The Chronicle6 - May 10, 2017 www.charlestonchronicle.net

When I was a kid – all those yearsago – we used a phrase, “makingfriends”, that referred to building re-lationships. Making friends was se-rious business. It meant you had abond, you cared about your friend,would support and defend yourfriend. People don’t make friendsanymore. They develop alliancesand have acquaintances. That’sokay because as the old folks wouldtell us, everyone ain’t gonna be yourfriend.

I thought of making friends theother day as I read the news storyabout folks at South Carolina StateUniversity who protested Gov.Henry McMaster being chosen togive the graduation speech. Itstruck me as odd. SCSU PresidentJames Clark addressed the protestnoting the imperiled institution hasto develop some diverse relation-ships. Yuh think???

Republicans in the state’s legisla-ture almost shut down the institu-tion a couple of years ago and wellmay be on their way to continuingthat process now! I‘d think the lastthing you’d want to do is tick off thetitular head of the legislature.Never mind that the guy is the gov-ernor! I don’t get the logic ofprotesting the governor making thegraduation speech at a state sup-ported school. That might be coolif SCSU had an alternative fundingsource, but you don’t bite the handthat feeds you.For years my old publisher, Jim

French, was incensed that the leg-islature never would name Interna-tional Longshoremen AssociationLocal 1422 President Kenny Rileyto the S.C. State Port Authorityboard. Jim, who by the way is athome these days resting as hisgrandsons man the day-to-day tasksof the newspaper’s operations, in-cessantly prodded me to write thestory. I never did. McMaster hasn’tchosen Riley for the authority ei-ther. I think Riley masterfully hasforged alliances and acquaintanceswhich alternatively benefit his con-stituents.

When it comes to making friends,you must be careful. “Be carefulwho your friends are”, my momused to caution. Her admonitionreminds me that you should keepyour friends close and your enemiescloser. There are those who see Re-publicans as enemies. Personally, Ithink that’s a mistake, but for thesake of argument, even if it were

ships nor alliances on the front end.The late John All, one of the besteditors I’ve ever known, said it’s eas-ier to start from scratch than to startover. That’s where building al-liances, if not friendships, becomeso important.

Last week as part of the U.S.Small Business Administration’sNational Small Business Week ac-tivities, the City of Charleston heldseveral events. Mayor John Teck-lenburg invited small business own-ers and their advocates to a roundtable discussion to talk about theirstrengths, challenges and opportu-nities for the city to help facilitatetheir success. Now, I’ve heardBlack business people over theyears say such events seldom yieldany business activity for them. Buttwo things come to my mind –you’ve got to be in it to win it andsomebody’s got to be at the table.I think the Tri-County Cradle toCareer Collaborative is another ofthose opportunities.

The five-year-old initiative bringsbusiness people together withschools to focus on educational out-comes. I was introduced to the con-cept when the former publicrelations woman came to the paper.I’ve always had some skepticismabout the initiative. First thing Iquestioned was why those folks allof a sudden were so gung-ho aboutpreparing our kids for jobs. Okay,so that was pretty much a no-brainer - the economic incentive isobvious. I also asked myself whythose folks were coming to theBlack Press. We’d been ignored inthe past. Then it dawned on me – Iwas asking stupid questions – takethe opportunity and run, dummy, Isaid to myself!I’ve always thought that the racism

and prejudice that prevented peo-ple from developing relationshipswhich benefit the participants wasillogical and that the barriers weput up which prevent our collectiveprogress are counterproductive. Itreally doesn’t matter where the helpcomes from as long as you get thehelp! If that help comes in the formof the Meeting Street Academy atBrentwood, the proposed Path-ways In Education school for at-risk teens or a commencementspeech by Gov. McMaster, so be it.But I think it may be to everyone’sadvantage to get together and buildsome alliances even if we don’tmake friends.

true, that means we should keepthem close. I think it makes goodsense to build relationships withyour adversaries. In that respect, Idon’t understand why more Blackfolks aren’t building relationshipswith the municipal administrationsin Charleston and NorthCharleston.On that note, I can’t figure why we

aren’t building more relationshipswith some of the people who dobusiness in our communities. It’seasy to tear stuff down; buildingsomething up is more difficult andcan be more rewarding. Some inthe Black community righteouslyare pitted against business ownerswho exploit our weaknesses. Well,the first thing is we have tostrengthen our weaknesses, but inthe meantime, maybe we should bebuilding some relationships withthose folks. We receive not becausewe ask not. Why should I do busi-ness with those who won’t recipro-cate the favor? Trust me, the riceain’t that good and we can buy beerand cigarettes anywhere.I’m old enough to remember when

the United States was adversarieswith dang near every nation thatwasn’t located in the northern hemi-sphere. Today the Japanese, Chi-nese and other foreign investorsown everything in Black communi-ties from the neighborhood conven-ience stores to the local motels. Onthe other side of the equation, thereare Burger King restaurants in Bei-jing. What’s it called – quid proquo, tit for tat? What part are wemissing?

It bothers me that few from ourcommunities are employed at theneighborhood Chinese restaurantor convenience store. But as NorthCharleston Branch NAACP Pres-ident Ed Bryant noted, other mer-chants also fail to reinvest in us. Hiscounterpart at the CharlestonBranch NAACP, Dot Scott,lamented it’s taken so long forBlack residents to mount an impas-sioned challenge the economic dy-namics that shape the retaileconomy of our communities andthat the challenge comes after thevideo recorded assault of a resident.National Action Network coordi-nator Elder James Johnson saidbringing that challenge to fruitionwon’t be easy, but the organiza-tion’s committed to that goal. Loftygoal I’d say when folks collectivelyhave worked neither to build friend-

Black to BLACKBy Barney Blakeney

Mother’s Day is a special timeset aside to recognize mothersnationally. And, if your motherhas passed away, it’s a time of re-flection. There is barely a daythat goes by that I don’t thinkabout my mother. Sometimes,it’s just the little things that popup during the day that set yourmind in motion.

Personally, I was never a oneday daughter. My mother wasmy world and we spent quite abit of time together, but there isjust something special about anational day of recognition formothers. Mother’s Day is a timefor me to reflect not only on mymother, grandmother and all myadoptive moms that have passedon but ladies that have been likea mother to me. I often think about my grand-

mother and summers spent withher on the farm. I thought aboutthe outhouse and the water-melon fields. I can still smell thearoma of the homecooked bis-cuits and cornbread baked on acast iron wood stove. And, evenmore memorable were the daysspent worshipping at the littleold potbellied wood stove familychurch. Even when I was out ofmy mother’s reach, my grand-mother was there. She madesure I went to Sunday Schooland church. That was non-nego-tiable. I am reminded of one ofgranny’s favorite songs she usedto sing in church-“Jesus Will FixIt For You.” (Pronounced- Jee-saws). Granny couldn’t carry a tune in

a bucket, and neither can I, butthat did not stop her from beinga one woman choir and it’s neverstopped me either. She wouldalways start a song sitting down.Then she would stand up andmake her way to the front of thechurch and by that time everyonewas standing on their feet joiningin the song. Despite all ofgranny’s ups and downs, I ad-mire her for being such a bold

By Beverly Gadson-Birch

WHO ASKED ME?

Death by tax cuts: The Republican health care planDonald Trump hosted a cele-

bration in the White HouseRose Garden for House Repub-licans after they passed theirparty’s health care plan by thethinnest of margins. They werecelebrating what Trump called a“win,” without any thought aboutconsequences.

None of them had read the bill,which was released only a coupleof days before the vote andrushed to the floor. The votetook place before the nonparti-san Congressional Budget Of-fice could issue a revisedassessment of its costs and ef-fects.

House leaders and Office ofManagement and Budget Direc-tor Mick Mulvaney dismissedcriticisms, saying that Senate Re-publicans planned to start all

over anyway. This bill addressesone-sixth of our national econ-omy, and an industry that hasbeen a leading source of jobsgrowth. Don’t worry, say HouseRepublicans, we just had to getthe win; forget about the sub-stance.

Americans shouldn’t just beworried; they should be furious.The Republican bill will throwliterally millions off health care,put people with pre-existing con-ditions at risk and raise premi-ums particularly for workersaged 50 to 64 — in order to givea massive tax break to the verywealthy.

At the annual shareholdersmeeting of Berkshire Hathaway,billionaire investor Warren Buf-fett called it for what it is: “a hugetax cut for guys like me.” The

richest 400 people in Americawill get a tax break estimated atabout $7 million a year. To payfor that, millions will lose theircoverage, and millions more —the elderly and those with pre-ex-isting conditions in various states— will see premiums soar and in-surance become unaffordable. You can’t sugarcoat this. It’s not

enough to say the Senate will fixit (the 13 white men — nowomen, no people of color — onthe Republican Senate Working

Group certainly will not). It’s notacceptable to say, “We don’tmean it; we just had to pass it.”

Why did they have to pass it?This is complicated, but if youfollow it, you can understand thebackroom plunder that is takingplace. As Peter Suderman ex-plained in the New York Times,Republicans have to pass it be-cause the top-end tax cuts in thehealth care bill are vital for theircentral goal: to deliver to theircorporate and wealthy donorsanother massive tax cut in thenext budget reconciliation vote.They have to do the tax cuts inwhat’s called “reconciliation” be-cause that allows them, underthe obscure rules of the Con-gress, to pass the bill with only 50votes — with only Republicanvotes.But the reconciliation rules only

allow tax cuts if they don’t raisedeficits after a 10-year window.So to get what Trump calls themother of all tax cuts, Republi-cans want to cut the taxes out ofObamacare in the FY2017 recon-ciliation (that only lasts until nextSeptember) and then have alower baseline for cutting taxesin the FY2018 reconciliation (thebudget that begins on October

1). Tax cuts for the wealthy willbe paid for by sickness and deathby millions of the uninsured.

Republican Sen. John McCaincriticizes the House for proceed-ing without a CBO estimate ofthe costs, saying, “I want to knowhow much it costs.” Republicansenators vow not to act until theCBO reports. The CBO’s esti-mate will show what we alreadyknow from its last estimate: Mil-lions will lose their insurance,and the wealthy will pocket mil-lions in tax cuts.

A former insurance executive,Richard Eskow, did the realmath. He took the best estimatesof how many avoidable deathscome from not having health in-surance with the rollback ofMedicaid and taking away pro-tections for pre-existing condi-tions. He compared that to thetax cuts that would be pocketedby the 400 richest Americans,people who, like Buffett, makeon average over $300 million ayear.

Here’s his estimate of the realcost: Ten people will die underthe Republican bill to give eachof the 400 richest people inAmerica a tax break. For every

person who dies, they’ll pocketabout $787,151. As Eskow noted,those rich beneficiaries aren’tlikely to know anyone who willlose his or her life as a result ofbeing stripped of health insur-ance. And while the $787,000isn’t much for a multimillionaire,it’s just the appetizer for the bigtake they will get out of theTrump tax cut plan that will fol-low.

Thirteen white, rich men willnow create the Republican planin the Senate. They’ll decide howmany millions to strip fromhealth insurance to pay for taxcuts many of them will enjoy.They’ll decide whether to de-prive low-wage women ofPlanned Parenthood’s healthcare services. They’ll decide justhow many deaths are needed tocover the tax cuts for the veryrich.

Ugly language? No this is amorally indefensible, ugly pieceof work.

It is simply obscene to chooseconsciously to condemn low-wage workers or older workersto unnecessary illness and deathin order to afford tax cuts for thealready wealthy.

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witness. I never heard her complain of what she didn’t have.She always appreciated what shehad. I got my “can’t carry a tunein a bucket from her”.

I knowmy l i m i t a -tions andsinging isone ofthem.

Mothersplay suchan impor-tant rolein a child’sde velo p-ment. A mother’s work is never done. Child rearing is noeasy feat by no stretch of theimagination. Mothers have beeninstrumental in shaping the livesof some of the greatest archi-tects, astronauts, physicians,mayors, presidents, preachers,teachers, artists, movers andshakers, etc., of this nation.

My mom had 10 children. Shewas in her forties when she foundout she was having twins. And,boy did she boo hoo cry, but theyturned out to be the joy of herlife. Being such a late bloomerwith the twins, Mother wouldpray the same prayer over andover that the Lord would let herlive to see the twins finish kinder-garten and then it was highschool.

After the twins graduated fromhigh school, then her prayerwent to “Lord, let me live to seethe twins get married”, followingthe twins getting married theprayer changed to seeing hergrandchildren grow up and thengreat grandchildren. Being thecut up that I was, I ribbed momabout her prayers. I said, “mom,you are running out of children,grandchildren and great grand-children. The Lord has gra-ciously extended your time and if

He kept on extending your time,you would be here until Jesuscomes and just be caught up inthe air”. We would laugh lov-ingly about her prayers but thetruth of the matter is mom’sprayers were answered. Y’all bet-ter watch out if you have a pray-ing mother. If y’all don’t knowwhat prayer can do, y’all betterask somebody.The strange thing about life is if

you live long enough you get tosee so much of your parents’qualities in yourself. The older Iget the more I act like my mom.Now, I find myself repeating thesame prayers as she did. My sonis grown; I pray constantly forhim. And now, like my mom, Iam working on my four-year-oldgrandson. Like my mom, mydaughter-in-law was a latebloomer. Y’all who know meknow that I am almost as old aswater, so y’all do the math! IfGod grants my petition to see mygrandson graduate from highschool, that’s not just “prayer an-swering” but a miracle. And, let’snot even think about my grand-son graduating from college. I,like mom, might as well waitaround and be “caught up in theair”.

What I miss most about momnot being here are the family din-ners. She was the glue that keptthe family together. All ten of herchildren would show up for din-ner with their children and shewould be beaming with joy likeshe was “queen for the day”.That’s why we celebrate moms.We celebrate the queens thatthey are. We celebrate theirmany sacrifices. We celebratetheir joys and their tears.

For every mother who may notfeel loved and appreciated, youare. Remember this! You don’thave to be a mother to motherchildren. Keep on doing whatyou do best and your rewardswill be many.

Happy Mother’s Day!!

GUEST COLUMINIST

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Founder and President of theRainbow PUSH Coalition

The shrill conservative Ann Coulter has made headlines because the Uni-versity of California, Berkeley, wouldn’t let her speak at the end of April.Invited by college Republicans, her appearance threatened to incite vio-lence, as activists on the left and on the right prepared to either protest orsupport her appearance. In the end, the University cancelled her appear-ance, saying it could not guarantee her safety, which has the effect of pro-viding the notorious loudmouth an enlarged platform. National newsprograms have featured Coulter yammering about the anti-immigrationspeech she might have given. And credible, national newspapers like theNew York Times and the Washington Post have both covered the issueon its news pages, but also printed opinion pieces about the disturbingtrend of violent protests when conservative speakers – the Manhattan In-stitute’s Heather McDonald, and Bell Curve author and racist provocateurCharles Murray among them – are invited to campuses.

Who’s afraid of a shrill conservative? Liberalsshouldn’t be. Sure, people like Ann Coulter de-serve to be protested. But they also deserve to beheard. Protest can take many forms. Studentswho oppose the Coulter blather can peacefullygather outside a venue where she is speaking withpicket signs highlighting their points. They canpeacefully attend her lecture and attempt to askquestions after her lecture. They can take to com-munity forums – from radio and television to cam-pus newspapers, to articulate their opposition to her views. They can stage counter events – how about a pro-

immigration speaker scheduled at exactly thesame time as the Coulter lecture, where opposition attendance is exponentially larger than hers. Or, they can simplyignore her presence on campus.Cancelling her appearance gives her more exposure than she deserves. It

is also a form of censorship that cuts both ways. At Claremont McKennaCollege, police brutality defender Heather McDonald gave her talk vialive stream because college administrators feared violence if there was alarge audience. Protesters banged on the windows in the room where shegave her talk, making it difficult to hear her. How would those of us thatsupport the Black Lives Matter movement respond if BLM leaders weretreated the same way McDonald was? And aren’t BLM supporters ca-pable of responding to McDonald’s nonsense?Universities are supposed to be places where minds are opened and ideas

are exchanged. If provocative speakers can’t visit a university, who can?

Jesse Jackson

And where better to hear ideas, no matter how offensive, than at a univer-sity lecture or forum. I’d not like to have Heather McDonald or Ann Coul-ter as a commencement speaker. In a celebratory space it would bepositively offensive to have students of color be forced to share their bigday with those who would implicitly deny their very right to exist. But Isee no harm in having folks like McDonald, Coulter, or Murray speak oncampus. Indeed, it is perhaps most effective to have them debate some ofthose who disagree with them. I once had the pleasure of rebuttingCharles Murray after one of his Bell Curve talks. This happened morethan a decade ago, but I’d like to think I handed his words back to himwith aplomb. If the applause meter was any indication, I wiped the stagewith him. If my memory serves me right, Murray refused a one-on-one de-bate proposing, instead, that he would give his talk and I could rebut it.On another occasion, I was initially contracted to debate the anti-affirma-tive action activist Ward Connerly. He slithered out of the debate, andeven refused to appear on a panel with me. No matter. I used his printedwords as a basis for refuting his flawed arguments against affirmative ac-tion. I share these instances not to toot my own horn, but to suggest thatwhen conservatives are intellectually confronted by principled opposition,they often fold. On the other hand, when they don’t even get a chance totalk, they get to play victim to a larger audience.

Who’s afraid of shrill shills like Ann Coulter and Heather McDonald?Liberal and progressive students shouldn’t be. Odious conservatives likethese should be protested in an orderly way, debated, and debunked.There is no way they should be prevented from speaking. There is nothingfrightening about them or their ideas. When they talk, it becomes quiteclear that they are wrong, misguided, and narrow-minded. But when theyare silenced, their ideas take on an importance that they hardly deserve.

By Julianne Malveaux, economist, author, and Founder of Economic Education

GUEST COLUMINIST

Julianne Malveaux

Lucille Marie Williams Gadson