Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

By Errol T. Louis
Health Care Security Needed
One of the most shameful and least-known government subsidies to private-sector businesses is the practice, followed by many companies, of providing skimpy or nonexistent health benefits to their lowest-paid workers – hotel maids, janitors, restaurant busboys and the like – who end up using Medicaid and other government-funded anti-poverty programs to pay for health care. In effect, taxpayers end up paying the tab for companies too stingy to offer a decent health plan.
Our city has 840,000 people who work for $11 an hour or less, which is below $23,000 a year. About half this group has no health insurance. In the event of illness, they end up in the emergency rooms of public hospitals or on the Medicaid rolls.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center estimate the public pays $466 million a year in health care expenses for low-wage uninsured workers – an expense that should be borne by their employers.
Some business owners say they would like to give health insurance to employees, but can’t do it and simultaneously stay competitive with rivals who refuse to provide the benefit.
It’s long past time New York City halted this race to the bottom. The Health Care Security Act, sponsored by City Councilwoman Christine Quinn and more than 40 of her Council colleagues, would require some local businesses to provide a baseline of health coverage, in a manner similar to New York’s prevailing wage laws.
The bill would cover about 9,300 businesses in five sectors that employ large numbers of uninsured, low-wage workers – construction, building maintenance, supermarkets, hotels and industrial laundries. These kinds of businesses, by definition, can’t pick up and leave New York, so there’s little threat they will flee to New Jersey or China if they have to pay health benefits. Approximately 60,000 uninsured workers would get health benefits for the first time.
“The goal is to take health care out of competition,” says Paul Sonn, a lawyer at the Brennan Center who has been working on legal issues related to the bill. Jobs with Justice, a labor coalition promoting the proposed law, has rounded up support from civic-minded business leaders like John Catsimatidis, the CEO of Gristedes.
The sticking point right now is the Bloomberg administration, which contends the proposed law would run afoul of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which limits state and local government involvement in employee benefit matters. Sonn says the administration’s lawyers are wrong, and that the city can order companies to spend a minimum amount on health benefits.
Politically, the ball is in Mayor Bloomberg’s court. In 2003, Hizzoner boasted of heading an administration that “essentially ended corporate welfare as we know it” – a claim that has taken a beating in light of city subsidies offered to corporations like Pfizer, Bank of America and the Hearst Corp.
There’s no better way for Bloomberg to redeem his promise than to order the Law Department to drop its objections to the Health Care Security Act and get behind the bill. At least 60,000 grocery clerks, chambermaids, busboys and other laborers – and their families – will thank him.
* * *
Labor Split Makes Sense
Last month’s exodus from the AFL-CIO of the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters at the labor federation’s meeting in Chicago capped a dramatic battle over the future of a shrinking, ailing American labor movement. It’s great news for working people.
Unions are not immune from the fundamental law of all organizations that compete in a capitalist economy: grow, change – or die. But organized labor has not been growing; only 12.5% of U.S. workers belong to unions today, down from more than 20% in 1983.
One exception to the national collapse in union numbers is the SEIU, which tripled its membership to 1.8 million over the past two decades and is leading a faction of disgruntled unions called Change to Win. The coalition now includes the laborers union, UNITE HERE, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, and the United Farm Workers.
Collectively, they represent about 6 million workers – and, not insignificantly, $35 million a year in dues to the AFL-CIO. The coalition blames the AFL-CIO and its president, John Sweeney, for not fighting harder to unionize low-paid and immigrant workers such as security guards, day care workers and retail store cashiers.
Sweeney, the embattled 71-year-old AFL-CIO leader, hasn’t hidden his disgust at the bolting unions, calling their disaffiliation a “grievous insult” to working Americans. The comment is partly a personal swipe at Andy Stern, Sweeny’s handpicked prot‚g‚ at the service workers union. But the stakes are too high to let egos and wounded feelings get in the way.
America has never needed unions more. The flight of jobs overseas, the ongoing scandal of migrant farm labor, and the prevalence of companies that refuse to pay a living wage or decent health benefits make collective bargaining a necessity as well as a legally protected right.
Change to Win wants to spend $25 million a year to unionize new workplaces, more than triple the $7.5 million in Sweeney’s budget. The coalition also plans to merge small, ineffective unions into bigger ones to increase bargaining clout.
Sweeney prefers to spend money on traditional political action, like mounting drives to elect labor-friendly politicians. But that strategy doesn’t work: Labor put Bill Clinton in office, only to see him push for trade policies that made it easier for companies to move American jobs to Mexico.
The AFL-CIO old guard also claims that public dissension can only weaken the labor movement. They’re wrong.
Before the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to become the AFL-CIO half a century ago, a healthy competition between the groups spurred a race to organize workers, and union rolls swelled. The new split might rekindle that competitive spirit, meaning the drama in Chicago could be the start of something big.

By Feona Sharhran Huff
I’ve read about domestic violence against women in the newspaper, watched in-depth reports and documentaries on TV, and even know female relatives and close girlfriends who have experienced verbal and physical abuse. However, it wasn’t until my son’s father began threatening to harm me that I began to truly connect with these women and understand their fears and concerns. Rather than be victimized and sit in silence as the threats continued, I decided to fight back by reporting him to my local police precinct and filing for a restraining order (FYI: These actions start a “paper trail”) as well as informing my pastor and seeking legal counsel. And, of course, I am writing this article so that women who are being subjected to domestic violence (or battery) – which additionally, consists of emotional, mental, and sexual abuse as well as threatening, intimidation, humiliation, and stalking by a spouse, boyfriend, or significant other – will fight back, too.
According to the FBI, every day four women die in the United States as a result of domestic violence – that’s 1,400 women a year. The Department of Justice reports that one-third of female homicide victims are murdered by their intimate partners each year. As an African-American woman, what particularly troubles me about domestic violence is that it continues to be a serious issue in the African-American community. And, for many reasons, including not having an open dialogue about domestic violence, the abuse going unreported by the victim as well as people who know what’s going on, a lack of enough support systems and services put in place in our neighborhoods, fear of women losing their children and of their partner going to jail, and the fear of not having a place to live if they leave their abuser.
According to Dr. Oliver Williams, executive director of The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African-American Community – a St. Paul, MN-based organization that raises community consciousness on the impact of violence in the African-American community, conducts research, disseminates information, informs public policy, and organized and facilitates conferences and training – educating the African-American community is key to combating a lot of what happens in domestic violence situations. “People have to be informed on what the issues are,” says Dr. Williams. “Women may not identify with what the term ‘battered woman’ means; they may have a different perspective of what it could be. But, by defining the experiences of the ‘battered woman’ in terms of power and control, demeaning behavior, and the possibility of being attacked, Dr. Williams believes these women will be able to better connect with their realities.
He also said the “blame game” must be addressed. “Men who batter often times blame the woman for what occurs and she accepts it,” Dr. Williams points out. “People mistake conflict with justification for the violence done. There is no justification for violence.”
At Voices of Women Organizing Project (VOW), domestic violence survivors are trained so that they can be involved in policy work. “Usually all of these [domestic violence] policies are made without the real input of survivors,” says Susan Lob, executive director of the Manhattan, NY-based organization. “Our members fight to change the system. They get training in strategizing and organizing, they testify at hearings, and meet with high-level city officials.”
Recently, VOW has been campaigning around family court issues. “We see all kinds of biases,” Lob insists. A big bias the organization has observed is the case of parental alienation. In this situation, the court says the mother is alienating the child from seeing the father and when the child says s/he doesn’t want to see his/her father, the court assumes the child is being brainwashed. In the end, the father is awarded visitation with the child. Other concerns include domestic violence victims losing their cases due to abuser working for police system or the father being able to afford a better attorney. “It ends up working against her [the mother],” says Lob. Currently, VOW is surveying battered women about their experiences in family court. “Too many women aren’t seeing their children because of court decisions.”
Another avenue that will be able to greatly impact policy laws, services, and assistance for domestic violence victims in the African-American community and abroad is by Congress reauthorizing of the Violence Against Women Act of 2005. This act was originally passed in 1994 in which it poured millions of dollars into creating resources to assist women, children, and families of domestic violence. It was reauthorized in 2000, thereby continuing the work that was initially started and adding services to assist disabled, older, rural, and immigrant women.
“The Act should be renewed and important improvements should be made so that communities and organizations can expand their prevention efforts, ensure the safety of more victims, and hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes,” said Diane M. Stuart, the director of the Office on Violence Against Women for the United States Department of Justice, who testified before the committee on the Judiciary United States Senate on July 19th regarding the reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act this year.

With legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 being reauthorized as well as educating the community on the impact of domestic violence on the victims and the African-American community, welcoming and initiating open dialogue, demanding accountability, and providing sufficient services, progress can happen. We must all get involved in this fight in whatever capacity we can. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Be sure to take an interest informing yourself and others about what’s being done to stop domestic violence. If you are a victim, report it and seek help. You can’t live in fear, otherwise it will rule your life and you’ll live in limitation.

If you don’t know where to go for help, turn to the following resources.

Safe Horizen
800-621-4673

National Domestic Violence Hotline
800-799-7233
www.ndvh.org

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
800-537-2238
www.nrcdv.org

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
303-839-1852
www.ncadv.org

National Sexual Violence Resource Center
877-739-3895
www.nsvrc.org

Domestic Violence Law Project
718-834-7430

South Brooklyn Legal Services
Alican Dunlop
718-246-3261

Restoration Single Stop
Iris Blackman
1368 Fulton Street, 5th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11216
718-636-6916
info@restorationplaza.org

Institute on Domestic Violence in the Black Community
University of Minnesota, School of Social Work
290 Peters Hall
1404 Gortner Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
877-643-8222
www.dvinstitute.org

Family Violence Prevention Fund
Family Violence Prevention Fund383 Rhode Island St. Suite #304San Francisco, CA 94103-5133415- 252-8900
www.endviolence.org
info@endabuse.org
Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
P.O. Box 6861
Minneapolis, MN 55406
incite-national@yahoo.com
www.incite-national.org
ÿ
Voices of Women Organizing Project (VOW)
Susan Lob
212-696-1481
vowbwrc@aol.com
www.vowbwrc.org

Park Slope Safe Homes Project
718-499-2151
ÿ
Center Against Domestic Violence
718-39-1000

The Center For Anti-Violence Education
421 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
718-788-1775
www.cae-bklyn.org

Star and Crescent School of Essential Knowledge
Ali A. Karim
1266 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11216
347-612-8796

Patience Tai Chi
William Phillips
2620 East 18th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11235
718-332-3477

Brooklyn Tai Chi Center
Master Vlad
2263 East 15th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11229
718-787-9700
www.brooklyntaichicenter.com

Dragonz Den School of Self Defense
Sensei Leonard McNeill
259 Washington Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205
718-789-1828

The New York School of Tai Chi Chuan
Ripley/Grier Studios
520 Eighth Avenue, 16th Floor
New York, NY
212-502-4112
stccnyc@aol.com
www.taichichuan.org

Elombe Brathe,
Producer, Afrikaleidescope
On Thursday, July 28th, between 7PM and 10PM, WBAI presented a three hour African marathon special focusing on the situation in two critical countries, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, offering perspectives that differ from major media reports. The report covered the time period of “Education At The Crossroads”, 7-8PM, with Basir Mchawi; “Where We Live”, 8-9PM with Sally O’Brien and Rosa Clemente; and “Afrikaleidoscope”, 9-10PM with Elombe Brath, and featured excerpts from two fact-finding trips organized by Mr. Brath to both the DRC in 1997 and Zimbabwe in 2002. The program afforded people who have only had a chance to form their opinion of the situation of major events in these two besieged countries by the U.S.  mass media, to listen to people not usually given an opportunity to speak on their own behalf .  
It was also an opportunity for listeners to show their support for African programming which, even on WBAI, does not give enough time for African issues to be covered. In fact, even if the station could cover one African country a week during a year they still would fall short; there are 53 countries in Africa (including island nations) and there are only 52 weeks in a year.  But WBAI is the only station that seems to recognize what is really at stake in Africa, which the media consistently and erroneously reports as being the poorest continent in the world because its leaders are all corrupt or inept. In fact, Africa is acknowledged as being potentially the richest continent in the world but has the most impoverished people in the world because they have not been able to regain control of their natural resources, which remain under foreign domination, and an enormous illegitimate debt to international banking consortiums, the IMF and the World Bank. And leaders that seriously try to extract their people and countries from such an unfair relationship are targeted for either overthrow, character assassination and, in some extreme cases, physical assassination as well.
Zimbabwe and the DRC are countries whose leadership has been denounced by western media whose corporate benefactors have a vested interest in trying to remove governments which are engaged in armed national liberation struggles to achieve their  independence.  Especially those western critics which never wanted them to become independent in the first place. Thus, while the majority of countries are being savaged by an incalculable debt service that has hobbled their development, only those who cave in to the monumental pressures of the Washington Consensus and the G-7 will be spared some relief.
But even this has not satisfied the west, because the African Union and regional organizations like the Southern Africa Development Community  (SADC) refuse to submit to western domination and instructions to collaborate in undermining Presidents Robert Mugabe in Harare, Zimbabwe and Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa, Congo.  The latter government, which has been under U.S. and Belgian control for over 37 years of its 45 years of “independence,” is currently undergoing yet another interference in its political affairs, the same as at the time of its independence when it saw it’s democratically elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba deposed and assassinated and his government replaced by a CIA-installed regime led by then Col. Joseph Mobutu (cum Mobutu Sese Seko).  Mobutu,  who, after having the support of nine U.S. presidents, turned what many consider the world’s most resource endowed country into an “economic basket case” while enriching himself to the level of the second richest individual leader in the world.
Likewise, no matter what people have read in regards to Zimbabwe, whose leader Mugabe has been targeted by George Bush and Britain’s Tony Blair for regime change, much in the same way as they had fabricated bogus reasons to wage an illegal war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The American people have now come to realize Hussein was once a staunch ally of the U.S.,  when most of the charges against him were carried out.  They are now demanding answers to a growing number of questions and have turned against the U.S. war in Iraq. The current growing consensus is that the war in Iraq was not valid nor worth the effort.  They see more and more of their children being horrendously killed daily in a war that was supposed to have been over more than a year ago.
With the DRC being destabilized by a seven year war that was waged against the newly freed country by two U.S. military African client states after the Congolese people had just ostensibly regained their independence, Africa’s third largest country – both geographically and by population numbers – has been reported to have had four million people killed as a result of a war which has had more casualties than any war since World War II.
The DRC is also being victimized by UN personnel who have brutalized and raped Congolese women.  They had been invited into the country to safeguard it from the same appalling behavior and outrageous atrocities that were being committed by anti-government militias.
This ws dealt with on Thursday’sprogram as the people not normally heard from Zimbabwe and the DRC had  the opportunities to rebut most of the subjective spins against their leaders and governments, still struggling to gain control of their natural resources from the colonial powers which ruled and exploited African countries for centuries during a 500 year old presence on the continent.  It is necessary to hear reports on the prevailing issues from a people’s perspective based on a cause and effect analysis to place the current struggles in an historical and political context to truly understand what is really going on.
Indeed, the same can be said with a host of other African countries which have also had their respective countries destabilized and exploited during their history with the west. This includes from the time of the European Trans-Atlantic slave trade, followed by the 1884-85 Berlin Conference and its subsequent colonial epoch, and after the post-World War II decolonization period, neo-colonialism based on Cold War objectives – to now in the post-Cold War period where the U.S. and its erstwhile European allies are engaged in a new “scramble for Africa” and its treasure trove of mineral resources, including a growing discovery of oil deposits.
At the same time U.S. anti-war movements have mobilized thousands of people with little or no mention at all of the events in Africa where more wars have been fought and more casualties have been documented since the decolonization struggle began at  end of the Second World War and the founding of the United Nations.
WBAI is also suffering a severe crisis at a time when it is needed more than ever before. Based on an escalation of costs of its office and studio space in a non-profit building which has been hit by the phenomena of gentrification on Wall Street that has now upped rentals to market rates, antenna rates in the post-9/11 reaction, and an insidious campaign by an opposing faction at the station which continuously tried to scare listeners from financially supporting the most important radio station with a progressive agenda and news analysis.  They do this by falsely claiming that Black voices like Malcolm X, Dr. John Hendrik Clarke, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan, and Dr. Joy Leary, among others, are spouting racism and the airing of Palestinian views, and that supporters of them is anti-Semitism.  They say these points of view are being broadcasted because of Black people at the helm.  People such as program director, Bernard White, who has been doing a tremendous job of programming brilliant issues which the mass media refuses to honestly deal with; and  general manager, Don Rojas, recently resigned after a systematic denigrating conspiracy,  to take up another post on the west coast, which delighted the opposition.
It has been argued that it is not just the fact of Black people being on air that has caused concerns to the ensconced racist opposition members but their mere presence on the premises. It has also been argued that “years ago an anti-Semite was someone who didn’t like Jews, but today an anti-Semite is someone that Jews don’t like.”
Whatever or whichever way you view these problems the fact remains that WBAI has become a major source of information for the entire African community, including those born not only in Africa but within the Caribbean, Latin America and the U.S. To continue to support WBAI is critically important. To support WBAI’s African programming is a life and death issue.   WBAI, 99.5 FM.  (www.wbai.org)

By Danielle Douglas
Forest City Ratner Companies’ addition of the Community Benefits Agreement to their Atlantic Yards plan has gained the Developer increased support from community leaders. At a July 19th rally at Duryea Presbyterian in Brooklyn, Rev. Al Sharpton joined Assemblyman Roger Green, Comptroller Bill Thompson and National Urban League President Marc Morial in pledging allegiance to FCRC’s proposal for the much-contested Atlantic rail yards. FCRC’s newfound supporters united with Rev. Herbert Daughtry of Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance (DBNA), Bertha Lewis of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform (ACORN) and countless other political, religious and community leaders to discuss the benefits of the CBA.
Rev. Sharpton, who has never backed a Ratner project, threw his support behind the Developer because he believes, “this project gives the most to our community.” He went on to say that Extell, the Developer behind the UNITY alternative, has not made as much of an effort to assess the needs of the Black community or engage its leaders. Sharpton believes that opponents of the FCRC proposal need to put aside their differences and consider what the CBA has to offer. “Only one of two people will win in this process. We can’t stand by and be outside with an attitude, unemployed, [with] no affordable housing while we have two rich guys arguing, one with a commitment to our people and the other who’s going to come in with an overnight do-it-yourself  attitude,” says Sharpton.
Senator Velmanette Montgomery, one of the leading forces behind the UNITY alternative, says she is still analyzing the CBA and is particularly concerned with the enforceability of the agreement. However, the CBA does contain specific procedures, from mediation to litigation, if the Developer breeches the agreement. Montgomery, who represents the district in which development is being built, says, “I feel compelled to be guided by my constituents and their sentiment is that issues of traffic impact, environmental impact, the size of the project and taking of private property have not been fully addressed. Before we get to the benefits plan, which are 10 years out, we should be talking about the impact the development is going to have on the community.”
The community benefits agreement, which was signed on June 27th by Bruce Ratner, Mayor Bloomberg and a consortium of community leaders, seeks to provide economic and housing opportunities for members of the project’s surrounding community.
Workforce Development Component
In order to address disproportionately high unemployment rates for people of color, Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD), one of the authors of the CBA, is working to develop and implement the workforce terms of the agreement. As it stands the agreement requires the Developer to hire at least 35% minority and 10% female construction workers, as well as award 20% of contract dollars to minority owned construction companies. 
Many immigrant minorities have access to capital via loans from their national banks, a financing option that’s unavailable to African Americans. To aid those who may not otherwise have access to much-needed capital to bid, the Director of BUILD’s small business development, Michael West, says, “Forest City Ratner is using its financial leverage with financial institutions to make available loans, lines of credit and other resources to minority business, construction businesses and other businesses that need those capital input. Of course there’s a process that they are going to have to go through to qualify, but those resources will be available to minorities that are not tapped into banks and foreign countries where they have access to capital.”
Our Time Press questioned the broad definition of the term “minority” and wonders what percentage of the contract dollars promised to minorities will actually go to Black and Hispanic owned companies. Assemblyman Roger Green, who is working with BUILD, says the information is still forthcoming, but believes attention should be focused on getting a commitment on the construction managers of the project. Green revealed that Atlanta-based McKissack & McKissack, the oldest African American construction company in the country, would in fact be the construction managers for the first phase of the arena development.  Decisions on remaining managerial posts are yet to be made.
Among the many initiatives of the workforce component of the agreement, one of the standout long-term initiatives is the creation of a High School for Construction Management and Trades. “The school will focus on construction technology, construction management and facilities management; students who graduate from the school their senior year will receive a regents diploma and a union card,” says Green. Another attractive initiative is the Employment Linkage and Targeted Job Training, which seeks to match the participant’s level of skill with that required by employers’ business objectives.
As with every development that effects low income communities the promise of jobs remains a primary buzzword in the fight to win over residents. However, many of the jobs promised tend to be minimum wage positions with no room for career growth. Green says, “The pre-construction, construction and post-construction will all be tied to project labor agreement with prevailing wages. That’s being hammered out now; we did our part by defining the workforce development component, but organized labor now has to come to the table and essentially establish a Project Labor Agreement.”
Housing Component
ACORN is leading the development and implementation of the housing initiatives prescribed by the CBA, which calls for 50% of the 4,000 to 4,500 units to be designated affordable housing. “This project includes 2,250 units of affordable housing, starting for people who earn $13,000 on up,” says West. According to the terms of the CBA, FRCR and ACORN have committed to long-term apartment affordability and not only affordability at initial leasing.

One of the largest points of contention with FCRC’s proposal has been the Developers intention to use eminent domain to obtain 13 of the 24 acres needed for the project. The CBA briefly addresses this concern by acknowledging that the Developer will provide rental units to displaced residents, but does not make any effort to negotiate the use of the controversial measure. At the rally Assemblyman Green said the abuse of eminent domain was more of a human rights issue than a property rights concern, but he went onto say that residents in low income communities are being displaced on a daily basis because of exorbitant rents. He suggested that some Prospect Heights residents’ homes might have to be sacrificed for the greater good of the community, low-income to upper-income, as a whole. Green quoted Dr. King in saying “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Community Facilities
& Amenities Component
The DBNA will take the lead on this initiative, which includes the construction of a health care center and six acres of open space for community use. The Developer will also make the arena available to community groups as well as designate a number of seats for seniors and youth throughout the year.
Environment Assurances
The First Atlantic Terminal housing Committee (FATHC) will oversee this component of the agreement; establishing a Committee on Environmental Assurances to address the short and long-term environmental issues that will affect the surrounding community as a result of the intended project. Environmental issues to be address include, but are not limited to: an on-site and off-site rodent abatement program; a staging plan for construction that minimizes the effects of idling trucks; a pedestrian and vehicular traffic plan; and encouragement of all contractors to use low sulfur diesel in trucks operating at the project.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is slated to make a final decision between Extell Development Corporation and Forest City Ratner Companies before the end of the summer. The hope is that whichever group wins the bid, the promises to involve the community in the development process will be kept and consideration will be made of the effects this project will have for years to come.
For the complete Community Benefits Agreement please log on to Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development’s (BUILD) web site http://www.buildbrooklyn.org

By David Mark Greaves
Now that white people are beginning to get a suggestion of what terror can be about, let them imagine it one-hundredfold, to the point where language, religion and humanity are taken away, and then think of it endured for four hundred years.   And then follow that up by a grueling one hundred year decline in the terror rating, to a point something less than that. 
If it is thought about for a moment, it can be understood how the great-grandchildren of those centuries could be still vibrating from those blows to their humanity.   And all of those blows and all of that terror, specifically delivered for the benefit of Europeans and others. 
This is why affirmative action, set-aside programs and community benefit agreements exist.  They are not for everyone else in the world, who happens to be of color, as the majority of people in the world are, to use as their ticket to the American Dream.  That’s the African American ticket.  We paid for it.
Other eligible “minorities” and that includes those from: Brunei, Cambodia, People’s Republic of China,  Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, North Korea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Taiwan, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan, should fall in line behind every African-American for every contract dollar. 
It is understood that many of these countries have themselves been victimized by European aggression and colonization, but that does not give them the right to a spot in front of African Americans on this reparation queue.
None of those folks are signing for the cameras, but they’ll be signing the contracts when the deals go down.   And they’ll be backed up by their national banks and bankers who speak their language.  
African American ears should burn when they hear people speak of advances with “M/WBE” programs and “minority” designations and watch chests  swell with pride as they deceive in public about how African-Americans should rejoice because of an increase in “minority” participation in the American Dream.  
The thing that matters is the percentage of contract dollars coming to African-American-owned firms. Everything else is public relations.
For example, this from the Community Benefit agreement
 
Section IV. Workforce Development -Jobs Development and Local Employment Initiatives.
(3) Priority for all enrollment opportunities in the initiatives established pursuant to Section IV, Part B(l) and (3) and Part C(l) below, will be given in the following order of priority, to the extent permissible by law:     
(a) NYCHA Residents, as defined in this document,

(b) Low Income Individuals residing in the Neighboring Community,

(c) Moderate Income Individuals residing in the Neighboring Community,

(d) Low Income Individuals residing in the Surrounding Community,

(e) Moderate Income Individuals residing in the Surrounding Community,

(f) Low Income Individuals residing in the Community generally, and

(g) Moderate Income Individuals residing in the Community generally.

This sounds promising, but it only applies to a pre-apprentice training program, an unemployed union worker job referral service and general training and “first source hiring referral services.” 
Everything else is covered by the  “minority” designation, and the well-meaning intention and “good faith efforts,” of the developers to achieve even that. 
The inclusion of the construction high school initiative is good, and could be a model for the “Bruce Llewelyne school of Food and Beverages,” where students would learn not only the skills necessary to handle the “contracts for food and beverages and other concession activities at the Arena,” but also how to own and operate corner stores, supermarkets, warehousing, trucking  and distribution operations.  These are the jobs and businesses that can’t be shipped overseas, and where family fortunes can be built.
Issues for Black America
Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman addressed the recently concluded NAACP convention in Milwaukee, WI and continued his attempt to set the agenda for African Americans.  And then using sacred names for political gains he spoke of his pride of being “chairman of the party of Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass.”   But politics is about “what have you done for me lately,” and here are some things he can do if he sincerely wants African-American votes.
Eliminate the cap on earnings for social security taxation.  Instead of stopping at the first $90,000, tax all earnings including capital gains.  The returns would be so enormous that the overall rate would be greatly reduced, a benefit to poor and middle class people.
Call for Universal single payer health care.  Instead of managed health care businesses with all of their staff, physical plants, executive pay, profits and those ubiquitous painted trucks with the tables outside and “associates” with clipboards, all paid for by health care dollars, let’s dump all that.  Instead have the doctor/hospital send the bill to a government bill-paying entity that tracks payment patterns for evidence of fraud.    And since a medical insurance tax would only go to the medical provider rather than the industry in the middle, the tax would be less than the premium.
Extend the right to vote to the formerly incarcerated.  For those still imprisoned, use the census tract of prisoner origin for the disbursement of federal funds based on population. 
Have as a goal, that 13% of government contract dollars go to African-American firms, there be a “hands off Assata Shakur” statement and a lifting of the embargo against Cuba. 
Do these things and he’ll have the attention of the masses, but he’ll probably stick to the smoke and mirrors and ride that smile with his creased pants and shined shoes.  It seems to be working good enough.