13th Annual Nation Convetion 4/6-9/11

National Action Network

13th Annual Convention

April 6 2011

Panel 1: Politics 2011-2012; What are the Issues?

Moderator Reverend Al Sharpton ask the nine person panel what the key issues will be for Barack Obama's re-election in 2012. What will the President have to focus on for the next year and a half, both in programming and legislation and on his campaign trail.

Panelist Ranging from Former U.S Congressmen and current NYU professor, Harold E. Ford Jr., Charles M. Blow, a columnist from the New York Times. Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, Country and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), says that jobs and economic stability is the single most important issue for 2011/12. Representing the labor movement, and a newly elected board member of NAN, Sauders explains that with the attacks on the labor movement Republicans are attacking working people's right to defend their own economic stability. Also on the panel, Reverend David Jefferson, Kirsten John Foy, Jaqueline Salit, George Gresham, President of 1199 SEIU.

Panelist Roberto Ramirez, Founding Partner, MirRam Group, Inc. and Frederick D. Haynes III, the Senior Pastor at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas Texas both character the problem in America, both internally and international, is that of wealth disparity  and the intentional construction, and upkeep, of it. Ramirez  angrily remind us that while we are a country rich in resources, 20%, 9 of our districts, starve. We also deport the highest rate of people of any country, with specific paterns in who we deport, and with such actions we cannot claim equality or freedom or any such claim.

Reverend Haynes dissects the word denigrate and how it is defined. The word means "to darken" and is of very negative connotations. Just as some people have so much of the money, some people, and only some people, write the dictionary. They do so to frame the consciousness of the world so as to keep their agenda intact. Their influence reaches far beyond the ocean barriers and borders we construct, just as English, and the word denigrate, is taught in schools throughout the world.

April 7, 2011

Labor Summit Panel: Is Collective Bargaining a Civil Right?

Gregory Floyd, President of Teamsters Local 237

In 1959 Wisconsin fought for worker's rights to collectively bargain for their rights in the workplace. Today's Republicans are trying to abolish what has taken 50 years to build. We are all so disillusioned into thinking that the war is over because we can elect Obama, but its only just begun as an intentional war on the working class is being orchestrated and carried out.

Steward Applebaum, President Retain, Wholesales and Department Store Union (RWDSU)

To strengthen civil rights and the labor movement both must realize the battle is one in the same. Collective bargaining is human right and a civil right.Strength for the argument lies in the fact that minorities in unions are reported to make 30 % more than those employed and not in a union. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at a sanitation workers union rally. He said civil rights would not be attained without economic stability for minority communities and individuals and he knew collective bargaining was the way to it.

RWDSU currently participating in a citywide living wage campaign. He says union work is driven by grassroots organizing. That because the conservatives are putting all of their efforts into blaming unions, and therefore also working poor people, we need to work to strengthen private and public unions together, along with civil rights movement, because strength is in numbers.

 Stuart Appelbuam-RWDSU

Liilian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37

Says to delegates-"You have not been listening, You have not understood, You have not registered, You have not voted, You put them in power. They make decisions because you let them" People pay taxes and they use them to cut out voices. Tax money is stolen for the corporations.

"If you don't pay attention I cant fight Bloomberg or anyone else"

Norman Seale, COBA

Is collective bargaining a civil right? NO

(hes the only one to say no)

The civil rights act of 1964 did not include Collective Bargaining. We may adopt it as such because of our beliefs but legally it isn't constitutional.

So when they fight it, its that much more important for us to fight back. He yells that people dance the dance but don't finish it.

(he never says we should seek an amendment declaring CB a constitutional right)

We need to fight for the Unions because the are a vehicle for civil rights to be gained. He says Obama told those at the dinner last night that Sharpton is a vehicle for NAN, and the communities represented, to reach out to Obama.

LEE SAUNDERS AFSCME

National Perspective of the Problem:

How did we get to this situation with Unions being detrimentally threatened?

Conservatives have been attempting for years.Private Sector was 35% organized and is now 6.9% because of bullying and scare tactics to discourage organizing. Playing field is not level because though it should be, but is not constitutionally protected. People are legally fired for being in a union or trying to organize.

Some Governors, State Legislatures, and the Republican National Party all want to kill unions and working peoples right to organize

There attack plan shows just so clear in that the won over the House, took 11 Governors and flipped the state legislature.  Now they start with legislation

Walker in Wisconsin was a test case. the first thing he did was give 150 million dollars in tax cuts for the more wealthy. Then he cried broke and blamed it on the unions and working people and "entitlement". The unions gave concessions to Walker based on the economic situation of the state. That wasn't enough.Walker then, as the second thing he did as Governor, presented legislation that he thought would fix the problem the unions presented. The legislation initially passed but because of there reaction it thankfully tied up in argument. If it does pass, however, it will not end there. It will kill public sector workers everywhere (of which African Americans are now a higher percentage than ever before).  The national Republican Party and conservatives will then move state to state.

Definitely to Ohio, Indiana, Florida, NY, Penn, Jersey

Why fight the unions? The are a stronghold of support for the democratic party for the 2012.

We need to build together Unions with students, renters, faith groups and civil rights groups.

National Action Network

April 7, 2011

Being Reborn & Rehabilitated: Life's Second Chances

Moderated By Dr. Niaz Kasravi, the Deputy Director of the NAACP Criminal Justice Programs

The US over invests in incarceration and under invests in education, and there is a direct connection.

America is 5%% of the World's population but 25% of the World's Prison Population is Americas prisoners!

In the last decade America has spent money on the incarceration system at a rate 6x higher than that of what it spend on education.

600,000 people return home from prison annually

95% return

Challenges: Jobs,Houses, Voting, Health care, Family, Rehab, Continued punishment

Panelists:

Reverend Darren A Ferguson;

mindset of people coming home, the hope dreams and realities they see. fear police and of failure.

family and community role in preventing returning. honesty is the best policy. people may commit crimes but they should be given a chance. if people are expected to fail they usually do. so family and community must be a "landing strip"

Victor Pate

Co-Chair of National Action Network's Second Chance Committee

Spent 15 years inside been home 20 years. Now deep into theological studies, started in prison.

When he came home to no resources it was more than depressing. no support system.

Don't have what you need make what you need.

The said he was incorrigible and a danger to society. He helped build NANs Second Chance Committee that welcomes people coming home, debriefs them and helps connect them to resources they will need.

Stephanie Bush-Baskette, ESQ., PHD President of the Sojourn Institute, LLC

There are now 1 million women in prison in America. Twice since 1985 and growing faster then men. very negative effect on families

 15% of people in USA prisons are women

women are mostly locked up because of using drugs are homelessness or domestic relations.

1/3 of women in prison had an income of less that 600/month

more women than men are diagnosed with mental illness in prison

must be addressed differently than men, but aren't

most people in prison have 2 kids. most women are primary caregivers to their kids

women in prison and their kids often get separated, mother's rights often terminated because of legislation that says if you are away from your kids more than a certain time

Ron William Walden, PH D

Executive Director of the Fund for Community Leadership Initiative at the New York Theological Seminary

Speaks from the perspective of a teacher in prison. "trick is not to teach them but to get out of the way"

all on can do is give a book, a paper, a pen, open a door. one can not read a book for another

never do something by yourself that you can do with someone else

returning peoples principle resource is other people. churches are key but have to work more towards organization and collaborative efforts to create efficient and effect programs to support people coming home.

Divine Pryor PH.D.

Was the Deputy Executive Director of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions at Medgar Evers College

Reentry is bullshit. 2nd Chance? What about a 1st?

Criminal Justice Does Not Work. there is a life sentence for a felony even after you are out of prison.

Slaves were freed? Black Codes. Vagrant Laws. Land Codes. Literacy Codes. Felony Codes.

Vanda Seward, NYS Division of Parole, Statewide Director of Reentry

Start preventing returning to prison -with Programs in Prison.

This year they discharged a record number of people from parole without reentry, she claims its better.

From a public safety standpoint we can only reduce the victims count when we produce services that help people coming home.

LaResse Harvey, A better Way Foundation

"Ban the Box" on employment applications that asked whether an applicant has been convicted.

She built a grassroots advocacy group focusing on family, jobs, housing, education for people returning. 

25 people on each issue spearhead a campaign in their area.

must move from local to national to get work done in the system. all politics are local. Advocacy is political power. If you don't have money to fight them, you fight them with pressure of people and voices. two forms of power. money or people

she had urban/suburban campaigns and literally, when she had a week left after a promise had been broken on the ban the box legislation being passed, on volunteer came through and got the women's basketball team to make calls.

In prison she said she was mistreated, that they didn't offer her help for abusive or mental illness. that she was abused by her roommate and nobody moved her. That she was in jail for accidentally killing someone and the put her in a cell with a friend of the woman she killed, without knowing it.

Education and Art changes maladaptive behaviors in prison but the take away those programs and keep people in prison working for pennies instead.

"lets close down everything and handle it ourselves"

National Action Network
April 9th 2011
Measuring the Movement

Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network present
"Measuring the Movement" at the First Corinthian Baptist Church in
Harlem on April 9th. The panel, a discussion of the current state of
America's political system and African American communities, was
hosted by both Tom Joyner of the Tom Joyner Morning Show and Roland
Martin, Political Commentator for the Washington Watch.

Panelists:
Reverend Al Sharpton, President and Founder of the National Action Network
Marc Morial, CEO, National Urban League
Ben Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP
Melanie Campbell, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation
Tamika D. Mallory, National Executive Director, National Action Network
Michael Blake, Associate Director, White House OFfice of Public
Engagement and Deputy Associate Director of the Office of
Intergovernmental Affairs
Jeff Johnson- BET Personality/ Political Motivator
Che "Rhymefest" Smith- Grammy Award Winning Rapper
Mary Pat Hector- Founder and President, Youth in Action

This panel seemed to run different from the rest during the
convention. Granted, there were TV cameras all around and the program
did air, but the set up and rhythm of the panel was in interrupted by
"commercial breaks" and based mostly around questions from the
audience.

Despite the fact the the panel was set up to be based on delegate's
questions, It seems that every time a question was asked, Roland Martin reworded the question
so as to ask a preplanned question.

Much of the panel regarded how to handle the problems in education and
how to get and keep political power. Much of the focus on the
educational system revolved around the idea of who gets help and how
to help them. In response to a delegate question about how the
education system will prepare students for careers in hospitality and
tourism seeing as how it is a leading industry in America and the
world.  The issue here is who gets the programs? Charter schools are all too often not diverse, with
a admissions process that ensures students will enroll that are in the
top percent of students already, with wealthy families supporting
them. Marc Morial impresses the importance of monitoring the programs
created, that we need to create programs for all students, regardless
of economic or ethnic backgrounds and if we see the programs profiling
the students they enroll, it is up to us to shut them down. Jeff
Johnson says we need to also look at our colleges and the "yellow
brick road" that they supposedly are. They are not the end all be all
to education. College graduates aren't getting jobs at the rates they
used to and their are other professions that are just as important
and valuable, as well as economically profitable for students. Both
parents and teachers need to have more dialogue with youth about these
different professions.
What about the neglect of inner city schools? Why does special funding
and programming always get funneled to schools and student already
performing about average? Ben Jealous and Al Sharpton, and the panel
in general, agree that the bottom 5% need the attention and we need to
work to get these students and schools assistance. "No options should
be off the table" but, the options can not be from the top 2% giving
to the bottom 5%. It can only work, the paradigm can only change if
schools, churches, community groups and parents come together to
demand equal funding for their public school, and work the programming
out together, and for themselves.

What role do children and youth play in politics? While Tameka
Mallory, as the director of the National Action Network, has organized
amongst her peers and created numerous youth lead community
organizations, she says the youth today are not engaged enough. Mary
Pat Hector, the thirteen year old Founder and President of Youth in
action, when asked if middle schoolers are involved in the movement
says, "No, not enough".

The movement, in terms of politics, is about "How to get power, and
keep power." explains Roland Martin. Reverand Al Sharpton reminds us
that we need to unify and support Barack Obama in his 2012
presidential campaign. To fight Barack Obama, he says, will be to help
the right wing republicans and nothing more.

A delegate asks the panel how we can be sure, when we are voting in
local politics, or creating our local community organizations, how we
can be sure that the people we elect and select as our leaders don't
become corrupt. How we can prevent "infiltration from the outside." Al
Sharpton answers that we don't vote for people to change things for
us, we vote for them to help us change things. We can't just vote and
forget about it, or not vote at all and complain, because it is our
responsibility to vote and to support our politicians in making the
changes we need in our communities.

A delegate asks the panel to think about international events in
Egypt, Libya, Yemen and the Ivory Coast, where we see masses revolting
and demanding changes from their governments. We see natural disasters
all over the world, as if God is begging us to wake up and realize
that our ways are wrong.

Sharpton, Jealous and the panel agree that they are following our
history. Marches. demonstrations and that we need to organize right
now and be specific as to what our demands are.

Roland Martin asks the panel what issue they would chain themselves to
the White House for? The panel responds with varied answers. Mass
Incarceration and the system of Apartheid we face in America.  The
panel agrees, generally, that you really can't have one issue because
there are so many issues that are all interconnected. Morial says he
would chain himself to the Department of Defense because that is where
the legacy of power and systematic oppression lies. Obama is a two
years young President who inherited a system of problems. Al Sharpton
concludes with "They still don't want to deal with our race."

Harry Mcneary, of URI, asked the panel why we only teach our
communities how to vote for politicians and which politicians to vote
for instead of teaching the community about the legislative process.
What Bills are, how to write them and how to become more participatory
in our local, and national politics in order to have a direct effect
on our communities. Roland Martin revises the questions and says, talk
to that point and lets talk about redistricting." The president of the
NAACP gives several examples, in several states, where they have
involved communities in creating changes.

In conclusion, Jeff Johnson tells us that we need to merge our proven
traditions, of marches and protests and demand and our community
traditions with new progressive tactics. We can't expect to do the
same thing and expect different results. Tamika Mallory reminds us
that we need to talk to youth, get them involved- they are an integral
part of the movement.  Al Sharpton suggest that we research
corporations and find out who they donate to and let people know who
they need to not support.

If people make commitments to you and do not hold themselves
accountable to you, they do not earn their leadership roles. At the
same time, if you demand commitments from your leaders, if you do not
hold them accountable, then you do not earn their leadership.