By George E. Curry
NNPA Editor-in-Chief

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Representative Marcia Fudge, the newly-elected chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, says politically-inspired charges that United Nations Ambassador Susan E. Rice is “not very bright” and is “unqualified” to be named Secretary of State by President Barack Obama are racist and sexist in addition to being untrue.

“All of the things they [Republicans] have disliked about things that have gone on in the administration, they have never called a male unqualified, not bright, not trustworthy,” Fudge [D-Ohio] said last week at a news conference called by a dozen women members of the House of Representatives to defend Rice. “There is a clear sexism and racism that goes with these comments being made by unfortunately Senator [John] McCain and others.”

McCain attacked Rice, who is under consideration to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as Secretary of State, for saying in September that the deaths of four Americans at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was the outgrowth of spontaneous demonstrations protesting the release of an anti-Muslim film made in the U.S. rather than a planned attack by al-Qaeda, which turned out to be the case.

“Susan Rice should have known better and if she didn’t know better, she is not qualified,” McCain said Nov. 14 on “Fox and Friends.” He continued, “I will do everything in my power to block her from being the United States Secretary of State.”

McCain and other Republican senators, including Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina, have been extremely critical of Rice’s initial comments.

In a round of Sunday morning television interviews four days after the attack in Libya, Rice presented the administration’s official position on the tragedy. In each interview, she emphasized that the views she was expressing was based on information that the administration had at the time and that an FBI investigation would ultimately determine the facts.

Appearing on ABC News’ “This Week,” she told guest host Jake Tapper: “Well, Jake, first of all, it’s important to know that there’s an FBI investigation that has begun and will take some time to be completed. That will tell us with certainty what transpired. But our current best assessment, based on what we have at present, is that, in fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous – not a premeditated – response to what had transpired in Cairo. In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated.”

Rice used almost identical nuanced language in interviews that same Sunday with “Face the Nation” and “Meet the Press.”

It was later disclosed that Rice was using talking points about the situation that had been supplied and approved by the CIA.

McCain described Rice as “not very bright.” Rice graduated from Stanford University with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. at Oxford University.

McCain, who had the bright idea of selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, finished fifth from last in his graduating class at the U.S. Naval Academy – 894 of 899. According to the book, The Nightingale’s Song by Robert Timberg, the senior senator from Arizona was a “below par” Navy pilot who lost five military aircrafts before later being captured as a prisoner of war.

Lindsey Graham [R-S.C.] said he does not trust Rice.

“I think she was a political choice, telling a political narrative, and either she didn’t know the truth about Benghazi – so she shouldn’t have been on T.V. – or she was spinning it,” Graham said. He added, “I don’t think that’s a good resume to be secretary of State.”

Rice’s resume speaks for itself. Her late father, Emmett, was an economics professor at Cornell University and a former governor of the Federal Reserve System. Her mother, Lois Dickson Fitt, is a policy scholar at the Brookings Institute.

Rice also worked at the Brookings Institute as a Senior Fellow, was Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council and served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during President Bill Clinton’s second term. The Senate confirmed Rice as U.N. Ambassador by unanimous consent on Jan. 22, 2009. At his news conference, President Obama said last week that he hasn’t made a decision on who will become Secretary of State in his second term. But he made clear that if he decides to select Rice, he will not back down from a fight with Senate Republicans over the nomination.

“…Let me say specifically about Susan Rice, she has done exemplary work. She has represented the United States and our interests in the United Nations with skill and professionalism and toughness and grace.

“As I’ve said before, she made an appearance at the request of the White House in which she gave her best understanding of the intelligence that had been provided to her. If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. And I’m happy to have that discussion with them. But for them to go after the U.N. Ambassador, who had nothing to do with Benghazi, and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous.”

In closed door congressional hearings last week, former CIA Director David Petraeus confirmed that Rice’s talking points had been approved by the CIA.

At the news conference called by congresswomen last week, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said, “The baseless ad hominem attacks on Ambassador Rice by several members of the Senate – most notably Senator John McCain – calling into question her very character, basic level of intelligence, trustworthiness, and qualifications is not only disingenuous but at odds with the actions and stances they have taken in the past, with other potential nominees.”

Moore isn’t the only member of Congress who views McCain and Graham as hypocrites.

In commentary posted on the Huffingtonpost, Senator Barbara Boxer [D-Calif.], recalled: “In September 2002, then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice appeared on a talk show and claimed that Iraq was importing high quality aluminum tubes that ‘are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs.’

“But in 2004, shortly before she was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Secretary of State, Rice admitted ‘there was some debate’ at the time about the intelligence behind the aluminum tubes – information she had chosen to ignore during her 2002 appearance. In fact, both the State Department and the Department of Energy believed that the tubes were intended for conventional weapons – not nuclear weapons.”

Boxer added, “Tragically, the false assertions made by Rice and other top officials in the Bush administration helped propel our country into a devastating and costly war in Iraq that claimed more than 4,400 American lives. But somehow, Rice’s role in these profound intelligence failures did not prevent Senators McCain and Graham from championing her nomination to be Secretary of State.”

In remarks that could be easily flipped today, McCain said on the Senate floor in 2005 that the upper chamber had enough votes to confirm [Condoleezza] Rice to the job.

“So I wonder why we are starting this new Congress with a protracted debate about a foregone conclusion,” McCain said at the time. “I can only conclude that we are doing this for no other reason than because of lingering bitterness over the outcome of the election.”

By Freddie Allen
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Blacks were instrumental in the re-election of President Barack Obama and now it’s time for him to return the favor, according to panelists at a Town Hall-style meeting organized at Howard University last week by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century.

“Every time we vote for any politician there is something that they owe to us,” said civil rights activist, Mtangulizi Sanyika. “Our problem is that we get confused about what they owe us. The conditions of African Americans have gotten worse not better. There are things we need and we should fight for them.”

Julianne Malveaux, an economist and former president of Bennett College said the issue is larger than politicians.

“The economic crisis of African American people did not start with President Obama and it won’t end with President Obama,” she said “While the government can’t fix the gap it, can do some things to narrow the gap.”

Malveaux urged Blacks to become more creative and do things such as applying for federal discretionary funds to launch a green energy startup.

At times, the moderator, former Essence magazine editor Susan Taylor, pushed panelists for greater detail for a plan of action.

“How do we make this happen?” she asked. “What is the nucleus of this?”

Taylor was unrelenting: “What is the organizing force? How do we move beyond the discussion, so that when we come back four years from now we’re not talking about the same issues. How do we begin to move the needle?”

George Fraser, chairman and CEO of FraserNet, Inc. a global networking company dedicated to economic development, said, “We have a lot of PhDs. Now we need some ‘Ph dos.’”

Taylor said that Black churches, fraternities, and sororities need to do more.

“Unfortunately, the majority of our church leadership can’t do what you ask to be done,” said Willie Wilson, pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Wilson said that the prosperity theology is dividing congregations and that many ministers still struggle with pathologies that date back to slavery.

Jeff Johnson said, “I don’t care about the civil rights celebrities. I don’t care about the prosperity pastors. I care about the people that want to do the work.”

Johnson said that there are simple solutions to get kids off the streets while Blacks deal with long-term loftier goals.

“We don’t have to do one or the other, it’s about doing all of them together,” Johnson said. “We have to play chess, not checkers.” He explained Chess means you figure out the role you play and you play it.

“And when a pawn is gangster enough to do their job and can move into position, they can become any other piece on the board. Let’s do simple things in the process of developing these solutions,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that Blacks should utilize our churches as community centers rather than seeking funds to build new ones and rely on retired teachers and volunteers from our neighborhoods to mentor children.

They all agreed that what is not needed is a new civil rights group.

“We’re at this moment where people feel like they don’t need organizations,” said Marc Lamont Hill, a TV host, activist and associate professor at the Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York. Hill urged audience members to join existing organizations.

“We don’t need any more organizations, we don’t need 50 million non-profits. We don’t need 50 million NGOs,” said Hill. “We need people to make a commitment to join an organization to do the work.

Taylor agreed.

“Hands that serve are holier than lips that pray,” said Taylor. “We have to do the work.”

By Christopher Tidmore
Special to the NNPA from The Louisiana Weekly

Election 2012 showed that the Democratic Party is alive and well nationwide but still anemic in Louisiana. At least for Caucasians.

For African-American candidates in the Pelican State, Nov­ember 6, 2012 was one of the best election nights in years. Black candidates led in swing or white-majority areas through­out Louisiana—from Kip Holden’s winning a third term in Baton Rouge to African-American neighborhood activist LaToya Cantrell leading Caucasian Juvenile Justice activist Dana Kaplan the field in the Orleans District B race, 38 percent to 32 percent.

Nationally, though, Mitt Romney won fewer votes than John McCain four years ago. His showing here in Louisiana was worse as well. Romney won the Pelican State 59 percent to 40 percent , a victory of nearly 400,000 votes, down narrowly from 60 percent won by John McCain. It was only lower overall national turnout that narrowed the final vote margin between the two men — 11 percent lower in Texas and seven percent smaller in Maryland (which played a role in the victory of the same-sex marriage amendment according to exit polls.) The fewer voters narrowed the race to less than two points, rather than seven point margin Obama enjoyed in 2008.

That is in almost every state but Louisiana. Pelican State voter turnout soared higher than four years ago. Contentious races like Orleans City Council District E, where Austin Badon and James Gray head to a December 8 runoff, brought 25,000 more voters to the polls in New Orleans alone. (70 percent versus 67 percent in 2008). Those extra votes went directly to Obama, improving his 782,989 votes, or 39.93 percent of the votes cast in the 2008 to 808,496 in 2012. (The President won Orleans Parish this year by a margin of almost 75,000 votes.)

And, they played a direct role in the surprise primary victories in several white-Black Orleans contests, notably the Second District Court battles for Clerk and Constable. Darren Lombard rode higher African-American turnout to a 51 percent total, denying a much expected runoff position for Clerk of Court aspirant Adam Lambert. And, longtime Algiers Constable Ennis Grundmeyer lost his job narrowly to newcomer Edwin Shorty by just over 200 votes or 49-51 percent.

The Louisiana surge in the African-American vote defeated long-time School Board member Lourdes Moran 52-48 percent by nearly 800 votes. The victory of educational consultant Leslie Ellison, can be traced to larger turnout in the challenger’s African-American home pre­cincts in Algiers.

And, Thomas Robichaux, the first openly gay member of the Orleans School Board and its President, went down to defeat as the Ninth Ward-centered Seventh District reasserted its African-American majority, electing Nolan Marshall.

It did not matter that both of these incumbents were active supporters of returning local control to the OPSB from the RSD, and both played a vocal role in the fight to keep SUNO from merging with UNO. They could not fight the tide for Black candidates in Orleans—provided mostly by the President’s coattails.

Only Jason Coleman in OPSB District 6 and Karran Harper Royal in District 3 came up short. Both OPSB seats possess a white Majority, though. Incumbent Democrat Woody Koppel won with 67 percent in the former, yet Republican incumbent Brett Bonin went down to defeat in the latter with only 33 percent of the vote, losing to white Democrat Sarah Newell Usdin. The result telegraphed that the Obama coattails directed two-thirds of the vote to Democrats in this GOP-leaning seat (when Royal’s 10 percent is factored in as well).

The Beleaguered National GOP

President Barack Obama’s core constituencies across the United States turned out in numbers surpassing 2008—especially His­panics, even as the popular vote declined.

In key demographics, the electorate actually likely skewed more Democratic/liberal than four years ago. Caucasians declined from 74 percent in 2008 to 72 percent this year, Latinos increased from nine percent to 10 percent, African-Americans came out in roughly the same numbers despite pundits who predicted they would not — 13 percent in 2008 to 13 percent in 2012. Female voters went from 53 percent to 54 percent of the electorate, and low-income voters, those earning less than $50,000 per year, went from 38 percent four years ago to 41 percent last Tuesday. Perhaps most extraordinarily, younger voters increased from 18 percent to 19 percent.

Other demographic changes worked against Republicans as well. For example, single women now outnumber married women in the national electorate, and they favored Obama by roughly 30 points. The gender gap overall was bigger this year than in 2008. And, despite pundits muttering about youth dissatisfaction, those under 21 comprised more of the electorate year than in 2008, and they supported Obama.

Most commentators argued that the GOP’s hard-line stance on immigration disqualified their candidates with Hispanics. Whereas George W. Bush once carried 44 percent of the Latino vote, Mitt Romney amounted to less than 27 percent. Romney’s essential tie in Florida directly results from Obama’s strength among non-Cuban Hispanics. The same strength cost Romney both Nevada and Colorado.

Others, including some writers for the conservative National Review magazine complained that Hispanic voters generally are more left-leaning. Their embrace of “family values” involves more of a government-led social safety net than conventional eco-social conservatism. Indeed, Hispanics supported gay-marriage initiatives by solid majorities.

Regardless, for the GOP, demography may be destiny. As NBC news’ Chuck Todd put it, “Yes, the auto bailout mattered in Ohio. Sure, Hurricane Sandy helped the president. And, yes, the economy was the No. 1 issue. But make no mistake: What happened on [election day] was a demographic time bomb that had been ticking and that blew up in GOP faces. As the Obama campaign had assumed more than a year ago, the white portion of the electorate dropped to 72 percent, and the president won just 39 percent of that vote. But he carried a whopping 93 percent of Black voters (representing 13 percent of the electorate), 71 percent of Latinos (representing 10%), and also 73 percent of Asians (3%). What’s more, despite all the predictions that youth turnout would be down, voters 18-29 made up 19 percent of last night’s voting population—up from 18 percent four years ago—and President Obama took 60 percent from that group.”

“On Monday, we wrote that demography could determine destiny. And that’s exactly what happened. While the campaign’s turnout operation deserves all the credit for getting these voters to the polls, the most significant event of this presidential contest might very well have been the 2010 census.”

Or as conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh admitted the day after the election, “We’re outnumbered.” The dilemma for the Republican Party henceforth remains that it can no longer rely on white voters to win national elections anymore, especially in presidential cycles. Indeed, according to the exit poll, 89 percent of all votes Mitt Romney won came from whites (compared with 56 percent for Obama). So the Republicans are maximizing their share with white voters; they just aren’t getting the rest.

The Beleaguered Louisiana Democratic Party

Prior to election day, conservative writer Michael Barone argued that demographic changes would not hurt Republicans. He maintained as ethnic groups grow into smaller parts of an overall electorate, they react by voting more cohesively—and eventually more conservatively—increasing their political power even as their majoritarian status is threatened.

This happened only to a limited degree in the swing states. Ethnic Whites have journeyed to the GOP, but not in sufficient numbers to carry their states for Romney or GOP Senatorial candidates that went down to defeat—Wisconsin’s Tommy Thomp­son, Pennsylvania’s Tom Smith, or Ohio’s Josh Mandel.

It has, though, clearly happened in Louisiana. Many Clinton-supporting Democrats, who swung the Pelican State into the Blue column in the 1990s, now are increasingly tending to vote for only GOP candidates. Louisi­ana’s increasing Republi­can conservatism effectively convinced senior Democrats to sit out the 2011 statewide elections, rendering an all GOP slate of state office holders.

Under the auspices of new Democratic Chair Karen Carter Peterson, however, the Demo­crats resolved to field a candidate in the 6th Congressional district race this year. The final result of that contest, however, presents some worrying signs that Demo­crats in Louisiana will have a hard time effectively competing above the parish level.

Ron Richard, at first glance, would seem a likely contender for a December runoff slot. Two sitting GOP Congressmen were competing for the conservative vote, at the same time that Barack Obama’s campaign was driving Democratic turnout on November 6. Coattails alone should have earned Richard at least a third of the vote, and promotion to a December faceoff against one of the Republicans.

Redistricting merged the seats of Reps. Jeff Landry and Charles Boustany, and they—and their surrogates—were poised to spend over $4 million defaming one another. It was Tea Party versus Mainstream GOP, but the district, a Cajun seat comprised of parts once held by Democrats Jimmie Hayes and Charlie Melancon, seemed like it could garner enough votes to, at least, get a Democrat in the runoff.

In the end, Richard received 67,058 ballots or 21.5 percent of the votes cast to Boustany’s 139,113 votes or 44.7 percent of the ballots counted and Landry’s 93,524 votes or 30 percent. In the end, the Obama surge could not provide enough coattails to carry a Congressional District both Bill Clinton and Kathleen Blanco each won comfortably.

As did Mary Landrieu. The question is, facing a GOP contender in an off-year election, where minority voters are less likely to go to the polls, has this district, and Louisiana in general, gone slightly out of her reach. And, for that matter, the reach of any Democrat.

The political math of Louisiana for decades said that for a Democrat to win, they must have an overwhelming turnout in Orleans Parish, and must carry a majority in Acadiana.

Landrieu has managed to achieve this goal, narrowly, in each of her three bids for the US Senate.

The lack of a Democrat making in the Sixth Congressional runoff, then, is a warning sign for Democrats, especially Landrieu.

In fact, as if blood was already in the water as the polls as the polls closed November 6th, her likely Republican challenger, Congressman Bill Cassidy was already emailing thank you notes to his backers—even though he faced only token opposition in his re-election to his Baton Rouge-based seat.

With two million dollars in his campaign fund, available to be used for a Senate bid when Mary Landrieu comes up for re-election in 2014, it appeared that Cassidy was telegraphing his plans—and his belief that the Senator is vulnerable.

Landrieu, though, might have a firewall in the state’s one parish that is increasingly acting like a Midwestern swing state, East Baton Rouge. Republicans win on the Council-level, but Democrats continue to dominate parishwide, as EBR continues to grow.

In fact, the most stunning victory for an African-American candidate came in this parish without a Black majority. With 60 percent of the vote, African-American Mayor Kip Holden went on to a third term as Mayor-President.

It is Holden that holds out hope for Louisiana Democrats, fighting in an increasingly GOP environment. He enjoyed a healthy lead over his most formidable opponent white Republican Council­man Mike Walker, who received 34 percent of the vote, according to complete but unofficial returns.

If the theory that White voters will vote for GOP candidates above all else would prove true, Walker should have walked away with this Mayoral race. But, the EBR Council President performed way below the LAGOP’s pre-election expectations.

It gives Landrieu hope, but there is also little doubt that Holden improved his first term margin of victory, 54 percent of the vote over previous incumbent Bobby Simpson, with some help from the Obama surge.

By Cash Michaels
Special to the NNPA from the Wilmington Journal

WILMINGTON, N.C. [NNPA} – Now that the 2012 presidential elections are history, supporters for the Wilmington Ten pardons of innocence effort are increasing their efforts to build more overwhelming public support for the cause before North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue leaves office on Dec. 31.

Sources say there is opposition to the proposed pardons, primarily from former law enforcement and state officials who still believe – despite no evidence proving that the Wilmington Ten had anything to do with the 1971 firebombing of a White-owned grocery store, or sniper shots at responding firemen – that they are guilty.

The legal petition to pardon all of 10 – nine African-American males and one White female – of false conspiracy charges they were convicted of in 1972, has been pending in Gov. Perdue’s Executive Clemency office since last May. Perdue, a Democrat, is expected to make her decision in December before she steps down.

Churches, fraternities, sororities, community and civic organizations in North Carolina and beyond are being asked to support the cause by sending letters to Gov. Perdue, or signing the online petition.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP president/CEO, has agreed to send out a mass email nationwide to all NAACP members asking them to sign a special online petition that will be delivered to the North Carolina governor the first week in December. The national NAACP Board of Directors unanimously passed a resolution last May supporting the Wilmington Ten pardon effort, and the state NAACP will be calling a special press conference Nov. 27 in Raleigh to urge Gov. Perdue to grant the pardons.

Thousands of signatures in hard copy and online petitions have been collected, but organizers with the Wilmington Ten Pardons of Innocence Project, an outreach effort the National Newspaper Publishers Association adopted in 2011, say that still many more are needed by December 1.

The next two weeks are critical, they say, towards garnering more petition signatures and letters of support in order to document widespread sentiment across the state and nation that the false prosecutions 40 years ago was wrong, and the state needs to correct it.

Add to that the most recent and explosive revelation that James “Jay” Stroud, the state prosecutor who had the Wilmington Ten falsely convicted and sentenced to 282 years in prison collectively, not only sought to control jury selection in the first June 1972 trial to include “KKK” and “Uncle Tom” types, but also, documented evidence from his own handwritten notes now show, succeeded in having that first trial aborted because it had a jury of 10 Blacks and two Whites.

The second trial, in Sept. 1972, had a Pender County jury of 10 Whites and two Blacks, in addition to a judge that history shows was more favorable to the prosecution.

“The prosecutor’s notes are clear and convincing evidence that race was not just a factor in his selection of the 10 Whites and two Blacks on the Pender jury that convicted the Wilmington Ten,” veteran civil rights attorney Al McSurely says. “Race was the only factor. Forty years later, we know his real motives. I believe when the governor studies this evidence, she will do the right thing and sign the pardons.”

He added, “I can barely contain my outrage at the blatant racism of an officer of the court.”

University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill law Professor Gene Nichol agreed.

“It is crucial that North Carolina act to admit and concede such a potent and defining abuse of power,” Nichol said. “To allow public servants to behave in such a fashion, without remedy, is literally intolerable.”

Attorneys for the Wilmington Ten pardons effort met with Gov. Perdue’s clemency staff several weeks ago, presenting their case, based on the Dec. 1980 U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which overturned all 10 of the convictions, based on prosecutorial misconduct, and the fact that not only was exculpatory evidence hidden by the prosecutor, but three witnesses for the state admitted they were enticed to perjure themselves in testimony.

However, the state of North Carolina, in the 32 years hence, has refused to grant pardons of innocence to the Wilmington Ten, thus maintaining their false felony convictions.

In the six months since the pardons effort campaign publicly kicked off, support has come from North Carolina congressmen G. K. Butterfield, David Price and Brad Miller; the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus and state Rep. Deborah Ross of Raleigh.

The 2012 North Carolina Democratic Party platform also adopted a plank supporting the Wilmington Ten pardon effort last summer.

In terms of grassroots support, the North Carolina NAACP has led the way, and most recently, the North Carolina chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) has issued a resolution.

In each case, supporters have said that Gov. Perdue, given her progressive record of advocacy to stop racially biased death penalty sentences; push for reparations to the victims of North Carolina’s old forced sterilization program; and her veto of the Republican legislature’s voter ID bill; is well positioned before she leaves office, to add to her progressive legacy pardons of innocence for the Wilmington Ten.

(To sign the Change.Org online petition asking Gov. Beverly Perdue to grant pardons of innocence for the Wilmington Ten, please go to https://www.change.org/petitions/nc-governor-bev-perdue-pardon-the-wilmington-ten) Those who would like to write a letter to Gov. Perdue before Dec. 1, asking her to grant pardons of innocence to the Wilmington Ten, should send them to:

Hon. Beverly Eaves Perdue
Governor of North Carolina
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301)