LOUIS 'HOP' KENDRICK

Throughout our Black communities, there is ongoing criticism that  MBE/WBE/DBE programs have been an absolute failure. The question generally is why? In my estimation the reasons are not complicated, but widespread. The developers, who are 99.9 percent White, have absolutely no concern about inclusionn and the White general contractors, to a lesser degree, have the identical attitude. Those elected to office are generally the financial recipients of those two factions, and therefore lack sincere concern. Then there are Blacks who are elected to political positions and serve on governmental bodies such as Allegheny County Council, Pittsburgh City Council, URA Board, Pittsburgh Water Authority, Pittsburgh Housing Authority, Allegheny County Port Authority, and Allegheny County Community College. I challenge the overwhelming majority of them to prove to all communities that the overall percentages they constantly make public are accurate. I am constantly reminded when I read these grossly inflated statistics of the old saying, “figures don’t lie, statisticians do.”
In all fairness I can’t in good conscience absolve those with the titles, who make a good salary, become the mouth pieces for their employers, portray the MBE/WBE/DBE in a exaggerated positive light, and when confronted, use the worn out alibis that they have no power, need their jobs, insurance benefits, pension—and the most frequent, “I must support my family.” My question is, how long do you provide for your families at the expense of so many others who have families to provide for?
Ask yourself as you ride through the city of Pittsburgh and you see the building ongoing, particularly in neighborhoods where there are a large percentage of Blacks living, how many Blacks do I see working? I remember a year ago as they laid asphalt on Lincoln Avenue and Frankstown Avenue Blacks were invisible. That was not totally the politicians and contractors fault. Whose was it? It was yours and mine, because we said not a mumbling word, and until we speak out and act up nothing will change.
There is more than enough blame to go around, White folks, Black folks, White and Black politicians, churches, and organizations. It goes without saying that there exists in our neighborhoods a multitude of organizations and there is a duplication of services, a few unique organizations, and of course we have those who would be HNIC. However there is a common denominator that all of us can agree on and work in a cohesive manner to achieve: the eradication of denying Blacks the opportunity to share in the American dream, and being afforded the opportunity to provide for our families.
Kingsley Association needs your help.
(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a weekly contributor to the Forum Page.)

(NNPA)—I am a certified news junkie, but even I had to step away from the oversaturated media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. Anyone who has covered crimes on a smaller scale than the twin explosions in Boston knows that investigators don’t have instant answers for everything and it’s ridiculous to think that in a frenzied atmosphere, accurate information will be available in abundance. But that did not prevent news outlets and social media from rushing to be first rather than calmly waiting to be accurate.
The result was a string of embarrassing mistakes that did little to comfort a nation on edge, a nation that still hadn’t gotten over the shock of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Of course, this is not to suggest that everything reported by the media was wrong. The news media helped disseminate photos of the two bombing suspect that eventually led to their being identified. The media was able to pass along instructions for people to remain in their homes until the suspects were captured. And most of us learned what had happened in Boston by watching television, going to the Internet or social media.
Ironically, on the day the Pulitzer Prizes honoring excellence in journalism were announced—The Denver Post won the award for breaking news for its coverage of a mass shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. that left 12 dead and 58 injured—news outlets were making major blunders while covering the Boston bombings.
Among the most egregious:

The New York Post gave an inflated death count, saying there were “ at least 12 dead.” At the time, three people had been killed.
The Wall Street Journal reported that police had discovered five additional explosive devices in addition to the two that been discovered, a statement that was later retracted.
In what it called a “world-beating scoop,” the New York Post reported that a Saudi national was a suspect in the case when, in fact, he was a witness and a victim.
At 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17, John King reported on CNN that a suspect had been taken into custody. That was false.
King also erred when he reported last Wednesday: “I want to be very careful about this, because people get very sensitive when you say these things. I was told by one of these sources who is a law enforcement official that this is a dark-skinned male.”
PBS anchor Gwen Ifill tweeted, “disturbing that it’s OK for TV to ID a Boston bombing suspect as a ‘dark skinned individual.’”
King’s description of the so-called suspect sparked a lively discussion on the National Association of Black Journalists listserve.
Askia Muhammad, a columnist and radio host, wrote, “How did they know that sand n—er was a suspect? He must have been wearing a towel on his head.”
Roger Witherspoon, a veteran journalist and public relations executive, said: “Well, now that the FBI has released photos of the two men who apparently carried the bombs, I’m puzzled. Perhaps there’s a problem with the contrast on my TV, but they don’t look dark skinned to me.”
The Associated Press, Fox News, and the Boston Globe also mistakenly reported that a suspect had been arrested in the case. The reporting was so inaccurate that the FBI issued a statement that said:
“Contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack. Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.”
The Boston Police Department scooped journalists when it announced Friday, via Twitter, that an arrest had been made in the case.
In view of the grievous errors made in covering high-profile crimes, news outlets should spend less time showing yellow police tape, flashing police lights and hyping their own reporters and more time explaining to the public that in an ongoing investigation, they will not get the facts before the next commercial break.
We should have learned this lesson from the experience of covering Newtown, Conn., when there were conflicting accounts on everything from whether Adam Lanza had forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School or had been buzzed in to whether he or his brother, Ryan, was the shooter.
As President Obama said, “In this age of instant reporting and tweets and blogs, there’s a temptation to latch on to any bit of information, sometimes jumping to conclusions. But when a tragedy like this happens, with public safety at risk and the stakes so high, it’s important that we do this right. That’s why we have investigations. That’s why we relentlessly gather the facts.”
(George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in-chief of the NNPA. He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. Curry can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.)

Last month I took a visit to Atlanta and once again stopped by the birth home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

BILL FLETCHER JR.

(NNPA)—Every time the National Rifle Association or its political allies block any form of gun control, people throw up their hands in complete frustration trying to figure out why the NRA will, seemingly, never agree to any sort of reasonable gun control.  The answer is quite simple:  the NRA believes that any degree of gun control is a slippery slope which will inevitably lead to more restrictions on the use of fire arms.  Once you appreciate the NRA’s “logic,” their positions—as backward and anti-social as they are—take on a different meaning.
What is critical that one appreciates is that the NRA is not so much focused on this or that piece of gun control legislation.  I would wager that they probably care little about whether a clip has three bullets or 300.  What they care about is that restrictions on any ammo clip will result, over time, in greater restrictions on guns.
It is, therefore, important that those of us who believe that it is not a great idea for mentally disturbed individuals to have access to firearms, to never assume that passionate pleas to the NRA or its political allies will work.  The NRA has inoculated itself against passionate pleas.  The ghosts of the children killed at the daycare center in Newtown, Conn. could appear in front of the headquarters of the NRA and it would make no difference.
In appreciating what motivates the NRA one must, therefore, understand that winning reasonable gun control, e.g., universal background checks, will not happen through television commercials or the tears of victims of gun violence.  Such legislation will result from raw power and intense organizing among the public.  The NRA is a very well-funded and well-organized lobby that has the capacity to put the fear of God into many elected officials. The only way to counter that is not through attempts at compromise but rather by developing a sufficient counter-force that will cause elected officials to pause before they give away the store to the NRA.
A country built on racial slavery and genocide finds it difficult to accept that there need to be controls over the use of firearms.  That history of rampant, frequently uncontrolled—yet directed—violence is the toxin which is in the political system that periodically produces moments of complete insanity.  This toxin leads too many people to believe that having nearly unfettered access to firearms is paramount regardless of how many innocent individuals lose their lives.
It is not the 2nd Amendment that fundamentally motivates uncompromising firearms fanatics, but the fear that was engendered through the scars resulting from the violent history of this country.  Given that history, the NRA is successfully able to play a tune to which so many will dance.  In the bizarre universe which the NRA has constructed, built upon and within a very real and violent history, it all starts to make sense…and is equally sickening.
(Bill Fletcher Jr. is a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the author of “They’re Bankrupting Us”—And Twenty Other Myths about Unions.  Follow him at www.billfletcherjr.com.)