PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY NAACP TO JOIN NAACP NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST MORTGAGE DISCRIMINATION ON JULY 2ND

NAACP Lawsuit Targets Suntrust Mortgage, Citi, Wamu, GMAC and Other Lenders
Largo, Maryland – The Prince George's County Branch of the NAACP will mark the NAACP's National Day of Action against mortgage discrimination with a press conference at Ark of Safety Christian Church in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

The Day of Action will be marked by events across the country, including New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Antonio and other cities. NAACP officials, elected leaders and community members are holding events at lending institutions and in affected neighborhoods.

Prince George's County has been hard hit by the mortgage and foreclosure crisis. This is the case notwithstanding the affluence of the County. Many unfortunate individuals have been the victims of predatory practices by unscrupulous mortgage banks and brokers.

For its part, the NAACP has filed a class-action lawsuit against 17 of the nation's largest lenders for discrimination. The goal of the lawsuit and the Day of Action is to push these lenders to make amends for discrimination that they have perpetrated and to stamp out this sort of discrimination for good. The victims in the case had the same credit, income and qualifications as these institutions' other borrowers. The only difference was that these borrowers were African-American. The lawsuit alleges that because of these borrowers race, their loans had higher interest rates and other less favorable terms.

The defendants in the lawsuit include but are not limited to Suntrust Mortgage, Chase Bank USA NA, Washington Mutual, Inc., and GMAC Mortgage Group, LLC. Interviews with attorneys working on the case and NAACP national leaders are available.

WHAT: Prince George's County Branch news conference to mark NAACP National Day of Action Against Mortgage Discrimination

WHEN: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 10:00 A.M.

WHERE: Ark of Safety Christian Church, 9402 Marlboro Pike, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772

WHO: Clergy, Elected Officials, Homeowners and Advocates.

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

They say it's not, but the article, "Air Base Ex-Guard Convicted of Hiding Muslim Name" doesn't mention any other charges against him except not listing his Muslim name. Most people don't change their name when they change their religion. The article in the Washington Post is here.

Check out the recent articles concerning race: http://pgcares.newsvine.com/racial

The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Prince George’s County Maryland Chapter, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Prince George's County Historical Society will host a Juneteenth seminar on Saturday, June 21, 2008, from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5300 Auth Road, Suitland, Maryland. Juneteenth is celebrated in more than 200 cities in the United States. This year the sponsors will present a series of workshops for beginning to advance family researchers to commemorate this historic event. In addition, special activities will be held for children ages 7-12. The keynote speaker is Dr. Sandra Jowers-Barber, Assistant Professor of History, University of the District of Columbia.

Registration form: http://www.pghistory.org/2008juneteenth-registration-form.pdf

Flier for distribution or posting: http://www.pghistory.org/Juneteenth_flyer08.pdf

The event is free to the public. For further information, please contact Carolyn Rowe (301-292-6987), fax (301-292-2751)

AND DON'T FORGET:

THE DAVIES FORUM PRESENTS

BOOK: Black Men Built the Capitol by Jesse Holland

DATE: Saturday, June 14, 2008 6:00 PM

FREE! Refreshments! Child care!

Books signed by author! Books for sale.

http://www.dmuuc.org/forum/

And other events & news from Prince George's Bloggers

Black History is not just for February any more:

BOOK: Black Men Built the Capitol by Jesse Holland

DATE: Saturday, June 14, 2008 6:00 PM

SAVE THE DATE!

FREE! Refreshments! Child care!

Books signed by author! Books for sale.

More information here.

Today I met a woman from Kenya and we had a little chat. She said that most people treated her well, but there are a number of people, whom she said were African American, who have been rude to her and said she should go home. They were biased against immigrants in spite of the fact that she's here legally and has a green card. She speaks good English, too. Why should people treat her poorly? She lives in Charles Co., but could that be happening in Prince George's, too?

Last week I spent a few days in a local hospital. It was a wonder of multiculturalism. The doctors, nurses, and staff who were from many places: Jamaica, Cameroon, India, and others. There were male nurses and female doctors. The biggest man who was African American with scars on his face and perceived to be violent by some patients seemed like a sweet gentleman to me. He also was not from Prince George's - he's from the eastern shore and came here because he had been treated well at this hospital before. If we can end stereotypes in institutions, we can end them in our communities, our county, our state, our nation, and the world.

This poll is related to the speech by Barack Obama in which he said that we need a national conversation on race (Post about it with quotes, Full text of speech, Video of speech). Please take this poll and spread the word. (NOTE: You can only vote for one in the second question, so if you're participating in both online and live conversations, please select "Yes, in person". Also the statement in the 4th question is not entirely right since it will display your ID if you're logged in to LiveJournal.)

Poll #1182051 Race Conversations
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Are you interested in a "national conversation on race"?

Are you currently participating in a conversation on race?

Where are you having a conversation on race? Please state location (such as UCC, Davies church, LiveJournal antiracism, LJ debunkingwhite) or make a comment here (50 character limit):

Where do you live? (Note: no personal information is being gathered - this poll is anonymous.)

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE FORMING NEW NAACP BRANCH IN PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY

After careful review of the demographics, gaps in the staggering statistics of racial discrimination and disparities, problems and solutions, impacts and
possibilities, we gave serious deliberation and decided the best thing
we could do for Prince George's County was to establish an additional
branch. So in November 07, we formed an organizing committee to work on
securing an additional NAACP branch in the County and decided to name
this branch "The Greater Beltway Branch".

The current NAACP Branch in Prince George's County was formed over 45
years ago and since then there has been tremendous growth in the County.
Our County has over 850,000 residents, is 495 square miles in radius, is
76% black, has many municipalities represented by Black Mayors, and more
than 50% of our businesses are black. One NAACP Branch is simply not
enough to serve us. With the addition of another branch we can reach and
serve more people and help grow the membership of the NAACP. Another
branch would provide an opportunity to support this ground swell of
people who are excited about getting involved. And, an additional
branch can help to bridge the gap with our younger generation.
Despite the fact that we are a majority minority County, we still
continue to face discrimination and disparities in education, economic
empowerment, health and the judicial system.

Our school system remains second from bottom in the entire state of
Maryland and the leadership for the cabinet level positions in the
school system does not look like the demographics of the County or
represent us. Our children are not being prepared to pass the HSA (high
school assessment) for graduation and are being punished for a system
that has not prepared them.( Read more... )

Please feel free to contact us at: www.greaterbeltwaycoalition.org
for a membership application or if you have any additional questions.

DAVIES FORUM:
Inheriting the Trade May 10 & Black Men Built the Capitol June 14
Saturdays 6:00 PM( Read more... )

Admission Free. Child Care will be provided. Refreshments. Books for sale. Followed by Cafe Florian open mic coffee house at 8 PM. More here.
----

NAACP AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORICAL AND PRESERVATION GROUP WITH MNCCPC

The preservation of African American history in this county is a high priority for our children and our grandchildren who need to know the real history and contributions of African Americans in Prince George's County, not only as slaves on the tobacco plantations, but about their lives and contributions as Freed Men and Women who have made their mark. As of April 2008 there is now an African American Heritage Trail having 20 sites across the county which can be visited and with which one can interact. Brochures will be available by April 18th. Signs will be posted at each site identifying it as a designated African American Heritage Site. As more sites become available they will be added to the trail. Links for more details can be found on the website of MNCPPC. NAACP has also been instrumental in preserving our oral histories from the elders in the community who made history in this county. To date 10 oral histories have been taken during the last week of March. Once they are edited, they will be available at the Greenbelt Library for viewing and for research. These oral histories will be made public after July 1, 2008. An African American Museum to be located in North Brentwood is in its planning stages and the whole community needs to be involved in making that a reality in this predominantly wealthy African American county for 2010. - The NAACP PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY BRANCH

Today on NPR there was a segment on the PBS documentary Unnatural Causes. You can listen to the NPR program here. WETA is showing the program in the DC area on Fri. night at 10:30 PM. The PBS web site has case studies, interactivities, information about health equity, an Ask an Expert section, lessons for students and teachers, video clips, an Action Toolkit, and more.

Did you know that there's a 20 year difference in life expectancy between mostly African American southeast DC and mostly white Montgomery County suburbs? Did you know that the biggest killers in poor African American communities are not drugs or bullets but chronic diseases like stroke, diabetes and heart disease?

The next program this Fri. night at 10:30 is "Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? Collateral Damage/Not Just A Paycheck".

Another kind of racism is discussed in a new file "A Dream In Doubt". "In 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice reported having investigated more than 750 post-9/11-related crimes, although in reality the number of unreported cases could be much higher. As more time passes, the events of September 11, 2001 have continued to resonate and alter the world—for everyone."

You can see a clip on this page. Learn the myths about Sikhism here. Read about many different immigration stories here. Take the Immigration Myths and Realities Quiz here.

These were sent to me by fellow Prince Georgians:

"There’s been a lot of talk about women and their choices since Super Tuesday, when African American women overwhelmingly voted for Sen. Barack Obama, while white women picked Sen. Hillary Clinton. Some pundits automatically concluded that “race trumped gender” among black women. I hate this analysis because it relegates black women to junior-partner status in political struggles. It is not that simple." more here

Another important perspective.

Good post in response to Prince George's crime & racism in Canada.

I've got CNN on now and the speech is late, apparently due to a security problem, and people are already criticizing him for that. People are waiting to get in and he's being courteous to the live public in Philadelphia. If you're impatient or working and can't watch it, the preprepared text of the speech is here.

Other comments are that "America is not ready for the conversation on race." It's a shame, but it is obvious even among people who are ready and willing to talk about it such as at anti_racism and debunkingwhite. They also say "he can't appear defensive" even though he has been attacked with comments like he got to where he is because of his race when it should have been in spite of it.

In reaction to the attacks to his minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, he says: ( Read more... )

How racism is still impacting and being talked about in Prince George's County, Maryland can be read about in the news about racial issues in the county here and the news and views of county bloggers and discussion groups here.

There are several article and YouTube videos about Delegate Vallario's support of CASA and how this poster was considered to be racist. The poster is in this article.

I guess the fact that a wanted poster = criminal and the hat represents a racial/cultural group then it's considered racist against Mexicans? The immigration issues are complicated, but I think the biggest problem is that the federal laws limit the states to decide what to do. Conservatives used to be for state rights, but since Maryland is majority Democratic, which is considered liberal, they changed their minds.

It seems to me that people should have legal status in order to get a driver's license and be able to show papers in the same way citizens do, though. Are they giving people driver's licenses with no ID at all? That's what they're making it sound like, but my children had to have ID to get a driver's license. I think getting them legal status should be the concentration. I'd be interested in learning more facts about this issue.

Just wanted to point out another LiveJournal forum with some active and very pertinent conversations: debunkingwhite

Check out the local news on racial issues, too.

Davies Forum:
TOPIC: Girls Need Fathers Too-The Impact of Fatherlessness on Black Women
DATE: Saturday, Apr 12, 2008 6:00 PM
PANEL: Jonetta Rose Barras, author/columnist/radio show co-host; and Dr. Lee Crump, Psychologist.
LOCATION: 7400 Temple Hill Rd., Camp Springs - see directions

See additional News and Views from Prince George's Co. Bloggers.

Don't miss the forum with Sarah Jakiel, and Nicole Moler from The Polaris Project (the international anti-trafficking organization) on Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking – Over 12 Million People trafficked for forced labor or sexual exploitation at 6 PM Sat. night in Camp Springs just 1/4 mi. south of Allentown Rd. on Temple Hill Rd. in Camp Springs. See more here about the forum.

Camp Springs is 20748, not far from Clinton 20735, Oxon Hill 20745, Ft. Washington 20744, Accokeek 20708; people even come from Brandywine 20613, Upper Marlboro 20772, Forestville 20747

This was sent via NEA:

AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE NOT APPLYING

There are a number of companies and organizations that have donated monies for scholarships to African Americans. A great deal of the money is being returned because of a lack of interest.

1) BELL LABS FELLOWSHIPS FOR UNDER REPRESENTED MINORITIES
http://www.bell-labs.com/fellowships/CRFP/info.html

2) Student Inventors Scholarships
http://www.invent.org/collegiate/

3) Student Video Scholarships
http://www.christophers.org/vidcon2k.html

4) Coca-Cola Two Year College Scholarships
http://www.coca-colascholars.org/programs.html

5) Holocaust Remembrance Scholarships
http://holocaust.hklaw.com/

6) Ayn Rand Essay Scholarships
http://www.aynrand.org/contests/

7) Brand Essay Competition
http://www.instituteforbrandleadership.org/IBLEssayContest-2002Rules.htmm>

8) Gates Millennium Scholarships (major)
http://www.gmsp.org/nominationmaterials/read.dbm?ID=12

9) Xerox Scholarships for Students
http://www2.xerox.com/go/xrx/about_xerox/about_xerox_detail.jsp

10) Sports Scholarships and Internships
http://www.ncaa.org/about/scholarships.html

11) National Assoc. of Black Journalists Scholarships (NABJ)
http://www.nabj.org/html/studentsvcs.html

12) Saul T. Wilson Scholarships (Veterinary)
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/mb/mrphr/jobs/stw.html

13) Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund
http://www.thurgoodmarshallfund.org/sk_v6.cfm

14) FinAid: The Smart Students Guide to Financial Aid scholarships)
http://www.finaid.org/

15) Presidential Freedom Scholarships
http://www.nationalservice.org/scholarships/

16) Microsoft Scholarship Program
http://www.microsoft.com/college/scholarships/minority.asp

17) WiredScholar Free Scholarship Search
http://www.wiredscholar.com/paying/scholarship_search/pay_scholarshipsearch.jsp

18) Hope Scholarships &Lifetime Credits
http://www.ed.gov/inits/hope/

19) William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship for Minority Students
http://www.apsanet.org/PS/grants/aspen3.cfm

20) Multiple List of Minority Scholarships
http://gehon.ir.miami.edu/financial-assistance/Scholarship/blackhtml

21) Guaranteed Scholarships
http://www.guaranteed-scholarships.com/

22) BOEING scholarships (soma e HBCU connects)
http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/educationrelations/scholarships

23) Easley National Scholarship Program
http://www.naas.org/senior.htm

24) Maryland Artists Scholarships http://www.maef.org/

26) Jacki Tuckfield Memorial Graduate Business Scholarship (for AA
students in South Florida )
http://www.jackituckfield.org/

27) Historically Black College & University Scholarships
http://www.iesabroad.org/info/hbcu.htm

28) Actuarial Scholarships for Minority Students
http://www.beanactuary.org/minority/scholarships.htm

29) International Students Scholarships &Aid Help
http://www.iefa.org/

30) College Board Scholarship Search
http://cbweb10p.collegeboard.org/fundfinder/html/fundfind01.html

31) Burger King Scholarship Program
http://www.bkscholars.csfa.org/

32) Siemens Westinghouse Competition
http://www.siemens-foundationorg/

33) GE and LuLac Scholarship Funds
http://www.lulac.org/Programs/Scholar.html

34) CollegeNet ' s Scholarship Database
http://mach25.collegenet.com/cgi-bin/M25/index

35) Union Sponsored Scholarships and Aid
http://www.aflcioorg/scholarships/scholar.htm

36) Federal Scholarships &Aid Gateways 25 Scholarship Gateways from Black Excel
http://www.blackexcel.org/25scholarships.htm

37) Scholarship &Financial Aid Help
http://www.blackexcel.org/fin-sch.htm

38) Scholarship Links (Ed Finance Group)
http://www.efg.net/link_scholarship.htm

39) FAFSA On The Web (Your Key Aid Form &Info)
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

40) Aid &Resources For Re-Entry Students
http://www.back2college.com/

41) Scholarships and Fellowships
http://www.osc.cuny.edu/sep/links.html

42) Scholarships for Study in Paralegal Studies
http://www.paralegals.org/Choice/2000west.htm

43) HBCU Packard Sit Abroad Scholarships (for study around the world)
http://www.sit.edu/studyabroad/packard_nomination.html

44) Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities
http://ccmi.uchicago.edu/schl1.html

45) INROADS internships
http://www.inroads.org/

46) ACT-SO bEURoeOlympics of the Mind "A Scholarships
http://www.naacp.org/work/actso/act-so.shtml

47) Black Alliance for Educational Options Scholarships
http://www.baeo.org/options/privatelyfinanced.jsp

48) ScienceNet Scholarship Listing
http://www.sciencenet.emory.edu/undergrad/scholarships.html

49) Graduate Fellowships For Minorities Nationwide
http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Student/GRFN/list.phtml?category=MINORITIES

50) RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD
http://www.rhodesscholar.org/info.html

51) The Roothbert Scholarship Fund
http://www.roothbertfund

---

If African American students aren't applying, we might want to consider why. Is it that they don't want to go to college? If not, why not? Are they unaware of these scholarships? Or are these scholarships insufficient to help them attend? Can you consider other reasons why they might not be applying?

19th Annual Lecture Series on African History & Culture - Prince George's County Library System

Please forward the information below to your network of friends, families, schools, youth groups and community organizations. These series of lectures will be in Prince George's County at local libraries beginning March 25th and concluding May 6th.

19th Annual Lecture Series on African History & Culture

Presented by Washington historian C.R. Gibbs and Associates. C.R. Gibbs lectures, writes and consults on subjects relating to the African Diaspora.

* The Genesis of Jena: Race, Rebellion & Redemption in the New South, C.R. Gibbs
Tuesday, March 25 7 pm Oxon Hill Branch
* African Beginnings of Humanity & the Origins of Race, Carter Ward
Tuesday, April 1 7 pm New Carrollton Branch
* A More Perfect Union?: Constitutional Franchise for Racial Quotas, Asa Gordon
Tuesday, April 8 7 pm Oxon Hill Branch
* Warriors with Words: How Freedom Narratives & the Black Press Fought Slavery, C.R. Gibbs
Tuesday, April 15 7 pm New Carrollton Branch
* Swing Low Sweet Harriet: General Tubman’s Raid on the Combahee River, Asa Gordon
Tuesday, April 22 7 pm Spauldings Branch
* Black Inventors: From Africa to America, C.R.Gibbs
Tuesday, April 29 7 pm Spauldings Branch
* Lesson for Iraq?: The American Occupation of Haiti 1915-1934, C.R. Gibbs
Tuesday, May 6 7 pm Surratts-Clinton Branch