August 9, 2020
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
Vol. 25, Issue 29
BLACK VOTES MATTER
WHAT DID TRUMP SAY?
J
UNEMPLOYMENT HOUSTON - The word they use is “negotiating,” but it is more fitting to flat out call it what it is --fighting -- as Democrats and Republicans are trying to reach a decision on what to do about unemployment benefits during this pandemic. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs after COVID-19/
CRISIS
coronavirus swept the globe, and people who have never had to rely on a “handout” their entire lives are now left depending on food stamps, waiting for hours in long drive-thru food bank lines and are applying weekly for unemployment benefits, which, as of July 31, have decreased significantly after the extra $600 a
week supplement ended. Many families who were previously not receiving SNAP benefits did qualify for a onetime Pandemic EBT disbursement and tax payers also received stimulus checks, but some complain that those funds were eaten up on higher than normal grocery bills and household utility bills,
which have almost doubled now that more family members are home all day. Republicans have argued that the extra $600 in unemployment benefits are causing people NOT to want to return to work, but that’s an unfair generalization of many hardworking inCrisis cont’d on page 4
ust when we thought that President Donald Trump couldn’t go further off the deep end with his bizarre statements, he -- like the Energizer Bunny -- just keeps going and going and going. Let’s take the top three statements that flew out of his mouth over the last couple of weeks. NUMBER ONE Trump, in an interview with “Axios on HBO,” refused to give praise to late Congressman John Lewis, rather focusing on the fact that the civil rights icon decided not to attend his inauguration and State of the Union speeches. Interviewer Jonathan Swan led Trump through a wide range of topics, including the increasing number of coronavirus cases after Trump’s maskless rally in Tulsa, Okla., the now controversial mail-in voting, and his opinion of Lewis, who just lost his battle with cancer. “John Lewis is lying in state at the U.S. Capitol. How do you think history will remember John Lewis?”
Swan asked Trump. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know John Lewis,” Trump said. “He chose not to come to my inauguration. He chose -- I don’t -- I never met John Lewis actually, I don’t believe.” Lewis was arrested more than 40 times while protesting, was beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on “Bloody Sunday” of the Selma-Montgomery marches and was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington -- where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Swan asked Trump whether he thinks Lewis and his story are “impressive,” to which the president downplayed, again, focusing on Lewis’ missed attendance at the inauguration. “I can’t say one way or the other. I find a lot of people impressive. I find many people not impressive,” Trump said. “He didn’t come to my inauguration. He didn’t come to my State of Trump cont’d on page 6
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August 9, 2020
EDITORIAL
President/Chief Editor
Tristar
Griselda Ramirez: Production
Life is about priority setting. Priorities are values, and values are
vances, technical skill employment requirements and the developmental consequences. We must follow the scientific community’s advice regarding COVID-19. However, regarding the educational development of children and WI-FI access, we must immediately continue to provide our children with a quality education in their homes and community-based comput-
the Black community. In fact, it is of the utmost necessity that our children have access to computers and WI-FI connectivity, as well as a quality, communityoriented newspapers to fully keep individuals informed. No doubt about it, obtaining a quality education is of the utmost importance, because obtaining a quality education is the Civil Rights issue of the 21st century.
about importance ordering. Educational development for children should be top priority, because of 21st century technological ad-
er centers; even though they can never replace quality teachers. It is a moral imperative that we correct the educational deficiencies in
For almost 20 years, Bridging the Digital Divide (BDD), a nonprofit (501 C-3) or-
A Revival of God
Consciousness Bobby E. Mills, PhD
Office: (713) 692-1892
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
The impact of COVID-19 on educational development
COVID-19 cont’d on page 3
Partin’ the Waters By Omowale Luthuli-Allen
Look – Listen – Analyze – Reject If you believe the wrong source of information, your errors need to be corrected because this contest is TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, LIVE or DIE. One source, one voice undermines science. One source, one voice supports science. One source puts science in command, not hocus pocus. One source puts politics in command. Former presidential candidate Herman 9-9-9 Cain, God bless his soul, put politics in command by making a political statement of not wearing a mask. Cain, a man whose persona that I liked, was at the President’s rally in Tulsa spouting, “I am having a fantastic time.” By the way, I have no idea of where or how he caught the COVID-19 virus.
It is the same statement that good sister Dr. Stella Immanuel of H-Town blasted to the country and world: “MASKS are not NECESSARY.” Donald ‘45’ Trump said, “I thought her voice was an important voice.” De Coy in the NI__ _ _ ER Bible advocated that black people arrive at conclusions about an event or phenomena by using his metrics, LOOK, LISTEN, ANALYZE, ACCEPT or REJECT. Dr. Immanuel says that we don’t need masks. Dr. Immanuel says that Hydroxychloroquine is a safe an effective therapeutic. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Robert Redfield and others point to five scientific studies that have disproved that this medicine is effective for COVID-19 patients. If I was flat on my back and dying, yes, I would take it, but I would assiduously avoid Hydroxychloroquine if my recovery chances were above 50% because I respect the science. Analyze cont’d on page 3
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Crisis, cont’d dividuals who’ve been affected by the pandemic. “I find that to be ridiculous, insulting and absurd. We do not have to look far to take note that enslaved Africans were held in slavery for 246 years. So hard work is not an issue. They do hard essential work as well as work that requires extensive knowledge of their job - but they work!” US Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee emphatically stated. “If anyone looks, there are a lot of jobs that have been lost and many people have lost their jobs. We must create new jobs for people to truly get back to work. I have not heard of anyone accepting this money as a substitute for working. They accept it because they must survive, provide
August 9, 2020
for themselves and their family and fight this dangerous pandemic - COVID-19.” The revered Texas representative, who has been working quadruple-time trying to help flatten the virus curve in her district, says African Americans will be greatly impacted. “I believe the denial of these benefits would be devastating to the African American community because so many African Americans work in essential worker positions, some have been laid off, some work for small businesses, some are small business owners and of course the wealth in the African American community is far more challenging than other communities. Further, a close examination of wealth in the U.S. finds evidence of staggering racial disparities,” Jackson Lee said. “At $171,000, the net worth of a typical
white family is nearly ten times greater than that of a Black family ($17,150) in 2016. Gaps in wealth between Black and white households reveal the effects of accumulated inequality and discrimination, as well as differences in power and opportunity that can be traced back to this nation’s inception.” Jackson Lee believes the cash disbursement should be expanded to $2000, but should not go lower than $1200. At the very least, the $600 must remain. “I am absolutely not conceding to any other amount below the $600.00. There is absolute desperation and an imperative need to provide people the extra $600 for their basic quality of life in the United States, i.e.… food, mortgage, rent, healthcare and other necessities. This is not play money, but money
that people need,’ she said. Her track record speaks volumes. “As everyone knows, I have introduced the historic bill, H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans and has advocated for major economic changes to respond to the loss of wealth by African Americans. As everyone knows, efforts by African Americans to build wealth can be traced back throughout American history,” the congresswoman said. “But these efforts have been impeded in a host of ways, beginning with 246 years of chattel slavery and followed by Congressional mismanagement of the Freedman’s Savings Bank (which left 61,144 depositors with losses of nearly $3 million in 1874), the violent massacre decimat-
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
ing Tulsa’s Greenwood District in 1921 (a population of 10,000 that thrived as the epicenter of African American business and culture, commonly referred to as “Black Wall Street”), and discriminatory policies throughout the 20th century including the Jim Crow Era’s “Black Codes” strictly limiting opportunity in many southern states, the GI bill, the New Deal’s Fair Labor Standards Act’s exemption of domestic agricultural and service occupations, and redlining. Wealth was taken from these communities before it had the opportunity to grow. Finally, again, one of the singular solutions and significant Civil Rights legislation to respond to the wealth gap would be H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop
Reparation Proposals for African Americans.” Data shows that in Texas, more than 3 million people have filed for unemployment relief since midMarch, and in June, Texas collected $2.7 billion in sales tax revenues, a 6.5% decline from the same period in 2019. Those revenues came from purchases made in May, when Texas began allowing businesses to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. We hope the economy gets back on track because there are already not enough shelters to house our homeless current population, so what is the government going to do when hardworking families find themselves out on the street? - AANI
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
August 9, 2020
AFRAMNEWS.COM 5
LOCAL $20 MILLION COVID-19 RENT RELIEF PROGRAM APPROVED
HOUSTON-- The City of Houston has approved a $20 million rent relief package to help Houstonians who cannot pay rent due to economic challenges caused by COVID-19. Funding for the City’s second rental relief package includes $15 million from the the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, and $5 million from private donors: • $2 million from the Houston Endowment • $1 million from the Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund •$1 million from the
Kinder Foundation •$1 million from Texans owner and cofounder Janice McNair The City plans to set aside money for Lone Star Legal Aid and for those who need assistance, but do not qualify for CARES Act dollars. “I want to stress that there is no perfect formula, and we know there are Houstonians with a lot of needs as a result of the pandemic. This program will provide relief to thousands of families,” said Mayor Turner. “If you are at the lowest level, and you are not able to pay rent, pretty much the
only place left is on the street. So we want to make sure people don’t find themselves forced out of their homes and on the street.” Criteria to qualify for rental relief program: • Must live in the City of Houston and be behind on rent payments for August or prior months and cannot pay the rent due to economic challenges caused by COVID-19 • Must live in the City of Houston and behind on rent payments for August or prior months and cannot pay the rent due to economic challenges caused by COVID-19
• Even if only one tenant in an apartment complex qualifies for rental assistance, the no eviction rule applies to all tenants on the property • Mayor Turner is also asking the landlords to waive late fees and interest on late payments, agree to a payment plan and refrain from evictions through Sept. 2020. • The mayor thanked the Houston Apartment Association and BakerRipley for their work to make the rental relief program successful. “I am urging congress to put more money for
rent relief in the second CARES Act package and I am calling on our state leadership to address the needs of Texans,” said Turner. “Cities cannot do it alone. We are trying our best, but we should not be the only resource looking out for families and business
t h a t are suffering because of COVID-19. A lot of people helped get us over the finish line today and I want to thank city council. For more information visit HoustonRentAssistance.org. - AANI
MASK UP! OR GET FINED
HOUSTON -- The Houston Police Department will be issuing warnings and citations to anyone not wearing a face mask or face covering required by the state’s mandatory mask order. Police will not ticket those who are not wearing a mask if they meet the exemption criteria. The citation carries a $250 fine. “We know that wearing a mask or face-covering in public is one of the most effective methods to
slow the spread of COVID-19,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. “Lives are at stake, so I am taking this step to save lives and slow the virus from spreading in August.” The mayor’s announcement happened on the same day the Houston Health Department reported 1,104 new cases of COVID-19, bringing Houston’s total to 50,896. There are six newly-reported deaths, bringing the city’s total to 478.
“For months, we have focused on education and not citations. But now, I am instructing the Houston Police Department to issue necessary warnings and citations to anyone not wearing a mask in public if they do not meet the criteria for an exemption,” Mayor Turner said. Houston police will not respond to 9-1-1 calls about people not wearing masks.
- AANI
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the Union speeches. And that’s OK. That’s his right, and, again, nobody has done more for Black Americans than I have. He should have come. I think he made a big mistake.” SAY WHAT??? AND THAT BRINGS US TO NUMBER TWO Repeat that...... “I did more for the Black community than anybody with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln,” Trump told Swan. “You believe you did more than Lyndon Johnson, who passed the Civil Rights Act?” Swan asked. “How has it worked out?” Trump responded. “If you take a look at what Lyndon Johnson did. How has it worked out?” Seriously, do we need to comment on this? Some things shouldn’t be dignified with a response. Carry on! NUMBER THREE Trump publicly insulted the good doctor who has stood by his side as he’s made the most questionable statements regarding the coronavirus. Dr. Deborah L. Birx, 64, is the current response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force. She is a world-renowned global health official and a retired U.S. Army physician who was instrumental in HIV/AIDS vaccine research. Her career
has spanned three decades, and now she holds her tongue at press briefings as Trump suggests bringing light “inside the body” or the possibility of an “injection” of disinfectant into a person infected with the coronavirus as a deterrent. It should be noted that the maker of Lysol issued a statement warning against any internal use of the cleaning product. When Birx was interviewed by CNN’s Dana Bash last week, she gave warnings about the pandemic, in opposition to some of the things the president says. “What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. It’s into the rural as equal urban areas,” Birx said, adding that people in mu lt i-generat iona l families should start wearing masks inside their homes. Trump didn’t like that statement. “So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics. In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!” Trump tweeted. Not a nice thing to say...but then again... nothing surprises us with this president. - AANI
GREATER HOUSTON EDITION
August 9, 2020
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