coalition - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-28T23:14:17Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/coalitionWhy Are We Still Disorganized? by Bro. Cliff of KUUMBAReport Online and SRDChttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/why-are-we-still-disorganized-by-bro-cliff-of-kuumbareport-online2014-01-08T00:46:05.000Z2014-01-08T00:46:05.000ZBrother Cliffhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/BrotherCliff<div><p><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:medium;">This piece was initially written as an email to two Elders who have often bemoaned the lack of unity that we as African people have demonstrated over these many generations since the <em>Ma'afa</em> (a <em>Twi</em> word meaning "great disaster", used by Pan-Afrikan historians and activists to describe the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the Arab Slave Trade, the Scramble for Africa and the suffering African people have endured</span> <span style="font-size:medium;">as a result). I meant it as a helpful response to their question (which was probably rhetorical anyway) about why our people continue to act in such a self-destructive manner, refusing to hear the words of our knowledgeable Elders and instead preferring the siren song of the corporate interests who wish to keep us subjugated as compliant consumers and labor lackeys to keep the wheels of their industry moving. When my email was returned to me with the message "the recipient is only accepting mail from specific email addresses", it became clear to me that, while the message was meant to be distributed broadly so that all could hear the wisdom of their words, they did not themselves wish to hear the words of the rest of us. In other words, this was to be a one-way discussion. And, apparently (and unfortunately), the only answer they wished to see or hear was the rest of us unifying under their leadership.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="color:#000000;">I've encountered a number of wise and well-meaning activists and organizers, such as these respected Elders, who have taken this view, that they are the ones with the answers and all others should simply follow their banner. The organization I belong to, the</span> <a href="http://kuumbareport.com/organizations/srdc/"><strong>Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC),</strong></a> <span style="color:#000000;">is a <em><strong>coalition-based organization</strong></em> that realizes that such an approach will often fail to attract allies who already have ideas and organizations of their own. SRDC</span> <span style="color:#000000;">has attempted to form cooperative partnerships with other organizations whose response was simply "join under us and then we will work together." These partnerships failed to materialize because we could not subordinate our mission to someone else's, but we were willing to work side-by-side with other organizations in areas of shared interest, an offer which has often been refused. Our various organizations' utter failure to work together in such a unified and cooperative manner (despite our avowed reverence for the principles of Kwanzaa, specifically Unity--<strong><em>Umoja</em></strong>--and Collective Work and Responsibility--<strong><em>Ujima</em></strong>) actually underlines the primary reason why the words of our enemies carry so much more weight than do our own with our own people. </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;">I'm not saying that the Elder's complaint was without merit; quite the contrary. He is absolutely right: our grassroots communities easily and readily swallow the brainwashing and propaganda that is fed to them by the powers that be. Where I differ with the Elder is in his seeming surprise and bewilderment as to the reason why this is happening. It is not because of some magic spell that has been cast over our people. It is not because of some myth of intellectual or moral inferiority that right-wingers try to sell us. It is not even so much because of Western "tricknology", though it is a tool that is used to deliver the poisonous messages our enemies feed us. It is because, as much as anything else, of our own inability, or refusal, as self-styled "leaders", to actively model the unity and cooperation we want the masses to practice to lift our communities up. </span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;">The messages with which our communities are bombarded--Look out for Number One, Individual Freedom, Personal Responsibility, I Gotta Get Mine--have profoundly influenced us, and not for the better. While it took military <em>coups d'état</em> and the imposition of military dictatorships to turn communities in Latin American countries and even villages against each other, the unraveling of the fabric of our Village was accomplished more through a <em>coup d'esprit</em>--the conquest of our spirit through a combination of drugs, deprivation, fear and propaganda. The major entertainment media (which often masquerade as news) and the corporate interests that control them were able to pull off this stunt in a way that was well-coordinated and affected our collective psyche across the board. This is largely because of the fact that <b><i>they are well organized in spite of belonging to different organizations and corporations.</i></b> While they all have their specific organizational interests (mainly profit), <em><b>they all agree on the basic narrative to feed to our people,</b></em> and thus their message is well crafted, organized and unified. They often sit on each others' Boards of Directors and, though they may be competitors in many ways, they have learned to support each other in a variety of projects. Even going back in history, we see this level of cooperation. At the Berlin Conference, supposedly-competing countries "cooperated" to divide Mother Africa up so that each of them was given control of specific, resource-rich sectors of our ancestral home, <em><b>knowing that they would all benefit at our collective expense.</b></em> This spirit of cooperation would ultimately serve them well in the two World Wars, when first Otto Von Bismarck, then Adolf Hitler and the Axis Powers, decided to attempt to conquer all of Europe for themselves. The countries of Europe, including the United States and Russia in World War II, not only cooperated militarily, they also worked together to develop and implement the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe. Thus, our historical oppressors from the United States and Europe have been practicing "Ujima" (Collective Work and Responsibility) and "Umoja" (Unity) for hundreds of years before we even mouthed the words. </span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;"><b><i>We as African people do no such thing. </i></b> With the exception of the occasional slave revolt, civil-rights march or presidential election, we seem unable to truly come together and cooperate on anything without our own self-interested aims derailing our efforts. (The African Union is trying to provide an example of cooperation among member states, but that project, much like the Organization of African Unity which it replaced, is being challenged as well, from inside and from outside the organization.) Our different organizations are still involved in the "me-first" game and no other strategy is acceptable. To us, unity seems possible only through conquest and the absorption of other groups' members. If people do not join <b><i>our</i></b> organization and follow <b><i>our</i></b> specific organizational agenda, we assume that they do not wish to work with us and that they are against Pan-African Unity. </span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:medium;">This, our refusal to even work in cooperation with each other while our enemies have been doing so for generations, is the main reason why our message goes unheeded by the masses of our people. We are so busy competing with, contradicting and fighting ourselves that our messages of liberation and uplift sound jumbled and self-contradictory; why should anyone listen to us talking about unity when we all fight amongst ourselves? The corporations, while they do compete with each other for the biggest share of the profits, <em><strong>are at least selling us, by and large, the same thing,</strong></em> and have agreed to use their common media outlets<br /></span><span style="font-size:medium;"><b><i>to send us the same basic message</i></b> of what we should call ourselves and what dreams we should seek to attain. Our ironically self-described Pan-Afrikan organizations, however, disagree on what we should call ourselves, what our relationship should be to Africa and what is best for us as a people, and they all seem to insist that <b><i>they alone</i></b> are the path to our psychological, economic and political freedom and that all others must join them <b><i>and them alone.</i></b></span></span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;">The fact is that our different organizations are <b><i>not</i></b> going to join each other. You may have no interest in "joining" my organization, the <strong>Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus</strong> or <strong>SRDC</strong> (not that I'm insisting that you do) because you want to continue to build <strong><em>your</em></strong> organization, and I don't have the time or energy to join other organizations because I'm quite busy with more than enough unpaid work helping to build SRDC. </span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;">However, this need not be a major problem or an impediment to our organizing efforts. While we in SRDC are still focused on building our organization and establishing a means to bring the voice of the Grassroots Communities of the African Diaspora to the World Stage (be that through the African Union, World Social Forum or other vehicles), we also recognize that, while our different organizations are not ready to join each other, they can, and <b><i>must,</i></b> find a way to <b><i>work together cooperatively</i></b> for the education, mobilization and general uplift of African people, as the corporations of our adversaries do in their effort to strengthen their control over us. </span><br /> <span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;"> </span><br /> <span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;">I have been reaching out, on behalf of SRDC, to other organizations that have shown an interest in working cooperatively. I've concentrated my efforts in the area near where I live, and as a result I've gotten a few interested responses from some of the Continental African organizations in the Washington DC area, even though many of them would tell you that their perspective on who the African Diaspora is (that the Diaspora is primarily Continental Africans who emigrated from the Mother Continent to the West) are often quite different from that of SRDC and of African Descendants in general (that the Diaspora includes <strong><i>all</i></strong> people of African descent who live outside the African Continent). Still, if there is a way for Continental Africans and African Descendants to engage in constructive planning so that we can eventually develop a narrative of Diaspora Unity instead of the individualistic <strong><em>dis</em></strong>unity and thoughtless consumerism that our adversaries teach us, I hope to be a part of that planning process. I don't expect these organizations to <b><i>join</i></b> SRDC, but my hope is that they will agree to work <b><i>alongside </i></b>us to reach out to, organize and galvanize the African Diaspora so that the aims of <b><i>all</i></b> our organizations can be attained. </span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;">If this sounds like an acceptable arrangement, I am prepared to hear from you so that we can make plans to move all of our people forward. Just leave a comment here, or send an email to <a href="mailto:cliff@kuubareport.com"><span style="color:#000000;">cliff@kuubareport.com</span></a>.</span></p><p><span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;">Peace and Power,</span><br /> <span style="color:#000000;font-size:medium;">Bro. Cliff</span></p></div>Medgar Evers Under Threat of {Hostile?} Takeover From CUNYhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/medgar-evers-under-threat-of-hostile-takeover-from-cuny2012-10-09T13:00:00.000Z2012-10-09T13:00:00.000ZGloria Dulan-Wilsonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/GloriaDulanWilson<div><div><br /> By Gloria Dulan-Wilson ~<br /> <br /> <span style="color:#993300;"><i><b>The Original Title from the Medgar Evers Coalition was "Medgar Evers Poised for CUNY Takeover". But, I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I just received a communique from the Medgar Evers Coalition, who have been struggling for more than three years now to get Pollard removed. So now that there is a CUNY take over in the works,should we rejoice, or should we be alarmed. After all, they could have remedied this situation three years ago, once the faculty, staff, students and administration sounded the alarm that there was something seriously amiss with the newly appointed "college president" William Pollard.</b></i></span> <br /> <br /> While I haven't written much about it over the past few months, the fact that the struggle - the effort - to relieve the college of a President who turned out to be a pariah is much to the credit of stalwarts who will not allow an interloper to come in and drag the school back to the days before Edison Jackson turned it around and made it a class-A educational institution - not to CUNY, who seems to actually be more than pleased with the predicament. . <br /> <br /> Hopefully, it will be in time, because Pollard has pretty much eviscerated the school of all that Jackson, the faculty, staff, administration, and community worked so hard to establish. <br /> <br /> However, rather than rehashing the entire scenario, you can can visit my Blog archives <b><u><a href="http://www.gloriadulanwilson.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">www.gloriadulanwilson.blogspot.com</a>. </u></b> Additionally, I'm including below the latest update from the Medgar Evers Coalition. I'm sure they would appreciate your support and words of encouragement. Additionally, I know they are going to need massive assistance in re-instating, and re-establishing the quality that has been systematically destroyed by an individual who should never have been allowed to set foot on the campus, let alone occupy the position of President of the only African American college in New York.<br /> <br /> It's a travesty that it had to take this long for things to devolve to this level before CUNY would take action (or was it their plan to begin with? hmmmmm!) At any rate, if you are interested in showing support with these valiant standard bearers for quality education, and the rights of our Black youth to have a campus that represents them, make sure you do so immediately, if not sooner.<br /> <br /> Their article follows (<span style="color:#993300;"><b>naturally the comments in red or in brackets are mine):<br /></b></span><div><b>Overview: </b> The College is now facing a $Three million budget deficit. The faculty, students, staff, community and elected leaders must continue to work collaboratively to change the leadership at Medgar Evers College. The Chancellor and the CUNY Board of Trustees must <span class="font-size-3"><strong><span style="color:#993300;">ACT NOW. We cannot allow the destabilization and downward spiral of the Medgar Evers College to continue.</span></strong></span> The mission and legacy of our institution, founded to serve the residents of central Brooklyn, must be preserved.</div><div>President Pollard must be replaced by an interim <span style="color:#993300;"><font size="4"><b>{BLACK</b></font></span>} president, a transitional leader who is independent with no previous history at the College. The interim president must be able to lead the College as it undergoes the process of a comprehensive search for a president who has a history of scholarship, community involvement, and the ability to garner resources.</div><div>CUNY, it appears, has begun the process of replacing President Pollard. At its September 24 Board of Trustees Meeting, an agenda item indicated that President Pollard would be appointed to the Graduate School of Social Work at Hunter College, effective September 1, 2012. Faculty, staff, students and members of the community, upon learning of this agenda item, were poised to move to the next step in the search for an interim and subsequent permanent president; however, it quickly became apparent that President Pollard was not to be removed immediately.</div><div><b>In appointing {the ersatz} President Pollard to the Graduate School of Social Work at Hunter College, the Chancellor has only given Pollard a place to go when he is removed {<span style="color:#993300;"><i>their own form of a golden parachute for a job well done in demoralizing and nearly destroying Medgar Evers so that CUNY can effect a hostile take over and continue to dismantle it so that it is no longer viably a predominantly Black college</i>} He is stalling and is allowing Pollard and his administration to continue the destruction and dismantling of the academic, social and cultural mission and infrastructure of the College.</span></b><span style="color:#993300;"> </span></div><div>Rather than immediately remove Pollard, he has indicated that he will appoint an <span style="color:#993300;"><b><i>external team to evaluate the President and that he will conduct a random survey with the college community.</i></b></span></div><div>These actions reveal that the Chancellor and CUNY Board of Trustees are positioning the College for a CUNY takeover, the apparent intention from the very start{<span style="color:#993300;"><b>told you</b></span>}! The facts reveal a clear case of institutional racism and the complicity of those who are self-absorbed and have benefited from their relationship with Pollard and his administration.</div><br /><div><b>See the facts, questions and ongoing problems</b>.</div><div><b> What the Faculty Has Done: </b> Upon learning of the President’s appointment to the Graduate School of Social Work at Hunter College, the Medgar Evers College Faculty Senate immediately wrote and asked for clarification of Pollard's appointment and timetable for his removal. They have received no response. <i><b>This comes after two votes of "No Confidence" from both faculty and staff</b></i>.</div><div><b>What Students Have Done: </b> Student groups have demonstrated and sent petitions celebrating the anticipated removal of someone who has continued to cut services, disregarded student complaints and caused the reduction of enrollment and the fleeing of students who are transferring from Medgar Evers because of its disorganization and overall disintegration of services.</div><div><b>The Facts: </b> The Chancellor states there will be an independent review of the President. <i><b>Why? The faculty, staff, students and community have {already} spoken.</b></i> The Chancellor states that a random survey of the college community will be taken re: its perception of the President. Why? Nothing is objective and who determines random?</div><div><span style="color:#993300;"><i><b>A random survey is VERY questionable!</b></i></span></div><div>{Pollard} announced that there was a projected deficit in the budget of approximately three million dollars for the current fiscal year. He stated that the problem was due, primarily to low enrollment this fall and that the College was approximately 300 students under its projected enrollees.</div><div><i><b><span style="color:#993300;">How is a reduction of 300 students a rationale for a budget deficit of 3 million? Even if we had 300 fewer students, this would only account for $300,000 at most. Where is the other $2,700,000 shortfall for this $ Three million dollar deficit?</span> </b></i></div><br /><div><i><b> </b></i> </div><div>There must be other factors: such as, excessive hiring of consultants & administrators, mismanagement of finances, excessive receptions, etc. We suspect enrollment is down much more than 300. The TAP audit last year produced a shortfall of at least $Two million.</div><div>{Pollard} suggested the following as remedies for addressing the deficit.</div><div> Canceling Spring 2013 classes by 20% to 50%;</div><ul><li>Firing more adjuncts; </li><li>Restructuring and consolidating departments;</li><li>Instituting a hiring freeze;</li><li>Reducing basic skills classes and the Freshman Year Program</li><li>Eliminating majors such as Biology, English and Math</li></ul><div><span style="color:#993300;"> </span><i><b><span style="color:#993300;">WHAT DOES THIS SOUND LIKE TO YOU? ALL OF THESE ACTIVITIES WILL FURTHER REDUCE THE RETENTION OF STUDENTS! {POLLARD'S} RECOMMENDATIONS will harm students, further position the College for a CUNY takeover AND WILL FURTHER DESTROY THE IMAGE AND MISSION OF THE COLLEGE</span>.</b></i></div><div><b>Critical Questions</b></div><ul><li>Where is POLLARD's accountability?</li><li>Why has the past budget and projected budget not been shared with the College?</li><li>What is the past budget?</li><li>How were non tax levy dollars spent? All College budgets at CUNY are largely tax levy dollars, plus non tax levy dollars.</li><li>How were monies spent in relationship to debts accrued?</li><li>What impact does a $Two to Three million TAP budget deficit have on the current budget?</li><li>Why were 14 faculty hired this semester when there is an ALLEGED $Three million budget deficit?</li><li>Is the administration poised to fire adjuncts and non-tenured full-time faculty at our next round of appointments and reappointments if academic Chairs do not cut courses and sections?</li><li>How much money has the fundraiser-in-chief, Pollard,raised since taking office?</li><li>How do you fire the VP for Enrollment Management and Student Development, replace him with a VP for Student Development who works half a day and keep the former VP for Enrollment Management as Executive Director of Enrollment Management without resources and then blame him for the deficit because student enrollment has declined by nearly 400 students?</li><li>Why was the former VP of External Relations (who had to be removed for incompetence) appointed Associate Dean for School of Liberal Arts and Education?</li><li>Why was a new administrative position created for the former VP of External Relations?</li><li>Why does the College owe money to so many vendors?</li></ul><div><i><b>tHE facts above represent examples of egregious mismanagement.</b></i></div><br /><div><b>Ongoing Problems</b></div><div> Major retention problems</div><ul><li>Still No Writing Center</li><li>Learning Center tutors working without getting paid. </li><li>Learning Center in jeopardy of closing due to lack of support. </li><li>A decrease in tutoring for all disciplines.</li><li>A lack of planning, thus causing the closing of Student Computer Labs for three weeks at the start of the semester! Student petitions and protests forced the administration to get computer labs in place.</li><li>No resources given for basic skills courses although basic skills courses were integrated into academic departments (math and English).</li><li>Lack of computers for Basic Skills labs.</li><li>Arbitrary removal of online courses for students</li><li>Placing of responsibility for PMP targets on faculty rather than the President and administrative leadership </li><li><span style="color:#993300;"><i><b>Having served on the Medgar Evers Coalition Committee, I can attest to the fact that they are made up of community, educators, faculty, staff, all of whom have sacrificed their time to save the college. I can also attest to the fact that Pollard was a shill, a trojan horse to begin with, and the intention was to take over the college so that it could become something other than a predominantly Black college - you can read between those lines. If you continue to sit idly by in the surrounding communities of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx and Queens and allow yourselves to be systematically pushed out, you have no one to blame but yourselves. Medgar Evers is symptomatic of a larger issue that won't go away by just wishing and praying. It takes real action and involvement. The Medgar Evers Coalition has been doing the heavy lifting on behalf of you, your children and the community. Now it's time for you to get up off of it, and help them save the school, the community and the jobs are being removed from the community as the result of the pawn, who tried to pass for college president, being put in place with impunity at Medgar Evers to be a traitor to his own people. It's time to clean house.</b></i></span></li><li><span style="color:#993300;"><i><b> </b></i></span></li><li>Stay Blessed &</li><li>ECLECTICALLY BLACK</li><li>Gloria Dulan-Wilson</li></ul><p>PS: <span class="font-size-4"><strong><span style="color:#993300;">VOTE FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA NOVEMBER 6, 2012</span></strong></span></p></div></div>The Rev Jesse L. Jackson Challenge As He Visits Black Wall Street of Tulsa Oklahoma This Weekendhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/the-rev-jesse-l-jackson-challenge-as-he-visits-black-wall-street2012-04-14T18:52:45.000Z2012-04-14T18:52:45.000ZMark S. Allenhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/MarkSAllen<div><div style="text-align:center;"><font face=""><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">Mark S. Allen</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">Chairman Of The Board</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;"><span id="yiv1259139389lw_1332607479_0" class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1334427919_0">Black Wall Street</span></span> Chicago Organization</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">Chief of Staff To National Chairman Rev. Michael Carter</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">National Black Wall Street USA</span><br /></font><font face=""><span id="yiv1259139389lw_1334346388_0" class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1334427919_1"><span id="yiv1259139389lw_1332607479_1" class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span id="yiv1259139389lw_1332788265_0" class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">4655 South King Drive, Suite 203</span></span></span><br /><span class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">Chicago, Illinois 60653</span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">773-392-0165</span><br /></font><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;"><span id="yiv1259139389lw_1332607479_2" class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span id="yiv1259139389lw_1332788265_1" class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><a target="_blank" href="http://us.mc1622.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=markallen@blackwallstreet.orgMark%20S.%20Allen%20recently%20included%20in%20the%202012%20Edition%20of%20Who%27s%20Who%20In%20Black%20Chicago%20as"><font face="">markallen@blackwallstreet.org<br /><br />Mark S. Allen recently included in the 2012 Edition of Who's Who In Black Chicago as "one of Chicago's Most Influential Voices In The Black Community<br /></font><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br /><br /></span></a></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;"><span class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><font face="">NATIONAL BLACK WALL STREET LEADERS APPLAUD REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR ON HIS VISIT TO TULSA, OKLAHOMA TODAY FOR FUNERAL OF RECENT RACIAL <font size="2">SHOOTING</font> VICTIM BOBBY <font size="2">CLARK AND</font> SITE OF ORIGINAL RACE RIOTS OF MAY 31, 1921, 91ST YEAR ANNIVERSARY</font></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;"><span class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.blackwallstreet.org/"><span id="yiv1259139389lw_1334346388_1" class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts"><font face="">www.blackwallstreet.org</font></span></a></span></span></span></span><span style="font-style:italic;"><br /></span><font face=""> </font></div><div style="text-align:center;"><font face="">Tulsa, Okla. — </font></div><div style="text-align:center;"><br />Today, National Black Wall Street USA National leadership which include Mark Allen, a former national aide to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr, applaud the Rev. <span id="yiv1259139389lw_1334341549_0" class="yiv1259139389yshortcuts">Jesse Jackson</span> who was at Crown Hill Chapel in Tulsa yesterday morning for the funeral of 54-year-old Bobby Clark, one of three people killed in the Good Friday shootings.<br /><br />"We must somehow pull leadership together, black and white alike, and say that this killing does not represent all of Tulsa," Jackson said. The Rev. Michael Carter, Sr, National Chairman of National Black Wall Street USA stated that he agrees with Rev. Jackson. Carter stated that "91 years ago, not all White citizens were a part of the burning and shooting down of the Black Wall Street community of Tulsa that lost over 3,000 Black citizens and a community with over 600 Black owned and operated businesses, and that today 91 years later the accused shooters in this latest tragedy Jake England and Alvin Watts who are white do not represent all Whites in Tulsa, but the challenge is to show that 91 years later that original self community economic spirit of Black Wall Street<br /> can live again in Tulsa and Black and communities across the country without threat of any racial hatred"<br /><br />Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett was also on hand outside the chapel and talked with Jackson before they went inside for the service.<br /><br />Jackson is just one high-profile civil rights leader making a visit to Tulsa following the shootings, which many believe were racially-motivated.</div><div style="text-align:center;"><br /> </div><div style="text-align:center;">Mark Allen stated that "it is fitting that Rev. Jackson today would be the one to help bring additional national visibility to this Tulsa community during this challenging period as one who is well aware of the history that Black Wall Street of Tulsa represent yesterday and today. It was Rev. Jesse who helped get the national message out across the country that the spirit and legacy of the original Black Wall Street of Tulsa was alive and mobilized through 35 national chapters of the National Black Wall Street organization when he accepted my invitation to be the kick off speaker at the very first national meeting last year in Chicago of National Black Wall Street Chapter Organizers, along with other former national staff members of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's national staff of <em>SCLC Operation Breadbasket</em> Program like Attorney Thomas Todd and the Rev. Albert Sampson. Rev. Jackson and others reflected that the Operation Breadbasket program was in the spirit of Black Wall Street in that it taught how the Black and other poor communities could be strong communities built through the consumer education of poor citizens in their own communities investing more of their consumer spending with that communities own financial institutions to sustain and increase its own community businesses, jobs, and institutions" </div><div style="text-align:center;"> </div><div style="text-align:center;">Allen also stated that he hopes that national high profile leaders like Rev. Jackson can help use this focus again on the pain of Tulsa into how the power of Tulsa and that Black Wall Spirit example could actually rebuild and reverse the desperate economic conditions that Black and poor communities face while on the other hand touting the Trillion dollar consumer spending power from the Black community alone. "Tulsa last year almost lost the financing to sustain the only facility to survive the 1921 Race Riots, and we have far more economic resources today than we did 91 years ago, so we need to have collaborations to sustain that Library and self empowered communities and I cannot think of a better campaign to work with Rev. Jackson and other national leadership on than reviving the spirit and legacy of Black Wall Street of this same community that the world watched in 1921 and now in 2012." said Allen.</div><div style="text-align:center;"> </div><div style="text-align:center;">-30-</div><div style="text-align:center;"> </div><div style="text-align:center;">(Note, Thanks to Bishop Tavis Grant, National Field Secretary for The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and Lauren Love of The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Press Department for their communication with regard to Rev. Jackson's visit today to the original Black Wall Street of Tulsa Oklahoma during this 91st Year commemoration season of the May 31, 1921/June 1st, 1921 Race Riot)</div></div>Illinois State Treasurer Victory !https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/illinois-state-treasurer2011-05-06T20:57:40.000Z2011-05-06T20:57:40.000ZMark S. Allenhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/MarkSAllen<div><p> </p><div><p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000000" id="rolx_document"><font face="Times New Roman"><strong><font size="5"><font face="Georgia">Call To Action WIN!<span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;font-size:18pt;"> </span></font></font></strong></font></font></p><p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#000000"> </font></p><p></p><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;font-size:18pt;"><strong> Illinois Treasurer Rutherford Re-Adopts Citizen</strong></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;font-size:18pt;"> CRA Complaint Form!</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford has re-adopted and re-posted the Citizen CRA (<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304710683_0" style="border-bottom:#366388 2px dotted;">Community Reinvestment Act</span>) Complaint Form, negotiated by the Community Reinvestment Organizing Project (COP), two years along as a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304710683_1">bank accountability</span> process for Illinois citizens with concerns by limited or non-existent CRA activity of state depositories. <b>(SEE ATTACHED).</b><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">COP leaders became aware that the form was no longer on the website of the Illinois Treasurer's Office in February during a meeting with senior officials of the City of Chicago Treasurer's Office to discuss a similar CRA policy for municipal depositories.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">Leaders of COP met with Treasurer Rutherford and urged re-adopting the policy and commitment to hold banks that receive public deposits and investment accountable to Illinois citizens and communities struggling with the impact of foreclosure, rising fees, branch closings, and abandoned properties that taxpayers pay to maintain.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304710683_2" style="border-bottom:medium none;background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Illinois Senator Kimberly Lightford</span> arranged the meeting.<br /></span></b></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><strong><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304710683_3" style="border-bottom:medium none;background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Mark Allen</span>, chairman of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304710683_4">Community Banking</span> Coalition,</strong> a COP affiliate group, stated, "We fought too hard and long for this bank accountability policy to no longer continue as policy for the new treasurer, and now that the policy of a process for filing a compliant on legitimate grounds and concerns of reinvestment is back in place, we must begin to use it to effectively win commitments that offer hope and change for economically struggling communities, urban and rural".</span></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">The Community Reinvestment Organizing Project is funded by a grant from the Woods Fund of Chicago.</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304710683_5" style="border-bottom:medium none;background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Otis Chandler</span> Monroe, III</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">CEO</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;">The Monroe Foundation</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.themonroefoundation.org/"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304710683_6"><font color="#0000FF">www.themonroefoundation.org</font></span></a></span></b></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><b>(<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304710683_7" style="border-bottom:#366388 2px dotted;background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">773) 315-9720</span></b><br /></span></div></div></div>Respond To E-Mail From Wallace "Gator" Bradley on Crime Solutions Meeting With Rev. Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalitionhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/respond-to-email-from-wallace2010-06-26T17:19:10.000Z2010-06-26T17:19:10.000ZMark S. Allenhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/MarkSAllen<div><p>I received an e-mail from Wallace "Gator" Bradley, regarding an e-mail that was being circulated regarding a proposed Monday afternoon meeting with Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr at Rainbow/PUSH regarding solutions to crime, assuming that I was overlooked and may indeed be welcome to this Monday's meeting or to provide some input.<br /><br />The first things that sticks out to me are "activists" and "community organizers" missing from the subject matter, text of the meeting and systematic part of the plan of action. Seems like we sre setting ourselves up for yet another "paralysis of analysis" meeting that ends with no real clear target for grassroots mobilization for action.<br /><br />Those us who were a part of the declaration of Chicago being in a "State Of Emergency," should now me mobilizing for "specific" agenda targets that can be measured for short and long term objectives.<br /><br />The short term solution is that this desperate economic situation in our urban areas have an economic response. If what Chicago is experiencing what many have now labled as "urban terrorism," then why cannot we think outside the box in issuing a public challenge to our elected officials to DEMAND that we can allocate federal funds from the "Anti-Terrorism" budget and provide some clear and hands-on alternatives this summer for our youth and adults that will effectively turn them away from the gang, drug, and illegal street economies and activities that make up the "urban terrorism." Federal intervention does not have to be just proposals for National Guard, or more law enforcement.<br /><br />One Billion dollars can create up to 50,000 jobs, enough to target crime intervention and prevention, mentors, peace patrols, and other local job creation. The strategy should be to prepare a massive direct action event that attracts our elected officials and other leaders and The White House for an IMMEDIATE response to this special funding allocation and where those funds would be immediately targeted to divert attention away from the constituencies attracted to "urban terrorist" activities.<br /><br />Specifically, there are dozens of community based organizations that target at-risk youth and ex-offendors and have secured their 501C3 status and GREEN certification with dozens of unfunded proposals to create thousands of local green jobs through using vacant lots and transforing them inth community gardens. Lets rally for that!<br /><br />Or maybe Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan, Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, and other noted Chicagoans could be be publicly convinced to help address this summer violence prevention with several million dollars to immediately generate thousands of summer jobs for our youth and re-establishing many of the institutional efforts needed that have beeb long promoted by Dr. Carl Bell, that the Black community can claim and direct to one of our insitutions like Kenndy King or Chicago State and NOT become some new million dollar proposal extension of a CeaseFire.<br /><br />We have doing this too long to come together and meet to "review and analyze" where we are, but to present some specific plans that we could organize the largest demonstration for emergency funding to address this State of Emergency. Marching with over 2,000 people with Father Pfleger last week had as usual, hundreds of youth coming up to the organizers asking about real jobs versus drugh selling and other street economies, for saying "Stop The Violence" is NOT enough. We have to think, organize, and strategize out the box. How can the President or our wealthiest citizens continue to remain speechless as Chicago continues to explode as the Murder Capital Of The World?? Especially after we organize the largest demonstration on behalf of the poor this City has ever seen?<br /><br />Finally, I again suggest if I am asked to help, to help mobilize grassroots community organizers to be a part of the meeting, for what good does another strategy meeting accomplish if those "organizers" and "activists" who represent the least of Gods people are not at the table??<br /><br />Mark S. Allen<br />Associate Editor, The South Street Journal Newspaper<br />Founder/President, The Black Leadership Development Institute, BLDI<br />Board Member, The Chicago Music Heritage Museum<br />Board Member, The Black Wall Street-Chicago Project, Social Consciousness Consultant to United In Peace</p><p><br />449 East 35th Street, 1st Floor<br />Chicago, Illinois 60616<br />312-624-8351 or 773-392-0165<br /></p><p></p></div>