Volume 118 No.

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75 CENTS

OCTOBER 17, 2009 - OCTOBER 23, 2009

Black NFL Players Oppose Limbaugh B4

Equality Can Help Save Our Children A11

OPINION

Hampton U. Queen Claims Reverse Racism A2

Black Nobelmen
Obama Follows in Tradition of Bunche, King
By Zenitha Prince Washington Bureau Chief If its any consolation to President Obama, the controversy swirling around his recent naming as the 2009 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize puts him in good company. The other AfricanAmerican Prize winners, United Nations diplomat Dr. Ralph Bunche and civil rights icon the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., also had to weather their share of censure. Those nominations were not without controversy, acknowledged political analyst Ronald Walters. Bunche, known as the UNs great peacemaker, won the award in 1950 for his pivotal role in negotiating armistices between Israel and the Arab States. Later, as the UN undersecretary general, he played major peacekeeping roles in the Suez and in the Congo. I think no other period could be considered more difficult [in the history of Israeli-Palestinian, IsraeliArab relations] and yet a powerful agreement was arrived at by Ralph Bunche, said Lorenzo Morris, a professor at Howard Universitys Political Science Department, which Bunche created. But he was not without critics. In fact, according to an Oct. 30, 1948, AFRO article, Bunche was warned by Jewish terrorists that he was marked for death. Bunche received criticism and had a tendentious relationship with Israel, Walters said. He was not an American official but a United

AFRO File Photos

United Nations diplomat, Ralph Bunche, left, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and now President Barack Obama are the three African-American winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. Nations official and they were trying to have him act as an American [official would] and come down on the side of Israel. Dr. King too, whom the Nobel Committee awarded the prize in 1964 for being the first person in the Western world to have shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence was also reviled when he received the honor, especially by the southern states. Kings longtime nemesis, segregationist Eugene Bull Connor called it scraping the bottom of the barrel. Virgil Stuart, police chief of St. Augustine, Fla., is quoted in a Oct. 14, 1964 Washington Post article as saying, How can you win the Peace Prize when you stirred up all the trouble he did? And then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who for years waged a witch hunt against King and other civil rights leaders, is quoted as saying, He was the last person in the world who should ever have received it. Still, Walters said, Bunche and King had made solid accomplishments and people understood their stature. There was enough consensus around what they did. And thats the point of departure when it comes to Obamas win. Since the Nobel Committee made the announcement Friday, U.S. criticsmostly media pundits and right-wing naysayers such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beckhave decried the decision, questioning the presidents accomplishments and calling the Prize a farce and a travesty. Even President Obama Continued on A4

Remembering Ben Ali

By Kristin Gray AFRO Sections Editor

FBI Investigation Continues

Legendary restaurant survived riots, urban decay

Arrests Weigh on Honest Taxi Drivers

By Dorothy Rowley AFRO Staff Writer The recent arrests of nearly 40 taxi drivers in the District over a licensing scheme has spawned concern among others who say they pride themselves on working hard every day to make an honest living. Carl Myers, 66, a 25-year driver who lives in Fort Washington, Md., but conducts business in the District, said while he didnt see the arrests coming, they certainly didnt surprise him. Especially in a Photos by Dorothy Rowley business like this, Carl Myers has driven cabs at night Myers told the for more than two decades. He is AFRO. I think that hoping that with the recent arrest as of result [of the of nearly 40 drivers caught up in an arrests], someone illegal licensing scheme that the needs to sit down taxi commission wont also make and look at the whole making a living harder for honest Continued on A7 drivers.

Young Adults Covered by Parents Under House Dem Plan

By Sharmina Manandhar Capital News Service WASHINGTON - Young adults will be able to be covered under their parents health insurance until age 26, according to health care reform provisions proposed Tuesday by House Democrats, including Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. Van Hollen, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Pa., attended a news conference to announce the provision, along with youth advocacy group representatives from Young Invincibles and Campus Progress. Continued on A5

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Bens Chili Bowl stood stout amid a bedlam of racial dissension that left the District smoldering and ashen. As news of Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination sent shockwaves around the world, African Americans in Washington, D.C., took to the streets in a blaze of furylooting stores and starting fires, all in the name

of equality and justice. The Chili Bowl and its founder, Ben Ali, were at the epicenter of the vicious riots that marred much of the citys sensational Black Broadway, the U Street corridor. According to his familys account, Ali, a Trinidadian immigrant, scribbled Soul Brother on the establishments window

Continued on A8

National Equality March Draws Diverse Crowd to D.C.

By AFRO Staff Washington, D.C. This past weekend, the District was awash in a rainbow of colors as thousands gathered in support of full equal and civil rights for gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. The National Equality March, a three-day event that began on Friday, was punctuated with interfaith services, a protest of Dont

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Ask, Dont Tell, panels, parties and advocacy trainings. The National Equality March culminated in a 2.2-mile march to the West Lawn of the Capitol Building on Oct. 11 National Coming Out Day. The event followed a Saturday evening address by President Obama to the Human Rights Campaign the nations largest gay rights group where he promised to end the ban of gays serving Continued on A8

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AME Church Reception

Obamas in the B1 White House B3

Book Review: The

Photo by Laura McGinnis

Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans and allies gathered this past weekend for the National Equality March in Washington to demand full civil and equal rights for LGBT Americans. Participants included many faith leaders, youth, families and friends.

Copyright 2009 by the Afro-American Company

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The Washington Afro-American, October 17, 2009 - October 23, 2009

NAACP Town Hall Meeting Seeks Immediate Healthcare Reform

By Dorothy Rowley AFRO Staff Writer Health care is a civil right not a privilege, and the current system discriminates against people who are sick. Those were the sentiments of District of Columbia NAACP branch President Lorraine Miller, who was among an impressive slate of speakers during the national organizations recent town hall meeting on healthcare reform. Miller said that part of the reason for staging the event in Washington was because of its close proximity to the White House and Congress, where the debate for a universal health plan has raged for the past several months. This is a wonderful opportunity to be heard, to express our opinion and to say what works best for our community, Miller said to the estimated 200 persons at the two-hour gathering. The national healthcare reform forum, which called for health care reform now, largely focused on the disproportionate impact the lack of care and insurance have had on the District and other underserved communities. According to the Census Bureau, there were more than 46 million uninsured persons in the United States in 2008 and the majority of them were African Zikia T. Jones-Martin, added that in addition to the NAAC P, several other ethnic organizations have engaged in healthcare discussions by developing an approach to addressing lack of health care initiatives in their respective communities. He said later in an interview with the AFRO that the broader picture of reform efforts was distracted in many ways, by many things that occurred late this summer such as disruptive town hall meetings and slurs that were utilized during some of the debates and discussions. In general, a lot of misinformation was floating about, Shelton said. Weve done a very good job of sharing with NAACP [supporters] what was important about health care reform, Shelton said, and we actually worked to make sure there were many elements in the debates and initiatives to address concerns of the African-American community. Shelton said that NAACPs concern from the beginning has always been that the entire country needs to be covered, [but] that one size doesnt fit all. However, it was the testimony of Jones-Martin during the forum that helped

Photos courtesy Washington branch NAACP

The National Healthcare Reform forum, held recently in Washington, called for an end to the disproportionate numbers of minorities negatively affected by the current health care system. Americans and Hispanics. Such racial disparity, while a cause for national concern, has had an acute impact on the District with the recent closings of hospitals Zikia T. Jones-Martin addressed within range of forum attendees on the passing of the citys Black her mother, who succumbed to breast neighborhoods, cancer after her insurance coverage ran and the closing out. of a community clinic in Southeast unacceptable, Miller said, Washington that catered who added that the NAACPs to Medicare and Medicaid advocacy efforts wont stop patients, the House clerk said. until quality, affordable health Southeast, which comprises care is attained across the most of Ward 8, is majority board. African American and has the NAACP Advocacy Vice distinction of being the citys President Hilary Shelton, who poorest community. shared the panel along with The status quo is Howard University student,

put more of a human face to buttress the need for immediate reform. Jones-Martins mother succumbed two years ago after a hard fought battle against breast cancer. Jones-Martin said that having battled the disease for seven NAACP Vice President for Advocacy years, her mother Vice and Washington Bureau was eventually Director Hilary Shelton was among forced to retire on the panelists during a recent medical disability. healthcare town hall meeting that But after 18 months was held in Washington. her health insurance was depleted and the mother was Medicare identification cards informed she was no longer arrived. insurable, as her illness had I feel that a lot of things been re-classified as a prethat couldve been done to existing condition. So, after save my mother were not 18 months she had to stop done because of her insurance taking her medication, was situation, said Jones-Martin. unable to secure care from She applied with many private physicians, and was

The status quo is unacceptable.

forced to apply for Medicare or Medicaid. But help came too late. After going to the hospital and waiting for 10 hours to get into the ICU, the Howard student said, her mother died two days later, just before the Medicaid and different insurance companies and was continually denied; she had no choice but to stop taking her medications. Jones-Martin said health care reform in this country is a must-have, with an option for people like my mother so that this doesnt happen to another family.

Black Nobelmen
expressed surprisethough he ignored calls for him to refuse the award. To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures whove been honored by this prize, he said in a Rose Garden press gaggle last Friday. Meanwhile, the GOP is even cashing in on the controversy, news reports state, mocking the award in a fundraising letter signed by National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. The real question Americans are asking is, What has President Obama actually accomplished? said Steele in a statement. It is unfortunate that the presidents star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. But, others such as American University professor and expert in presidential history Allan J. Lichtman, argue that President Obama has done a lot, even as other supporters such as Princeton professor Cornel West says it holds the president to an even higher standard. It does put pressure on my dear brother [because] its going to be hard to have a peace prize and be a war president, West told the AFRO. So, Afghanistan will be a real challenge. The same will be true of the issue of investigating and prosecuting torturers. In announcing the Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The group cited the presidents international leadership in halting nuclear proliferation, including a UN Security Council resolution, an agreement with Russia to reduce nuclear stockpiles and the forging of a framework to begin discussions with Iran about its nuclear capabilities; his role in re-starting peace Continued from A1 talks between Israel and Palestine and his approach towards mitigating the effects of global climate change. That his work in these areas are just beginning in fact, we wont know if he really deserves it until lateris still not an indictment against the committees choice, Lichtman said. Obamas award is different from other [sitting U.S.] presidents because they were well advanced in their presidency when they won. They had long careers of accomplishments in foreign policy, the professor said. But then again, when, for example, Woodrow Wilson won in 1919 he was far from finished with negotiating peace after World War I. And, in fact, his negotiations failed. [But] did Woodrow Wilson not deserve the Peace Prize because Congress didnt sign the Versailles Treaty or join the League of Nations? No. Beyond this aspirational quality, Obama received the nod because of his use of diplomacy in his foreign policy approaches and his rebranding of the United States on the world stage after eight years of George W. Bushs cowboy, go-it-alone politics, Morris said. The sea-change in the image of the U.S. from one of xenophobic zeal, unbridled hostility and threat was only corrected by the emergence of Barack Obama. There can be nothing else that for the rest of the world augured so well for peace. The dichotomy in reactionsfavorable abroad, while at home, [he] can do nothing rightWalters said, is partly a function of the adage, A prophet is not without honor save in his own country. Its also based on the economic and social turmoil in which the nation is caught up anddespite protestations to the contraryits also about the presidents race. Morris argued, however, that it is the presidents intimacy with the burdens of race and classa burden shared by Bunche and King that made them such able, universal agents of peace. Dr. Kings travails in the trenches of the racist South imprisonment, beatings and eventual assassinationare well documented. Bunche too fought with the evils of poverty and segregation. Born the son of a barber in Detroit, he was orphaned at 14 and worked his way through high school and college as a janitor before going to Harvard on a scholarship. But, according to AFRO file stories, he spurned President Trumans offer of an appointment to assistant secretary of state because of the racial bias in Washington, where he spent 18 years as a Howard professor and diplomat. Living in the Nations Capital is like serving out a sentence for any colored person who detests segregation and discrimination as I do, he is quoted as saying in a June 11, 1949 AFRO article. Its extremely difficult for a colored person to maintain a semblance of human dignity in Washington. At every turn he is confronted with places he cant enter because of his colorschools, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, theaters, bars, lunch counters and rest rooms, not to mention widespread job barriers. Obama too, had to navigate the challenges of growing up in a single-parent home and as a biracial person in a nation where race-based bigotry yet thrives. Their experience helped them understand the necessitydespite the difficultyof talking with people who dont accept you and also the plight of the oppressed, Morris said. Or, as an American groupwho was advocating for Bunches promotion to UN secretary generalis quoted as saying in an October 1961 AFRO article, It might take a man of color to lead us out of the demise of a strife torn world.

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