ࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠNEWSLETTER OF THE
ON HUMAN RELATIONSࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠ༯span>ࠠࠠࠠࠠ࠼/span>ON HUMAN RELATIONS
Volume 44, Issue 2ࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠ April 2008쯳pan>ࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠ͊Volume 43, Issue 2
ࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠࠠ༯span>Paul
Y. Burns, Interim Editor
LCHR Board
Actions April 2008
ࠠThe Board of Directors met on April 12 in Plaisance at
the home of Board member Doris White and her husband Overton White.쯳pan>In attendance were Board members
Corresponding Secretary Patricia Rickels, President Joe Dennis, Shirley Burris,
Vice-President Thelma Deamer, Marjorie Green, Membership Secretary Richard
Haymaker, Doris White, Treasurer John Mikell, Assistant Treasurer Paul Burns,
Greg Richard, and Anthony Navarre. Mikell reported that our checking account
balance on March 31, 2008 was $730.91, and our Liberty Bank money market
certificate balance on April 2, 2008 was $1,885.47. LCHR is financially in good
condition. Haymaker indicated that he planned to prepare a revised brochure for
use in getting new members and informing members about LCHR.쯳pan>He emphasized that the new system of his
making all the deposits to our checking account, in order better to keep
track of our income, was working well. He asked that all members pay dues to
him and he will deposit the money to the LCHR checking account. He said he had
continued the policy of crediting members who paid dues between April 1 and
June 30 with being paid up for the ensuing fiscal year, July 1 - June 30.
ࠠ The status
of the joint LCHR/BRCHR newsletter was discussed. Patricia Rickels resigned as
Editor in early January, and Paul Burns took over as volunteer Interim Editor
for the fourth quarter 2007 issue, issued in January 2008.쯳pan>His offer to continue as Interim Editor for
the first quarter 2008 issue was accepted, and a Search Committee was appointed
to recruit an Editor. Greg Richard,
ࠠPatricia
Rickels presented a position paper on the Jena Six case, prepared by LCHR Board
member Brad Pollock (unable to attend this Board meeting), assisted by Rickels
and LCHR President Joe Dennis. Rickels said the original Pollock paper was very
long, seven pages, and it was reduced to two pages for this presentation.쯳pan>
ࠠThe paper
was adopted by the Board with a slight change in its title to: An Example of Institutional Racism: the
ࠠ . the case of the
ࠠ . Black students organized a sit-in
protest at the 詴es Only䲥e. . . District Attorney Reed Walters
threatened the Black students . . . ࣡n take away your lives with a stroke
of my pen.. .
ࠠ . The next day, Black students and a
young White man had an altercation at a convenience store on the outskirts of
ࠠ . A few days later, Jason Barker, a
good friend of the noose hangers, was taunting a group of Black students. . .
Several of the Black students attacked Barker and beat him up. . . Barker was
not seriously injured. . . Walters carried out his threat. . . He charged them
[the black students] with attempted murder and saw to it that high bails were
set, assuring that most of them would remain in jail for months. . .all but the
youngest boy were charged as adults. Mychal
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found guilty
and would have been sentenced to twenty-two years in jail, had not a higher
court ruled that he was a minor and could not be tried or sentenced as an
adult.
ࠠ㴱:place w:st="on">
ࠠ襠LCHR calls on all citizens of
ﳰan>࠼/span>LCHR now has 13 position papers. The 12 others cover
Affirmative Action, the Death Penalty, Race Relations in
ࠠThere was a
discussion of the dissemination of the new position paper on the Jena Six.
Besides sending it to news media, it should be added to the LCHR website, of
which James E. Cross is the Webmaster.꼯span>The BRCHRץbmaster is Richard Haymaker; he uses the BRCHR website to
advertise future human relations events and to make available recent issues of
the newsletter.
ࠠGreg
Richard asked if he could start an LCHR blog. The Board approved. ﳰan>쯧鳠an abridgment of the term 墠log.ꉴ is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of
commentary, descriptions of events, or other material. Entries are commonly
displayed in reverse chronological order.
ࠠPaul Burns said he was still working on his project of
finding out which of
ࠠIt was
agreed to discuss the Რon Drugsᴠthe next Board meeting, as requested by
Burns. His proposal was triggered by two recent op-ed pieces in The Advocate. Commentator Froma Harrop
wrote that more than half a million Americans are in jail for nonviolent drug
offenses. Since the War on Drugs started in 1970, 38 million people have been
arrested for nonviolent drug offenses. The prison population of nonviolent drug
offenders has increased about 2,500 %, because of 崭tough�datory minimum
sentences for drug-related crimes. Columnist Clarence Page wrote ﳰan>that the war on drugs too often has become a
war against poor people. Burns volunteered to prepare a rough draft of a
position paper on this subject for review by our Board.
ࠠRickels
said she would ask Thetis Cusimano about having a guest speaker from the League
of Women Voters on the subject of the physical condition of
ࠠPlans were
made for LCHRnnual Meeting. The place will be
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ﳰan>
African-American
Children Suffer Unfairly in U.S. Justice System
ࠠA recent report by the
Racist
History of the Noose
ࠍ
Those of us who are sensitive to reports in the U.S on the recent display
of a noose, for example in the Jena Six case, are disturbed. Nooses are a
reminder of the era in the South when blacks accused of a crime might be
lynched.쯳pan>The Chair of the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission feels that the prevalence of noose incidents
recently is a reminder of the persistence of racism in the 21st
century.쯳pan>Discrimination on the basis of
race continues. In fiscal 2006, the latest year of record, the EEOC received
27,238 charges of race-based discrimination.꼯span>Color discrimination charges over the past 15 years have
quadrupled.쯳pan>The EEOC has responded by
starting a program called 풁CE腲adicating Racism and Colorism from
Employment Initiative), in an attempt to make workplaces tolerant and
inclusive.
Torture
is Wrong
࠼/span>ﳰan>LCHR has issued a public statement
opposing torture.쯳pan>More evidence has come
to light that our government has recently used torture.쯳pan>Alex Gibney won the Academy Award for the best
documentary feature for his film ḩ to the Dark Side,稩ch depicts the
final days of Dilawar, an Afghan man, who was arrested in 2001 by the
ࠍ
ḩ to the Dark Side㡮 be seen in movie theaters.쯳pan>But not on the Discovery Channel, which had
bought the TV rights to the film. Gibney was told that they were not going to
air the film because it was controversial (this channel is owned by a conservative
media mogul). It is possible, however, that HBO will make it available to
households subscribing to premium TV channels.
Hazardous
Waste and Minority Dwellings
ࠠAbout 20 years ago, the late Dr. Raymond Floyd, a member of the
Baton Rouge Council¯ard of Directors, called the Boardࡴtention to a new
national study by the United Church of Christ. The study showed that hazardous
waste in the
ࠍ
Fast forward to 2007!쯳pan>A new study
by scientists at the Universities of Michigan and
Hurricane
Katrina Helps Break Down Racial Barriers in Churches
ࠠThose of you who remember the 1960s remember the statement that 11
o쯣k on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in
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merged a year ago with traditionally white
Residential
Separation: by Income or by Race?
ࠠLCHR was founded in 1964, four years before the historic Kerner
Report was made by President JohnsonΡtional Advisory Commission on Civil
Disorders. This report concluded: 岠nation is moving toward two societies,
one black, one white尡rate and unequal.毲ty years later most blacks have
come a long way from overcrowded low-income black neighborhoods. In cities
middle-class blacks and middle-class whites zip past poor black neighborhoods
with their car doors locked. Todayಡcial separation tends to be a
consequence of income. White flight to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s was
followed by middle-class black flight to the suburbs. And poverty is not
strictly a black problem; poor white people outnumber poor blacks and Hispanics
combined, although the white poverty rate is less than that of blacks and
Hispanics.
Muslim
Women Should be Allowed Headscarves in Public
ࠠIn
ࠍ
A national Muslim civil liberties group, the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, brought the incident to the public. The woman, Muntaha Sarsour, was
with her daughter-in-law, Sajehed Judeh, when an
Cravins
Sees Lack of Progress on
ࠠࠠࠠ Sen.
Donald Cravins, Jr. (Democrat) commented at a rally April 18 that he will
propose legislation to close
What
Obama Could Have Said About His Pastor: Rev Jeremiah Wright, a True Patriot
ࠠThis headline appeared on a recent story in the Chicago Tribune by Lawrence Korb and Ian
Moss, respectively, Navy and Marines veterans.꼯span>They outline the military service of the Rev. Wright, Obamaযrmer
pastor and friend, whose fiery sermons about
ࠍ
Wright left college in 1961 and voluntarily joined the Marines. After
serving two years he volunteered again and became a Navy corpsman. He was
valedictorian in corpsman school and became a cardiopulmonary technician. He
was
assigned to
ࠍ
The Rev. Wrightrmons in my opinion were nothing to apologize for.
He had suffered racial discrimination from the white majority in the
Speak
Truth to Power
ࠍ
Speak Truth to Power is a play
by Ariel Dorfman, based on his interviews with activists. During the period
February 6-24, 2008 the play was performed at LSU༳t1:place w:st="on">
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the program were guest performers from
ࠍ
I was reminded of the many occasions when I spoke truth to power: 1933 At age 13, I lived in Tulsa, OK,
which had Jim Crow laws; a sign on city buses about three-quarters of the way
to the back read אָred,ᮤ although I am white I sat in the back when
there was room; 1965 I protested
racial segregation in Louisiana Presbyterian churches, I protested racial
discrimination by Jack Sabinಥstaurant in Baton Rouge, along with others
from the newly formed BRCHR I protested racial discrimination by the E.B.R.
School System; 1966 I wrote a white
judge asking him to free an innocent young Baton Rouge black man; 1968 I protested to the Louisiana
Governor racial discrimination by the Highway Department, I used the threat of
legal action to cause the whites-only Good Fellows (Christmas gifts for
children) to merge with the African-American Good Samaritans; I asked the local
United Givers to fund only those agencies which did not discriminate on the
basis of race; I wrote to the IRS asking that donations to nonprofit
organizations which practice racial segregation should not be classified as
tax-deductible, I publicly asked white Baton Rougeans to vote for a black city
council candidate; 1969 I complained
to the E.B.R. Housing Authority about racial discrimination and poor
maintenance, I asked the Baton Rouge police to desegregate its patrol cars and
to have a reasonable firearms policy for police officers, I petitioned the U.S.
Attorney General to send U.S. marshals to protect black burglary suspects from
getting shot by the Baton Rouge Police, I protested racial discrimination by a
large downtown Baton Rouge Baptist church, I complained about the racial
imbalance in employment of professionals in the La. Dept. Of Public Welfare, I
asked Louisianaǯvernor not to unduly burden low-income persons with his
proposed new taxes; 1970 I protested
racial discrimination in the offices of doctors and dentists in Baton Rouge; I
protested racial discrimination by the La. Civil Service Director and by LSU; I
protested racial discrimination by Baton Rougeҥcreation & Parks
Commission; 1971 I worked with other
members of the BRCHR to cause the local Jury Commission to be racially
integrated, I asked the following local agencies to desegregate Boy Scouts, Jr.
Achievement, LSU Law Enforcement Institute, Jr. Deputies, Newcomers Breakfast,
Fire Department, hospitals, Chamber of Commerce, and Little League; 1973 I helped distribute a position
paper prepared by the BRCHR calling for open housing; I lobbied the La.
Legislature for open housing; 1980 I
asked the all-white city bus agency to stop harassment of women bus drivers; 1995 I asked the La. Governor to veto a
bill permitting the carrying of concealed weapons. 1996-2008 I wrote many letters to the President and
ࠍ
My model for speaking truth to power was the story in the Old Testament
about the prophet Nathan. He boldly rebuked David for committing adultery with
Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, and for causing Uriahथath. Nathan, fortunately,
was not harmed by David.쯳pan>Fortunately, I was
not harmed by the powers-that-be, although I think my anti-segregation
activities in the late 1950s were recorded in the local district attorney튦iles, my phone was tapped in the 1960s for the district attorney, and my human
relations and peacemaking activities were placed in FBI files.
Workshop
on Institutional Racism Co-Sponsored by BRCHR
ࠠJohnny Brooks, assistant metro editor for The Advocate, has written a column in the March 2 edition inviting
people쯳pan>to 졣k and White and Gray All
Over: A Community Workshop and Dialogue on Institutional Racism,䯠be held
April 24, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Southeastern Louisiana University¡ton
Rouge center, 4549 Essen Lane. At the end of his column he wrote 쥡se call
or write us.襠listed his e-mail address: jbrooks@theadvocate.com.쯳pan>A YWCA brochure defines institutional racism
as 襠intentional or unintentional use of power to isolate, separate, and
exploit others based on a belief in superior racial origin, identity, or
supposed racial characteristics. Racism is more than just a personal attitude;
it is the systematic or institutionalized form of that attitude.⍊style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
ࠠThe BRCHR gathered at the University Presbyterian Church on April
10 for a catered supper and a presentation of the annual Powell-Reznikoff
Humanitarian Awards to Dr. Holley Galland and the Rev. William King. Galland,
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ࠠThe Baton Rouge Council on Human Relations
hosted a literary and awareness-raising event on Sunday, March 14, when it
presented ﳴering Togetherness: Poetry and Prose Celebrating Ethnic, Racial
and Cultural Integration鮠Baton Rouge Gallery in
ࠠCindy Lou Levee, a Southern University
professor, writer, and member of the Baton Rouge Council, read her poem 襍
Parade of Miraculous Champions, January 24, 2004ᮤ her prize-winning essay,
巩sh Women and New Orleans Public School Integration [previously published
under the title of ⡮smitting the Links.쳰an style='mso-spacerun:yes'>꼯span>Clarence Holmes, Jr., also a
Southern University professor and writer, read his moving essay ᩮful First
Steps toward Realizing 襠Dreamҥflections on Integrating New Orleans
Public Schools.좠style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Maxine Crump, a
broadcast journalist and communications specialist, gave a dramatic reading of
a selection from James Baldwinॳsay 䲡nger in the Village.⍊style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Bettie Redler of Baton Rouge, a new member
of the Baton Rouge Council, contributed funding for this event, while
jazz/blues guitarist Jonathan ﯧieꌯng provided a musical prelude.쯳pan>
If
You Havenlready, Please Send Dues (Fiscal Year Begins ( 07/01/08)
ࠍ
Annual dues are:$15
individual, $20 family, $1 student and/or hardship.쯳pan>Non-BR area residents: make check to
LCHR.쯳pan>BR area residents: make check to
BRCHR. Send checks for LCHR and BRCHR to Richard Haymaker,
Relations and the
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