Mathis at The National Press Club for Stateswomen for Justice

Program participants included April Ryan, White House Correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, Economist Julianne Malveaux, civil rights advocate Barbara Arnwine.  It was organized by Hazel Trice Edney for Newswire.

Mathis Quoted on Woman's Constitutional Right to Choose on MSNBC

Below is a transcript excerpt from the March 30, 2016 Chris Matthews show.  NCNW is becoming a force to be reckoned with.  The quote was supplied by April Ryan, White House  Correspondent for National Urban Radio.  The question about Donald's Trump assertion that women who seek abortion should be punished was posed to Mathis following last week's Stateswomen of Justice at the National Press Club produced by Hazel Trice Edney's Newswire. 

RYAN: He wouldn`t like that, because again, like – just what I said. He 

has a mother, he has a sister. And this goes back to an old debate that 

we`ve had in this nation, Roe v. Wade. And Roe v. Wade is about basically 

the beginning stages, it`s a woman`s choice.

And then the latter stages, it`s a state. And that`s where the vast 

majority of American people are thinking. Roe v. Wade versus this 

antiquated thought. I talked to Janice Mathis, the head of the National 

Council of Negro Women who says that he demonstrates he does not understand 

the Constitution with this, and he`s out of step with current thinking.

MATTHEWS: I like the way you phrased that. I agree with that completely. 

Later stage, complete freedom, later stages, it`s more of a state interest 

and a public interest.

Commentary:  Of course, if all abortion is outlawed, women who break the law by having an illegal abortion would most likely face criminal sanctions.  In my view, we need more education, contraception and prenatal care, rather than conviction and punishment.  One in three women will have an abortion at some point.  Our religious beliefs are consistent with the State permitting women to make their own choices about reproduction.  Morality cannot be forced in the context of such a personal gut-wrenching decision.  Even Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks.

King Legacy Weekend Greenville SC 2016

Protect the Constitution - Give President's SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) Nominee a Fair Hearing and Vote

NCNW is concerned about all issues that affect women and their families. There is an issue of great importance facing every American today.

The President of the United States has a    Constitutional

obligation to nominate a qualified individual to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court left by Justice Antonin Scalia's untimely death. The U.S. Senate has the obligation to debate and vote whether to confirm the President's nomination.

But members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have announced their plan to block Senate confirmation and deny "Advice and Consent." Some have pledged to block confirmation of ANY nominee put forward by President Obama.

Please contact members of the Senate Judiciary Committee TODAY to urge them to give President Obama's Supreme Court nominee a fair hearing in the U.S. Senate, as required  by  the  U.S.  Constitution. You can find contact information for the Senate Judiciary Committee by visiting Senate Judiciary Website.  To find your own Senator, visit the U.S. Senate Website.

Our message is simple! Respect the Constitution and the separation of powers among the branches of government. Give thoughtful consideration to President Obama's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Americans should not have a year-long vacancy on the Court at a time when Citizens United (the case that effectively ended regulation of political campaign contributions), the Voting Rights Act, affirmative action and other important issues are on the Court's agenda. The most long-lasting action a President makes is the appointment of a justice to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Today, there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court that could change the direction of the country. You can make a good argument that the most lasting work of a president is in the federal judges he/she nominates. The GOP understands this. That is why Mitch McConnell is pledging to block ANY person President Obama nominates. We must be similarly diligent to assure that the President’s obligation to nominate justices to the court is not thwarted. It matters. It matters whether the Affordable Care Act continues to be attacked. It matters whether race can be taken into account in government contracting and college admissions. It matters whether money is speech and can be spent in unlimited amounts in political campaigns. It matters whether the right to vote may be infringed merely to provide political advantage.

Take Action: Contact your U.S. Senator to Urge Hearings for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

Janice L. Mathis, Esq.

National Executive Director, NCNW

Columbia South Carolina

Confederate Flag Leaves the State Capitol in Columbia

 

The people’s representatives have spoken – early Thursday morning the SC House agreed that the Confederate battle flag will leave its place of prominence on the grounds of the South Carolina Capitol and take up residence in the Relic Room of the state museum in Columbia.  The victorious state representatives did not seem to be in a mood for celebration at the end of a very long day of sometimes passionate debate.   By 1:00 a.m. this morning they were tired, but any exuberance was certainly supressed by the price paid in blood by Clementa Pinckney and the eight souls massacred at Mother Emmanuel exactly two weeks ago in Charleston.  

The fact that the debate occurred at all is proof that unearned suffering has the power to redeem.  South Carolina.  First to leave the Union.  Instigators of the Civil War.  Last to be reconstructed.  One of the poorest states.  First to leave the Democratic  Party under the leadership of Strom Thurmond in 1948.  Home of Bob Jones University, famous for refusing federal aid rather than integrate. 

At 8:00 p.m. they took a break to “stand at ease” until 8:30 p.m.  I called Rep. Wendell Gilliard’s cell phone.  I could see him on the screen – he did not reach for his phone.  Next, I called  Rep. Joseph Neal, who frequently advises Rev. Jackson on S.C. issues.  He called me back few seconds later.  I mumbled some incomprehensible words of encouragement.  Fifteen minutes later he was speaking at the well.  Echoing President Obama’s eulogy of Senator Pinckney, Rep. Joseph Neal implored God’s grace.  “Grace is not earned. Grace should include all of us. Not just one way grace, but universal grace. This body should give a moment of grace to the suffering families in Charleston who are still alive. All of SC needs grace because we've got some hard decisions to make and the whole world is watching us. Will SC change, or will it hide behind heritage as an excuse to hate?"

In one of the more callous moments of the evening, in response to bi-partisan calls for “grace”, GOP Majority Leader and Charleston State Rep. James H. Merrill, an avowed Catholic  PR guy, said “I don’t know shinola about grace.”   His amendments were aimed, he said, at giving  “a little bit of solace to both sides.” He also proposed that the Confederate Relic Room get a state budget appropriation in 2016.

The black legislators acquitted themselves as statesmen.  Joe Neal gave a brief history lesson about the  one million enslaved Africans in South Carolina at the time of the Civil War. He also refuted amendments calling for memorials to blacks who fought for the Confederacy with the fact that there were very few black Confederates, because the measure was not approved until one month before Appomattox.   

According to Rep. John King, “People have threatened that I won't be re-elected. The seat does not belong to me. It belongs to the people of District 49.  I am not proud to be a South Carolinian. Make SC an inviting place...for all people.

“You cannot serve two masters...you cannot wave two flags. It is our flag - the flag of the United States of America. Put the Confederate banner it its proper place in the relic room,” said Rep. Cezar McKnight.

Blacks and whites in South Carolina are as genetically intertwined as they are politically estranged.  Young African American Mr. Bamberg from Bamberg  worried from the well that the  KKK will celebrate in front of the flag if the bill is amended.  There has got be an interesting story about the ancestry of black Mr. Bamberg from Bamberg.  And of course, Strom Thurmond’s son and bi-racial granddaughter championed the change all week on national media. 

The media star of the debate was pretty blonde, passionate Jenny Horne from Charleston.  Her voice steadily rising, “I’m sorry, I have heard enough about heritage.  I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis.  But that does not matter.  It is about the people of South Carolina.  I will tell you that I have it on good authority that the world is watching this debate.”  Indeed we were.  FB was on fire with quotes, comments, questions, opinions.  Jenny continued, “We need to follow the example of the Senate and remove this flag today because this issue is not getting any better with age.  Speaking on behalf of the people of Charleston, this flag offends my friends…I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful.”

Jenny was not without opposition.  Her fellow Charlestonian, James Merrill, sarcastically referred to appreciating colleagues who were"treading (sic) on emotion".

Rep. Jenny Horne and House Majority Leader Rep. James Merrill went at it - both from Charleston, both GOP.  Fascinating. He insisted on attempting to amend the Senate version of the bill to delay removal of the flag, while Jenny kept her promise to attempt to table the amendment, but she lost.   So they begin to debate the substance of the amendment. "Doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do. Find the courage to do the right thing for the people of SC," Jenny Horne.  It is not clear to me that Rep. Horne’s comments changed the course of the debate.  Each of the 60-something amendments were ultimately tabled .   Still, it was thrilling political theater. 

Rep. Bedenfield proposed new SC state flag that would honor veterans who fought to defend this state against an "over oppressive federal government..." I could not help wondering how he feels about THIS federal government. There were a few moments of levity.  As the night wore on, Rep. Gilda Cobb Hunter (long-time fighter in the flag war) asked for order, then scolded the speaker, "with this crowd at this hour, you are going to have to bang that gavel harder, baby." Rep. David Mack told his colleagues, “slavery was a perfect business model – free labor.  But it only works if you don’t have a moral compass.”

The black legislators seemed to be running the show.  Rep. Lonnie Hosey spoke quietly but directly to Rep.  Quinn, “I need you to be a hero.”  Mr. Quinn represents Lexington, SC, the district that the assassin lived in. He is one of those tall square-jawed guys that Southerners typically elect as governor.  Quinn verbally bristled when someone suggested that he did not understand the plight of the families who lost loved ones in the massacre.  In college, he was President of Young Republicans and got elected to the legislature at 23.  Other than color, he and Senator Clement Pinckney probably had a lot in common.  Finally, at the end of the evening, Mr. Quinn acquiesced and offered his own amendment up to be tabled, opening a path to adoption of a “clean bill” without amendments that would not require a House/Senate conference committee.  Quinn will have hard questions to answer when he returns to Lexington, a mostly white suburb of Columbia.

A turning point had been reached near midnight when Rep. James Smith from Richland took to the podium.  He is that rarest of political species, a white male Southern Democrat elected official under the age of 70.  Smith hinted that a compromise was in the works and added to our understanding of Reconstruction history,  “Flying the flag dishonors General Robert E. Lee and violates the terms of surrender at Appomattox.”   And then he proceeded to outline a new aspect of the debate.   “For nearly 100 years, we got along fine without the Confederate flag.  It was brought out in 1960 as a middle finger to the federal government. ” 

My friend Cheryl said, “I can’t believe I’m watching CSPAN.”  My arch-conservative friend was surprised to realize that there are no ballot initiatives in most Southern states.  He wondered why they didn’t just vote on the flag.  My fried Jim summed it up on Facebook this way, “that flag…was ordered up as an official state government declaration of resistance to giving equal protection of the laws to all of its citizens.”

What can we learn from the turmoil in South Carolina?   Somehow Governor Haley and the legislature found enough common ground in the sorrow over the blood of those slaughtered in the massacre to achieve a symbolic, yet significant change.  Facebook offered a neutral platform where all were welcome – black, white, GOP, Dems, male, female, old, young, straight, other.  If we want to influence government, we have to be willing to pay attention to it.  We must learn to act together for the good of the country without bloodshed.  The nation won’t crumble into dust under black leadership now, any more than it did in 1865.  If there is any way to have a trans-racial action plan that aspires to truth and reconciliation, someone has to be willing to be a hero. 

 

Overview of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Title VI, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq., was enacted as part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. As President John F. Kennedy said in 1963:     Simple justice requires that public funds, to which all taxpayers of all races [colors, and national origins] contribute, not be spent in any fashion which encourages, entrenches, subsidizes or results in racial [color or national origin] discrimination. If a recipient of federal assistance is found to have discriminated and voluntary compliance cannot be achieved, the federal agency providing the assistance should either initiate fund termination proceedings or refer the matter to the Department of Justice for appropriate legal action. Aggrieved individuals may file administrative complaints with the federal agency that provides funds to a recipient, or the individuals may file suit for appropriate relief in federal court. Title VI itself prohibits intentional discrimination. However, most funding agencies have regulations implementing Title VI that prohibit recipient practices that have the effect of discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. To assist federal agencies that provide financial assistance, the wide variety of recipients that receive such assistance, and the actual and potential beneficiaries of programs receiving federal assistance, the U.S. Department of Justice has published a Title VI Legal Manual. The Title VI Legal Manual sets out Title VI legal principles and standards. Additionally, the Department has published an Investigation Procedures Manual to give practical advice on how to investigate Title VI complaints. Also available on the Federal Coordination and Compliance Website are a host of other materials that may be helpful to those interested in ensuring effective enforcement of Title VI. http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/cor/coord/titlevi.php