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Cosby calls on parents to end violence in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Comedian Bill Cosby called on parents and community elders to step up to stop the wave of violence that has rocked the city for more than a year.
Cosby spoke last Monday to a West Philadelphia crowd of several hundred after joining an anti-violence group on an hour-long march through the neighborhood.
“You’ve got to teach your children how to think,” Cosby said. “You watch one blow the other one’s head off and how can you feel good about yourself? Who are you trying to save? How long are you planning to live while you watch this go on?”
The event was the fourth of seven anti-violence appearances that the Philadelphia native has pledged in cooperation with Men United for a Better Philadelphia, which organized the march.
Philadelphia’s homicide rate of more than a murder a day in 2007 is ahead of last year’s pace, when the homicide count of over 400 was a nine-year high.
Cosby’s serious tone was a departure from his jovial walk through the working class neighborhood where residents say they’ve grown used to the sound of gunshots at night, but echoed earlier calls for adults to take responsibility for troubled youths.
The actor waved to neighbors and spontaneously climbed front porches to shake hands before ending at the Bible Way Baptist Church to speak. He then proceeded to the Sharon Baptist Church for a community discussion about stopping violence.
Democratic mayoral candidate Michael Nutter also showed up to walk and appealed directly to young people, who are involved in the bulk of the city’s violent crimes.
“Stop carrying these guns,” he said. “Pick up a book.”
James Williamson III, 24, said it has been difficult to get men his age to listen to an anti-violence message. But the La Salle graduate student said he will continue his work with Men United to show his peers a living example of a young black man choosing education over crime.
Parental guidance could make youths more open to nonviolent options, Cosby said.
“We’re tired of funerals, aren’t we?” he asked.
NAACP reducing staff, closing regional offices
BALTIMORE — To cover three years of budget shortfalls, the NAACP is eliminating about 40 percent of staff jobs at its headquarters in Baltimore and will close, at least temporarily, its seven regional offices, the civil rights organization said last Wednesday.
The group’s 119-member staff will be reduced to 70 through layoffs and attrition, according to Dennis Hayes, interim president and CEO. He would not say how many people would be laid off, pointing out that the reductions were required to avoid going deeper into the group’s shrinking reserves.
“We had the unexpected departure of our CEO at a time when we were already without a chief development officer,” Hayes, who is also the NAACP’s general counsel, said in an interview with The (Baltimore) Sun. “So, understandably, we have to regenerate our revenue machine, our fundraising machine, to get us to where we should have been.”
In March, Bruce Gordon suddenly quit as the NAACP’s president and CEO after 19 months on the job.
The NAACP has used about $10 million in reserve funds to cover shortfalls over the past three years, Hayes said. He refused say how much is left in the rainy-day fund.
There is no one reason for the budget problems, he said.
“Gas is more expensive, the cost of living is higher, people are not giving as much as they used to,” Hayes said. “And membership, we always need more members. Our impression is we can improve and enhance the way we do things.”
Hayes said the regional offices’ services will continue to be provided by the Baltimore headquarters.
“In order to be good stewards of our money, we want to modernize,” he said
Conn. state trooper claims racial discrimination
HARTFORD, Conn. — A state trooper who had been the chief of staff for the head of the Connecticut State Police is claiming he has been the victim of racial discrimination.
Sgt. Andrew Crumbie, who is black, recently filed two complaints with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. In his complaints, Crumbie accuses the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) and M. Lisa Moody, the governor’s chief of staff, with discrimination.
Crumbie, who served as chief of staff for Public Safety Commissioner Leonard C. Boyle and then was director of the state police forensic laboratory, claims that derogatory words were used about his race by high-ranking state police officers. He also said the state police had a history of “unfavorable treatment by DPS of minority employees.”
Crumbie also claims that Moody punished him with a demotion after he refused to re-donate $1,000 to Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s campaign.
Lt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman, said the complaint “will go through the channels and will be thoroughly examined.”
Christopher Cooper, a spokesman for the governor’s office, responded on behalf of Moody.
“She considers the claims, as reported, to be outrageous and vigorously denies them,” Cooper said.
In one complaint, Crumbie said he found his photograph, which had hung in the lobby of the laboratory along with other members of command staff, placed on the men’s bathroom wall above the urinal in February.
During his time with state police, Crumbie, 39, maintains that upper-level managers made derogatory remarks about blacks.
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