation’s African-American mayors say they’re taking their annual meeting to New Orleans instead of Detroit because of the sex-text scandal involving the Motor City’s hip-hop honcho. “We just did not want that environment to interfere with our objectives,” said St. Gabriel (La.) Mayor George Grace, who also serves as the mayors association president. “It’s not that we’re against Detroit, or the people of Detroit or even Mayor Kilpatrick. We just want to keep focus on our issues.” The mayors chose New Orleans over Las Vegas for the June 4-8 gathering. It was originally planned for Detroit in April. But Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been embroiled in a steamy sex scandal, uncovered by The Detroit Free Press. In January, the newspaper has been hammering a story on an alleged affair between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. The duo had shared thousands of text-messages on city-issued cell phones but lied, under oath, about the lurid exchanges during court proceedings involving a former police officer who had been fired. Kilpatrick and Beatty could be facing perjury charges in the near future, and several members of the City Council are urging the so-called “Hip-hop Mayor” to step down.

40/40 night spot is spotted for $175,100

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:16:04 +0000

Two liens totaling nearly $200,000 have been filed against rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Las Vegas. Robert Brummet, of Southland Industries, sued to have a lien placed on 40/40 for $170,000, claiming that Jay-Z never paid for work performed by Madison Grace Construction Services. Nevada Ready Mix sued to have a $5,100 lien put on the club. Jay-Z, who also owns 40/40s in other locations, including Atlantic City, hasn’t made a comment about the legal actions.

Rihanna helps lawyer find bone marrow volunteer

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:14:55 +0000

Singer Rihanna’s campaign in support of international donor network DKMS has led to help for a 41-year-old New York lawyer in need of a bone marrow transplant. Lisa Gershowitz Flynn was diagnosed with myelogenous leukemia last November. Rihanna’s support and advocacy helped generate 5,000 calls and e-mails to DKMS, plus about 2,000 newly registered donors. “When I heard about Lisa’s plight, my heart broke,” the recent Grammy winner told People.com. It’s not known precisely when Gershowitz’s 32-year-old marrow donor registered with DKMS. Of Rihanna, Gershowitz says: “The English language does not have words that are adequate to thank someone for working to save your life.”

Obama Smashes Clinton in Wyoming caucuses

peopleofcolor — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:13:36 +0000

All caucuses and primaries are important as the delegates dry up
Just four days after Sen. Barack Obama was defeated by Sen. Hillary Clinton in Ohio and Texas primaries, the Illinois senator crushed his opponent in the Wyoming Democratic presidential caucuses Saturday, essentially canceling out her few-delegate margin in those two states. Obama defeated Clinton 61 percent to 38 percent, and campaign officials called the victory a “very important win,” noting that their candidate has now 30 state contests, compared with Clinton’s 18 states. The win was not much of a surprise, in that Obama has rocked his rival in virtually all of the smaller state caucuses. In Alaska, for example, he captured 74 percent; 70 percent in Kansas; 61 percent in North Dakota; and 79.5 percent in Idaho. Wyoming was the last of the caucuses. He now moves on to Mississippi for Tuesday’s primary. Obama is also expected to win in Mississippi, where – like South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana – he will get a chance to battle in a southern primary with large populations of African-American voters. Who do you think will get the Democratic nomination?