(NNPA) During the past 100 years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the African National Congress (ANC) have directly shared in contributing to the attainment of some of the most important milestones in the history of African people, as well as making indelible contributions to the progressive uplift and transformation of all humanity throughout the world. In other words, just to be clear, whenever Black people in Africa or in America, or anywhere in world, have stood up and have fought for freedom, justice and equality, it has inured irrepressible benefits to all people who have also cried out and struggle for freedom and equal justice.

This year marks the 100 anniversary of the African National Congress. We celebrate and take due notice of the historic accomplishments of the ANC in overcoming the racist apartheid regime in South Africa and for leading the way to the continued transformation of South African society into a non racial democracy and economy. We salute the ANC for outstanding achievements in the long struggle of humanity to overcome and overthrow the painful brutality and miseries of slavery, oppression and economic imperialism.

Similarly three years ago in 2009, we observed and celebrated the 100 anniversary of the NAACP. It is so important that we remind ourselves, and in particular our youth, that freedom and equality has required great sacrifice and struggle for decades and centuries. The NAACP is the world’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. We should never take for granted the progress that has been secured as a result of the work, struggle, sacrifice and leadership of the NAACP and the ANC.

We still have much work to do in 2012 and into the future both in America and in South Africa, and throughout the world where Black people and others are still valiantly yearning for freedom and standing up against the so-called post-modern institutionalized systems of racial and socioeconomic oppression and exploitation. This is no time to engage in any historical myths about a “post-civil rights” or a “post-freedom-fighting” era of life. I believe we have not only today a “right” to struggle, but also a “responsibility” to struggle and continue to fight for equality and empowerment.

Today across the United States, various states are attempting to undermine the Voting Rights Act, in particular in those states where Blacks and Latinos have a large percent of the potential statewide vote. 2012 is one of most important election years in our lifetime. Yet it is most unfortunate that some of us have forgotten about the sacrifice of NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers and many others in the NAACP that gave their lives so that we can have the fundamental right to vote. For Black Americans and others the right to vote is blood-soaked with a moral and historical responsibility that should never be taken for granted.

Millions of South Africans and millions of others throughout the world celebrated the first century of the ANC, Africa’s oldest liberation movement and the current ruling party in South Africa. The ANC is the party of John Dube, Oliver R. Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Albert John Lutuli, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, and President Jacob Zuma and millions of freedom fighters who were victorious against apartheid in South Africa. We salute the ANC for all that it has done and continues to do to cause and sustain the liberation and development of Africa. President Zuma stated, “”Our freedom was definitely not free. It was achieved through the blood, sweat and tears of many selfless leaders and cadres of the movement……… As we mark the ANC centenary, this is the right moment to pause and ponder the future of South Africa and of the ANC over the next 100 years.”

ANC spokesperson, Jackson Mthembu, affirmed, ““We have been able to reach 100 years because of the leadership quality that we have had in the ANC………..Members of the ANC, despite the serious onslaught against them and their families — being in prison, in exile, maimed and killed — remained loyal to this organization after over years of struggle.” The future of South African has many promising opportunities under the continued leadership of the ANC.

During the tenure of WEB Dubois and James Weldon Johnson at the NAACP, there was an ongoing mutual and supportive dialogue that transpired between the ANC and the NAACP. We need that same type of dialogue and joint planning today for the future mission for the continued advancement, progress and liberation of African people all over the world. We are all beneficiaries of the successful struggles of the past. The question now before us is how can we build a stronger alliance with our sisters and brothers of the ANC? The struggle for freedom, justice and equality is a global struggle and thus our civil rights organizations need to expand and to build on an international plane in order to meet the global challenges. Long live the spirit of the ANC and the NAACP!

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is the National Director of Occupy the Dream and President of Education Online Services Corporation and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.

(NNPA) As we begin 2012, the issue of “income inequality” is a matter of high importance for millions of Black Americans and others who struggle to improve their overall quality of life. The fact is that the contradiction of economic injustice for decades has had a devastating impact on Black people across America. Inequality and systematic racial discrimination in education, economics, and the environment have been so pervasive and institutionalized that too many of us have come to falsely believe that this situation is permanent without recourse to challenge and change it. This is again why the growing Occupy Wall Street movement should be of particular interests to African Americans and Latino Americans who are the two groups that are most affected quantitatively by income inequality in America.

Black church leaders, in particular, are now moving to the forefront once again to raise the level of consciousness and social action of millions of Black people around this issue through the rise of Occupy the Dream that is revitalizing and reapplying the therapeutic and uplifting dream and legacy of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Our situation can and will change to the extent to which we organize and mobilize around our defined economic and political interests. More than ever before, Black Americans will have a larger role in shaping the future of America. But we must be focused on what the priority issues are while standing tall and bold in support of an inclusive movement for social change.

What is income inequality? It is the measurement of the distribution of income that highlights the gap between individuals or households making the most of the income in a given country and those making the least for a period of time. In the United States, overall income inequality has steadily increased during last 30 years between the super wealthy and the super poor. When you add race as a distinguishing characteristic, the widening gap of income inequality between Blacks and Whites in the U.S. exposes the lingering impact of years of targeted discrimination and economic injustice imposed on vast majority of Black Americans. Income inequality is the extent of disparity between high income and low income households.

The “Gini coefficient” measures income inequality by calculating the extent to which the distribution of income among individuals within a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. During the last ten years the United States had the highest Gini ranking of income inequality at coefficient number of “46” of all leading industrialized nations in the world. The Gini coefficient (named after an Italian statistician named Corrado Gini) is the most commonly used measure of income inequality. A Gini coefficient of 0 represents perfect equality (that is, every person in the society has the same amount of income); a Gini coefficient of 100 represents perfect inequality (that is, one person has all the income and the rest of the society has none). In the U.S., 1% of the people overwhelmingly and increasingly control the wealth of the nation at the economic hardship of 99% of the people. To put this inequality into a global context, the Credit Suisse Research Institute just released a report that documents that the richest .5% of global adults hold well over a third of the entire wealth of the world.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010-2011, the poverty rate in the U.S. reached its highest level since 1933 while the Forbes 400, an annual listing of America’s richest individuals inflation-adjusted net worth, cited that the wealth of the Forbes 400 rose from $507 billion in 1995 to over $2 trillion in 2011. Black Americans of all groups listed in national annual poverty analysis have the highest and increasing annual poverty rates in America going into 2012. I do not have to list the litany of all the problems that we face from double unemployment, foreclosures, loss of health care, incarceration, school drop outs, and other real painful problems as a result of the economic inequities and injustices that Black Americans face. The systemic problem of income inequality is a serious issue that we must address forthrightly. But we should not become cynical or hopeless. To the contrary, Black Americans have options. We first need to focus on this problem and we need to work on the solutions to income inequality. So much of our future is at stake. In the spirit of Dr. King and in the legacy of all our ancestors who overcame great hurdles in the past, let us pray, work, struggle, organize, mobilize, unify and build a future for our children and communities.

Join the movement. Let’s stand up to income inequality. Let’s occupy our dreams…. Let’s occupy our future.

Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is National Director of Occupy the Dream and President of Education Online Services Corporation and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN).

Some would make the February 7 run-off election for San Bernardino City Clerk a referendum on current or past elected officials and have made it clear that they want me to do so also. But politicizing the Clerk’s office sells it short and diminishes the importance of true neutrality in providing San Bernardino residents the best possible service. It also belies my 25-year record of maintaining a healthy distance from elected officials in order to maintain professional independence.

First as a journalist and then as a public information and communications officer for public agencies, my only allegiance has been in letting the public know what its elected leaders are doing. My career choices have required that I maintain professional distance, take accurate notes, develop a firm backbone, thick skin and ability to speak for myself—all vital skills for the City Clerk.

Running for office is new to me, but managing people, projects and public information is not. I am the clear choice for City Clerk because I have the appropriate education, extensive communications experience and an unmatched passion for open government. My motivation in running for City Clerk is to post agendas, not promote or oppose one, even if it behooves me. That’s what ethics is about, and it’s what I’m about.

I came to San Bernardino in 1994 when I accepted a job as a reporter. The affordable housing, proximity to the mountains, and the people I met kept me here long after I traded my reporter’s notebook for a public relations job. And now I’m eager to use my skills and experience to benefit my adopted community. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, with a minor in political science. My graduate work in communications focus on open government and public records law—key aspects of the City Clerk’s job. Most notably, I am the only candidate with formal City Clerk training from the City Clerks Association of California.

Besides keeping the City Clerk’s office independent and local elections fair, I’d like to increase the volume of city records that are digitized, make them easier to find online and streamline the business registration process to allow business owners to apply for, get approvals, renew and pay for registrations online, saving them time and effort.

As the public’s main link to its government, the caretaker of its history if you will, the Clerk must treat everyone equally and be committed to fair elections and integrity in the official record. We cannot allow our city’s records to be managed by someone who favors one elected official over others. San Bernardino needs a City Clerk who values accuracy in the official record, and has the skills and independence to protect those records them from those who might not. I am that person, and I need your vote.

Directly related professional experience and educational focus, not any political alliances, are what will ensure the City Clerk’s office is run professionally, and—most importantly—independently—from other City Hall departments.

Therefore, in order to avoid even an appearance of collusion that might affect my ability to remain independent, I have not sought endorsement from elected officials or special interest groups—even those I agree with, and even though it may mean greater financial support. Ethics is doing the right thing even if it isn’t personally beneficial. I understand the constraints I place on myself in not seeking endorsement, and in maintaining my “independent” political party affiliation; abandoning these positions would make it easier for partisan groups to endorse me. It’s the way to win, people have told me. But I think we’re capable of something better in San Bernardino.

That is why you won’t find my name next to any other elected official in this city in this election, or any other. Instead, I’m asking you to consider my qualifications, consider my demonstrated commitment to independence, and then make the choice to support me, the clear choice for this most important position. Ballots come out the week of January 9; please vote and return them early.

Gigi Hanna is a candidate in the run-off for San Bernardino City Clerk. Her web site is www.gigihanna4sbcityclerk.com. If you’d like to add your name to her list of supporters please contact her at ghanna4sbcityclerk@gmail.com, or (909) 709-2019.

By Rikke Van Johnson,
6th Ward City Councilman, San Bernardino

For the record my last name is Johnson. Van is my middle name. I have been searching my family tree and so far have not found any Dutch ancestry.

Also, just to set the record straight Scot Spencer was already entrenched at the San Bernardino Airport when I was appointed to the Inland Valley Development Agency and the San Bernardino International Airport Authority. I’ll admit some mistakes have been made, but I believe that we are heading in the right direction.

There have been a number of letters about San Bernardino lately with a negative undertone. It’s alright for you to complain, but anyone can do that. If you truly desire positive change, why not present viable solutions after your complaint instead of just spewing out negativity. You will probably say that no one will listen. If you don’t try you will never know.

I understand that this would be hard for everyone to do because some of you have personal agendas. Either you have political aspirations; or you are caught up in all of the negative propaganda that has been presented and feel you need to add to it; or evil is your dwelling place and resides deeply within your heart; or all of the above.

Nonetheless to those who persist to emit negative noise, I’ll continue to pray that you will come from under that shroud of darkness. Instead of just complaining and expecting positive change to take place because of your complaints, I’ll hope that you will strive and work to make positive change.