Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 4-8-16 Edition

Local Government
CDC Of Tampa To Host Annual Suit Up And Show Up Event
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Friday, April 8th, the CDC of Tampa, Inc., (Corpo- ration to Develop Communi- ties of Tampa, Inc.) will host its Third Annual Suit Up and Show Up event. It will be held from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., at the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, 1002 E. Palm Avenue.
Approximately 80 high school males, ranging in age from 16 to 24, and represent- ing Hillsborough County high schools, have been in- vited to participate. The young men will spend the day interacting with commu- nity professionals including State Rep. Ed Narain, Po- lice Chief Eric Ward, News Anchor Rod Carter, News Columnist Ernest Hooper, Sol Davis, Jr., of Sol Davis Printing Company, George Tinsley, II, Con- cessionaires, Tampa Inter- national Airport, and
ERNEST CONEY, JR. President and CEO of the CDC of Tampa, Inc.
Hillsborough County School Administrators Dr. Larry Sykes and Owen Young.
The young men will par- ticipate in breakout sessions on goal setting, personal re- sponsibility, entrepreneur- ship, and suiting up for the roles in their lives. After completing the sessions, they will begin their trans- formation in the Suit Up closet. Each young man will select a suit, shirt, tie, and shoes to take home.
Ernest Coney, Presi-
dent and CEO of the CDC of Tampa, Inc., said, “In past years when we have hosted this event, we have seen im- mediate changes in their at- titudes and demeanor when they put their suit on. It’s powerful and we’re excited to be offering this opportu- nity again this year.”
The event is designed to produce an atmosphere of positive energy for the young men. However, it was born as the result of a tragedy.
In October 2011, John Singleton, a high school senior, was shot and killed while attending a party. Sin- gleton was an innocent by- stander and was struck by a stray bullet.
Singleton, 17, was also a young man with a bright fu- ture who attended the Youth Leadership Movement Pro- gram. Coney knew Single- ton personally. After his death, Coney purchased the young man’s first suit for his burial.
National News
National Prison Strike Campaign Vows To End ‘American Slave System’
Original caption (1836): “Franklin & Armfield’s Slave Prison.” Franklin & Armfield was a Virginia slave trading firm. (American Anti-Slavery Society)
By Eric Ortiz
Starting Sept. 9, prisoners in the United States will begin a coordinated effort to shut down prisons across the country. They plan to stop working in correctional insti- tutions. Without prisoners doing their jobs, these facili- ties cannot be run. According to Support Prisoner Resist- ance, the nationwide prisoner work stoppage will serve as a protest against prison slav- ery, the school-to-prison pipeline, police terror and post-release controls.
Prisoners organizing the strike are not making de- mands or requests in the usual sense. They are calling themselves to action in a planned protest and want every prisoner in every state and federal institution across America to “stop being a slave.”
Some people may bristle at the notion that prisoners are slaves, but they are forced to work for little or no pay. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abol- ished slavery, also maintains a legal exception for contin- ued slavery in prisons. It states “neither slavery nor in- voluntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
Correctional officers watch over every move of prisoners, and if assigned tasks are not performed correctly, prison- ers are punished.
The goal of the planned September protest is to shed light on injustices within the American justice system. Ac- cording to The Sentencing Project:
The United States is the world’s leader in incarcera- tion with 2.2 million people currently in the nation’s pris- ons or jails—a 500% increase
over the past thirty years. These trends have resulted in prison overcrowding and state governments being overwhelmed by the burden of funding a rapidly expand- ing penal system, despite in- creasing evidence that large-scale incarceration is not the most effective means of achieving public safety.
Of those 2.2 million pris- oners, the racial disparity is glaring. The Sentencing Proj- ect reports that “more than 60 percent are racial and eth- nic minorities. For Black males in their thirties, 1 in every 10 is in prison or jail on any given day. These trends have been intensified by the disproportionate impact of the ‘war on drugs,’ in which two-thirds of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color.”
Organizers for the national prison strike say the coordi- nated campaign is a way to stand up to mass criminaliza- tion and the injustices that perpetuate mass incarcera- tion. They hope the coordi- nated show of resistance will force authorities to rethink their policies.
The organizers for this na- tional prison strike campaign chose the start date for sym- bolic reasons. On Sept. 9, 1971, prisoners shut down and took over Attica, New York’s most notorious prison. A total of 43 people were killed in the Attica prison riots—one of the darkest chapters in American penal history.
Forty-five years after At- tica, 21st-century prison strike organizers want change to return to America’s prisons in a nonviolent way. This September, prisoners across the country hope to coordi- nate their protests and build them into a single tidal shift that the American prison sys- tem cannot ignore.
County Administrator Addresses Commissioners
On ‘Go Hillsborough’ Plan
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
On Wednesday, County Commissioners were ad- dressed by County Admin- istrator Mike Merrill, who made a presentation to them on the “Go Hillsborough” Plan.
The “Go Hillsborough” Plan is an initiative to get a re- quest for a half-cent tax in- crease put on a ballot for voters. The voters will decide whether or not to approve the increase, with a portion of the funds going toward improving the public transportation sys- tem in Tampa and Hillsbor- ough County.
Commission Chair, Les Miller, said Merrill talked to them about where they are and what the plan will do, especially as it relates to job creation.
“Mr. Merrill has from the beginning been in favor of the half-cent proposal being put on the ballot for the voters to decide. To make this possi- ble, it will take the majority of my colleagues to agree this should be an issue decided by the people.”
Comm. Chair Miller
said if the request is passed, it
MIKE MERRILL County Administrator
will generate $1.17 billion over the first 10 years.
“Those funds will be bro- ken down by the population of four of the five areas who would get the funds.”
The funds would be dis- persed by:
25% ($294 Million) to HART.
55% ($649 Million) to Hillsborough County.
2% ($20 million) to Plant City.
17% ($198 million) to the City of Tampa.
1% ($14 million) to Temple Terrace.
Comm. Chair Miller
said his colleagues wanted to know if light rail was part of the expenditures.
LES MILLER County Commission Chair
“As far as Hillsborough County is concerned, our por- tion would be used mostly on roads and infrastructure.
“The issue of a rail system would rest with the City of Tampa without any interven- tion by the County. Our con- stituents want improvements on what already exists, and there were doubters on that proposal.”
Comm. Chair Miller
said the half-cent tax increase has nothing to do with light rail as far as the county is con- cerned.
“The complete project is called ‘Go Hillsborough,’ and if the tax hike is approved, the fund would go into a trust to be distributed.”
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