Dr. Freddie Haynes

By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Less than a year after the fanfare announcement that he will succeed the Rev. Jesse Jackson as leader of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III announced his resignation this week amid what insiders described as a painful financial situation.

Few details were available at Trice Edney News Wire deadline, but according to Dr. Haynes' April 16 statement titled, “Public Resignation Statement,” he said the following as he resigned from the organization that announced him as Jackson’s successor last July and formally installed him Feb. 1.  

“After continued prayer and deliberation, I have decided to step down from the position of Chief Executive Officer and President of Rainbow Push Coalition (RPC), effective immediately. I remain committed to honoring the rich history of RPC and the legacy of its esteemed leader, the incomparable Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr., and, most significantly, to the calling and pursuit of social justice. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all who have expressed their support since my appointment in July of last year. Rest assured that my work in the fight for liberation and freedom continues. Yours in the struggle, Frederick D. Haynes III”

Rev. Jackson, who has been ill with Parkinson's disease, could not be reached for comment by deadline. Sources close to RPC said the organization has been stricken with insurmountable financial problems.

Dr. Haynes, a protege of Rev. Jackson's, still serves as the Senior Pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas.

On its website, RPC describes itself by saying, “We protect, defend, and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields, and to promote peace and justice around the world.”

According to its written history, The Chicago-based organization, founded in 1971, “is the product of a social justice movement that grew out of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) Operation Breadbasket. Founded by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Operation Breadbasket sought to combine theology and social justice and to effect progressive economic, educational, and social policy in America. In 1966, Dr. King appointed Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. to serve as the first director of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago.”

According to a news release, Haynes’ sold-out installation event on Feb. 1 this year, “featured VIP program participants and attendees from all over the country, including Roland Martin, Rev. Al Sharpton (NAN), Shavonne Arline-Bradley (NCNW), Dr. Michael Sorrell, Dr. Amos Brown, and Dr. Ron Daniels.”

Rev. Sharpton who was keynote at the event, said in his speech, "Look at the time we are in: everything that was gained in the '60s is now under threat...They talk about affirmative action, women's rights, diversity, inclusion, voting rights, like somebody woke up and gave us that. Nobody donated anything to us. We fought for everything we got and we need to get back to fighting right now. And that's why I've come to celebrate Freddy, because we need fighters in the pulpit… We need a fighter like Freddy Haynes."

Vice President Kamala Harris, a long time associate of Haynes' who was at the Rainbow/PUSH convention where Haynes was announced last July, said, “I am so confident in his leadership and his ability to carry on the greatest traditions of this organization and to meet the challenges of this moment.”

March 27, 2024

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated April 4, 1968

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It's the Easter season, and while many pastors are focused on crafting sermons and hosting events, others are equally concerned about King’s legacy on the anniversary of his death April 4, 1968.

“This election is one of the most critical elections in history,” said Rev. Gerald Durley, the retired pastor of the Provident Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. “This is an election to preserve Democracy in America.”

Durley, 82, is preaching and speaking more than ever because, he said, if former President Donald Trump is elected, it will set Civil Rights back 60 years.

“All of the marching that we did was to ensure equality and equity was in place,” Durley said. “Dr. King lived and died so that the check of Democracy would not be marked as insufficient funds. “

Durley said while the Black church has a great history, the battle for Civil Rights is far from over. “We have had a lot of Moses, but we need more Joshuas,” he said, referring to the younger leader he brought the children of Israel closer to the promised land.

From Atlanta to San Francisco to Washington, DC, many pastors are preaching the gospel as well, challenging their congregations to not only hear the Word but to be doers.

“It's sad and very troublesome,” said Amos Brown, pastor of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco. “The crucifixion wasn't about self-serving personal salvation. It was about good being delivered for all human creatures. That's why the Roman government put him on that cross…He was a social justice Christ. He cared about the marginalization of women. There were chauvinists back then as there are today,” Brown said. “Democracy should be for everybody."

Rev. Barbara Skinner,  who works with the organization, Faiths United to Save Democracy, has been  busy  educating potential voters. 

“While faith leaders cannot tell people who to vote for they can educate them about voting” said Skinner. She stressed the importance of "Preparing church members to vote having reviewed with them weeks prior what’s at stake and what’s in the ballot.”

“There are  19 steps to take before voting so people are ready to vote,” said Skinner. She referred to the website, http://www.turnoutsunday.com/ for a  toolkit.

Rev. Dr. Ben Chavis, a veteran Civil Rights activist, said while Easter is about the Resurrection of Jesus, there needs to be an “Economic Resurrection” in Black America, and that starts by going to the polls in November. 

During Black History Month, The Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III was formally installed as president and CEO in a ceremony in downtown Dallas, replacing Jackson, 82, who announced in July that he would step down.

“I stand not in his shoes but on his shoulders, and because I stand on his shoulders, I hope you stand with me,” Haynes told those gathered during the service.

“How appropriate it is during Black History Month that we look back… but we look forward to a great future,” said Dr. Haynes immediately after taking the oath. He thanked those who mentored him, including Rev. Jackson, who he compared to baseball legend Jackie Robinson, opening doors for so many African Americans who came behind him.

As Civil Rights veterans yield to a new generation of pastors, they also employ new strategies and techniques.

Rev. Tony Lee, pastor of the Community of Hope African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Temple Hills, Md., said, the greatest importance of the church during this season is not just political power but moral authority. “We need a moral authority, a voice that stands for humanity, a voice that says that we are all God’s children,” he said, comparing those that Jesus called “the least of these” to “the left out” of today.

On March 26, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and activist Malcolm X met for the first time. Rev. Grainger Browning, pastor of Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, reflected on that date to say that today, “We need to come together.”

“The ongoing Civil Rights organizations are not as visible as they used to be, but it is important that some way during this Easter season, we have a coordinated effort to begin some strategy as to where we go from here,” Browning said. “I have faith in the resiliency of the African American population.”

Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta said, “I hope that Resurrection will look different in America in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Bryant said. Referring to the COVID pandemic that killed and sickened millions around the world, Bryant said, “The second pandemic is hopelessness.”

April 7, 2024

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Each spring, many aspiring students and their families begin receiving college acceptance letters and offers of financial aid packages. This year’s college decisions will add yet another consideration: the effects of a 2023 Supreme Court, 6-3 ruling that ended the use of affirmative action. No longer can race be considered as one of many other factors to reach college admissions decisions.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said in part, “In these cases we consider whether the admissions systems used by Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, two of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States, are lawful under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. These cases involve whether a university may make admissions decisions that turn on an applicant’s race.”

“[T]he Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause,” continued the Chief Justice. “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points. We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today.”

A strongly-worded dissenting opinion by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, challenged the majority, asserting that affirmative action remains both viable and necessary.  

“This limited use of race has helped equalize educational opportunities for all students of every race and background and has improved racial diversity on college campuses,” wrote Justice Sotomayor. “Although progress has been slow and imperfect, race-conscious college admissions policies have advanced the Constitution’s guarantee of equality and have promoted Brown’s vision of a Nation with more inclusive schools.”

“The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society. Because the Court’s opinion is not grounded in law or fact and contravenes the vision of equality embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment, I dissent,” concluded Sotomayor.

In the aftermath of this consequential decision, as many as 30 states have now either filed or enacted new laws against teaching Black history or ‘other divisive concepts’, as well as defunding or outright ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. Counted among these states are Alabama, Florida, and Texas where multi-million Black residents are directly affected.

While many might presume widespread unity in Black America over the Supreme Court ruling, a survey analysis by Gallup’s Center on Black Voices published earlier this year shows a distinct and disturbing generational divide on affirmative action. Survey respondents were asked about the effect the affirmative decision may have in four specific areas:

1.       Higher education in general; 

2.      Educational opportunities for Blacks;

3.      The ability of people of one’s own race/ethnicity to attend college; and

4.      Diversity of college campuses.

Numerically, 56 percent of Black adults aged 40 and older mostly view the decision negatively.   But among younger Black adults, aged 18 to 39, the affirmative action reversal is viewed positively by 62 percent. Moreover, many younger Blacks anticipated the decision will have no impact at all on their educations and futures.

Another new and related survey reflects a growing political divide.

Jointly released by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC), the survey asked the question, “Do you think each of the following is doing a good job or a bad job or neither upholding democratic values in the United States?”

Respondents were asked to share their views on government – including the Supreme Court, as well as Congress, and presidential candidates. Overall, 45 percent said the nation’s highest court was doing a poor job. But when responses were screened by party affiliation, 68 percent of Democrats said the court was doing a poor job, compared to 21 percent of Republicans agreeing.

A coalition of 12 national civil rights advocates including the National Urban League, National Action Network, NAACP, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the National Council of Negro Women, also said  the nation’s highest court is the problem when it comes to affirmative action, saying its decision,   “serves as a distressing reminder of the uphill battle we continue to face in dismantling systemic racism and the potential implications this decision can have on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the workplace.”

Whatever solution(s) are needed, one thing remains clear: America’s constitution may have promised that all are created equal; but in education, the fulfillment of that promise has yet to become real.

Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at CharleneThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

March 24, 2024

Dr. Wilmer Leon

NEWS ANALYSIS

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Public Politics is the negotiating process between interested constituencies regarding the access to and distribution of limited resources and the resulting outcome or policies pertaining to those resources.

One of the popular narratives that was disseminated in mainstream America media to explain Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign loss to Donald Trump was post-Obama voter apathy in the African American community.  According to the Washington Post, “In 2016, a seven-point drop in black voter turnout was perceived to have cost Clinton the election.

Political commentators often cite black voters’ “enthusiasm gap” as the primary reason for low turnout. This short-sighted perspective fails to consider that Mrs. Clinton ran a terrible campaign.  She took the African American vote for granted and failed to craft a message that spoke to the needs and interests of the Community. Blaming the Community played into a stereotype that labeled African Americans as uninformed and monolithic in thought, instead of being introspective and recognizing her own short-comings. Her campaign ignored a simple reality…African Americans are as “political” as the rest of the country and there are real and substantive political interests that motivate the Community. 

Two substantive pieces of legislation that impacted Hilary Clinton’s campaign came out of her husband’s administration. The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act . The crime act, also known as “3 Strikes and are Out” contributed greatly to the mass incarceration of African Americans. So-called welfare reform, that Hilary Clinton encouraged her husband to sign, removed hundreds of thousands of poor people of color from the welfare safety-net and plunged them into the ranks of the desperately working poor. Many African Americans never forgot nor forgave her for supporting these pieces of legislation, as well as her referring to members of the Community as “superpredators” who needed to be brought “to heel.” It was not voter apathy or an “enthusiasm gap” that turned the African American community against the Hilary Clinton campaign, it was the realpolitik of Hilary Clinton. 

As America moves closer to the 2024 presidential election, the narrative of “voter apathy” and problems with the African American voter are being promoted once again. The Guardian reports - Black and Hispanic voters deserting Democratic party in large numbers.  The problem with this story is its failure to focus on Democratic party policy outcomes that have left many African American voters feeling ignored and disrespected.  Fox reports - Biden support from Black voters plummeting as Democrats blame ‘disinformation’. 

The Democratic party elite need to realize that African American voters are not uninformed, simple-minded, easily swayed nor can be taken for granted. President Biden has not developed, acted upon, nor articulated a message that resonates with the Community and reflects its reality.As America moves closer to the 2024 presidential election, the narrative of “voter apathy” and problems with the African American voter are being promoted once again. The Guardian reports - Black and Hispanic voters deserting Democratic party in large numbers. 

The problem with this story is its failure to focus on Democratic party policy outcomes that have left many African American voters feeling ignored and disrespected.  Fox reports - Biden support from Black voters plummeting as Democrats blame ‘disinformation’.  The Democratic party elite need to realize that African American voters are not uninformed, simple-minded, easily swayed nor can be taken for granted. President Biden has not developed, acted upon, nor articulated a message that resonates with the Community and reflects its reality.

There is another reality that is developing that could turn the “blame African Americans for Democratic party disappointments” narrative on its head.  It is an oppositional form of politics called “uncommitted” that is gaining traction in Michigan, Minnesota, and other states. In the most recent Michigan presidential primary, the Listen to Michigan campaign which is a coalition of African American, Arab American, Muslim American, and other voters is expected to receive approximately 10,000 votes.  The country was shocked to have more than 100,000 Michiganders take the time to vote for nobody instead of the incumbent president.

Michigan is a battleground state that President Biden won by fewer than 150,000 votes in 2020. The strength of that 2024 “uncommitted” protest vote sent an unambiguous message to the Democrats.On Super Tuesday Minnesota saw nearly 19 percent of its primary voters check the “uncommitted” box — an even higher ratio of voters than in Michigan. The focus of the voter’s ire in both Michigan and Minnesota is the Biden administrations unyielding support for genocide in Gaza.  The #AbandonBiden campaign has said that under no circumstances will it support Biden in November. “Our triumph in Michigan is more than a victory; it’s a declaration of our fury and our refusal to be silenced…”

According to a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 4 in 10 U.S. adults want America to broadly take a “less active” role in solving global conflicts. In a recent poll from Data for Progress roughly three in four Democrats support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.  In the Data for Progress poll a total of 61% of Americans polled said they were in favor of a ceasefire.  The Democratic Party and its presumptive nominee, President Biden are ignoring their base.  This is a very dangerous tactic when a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Americans are not excited about a Trump vs. Biden rematch.

In fact, there is a growing cohort called “double-haters,” those who are dissatisfied with Biden and Trump and do not want either candidate to win in November. Recent polls from the Marquette Law School, NYT-Siena College, and Morning Consult all reported 19 percent of those polled expressed dissatisfaction with both options. That is a large percentage of voters in a race that right now is within 1.5% to 2.0%, well within the margin of error.

Labor unions should be another area of concern for the Biden/Harris ticket.  This past January, UAW President Shawn Fein announced the UAW’s endorsement of President Biden.  Fain praised Biden for standing with the union during its strike against the Detroit Three automakers. The problem is the approximately 1 million rank and file membership may not follow the endorsement of UAW union leadership.  Following the union endorsement Fein explained that he expected most of the UAW membership would not vote for President Biden in November.  During an interview on Fox Business Network’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fain stated, “Let me be clear about this. A great majority of our members will not vote for President Biden…The majority of our members are gonna’ vote for their paychecks, they’re gonna’ vote for an economy that works for them.”

The Washington Post recently reported that The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents about 2 million health-care, property service and government workers, plans to spend $200 million to boost President Biden and Democrats in electoral battlegrounds across the country this year.  If the Democratic Party historically is the bastion of union politics and support, why is the UAW’s rank-and-file “gonna vote for their paychecks” (not for Biden) and why is the SEIU planning to spend $200M to get their vote out amongst a constituency that historically votes for Democrats?

According to The National Alliance to End Homeless, homelessness is on the rise in America. In 2022, counts of individuals (421,392 people) and chronically homeless individuals (127,768) reached record highs in the history of data collection. Unsheltered rates are also trending upward, impacting most racial, ethnic, and gender subgroups.  As more than half of working Americans (53 percent), according to a recent Workforce Monitor study feel their paychecks are not keeping up with the pace of inflation, and Democrats; the Biden administration continues to find ways to send the much needed American tax dollar to war efforts in Ukraine and Gaza. According to Stephen Semler in Jacobin, “The Biden administration has been able to maintain a low profile by spreading arms provision to Israel across more than 100 smaller munitions sales”— allowing the president to posture as a peacekeeper while US weapons wipe Gaza off the map.

Voter disinterest is not at issue; voter apathy in not the new black.  The two major American political parties are listening to their corporate benefactors, talking amongst themselves in their echo chambers and are not listening to their constituents.  Maintain current the course and speed at your own peril.

Dr. Wilmer Leon is a nationally broadcast talk radio host. An adjunct professor of political science. Host of the podcast Connecting the Dots w/ Dr. Wilmer Leon. Author of Politics Another Perspective. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com © 2024 InfoWave Communications, LLC