Newspaper Page Text
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July 19, 2007
National World
‘Yote Hope’ reaches out to develop more candidates of color
By SIMEON GANT
Special to the NNPA from
the Sacramento Observer
SACRAMENTO (NNPA)
~ Senator Barack Obama’s bid
to become the first non-White
U.S. President has inspired
throngs of young people and
potential voters from all eth
nic backgrounds to become
involved in government poli
tics.
Black U.S. marshal
writes new chapters
in history of ser':rice
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A
U.S. marshal tired of secing blacks
portrayed as perpetrators or vic
tims hopes to change that image
with a traveling exhibit that details
the history of blacks serving as
U.S. marshals and in other law
enforcement posts.
Robert Moore, one of 22 blacks
appointed as a U.S. marshal by
President Clinton, the most of any
president, said he wants younger
blacks to know they can seek simi
lar careers.
“When I got appointed in ‘94, 1
discovered that we had all been left
out of the marshal service history
books,” Moore said. “This is why |
came along 117 years later and put
this exhibit together and to edu
cate America.”
The exhibit, “The President’s
Men: Black United States
Marshals,” is on display at
Alabama A&M’s State Black
Archives Research Center and
Museum until July 23.
Moore told The Huntsville
Times in a story Monday that he
thought the location was perfect
because of Alabama’s history of
black U.S. marshals. He served
with two black presidentially
Scc Marshal, page 14
An early moniker of the
Obama campaign was “Hope,
Action, Change.” Inspired by
that charge, Bay Area activists
have formed an organization
called “Vote Hope.”
The organization is a
Political Action Committee
(PAC) created to assist candi
dates at the federal level. In
this case, they are raising
money to ultimately assist the
Barack Obama for President
Campaign.
Grandmother takes to street protest in child custody case
By BRIAN STIMSON
Special to the NNPA
PORTLAND, Ore. (NNPA) - On
Thursdays she stands on Williams
Avenue carrying signs that read “Give
me my grandchildren.”
Come rain or shine, Carollyn Smith is
there, holding her one-woman protest
against Oregon’s Child Welfare division.
The lively, 60-year-old grandmother
spends those Thursday mornings near
the Department of Human Services
office, protesting the way Oregon’s
Child Welfare division has placed two of
her grandchildren in the foster care sys
tem.
The children’s mother — Smith’s
daughter — has a drug problem, but
Smith wants to keep her grandchildren
together. She has the drive and she has
the love. What she doesn’t have, accord
ing to caseworkers with Child Welfare,
is a big enough house, the right birth
date or “adequate protection” for the
children.
A case worker told her she was too
old, that her four-bedroom house wasn't
big enough and that she couldn’t pro
vide her youngest grandchildren,
Coffee, 6, and C'Lynn, 5, with adequate
protection.
“What is too old?” asks Smith, who
doesn't look a day over 45 and has spent
the last 15 years raising five of Coffee
and C’Lynn’s brothers and sisters.
“They said, “Who would take care of
AUGUSTA FOCUS
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Senator Barack Obama
the kids if you got sick?” I'm not getting
sick. That’s a curse when someone says
that to you.”
Smith’s latest battle began two years
ago when her daughter, Conchita
Smith, brought Coffee to the hospital.
The 4-year-old was having a seizure and
had cocaine in his system.
“She (Conchita) called me about 11
oclock and said ‘Coffee’s having a
seizure ... they're taking him to the hos
pital,”” Smith recalled. “She called a few
minutes later ... she said ‘they won't let
me see him’' ... because (Coffee) had
cocaine in his body. They took both of
them.”
She continues, “They could've let me
have the kids, but they did not...l've got
the other five. They've been with me for
y e a r s : =
When Smith talks about the grandchil
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Vote Hope co-founder Ben
Jealous says they are organized
to benefit more than Obama.
“We are trying to capture this
moment of surging political
action,” explains Jealous.
The organization also filed
for an additional political
fundraising status with the
IRS allowing organizers to
assist local and statewide can
didates in the future.
The idea is to take advantage
of the momentum created by
the presidential election and
build on it to focus on devel
oping local candidates of color
long after the 2008 election.
The immediate goal, how
ever, is to raise $3 million and
transform 500,000 supporters
into hard votes for Senator
Obama in California’s
February 8 primary election.
“We are conducting an inde
pendent grassroots effort
dren she’s raised from infancy, her face
lights up.
“They get beautiful grades,” she says.
“And when 1 say beautiful, I mean
BEAUTIFUL.”
DeQuranDra, 15; Chaquita, 12;
Kaseen, 11; Jarah, 9; and Tyree, 8, are all
waiting to be united with their siblings.
When the children ask why they can't
just take their brother and sister back,
Smith laughs. Kids don’t understand
how the system works, she says.
Sometimes, neither do adults, says
Joyce Whitmore, one of Smith’s friends.
“We're trying to offer them a safe envi
ronment,” she says. “That’s our blood
... that’s our blood.”
Carolyn Graf, assistant district man
ager of Child Welfare, says the organiza-
See Custody, page 15