DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 2017
VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 22
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Minority advocates say Trump’s budget will hurt their causes
By Jesse J. Holland
WASHINGTON (AP) - Advocates for minority communities say
President Donald Trump’s proposed budget answers the question he
famously posed to black Americans during his campaign: “What the
hell do you have to lose?”
His $4.1 trillion spending plan for the budget year beginning Oct.
1 generally makes deep cuts in safety net programs, including Med
icaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Social Security’s
disability program.
“Here is the reality: Many poor black families and brown fami
lies and Asian families and indigenous families will be devastated by
this budget,” said Bishop Dwayne Royster, founder of Philadelphia’s
Living Water United Church of Christ.
The White House said its budget would put the country back on
track for a healthy economy.
“We’re not going to measure compassion by the amount ofmoney
that we spend, but by the number of people that we help,” White
House budget director Mick Mulvaney said this past week.
Critics decry the priorities in Trump’s budget, which Congress is
unlikely to pass as submitted. Still, it will serve as a guidepost for
what the White House wants lawmakers to deliver to the president.
“It is an attack of unimaginable cruelty on the most vulnerable
among us, the youngest, the oldest, the poorest, and hardworking
people who need a little help to gain or hang on to a decent middle-
class life,” Hillary Clinton said May 26.
Trump’s budget would slash Medicaid and the Children’s Health
Insurance Program, which provide health insurance for millions of
poor families, by $616 billion over the next decade. It would cut the
food stamp program by $191 billion over the next decade and the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program by $22 billion.
“Great nations are known by how they care for the old and the
vulnerable, not by how much they can take away from them to give
to their wealthy friends,” NAACP Chairman Leon W. Russell said.
Several people pointed to the targeting of the Education Depart
ment for a 13 percent cut as particularly troubling.
That “will undoubtedly hurt our most vulnerable children, espe
cially those from low-income and working-class Black families, who
rely on access to special education programs, well-trained teach
ers, smaller class sizes, literacy grants, and before and after school
programs-all of which will be at risk for cuts or elimination,” said
Jacqueline Cooper, president of the Black Alliance for Educational
- Option's:——^- *»¥”■ - ^ "——■’“■-*
The head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Michelle
Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., said Trump’s budget “wastes billions of
dollars on a costly and ineffective border wall and deportation force”
while proposing cuts to programs that have been essential to helping
Hispanic families.
The budget seeks $2.6 billion for border security technology, in
cluding money to design and build a wall along the southern border.
Trump repeatedly promised voters during the campaign that Mexico
would pay for a wall, a notion that Mexican officials have rejected.
NAACP officials said Trump’s proposal would gut civil rights en
forcement in the federal government.
It would defund and cut at least 10 percent of key civil rights en
forcement positions across the government, including positions at the
Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, the Equal Employ
ment Opportunity Commission and the Legal Services Corporation,
which helped more than 2 million low-income individuals with legal
representation last year, advocates said.
“I am not sure what is more insidious - regurgitating the sham
of old trickle-down theories of economics or purposely refusing to
adequately fund civil rights positions necessary to protect individu
als from voter suppression, job discrimination or police brutality,”
Russell said.
The budget does maintain the same funding for historically black
colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions from Pres
ident Barack Obama’s administration. It reinstates year-round Pell
Grants and increases charter school spending, which the Thurgood
Marshall College Fund “can utilize to build and strengthen K-12
pipeline initiatives that operate on several HBCU campuses,” said
the fund’s president, Johnny Taylor.
But United Negro College Fund President Michael Lomax noted
that HBCUs will be hurt in other ways.
“In fact, the proposed budget would cut federal financial aid life
lines that thousands of HBCU students depend on to attend college
and earn their degrees,” Lomax said.
Native American groups, who say their needs are perpetually un
derfunded, say the cuts would worsen their plight.
“Tribes have had to endure too many budget cuts over the years as
it is, but this proposal cuts even deeper,” said Fawn Sharp, president
of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, which represents 57
Native American tribes in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, California,
Montana and Idaho, “ft is so severe that it’s absolutely illogical and
unreasonable.”
Racistflyers posted on poles,
cars near nation’s capital
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Racist flyers were found
on utility poles and car windows in a community near the
nation’s capital, prompting a police investigation.
Local news media outlets report that the flyers with
racist messages targeting African-Americans and im
migrants were found in Alexandria, Virginia’s Del Ray
neighborhood. Alexandria Police say they are investigat
ing who’s behind the flyers, which included a web ad
dress of a white nationalist group.
Mayor Allison Silberberg tells WRC-TV that the city’s
residents “denounce hate speech and hate crimes and dis
crimination in all forms.”
WTOP reports that community members countered the
flyers with their own messages. One person wrote “Love
lives here” in chalk on the sidewalk. Another person post
ed a sign that read: “Hi Neo-Nazis! You can’t change Del
Ray.”
NCCU Students look for careers in math and physics. (NCCU Photo)
New Programs Lead to Top
Careers in Math and Physics
Two new undergraduate programs in the Department of Mathematics and Physics will provide students with individualized learning expe
riences tailored to their specific career and research interests.
The new Computational and Engineering Mathematics (CEMA) concentration blends computer science, physics and engineering for
computational modeling, analysis and prediction involved in scientific and engineering applications. CEMA graduates work in careers such
as informatics, modeling and simulation, artificial intelligence, cryptology, advanced computing and others.
Engineering Physics combines the study of mathematics, physics and engineering to prepare students to explore the forefront of new
technologies. The degree may lead to careers in software development, computer design, development of novel materials, lasers, applied
sciences and more.
“Students who complete either of two programs will graduate with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in a variety of work settings,”
said Mohammad Ahmed, Ph.D., recruitment coordinator for the Department of Mathematics and Physics. “Not only will they have cutting-
edge coursework and laboratory experience, but opportunities for internships and to attend conferences with some of the top professionals
in the field.”
The Department of Mathematics and Physics also offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science degree and a dual-degree
Three + Two Program in Physics and Electrical or Mechanical Engineering in partnership with North Carolina State University.
“Students can customize their classes to prepare for graduate school, seek teacher licensing or enter the workforce directly,” Ahmed said,
adding that scholarships are available for qualifying students.
The 2016 CareerCast.com annual Jobs Rated report named data scientists as the top career based on income, working conditions, and job
satisfaction. Other math-related jobs in the top 10 were statistician, mathematician and actuary.
Analysis: Rep’s ‘lynch’ remark part of broad cultural battle
By Emily Wagster Pettus
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi state Rep. Karl Oliver drew bipartisan condemnation with a recent Facebook post saying
Louisiana leaders should be “LYNCHED” - in all caps - for removing Confederate monuments. But, social media being what it
is, the white Republican from Winona was also praised by people who said he stood courageously against political correctness.
Oliver’s post was made May 20, after New Orleans pulled down three Confederate monuments and one monument to white
supremacy. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a speech May 19 that the monuments represented “the cult of the Lost
Cause,” which sought to “rewrite history, to hide the truth, which is that the Confederacy was on the wrong side of humanity.”
“To literally put the Confederacy on a pedestal in our prominent places in honor is an inaccuracy recitation of our full past, it
is an affront to our present and it is a bad prescription for our future,” said Landrieu, the white Democratic mayor of a culturally
diverse, majority-black city.
It’s worth noting that Oliver’s legislative district in the Mississippi Delta includes the tiny community of Money, where black
teenager Emmett Till was kidnapped and lynched in 1955.
In his May 20 Facebook post, Oliver wrote: “The destruction of these monuments, erected in the loving memory of our family
and fellow Southern Americans, is both heinous and horrific. If the, and I use this term extremely loosely, 'leadership’ of Louisi
ana wishes to, in a Nazi-ish fashion, burn books or destroy historical monuments of OUR HISTORY, they should be LYNCHED!”
The freshman lawmaker removed his post after it had been online more than a day and a half, and he issued a public apology
after a stern phone call from Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, who also revoked Oliver’s vice chairmanship of the For
estry Committee.
“In an effort to express my passion for preserving all historical monuments, I acknowledge the word 'lynched’ was wrong,”
Oliver said. “I am very sorry. It is in no way, ever, an appropriate term. I deeply regret that I chose this word, and I do not condone
the actions I referenced, nor do I believe them in my heart.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi called for an investigation of Oliver. Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-
counsel of the New York-based NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, called Oliver’s post “shocking in its ignorance
and abhorrent in its violence.”
The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus and the Mississippi NAACP said Oliver should resign. Democratic Sen. Sollie
Norwood of Jackson, who is a caucus member, questioned Oliver’s apology.
“I think it’s irresponsible for him to apologize for something that he meant,” Norwood said. “There is no place in public office
for anyone who embraces that ideology and expresses such deeply demented thoughts.”
Rep. Angela Cockerham of Magnolia, who is African-American and one of only two Democratic committee chairmen in the
Republican-majority House, said she was “deeply troubled” by Oliver’s post. She added: “As one who works across racial and
party lines, it is my prayer that the healing process will continue in our state and that my House and Senate colleagues and I will
work to build one Mississippi.”
The fight about Confederate symbols is far from over.
Mississippi is still divided over its state flag, the last in the nation with the Confederate battle emblem.
Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey last week signed a bill to protect longstanding monuments, including those honoring the
Confederacy. It’s a safe bet that a similar bill could be filed in Mississippi next year - but if Oliver is the main sponsor, the bill
could struggle to survive.
Emily Wagster Pettus has covered Mississippi government and politics since 1994.
NCC
'NcU