Volume 96 Number 50 | JULY 31-AUGUST 6, 2019 | MiamiTimesOnline.com | Ninety-Three Cents Help with fees part of voting rights restoration Miami-Dade County state attorney establishes three-pronged solution FELIPE RIVAS [email protected] Relief may be coming to Miami-Dade County returning citizens who still have not regained their right to vote due to outstand- ing fees and court costs. Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle rolled out a plan on Monday aimed at helping returning citizens who are unable to pay fines and fees to regain their right to vote. The county’s top prosecutor's plan that es- tablishes a “rocket docket” or a tribunal noted for its speedy disposition of cases; streamlines the hearing process; and allows judges to lessen some financial obligations that prevent ex-felons from registering to vote. Fernandez Rundle, along with Amendment 4 champion Desmond Meade, State Senators Jason Pizzo and Annette Taddeo, and House Demo- cratic Leader Kionne McGhee, held a town hall GLARING meeting Monday evening at Second Baptist Church in Richmond Heights to explain the plan to the South Dade community. The plan allows ex-felons to show they cannot afford other fees and fines. Individuals would have to file a motion with the court to have their DISPARITY sentences modified. Judges could then change PHILIPPE H. BUTEAU Miami Times Contributor he program created from the ashes of the McDuffie Riot is under fire. The Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust wants to end its obligation to conduct a 10-year analysis of the disparity among Miami-Dade’s Black, white and Hispanic populations. MDEAT Tsaid it can’t afford the nearly $500,000 needed to execute the 10-year study. BY THE NUMBERS MDEAT’s Executive Director John Dixon asked Commission 2018 Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust Chair Audrey Edmonson to bring the request to the board for Annual Report Card and Scorecard approval. On July 10, County Commissioners voted 9-0 to Unemployment Rate jettison the 10-year study. 24% The vote caught the attention of civil rights organizations 21.8% and community advocates, who are questioning the mission 19.7% and effectiveness of MDEAT and point out that much of the same disparities that existed since the late 1970s still exist today. MDEAT’s own data say so. 5.9% After 36 years of studies and report cards, poverty rates for families in predominantly Black communities are still much higher than white and Hispanic families. Miami Times Photo/Felipe Rivas Desmond Meade has worked since June First Vice President of the Miami-Dade branch of the NAACP to help establish a plan that may reduce fi- Darryl Holsendolph, 56, said the unrest and riots were mostly nancial obligations, which prevent returning because there was no accounting for deadly police violence in citizens from regaining the right to vote. County Overtown Model Liberty the Black community. The socioeconomic conditions heated City City up the situation as well. AREAS STUDIED The McDuffie Riots broke out in 1980 because of the acquit- sentences and have some debts turned into com- Carol City, Coconut Grove, Goulds, Liberty City, tal of all the Miami-Dade police officers who beat salesman munity service. Little Haiti, Model City, Opa-Locka, Overtown, Per- and former U.S. Marine Arthur McDuffie to death. Three days Restitution owed to victims as part of the sen- rine, Richmond Heights, South Miami, West Little tence will not be considered for reduction. River, North Miami Seventh Avenue Corridor, of riots, looting and arson led to 18 deaths, 350 injuries and In November, more than 5 million voters, North Miami Downtown Corridor, North Miami 600 arrests. some 65 percent, approved the restoration of West Dixie Highway Corridor, Northwest 27th “The Black community was not getting their fair share of Avenue Corridor, Northwest 183rd Street Corridor voting rights to former felons who have served economic prosperity in this town, county-wide,” Holsendolph Poverty in Miami-Dade their sentences and any probation or parole. The said. “We’re sitting at McDuffie temperatures right now.” amendment excluded those who were convicted 21.3% The County government took responsibility for the unstable of murder or felony sexual offense. About 1.4 race relations because of the disparity of socioeconomic con- million Floridians were supposed to be re-en- 15.4% ditions affecting Black communities. franchised and expected to register to vote. 13.6% Born then was the Metro Miami Action Plan to address the However, after a contentious Legislative Session, prosperity imbalance. MMAP commissioned its first analysis lawmakers approved SB 7066, which, mandates in 1983 and by the 2007-2009 report MMAP became the that fines, fees and restitution be paid before Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust. individuals registering to vote. Over 540,000 SEE RIGHTS 4A SEE DATA 4A Black Families White Families Hispanic/Latino BUSINESS ................................................. 8B YOU & YOURS ............................................ 7D Today CLASSIFIED ............................................. 11B FAITH CALENDAR ................................... 8D SUMMER IN 90° IN GOOD TASTE ......................................... 1C HEALTH & WELLNESS ............................. 9D LIFESTYLE HAPPENINGS ....................... 5C OBITUARIES ............................................. 12D Grand Bahama 4C 8 90158 00100 0 INSIDE Editorials Cartoons Opinions Letters VIEWPOINT BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY | JULY 31-AUGUST 6, 2019 | MiamiTimesOnline.com MEMBER: National Newspaper Periodicals Postage Credo Of The Black Press Publisher Association paid at Miami, Florida (ISSN 0739-0319) The Black Press believes that America MEMBER: The Newspaper POSTMASTER: Keeping bias out of Published Weekly at 900 NW 54th Street, can best lead the world from racial and Association of America Send address changes to Miami, Florida 33127-1818 national antagonism when it accords Subscription Rates: One Year THE MIAMI TIMES, Post Office Box 270200 to every person, regardless of race, $65.00 – Two Year $120.00 P.O. Box 270200 Buena Vista Station, Miami, Florida 33127 creed or color, his or her human and Foreign $75.00 Buena Vista Station, Miami, FL our legal system Phone 305-694-6210 7 percent sales tax for Florida residents 33127-0200 • 305-694-6210 legal rights. Hating no person, fearing H.E. SIGISMUND REEVES Founder, 1923-1968 no person, the Black Press strives to KATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE, Miami-Dade State Attorney GARTH C. REEVES JR. Editor, 1972-1982 help every person in the firm belief that GARTH C. REEVES SR. Publisher Emeritus all persons are hurt as long as anyone RACHEL J. REEVES Publisher and Chairman is held back. We should not have to say that bias has CAROLYN GUNISS Executive Editor no place in our criminal justice system, but we do. I say this in light of the 72 Philadel- phia police officers who are being relieved of duty because they reportedly posted big- The rot you smell is a racist POTUS oted social media comments on Facebook. CHARLES M. BLOW, columnist, The New York Times Everybody in our criminal justice system should work to protect and serve all parts of every com- It seems maddeningly re- petitive to have to return munity. There are no exceptions. time and again to the fact I and Miami Beach Police Chief Dan Oates confronted that Donald Trump is a rac- this exact situation in 2015 when an internal affairs probe ist, but it must be done. discovered that two ranking former police officer adminis- On Saturday, [Trump trators sent hundreds of offensive, racist and pornograph- tweeted] that Rep. Elijah ic emails to fellow cops through the city's email system. Cummings’s district “is a Confronting such conduct and bringing it to light is the disgusting, rat and rodent in- only way to eliminate bigotry and bias. fested mess,” a “very danger- A subtler problem is eliminating implicit biases, which ous & filthy place” and [“No are unconscious beliefs or attitudes, that may influence human being would want to one’s actions. That is why I spoke with San Francisco Dis- live there.”] Cummings is trict Attorney George Gascón, my good friend and col- Black, as are most people in league, to discuss his experiment with the “blind charging” his district. of the criminal defendants his office will prosecute. This talk of infestation District Attorney Gascón said while not in effect yet, he is telling, because he only plans to eliminate all specific individual identifiers from seems to apply it to issues the paperwork provided to prosecutors prior to their mak- concerning Black and Brown ing charging decisions on their cases. Identifiers would people. He has sniped about only come into play after a case has been filed. His accu- the [“Ebola infested areas of Africa.”] He has called Con- mulated data over an extended period of time could pro- gressman John Lewis’s Atlan- vide significant insight to prosecutors across the country Alex Wong/Getty Images ta district “crime infested” as concerned about the impact of implicit biases. "While our Country is doing very well, the potential wealth creation that was missed, well as telling him to focus In my office, the State Attorney’s Office, I have long been on “the burning and crime especially when measured against our debt, is staggering," President Donald Trump concerned about the potential influence of implicit biases infested inner-cities of the tweeted. on the decisions our attorneys make. As State Attorney, I U.S.” He has called sanctu- subhuman. Either way the violent crime in our major chy are. have worked hard to avoid the issue by recruiting a diverse ary cities a “crime infested hierarchy is established, with cities is committed by Blacks The core of this man is rac- group of lawyers from around the country. We bolster our & breeding concept.” He has whiteness assuming the su- and Hispanics — a tough sub- ist in a way that is so fused recruiting and reach minority law students through our talked about how “illegal im- perior position.