History of Norfolk Project, Transcript

As many in the country reflect on the 40-year anniversary of what is considered by some the turbulent year of 1968 (assassinations, protest marches, etc.) -- locally in 1968 Norfolk and Portsmouth joined with 4 other cities electing the first Blacks to city council -- and as we come off of celebrating another Dr. King holiday and move into Black History Month, and as we watch the politics around the Democrat Party Presidential nomination, and as we have municipal elections approaching, I thought I would (re)share this excerpt I came across again recently. At least to me it still seems timely. - Rodney Jordan

The following are excerpts from: History of Norfolk Project, Transcript, Oral Interview of Judge Joseph Jordan, May 31, 1989. Interviewed by Dr. Tommy Bogger, Norfolk State University.
"With far too focus upon how we got here, our leadership has in large measure herded us into the role of spectator-citizenship. We must summarily abandon that role. We are here--no matter how we got here. We must embrace the confidence to grasp the role of full participatory-citizenship. And in this role we must recognize that we are numerically small enough to be cohesive--numerically large enough to have meaningful impact--qualitatively knowledgeable enough to know what this country is all about--and energetically bold enough to provide the leadership for the full realization of its magical potential."
From the book We Can Make It... Together!

RAJ===================================================

Dr. Bogger: But can you go through and say more about the Goldenrod Ballot to make sure we have the three coordinated here?

Judge Jordan: In order to give to black citizens as much information and as many tools as possible to carry to the poll and vote, we created what was called the -- and that was done prior to my entering the scene -- called the Goldenrod Ballot. Now, the color of it was like a golden rod color, and we would put on there the names we would recommend, and most citizens followed the recommendations. As a result, we voted in an almost 90% -- close to 100% block each time that we went to the poll, and that was part of our effectiveness as a group. Block voting is ridiculed, but block voting is very important. It is ridiculed because other folks can't do what we were doing. It's nothing wrong with it so long as you're not intimidated to block voting.But in any event, the Goldenrod was a major tool for having blacks vote as a unit that was in local, state, and federal elections.

Dr. Bogger: Mrs. Butts was very very effective grassroots political organizer. Can you say anything to that in conjunction with the Goldenrod?

Judge Jordan: Sure.

Dr. Bogger: And anyone else who played that role similar to her.

Judge Jordan: When Dr. Robinson and I came together, we gave leadership to the Concerned Citizens. Mrs. Butts and Mrs. Green and Mrs. Young -- I guess we call it -- these were the ladies who were in a group which I created called the Women of Virginia's Third Force. I think I mentioned to you we created a third force group way back there somewhere to teach voting. Mrs. Butts and these ladies were a part of that, and so they had this cadre led by Mrs. Butts, who was president of the Women of Virginia's Third Force over a period of time, active for a long time. Mrs. Butts surfaced as the leader in her own right, however, after one, I was named to the bench and became a judge. That was 1977.

[Transcript skipped]

Judge Jordan: .After serving on the City Council, I was approached by a member of the Norfolk delegation informing me that there was a vacancy for a judgeship. The first one was with the Juvenile Court. I thanked him and chose not to accept his offer to promote my candidacy for that position. And then a vacancy became available in the criminal division where more of us came and where I thought the deeper problems were. That was the first level of court, and this is where we were really taking a beating and I thought being treated unfairly.So when that came available I said, yes, indeed, I would like to serve there if the delegation will accept me and promote my candidacy before the General Assembly. They did. Some say they were glad so they kicked me upstairs. I don't know. I felt that it was important to have a black representation at the most critical aspect of the law. My philosophy conflicts were many, but I feel and I felt that you can't have respect for the law unless the law means what it says, and probably developed a reputation as a hanging judge, as some chose to call me, but I tried to say that no matter whom it is that comes before a Court, if they are guilty, they are going to get it in a meaningful way. The law is a waste unless it means what it says and unless it is fairly and equally administered.As a lawyer, one of my deep concerns was that if we harm one another, very little will happen. (Speaker inaudible). If we committed a crime against one of the majority, we were in deep trouble. If the majority committed a crime against us, nothing happened. I chose to see to it that no matter what he looked like, that put me into a position where many blacks hated me because some blacks felt that a black judge ought to try to rectify some of the wrongs committed to blacks by going easy on blacks. Some whites felt the same way that some liberal whites tend to feel, that you ought not go so hard on blacks who commit crimes because of hardships that blacks suffer.

Dr. Bogger: I'm sorry. I think you've touched on this, but just to be sure, in the General District Court, what type of crimes? Were these felonies?

Judge Jordan: We tried misdemeanors. We held the preliminary hearing for felonies so that if it was a felony, then the District Court determines whether or not a crime is committed and whether or not the person before you may have committed it. If so, then you send it over to the Circuit Court for consideration or to the Grand Jury for consideration. One aspect of criminal conduct that has always disturbed me was treatment of black women, especially by black men. Most of the suffering of black women was crimes committed against them by black men, and in the past, that didn't matter. It didn't matter. It mattered so little until most black women would come in, and after the conflict was over, and withdraw the warrants.I felt under duress. You know, you're a six foot two man, two hundred pounds, coming into a court with a five-foot woman, and she says, "Everything is all right. I want to drop the warrant." I never permitted that in my court. I said, "I'd be glad to consider that after I hear what occurred." And then I would hear the case. And nine times out of ten, the violation was there, and I would punish the man; and, eventually, the ladies began to realize that they could expect a fair resolution of their rights in court, and one of the refreshing things is any day I meet ladies who said, "My God, I wish you were still there. You certainly protected us." You know. But that's unforgivable in my judgment that if women are less in our society, black women were even less, you see, and somebody had to say, "oh, no, no, no."And I got in trouble with the white community because if whites committed an offense, especially against blacks, they got it too, and that wasn't supposed to happen. So the black lawyers were mad with me, and the white lawyers were made with me, and they did their best to make it difficult for me, but they had more problems than I did. I was at ease doing what I felt was right, and I would be there now unless I'd been impeached, but they had not succeeded in that.
[Transcript skipped]

Dr. Bogger: Judge Jordan, can I interrupt you for one minute, and then I would like your view of this project? But, now, you haven't said much about your term on the City Council, if you would briefly reflect on that before we leave this area. And you were elected vice mayor, and I don't think we mentioned that.

Judge Jordan: Yeah, we didn't mention that, but I served on the Council from `68 to `72 -- `77. And during that period of time, I thought I was effective. When I went on the Council, there was one black head of the recreation department; that is, he was head of the black part of the recreation department.

Dr. Bogger: Do you remember his full name?

Judge Jordan: Donald Wingo.

Dr. Bogger: Donald Wingo.

Judge Jordan: I did my best to keep the pressure on them, and block voting is pressure because everybody wants it. To change the fact, when I left, we had blacks in every department. We had blacks in administrative positions up to deputy city manager. One of the areas that concerned me was the custodial and sanitation area. We were able to change the plight of the garbage men where they would have a decent salary. Raised the salary of the custodian-sanitation people 60 percent, and then they got increments from there on, but it brought them up to a different level. Garbage men had no place to bathe or sit down and eat their lunch out here behind the cemetery, you know, where the -- off Princess Anne Road, in fact. We changed that.There were no clerks, any black clerks, in any of the courts. We changed all of that. So I think voting wise we got satellite voting places and so on. These were things that can be traced directly to the effectiveness of block voting because those who get elected need it and want it. That's one of the reasons that I'm opposed to the ward system. Just as soon as we politically segregate ourselves into two or three wards, we would have eliminated our effectiveness because we won't be able to influence the other wards, you see. Now, if the only thing you want is the honor of being on the City Council, then take the ward system. But if you want to be effective with every member of Council, then you need to be able to help get them in and help get them out, you see. And voting at large does that.If we were one percent of the vote and we could get a precinct, that would be one thing -- a ward -- that would be one thing, but here we are almost 40 percent. I believe we are 40 percent of the vote. You know, 40 percent voting as a block at large can run the city. The only reason we don't have a majority on the Council is that we're too cotton picking lazy to work from the election through to the next election. We get busy a few weeks before each election. That's better than nothing, but there's no reason why we here in the City of Norfolk -- and I know this city better than any other area -- but in most of the cities of Virginia, there is no reason why a conscientious leadership could not prepare the blacks to control the voting in the city.You know, what's happening in Portsmouth is a crime. A crime. Everybody wants to be -- wants the honor of being on the City Council, you see. Richmond, the same thing, you know, and it's frightening; but if I had my way about it, none of the major cities in Virginia would have a ward system. But the city has got these liberals, and white liberals sometimes are our worst enemies. The say "Yes, indeed, blacks ought to have more representation." That isn't the name of the game. The name of the game is influencing political action.

Dr. Bogger: This link up between the black community and the upper-class whites of the west side, can you say anything about that and shoot that down? Elaborate on that in that there has been -- there are problems in Norfolk, but compared to some other cities, it has been in, more or less, cordial political -- a cordial political alliance.

Judge Jordan: Well, we like to simplify it and say that there's this group and there's that group, and you can work for that group and you can't work for this group and so forth. All right. That isn't the way it is. Sometimes the most conservative folk are the ones you can work with best, depending upon the issues. Sometimes the most liberal folk are your problems. You know, that's your benefactor. If the liberals had continued to pursue their agenda, Dr. Robinson would have hung me or I would have hung him. Literally we would have destroyed each other. They felt that they knew who our leadership should be and that they had earned the right to the support of the black community. I have said to the liberals, if you're a real liberal, you're not there to help me to create you as my leader. You are there to work with me to create the best leadership, period; and I'm not talking about leadership from this side of town, you see. You should be ready to support the best person for mayor no matter who it is, you see. So wise politics for the black community is maintaining its block voting and using the strength of that to influence whomever the majority may be, and it doesn't matter whether they're liberal or conservative, you see.

Dr. Bogger: Very well. Now, I'm sorry for interrupting you earlier, but I think you were getting ready to start on another topic a few minutes earlier.

Judge Jordan: Oh, well, I was just pointing out what went on or what the -- what I -- the effectiveness I thought we had on the City Council in that my personal commitment to the black cause included (speaker inaudible) our history. How in the world are we going to fire up the imagination, get the adrenaline going in our young people, because they don't know who we are, and I don't think we have to go all the way back to Africa to get material and information and so forth to inspire them, although I am not against that. I think our accomplishment right here in the United States is illustrious enough to help inspire our youngsters to the higher plateau that we are seeking. For example, one of the things that I though I had accomplished on the Council was the creation of the Martin Luther King Monument.To me -- for me, that was more than just a monument. The King Monument was to be the anchor for an avenue of black history. I envisioned that moving east on Brambleton Avenue toward Norfolk State University. At every intersection there would be some edifice to a major black in American history, Sojourner Truth, Tubman, and so on, and Washington. I envisioned upon reaching Park Avenue you'd turn north on Park Avenue and do the same thing up to Booker Washington High School. Culminating at Booker Washington High School was a substantial edifice to Booker Washington. Somewhere in there on Park Avenue I thought in terms of the big three of Norfolk State University, Brown, Brooks, and Dr. Marshall. It seems to me that they're it.But then moving north on Church Street from the intersection of Church and Brambleton, we were doing the same thing, Carver, Dubois, on down to City Park so that literally one could drive through or stroll through black history. I just think we've got to have a symbolism, you see. And we would have a unique symbolism here so that when a kid wakes up in Young Park, you know, 150 feet in the air is something about him; and significantly, all of the Parks radiate around that area.
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Judge Jordan: I'm just optimistic that we can do it, and that's what we fail in. One of the areas of failure -- one of the areas we have failed in, I think, is in not recognizing that we have the opportunity of offering to this nation leadership. We have accepted the role of reactors. What is the majority doing? We react to that, but I think a nation that has gradually accepted selfishness as its philosophy needs leadership from somewhere, and who's in a better position to give it than those of us who have suffered most here? Nobody knows and appreciates the Constitution better than us, you see. If the Constitution means anything, it means the first word of the preamble, "We", but the selfishness of the past 200 or 300 years has tried to change that to say "Me." You know. If those in charge of this nation today had written the preamble, it would have started "Me the people of the United." "Me, the person of the United States." You see.What we see happening on Wall Street, you know, cannibalism. Economic cannibalism. That's not what this nation is all about, you see. And I think we're in a position to say, "Look, if we succeed, me automatically succeeds." There is no reason, no excuse for the homeless. No excuse for the hungry. No excuse for people lacking medical care, you see. A nation rich in every respect which cares only about me and the heck with it, you see. And it takes leadership to change that. Now imagine our demonstrating what togetherness is... represents a togetherness unmatched in this nation's history, us plus those who respected what we were trying to do, you see.

Dr. Bogger: Okay. Well, Judge Jordan, I'd certainly like to thank you for coming. It has been a very interesting discussion.
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Martin Luther, The King

01.20.08

In honor of my 1st posting on the BIB and the 2008 MLK Day holiday, I'm going to take a walk down memory lane all the way back to October 23, 2007.

10.23.07

Hey June Bugs,

It’s been a minute. Last time I blogged must’ve been in the dog days of summer. And here it is the last days of October oh-seven and … wait a minute it’s still the dog days of summer. Global warming is what I’m thinking. (Either that or my hot flashes have moved on to a higher, way more profounder level.) They gave Al Gore a Nobel Peace Prize for sounding the alarm. Them nice Swedish folks said, “This is for that and for keeping the peace for when you was robbed in 2000. This time when a majority of voters vote for you, you win.”

For those of you who know a little history, Gore’s peace pipe is being passed around with the same similar disdain directed in response to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1964 win.[1] Dr. King was among the first and the few to speak out against the Vietnam War. Plus, he challenged the capitalist corporate structure that has always been in conflict with America’s republic dreams and, most certainly, the demands of a democracy.

In 1789 the Framers (I will not call them founding fathers) defined the Black enslaved as property and only 3/5’s human. And now, two centuries later the descendants of those misguided leaders don’t want to talk about the sins of their fathers because it’s old news. But yet, they want to preserve the spirit of the Constitution down to every original comma. They want to have their cake and eat it too. Wouldn’t we all?

Lyndon B. Johnson saw the Nobel committee’s decision to honor MLK as a slap in the face. (He totally missed that they were pacifists not trying to bitch-slap nobody, but that’s how he thought. He was a real Texas cowboy unlike Ronald Reagan who was (to paraphrase Rush) "a phony cowboy", but a damn good actor.
(Quick aside on Reagan: Recent headlines are bemoaning the aging, drunken commercial pilot talent pool without any hinting at the reason why they all drink so much. Remember how Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers in a major union busting move? These guys have been flying solo for almost thirty years! You'd drink too! In fact, every time I fly, I have a few plus a few more. I don’t want to know what’s going on in cockpit. In this case, ignorance is pure bliss.

RESUME PRESENT DAY - 01.20.08

Dr. King was the newest and the youngest of the Black ministers in Montgomery, Al in 1956. He was 26 years-old when he was tapped to head up the bus boycott not because of his genius, but because he was low man on the totem pole. At least, that is how the historians will tell the story. But the storytellers will weave together the facts of the narrative and explain how it was God's will for a brilliant, powerful orator to be in the right place, at the right moment, for a righteous cause. The historians will recall his feet of clay and similiar details about his inner circle, but the storytellers will speak of the hope and optimism he gave to a downtrodden people. In another century there will no one alive to speak of the human being he was. He will be a deity to some and barely known to others. His power and influence will ebb and flow across the epic sea of time.

When my daughter was a little girl she used to call MLK, "Martin Luther, the King." She's all grown up now and calls him by his proper name -- titles and all, but I think she had it right way back when she was a child. Despite his human imperfections he was a king among mere mortals. His ministry from Montgomery to Memphis was barely a dozen years and yet in a few brief, shining moments the world changed for the better because of him. He was indeed a king, a prince, a husband, a father, a brother and a son. Today he is an icon, a symbol, a flawed hero who preached tolerance and non-violence. Not a bad legacy for a man who was only 39-years-old when he was assassinated. This is how the historians will lay it out. But to the storytellers, Martin Luther, the King is the stuff of the gods with giant-sized monsters and beautiful guardian angels. It is the story of a visionary, the stuff of legends and it is most benefiting to the honor and memory of a real and true king.

sb

[1] Dyson, Michael Eric, Ph.d. taught a class about the legacy of Martin Luther King in a seminar class at the University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2005.

The Seven Habits of Wealth

From BIB John Jessup

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. — Aristotle

We tend to define our lives by the big events: graduation, marriage, children, a big promotion, retirement. What often gets neglected are the little things we do every day, the little things that make the big events possible. As Aristotle said, it’s what we “repeatedly do” that produces excellence. When it comes to money and wealth, what do you repeatedly do?

Financial security cannot be reduced to a simple formula. Like excellence, it is the result of your daily habits. An individual with high income who has poor daily habits will fail to find financial security. But a person with relatively low income can achieve financial freedom through the power of good habits. So what are the habits of wealth?

Hard Work
Hard work is the habit first among equals. Achieving financial security is often the result of consistent diligence. We’ve all heard of individuals who found wealth through inheritance or the lottery, and these stories are the most memorable. What we rarely hear about, however, is the school teacher who works hard for 40 years and, along with some of the other habits below, manages to save $1 million or more on a salary that never exceeds $50,000 per year. Hard work enables us to appreciate all the more the financial security that it produces.

Modest Living
This habit is the great equalizer. Modest living can produce great wealth on a modest income. In contrast, frivolous uncontrolled spending can result in financial turmoil for the highest paid among us.

Patience
Shortcuts born out of impatience lengthen the trip. With wealth, impatience often leads to decisions with dire consequences. Patience, however, should not be equated with inaction or passivity. Rather, practicing the habit of patience produces thoughtful, long-term decisions that can produce wealth while minimizing risk. Warren Buffett epitomizes the patient investor. His investing success is often the result of patiently waiting for the right time to buy a stock or a company.

Perseverance
If it were easy, everybody would do it. The fact is, obtaining financial security requires working through challenges. These range from the small, daily choices we make, which over time have a monumental impact on our finances, to the big money events in our lives that are the most memorable. Perseverance keeps us focused on our goals, and enables us to confront all challenges, big and small.

Balance
We are constantly bombarded with imbalance in the financial press. Either real estate beats stocks or stocks beat real estate, but rarely do we hear of a healthy balance of both. Balance in all aspects of our lives produces completeness in a way that obsession never will. But balance does not mean a lack of passion. To the contrary, balance in our relationships, work, finances and other areas of our lives enables us to pursue life with passion while remaining firmly rooted. In our finances, balance shows us the importance of living for today and for the tomorrows that come our way.

Self-Awareness
“I’m trying to find myself,” was a common refrain among teenagers when I was growing up. It was the best excuse we could muster for avoiding the realties of adulthood. But a healthy dose of self-awareness brings into focus the motivations behind the daily decisions we make. Self-awareness allows us to understanding what motivates us to spend money, what investments are best for us given our tolerance for risk, and ultimately what will produce contentment in our lives. Practicing the daily habit of introspection leads to self-awareness.

Learning
It’s what we don’t know that we don’t know that is most dangerous. The habit of life-long learning enables us to improve our careers, investments, and spending, as well as other areas of our lives. The older I get, the more I realize that learning is a process, not an event. As soon as we think we’ve got it all figured out, something comes along to remind us just how fragile our understanding can be. Make learning a daily goal, and your finances will thank you for it.

What do these habits teach us? In the words of Aristotle, they teach us that who we are and what we have is a result of what we repeatedly do. Wealth then, is not the result of an act, but the result of our habits.

Harness the power of compound interest !

From BIB John Jessup
Fellow & Future Improvers,

Compound interest has been called the eighth wonder of the world. And with good reason. It magically turns a little bit of money, invested wisely, into a whole lot of cash. Even Albert Einstein is said to have called it one of the greatest mathematical concepts of our time.
But you don't need to be a genius to harness the power of compound interest. Even the most average of Joes can use it to make money. Trust me.
Here's the gist: When you save or invest, your money earns interest, or appreciates. The next year, you earn interest on your original money and the interest from the first year. In the third year, you earn interest on your original money and the interest from the first two years. And so on. It's like a snowball -- roll it down a snowy hill and it'll build on itself to get bigger and bigger. Before you know it .... avalanche!
Harness the power
Here are three steps to help you make the power of compound interest work for you. And when I say "work FOR you," I mean it. Once I help you set up an account, you don't have to do much else. Just sit back and wait for the money to roll in.

1. Start young. When you're in your twenties and thirties, your best friend is TIME. Start rolling your snowball at the top of the hill and you'll have a much bigger mass at the bottom than someone who started halfway down.
Consider this: Denise, a 22-year-old college graduate, saves $300 per month into an account earning 10% per year for six years. (That's the average annual return of the stock market over time.) Then at age 28, she starts a family and decides to stay home with the children full time. By then, Denise had kicked in $21,600 of her own money. But even if she doesn't contribute another cent ever, her money would grow to a million bucks by the time she turned 65.
Compare that to Jason, who put off saving until he was 31. He's still young enough that becoming a millionaire is within reach, but it will be tougher. Jason would have to contribute the same $300 a month for the next 34 years to earn $1 million by age 65. Although Denise invested less money out-of-pocket -- $21,600 over six years vs. Jason's $126,000 over 34 years -- her money had more time to grow, or compound. If you are interested in saving a million for your retirement, let me know I will do the math for you.
Bottom line: Getting rich is easier and more painless the earlier you start.

2. Remember that a little goes a long way. You probably don't think you have enough money to start investing? You can get into a very good mutual fund for as little as $25 - $50 a month.
Let's say a 20-year-old stashes $50 a month into a fund earning 10% annually. He'd have $528,000 by age 65. Not bad for practically starting with pocket change!
A little bit can make a difference elsewhere in compounding, too. For example, if our 20-year-old earned 9% annually instead of 10%, he would amass only $373,000 in the same period of time. That seemingly small 1% difference in performance resulted in 29% less money over the long haul.
That's why, when you're young, you need to invest fairly aggressively. You should invest nearly all your money in stocks or stock mutual funds (as opposed to bonds and other conservative investments) in hopes of netting a bigger return. You'll certainly have ups and downs, but over the long-term, TIME (again, your best friend) will smooth them out for your benefit.

3. Leave it alone. The prospect of making a lot of money without doing anything sounds good on paper. But, admittedly, in practice, it can be maddening. Every time you receive your account statement, you watch your balance s-l-o-w-l-y inch up -- or even drop. How on earth are you ever going to get rich at this pace?
Investing is a lot like Heinz ketchup: Good things come to those who wait. You must be patient for compound interest to work its awesome power. Remember that as your money earns more interest, it'll earn even more interest. You certainly won't get rich overnight this way. But you will get rich if you start young, invest wisely and leave it alone.
A final note
If you invest or save in a regular, taxable account, Uncle Sam will want his share. So make sure you factor that into your saving goal. However, you can invest in tax-sheltered accounts and keep more of the money to yourself. As you know my favorite is the Roth IRA because all your money is tax-free in retirement.
And what about inflation? True, $1 million won't have the same purchasing power in 40 years as it has today, but that's all the more reason to start saving now! The examples above use flat contributions -- $50 per month, for example. But over the years, your income will rise, too. If you increase your savings with each increase in your pay, you'll give your money more fuel to compound, and you'll boost your spending power down the road.
Besides, having a million bucks in 40 years is better than not having a million bucks at all. Start as soon as you can and save what you can to let compounding work its magic.