Trail Blazer Dorothy Height, 'Civil Rights Pioneer', dies at 98

Leading Civil Rights Pioneer Dorothy Height, of the 1960s, died Tuesday at age 98, Howard University Hospita. Height, who had been chair and president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women, worked in the 1960s alongside civil rights pioneers, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., future U.S. Rep. John Lewis and A. Philip Randolph. She was on the platform when King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 March on Washington.


"And even in the final weeks of her life -- a time when anyone else would have enjoyed their well-earned rest, Dr. Height continued her fight to make our nation a more open and inclusive place for people of every race, gender, background and faith."


One of Height's sayings was, "If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time." She liked to quote 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who said that the three effective ways to fight for justice are to "agitate, agitate, agitate."




President Obama called her a hero and the "godmother" of the movement, noting she "served as the only woman at the highest level of the civil rights movement -- witnessing every march and milestone along the way."



Height's years of service span from Roosevelt to the Obama administration, the council said in a statement announcing her death and listing the highlights of her career.

Height was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 by President Clinton and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. She was among a handful of key African-American leaders to meet with Obama at the White House recently for a summit on race and the economy.



As a teenager, Height marched in New York's Times Square shouting, "Stop the lynching." In the 1950s and 1960s, she was the leading woman helping the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leading activists orchestrate the civil rights movement.


Her name is synonymous with the National Council of Negro Women, a group she led from 1957 to 1988, when she became the group's chair and president emerita. She was also a key figure in the YWCA beginning in the 1930s.

Height was born in Richmond, Virginia, and grew up in Rankin, Pennsylvania. Her civil rights work began in 1933 when she became a leader of the United Christian Youth Movement of North America. Among the issues she tackled were fighting to stop lynchings and working to desegregate the armed forces.







In 1937, while she was working at the Harlem YWCA, Height met famed educator Mary McLeod Bethune, the founder of the National Council of Negro Women, and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who had come to speak at a meeting of Bethune's organization. Height eventually rose to leadership roles in both the council and the YWCA.




She experienced discrimination and wrote in her memoir about being turned down for admittance to Barnard College in New York.

"Although I had been accepted, they could not admit me," she wrote in "Open Wide the Freedom Gates."

"It took me a while to realize that their decision was a racial matter: Barnard had a quota of two Negro students per year, and two others had already taken the spots."


At its 1980 commencement ceremonies, Barnard awarded Height its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction.

Under Height's leadership, the National Council of Negro Women dealt with the "unmet needs of women and their families by combating hunger and establishing decent housing and home ownership programs through the federal government for low-income families."

The organization spearheaded voter registration drives and started "Wednesdays in Mississippi" in which female interracial groups helped at Freedom Schools, institutions meant to empower African-Americans and address inequalities in how the races were educated.


"She was truly a pioneer, and she must be remembered as one of those brave and courageous souls that never gave up, never gave in," Lewis said. "She was a feminist and a major spokesperson for the rights of women long before there was a women's movement."




Dorothy Height "blazed many trails and opened many doors," Rep. Barbara Lee says


Thank you for all your time and undying efforts, they will never be forgotten.


Your life has been a true example for all of us to follow.

RIP GREAT TRAILBLAZER

Texas Set To Whitewash Black History From Textbooks

Texas Set To Whitewash Black History From Textbooks
By News One March 18, 2010


From TheLoop21.com:

The Texas Board of Education has made a series of history revising moves to its curriculum, altering how the Civil Rights Movement is taught among a host of other things. These new changes include some very overt attempts to give white men credit for championing civil rights while ignoring the minorities who fought and died for those rights. These changes will be in place for the next decade.










Why you should care? Even if you and your kids live nowhere near the Lone Star State, Texas, as one of the biggest states in the union, has a huge amount of influence when it comes to shaping history books nationwide. Textbook manufacturers essentially shape their books around the needs and recommendations of their largest clients. In this case, there is no client larger than the state of Texas — other than California. New York is the third largest state in the union and therefore also has significant sway when it comes to influencing textbooks.

Haiti Post-Quake

By Stephen Lendman
March 29, 2010

Two and half months post-quake, the major media mostly ignore Haiti, the calamitous conditions on the ground, and the growing desperation of millions forced to largely endure on their own - out of sight, mind, the concern of world leaders, and UN, USAID and other aid organizations diverting most of the $700 million + donated to contractors and profiteering NGOs.

A March 11 New York Times editorial titled, "Haiti, Two Months Later," tried to have it both ways, citing relief effort failures, yet praising the US, UN, foreign countries, and aid organizations for:

"dispatch(ing) tents, tarps, food, water, medicine and doctors as they should. They have done a lot of good, particularly the United States, which rushed supplies, a troop force....and a hospital ship. Many lives were saved."

Unmentioned was the thousands of US combat troops obstructing aid, getting none to the most impoverished neighborhoods, and amounts to emergency shelters have been woefully inadequate, making calamitous conditions worse.

A March 25 Times editorial titled, "Haiti's Misery," in fact, admitted it, stating:

"The emergency in Haiti isn't over. It's getting worse, as the outside world's attention fades away....(Yet) Misery rages like a fever in the hundreds of camps sheltering hundreds of thousands of....people left homeless....The dreaded rains have swamped tents and ragged stick-and-tarp huts. They have turned walkways into mud lakes (exacerbating the problem of) cooking food, washing clothes, staying clean and avoiding disease."

It's the plight of around 1.3 million with no shelter, proper sanitation, clean water, enough food, or medical care. On March 4, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised concerns about a potential deadly malaria outbreak, besides numerous other diseases now spreading. On March 5, Partners in Health (PIH) called conditions on the ground "shameful....shocking, inhumane and rapidly deteriorating."

Daily they worsen, placing millions of Haitians in grave peril of calamitous depravation, deadly diseases, greater pain and suffering, and potential mass deaths because imperial plans for Haiti are to plunder it for profit and control, not help desperately needy people, many of whom will suffer, then die.

Haiti is open for business. What was no longer exists. Reconstruction will be profit-driven, replacing former neighborhoods with gentrified ones, corporate ventures, and other upscale projects - poor Haitians being dispossessed, exploited, neglected, abandoned, and oppressed if they resist, especially if they interfere with planned plundering of Haiti's oil and other resources.

On March 24, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited Port-au-Prince with Rene Preval, feigned concern, and participated in staged refugee camp photo-ops. Haitians reacted angrily, especially at Bush for ousting President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, exiling him to South Africa, and preventing his return, now more than ever when he's needed.

Protestors outside the national palace burned tires and an American flag, shouting: "Return Aristide! Down with Preval! Down with Bush! The Miami Herald described the Champ de Mars refugee camp visit saying:









"Quake survivors screamed at the three leaders, shouting details of the losses they suffered....Others took a moment to criticize their own president's leadership. 'President Preval has never come to see us before,' screamed Myrlande Saint-Louis, who lives in the Place Mosolee camp the presidents visited. 'Now because Bush is here he comes. Now he wants to see us!' "

The trip served two purposes:

-- to increase interest for a March 31 New York international investment conference expected to approve an $11.5 billion package to solidify corporate control of the country, and

-- for Preval to resolve land issues obstructing quake survivor relocations from areas wanted for commercial redevelopment, so Haitians have to go, willingly or by force.

Haitians are on their own, women and children most vulnerable, according to Amnesty International (AI). A March 25 report said:

"Sexual violence is widely present in the camps where some of Haiti's most vulnerable live. It was already a major concern (pre-quake) but the situation in which displaced people are living exposes women and girls to even greater risks."

Most victims AI interviewed were minors. "One eight-year-old girl was raped when alone in her tent at night. (A) 15-year-old was raped when she went out of the camp to urinate....There are no shelters in the country where victims of sexual violence can be protected and have access to services."

From March 4 - 25, AI assessed conditions in quake struck areas, in particular, human rights abuses affecting women and children. It reported mass displacement, makeshift camps on "every plot of empty land, public or private, and in every space, square and football pitch." Even a golf course and secondary roads were used.

Within the camps, security is non-existant, except for scattered ad hoc efforts, leaving women and girls most vulnerable as well as everyone to theft or assaults that might cost them their lives.

AI visited camps with no emergency shelter, food, sanitation, water or medical care, saying:

"Living conditions in these camps are dire and the majority of inhabitants are deeply frustrated with the Haitian authorities and international agencies" showing no concern for their condition.

The Latin American Solidarity Coalition's (LASC) Assessment on the Ground Pre-Quake

LASC (lasolidarity.org) "is an association of national and local US-based grassroots Latin American and Caribbean solidarity groups (for) a truly progressive Latin America solidarity movement....in support of the people of Latin America struggling for justice and a better future for their countries free of economic, military and cultural imperialism."

From December 28, 2009 - January 7, 2010 (five days before the quake), its 11-member delegation visited Haiti to investigate UN Blue Helmet (MINUSTAH) human rights abuses. On returning, it published a report titled, "Haiti: An Oppressed State," its highlights reviewed below.

LASC met with over 70 individuals and organization representatives in Port-au-Prince and two of its most impoverished neighborhoods, Cite Soleil and Bel Air. It also spent two days in Jacmel visiting sustainable development projects.

Testimonies from MINUSTAH-inflicted violence victims were gotten, including people whose family members were murdered. Virtually everyone:

-- demanded Aristide's return;

-- called MINUSTAH a repressive, criminal force;

-- said international aid hasn't reached the poor, but instead has been diverted to predatory NGOs, prison building, or stolen by corrupt politicians; and

-- believed economic development is exploitive, not providing a living wage, or benefitting poor Haitians productively.

The story is long, painful and familiar. "For over 200 years (and 300 before that), the US, France, and Western Europe (actively) ble(d) and exploit(ed) Haitians and prevent(ed) the only nation born of a slave revolt from becoming successful." It endured "military invasions, economic embargoes, gunboat blockades, trade barriers, diplomatic quarantines, subsidized armed subversions, US-armed black dictators, and finally, two US-supported coups against" its only beloved leader since liberation, twice democratically elected overwhelmingly, now exiled, and kept from returning.

African Community Rally In Support of Dr. Adelaide Sandford

Afrikan community rally in support of Dr. Adelaide Sanford
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Community protest at the 52nd precinct in the Bronx, on Sunday March 28th.
Led by CEMOTAP the Afrikan community rallied in support of Dr. Adelaide Sanford, whose son David Sanford, dean of the Banneker Academy in Brooklyn, was assaulted by Bronx police. The community demanded that all charges against Dean Sanford be dropped and the the police be charged instead.


NEWS RELEASE: Son and Grandson of Vice Chancellor Emerita, Adelaide Sanford Brutalized by the Police

When David Sanford, Dean at Benjamin Banneker High School in Brooklyn, accompanied the school basketball team to Lehman College in the Bronx,on March 14 to a playoff game, he had no idea that he would end up being beaten handcuffed, arrested and jailed in the 52nd precinct, located at 3016 Webster Ave, Bronx, NY. His crime was attempting to get his students safely to the bus to return back to Brooklyn. “Following the end of the game students from the winning team, Bedford Academy were taunting my students. Apparently the school safety officers became overly excited and began pushing everyone out of the area. The incident did not require such harsh action” Sanford said.

Dean Sanford, the son of Dr. Adelaide Sanford, Vice Chancellor Emerita of the New York State Board of Regents, was punched in the face by an irate cop as he attempted to safe guard his students. Said Sanford, "I asked the cop did you punch me, and he said "you damn right I did" The next thing that I knew I was slammed to the ground, beaten and kneed as several cops piled on top of me. I was unable to breathe and asked that they get off of me. I was then thrown into the back of the police car and driven to the 52 pct." he continued. Sanford's son who accompanied the group also sustained an injury to his face.

Sandford said that the efforts by the principal and the students fell on deaf ears as they attempted to convince the police that he, Sanford, was trying to bring the excitement level under control. In spite of never having had any brush with the law throughout his life, Sanford indicated that he was more concerned with the safety of his students than for himself.

Many of the students were traumatized by the incident. Sanford indicated that "my son was supposed to return to his university in Buffalo, New York, later that night, but could not do so for several days because he was so upset.

Sanford who was charged with disorderly conduct. explained “I was fearful for my life. I know what often happens to Black men who are arrested in a precinct, many end up dead.” Friends and supporters will visit the 52nd pct. located at 3016 Webster Ave Bronx, N. Y. on Sunday, March 28th at 3:P.M. The community is urged to join with them. "It is apparent that this kind of police behavior is common in the Bronx," said Betty Dopson, CEMOTAP co-chair, “after hearing Dean Sanford’s story , If there was disorderly conduct, it was on the part of the police."

Mother Hale "Amazing Grace"

Clara 'Mother' Hale's amazing grace:

She founded Hale House to care for babies born into addiction
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Davis/News'Mother' Hale and her children. 'Before I knew it, every pregnant addict in Harlem knew about the crazy lady who would give her baby a home,' she said. Related ArticlesHarlem Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV on trial for DWIHigh school notification deadline passes without decisionVoice of the People for March 26, 2010Canada: Charter schools' hypocritical enemiesRangel likens conservative foes of health care to racist foes of civil rightsLouis: Moskowitz foes offer much ado about nothing
Clara Hale, by her own admission, couldn't much carry a tune. But that didn't keep her from singing night after night to the babies she walked up and down the hallways of her Harlem brownstone, cradling them in her frail arms as they shook and cried from the cravings in their veins for drugs.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound …"

"Sometimes my singing is so bad, I can see them starting to laugh, and I just look at them and I tell them, 'All right, I can't sing, but I'm gonna keep on singing,' " the white-haired woman called Mother Hale would tell visitors to her Hale House.

Clara Hale, who had toiled anonymously for years, taking in children nobody wanted, would keep on singing even after praise from President Ronald Reagan earned her national acclaim in 1985, at age 79. Even after the dual scourges of crack and AIDS left hundreds more tiny souls on her doorstep. Even after City Hall tried to put her out of the business of saving lives barely begun.

No one and nothing would keep Mother Hale from her mission.

"I love children and I love caring for them," she would say. "That is what the good Lord meant me to do."

Left widowed at 27 with three children, she had cleaned houses by day and Loews theaters by night until, frustrated by the lack of good day-care facilities, she started taking the children of other domestics into her walkup apartment on W. 146th St. She had a way with the little ones. "The kids must have liked it, because once they got there, they didn't want to go home," Mother Hale would recall.

She eventually began welcoming foster children into her home for $2 a week. In 1968, at age 63, having reared the last of 40 foster kids, she called it quits and decided to kick back and enjoy retirement.

That all changed one day a year later, when her daughter Lorraine encountered a heroin addict on a park bench, a 2-month-old slipping out of her nodding mother's arms.

"I said what I always say: 'Take it to mother,'" Lorraine Hale remembered.

When the junkie arrived at her door, Clara Hale was dubious. After all, she hadn't raised her daughter to consort with drug addicts. She went inside to call Lorraine to verify the woman's story. When she returned, the woman was gone and the baby was on the doorstep.

Two months later, 22 drug-addicted infants were packed into her five-room apartment. Mother Hale didn't know how to say no.

"Before I knew it, every pregnant addict in Harlem knew about the crazy lady who would give her baby a home," she said.

She didn't know much about drugs, but she knew children, and she knew the value of tough love. There were rules: No fixes - not even aspirin - no matter how much a baby cried. Mothers would have to go into rehab and would be required to visit their children once a week. Ninety per cent of the time, she was able to reunite a cleaned-up child with a cleaned-up mom.