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October 14, 2004
National World
African woman wins the Nobel Peace Prize
By CHRISTINE PHILLIP
BET.com Staff Writer
Wangari Maathai, a
Kenyan who has worked
tirelessly to protect the
environment, improve
the lives of women, and
fight crime, Friday
became the first African
woman to win the Nobel
Peace Prize.
Maathai, 64, came to
prominence in the 19705,
for a campaign to plant
30 million trees to end
deforestation in her
country. The movement
blossomed into projects
to preserve biodiversity,
educate people about
their environment, and
promote the rights of
women and girls.
Bush failure to appoint more black judges is a ‘travesty’
BI\HQPHAZEL TRICE EDNEY
’A Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
— President Bushs attempt to
elevate U.S. District Judge
Charles Pickering St. o U.S.
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
was one of the most con
tentious fights in decades. As a
college student, Pickering had
supported the state’s law pro
hibiting interracial - marriages.
As a state legislator, he had
voted to fund the Mississippi
State Sovereignty Commission,
a body established to secretly
spy on and inumidate civil
rights activists, and co-spon
sored a resolution calling for
Congess to repeal part of the
Voting Rights Act.
And as a federal judge, Pick
ering had been reversed by the
conservative Sth Circuit —the
very court Bush wanted to
appoint him to — 15 times over
a 10-year period, with most of
the cases involving civil rights,
constitutional, criminal proce
dure or labor issues.
In an effort to overcome strong
opposition from dozens of civil
rights groups, Pickerings son,
Congressman Charles Picker
ing Jr.[R-Miss.], pledged that if
the senior Pickering were ele
vated to the appeals court, an
African-American ~ would
replace him on the District
Court in Mississippi. On a
Presidential candidates
lIEIY;IVANESSA ST. LEGER
PA Special Contributor
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
— With little attention being
placo;l 2121 education by the
residential cam, man
Elack educators mt thei)r,
issues and that of Americas
children will go unnoticed on
Election Day.
“Education should be at the
core of every conversation per
taining to the elections,” says
Lunine Pierre-Jerome, a literacy
specialist for Boston public
schools. “They have to put our
children at the forefront of their
discussions as they are the
future of this country.”
President Bush and his Demo
cratic challenger, John Kerry
differ on many of the domestic
issues fa;::fim:xc nation but
none as striking as their opin
jons and policies towards the
future of 5: public education
system.
Bush, the self-proclaimed
education president, has touted
“l am absolutely over
whelmed and very emo
tionally charged, really,”
said Maathai, who is
believed to be the first
woman in East and Cen
tral Africa to earn a doc
torite. She received a
degree in biological sci
ences from Mount St.
Scholastica College in
Atchison, Kan., in 1964.
“This is the first time
environment sets the
agenda for the Nobel
Peace Prize, and we have
added a new dimension
to peace. We want to
work for a better life
environment in Africa,”
committee Chairman Ole
Danbolt Mjoes, told The
Associated Press Friday,
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4
Judge Nathaniel Jones
straight party-line vote, the
Pickering nomination was
forced out of the Senate Judi
ciary Committee. On the floor,
it was filibustered by Democ
rats, effectively killing the nom
ination.
To circumvent the Senate,
which has the constitutional
responsibility to reject or
approve all federal judicial
nominations, Bush elevated
Pickering in January with a
recess appointment, bypassing
the Senate but limiting the time
that Pickering can serve in the
“temporary” position untl the
next Congress is convened.
Rather than replace Pickering
with an African-American — as
his son had promised — Presi
dent Bush has nominated Pike
his No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) Act, a reform of the
1965 Elementary and Sec
ondary Education (ESEA) Act,
declaring it to be the corner
stone of his administration.
However, two years into its
implementation, educators
complain about program
slashing, rising teacher frus
tration, unsuccessful testing
and uneven reform.
Some share the sentiment, if
not the words, of former
Democratic ~ presidential
Carol Mosley Braun who
says “No Child Left Behind”
should be more aptly named
“No Behind Left.”
Many in the field agree.
“This law is a one size fits all
approach to learning,” says
Reg Weaver, the president of
the National Education
Association, the nation’s
largest teacher’s union. “All
kldgs can not learn at the
same rates, at same speed,
same time.”
when: the winner was
announced.
During the 2001 cen
tennial anniversary of the
prize, the committee
pledged to broaden the
award to include honor
ing those who work to
improve the environment
ahd contribuse® to
advancing world peace.
As is custom, the
award, which comes with
a $1.3 million check, will
be presented on Dec. 10,
in Oslo, Sweden, on the
anniversary of the death
of its founder, Swedish
industrialist Alfred
Nobel.
Maathai stands as the
only woman to take a
place among a list of
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Wade Henderson
County Circuit Judge Keith
Starrett, a white male. Missis
sippi, with a black population
of 36 percent, the largest in the
nation, has had only one
African-American to serve as a
federal judge (Henry Wingate
was appointed 20 years ago).
Selecting yet another conser
vative White male to the feder
al bench in the South — where
55.3 percent of all African-
Americans live —is part of what
civil rights groups view as a larg
er and more disturbing pattern.
For example, Louisiana has a
black population of 33 percent,
second only to Mississippi. Of
the six federal judges appointed
by Bush, none were African-
American. South Carolina has
a black population of 30 per
seek ‘educated’ voters
There is agreement on the
West Coast.
“No Child Left Behind
does a good job at doing
nothing but adding more to
a teacher's workload,” says
Marilyn Jacoby, an educator
in California’s Orange Coun
ty. “It creates more bureau
cracy and paperwork and less
attention to our failing stu
dents, specifically those in
urban neighborhoods.” And
plenty of them are failing.
The Civil Rights Project at
Harvard University found
that only 50 percent of
blacks graduate from high
school within the allotted
four years. In addition urban
youth are two times more
likely to drop out of school
than non-urban youth. Edu
cators say the laws has some
unintended consequences.
“No Child forces teachers
to teach to the test and test
ing can't tell the whole story,”
says Pierre-Jerome, the
AUGUSTA FOCUS
African Americans and
Africans who have
claimed the prestigious
prize. Ralph Bunche
became the first African
American to win in the
1950. He was followed
by Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., in 1964. African
winners include Albert
John Lutuli, of South
Africa in 1960, the Rev.
Desmond Tutu, of South
Africa, in 1984, Nelson
Mandela, and FW de
Klerk, also of South
Africa in 1993, and Unit
ed Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan, of
Ghana, in 2001.
cent. Of the three judges
appointed by Bush, none were |
African-Americans. Georgia, |
with a black population of 29
percent, received three Bush
appointments, none of them
black. Alabama has a black
population of 26 percent. In
that state, seven federal judges
were appointed by Bush, all of
them white.
glaring in the South, they are by
no means limited to that
region. African-Americans in
Maryland, for example, const
tute 28 percent of that state’s
population. Yet, none of the
three Bush appointees are
black.
Overal, 200 Bush
appointees have been con- |
firmed to the federal bench; |
only 15 or 7.5 percent of them |
are African-Americans. And |
seven of the 15 were replacing |
other blacks leaving the bench. |
When Congress recessed Tues- |
day, there were 26 nominations |
pending, according to the Sen- |
ate Judiciary Committee, none |
of them African-Americans. |
“This, in my judgment, is
the sleeper issue of the current |
election,” says Wade Hender- |
son, executive director of the |
Leadership Conference on |
Civil Rights, a coalition of |
more than 180 human and |
See Bush, page 10A [
Boston educator. “Students
are learning for a test taking
at the end of the year rather
than to gain information to
use for a lifetime. The tests
are culturally-biased and
don't speak to a diverse com
munity.” Both students and
teachers are feeling pressure.
“Student are constantly in
fear of failing and teachers of
losing their jobs. If things
continue in this path, it will
me the end of the public
school system as we know
it,” says Jacoby, who has
taught elementary English
for the past eight years.
Tinning to be seen.”
If elected, John Kerry prom
ises to reform the No Child
Left Behind Act. While sup
porting higher educational
standards, he maintains that
every school should have the
resources and the responsi
bility to meet those stan
dards.
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Wangari Maathai
[nsurance industry sued
for overcharging blacks
By JEFF DONN
Associated Press Writer
For a century; it was standard
practice at many American
insurance companies: When it
came to burial insurance,
blacks were charged more than
whites for the same coverage.
The policies were small, pay
ing out just enough for a mod
est funeral, but millions of
them were sold, many to poor
black families in the South.
Now, the industry is being
called to account.
Insurance rfiulatom in many
states have filed complaints.
Lawyers representing black
families have brought class
action suits. And companies
with policies sold by scores of
insurers, unwilling to defend
what is now viewed by society
as indefensible racial discrimi
nation, are settling out of court.
Between 2000 and 2004, 16
major cases were settled,
according to interviews with
insurers, state regulators, and
lawyers for policyholders.
Those cases covered 14.8 mil
lion policies sold by 90 insur
ance companies between 1900
and the 1980 s.
Together, the settlements
require the companies to pay
more than $556 million _ most
of it in restitution to policy
holders or their survivors, but
some of it in fines, legal costs
and charitable contributions.
The two biggest settlements:
American General Life and
Accident Insurance Co., of
Nashville, Tenn., agreed in
2000 to pay $250 nfirjon ina
case invor\?ing 9.1 million poli
ces. Metropolitan, Life Insur
ance Co. offichodn:ffirwdin
2002 to pay $157 million for
1.9 million policies.
In one of the most recent
cases, Mutual Savings Life
Insurance Co., of Deztr:lu,Ala.,
agreed in June to a settlement
valued in édcral court papers at
sll£v;lnillion. It awaits final
a i
aPK'iore lg'm;ugg: still being
adjudicated, but they involve
re{ativcly small numbers of
policies. The settlements dont
threaten the stability of the life
insurance industry, which has
resources to cover $25 trillion
worth of policies.
As of 5302, more than 21
million old burial policies
vfi\;ord) sl6 billion ren:;lained in
rce, acco| to the ra
firm AM Br:tn%a But byu£§
1980 s, the small policies had
become unprofitable and few
new ones were being sold.
Openly discriminatory insur
ance rates faded out with them,
the insurance industry and
MmOt Critics agree.
"*We believe in our heart of
tire o th' . e
of the says Jose
Mor%temayor, f%(as regtflays tor
who chaired a committee on
this type of insurance for the
National Association of Insur
ance Commuissioners.
Bessie Jones, 75, a retired
(}i:lc;-mestic v}\iorl;z)r in Saras(l)lta,
, says she £t a
Eemuseys“l llfmd r‘llgh ?:ur;gc(;sg
myself” Eventually, she
saxl'?,, shefiught at least a dozen
more for her children and
grandchildren.
Instead of consolidating mul
tiple policies into a single one at
a better rate, black custorglets
were enco to -
in, indiw!:i?l;;ledonmk,eegofiuc;-
ho%der lawyers say.
By 1955, the high-water
mark for burial insurance,
American insurance companies
held more than S4O giafh'l:)n
worth in 155 million policies,
according to the Federal Trade
Commission. Some industry
behemoths, induding Metro
litan Life, built their business
E:r)gely on prafits from burial
insurance in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, according
to government and corporate
accounts.
That racial bias was built into
these policies was long an open
secret in the insurance industry.
Insurance forms asked the
applicant’s race, and black were
routindz) charged more than
whites for the same coverage,
the insurance industry now
publicly acknowledges.
Typically, it was one third
more, according to lawyers rep
resenting black policy holders.
Some insurers accuse reg
ulators of hypocrisy in com
ing after them f}(')r racial
ricing. For decades, regu
fators “‘were aware of it,
they blessed it, they told
them use it; then CKcre a
number of years later, the
departments of insurance
go after the companies for
using it,” 'says Scott
Cipinko, director of the
AtEnta—based Life Insurers
Council.
By settling cases out of
court, insurers have avoided
possible guilty verdicts and
a public relations debacle in
a society with evolved views
on race.