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DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, JULY 4, 2015
)LUME 94 - NUMBER 26
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Supreme Court upholds key
tool for fighting housing bias
“A Celebration of the Life and legacy of Dr. Joseph T. Mitch-
I”, left, was held June 27, at St. Joseph A.M.E. Church. Friends, fam-
and guests gathered to honored Dr. Mitchell for his life’s work in mu-
:. At right is Rev. Ronald Owens, pastor of St. Joseph A.M.E. Church,
s story and photos on page 2.
preventing Student
"Summer Slide ’
By Jazelle Hunt
NNPA Washington
Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) -
: students slip into their sum
s' vacations, it’s up to families
make sure they don’t slip into
ademic amnesia. Usually, in
at is called the summer slide,
dents forget up to six months
math and reading instruction
ten they’re not engaged in aca-
mic activities between school
ars.
Matthew Mugo Fields thinks
has the solution to halting that
de. He hopes to bridge the gap
th Rocket Group, an education
mpany he founded. His suite
programs for schools and par
ts blend technology, face-to-
:e instruction, and specialized
rricula based on groundbreak-
’ yet obscure research from
anford University.
“Summer slide] is a huge
oblem. And it’s exacerbated
rlow-income and minority stu
nts,” says Fields, a Morehouse
diversity alumnus who holds a
luble-masters in business and
ucation from Harvard Univer-
y. “The research I’ve seen says
at nearly half of the achieve-
ent gap can be explained by the
(ference in summer learning
tween low-income students
id their counterparts.
Tammy Drayton is an early
ildhood teacher in Newark,
.J. Even kindergarten students
e expected to know a few
ings at the start of school, such
counting to 10, colors, shapes,
id the days of the week. When
ch lessons are new or lost to
em, the impact is clear.
“We might have to do more
le-on-one work with [that stu
nt],” she said. “But it may af-
ct their social skills. Because
they realize they’re not on the
cel of other kids, they tend to
ill away and shut down. They
el different, in a sense.”
Summer slide affects older
udents, too, and the stakes are
uch higher. In high school,
ere are fewer interventions
id opportunities to relearn lost
formation, and students can
icome discouraged with their
irformance - internally and
through the actions of teachers and administrators. In this way, sum
mer slide can lead to dropping out.
It also manifests as poor preparation for post-graduation. Another
term, “summer melt,” happens when college-eligible high school
seniors do not successfully transition to post-secondary education.
The Department of Education estimates that up to 20 percent of high
school graduates are lost this way, most of them of color.
“Preparation is a factor, but not the guiding factor of whether a
student will be college-bound,” says David Johns, executive director
of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African
Americans. “The belief if they can even go to college diminishes, if
they are not supported over time.”
The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African
Americans is currently working on combating these summer losses.
Although it is still gathering data, it’s clear that parental involvement
is one of the most important factors in academic achievement across
years, for students of all ages.
“It’s important to acknowledge that the first and most important
educator in a child’s life is his or her parents. One of the challenges
is engaging parents to supplement learning for their scholars,” says
Johns.
“Often the way we think of learning is that it’s for school only,
it happens in the classroom within the school day. But educational
development happens throughout the calendar year.”
Drayton says that in her kindergarten classroom, parents’ efforts
are more important than the personalized schoolwork packets her
school sends home with students.
“My students left me today, and I gave them a list of books along
with a summer packet. I don’t necessarily rely on the packets [to de
termine if slide has occurred],” she says. “It affects [students] based
on if they worked with a parent, and it all depends on if they had
practice or continuing education in the summer.”
Johns explains that income is the strongest predictor of summer
slide. More affluent families have the moneyjob flexibility, and con
nections to keep their children engaged with programs, gadgets, and
enriching experiences throughout the year.
Other families, who may lack time, money, and access, have to
get resourceful in supplementing their child’s education.
“Go to the library - it’s free. Dollar stores sell books, and places
like the Salvation Army sometimes gives away books,” Drayton rec
ommends. “Read something with your child every day. It’s essential
to build literacy skills over the summer.”
For parents and guardians, Fields offers GiftedandTalented.com,
which provides personalized academic supplements and one-on-one
By Sam Hananel
WASHINGTON (AP) - A
sharply divided Supreme Court
on June 25 preserved a key tool
used for more than four decades
to fight housing discrimination,
handing a surprising victory to
the Obama administration and
civil rights activists.
The justices ruled 5-4 that
federal housing law allows peo
ple to challenge lending rules,
zoning laws and other housing
practices that have a harmful im
pact on minority groups, even if
there is no proof that companies
or government agencies intended
to discriminate.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, in
a rare vote on the side of civil
rights groups on matters of race,
joined the court’s four liberal
members in upholding the use
of so-called “disparate impact”
cases.
The ruling is a victory for
housing advocates who argued
that the 1968 Fair Housing Act
allows challenges to race-neutral
policies that have negative ef
fects on minorities. The Justice
Department has used disparate
impact lawsuits to win more than
$500 million in legal settlements
from companies accused of bias
against black and Hispanic cus
tomers.
It was a defeat for banks, in
surance companies and other
business groups that claimed
such lawsuits - often based on
statistics - are not explicitly al
lowed under the landmark hous
ing law that sought to eliminate
segregation that has long existed
in residential housing.
“The court acknowledges the
Fair Housing Act’s continuing
role in moving the nation toward
a more integrated society,” Ken
nedy said.
The White House issued a
statement saying the decision
“reflects the reality that discrimi
nation often operates not just out
in the open, but in more hidden
forms.” And Attorney General
Loretta Lynch said the Justice
Department would continue to
vigorously enforce the Fair
Pastor of church
damaged by fire
forgives suspected
arsonist
CHARLOTTE (AP)
- The pastor of a pre
dominantly black church
damaged by a fire that
authorities believe was
intentionally set says he
forgives whoever was re
sponsible and wants to
move forward.
WBTV in Charlotte
quotes the Rev. Mannix
Kinsey of Briar Creek
Road Baptist Church as
saying that he was afraid
at first the church would
be destroyed by the early
June 24 morning fire. But
Kinsey said the damage
wasn’t as bad as he thought
it could be.
Kinsey said he speaks for
the church in forgiving who
ever started the fire, which
damaged a wing of the build
ing that houses education.
The rest of the property,
including the sanctuary and
gymnasium, has smoke dam
age. A Charlotte Fire Depart
ment investigator said total
damage is estimated at more
than $250,000.
Housing Act “with every tool at its disposal - including challenges
based on unfair and unacceptable discriminatory effects.”
In upholding the tactic, the high court preserved a legal strategy
that has been used for more than 40 years to attack discriminateion
in zoning laws, occupancy rules, mortgage lending practices and in
surance underwriting. Every federal appeals court to consider it has
upheld the practice, though the Supreme Court had never previously
ruled.
Civil rights groups and the Obama administration had tried for
years to keep the issue out of the Supreme Court, fearing that conser
vatives wanted to end the strategy. Two previous cases that reached
the court were settled or strategically withdrawn just weeks before
oral argument.
Emanuel AME Church, Charleston, S.C.
The Black Church and the
Strength to Forgive
By Jazelle Hunt
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - For many outside the black commu
nity, they had never seen anything like it. Though suffering and deep
in pain from the loss of loved ones at the hands of Dylann Roof at
Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C., they reflected the finest
reflection of Christian values.’
A daughter Ethel Lance, 70, one of the nine killed at Bible study,
struggled to find the right words.
“I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you and have
mercy on your soul,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. “It
hurts me, it hurts a lot of people, but God forgive you and I forgive
you.” .
Speaking for her family, a sister of Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doc
tor, 49, had a similar message.
“We have no room for hate,” she said softly. “We have to forgive.
I pray God on your soul. And I also thank God that I won’t be around
when your judgment day comes with him.”
One-by-one, they took turns, sharing their grief, but not any ran
cor. How could they be so forgiving?
In order to understand the answer to that question, experts on re
ligion say, you have to understand the role the church plays in black
America and how the nation’s most religious group - African Ameri
cans - take the teachings of Jesus’ literally.
“To understand the black Christian tradition and faith that has nur
tured black people for centuries is to know that they live by a deep,
resilient faith that God is on the side of justice, God is on the side
of love,” explained Rev. Forrest Harris, president of American Bap
tist College in Nashville, Term, and a scholar on the black Christian
church. “And that ultimately, though people will tragically experi
ence what we saw happen at Mother Emanuel, ultimately love will
prevail and hope will prevail.”
Rev. Susan K. Smith of Columbus, Ohio says that Scripture shows
that it’s reasonable to feel and wrestle with difficult emotions, instead
ofjumping straight to forgiveness.
“If you don’t deal with your real, strong feelings, it’s almost im
possible to get to a place where you can forgive,” she said. Smith
points to Psalm 13, saying, “The Psalmist, who expresses his pain -
then at the end of the Psalm there’s a “but, I will praise you anyway.’
This is vital, because what we have with God is a relationship, and in
relationships there are always times when you don’t get it.”
Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of the Third Baptist Church of San
Francisco and NAACP national board member, said blacks should
not bear the brunt of suffering - or forgiveness - in the U.S.
“I do not feel in my spirit that blacks should have to be the sacri
ficial lambs all the time,” he explained. “The pain is so great and it’s
insulting that America has still not confessed to its wrong and its evil.
And that evil is racism.”
Relatives of the nine slain in Charleston refused to be overcome
by the evil ofracism.
“In this particular context, we’re all deeply moved by the fam
ily offering up forgiveness, and I want to honor that supernatural
manifestation of grace,” says Pastor Michael McBride, leader of The
Way Christian Center in Berkeley, Calif., and director of the PICO
Network Live Free Campaign, which uses faith to fight mass-crim
inalization.