NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) – Dr. Yosef A. A. ben-Jochannon, engineer, linguist, anthropologist and historian died in a New York City nursing home on March 19 at the age of 97.

“Dr. Ben” as he was affectionately referred to was born on December 21, 1918 to a Puerto Rican mother and an Ethiopian father, in what is known as the “Falasha” Hebrew community in Gondor, Ethiopia.

His formal education began in Puerto Rico and continued in The Virgin Islands and in Brazil, where he attended elementary and secondary school. Dr. Ben earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, and a Master’s in Architectural Engineering from the University of Havana in Cuba. He received doctoral degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Moorish History from the University of Havana and the University of Barcelona in Spain.

Dr. ben-Jochannon was an adjunct professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., from 1976 to 1987. He has written and published 49 books and papers, revealing much of his findings from his studies of Egypt. Two of his better-known works: “Black Man of the Nile” and “Africa Mother of Major Western Religions.”

“We have lost another great giant to get to Black people the research of our glorious ancient past,” said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. “His legacy is solid in what Allah says that He would not waste the work of any worker and what a great worker he was and is, and so long as our people are deprived of the knowledge of self and seek the knowledge of self, he will be one of the sources that they seek,” said Min. Farrakhan.

He referred to Dr. Ben as the last of a great list of scholars of ancient Black civilizations and Black history, which included the late John Henrik Clarke, Cheikh Anta Diop, Ivan Van Sertima and Chancellor Williams.

Dr. Leonard Jeffries told The Final Call that Dr. ben-Jochannon was the “gift that keeps on giving.” “Anybody who can remain on this planet 97 years means we have had a gift,” he said. It was very meaningful to have, Dr. Ben say: “Here”, this knowledge is for our people,” said Dr. Jeffries, who was attending the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations, an organization that Dr. ben-Jochannon co-founded in 1984. “He did it like nobody else,” Dr. Jeffries said. We need to have a term for him, Dr. Jeffries said. “The enlightened one!” he exclaimed.

The former head of the Africana Studies Department at City College in New York City reminded The Final Call that he was sitting next to Dr. ben-Jochannon on March 16, 2002, when Min. Farrakhan called for the noted historian to join him in the pulpit at the Salem United Methodist Church in Harlem.

Dr. ben-Jochannon enthralled the packed church there to celebrate the Holy Day of Atonement by saying he was “moved” by Min. Farrakhan’s speech. “I find Min. Farrakhan to be the only Black man that stands up for his people,” he said. The “Nation of Islam is the premiere group working for the benefit of Black people,” he added.

Immediately after the news of his death began to circulate, responses were posted to social media networks. “Dr. Ben changed my life,” stated Gary Imhotep Byrd, nationally renowned radio talk show host on Facebook.com. “One of the last great Race Men. He was a brilliant historian. He was committed to his local/national/global Afrikan community, and he was funny, and sharp–and gifted,” wrote Amsterdam News editor Nayabe Arinde on Facebook.

“One of the greatest influences of my life has made his transition. One of our greatest scholars, historians and activists, he has had a profound impact on African people,” wrote Gregory Taylor on Facebook, a longtime Pan African activist living in Staten Island, N.Y. Scholar Runoko Rashidi added via Facebook, “Well, I guess that everybody has heard now that Dr. Ben-Jochannan has passed on. He is an Ancestor now. Thank you for your contributions my brother. You lived fully and died loved. Bless you.”

“Dr. Ben opened African education to the ordinary person,” said Dr. Jeffries.

“He was so accessible,” Sister Empress Phile’ Chionesu, director of the Philadelphia-based National Woman March Movement and co-convener of the historic Million Woman March told The Final Call. “I had the opportunity to have him as a professor at Temple University. My cultural African perspective scholar,” she said.

Bill Fletcher, Jr., an advocate for racial justice, labor and international human rights, said: “When you look at his body of work–what you see is his thirst for knowledge that he used as a weapon against White supremacy.”

Dr. Ben was “deft at dismantling” the myth of White superiority, noted Dr. Ron Daniels, director of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century in New York. “Clearly placing African people at the center, a force for the liberation of our people,” Dr. Daniels said.

Dr. ben-Jochannan told the audience at the Salem United Methodist Church in Harlem in 2002 that he wanted to donate his private library of more than 35,000 books to the Nation of Islam. Min. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam had come to Harlem to observe the Holy Day of Atonement and seventh anniversary of the Million Man March. The scholar was receiving specialized care at the Bay Park Nursing Home when he passed.

“He was one of last great race men of his era,” said Ms. Arinde, of the weekly Black Amsterdam News newspaper. “He was a master teacher who just wanted to share our amazing African history. He was a man of the people. He was always amongst us, educating, and sharing. Sitting with him was a gift of tremendous proportions. He was loved, and he loved his people.”

“Of all our greats, Dr. Ben physically took tens of thousands of scholars, activists, students and associations to the Nile Valley to make the pages of his book more authentic,” shared his colleague, Brother Reggie Mabry, with the Amsterdam News. “We saw our own experiences of what he wrote. … For that the Black world is indebted to this Black man of the Nile and his family.”

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NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) – The opening event in the Big Apple for Saviours’ Day 2015 was the Jumu’ah congregational prayer service held at Muhammad Mosque No. 7 in Harlem. The service was led by Student Minister Abdul Hafeez Muhammad, who spoke on “Love, Unity and Respect.”

Min. Muhammad said one of the weekend’s highlights was seeing younger children observe the prayer service.

Mosque laborers in New York wanted to replicate what would be happening in Chicago, he said.

“As soon as we heard that we would be staying in our respective cities, we went right to work, drawing up a blueprint for the SD 2015 weekend,” said Derek Muhammad, director of protocol for Mosque No. 7.

“We met on Saturdays for 4 or 5 hours planning the logistics, establishing committees for each of the eight workshops, and how we would handle the mechanics for audio visual, still photography, etc.,” Derek Muhammad said.

It was heart-warming to hear Believers say it “felt just like we were in Chicago,” he added. We showed that we could come together, pooling our resources and talents and getting the job done, Derek Muhammad said.

New York is home to over 3 million Blacks and 3.4 million Latinos, which made it very important to make SD 2015 events available to as many people as possible, said Derek Muhammad. The Harlem State Office Building was used for the showing of the documentary film “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” on Friday, February 20.

Later that evening Mosque No. 7 open its doors to for a town hall meeting headlined “Black Lives Matter, Black Youth in Peril.”

“The mosque conducting the town hall meeting is a grassroots movement in regards to the Hon. Elijah Muhammad teaching us that we must set an example. So the workshops conducted that evening set in motion the time and what must be done,” said Leroy Shabazz, facilitator for the meeting.

It was important to bring New Yorkers to the ideas and words of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan as solutions to problems, Min. Hafeez Muhammad said. We have to do something for ourselves, he added.

“We brought together all of the workshop presenters at 9 a.m. Saturday morning, Feb. 21, and in the near future we will share with the public the solutions recommended at the workshops,” Min. Hafeez Muhammad said.

A new strategy is being developed in NYC through the Saviours’ Day 2015 programs where the Believers shared and listened to community concerns and now we can move forward developing solutions, he added.

The SD 2015 program continued with a bazaar and marketplace at Mosque No. 7 and workshops for youth ages 5-10 and 11-15. Muhammad’s Economic Program was introduced to the community at the State Office Building, along with a workshop on Incarceration, Re-Entry and Transition, a live webcast from Chicago on Infectious Diseases, sessions on Dianetics/Auditing: How Dianetics Works, What To Do When Stopped By the Police, Integration, Segregation, Separation and Male/Female Relationships.

Later that evening the mosque was transformed into a dining and entertainment oasis, said Min. Hafeez Muhammad.

On Sunday, Feb. 22, an address by Min. Farrakhan was viewed via webcast in Harlem at Salem United Methodist Church; in Brooklyn at Mosque 7C; in New Rochelle, N.Y., Nassau County, Long Island and Englewood, N.J.  

A plethora of youth attended the Salem location, saying they enjoyed Min. Farrakhan talking about unity and stopping violence.

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NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) – Seventeen high school students representing Muhammad’s University of Islam in Chicago attended the 2015 National High School Model United Nations Conference, headquartered at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan March 4-7.

The International Model United Nations Association, the sponsoring parent-body of the conference describes it as “three days of world-class problem solving.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message to the 3,800 students from 25 nations said, The three days help in “developing those diplomatic skills that will help you as you prepare for leadership in the future. Such skills have never been more important.”

“This was historical–hasn’t really sunk in yet–how important it was for our students to go to New York and compete with other great young minds from all over the world,” Student Interim-Director of the Muhammad University of Islam Jason Karriem told The Final Call.

Mr. Muhammad said preparation for the conference began at the end of October and ran through March 2. The intense training focused on strengthening MUI student positions and various resolutions, talking points, communication and even body language pointers while concentrating on the model UN committee topics. Rules briefing and resolution writing workshops were mandatory in New York for first-time delegates such as the 17 MUI students.

Also as part of their preparation the MUI students attended the Model Arab League three-day conference in Chicago which was held at DePaul University. The Model Arab League sponsors what is considered to be a top student leadership program. The MUI students represented two nations, Libya and the United Arab Emirates, at the Model Arab League while they represented the nation of Haiti at the model UN conference.

“We have been able to see and understand that people throughout the world have similar issues,” stated Sharriah Muhammad, 17. Too often the resolutions offered are not adequate for the UN to be able to properly address the issues, she added.

“The Model Arab League conference prepared us for how to better deal with introducing resolutions, so we were able at times to be ahead of the pack here,” added Tyre Hakim, 18. Nafeesah Muhammad, 17, said their preparation leading into New York gave her a “better sense of confidence especially when it came to speaking before 100 people.” Tahirah Muhammad, 17, and Aminah Muhammad, 15, agreed that at first the idea of coming to NYC for an international conference was a bit intimidating, but “their preparation made things go smoothly.”

Mareshah Muhammad, an English teacher at MUI, noted how important it was for the students to understand the need for developing discipline needed for in-depth research and analysis.

Jeniece Muhammad, another instructor at MUI, explained that she had attended the model UN as a high school student, and while sending 17 MUI delegates “was an ambitious undertaking,” it is important that they see themselves as future leaders of a new world.

“Here at this conference our students learn diplomacy and proper interaction between their peers and that the solutions to the world’s problems are right in their hands with the core principles of the Nation of Islam as taught to us by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the Hon. Minister Farrakhan,” she told The Final Call.

Neeyah Muhammad, 17, a 12th grader explained that the power of the teachings of freedom, justice and equality became evident during a session of the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee when delegates opposed to her position referred to her and others as “fascists and imperialists.”

“Some of our delegation came from nations such as New Zealand, and they wanted to pair Haiti with the United States in the bi-lateral alliance our committee was proposing,” explained Neeyah Muhammad. “While we ignored the name calling, we realized that pairing Haiti with the U.S. would not bring freedom, justice and equality to the people of Haiti and that they should be paired with a nation such as Cuba who shares the same cultural foundation.”

The bottom line, said Neeyah Muhammad, was delegates from developed nations believed that developing nations must only be paired with the industrial North to become self-sustainable, and that is not true.

The meeting with the Deputy Permanent Ambassador of Lebanon Caroline Ziade at the United Nations was another moment that demonstrated the timeliness and importance of the lectures by Min. Farrakhan on “The Intensifying Universal Cry for Justice,” according to Jason Karriem.  

“Listening to her explain how the Lebanese are demanding freedom, justice and equality from Israel, who occupies a large part of Lebanon’s territory echoed Min. Farrakhan’s words, and further demonstrated to our students the importance of the teachings of the Nation of Islam,” Jason Karriem said.

Azeez Muhammad, 17, explained that the experience of attending the model UN “sharpened” his skills and would be useful in the future as he endeavors to join the Student Ministry of the Nation of Islam. He plans to study chemical engineering in college.

Tyre Hakim, Nafeesah and Nehemiah, her twin brother, all expressed a desire to include the conference on their college applications in the future.

The committees included the United Nations Environmental Program, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, World Health Organization, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Legal Committee, Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, Organization of American States, High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Economic and Financial Committee, Special Political and Decolonization Committee, Disarmament and International Security Committee.

Participating MUI model UN delegates were Abdul Muhammad, Khalifah Muhammad, Mikkail Muhammad, Jalil Muhammad, Tyre Muhammad, Nehemiah Muhammad, Nafeesah Muhammad, Aminah Muhammad, Korrana Muhammad, Asia Marie Muhammad, Ameera Muhammad, Yejide Muhammad, Neeyah Muhammad, Sharriah Muhammad, Alimmah Muhammad, Tairah Muhammad and Neeyah Muhammad.

Participating MUI staff and chaperones were Jason Karriem, Abdul Muhammad, Ahmad Muhammad, Mareshah Muhammad, Shahidah Muhammad, Naadhera Muhammad, Jeniece Muhammad and Tamecka Karriem.

Student Minister Abdul Hafeez Muhammad, the New York representative of Min. Farrakhan, spoke briefly to the MUI delegation. Afterwards he told The Final Call “conferences such as the (model UN) exposes the children of our nation to the universality of the teachings of the Nation of Islam,” said Min. Abdul Hafeez Muhammad.

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NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) – Last month came news that Manuel Alejandro Perez de Jesus had been sentenced to 27 years and six months for the killing of Malcolm Latif Shabazz, the grandson of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz.

The sentencing of the man accused of killing the son of Qubilah Shabazz appeared in a FaceBook message on Feb. 12 from Dr. Wilner Metelus, Presidente del Comite Ciudadano de Defensa de los Naturalizados y Afromexicanos (Committee on Citizens of the Defense of the Naturalized and AfroMexicans) in Mexico.

Mr. Metelus and his group do not consider the sentencing “a victory” because allegedly five people participated in the murder. “It is a step nothing more,” Mr. Metelus said.

According to media accounts, the 28-year-old was a victim of beating in a Mexico City bar on May 9, 2013.

“The circumstances surrounding his death are still not clear, and it is now February 2015,” said Sabrina Green, a human rights activist with the Baltimore-based Free the Move 9 Mumia.

New York magazine reported at the time of his death young Shabazz was with a colleague, and the pair had up to a $1,200 bar-tab as a result of a scam perpetrated on unsuspecting tourists, and after an argument two waiters confronted Mr. Shabazz. He was later found in a street in Plaza Girabaldi, a busy tourist spot.

In July 2013, Mr. Metelus’ organization staged a hunger strike in front of the headquarters of the Federal District of Mexico City’s Governor’s Palace demanding that authorities move forward in their investigation of Mr. Shabazz’s death. One thousand heavily armed police officers forcibly removed the protestors who were in day eight of their hunger strike.

Ms. Green laments that there has not been any such protest in the U.S. “I think people are taking the position that his murder happened far away and seemingly in the far distant past,” she said.

On Feb. 24, Mr. Shabazz’s aunt, Ilyashah Shabazz, said on Democracy Now that her nephew had gone to Mexico “invited under the premise that the African Mexicans were being discriminated and treated unfairly and that they needed him to talk to them. And so, he went thinking that he was going to speak to these people, and they ended up killing him.”

According to other sources, Mr. Shabazz had traveled to Mexico to stand with Mexican construction workers who had been deported because of their activism in Oakland. “That is why it is important to get the truth from the Mexican authorities,” said Ms. Green.

In 2014, Ms. Green presented the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., with questions concerning her request for information about the investigation into Mr. Shabazz’s death. She has also filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. State Department. Neither entity has responded, she said. Requests for comment from the State Department by The Final Call went unanswered.

Zayid Muhammad, press officer for the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, said, “Little Malcolm’s case was never unfortunately seriously on the radar here …. however, we did organize some real responses to his situation, including a protest rally we did at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C.”

“There are some real serious questions about what happened to him, and who he was with that still need to be answered,” Mr. Muhammad added.

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NEW YORK – Social scientists have become concerned with income and wealth inequality in the United States and are organizing “Equity Summit 2015: All in for inclusion, Justice, and Prosperity.” The two-day conference is scheduled for Los Angeles, California, Oct. 27-29.

“Join thousands of committed, dynamic, diverse, and passionate leaders determined to craft and fortify the next wave of strategies and actions to address just and fair inclusion,” declares the call for the summit on the equity2015.org website.

Concern about income inequality is spread across the country.

Activist and longtime radio talk show host Bob Law told The Final Call New York City is now the USA’s “capital of inequality,” and a proactive strategy is needed “given the fact that poor people are the un-organized.”

Mr. Law held a special “Night Talk Live” forum, which aired on WBAI radio, a Pacifica network station.

The forum was the first stage in preparing for what Mr. Law called an upcoming economic sanctions campaign.

“It is what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965 called ‘economic withdrawal,’ the only leverage we have for forcing the policy makers to make us a priority,” said Mr. Law.

Mr. Law argued income inequality starts with policy making by politicians who take their orders from corporations.

The Urban Policy Institute shared with The Final Call a report complete with charts on wealth/income inequality. “We need to put equity, racial and economic inclusion at the heart of our strategies for economic growth,” the report said.

“I think it brings up some interesting issues, like how student loans, retirement, and home ownership can contribute to wealth inequality,” said Laura Greenback of the Urban Policy Institute.

  Caleb Quakenbush, an Urban Institute researcher, told The Final Call via e-mail that one important mechanism for ending economic inequalities is “retooling” tax policies in ways “that are better-targeted toward helping low-and middle-income families, including families of color, build wealth.”

The federal tax code contains roughly $400 billion in subsidies for homeownership, retirement savings, higher education, and small businesses, but research shows that the largest subsidies go mainly to high income families, Mr. Quakenbush noted.

“The federal government spent $384 billion to support asset development in 2013, but those subsidies primarily benefited higher-income families–exacerbating wealth inequality and racial wealth disparities,” the Urban Institute report stated. Income is money coming into a family, while wealth is a family’s assets such as savings, real estate and businesses.

Federal policies fail to promote asset building by lower-income families, said researchers and activists.

“The American Dream–just work hard and all of that–on the other hand maintaining the racial hierarchy. The position we are taking is that the policy makers don’t care about the poor and the elderly, because they cannot affect their political careers,” Mr. Law said.

This country has declared war on working class and the poor, and the government is moving to make it easier to keep people in poverty, he added.  

A recent study by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy seemingly supports Mr. Law’s argument. The Center published a study, “Mayoral Policy Making: Results from the 21st Century Mayor’s Leadership Survey.” Topics discussed with 70 mayors included challenges facing their cities and policy priorities, as well as gentrification, income inequality and climate change.

When asked if cities should work to reduce income inequality, a majority of mayors said “no,” the survey found.

“Research suggests that U.S. cities’ importance is only going to grow in the coming years, and that three mega-cities–New York, Chicago and Los Angeles–are also becoming powerful political and societal players on the national and global stage,” the survey said.

We must be careful when politicians make blanket statements concerning public policy, said Dr. Raymond A. Winbush, director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University. “White folks are really bad on what they are going to do on social policy,” Dr. Winbush said.

Blacks and Latinos must form political coalitions to counter the right to center policy blocks supported by most Whites, he said. “What I am saying is that we need radical solutions for the radical problems that plague our community,” said Dr. Winbush.

“Our position is that Black lives do matter, that is why the first target of our ‘economic withdrawal movement’ will be the fast food restaurants that show a depraved disregard for Black life,” Mr. Law said. The strategy will be to boycott corporations and businesses that are part of the problem of promoting income inequality or sucking the economic lifeblood out of Black neighborhoods, according to Mr. Law.

“Google it,” he said. These companies choose locations based on race not income–therefore Blacks are being targeted, he said.

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(FinalCall.com) – A judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Haitians infected with cholera has not deterred activists who will continue seeking justice.  

U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York made the ruling last month, dismissing the 2013 lawsuit against the United Nations [Delama Georges, et al, Plaintiffs versus United Nations, et al, Defendants] for introducing cholera in Haiti in October 2010.

Activists vow to continue their fight to bring justice to the hundreds of thousands victimized by the disease, which had not been in Haiti for over 100 years.

According to legal documents, on Jan. 9 Judge Oetken ruled, “Defendants are immune. Accordingly, the case is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and Plaintiffs’ motion is denied as moot.” According to the UN, approximately 9,000 Haitians have died, while nearly 700,000 have become infected.

The judge further stated the “charter of the UN states that the UN “shall enjoy in the territory of each of its Members” such privileges and immunities as are necessary for its purposes.” In 1946 the world body adopted the Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the UN, which was entered into force with respect to the U.S. in April 1970. Some legal analysts say the same document requires the organization to make provisions for appropriate mechanisms for settlement for claims that arise from its missions. According to Judge Oetken, the UN would have to waive its immunity for the case to go ahead.

“We won’t stop fighting until the UN cholera stops killing Haitians, Mario Joseph, counsel for the plaintiffs said in a statement.” Other activists vowed the same thing. “As an attorney we stand in the position you cannot have an injury without a remedy,” said Erzili Danto of the Connecticut-based Haitian Lawyers Legal Network.

“We are going to keep fighting on this,” said Brian Concannon, executive director at the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, a party to the lawsuit. His group will appeal the judge’s ruling, he said.

On Jan. 12, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the organization “welcomed” the decision. The spokesman’s office did not respond to a Final Call request for comment. The UN has maintained that soldiers involved in MINUSTAH, the peacekeeping mission in Haiti were not responsible for bringing cholera to the Caribbean island of nine million.

However, documentation by credible scientists and journalists argued that peacekeeping troops from Nepal, carrying the disease “inadvertently” but “negligently” dumped cholera-infected sewage into the Artibonite River, the largest river in Haiti and one of the nation’s main water sources. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said there was strong evidence that the Nepalese peacekeepers were the source.  

The UN continues to claim that the scientific evidence is “inconclusive”. In 2012, Mr. Ban introduced a 10-year cholera reduction campaign worth $2.2 billion, but reportedly only 13 percent of that amount has been raised.

In late October 2014, Doctors Without Borders reported 2,000 new cholera cases. In a statement, the organization said Haiti’s health system is still facing shortages of funding and human resources; and that authorities are displaying a lack of preparation for outbreaks that are known and foreseeable.      

“Of course Haitians are dying from cholera, the UN never had a legitimate reason to be in Haiti since 2004– there as an occupying force on behalf of the U.S.,” argues Ms. Danto. There was never a civil war and Haiti has the lowest crime rate in the Caribbean, she added. “The best use of the cholera lawsuit was a good way to tell the real story of what was happening in Haiti,” Ms. Danto said.

“We see that Black lives don’t matter in the U.S. so, why should they matter in Haiti,” she added.

Brian Concannon, executive director of the Connecticut-based Institute for Democracy and Justice in Haiti who led the fight in the U.S. to get the lawsuit into federal court said the ruling made him angry, frustrated and disappointed.   The UN has absolute immunity, he added. “We continue to question the priorities of a UN that has spent $3 billion to keep a peacekeeping force in Haiti, when there hasn’t been any civil war,” Mr. Concannon said. “Hypocrisy beyond belief with the UN saying they have to obey the rule of law.”

Dahoud Andre of the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti told The Final Call the real issue in bringing the cholera lawsuit is the lack of Haitian sovereignty. “We did not support bringing charges against the UN in a U.S. court,” said Mr. Andre. “Secondly, this is not an issue of how much a Haitian life is worth. We argue that there would not be cholera in Haiti if we had sovereignty, because the Constitution does not allow for foreign intervention,” he said.

His group is working to get a truly democratic government elected, so there would be real power in the hands of the people to take the cholera case into a Haitian courtroom.

“This issue is not just about Haitians; it is about Black people not having political and military power to force nations to do the right thing,” said Mr. Andre.

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(FinalCall.com) – Chicago, Illinois has large numbers of old steel mills, abandoned factories, sewage treatment plants and more landfills per square mile than any city in the United States, according to environmental injustice activists. These cause some of the highest levels of toxicity to the environment, they charge.

These various facilities have left the highest levels of toxic chromium and cadmium sulfates, which can trigger asthma attacks.  

“This is the new form of genocide against Black and Brown people,” argues Cheryl Johnson, founder of the organization People for Community Recovery, affiliated with the Environmental Justice Alliance of Greater Southeast Chicago.

Turning her attention to what Congress did with the FY2015 budget of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ms. Johnson said the EPA needs to be fully funded, not losing money in its budget,

According to the Center for Effective Government, the fiscal year 2015 budget would reduce the agency’s funding for the fifth straight year. “The $60 million cut in EPA’s budget, which builds on previous reductions, will bring the agency’s staffing to its lowest level since 1989,” said Ronald White, director of Regulatory Policy at the Center.

Peggy Shepard, executive director at the New York city-based WE ACT for Environmental Justice explained to The Final Call what impact the EPA cuts would have on activist organizations.

“In the past, this has meant cuts to the enforcement of technical assistance to community organizations, as well as reductions in grants for groups that focus their work in neighborhoods that need the most support,” she said. These cuts have always hit people of color the hardest, added Ms. Shepard.

Mr. White told The Final Call that anti-regulatory forces in Congress have made clear their intent to block the EPA’s work. He said that the agency’s work in monitoring air pollution and water pollution are important to communities of color. “For the time being environmental justice advocacy groups will still have some influence at EPA,” Mr. White said.

Ms. Johnson seems less optimistic, given what she sees as a general lack of knowledge in Black and Brown communities on how the EPA functions. “In Chicago we need to create our own environmental injustice think tank,” insists Ms. Johnson. According to activists, Southeast Chicago has the highest incidence of respiratory illnesses such as asthma and cancer.

“I just received a call from a man who said there has been three generations of cancer victims in his family, and he wants to know why this is happening,” she said. It is a very serious issue, but Black and Brown communities don’t take the issue to heart to make Congress react to our needs, added Ms. Johnson.

The irony of Ms. Johnson’s statement is that a large number of Americans support public health and environmental protections, according to a recent poll conducted by the American Lung Association. The Lung Association’s December 2014 national survey found that Americans believe that the EPA should be doing more, not less, to reduce problems such as air pollution. The poll also revealed that those surveyed by a three-to-one margin want EPA scientists, not Congress to establish the nation’s air pollution standards.    

“We in Black and Brown communities are now forced to be the investigators for our communities,” said Michele Roberts, community coordinator for the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Justice and Health Alliance. “In fact we are hosting calls across the country to instruct our communities how to do better and deeper documentation and reporting on their issues,” she added.

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UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) – One of Latin America’s powerful nations, oil-rich Venezuela, is now one of the 10 non-permanent members of the 15-member UN Security Council for the fourth time and there is concern in Washington, D.C.

In a letter released by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a small bipartisan group of U.S. senators argued for a diplomatic effort to deny Venezuela the seat. “Venezuela’s membership on the UN Security Council constitutes a serious blow for the United States and United Nations at a time when we must collaborate to address the world’s most pressing challenges,” the letter stated.

However, according to some observers, President Barack Obama and his administration appear resigned to the prospect of working with Venezuela’s socialist government.

The UN Security Council is the main UN organ responsible for peace and international security. It can approve the use of force. Non-permanent membership is based on rotating geographical distribution. The five new members represent three regions–Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Many analysts say Venezuela’s election shows wide support from the international community. According to the United Nations, Venezuela received 181 votes out of 191. Only one nation was against, the U.S., while 10 nations abstained.

In December, President Obama signed legislation enacting a new round of sanctions against Caracas. The legislation will allow the president to deny visas and freeze the assets of Venezuelan officials accused of violating of anti-government organizations.

Venezuelan President Nicholas Madura characterized the sanctions as insolent and imperialist, according to media reports.

One delegation happy Venezuela sits on the Security Council is the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stated recently in the West Bank City of Ramallah that his group is seriously considering resubmitting their resolution demanding Israel end its West Bank occupation. The resolution failed to pass on December 30, 2014.

Mr. Abbas believes new Security Council members Malaysia and Venezuela are friendly to the Palestinian cause. In addition, say many discussing the issue in the corridors of the UN, the changes at the Security Council will not only play a part in the vote on accepting the Palestinians into the United Nations, but in other resolutions concerning Israel.

Resolutions could come that condemn settlement construction, military operations and call for UN inquiry committees to further investigate the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

There is also talk that Venezuela would actively become involved in the debate concerning Western Sahara. In 2009, former President Hugo Chavez expressed solidarity with the people of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic to obtain their independence from Morocco.

Venezuela is one of 53 nations that recognize SADR sovereignty. Morocco has occupied most of Western Sahara since 1975 following Spanish decolonization. In 1979, the UN General Assembly recognized Western Sahara’s right to independence, and the Polisario Front as the representative of the Sahrawi people.  

James A. Paul, a writer and rights activist in the field of international relations and global policy, told The Final Call talk of Venezuela becoming a major force on the Security Council may be a bit premature, given the culture of that body.

The Security Council is an institution that works differently from what the public and most intellectuals may be able to comprehend, Mr. Paul noted. “Most of the time it works as a committee where the majority gets its way,” Mr. Paul said. “The council also works under the rule of consensus, so if one of the 15 objects, that’s that for the resolution.”

Mr. Paul continued saying, when it comes to resolutions, “The P-5,” permanent council members Russia, China, France, United Kingdom, and the United States, only introduce resolutions at the last minute–stripping non-permanent members of the chance to properly confer with their capitals. “And most Security Council business is conducted in privacy,” he added.

While Venezuela may be ready to take on the U.S. at the council, most nations are not ready to go to the mat against the powerful “P-1,” Mr. Paul said.

There is another factor in play, which is quietly discussed in UN corridors: How much is a seat worth on the UN Security Council? When it comes to foreign aid, or what some might call bribery, temporary members may find their countries’ U.S. aid increased by 59 percent and its UN aid by 8 percent, according to a study by the Harvard Business School.

“And when a nation goes against the wishes of the U.S. they very well may find that that aid gets cut,” Mr. Paul said.

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‘We won’t be intimidated’

Some say tragic police shooting and police anger must not derail movement for change

NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a cessation of “anti-police protests” and “rhetoric” Dec. 22 until two New York City police officers killed by a lone gunman were able to be laid to rest.

While many expressed condolences for the deaths of the officers, they were not necessarily willing to forego protests.

Officials continued to investigate the Dec. 20 killing of NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos at Final Call presstime. Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, allegedly shot his ex-girlfriend in Maryland hours prior to traveling to New York, shooting the officers in Brooklyn and running into a subway station and killing himself. It appears as if he used the social media site Instagram to spout anger regarding the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner and threaten police officers.

Mr. Brinsley allegedly wrote on Instagram: “I’m putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours, let’s take 2 of theirs.” Police said he used the hashtags #Shootthepolice #RIPErivGardner (sic)   #RIPMikeBrown.

Police say the alleged mentally ill shooter spoke to people in the area before he allegedly took “a shooter’s stance” and fired into the passenger side of the marked police vehicle. Police have obtained videos from the scene, but none show the actual shooting.

His mother, who told media sources she hadn’t seen her son for a month, said he had mental health problems. She was also afraid of him, according to media reports. The reported shooter also had an extensive arrest record and watched and recorded part of a protest in New York, officials said.

Mayor de Blasio, who has been under fire from police unions and conservative commentators for comments perceived as siding with protesters, offered up his remarks during a Police Athletic League luncheon televised across the nation. He spoke again at a Dec. 22 press conference, where he urged calm and rejected blaming protests around police reform and accountability for the shootings. Activists who spoke to The Final Call said marches, protests and demonstrations would continue.

The man who shot two NYPD officers cannot be used to delegitimize a protest movement that has not called for violence, they argued. If that is the case, how many brutal, unpunished police officers does it take to delegitimize the entire law enforcement system? they asked.

“If this is (the mayor’s) call, our call should be, ‘We will stop the protests once we have a police department that is under community control,’ ” said veteran activist and political commentator Rosa Clemente.

*Immediately following the shooting, as reports began to circulate in the media, Ms. Clemente took to her Facebook account to post a warning to youth in New York. She like many believes a heavy-handed response from the NYPD is not only possible, but likely.

“I am asking all the ancestors to protect every organizer, activist and social justice fighter in NYC. The state is at war with us. The police are militarized and out for blood even when they know the perpetrator they will take out their anger on Black and Brown people …

As they protect their own, we must protect our own. Please stay safe, stay secure, stay together, stay tight, protect each other. Hard times ahead,” she continued. “These times set apart the people who are committed to the struggle for life with all its highs and lows vs. those who are celebrity media hashtag ‘activists.’ ”

Some are concerned about NYPD declaring police are in a state of war, Who is the enemy? they ask.

In Washington D.C., activist Erika Totten told The Final Call when White supremacists, or militia members shoot police officers, all Whites are aren’t forced by police to apologize or separate their actions from those who have killed police.

Heated rhetoric from police leaders, including the head of the police union and early remarks by Commissioner William Bratton, reveal police are looking for any excuse to increase surveillance and clamp down on protesters exercising their rights to free speech and assembly.

The police killings have “nothing to do with the movement, I think ultimately it is a false flag that   could potentially be used to incite more violence and more police brutality against us so that it can be looked at as justified,” said Ms. Totten. “They’re already killing us every 28 hours,” she added. According to a report by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, every 28 hours a Black person is killed by a police officer, security, or vigilante in the United States.

If activists halt protests, it implies Mr. Brinsley was involved in the movement. If they don’t stop protests, they are headed for a confrontation with law enforcement, so organizers find themselves in a difficult position. There are those who desire to spin the narrative to paint activists and demonstrators as the violent offenders to justify harming them.

Ms. Totten has already received death threats and so have many others in the #BlackLivesMatter movement–though they have not called for the death of anyone.

“We know in the movement that that is not something that we called for, and now Black people have to apologize for one person killing two police officers, but we don’t call on all White people to apologize when a White person kills Black people,” said Ms. Totten.

Instead of hiding and not protesting, she feels anyone not active in the movement should get involved.

“Join the movement, get trained and get prepared, never go anywhere by yourself, and make sure that your movements are tracked by the people who know you,” said Ms. Totten.

The slayings came at a tense time: Police in New York and nationwide were being criticized for their tactics following the July death of Mr. Garner, who was stopped on alleged suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Amateur video captured an officer wrapping his arm around Mr. Garner’s neck and wrestling him to the ground. Mr. Garner was heard gasping, “I can’t breathe” before he lost consciousness and later died.

Demonstrators around the country have staged die-ins, lying in streets, and other protests since a grand jury decided Dec. 3 not to indict an NYPD officer in Mr. Garner’s death, a decision that closely followed a Missouri grand jury’s refusal to indict a White officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black 18-year-old, in August.

The decision not to indict officers responsible for the deaths has led to widespread outrage along with sympathy and shows of solidarity worldwide.

Allegations that the NYPD police shooter was somehow moved to action by protesters and rhetoric by members of the #BlackLivesMatter movement have come from the most vocal members of the NYPD and right wing media commentators.

“In my research I found that in 2013, 113 officers were killed in the United States in the line of duty. That is clearly disproportionate to the numbers of brutality and murders of Black and Brown people,” Dr. Ray Winbush of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University explained to The Final Call. “We are seeing the end of the so-called ‘post racial era’ and we now enter the ‘post-racist era’; with Ferguson as the spark–as was Selma, Alabama and Money, Miss., [where Emmett Till died in 1955],” he added.

“The question is do we have the right to call out the system of police murder?” asked Carl Dix, national spokesman for the Revolutionary Communist Party. “We have come up with the theme ‘No New Year Under This Same Old System. We Can’t Breathe.’ Nothing is going to be stopped by arguing that protests have led to the murder of the two cops,” he said.

At the same time the mayor was making his speech, a protest was held in The Bronx to commemorate “Anthony Ramon Baez Day-Stop NYPD Terrorism!” Mr. Baez was killed by police officer Francis Lavoti, who used a chokehold and spent seven years in jail convicted of violating the young man’s civil rights.

There was a protest planned by several organizations to take place on NYC’s iconic Fifth Avenue at Final Call press time.

“We should not let them (police and the mayor) deflect our protests for justice,” Assemblyman elect Charles Barron told The Final Call. He didn’t see any connection between the protests and the killing of the officers. “Tell them and any leaders that ask us to stop the protests that no one stopped the police from doing what they do after the killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Akai Gurley,” said Mr. Barron.

Mr. Gurley is the young man shot to death in a poorly lighted housing project stairwell recently in Brooklyn. NBC News has reported that on Dec. 17, a plainclothes NYPD officer was caught on video punching a teen three times.

The police said they were trying to arrest him for suspicion of committing an assault on a man in lower Manhattan. The news station reported that the officer was suspended and is under investigation by police internal affairs. The NYPD did not return Final Call requests for comment.

“I unconditionally condemn today’s murder of two police officers in New York City. Two brave men won’t be going home to their loved ones tonight, and for that, there is no justification. The officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day– and they deserve our respect and gratitude every single day. Tonight, I ask people to reject violence and words that harm, and turn to words that heal–prayer, patient dialogue, and sympathy for the friends and family of the fallen,” said President Barack Obama in a Dec.20 statement.

Attorney General Eric Holder also released a statement Dec. 20 condemning what he called the “senseless shooting” of the NYPD officers.

“This was an unspeakable act of barbarism, and I was deeply saddened to hear of the loss of these two brave officers in the line of duty,” Atty. Holder continued. “On behalf of all those who serve in the United States Department of Justice, I want to express my heartfelt condolences to the officers’ loved ones and colleagues. I will make available all of the resources of the Department to aid the NYPD in investigating this tragedy. This cowardly attack underscores the dangers that are routinely faced by those who protect and serve their fellow citizens.”

Civil rights leaders Sunday condemned the ambush killings of two New York police officers and expressed fear that the backlash over the bloodshed could derail the protest movement that has grown out of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

In the raw hours following the killing of the officers, police union officials and politicians accused those who have protested the deaths of Garner and Brown of fanning anti-police fervor. Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association in New York, said there was “blood on the hands” of demonstrators and elected officials who have criticized police tactics.

The Garner and Brown families issued statements repudiating the officers’ killings, while civil rights leaders took to the airwaves to try to put some distance between the movement and the crime.

“To link the criminal insanity of a lone gunman to the peaceful protests and aspirations of many people across the country, including the attorney general, the mayor and even the president, is simply not fair,” NAACP President Cornell William Brooks said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Mr. Brooks said the shootings were “certainly not a step forward” for the movement.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani lashed out at New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, President Obama and Attorney General Holder. Speaking on Fox News, Mr. Giuliani said: “We’ve had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police.”

“They have created an atmosphere of severe, strong, anti-police hatred in certain communities, and for that, they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.

In a tweet, former New York Gov. George Pataki called the killings the “predictable outcome of divisive, anti-cop rhetoric of Attorney General Eric Holder and Bill De Blasio.”

“We’ve been denouncing violence in our community,” no matter who the target is, New York community activist Tony Herbert said. He said he worries that the shooting will be used to discredit the larger cause.

“It sullies the opportunity for us to make inroads to build the relationships we need to build to get the trust back,” he said. “This hurts.”

Similarly, the Rev. Sharpton, who has called for peaceful protests, called it absurd to blame protesters or politicians for the officers’ deaths.

“We are now under intense threat from those who are misguided–from those who are trying to blame everyone from civil rights leaders to the mayor rather than deal with an ugly spirit that all of us need to fight,” he said. “There are those of us committed to nonviolence and making the system work. And there are those committed to anarchy and recklessness who could care less about the families of police or the families who have raised questions about police accountability.”

Irene Sundiata Myers, a Black woman who was selling roses and inspirational words on Harlem’s Malcolm X Boulevard, said that because of the ambush, some officers might think twice about pulling the trigger on Black men.

“It will change the attitude of police across the country in terms of how they go about killing Black men, if they begin to think that there’s a possibility that there will be a retribution,” she said.

At an appearance with the Rev. Sharpton of the National Action Network, who denounced “eye-for-an-eye” violence against police, Mr. Garner’s mother expressed her dismay.

“I’m standing here in sorrow about losing those two police officers that was definitely not our agenda,” Gwen Garner said. “We are going in peace and anyone who’s standing with us we want you to not use Eric Garner’s name for violence because we are not about that.”

 (Final Call staff and the Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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Cuba: A history of resistance and U.S. meddling (FCN, 12-26-2014)

UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) – “I’d like to thank President Barack Obama of the United States and President Raul Castro for taking this very important step towards normalizing relations,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told reporters during his year ending press conference at UN headquarters in New York on December 17.

Mr. Ban said that in light of the fact that the 193-member UN General Assembly had emphasized through years of resolutions that the international community wanted the two nations to normalize their bilateral relations, he personally “welcomed” the news.

In the corridors of the UN, the news that Pres. Obama and Pres. Castro said they would normalize their relations was met with cautious optimism. A delegate from Spain, Ambassador Jose Manuel Garcia, urged Havana to step up its reforms and called on Cuba to sign international human rights agreements.

The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Samantha Powers tweeted: “Best way to counter #Cuba’s one-party rule is by betting on the Cuban people. Cuban civil society will be at the heart of our engagements.”

“This is a bilateral relationship, so it really is left to the respective governments to move forward,” explained Deputy Spokesman to the secretary-general, Farhan Haq in an email to The Final Call.

When pressed to further describe what actions UN agencies would take going forward to aid both nations, he said: “UN agencies will continue to work with Cuba, as they do already. If we can help with the relationship, we would be ready to do so.”

Bill Fletcher, Jr. a racial justice, international human rights and labor activist told The Final Call that the news of the thaw in relations between Havana and Washington was “a victory for the Cuban people, who have withstood 50-plus years of an economic siege.”

However, Mr. Fletcher said it was an “incomplete” victory due to the fact that it would take an act by the U.S. Congress to end the economic blockade. “Nations must put pressure on the Obama administration to put pressure on the Congress,” he said.

To illustrate Mr. Fletcher’s analysis, the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM), while commending both presidents for their “bold initiative” said through a statement from CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque: “While CARICOM welcomes this positive development, the Community looks forward to further steps being taken with dispatch towards the lifting of the economic, trade and financial embargo.”

On Dec. 8, Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, noted upon his arrival in Havana for the Fifth CARICOM-Cuba Summit that a demand for the end of the economic sanctions against Cuba must be a part of the summit’s agenda.

Reaction from Latin American leaders such as Venezuelan Pres. Nicholas Maduro was also positive as he reportedly called Pres. Obama’s speech “courageous and necessary” and the most important decision of his presidency. Latin American leaders were attending a meeting of Mercosur, the South American trading block in Argentina. Columbia’s Pres. Juan Manuel Santos said he was the first Latin American leader to learn of the rapprochement: “Great news for the region, and for the world.”

“Change is hard in our lives and in the lives of nations, and change is even harder when we carry the heavy weight of history; but it’s time to throw off the shackles of the U.S.-Cuba confrontational relationship,” stated Pres. Obama during his speech to the nation.  

Pres. Castro told his nation that “profound differences remain between Cuba and the U.S. in areas such as foreign policy and questions of sovereignty, adding, “Countries have to learn to live with their differences in a civilized manner.” The two leaders addressed their nations simultaneously.

The highlight of the historical moment was the releasing of the three remaining members of the Cuban 5, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero from U.S. prisons in conjunction with the release of USAID contractor Alan Gross, from a Cuban prison, along with an unnamed intelligence asset held by the Cubans for 20 years.

The Cuban 5 were Cuban nationals convicted of spying in the U.S. in 2001.

Some observers say the most important announcements concern the resumption of high-level political discussions focused on renewing formal diplomatic ties between the two nations, which ended in 1951. Reports indicate that in the coming months there will be discussions on establishing embassies in Havana and Washington.

The announcement of the thaw has opened divisions in Washington, according to some analysts. “I applaud the President for his tremendous leadership in moving towards normalized relations with Cuba,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), adding, “After more than 50 years, it is abundantly clear that the policy of isolation has failed.”

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fl), a Cuban-American, and a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 called the announcement “dangerous and desperate.” He said Congress should block funds for the U.S. embassy in Havana.

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