Rainbow PUSH Coalition Statement on Voting Rights Act and Affirmative Action By Janice L. Mathis, Esq. This year – fifty years after King implored justice to roll down like a mighty stream - President Obama must speak out to preserve two of the bulwarks that have held back the America’s persistent tide of racism. The Supreme Court will take up the continued vitality of both Section V of the Voting Rights Act (which requires some states to get prior approval for voting changes) and affirmative action in higher education and contracting. Blacks continue to experience persistent discrimination in housing education, financial services and employment. It is a mistake to assume that the fight for equality for blacks squarely lies in the past – at Selma. The President is right to refer to the Stonewall gay bar riots that opened the door to gay activism in 1969. 10% of Americans are gay. Add in their families and there are 60 million powerful political reasons to address discrimination against the LGBT community. Beyond the merely political, most gays have no more choice over their orientation than I have over my color. And you should not be punished for what you cannot help or change. It is also appropriate that the President should offer policy solutions to help promote tolerance and equality for LGBT. Ben Jealous is also right to call on the President to nominate an African American woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. I would only add that it should be a liberal African American woman. Being black is not enough. I would rather see a white liberal female appointment than a conservative black one. After all, Clarence Thomas is black. Not only is racism still part of our culture – it appears to be getting worse. A recent poll by AP and Stanford University revealed that 79% of Republicans have explicit negative attitudes toward blacks. In all, 51 percent of Americans now express explicit anti-black attitudes, compared with 48 percent in a similar 2008 survey. Another recent study revealed that in New York it is easier for a white male high school dropout to find employment than it is for a college-educated African American man. Not surprisingly, the economic collapse and the election of a person of color as President have resulted in racial backlash. The President is urged to open a national conversation on race. He should use the power of his office to mend or defend affirmative action. The President says that he received a great education, in part, because of affirmative action. Looking at what he accomplished, it would seem that we need more affirmative action – not less. And we must act now to end the failed war on drugs. Selma proved that racial discrimination is susceptible to improved public policy. The President is right to go on radio and encourage black fathers to be more attentive, but no amount of great parenting will erase the antagonism that some whites have toward all blacks. The specter of red-state electoral systems unsupervised by the Justice Department is frightening, especially given the lengths to which extremists have proven they will go to intimidate and suppress the vote. The President is implored to speak on behalf of blacks who invested time, talent, treasure and hope in his re-election. As Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote a decade ago in her brilliant dissent to the Gratz opinion striking down the University of Michigan law school’s affirmative action program, to pretend that we have achieved equality for blacks is to “pretend that history never happened and that the present doesn't exist."

Republicans Wandering in the Wilderness and Wondering What Went Wrong

Janice L. Mathis, Esq. I listened to various Republican pundits flagellate themselves today. They are looking for ways to retake the Senate and the White House in 2016. To find their way back to majority, they are searching in desperation for what went wrong in November 2012, permitting the re-election of Barack H. Obama. Their prescriptions are as numerous as their pundits, and range from the thoughtful to the ridiculous. 1. They failed to micro-target their base voters 2. They failed to tell the stories of government over-reach, thus failing to make the point that government is bad for you 3. Mitt Romney was too stiff 4. Americans don’t get married often enough or stay married long enough 5. They were unable to shake the perception that George Bush caused the Great Recession and that Mitt Romney promised more of the same 6. Innovation and independent thinking is discouraged by Republicans 7. Americans are more government dependent on government than ever 8. Fiscal restraint and austerity are unpleasant to most Americans 9. Most Americans live with debt and see it as a normal part of life, refusing to be frightened by the U.S. debt 10. Unmarried women see the government as their domestic partner 11. Obama and Co. fabricated a War on Women 12. Republicans relied too much on robo-calls and telephone ads and not enough on the ground game 13. Going over the fiscal cliff was not a good idea 14. Republicans did not have enough practical ideas It is not enough that Republicans still have a stranglehold on the U.S. House of Representatives, control a majority of Governorships and state houses. They want it all. And they want it in 2016. Tellingly, the two panel discussions I watched were segregated by gender. The women’s panel came on C-Span at 6:00 a.m. The men’s panel aired at 10:00 a.m. No blacks were on either panel. No Asians were on either panel. A sole Latina represented half the country. None of the panelists mentioned these facts. None of the panelists cited Republican efforts to suppress the vote. The one minority group panelist, a Latina, raised the question of voter suppression, but the female panelists did not directly respond to her question. One woman panelist scoffed at the idea that Obama thinks our ideas of liberty, freedom and justice are what tie us together as a nation. Until they understand Americans better, Republicans will have a hard time re-taking the White House. Meanwhile, we need to micro-target Governor’s races and state legislatures in 2014.

Howard University

Independent Foreclosure Review - Deadline Dec. 31st

Eligibility for Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR)
Borrowers are eligible for an independent foreclosure review if they meet the following criteria:

• the property securing the loan was the borrower's primary residence;
• the mortgage was in the foreclosure process (initiated, pending, or completed) at any time between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2010; and
• the mortgage was serviced by one of the following mortgage servicers:

America's Servicing Company	Countrywide	National City Mortgage
Aurora Loan Services	EMC Mortgage Corporation	PNC Mortgage
BAC Home Loans Servicing	EverBank/EverHome Mortgage Company	Sovereign Bank
Bank of America	Financial Freedom	SunTrust Mortgage
Beneficial	GMAC Mortgage	U.S. Bank
Chase	HFC	Wachovia Mortgage
Citibank	HSBC	Washington Mutual (WaMu)
CitiFinancial	IndyMac Mortgage Services	Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
CitiMortgage	MetLife Bank	Wilshire Credit Corporation

If you previously filed a complaint with these servicers about foreclosures pending during the review period, you may still seek an independent review of your foreclosure.
There are no costs associated with being included in the review; the review is a free program. Beware of anyone who wants payment to assist you in connection with the independent foreclosure review or any other foreclosure assistance program.

Review Process

Information about the review process, including how to request an independent review, was mailed to potentially eligible borrowers in November and December 2011. If you believe that you meet the three criteria but have not received a mailing, call 888-952-9105, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (ET), and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET). Individuals can also get more information about the review through a website set up by the servicers, www.IndependentForeclosureReview.com . A list of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers are available on the website.
Individuals will be sent an acknowledgement letter from the review administrator within one week after their request for an independent review is received. Individuals will be notified in writing of the results of the review. Because the review process will be a thorough and complete examination of many details and documents, it could take several months to complete the review.
Rust Consulting was selected and hired by the servicers to serve as the central administrator of the independent foreclosure review. Rust Consulting will notify borrowers, receive requests for a review, and respond to questions about the independent foreclosure review process.

Deadline to Request a Review

Requests for review by the servicers’ independent consultants must be postmarked or submitted online by December 31, 2012.¹ Borrowers are encouraged to carefully consider the information about the review program to determine if they are eligible to participate.

Federal Reserve’s Role

The Federal Reserve’s role is to ensure compliance with the enforcement actions issued in April 2011. As required by those actions, independent consultants will conduct the reviews of foreclosures and determine whether errors, misrepresentations, or other deficiencies resulted in financial injury. The Federal Reserve will monitor the independent foreclosure review process and the servicer’s outreach efforts.

For More Info, Call Rainbow PUSH at 404 525 5663 or visit
http://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerinfo/independent-foreclosure-review.htm

Independent Foreclosure Review Deadline is December 31st

If you have been in or near foreclosure during 2009 or 2010, you owe it to yourself to check out Independent Foreclosure Review.  We have mentioned this process before.  Mortgage servicers have been ordered to participate in a program of the Comptroller of the Currency to assure that foreclosures were done legally.  Where errors and mistakes occur, restitution can be made under Independent Foreclosure Review.  For more information on IFR, visit rainbowpushatlanta.org. or call 404 525 5663.  Deadline for applying is December 31, 2012.  The deadline has been extended several times over the past year, but don't wait.  Apply today.  To make application, visit https://independentforeclosurereview.com/.  Independent Foreclosure Review is free - don't get scammed by someone who tries to charge you a fee.

Requiem for 100 Auburn Avenue

I am fairly emotionless. Well, that’s not exactly true. But I tend to express emotion on paper better than face-to-face. Wednesday was the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s last day at Atlanta Life, aka Herndon Plaza, aka 100 Auburn Avenue. We are not going far away. We have taken a suite at the Odd Fellows Building at 250 Auburn Avenue, just two blocks down the street. But this has been home for nearly 13 years, and I will miss it.

We negotiated an inclusion pact with NASCAR in the sumptuous boardroom upstairs. I worked out a deal on behalf of mistreated Nationwide agents down in the cafeteria. And used the same room to tell John Deere officials that “we can make excuses, or we can make progress” toward its first black franchisee. We did not always win. Atlanta Life was scene of more than a few high profile losses. After Troy Davis’ execution, we vowed to keep fighting the death penalty. RPC tried (and failed) to explain why the charter school amendment was a bad idea and the TSPLOST was a good idea.

I never walked through the atrium without being inspired by the artistic genius of Wardsworth Jarrell or the entrepreneurial mendacity of Alonzo Herndon. Rev. Jackson urged Colin Powell to intervene in Haiti from the phone on my desk. But, it was not all business. We celebrated my daughter’s college graduation here, and last week I called her from here to check on my first grand-child. A building is only bricks and mortar. It’s the principles that matter long after the last crate is loaded onto the moving van. That is what I am going to keep telling myself today and in the days and weeks ahead.

Janice L. Mathis

Dothan Alabama Justice

This all started when a friend asked me to look into the taser death of a family member in Dothan, Alabama. I know that taser death cases are hard to make. Generally, taser deaths arise from some alleged misconduct on behalf of the decedent. But I could not begin to suspect how little cooperation local authorities would provide in merely attempting to discover how Johnnie Warren met his death in February, 2012. I am dismayed that eight months after his death we still don't have the toxicology report, autopsy records, witness statements or police dispatch reports. The Alabama Bureau of Investigation completed its report more than two months ago and advised us that we needed to check with the District Attorney to review the records. Despite numerous calls, emails and letters, we still don't have the information. A similar case in Atlanta resulted in a meeting with the GBI within weeks and a massive stack of documents from the medical examiner. After all these years of practicing law in the South, I thought I had seen it all. Today, I started browsing the Internet and learned that on Monday of this week, a woman and her friends led a protest on the steps of the Houston County Courthouse, seeking basically the same information for her son who was shot and killed by Dothan police. Then, I discovered that Houston County's DA, Doug Valeska, is being sued for striking 82% of blacks from criminal juries - a possible constitutional violation of the Batson case. A similar taser case was dismissed about a year ago, without it ever going before a jury. Now that I have a better understanding, I am seeking out media coverage and church involvement, just to find out how Johnnie Warren died.