My response to Jonathan Palmer is simply this: I read the letter of support, from CP Samuels, giving my neighbor his support on her request for empowerment zone funding. It is important to tell the people that these people were not told that they had to be a "nonprofit" organization. That came up after they applied and were waiting for funding approval. Now, as to CP Samuels being able to veto those applying, what I said was......He gave letters of support to those applying, to submit with their applications. When the time came to vote on those applications CP Samuels voted against giving them the money. The City council minutes will reflect that, since they showed the minutes on MTN.
Mr. Palmer you offered, and have stated on a radio show that I listened to, that you would help people get "low interest loans",,,,,,,,,,,,Why would the most impoverished area need to get loans, that you alleged were low interest loans but weren't, and the areas already thriving financially received empowerment zone money? What good would it do them if they do not have high credit scores? That was the same thing offered to help low income people buy homes. They lost out because they did not have high credit scores to get the houses. It doesn't matter how you word it, it was a farce and those people were never going to get the funded. In fact, my neighbor and several others, said that numerous council members spoke at the many meetings at the Urban League regarding empoerment zone funding, and at no time did they say you had to be a nonprofit organization. Hey, I thought you said funding was given to Alimin's(sic) fish restaurant on west Broadway. If that is true, is a fish restaurant nonprofit? (Please note that this is a serious question ). AS AN ADDED NOTE: I'm still reeling from the interview between Politics in Minnesota and CP Samuels. In reference to KATRINA, there was discussion of the depiction of the pictures shown of the victims. CP Samuels stated: Two other thoughts about the pictures. Almost taboo ones, but important to recognize. Those were dark faces on those women, almost bizarrely unblended. They looked like they were from Haiti or Africa. This is part of the unspoken evolution of race. We cannot seem to talk about the reality that lighter-skinned black people are more likely to escape poverty. Michelle Hill Responds: If the same is true now, as it was in past history, that light-skinned blacks fair greater than dark-skinned blacks, that is shameful and CP Samuels should be ashamed of himself for think that it is an acceptable practice. We need to understand, that while most of the people shown may have been Black, there were victims of all races in New Orleans. If light-skinned Blacks escape poverty simply because they are light-skinned, why would dark-skinned Blacks even waste time in college or competing for jobs? Clarence Thomas, Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and many others were dark Skinned Blacks, who purported to be nothing but who they are/were. CP SAMUELS STATED: And finally, when I look at those pictures, I see loneliness. Chronic loneliness in the lives of so many black women raising children by themselves, and without the fulfillment of the basic human need for male companionship. MICHELLE HILL: Assumption is a dangerous thing. Perhaps what you saw in their faces was fear, and despair at having lost the only things they possess, as well as family and friends. To assume that the man makes a woman whole is the worst of all assumptions. It would be funny if every woman seen, in the KATRINA pictures were lesbian, what then would their look have meant? PIM stated: I knew there was a reason I wanted to talk to you. You are so refreshingly unafraid to say what others, particularly others who hold themselves out to be "black leaders," won't say. What you just described, that's what most of white America saw. And yet we can't talk about it. Will the pictures help change anything? MICHELLE HILL RESPONDS: You take a major leap in saying what most of "White America" saw. I think a poll would say that most of White America saw a tragedy. An event that was neither White nor Black, but a tragedy that called upon all mankind. I do not know what the goal of this interview was but hopefully the responses by CP Samuels were said in a different context than portrayed by the interviewer. If not, I'm scared of CP Samuels because I too am a dark-skinned black women, who later in life raised my children alone. I feel blessed to have had God in my life. I put nothing else in front of him. I too would have been a product of my environment if I had not used my right of choice. If I had not had a strong will mother who did not understand the words "I can't do it." Every time I read something from CP Samuels he tends to paint the worse pictures of Blacks, especially black women, while asking for a vote to represent them. But it also paints a clear picture of him.....just not the picture the reporter in this article sees. I'm sure that I will hear the CP Samuels is married to a black women.............My response is good for him. Michelle Hill Cleveland REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 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