By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) – With the 2024 presidential election just two weeks away, early voting is surging nationwide as both parties make their final push to secure crucial ballots. Early voting data has begun to shed light on which states might see the most significant shifts—and, in some cases, repeat the razor-thin margins of 2020. While Independent and other voters are mostly excluded from the figures, pollsters warn that party affiliation doesn’t necessarily determine who early voters are casting their ballots for.

National early voting trends: Key battlegrounds in focus

Across the nation, more than 15 million mail-in and early in-person votes have already been cast. Among these early votes, 46 percent come from registered Democrats, 36 percent from Republicans, and 18 percent from other parties. 

The early voting push comes as Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign encourages Democratic voters to take advantage of mail-in and early voting to lock in ballots well before Election Day, countering the traditionally lower early voting rates among Democratic voters in past elections. 

And, despite initially criticizing early voting, the twice-impeached former President Donald Trump’s campaign has urged Republicans to vote early, apparently recognizing its critical role in battleground states.

In Georgia, where Biden narrowly defeated Trump in 2020, early voting has seen 1,691,298 ballots cast so far. The partisan split is tight, with 49 percent from Republicans and 46 percent from Democrats, reflecting how crucial the state remains in the 2024 contest.

Wisconsin, another battleground where Biden edged out Trump in 2020, has seen 326,124 early votes, with Democrats accounting for 40 percent and Republicans just 19 percent. In Michigan, where Biden won by a margin of 50.6 percent to 47.8 percent in the last election, 1,031,654 early votes have been cast, with 54 percent from Democrats and 36 percent from Republicans.

Pennsylvania, pivotal in Biden’s 2020 victory, has already seen 921,720 early votes, with 64 percent from Democrats and 27 percent from Republicans. Nevada, another state that helped seal Biden’s win in 2020, has logged 247,738 early votes, with a breakdown of 40 percent   Democrats, 35 percent Republicans, and 25 percent from other voters.

The toss-Up nature of the 2024 election

Polling data, including a Washington Post-Schar School survey, shows that Harris and Trump are locked in a dead heat, with each receiving 47 percent support from registered voters. Among likely voters, Harris holds a slight 1-point lead at 49 percent compared to Trump’s 48 percent This trend mirrors the tight electoral battles seen in these battleground states, where margins of victory could come down to just a few thousand votes, as they did in 2020.

“I think this election will break at the end,” veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said. “Someone will carry the swing states, and that will decide it. Whoever breaks those states 5-2 or 6-1 will not only take the presidency; they’ll likely do well in the House and Senate too.”

The shadow of Project 2025

While much of the focus is on the election itself, the looming influence of Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation initiative to reshape the federal government, has garnered attention. The initiative, which has strong ties to Trump’s first administration, is conservative in ideology. 

Despite Trump’s claims that he has no connection to the project, analysis has revealed that well over half of the 307 authors and contributors to the “Mandate for Leadership,” the document guiding Project 2025, served in Trump’s administration or during his campaign.

The policy proposals outlined in Project 2025 aim to overhaul key aspects of the federal government, including dramatically reshaping regulatory frameworks, reducing the size of government, and reversing many policies implemented by the Biden administration. Critics have pointed out that the project could significantly alter how federal agencies operate, and its influence could expand should Trump return to the White House.

“This race is a long way from decided,” added Carville, who noted he has “a feeling” Harris will win. “But one thing’s clear: whoever breaks those (swing) states is going to take the presidency.”

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By AFRO Staff

As early voting begins in Baltimore, registered voters will see a series of questions in addition to the names of candidates and the offices they seek. Voting is crucial in shaping the future, but knowledge of candidates and the issues is equally important.

This week, in addition to endorsing Kamala Harris for president and Angela Alsobrooks for U.S. Senate, the AFRO editorial board weighs in on two crucial ballot questions facing voters this year—Question F and Question H.

It is never advisable to vote straight “for” or “against” on all the questions. This year, doing so will have serious consequences. Don’t head to the polls without understanding what is being asked! Take this edition of the AFRO with you to ensure you are informed on these key ballot issues. 

Question F – FOR: Charter Amendment Inner Harbor Park

Opponents of Question F have adopted the catchphrase “F No.” But here’s what will happen if you let that slogan guide your vote: the plan to revitalize Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, which serves both residents and millions of visitors annually, will face setbacks.

MCB Real Estate, co-founded by P. David Bramble, has a bold vision to redevelop the area, which has struggled with tenant vacancies and declining foot traffic. Bramble, son of Baltimore Times founder Joy Bramble, and his partners are planning a multi-million-dollar project to restore the “crown jewel” of Baltimore after years of stagnation.

Question F specifically asks about the space “around the Northwest and South Shores of the Inner Harbor, south of Pratt Street to the water’s edge, east of Light Street to the water’s edge, and north of the highway to the water’s edge.” This area includes the World Trade Center and Rash Field. The question asks whether voters support new development that includes dining options, commercial spaces, multifamily residential buildings, and off-street parking.

While the current city charter designates this land for “public park uses,” the redevelopment plan still includes significant park space. According to MCB Real Estate’s “Our Harborplace” plan, the proposal includes:

• Over 4 acres of new parks and public space
• 2.3 acres of new park space at The Park at Freedom’s Port (Light & Pratt Streets)
• 500+ new native trees to provide shade along the public promenade
• Upper and lower promenades to mitigate flooding and enhance public access to the water
• Native landscaping and shoreline protection to support Chesapeake Bay ecology
• Marshlands to filter nutrients from the harbor

In response to community feedback, the updated master plan, released in Summer 2024, incorporates additional green space and pathways north of the World Trade Center.

Of particular note is The Park at Freedom’s Port, which honors the legacy of the Black community that once thrived around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Sharp Street was central to the Underground Railroad and home to the South’s first Black school. However, over time, the community was displaced and diminished. MCB Real Estate plans to honor this legacy by naming the new park “The Park at Freedom’s Port.”

For these reasons, the AFRO urges voters to vote FOR the Charter Amendment in Question F.

Question H – AGAINST: Reducing Baltimore City Council Districts

The AFRO has serious concerns about Question H, which seeks to reduce the number of Baltimore City Council districts from 14 to 8.

This isn’t the first time the City Council’s composition has been under scrutiny. Historically, the council had six districts with three members each, along with a council president. This provided residents with multiple representatives to address concerns if one was unavailable. Today, with only 14 members, shrinking the council even further could centralize power in the hands of a few.

For these reasons, the AFRO strongly recommends voting AGAINST Question H.

The post Don’t be fooled Vote ‘NO’ on H, ‘YES’ on F in Baltimore City appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), through the Center for Policy Analysis and Research (CPAR), recently released a Project 2025 fact sheet for Black voters ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5. 

Project 2025 is an extensive plan crafted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to provide the next conservative president with the resources and policies needed to vastly restructure the federal government. 

“This extreme proposal is designed to roll back progress, unravel justice, equality and fairness, and erode the most foundational ideals of our democracy,” said Janai Nelson, president of the Legal Defense Fund, in a statement. “These disturbing and egregious measures include aims to severely diminish Black political power, threaten and subjugate Black communities within the criminal legal system and undermine every person’s right to quality education and reproductive health care.”

“More than ever, it is paramount to the future of our multiracial, multiethnic democracy to advance an affirmative vision of justice and equality that serves everyone,” Nelson continued.

CBCF was founded in 1976 as a “nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research and educational institute.” Their fact sheet outlines how proposed policies could impact criminal justice, the economy and more, potentially widening educational gaps and worsening economic inequalities for Black Americans.

According to the CBCF, when it comes to civil rights, “Project 2025 seeks to dismantle the civil rights divisions of the Department of Labor and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which investigate workplace and housing discrimination.”

“It would also prevent the Department of Justice from investigating voter suppression and election subversion, which would remove a crucial layer of oversight that safeguards every American’s right to vote,” reads the report. In addition, if implemented, “Project 2025 seeks to outlaw diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in federal agencies and ban what it calls ‘anti-White indoctrination,’ including critical race theory and affirmative action.”

“If successful, these changes would strip away career and educational opportunities for people of color, further reducing resources for Black communities that have long faced systemic barriers,” warns the organization.

When it comes to criminal justice, CBCF leadership warns that “while most criminal justice reforms currently occur at the state and local levels, Project 2025 advocates for a larger federal role in law enforcement, with potential negative implications for Black communities.” 

“Motivated by a mandate to ‘restore law and order,’ Project 2025 targets progressive prosecutors and empowers the federal government to bring charges against individuals it believes local jurisdictions have wrongfully allowed to evade responsibility for their conduct,” reads the report. “The plan also includes increasing police funding and reducing support for community-based alternatives, such as mental health responders. These programs, which dispatch unarmed responders to address mental health crises and homelessness, have been successful in diffusing police-citizen conflicts in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles.”

Aside from reducing resources that have been proven to help the community, “Project 2025 calls for the increased use of the death penalty and stricter federal sentences for drug possession,” according to information released by the CBCF. “These directives would empower the federal government to enforce inequitable laws that contribute to the overrepresentation of Black citizens in the criminal legal system.”

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By Keith Boykin
Word in Black 

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

This month, Kamala Harris unveiled a new agenda for Black men. The plan is extensive, but I want to highlight 10 specific steps she would take as president that would empower Black men with the tools we need to build wealth, provide for our families, and lead our communities.

Number 1- Business loans

Black Americans are twice as likely to be denied credit by banks, so Harris would provide 1 million fully forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to Black entrepreneurs and others who have historically faced barriers to starting a new business or growing an existing one. 

Number 2- More jobs without college degrees

Harris would eliminate unnecessary degree requirements and promote pathways for those without college degrees for 500,000 federal jobs. 

Number 3- more Black male teachers

As a former high school English and social studies teacher, I know it’s important for young Black males to see Black men in front of the classroom as role models and mentors. Only 1 percent of public school teachers are Black men, so Harris would create pathways for more Black men to become teachers, including apprenticeship programs and loan forgiveness. 

Number 4- Health care

My uncle, who had sickle cell disease, died last year, and I know several Black men my age who have been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. And don’t get me started on the mental health needs of the Black men in my family and community. I see it every day. We’ve been traumatized by an unfair criminal justice system and a world that demonizes us instead of understanding us. Fortunately, Harris would launch a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black men that addresses sickle cell disease, diabetes, mental health, and prostate cancer. 

Number 5- Weed equity

Black men have been disproportionately arrested and incarcerated for marijuana-related charges. Now that cannabis is becoming more socially acceptable and profitable, it’s only fair that we benefit from the changing system that hurt us. Vice President Harris not only wants to legalize recreational marijuana but also create opportunities for Black Americans to succeed in this new industry. 

Number 6- Ban the box

I have a law degree, and yet when I lived in Harlem, I was still stopped on the street, arrested, and locked up in jail. I know Black men have been targeted by a racist criminal justice system. Harris would work with Congress to require businesses to limit the unnecessary use of criminal arrest histories, convictions, and credit scores in employment decisions. 

Number 7- Mentorship Programs 

Harris would expand funding for community mentorship programs with a proven track record of helping young Black men succeed. She will also support programs like My Brother’s Keeper.

Number 8- Support Black farmers

Harris would continue to support Black farmers and ranchers who have been denied access to capital. As vice president, she already distributed funding to thousands of Black farmers and ranchers in a $2 billion relief package. 

Number 9. Relieve Medical Debt. My stepfather passed away in April 2020 , with a mountain of medical debt. Vice President Harris plans to work with states to relieve medical debt, which is the leading cause of bankruptcy in America, and disproportionately hurts Black Americans.

And Number 10. Crypto Protection. More than 20 percent of Black Americans, including me, have owned cryptocurrency assets. I lost money in crypto, but the high-risk, high-reward crypto markets provide opportunities outside of the existing stock market for many Black men. A Harris administration would support a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and other digital assets to protect Black men who invest in these assets. 

Now, let me answer a few questions I’ve already seen from critics:

Question 1: Why didn’t she do this in the last four years? 

Because she’s not the president. She’s the vice president. Trump was actually a president, and he did none of these things in his four years in office.

Question 2: But why do some of these policies say Black men “and others?” Why aren’t they all Black-specific? 

Well, because Trump’s Supreme Court Justices and federal judges keep striking down programs that focus on Black people? Trump’s Supreme Court ended race-specific affirmative action in college admissions. A Trump-appointed federal judge forced the Minority Business Development Agency to help white people. Another Trump-appointed federal judge blocked a disaster relief program for Black farmers. And two Trump-appointed federal judges in Georgia blocked a private program by the Fearless Fund to help Black women in business.

If Trump’s judges won’t allow a private group of Black women to help each other, do you think they’re going to let a government program that only helps Black men and excludes others? No. But this is what happens when we don’t vote. So we have to create clever ways to get around the Trump MAGA Republican bans on helping Black people.

Question 3: Yeah, but why does it feel like Democrats only care about Black women? 

Yes, Joe Biden elevated two very prominent Black women in the past four years:VP  Kamala Harris and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. But the Democratic Party is filled with Black men in positions of power and leadership. The highest-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives is Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who will become the first Black Speaker if Democrats win the House in November. The highest ranking leader in the military is Lloyd Austin, the first Black Secretary of Defense. Two of the three Democratic Black U.S. senators — Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker — are Black men. The Democratic governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, is a Black man. The mayors of New York City, Chicago, and Atlanta are all Black men in the Democratic Party. And the only Black person ever elected president, Barack Obama, is also a Black man. 

And Question 4: But isn’t Trump better for Black men? 

Was he better for Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise — the Exonerated Five teenagers who went to prison when Trump led a lynch mob against them for a rape they did not commit, and then refused to apologize after they were exonerated by DNA evidence? Was he better for the Black casino workers who sued him for racial discrimination? Was he better for Colin Kapernick and the NFL players he attacked for taking a knee? Was he better for Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police Officer who had to fend off a mob of angry white Trump supporters who tried to take over the Capitol on January 6? Was he better for the Haitian American Black men in Springfield, Ohio, who were subjected to death threats because of Trump’s lies about them eating dogs and cats? Was he better for Marcellus Williams, the Black man who was executed by the State of Missouri last month because Donald Trump’s three Supreme Court Justices refused to agree with the Democratic Justices to stop the execution? Was he better for the Black farmers denied relief by his judges? Was he better for the Black men who died while he mismanaged the COVID pandemic? And will he be better for the Black youth who will be harassed by the police when he brings back stop and frisk? 

Kamala Harris wants to help Black men build wealth, provide for our families, and lead our communities. Trump wants to use us as political pawns in his angry MAGA campaign. Those are the choices. Choose wisely.

The post Kamala Harris has a plan for Black men–Trump never did appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Caley Fox Shannon

Early voting began Oct. 24 in Maryland, with some voters lining up before sunrise to cast their votes when the polls opened at 7 a.m. for president, Senate, House, ballot initiatives and various local races.

In Montgomery County, early birds formed a line at dawn outside the Silver Spring Civic Building.

Campaign volunteers set up tables on the plaza and unpacked sheafs of sample ballots to hand out. Inside, election judges plugged in ballot scanners, opened boxes of pens and laid out “I Voted” stickers.

“It’s a festive time,” Alan Bowser of Silver Spring told Capital News Service. Bowser was first in line at 6 a.m., and said he’s held that honor in every cycle since early voting became an option in Maryland.

Early voting began in the state in 2010 after Marylanders overwhelmingly favored a 2008 ballot question empowering lawmakers to write early balloting into law. In the intervening years, the Maryland General Assembly has voted four times to expand the number of early voting sites.

State Board of Elections Deputy Administrator Katherine Berry told CNS that as of 2:30 p.m. Thursday, more than 90,000 voters had turned out to cast their ballots. That pacing is on par with early voting turnout in 2020, Berry said, but far higher than the 2024 primary.

Bowser, a precinct chair for the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, told CNS the voters he speaks with are feeling motivated to elect the two women of color running close races at the top of the ticket: Vice President Kamala Harris for president and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks for Senate.

Webb Smedley was out in the brisk morning sporting a Harris Walz cap in woodland camo, paired with an Alsobrooks t-shirt featuring the candidate’s portrait.

Smedley, who is retired, said that this is the first time he has volunteered for a campaign.

“I think that it’s the most important election of my lifetime, and I’ve voted since…for a long time,” he said.

Also on the Democratic ticket in Montgomery County is Rep. Jamie Raskin, who is running to keep his seat in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.

Raskin arrived at the polls himself just after 7 a.m., greeting supporters with hugs and shaking hands with officials from the local board of elections. The Hill projects Raskin has a 99% chance of beating out Republican opponent Cheryl Riley to stay in Congress.

Walking in the front door of the polling place, Raskin told CNS, “I can’t wait to vote for Kamala.”

Of the many campaign signs dotting the parkway in front of the Civic Building, there was only one for Donald Trump, an unsurprising reality in deeply blue Montgomery County.

But that doesn’t mean there weren’t Republicans at the polls in Silver Spring.

Michael Fletcher, a Republican from Olney, was reprising his role as a poll watcher, a designated individual approved to observe election activities.

Fletcher told CNS that he became interested in being a poll watcher after the 2020 election, when, in his words, “there were so many allegations and innuendo and things like that. So I thought I’d get more involved and see how the process worked.”

Although Trump continues to repeat false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, a lie spread by FOX News and prominent Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Fletcher said that he hasn’t seen anything concerning at the polls in his county.

“I think the Board of Elections in Montgomery County does a really good job of training their judges,” Fletcher said. “But I also like to think that just my presence here maybe makes everybody get up a little higher on the step, you know, do a little bit better job.”

For Montgomery County Board of Elections Secretary Amie Hoeber, a Republican, it’s frustrating that so many within her party continue to cast doubt on the voting process. She told CNS, “I find it fair and reasonable, and object to the people who consider it a problem.”

Hoeber has already cast her ballot by mail and wants to reassure the public that mail-in voting is another option that is “completely secure.”

Montgomery County Board of Elections President David Naimon said many voters like to wait until the last minute, but he urged the public to resist the “real human tendency to procrastinate.”

Polling places specially designated as early voting centers in Maryland are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Thursday October 31. More information about early voting can be found on the State Board of Elections website.

Catch AFRO’s Managing Editor, Alexis Taylor at an early voting location here!

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By Melissa Lavigne-Delville,
Jessica Yu C

With just a few weeks until a historic presidential election, political anxiety has reached fever pitch. Four months ago, Hers took the pulse on overall stress levels across the country and the results are eye-opening. 

Obviously, the political landscape has changed quite a bit in the last four months—it’s been an election season marked by a series of unprecedented events: not one but two assassination attempts, a major third party candidate dropping out and endorsing one of his rivals, and of course, the sitting president dropping out of the race and endorsing the vice president for his party’s nomination. 

Data from the Hers study fielded in May 2024 reveals how cities were feeling about the election prior to President Biden dropping out. 

Pre-Election Stress Levels Across the Country

According to the study, 11.5% of respondents named “the upcoming presidential election” as a top source of stress, which at first blush didn’t seem all that high. However, American cities swung in their stress levels from just 3% who were worried about the election (Birmingham, AL) to 20% (Austin, TX). 

Generally speaking, the cities most and least stressed about the upcoming election were also the ones most and least stressed about the state of the world. 

Austin was the fifth most anxious about the state of the world (26%, tied with Philadelphia), surpassed only by Atlanta (29%), Cleveland (29%), Detroit (27%), and New Haven (27%). Birmingham, AL, on the other hand, wasn’t as actively worried about the state of the world: Only 11% said it was a top source of stress, about half that of respondents overall (20%). 

On the other side of the spectrum, more than one-fifth (21%) of Birmingham residents named no sources of stress as compared to only 8% of the rest of the country who felt the same. 

Hers ranked cities from most stressed about the upcoming presidential election to least stressed. In May, Democratic-leaning cities topped the political stress test. Meanwhile, Republican-leaning cities fell near the bottom of the list (see Most to Least Politically Anxious Cities list below). 

DC Was Comparatively Calm, Cool, and Collected

Interestingly, the nation’s capital, Washington D.C., was among just two Democratic-leaning state cities that fell within the 10 least stressed major metropolitan areas in the U.S. at the time. The other was Washington D.C.’s neighbor, Baltimore, MD. 

While it’s difficult to explain why two cities at the epicenter of politics felt just fine, they may simply be used to all the hoopla. For them, political stress is business as usual. 

Most to Least Politically Anxious Cities (May 2024)
Percentage of survey respondents who indicated the upcoming presidential election as a top source of stress

Austin, TX – 20%
Minneapolis, MN – 18%
Philadelphia, PA – 17%
Atlanta, GA – 17%
Detroit, MI – 17%
Denver, CO – 16%
Sacramento, CA – 16%
Portland, OR – 16%
Charlotte, NC – 15%
Salt Lake City, UT – 15%
New Haven, CT – 14%
Nashville, TN – 14%
Greenville, SC – 14%
Houston, TX – 13%
Los Angeles, CA – 13%
Las Vegas, NV – 13%
Orlando, FL – 12%
Little Rock, AR – 12%
Honolulu, HI – 12%
St. Louis, MO – 12%
Omaha, NE – 12%
New York, NY – 11%
Tampa, FL – 11%
Oklahoma City, OK – 11%
San Francisco, CA – 11%
Seattle, WA – 11%
Des Moines, IA – 11%
Boston, MA – 10%
Pittsburgh, PA – 10%
Miami, FL – 10%
Raleigh, NC – 10%
San Antonio, TX – 10%
Norfolk, VA – 10%
San Diego, CA – 10%
Albuquerque, NM – 10%
Cleveland, OH – 10%
Providence, RI – 9%
Memphis, TN – 9%
Phoenix, AZ – 9%
Chicago, IL – 9%
Kansas City, KS – 9%
Milwaukee, WI – 9%
Baltimore, MD – 8%
New Orleans, LA – 8%
Columbus, OH – 8%
Dallas, TX – 7%
Washington, DC – 7%
Louisville, KY – 7%
Indianapolis, IN – 6%
Birmingham, AL – 3%

Get the data

Tips for Keeping Political Anxiety at Bay

While stress levels by city may have shifted since May, what Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all might agree on—other than their health, a story Hers reported on in July—is that this election cycle has been a rollercoaster. Here are some tips for keeping calm and carrying on through the fall.  

Practice mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind to help reduce stress. Recent research shows mindfulness meditation may be as effective at reducing anxiety as medication for some people.

Try stimulus control. Stimulus control is a behavioral psychology technique in which a stimulus that typically triggers a certain behavior is modified so that the behavior is less likely to occur. You might find that your political anxiety increases when reading the news, listening to the radio, or scrolling through social media. Try setting limits around content consumption to keep this anxiety at bay.

Talk it out. Research proves that simply naming your feelings can help calm you down. Saying “I’m anxious/agitated/restless” helps build insight into what you’re feeling and why you’re feeling it. And once you’re more aware of the distress you’re feeling, you’re more likely to do something to manage your anxiety and stress.

Head to the polls. If you’re feeling stressed about the election, make a plan to vote. No matter which candidate you support, being civically engaged may help you feel personally fulfilled and alleviate psychological distress. According to research, civic engagement can have a positive impact on mental health. Voting allows people to weigh in on processes and policies that are bound to affect the society they live in. And activism has been linked to happiness, personal fulfillment, and social well-being.

Remember radical acceptance. If you try all of the above and still find yourself in distress over the politics of our nation, it might be time to consider practicing a dialectical behavior therapy skill called radical acceptance. Radical acceptance means acknowledging and even embracing difficult circumstances—and

Data and Methodology

This study is based on a 5,504-person online survey, which included 5,000 18-to-65-year-old respondents in the top 50 metropolitan areas (100 respondents per city) and a nationally representative sample of 504 18-to-65-year-old respondents to contextualize results. The study was fielded in May 2024.

Findings were analyzed by more than 100 demographic and psychographic cuts, including city, region, gender (when Hers refers to “women” and “men,” this includes all people who self-identify as such), age, race and ethnicity, relationship status, parenting status, sexual orientation (heterosexual, bisexual, gay, lesbian, pansexual, asexual, queer, etc.), and political affiliation, among other areas of interest. 

Metropolitan populations were determined by 2022 Census data. In order to represent as many states as possible within the study, five cities that did not fall in the top 50 metropolitan locations were selected in place of cities in states already represented. Cities added to the study included New Orleans, LA (51), Providence, RI (53), Little Rock, AR (59), Honolulu, HI (68), and Omaha, NE (71). Cities replaced in the study included West Palm Beach, FL (39), Jacksonville, FL (41), Grand Rapids, MI (42), Harrisburg, PA (44), and Greensboro, NC (45).

Respondents were asked to rate their happiness on a one to five scale. To rank the happiest cities in America, Hers looked at the number of respondents who rated themselves as a four (happy describes me) or five (happy very much describes me) to create an average happiness score.

All data in this study are from this source, unless otherwise noted. Independent research firm Culture Co-op conducted and analyzed research and findings.

This story was produced by Hers and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.

The post How stressed are American cities about the election? Plus, election anxiety tips from a psychologist appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Colleen Long and Will Weissert
The Associated Press

JONESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Kamala Harris on Oct. 20 summoned Black churchgoers to turn out at the polls and got a big assist from music legend Stevie Wonder, who rallied congregants with a rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

Harris visited two Atlanta area churches as part of a nationwide push known as “souls to the polls.” It’s a mobilization effort led by the National Advisory Board of Black Faith Leaders, which is sending representatives across battleground states to encourage early voting.

After services, buses took congregants straight to early polling places.

At both churches, Harris delivered a message about kindness and lifting people up rather than insulting them, trying to set up an implicit contrast with Republican Donald Trump’s brash style. With just 16 days left until Election Day, Harris is running out of time to get across her message to a public still getting to know her after a truncated campaign.

“There is so much at stake right now,” she said at the Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro. “We understand for us to do good works, it means to do it in the spirit of understanding that our strength is not based on who we beat down, as some would try to suggest. Our strength is based on who we lift up. And that spirit is very much at stake in these next 16 days.”

Wonder led the crowd in singing his version of “Happy Birthday” to the vice president, who turned 60 on Oct. 20.  When he was done, she appeared to choke up, saying, “I love you so much.”

Wonder grinned and said “don’t cry” before telling the crowd how important it was for people to get out and vote.

“We’re going to make the difference between yesterday and tomorrow,” he said.

Harris later said that she “had to check off a whole big one” on her bucket list because of Wonder singing her a birthday song, which prompted the singer to spring up and lead the congregation in a quick verse of “Higher Ground.”

Pastor Donald Battle said of the election: “Georgia’s gonna be the state that turns it for the vice president.”

“Souls to the Polls” as an idea traces back to the Civil Rights Movement. The Rev. George Lee, a Black entrepreneur from Mississippi, was killed by White supremacists in 1955 after he helped nearly 100 Black residents register to vote in the town of Belzoni. The cemetery where Lee is buried has served as a polling place.

Black church congregations across the country have undertaken get-out-the-vote campaigns for years. In part to counteract voter suppression tactics that date back to the Jim Crow era, early voting in the Black community is stressed from pulpits nearly as much as it is by candidates.

In Georgia, early voting began on Oct. 15, and more than 310,000 people voted on that day, more than doubling the first-day total in 2020. A record 5 million people voted in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Earlier Oct. 20, the Democratic presidential nominee attended New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, where the congregation also sang “Happy Birthday.”

New Birth Pastor Jamal Bryant called the vice president “an American hero, the voice of the future” and “our fearless leader.” He also used his sermon to welcome the idea of America electing its first woman president, saying, “It takes a real man to support a real woman.”

“When Black women roll up their sleeves, then society has got to change,” Bryant said.

Harris referenced scripture as she promoted the importance of loving one’s neighbor, and then drew a contrast to the current political environment.

“In this moment, across our nation, what we do see are some who try to deepen division among us, spread hate, sow fear and cause chaos,” Harris told the congregation. “The true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.”

One congregant who got a hug from Harris was 98-year-old Opal Lee, an activist who pushed to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday.

Harris is a Baptist. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish. She has said she’s inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother’s native India as well as the Black Church. Harris sang in the choir as a child at Twenty-Third Avenue Church of God in Oakland.

Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, attended church in Saginaw, Michigan, and his wife, Gwen, headed to a service in Las Vegas.

Also Oct. 20 Harris sat for an interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton and was asked about the idea that she might see her support slipping among Black men — some of whom might be reluctant to vote for a woman for president. Former President Barack Obama suggested that might be an issue during a recent campaign stop for Harris in Pittsburgh.

Harris said she had garnered support from many key Black male leaders, adding, “there’s this narrative about what kind of support we are receiving from Black men that is just not panning out in reality.”

On Oct. 21, she will campaign with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in the suburbs of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

The post Harris urges African-American churchgoers in Georgia to vote and gets an assist from Stevie Wonder appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

Learn about ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) issues ahead of the 2024 election

United Way’s programs and services, as well as our advocacy work, supports equity, access, and opportunity for all—with a focus on ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) households.

People at or below the ALICE budget threshold struggle every day to pay for the basics—like housing, food, healthcare, transportation, and childcare. In Maryland, 39% of households—nearly one million—don’t bring in enough income to keep pace with the cost of living. 

A significant portion of Maryland’s workforce, including cashiers, cooks, restaurant staff, drivers, warehouse workers, health aides, childcare providers, office staff, and more, live as ALICE. A majority of these peopel are working in one or more jobs, and still live just one emergency away from financial crisis. 

Policy change is a powerful way to break down longstanding barriers and strengthen lives, communities, and our economy. As we approach the 2024 election, it is crucial for voters to be aware of the challenges for ALICE households—which affect us all—at the ballot box. 

The Maryland State Association of United Ways’ #VoteForALICE social media campaign encourages voters to consider ALICE issues at the ballot box and prioritize policies that promote economic stability and opportunity for all.

Hundreds of thousands of workers in Maryland currently live below the ALICE threshold, including 36% of retail salespersons, 49% of cashiers, and 12% of the state’s registered nurses. These hardworking individuals contribute essential services to our communities, but their income can’t keep pace with the high cost of living in the state.

“As we approach the 2024 election, it is crucial for eligible voters and policymakers to be aware of ALICE issues and consider the needs of ALICE households when voting,” said Franklyn Baker, President and CEO of United Way of Central Maryland. “Our Maryland State Association of United Ways stands united in our vision for healthy, thriving communities and work around the clock to tackle challenges in housing, childcare, transportation, digital access, and more that impact ALICE households—and policy change is often the first step in addressing inequities that prevent people from getting by—or even getting ahead.”

Want an easy way to stay informed on the issues and directly contact your elected officials? Sign up for Voter Voice, United Way’s advocacy platform that educates and mobilizes supporters, and does the work of reaching out to policy makers for you! 

“The Maryland State Board of Elections is committed to educating eligible voters about how to participate in the General Election and appreciates the Maryland State Association of United Ways and others’efforts to communicate with Marylanders around the upcoming election,” said Jared DeMarinis, StateAdministrator, Maryland State Board of Elections. “Marylanders should visit the VOTE MD website  for information on registering to vote and how to vote in this important election.”

Make your voice heard and take action today! UNITED, we can help improve the financial security and well-being of Maryland households that struggle to make ends meet.

To learn more about the challenges ALICE households face, to read the latest interactive ALICE Report, and to find helpful election resources so that you can vote to help ALICE households, visit uwcm.org/ALICE.

About United Ways in Maryland

United Ways in Maryland support and drive work in their respective regions to advance healthy communities, financial security, youth opportunity, and community resiliency.

The post United Way’s ALICE campaign highlights challenges for working families in Maryland appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware

Overview:

Since the 2020 election, far-right vigilantes have begun appearing at polling places, threatening poll workers and voters, usually in Black communities. Coupled with strict voter I.D. laws and criminal penalties for voter fraud, voting can be an uncomfortable experience.

For decades, voting for president every four years was as easy and safe as picking up a loaf of bread from the supermarket: show up to the polls, cast your ballot, and move on with the rest of your day. Then, the 2020 election happened. 

There were lies about election fraud and strict voter ID laws some say are racist. Vigilante “poll monitors,” some of them armed, menaced voters and poll workers, often in Black communities. Intimidating new rules were imposed that all but declare a blue vote in a red state may not be counted. 

It’s enough to make a faithful voter wish for divine intervention. Faiths United to Save Democracy, however, could be the next best thing. 

A nonpartisan, multi-racial, interfaith organization, FUSD is an organization designed to help and protect voters on Election Day. It dispatches trained, non-partisan volunteers —  poll chaplains — to help ensure free and unhindered access to the polls for members of vulnerable communities. 

Armed With the Law

Together with “peacekeepers” — lay volunteers trained with the chaplains —  they support voters, explain the rules or help them report irregularities, including electioneering, harassment and intimidation. The goal: help people navigate rules that could make it more difficult for Black people, young people, the elderly and differently abled to cast a ballot and have it count.

FUSD’s voter protection campaigns this year will take place in the South, including Alabama, Florida and Texas, along with Ohio and several key swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 

The organization was created in the wake of the 2020 election to “protect the sacred freedom to vote of vulnerable citizens” because of “wide acceptance of political violence and the increase in anti-voting laws,” Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, a clergywoman and activist, said in a letter to new team members.

Amen, says Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, pastor of the Second Episcopal District of the AME Church in Washington, D.C. 

“We’re going to watch and pray that there be no intimidation, no obstruction, and no challenges,” he says. “We just want to keep the peace. We are 100 percent non-partisan in nature.” 

With early voting already underway in more than a few states, Faith United to Save Democracy and partner organizations — including the NAACP, Latino Christian National Network, the National Council of Churches, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Nation’s Mosque — have dispatched some of the peacekeepers and poll chaplains they’ve trained since summer. 

While some right-wing poll watchers show up with loaded guns, the FUSD teams are armed only with knowledge of election rules and laws, nonviolent intervention tactics, a voting-rights hotline, and, of course, prayer. The need for peacekeepers and poll chaplains is clear, according to an FUSD press release. 

Fighting Chaos with Witness

Since the 2020 election, “voters have faced increasing barriers to exercising their right to vote,” according to the FUSD statement. “Nearly 400 voter restriction measures in 49 states, from ID laws to limited access to mail voting, have been proposed or passed. These laws erect barriers that disproportionately limit people of color, the elderly, and the poor from being able to vote.”

At the same time, “increasingly violent rhetoric and events throughout the 2024 election,” including election fraud conspiracies and death threats to poll workers, “have given voters credible concern about violence or intimidation at the polls,” according to the statement.

To counter those developments, “trained poll chaplains and peacekeepers will be deployed to cities and polling sites in areas of greatest need in this critical time for the future of our democracy,” according to the FUSD statement.

Though trained together, peacekeepers will be inside polling places as helpers while poll chaplains will stand outside to assist voters as needed. The task is simple, says Dr. James Perkins, pastor emeritus of Detroit’s Greater Christ Baptist Church.

“Be on time, let your presence be known, and be helpful as needed,” he says. “And keep the number of the hotline handy, just in case it’s needed.”

“The involvement of poll chaplains and Peacekeepers is essential in actively safeguarding the vote in local communities,” says Rev. Moya Harris, director of racial justice at Sojourners, a faith-based social justice nonprofit and FUSD member. “This is integral to our call as people of faith — to combat chaos with love and witness.”

This article was originally published on WordinBlack.com.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire

Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled an extensive agenda designed to dismantle systemic barriers and foster new opportunities for Black men across America. The agenda, announced on Oct. 14, spotlights wealth-building, health equity, criminal justice reform and expanded education and job training access. Her plan follows recent controversial remarks by former President Barack Obama, who addressed concerns about voter turnout among Black men and stressed the importance of participating in the election.

Obama’s comments in Pittsburgh were roundly criticized as scapegoating Black men, though he emphasized the high stakes of the 2024 election, noting that some African American males might hesitate to vote. He suggested that part of the reluctance could stem from discomfort with the idea of a woman president. Harris’s plan aims to address the specific needs of Black men, with initiatives focused on financial empowerment, healthcare and education.

Forgivable loans and wealth creation

Harris’s economic plan centers on wealth-building and supporting Black entrepreneurship. Her administration would provide one million forgivable loans, each up to $20,000, to help Black men and others who have faced significant barriers to starting a business. By partnering with community banks and mission-driven lenders, Harris aims to make capital accessible to Black entrepreneurs looking to launch or expand businesses in fields ranging from technology to landscaping and beyond.

Additionally, Harris has proposed a significant expansion of the Small Business Startup Tax Deduction, increasing it from $5,000 to $50,000, which would allow Black entrepreneurs to offset startup costs. She also plans to boost access to venture capital, low-interest loans and incubators specifically for Black-owned businesses. Recognizing that Black entrepreneurs are frequently denied credit, Harris’s plan includes reforms to expand affordable banking services and crack down on hidden fees that inhibit wealth accumulation in Black communities.

Pathways to high-demand jobs and expanded education access

Harris’s agenda promotes education, training and mentorship programs to equip Black men with the skills needed to succeed in high-demand fields. Her plan emphasizes registered apprenticeships and credentialing programs, which would provide hands-on training for jobs in sectors like cybersecurity, renewable energy and healthcare. She also seeks to eliminate unnecessary college degree requirements for 500,000 federal jobs, making these roles more accessible to Black men who may not have pursued higher education.

To increase the representation of Black male teachers—a crucial role model for young Black students—Harris said she plans to invest in teacher training programs through the Department of Education. By collaborating with HBCUs and MSIs, the Democratic presidential nominee hopes to build a pipeline for Black male educators, addressing the severe underrepresentation in this profession, where only 1 percent of teachers are Black men. Research has shown that Black students benefit academically and socially when they have Black male teachers, yet structural barriers have prevented many from entering the field. Harris also supports the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to attract and retain Black male teachers, ensuring they have a pathway to long-term careers in education.

Financial protections in the digital economy

Harris’s plan includes protections for Black men who invest in cryptocurrency and other digital assets, acknowledging that over 20 percent of Black Americans have owned these assets. Among her goals is establishing a regulatory framework to safeguard digital investments, ensuring that Black men are protected as they participate in the burgeoning digital economy. The framework would set standards to protect investors from fraud and provide educational resources on digital asset management.

Health equity and addressing medical debt

Health equity remains a cornerstone of Harris’s agenda. She has introduced a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black men, which would address high rates of chronic diseases like diabetes, prostate cancer and sickle cell disease. Harris proposes capping insulin costs at $35 per month and limiting out-of-pocket expenses on prescription drugs to $2,000 annually. Additionally, she said she would expand funding for sickle cell research and build a national database to improve prevention and treatment.

To tackle the burden of medical debt, which disproportionately affects Black men, Harris proposes removing medical debt from credit reports and working with states to relieve outstanding medical debt. The effort would help Black men access better credit, opening doors for homeownership and business financing.

Criminal justice reform and economic opportunities in legal cannabis

The vice president also has committed to legalizing recreational marijuana at the federal level, which she argues will reduce incarceration rates for Black men and create economic opportunities in the emerging cannabis industry. By working with Congress to ensure the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of marijuana, Harris would remove long standing barriers that have disproportionately impacted Black men. Her plan would establish pathways for Black men to access licenses and jobs in the legal cannabis sector, providing a chance to build wealth in a market that has historically excluded them.

Affordable housing, homeownership, and financial literacy

Harris further proposes building three million affordable housing units during her first term to address the housing crisis. She would offer up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, aiming to triple the number of new Black homeowners annually by the end of her term. The initiative would specifically target those who have been unable to buy homes due to a lack of generational wealth, which disproportionately affects Black families.

Still, another facet of her plan would tackle racial bias in home appraisals, a pervasive issue that often results in undervalued properties in majority-Black neighborhoods. Her proposal would mandate training and accountability measures for appraisers to ensure that Black homeowners receive fair property valuations, helping to close the racial wealth gap.

Community events and outreach

As part of her outreach to Black men, the Harris-Walz campaign is launching several community-centered events. The “Black Men Huddle Up” initiative will feature NFL and NCAA watch parties in battleground states, where Black men can discuss the upcoming election and its implications for their communities. In addition, the campaign will host a series of Economic Freedom Talks, with notable Black entrepreneurs discussing strategies for business growth and financial independence. Harris’s team is ramping up its Shop Talk series, Brother to Brother canvass events, and launching new testimonial ads to reach Black voters in states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan.

In stark contrast to Trump’s agenda

Harris’s proposals directly counter Donald Trump’s Project 2025, which she argues would dismantle progress for Black communities. Trump’s plan includes:

• Reinstating stop-and-frisk practices.
• Cutting funding for urban education.
• Eliminating critical programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which many Black families rely on.
• Harris’s agenda seeks to offer Black men a comprehensive path to economic stability and success, positioning her as the candidate dedicated to addressing their unique challenges.

Harris’s detailed plan appears to offer Black men a vision of leadership, opportunity and economic empowerment, which she argues is essential for the future of Black communities. She believes investing in education, health and wealth-building would help address systemic inequities and build a path to prosperity for Black men nationwide.

“Donald Trump could care less about equipping hardworking Americans with the tools needed to get ahead,” campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond stated. “While Vice President Harris is promising to equip Black men with the tools needed to pursue our dreams and aspirations, Donald Trump is promising Black men in America a national nightmare.”

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

On Monday Kamala Harris unveiled a new agenda for Black men. The plan is extensive, but I want to highlight 10 specific steps she would take as president that would empower Black men with the tools we need to build wealth, provide for our families, and lead our communities.

Number 1. Business Loans. Black Americans are twice as likely to be denied credit by banks, so Harris would provide 1 million fully forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to Black entrepreneurs and others who have historically faced barriers to starting a new business or growing an existing one. 

Number 2. More Jobs Without College Degrees. Harris would eliminate unnecessary degree requirements and promote pathways for those without college degrees for 500,000 federal jobs. 

Number 3. More Black Male Teachers. As a former high school English and social studies teacher, I know it’s important for young Black males to see Black men in front of the classroom as role models and mentors. Only 1% of public school teachers are Black men, so Harris would create pathways for more Black men to become teachers, including apprenticeship programs and loan forgiveness. 

RELATED: Obama’s Challenge to Black Men — Don’t Fall for Trump’s Lies

Number 4. Health Care. My uncle, who had sickle cell disease, died last year, and I know several Black men my age who have been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. And don’t get me started on the mental health needs of the Black men in my family and community. I see it every day. We’ve been traumatized by an unfair criminal justice system and a world that demonizes us instead of understanding us. Fortunately, Harris would launch a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black men that addresses sickle cell disease, diabetes, mental health, and prostate cancer. 

Number 5. Weed Equity. Black men have been disproportionately arrested and incarcerated for marijuana-related charges. Now that cannabis is becoming more socially acceptable and profitable, it’s only fair that we benefit from the changing system that hurt us. Vice President Harris not only wants to legalize recreational marijuana but also create opportunities for Black Americans to succeed in this new industry. 

Number 6. Ban the Box. I have a law degree, and yet when I lived in Harlem, I was still stopped on the street, arrested, and locked up in jail. I know Black men have been targeted by a racist criminal justice system. Harris would work with Congress to require businesses to limit the unnecessary use of criminal arrest histories, convictions, and credit scores in employment decisions. 

RELATED: 10 Ways to Be a Better Black Voter

Number 7. Mentorship Programs. Harris would expand funding for community mentorship programs with a proven track record of helping young Black men succeed. She will also support programs like My Brother’s Keeper.

Number 8. Support Black Farmers. Harris would continue to support Black farmers and ranchers who have been denied access to capital. As vice president, she already distributed funding to thousands of Black farmers and ranchers in a $2 billion relief package. 

READ MORE: How Will Project 2025 Affect Black America?

Number 9. Relieve Medical Debt. My stepfather passed away in April 2020 , with a mountain of medical debt. Vice President Harris plans to work with states to relieve medical debt, which is the leading cause of bankruptcy in America, and disproportionately hurts Black Americans.

And Number 10. Crypto Protection. More than 20% of Black Americans, including me, have owned cryptocurrency assets. I lost money in crypto, but the high-risk, high-reward crypto markets provide opportunities outside of the existing stock market for many Black men. A Harris administration would support a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and other digital assets to protect Black men who invest in these assets. 

So, let me answer a few questions I’ve already seen from critics. 

Question 1. Why didn’t she do this in the last four years? Because she’s not the president. She’s the vice president. Trump was actually a president, and he did none of these things in his four years in office.

Question 2. But why do some of these policies say Black men “and others”? Why aren’t they all Black-specific? Well, because Trump’s Supreme Court Justices and federal judges keep striking down programs that focus on Black people? Trump’s Supreme Court ended race-specific affirmative action in college admissions. A Trump-appointed federal judge forced the Minority Business Development Agency to help white people. Another Trump-appointed federal judge blocked a disaster relief program for Black farmers. And two Trump-appointed federal judges in Georgia blocked a private program by the Fearless Fund to help Black women in business.

RELATED: With a Trump Win, Republican Judges Will Rule the Courts—and Our Lives

If Trump’s judges won’t allow a private group of Black women to help each other, do you think they’re going to let a government program that only helps Black men and excludes others? No. But this is what happens when we don’t vote. So we have to create clever ways to get around the Trump MAGA Republican bans on helping Black people.

Question 3. Yeah, but why does it feel like Democrats only care about Black women? Yes, Joe Biden elevated two very prominent Black women in the past four years:VP  Kamala Harris and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. But the Democratic Party is filled with Black men in positions of power and leadership. The highest-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives is Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who will become the first Black Speaker if Democrats win the House in November. The highest ranking leader in the military is Lloyd Austin, the first Black Secretary of Defense. Two of the three Democratic Black U.S. senators — Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker — are Black men. The Democratic governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, is a Black man. The mayors of New York City, Chicago, and Atlanta are all Black men in the Democratic Party. And the only Black person ever elected president, Barack Obama, is also a Black man. 

And Question 4: But isn’t Trump better for Black men? Was he better for Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise — the Exonerated Five teenagers who went to prison when Trump led a lynch mob against them for a rape they did not commit, and then refused to apologize after they were exonerated by DNA evidence? Was he better for the Black casino workers who sued him for racial discrimination? Was he better for Colin Kapernick and the NFL players he attacked for taking a knee? Was he better for Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police Officer who had to fend off a mob of angry white Trump supporters who tried to take over the Capitol on January 6? Was he better for the Haitian American Black men in Springfield, Ohio, who were subjected to death threats because of Trump’s lies about them eating dogs and cats? Was he better for Marcellus Williams, the Black man who was executed by the State of Missouri last month because Donald Trump’s three Supreme Court Justices refused to agree with the Democratic Justices to stop the execution? Was he better for the Black farmers denied relief by his judges? Was he better for the Black men who died while he mismanaged the COVID pandemic? And will he be better for the Black youth who will be harassed by the police when he brings back stop and frisk? 

Kamala Harris wants to help Black men build wealth, provide for our families, and lead our communities. Trump wants to use us as political pawns in his angry MAGA campaign. Those are the choices. Choose wisely.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

The post Kamala Harris Has a Plan for Black Men. Trump Never Did appeared first on Word In Black.

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By Black PR Wire

(Black PR Wire) HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Nickelodeon is letting kids’ voices be heard this election season with the return of its Kids Pick the President “Kids’ Vote” poll and a brand-new special debuting Monday, Oct. 28. Beginning today, kids can cast their vote for who they want to be the next president at kidspickthepresident.com. The results of the poll will be revealed during the half-hour special, hosted by Nate Burleson (CBS Mornings, NFL Slimetime, The NFL Today) and his 14-year-old daughter, Mia Burleson (NFL Slimetime). The Kids Pick the President “Kids’ Vote” is an informal non-scientific poll, meant for entertainment purposes only.

The Kids Pick the President special will premiere Monday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT), on Nickelodeon and be available day and date on Paramount+, Nickelodeon YouTube, Nick.com and the Nickelodeon Pluto TV channels (Nick Pluto, 90’s Kids TV, Totally Teen). The special will also be available the following day on Nick On Demand.

“The opportunity to host the Kids Pick the President special, alongside my daughter Mia, has opened up our whole family to conversations about the importance of standing up for what we believe in and the power of democracy,” said Nate Burleson. “As parents of three, it has always been a priority for me and my wife Atoya to teach our kids that their voices matter—that they not only need to get involved, but stay involved with the issues and topics they care about.”

“We believe kids of all ages deserve to be seen and heard, and we’re proud of the role that our Kids Pick the President initiative has played in elevating their voices around important issues in their lives for the last nine election cycles,” said Jean Margaret Smith, Senior Vice President,  Nickelodeon Public Affairs. “Through the personal stories of the families featured in the Kids Pick the President special, we hope to empower kids to champion the causes they care about, and inspire them to impact change in their communities and beyond.”

After kids cast their vote for who they want to be the next President of the United States at kidspickthepresident.com, they can download an “I Voted” badge, and learn more about the candidates and electoral process. To further support family conversations in the home, Nickelodeon has partnered with NAMLE (The National Association of Media Literacy Educators) on a guide to provide information and resources for parents around media literacy that will also be available on the site.

Told from a uniquely kid-led POV, the half-hour Kids Pick the President special will platform the issues young people care about most in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Kids from all sides of the political spectrum will share their personal stories and opinions on topics, including the economy, future of AI and technology, and health.

Nickelodeon’s Kids Pick the President is part of Our World, the brand’s global prosocial initiative to inspire kids and provide them with tools to activate their individual and collective agency. Nickelodeon’s Our World is supported by a coalition of partners, including 4-H, Afterschool Alliance, Ashoka, The Aspen Institute, Association of Children’s Museums, ChangeX and Jack & Jill of America, Inc. Caregivers and kids can access resources and more information at www.nickourworld.com.

Kids Pick the President is produced by Nickelodeon Productions and overseen by Ashley Kaplan, Executive Vice President, Nickelodeon Unscripted & Digital Franchise Studio; Paul J Medford, Vice President, Unscripted Current Series; Luke Wahl, Vice President, Unscripted Creative; and Jana Blumenthal Vice President, Production. Luke Wahl and Ben Plumier serve as Executive Producers.

Over its 45-year history, Nickelodeon has built a legacy of addressing important social issues and galvanizing kids through thoughtful initiatives and programs. Whether encouraging kids to be agents of change through The Big Help and Together for Good; encouraging them to get active through the Let’s Just Play grants program and Worldwide Day of Play; educating kids about the electoral process and its significance through Kids Pick the President; showcasing tangible steps kids can take to help the environment through The Big Green Help; celebrating kids and teens who are going above and beyond to help others through the Nickelodeon HALO Awards; or preparing preschoolers for Kindergarten through Beyond the Backpack, Nickelodeon has inspired millions of kids across the globe to take action to improve their communities, their lives and the world around them.

Nickelodeon, now in its 45th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location-based experiences, publishing and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon is a part of Paramount’s (Nasdaq: PRA, PARAA) global portfolio of multimedia entertainment brands.

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By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com

As election day draws near, Black voters face a pivotal moment, as candidates at national, state and local levels take distinct approaches to addressing critical issues, like health disparities, wealth gaps, reproductive rights, voter suppression and education. 

With a polarizing presidential race, tight races in Congress and contentious ballot measures, it becomes even more important for voters to identify the policies that enable them to thrive. The AFRO sat down with three leading, nonpartisan voter organizations that seek to empower the Black community to determine which issues are the most pressing. Here’s what they said. 

National Coalition on Black Civic Participation 

Voting rights

Voter roll purging, or removing individuals from registered voter lists, has escalated in recent years. The practice is meant to preserve the integrity of the list, clearing out people who have died or moved, but a number of states have used it to remove people due to infrequent voting in recent elections.

“Most Black people, close to 60 percent, live in the South where you have a lot of voter purging taking place,” said Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP). “Voting rights is a big issue for us.” 

NCBCP has spearheaded a voter preparedness campaign to ensure people are registered to vote, know where their polling location is and understand the protections that exist.  

Economic security 

The economy has been a hot-button issue this election season. Campbell said Black women in particular are experiencing a great deal of concern over their finances. 

“We did a poll earlier in the year, and the number one issue for Black women had to do with economic security— issues around paychecks not making it all the way through the month and matching bills,” said Campbell. “There’s a high level of anxiety for Black women across generations.” 

Campbell also pointed out that the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged communities in the Southeast, would mean even more implications for the U.S. economy. 

Black Girls Vote

Economic security 

Leaders of Black Girls Vote (BGV) also touched on the economic plight of Black women. Founder Nykidra Robinson pointed out that they are the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs in the U.S., but they need to be able to preserve the wealth they are creating. 

“We have a lot of Black women who are heads of households or the breadwinner, but it’s tough,” said Robinson. “Even though we’re going to school and getting educated, we have student loan debt payments that come with our salaries, which can be limited.” 

She also highlighted the steep cost of housing today. Homeownership has traditionally been identified as a way to create generational wealth. But, if home prices are out of reach, this avenue may be closed to Black families. 

“The cost of housing is now astronomical, and Black women want to purchase homes,” said Robinson. “For those who are able, we want to make sure that they can stay in their homes and not just buy them.” 

Health equity 

BGV advisory board member Destiny-Simone Ramjohn, a public health sociologist, raised health care affordability, quality and access as a major issue up and down ballots this year.

“Health disparities exist along lines of race but also along income and geography. We need to vote for candidates who prioritize health equity and ensure that those policies are designed to reduce disparities by addressing social drivers,” said Ramjohn. “Most of what contributes to your health happens outside of your doctor’s office.”

The Black community faces disparities in maternal health, cancer rates, mental health treatment,  heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Social determinants of health, or the conditions in which a person lives, works and ages, significantly impact these disparities, according to Ramjohn. 

She warned that the next president will inherit multiple public health epidemics, including those related to Black maternal health, gun violence, 

“Black women are three times more likely to suffer from maternal morbidity and maternal mortality when compared to their White counterparts,” said Ramjohn “We also know that firearm violence, which is now a leading cause of death among children, is concentrated in marginalized, racial and ethnic communities.”

Addressing reproductive justice is also a major issue under health care. While many associate the term with abortion access, it encompasses much more than that. 

“When we hear about reproductive justice, there’s so much talk about abortion, but we’re not talking about in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments or surrogacy,” said Robinson. “We’re not talking about the mothers who desire to have a child and may not be able to conceive or have complications when trying to have a child.” 

Black Voters Matter Fund

Economic security 

Co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund LaTosha Brown explained that Black communities consider the health of the economy at an individual level rather than global. 

“We’re not thinking about the health of the economy based on how the GDP is doing or the unemployment rate being lower,” said Brown. “We’re looking at costs and the health and wellness of our communities.” 

As Black families, who were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, continue to recover from the pandemic, she said they have become increasingly sensitive to the rising costs of goods.

Like BGV, Brown called attention to pricey housing costs, which have made it difficult and sometimes impossible for African Americans to attain homeownership. 

“The cost of homes has exploded and risen to the point where it’s been cost-preventative for people coming out of college and new families to get a new home,” said Brown. “We need people with strong housing policies so we can build wealth.”

Student loan forgiveness

Though millions of Americans have outstanding student loan debt, there is a stark gap in the amount owed by Black borrowers and their counterparts. According to the Education Data Initiative, African-American college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt than White college graduates. 

Brown highlighted legal attacks, largely led by Red states, on President Joe Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, which is designed to make payments more affordable, expand forgiveness and eliminate interest. 

“They’re willing to give corporate welfare to bail banks out and millions of dollars to wealthy business owners in Paycheck Protection Program loans, but then there’s been attacks on student loan forgiveness,” said Brown. “That impacts us economically.”

Education

In recent years, assaults on Black history in schools have increased. Brown noted that several states have sought to ban AP African American studies and critical race theory. 

“Why is our history less valuable than any other? It is American history,” said Brown. “We have to see that that’s not just an attack on African American history; that’s an attack on our identity.”

The post Navigating the ballot: Key issues facing voters in the 2024 general election appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Former President Barack Obama just ignited a firestorm of debate about Black men and manhood. Speaking to Black men in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Obama warned about the attitude of “sitting out” of the election “or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you because you think that’s a sign of strength.” “Putting women down” is “not acceptable,” he said. 

His comment sparked criticism from those who felt Obama was scolding Black men again. I have a more nuanced take with two key points.

Black Men Are a Success Story

First, Black men are a success story for Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party. After all the gaslighting from Republicans about Black men leaving the Democratic Party four years ago, Joe Biden won 87%  of the vote from Black men in 2020. That makes us the second most loyal constituency of the Democratic Party. Only Black women, who voted 95% for Biden, are more supportive. 

A Washington Post-Ipsos poll last month found Black men overwhelmingly support Harris over Trump on every issue, including abortion, crime, the economy, and immigration. The Pew Research Center found that Black men are more confident in Kamala Harris than Trump to make good decisions about issues that affect us. A CNN poll last month found very little gender divide among Black voters. And research this summer found that Black men in Georgia supported Kamala Harris and strongly disapproved of Trump. 

RELATED: Stop Lying, Trump Didn’t Solve Black Unemployment

That means Kamala Harris will probably win 85 to 90% of Black men. That’s good news, and Black men should be celebrated for that. 

Personally, I don’t understand how any Black man could vote for Trump after he led a lynch mob against the now exonerated Central Park Five, lied about Barack Obama’s birth certificate, blackballed Colin Kapernick out of the NFL, and bragged about bringing back racist policing tactics like stop-and-frisk. But I also know that unanimity of opinion is unattainable. No candidate or party is ever going to get 100% of Black people to support them, but 87% is pretty damn good. 

That’s why I’ve said before that we can’t pathologize Black men for our voting patterns when other groups, mainly white women, are the real problem.

An Internal Conversation With Black Men

That brings me to my second point. Contrary to the hot takes on social media, I don’t think Obama was scolding or pathologizing Black men. Instead, he was having an internal conversation with Black men to get us to examine some of the reasons that some of us don’t support Kamala Harris. That’s why the Black men Obama was speaking to in the room seemed to agree with him. 

The question is how do you increase voter turnout for Black men, when 66% of Black men said they planned to vote compared to 71% of Black women, and that tiny gap could make a huge difference in a close election.

RELATED: 10 Big Lies Trump and the Republicans Tell About Kamala Harris

Obama made a point that a small but vocal contingent of men, including Black men, refuse to support any woman candidate for president. Many of them have unrealistically high expectations for Kamala Harris but don’t hold Trump to the same standards. 

One Black man in Pennsylvania told reporters he plans to vote for Trump because Harris “doesn’t come from a background similar to the majority of Black Americans.” That makes no sense. Does he think a white man who spent his career refusing to rent to Black people and spreading racist lies about us understands the Black experience better than a Black woman who grew up in Oakland, attended Howard University, and joined AKA sorority? I’m sorry. I call bullshit. That man just doesn’t want to vote for a woman.

Obama wasn’t speaking to all Black men. He was speaking to that man and to the Black men who have no problem with Trump selling cheap mugshots and $400 gold sneakers as “Black outreach” but when a Black woman who spent her entire life around Black people tries to get them to vote for her it’s considered “pandering.” Just stop lying about why you’re voting for Trump because you’re making yourself sound ridiculous. 

“And you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” Obama said. “Because part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

It’s the exact same message that Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul delivered on the “Win With Black Men” Zoom call with 40,000 Black men supporting Kamala Harris in July. “Sometimes as Black men we get confused as to what strength is, and sometimes we think that standing behind a Black woman as a leader does not display strength as Black men,” Raoul said. 

So why are we acting all new with Obama?

He wasn’t just focused on Black men. He delivered a similar message to all men at a rally in Pittsburgh the same day. “I’m sorry, gentlemen — I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior, the bullying and the putting people down, is a sign of strength,” he said. “I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is and has never been.”

Obama is asking all men, including Black men, to rethink our relationship with women in positions of power, and to reevaluate our understanding of manhood.

Being a man is not about controlling women, mocking the weak, or insulting the vulnerable. That’s a caricature of manhood that Trump creates. Manhood is about honesty, fairness, responsibility, duty, and courage. A real man is secure enough in his identity to stand up in a crowd of “yes men” and tell them “No” when they do wrong.

True manhood is powerful. It’s about using our strength not just to help ourselves, but to help those in need.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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These two women have consistently demonstrated their dedication not only to the Black community but to all constituents, regardless of their leadership roles.

Harris announced her candidacy for the presidency on July 27. A Howard University alumna and proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Harris has a long history of public service. She joined the California Bar Association in 1990 and began her career as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County. From there, she advanced to become the first woman elected as San Francisco district attorney, then served as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2016. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2017, she represented California until joining the Biden administration as vice president.

During her time as vice president, Harris has been an influential advocate on issues such as reproductive rights and voting rights protections. She was instrumental in passing the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act and securing $16 billion in support for historically Black colleges and universities. Her advocacy extends to Black farmers, small business owners, and initiatives to reduce Black unemployment and increase generational wealth among Black entrepreneurs.

Similarly, Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat and distinguished member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., is poised to make history. A win for Harris would make her the first woman president of the U.S., and a victory for Alsobrooks would mark Maryland’s first Black woman senator.

Alsobrooks faces former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Ben Cardin. The AFRO endorsed Alsobrooks as the Democratic nominee in the Maryland primary and joins other prominent Maryland leaders, such as House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott, in supporting her. Former President Barack Obama also recently endorsed her, highlighting her record on public safety.

The AFRO is proud to be in the number of supporters for Alsobrooks, which at one time included former Gov. Larry Hogan. 

In a 2022 live stream, still available on verified Youtube and Meta (Facebook) pages for the former state official, then Gov. Larry Hogan praised Alsobrooks for her “incredible leadership,” and even though his own father held the office of Prince George’s County executive from Dec. 1978 to Dec. 19, 1982, Hogan said “I can’t remember a better county executive than Angela Alsobrooks.” 

The outcome of this race could impact which party controls the U.S. Senate. Currently, Democrats hold 48 seats, and two independents caucus with them, while Republicans have 50 seats. Harris, as vice president, has the power to cast tie-breaking votes, giving Democrats a slim majority.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who endorsed Alsobrooks last October, praised her efforts to build schools and attract jobs to Prince George’s County.

 “In our Maryland, we have lowered homicides, made historic investments in education, brought record-low unemployment to the state, and signed some of the strongest laws in America to protect reproductive freedoms. Angela Alsobrooks has been a partner every step of the way,” Moore said.

Alsobrooks has supported economic development in her county and was instrumental in securing the new FBI headquarters bid last year.
For these reasons, the AFRO is proud to endorse both Kamala Harris for president and Angela Alsobrooks for the U.S. Senate. Remember to register to vote by Oct. 15 and plan to cast your ballot on Nov. 5.

The post The AFRO endorses Harris, Alsobrooks ahead of Election Day 2024 appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Sonali Kolhatkar

A Florida resident named Isaac Menasche received a home visit this September from a police officer asking whether he’d signed a petition for a ballot measure.

The petition, which Menasche had indeed signed, was for a November initiative overturning a strict abortion ban that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed last year. Now the governor is attempting to discredit those signatures using state-funded cops. According to the Tampa Bay Times, state law enforcement officers have visited the homes of other signers as well.

DeSantis created an elections police unit in 2022 to investigate so-called election crimes. By that August, he’d arrested 20 “elections criminals” for allegedly voting improperly in the 2020 election.

A majority of those arrested — some at gunpoint — were Black. Most had been formerly incarcerated and thought they were eligible to vote, since Floridians had overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure restoring their voting rights. But DeSantis and his GOP allies in the state legislature used every maneuver they could to thwart that popular decision.

If anyone is breaking voting laws intentionally in Florida and elsewhere, it’s White conservatives who’ve been caught engaging in deliberate voter fraud numerous times, including attempting to vote multiple times and voting under the names of their dead spouses.

Further, given that voter intimidation is patently illegal, DeSantis is clearly the one flouting laws.

DeSantis’s fellow Republican, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is on a similar crusade. He recently authorized police raids on the homes of people associated with a Latino civil rights group called the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), including grandparents in their 70s and 80s.

Like DeSantis, Paxton has been aggressively prosecuting voters of color based on little to no evidence of nefarious intent. The most egregious example is the conviction and harsh sentencing of a Black voter named Crystal Mason. Mason spent six years fighting her case and was acquitted last May because of a lack of evidence.

Bruce Zuchowski, a Republican county sheriff in Ohio, called on supporters to “write down all the addresses of the people who had signs in their yards” so they can be forced to take in migrants — whom he called, in a garbled Facebook post, “human locusts.” Local residents say they feel intimidated.

It’s not just government officials. The extremist Heritage Foundation sent staffers to the homes of Georgia residents thought to be immigrants, in an effort to find voter fraud where none existed. (This is the same organization behind Project 2025, a playbook for a future Republican president promising the dystopian destruction of federally funded programs.)

And of course, the loudest and most bizarre conspiracy theories come from Donald Trump, who invokes non-existent fraud to explain why he lost the 2020 election. His billionaire backer Elon Musk has added fuel to the fire by amplifying these false claims.

If their rhetoric weren’t so dangerous, it would be funny that Trump is a felon and Musk is an immigrant.

There’s a long and disturbing history of voter suppression aimed at communities of color, from poll taxes to lynchings. Although the 1965 Voting Rights Act was aimed at preventing such race-based suppression, right-wing justices on the Supreme Court gutted parts of the law, opening the door to systematic disenfranchisement and intimidation.

Numerous investigations of voter fraud claims have repeatedly been found to be utterly baseless. So why do Republicans make them?

As a federal judge in Florida concluded, “For the past 20 years, the majority in the Florida Legislature has attacked the voting rights of its Black constituents. They have done so … as part of a cynical effort to suppress turnout.” And that’s precisely the point.

There are strict laws in place against voter intimidation. And while the Biden administration is ready to enforce them with a small army of lawyers, it’s critical that voters know their own rights and ask for help if they believe their right to vote is under threat.

This op-ed was originally published by OtherWords.org.

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By David Klepper
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The facts emerging from Hurricane Helene’s destruction are heartrending: Businesses and homes destroyed, whole communities nearly wiped out, hundreds of lives lost, hundreds of people missing.

Yet this devastation and despair is not enough for the extremist groups, disinformation agents, hucksters and politicians who are exploiting the disaster to spread false claims and conspiracy theories about it and the government’s response.

According to former President Donald Trump, the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. Far-right extremist groups warn on social media that officials plan to bulldoze affected communities and seize the land from residents. A tale straight from science fiction asserts that Washington used weather control technology to steer Helene toward Republican voters in order to tilt the presidential election toward Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

The claims, according to experts and local officials dealing with disaster response, say less about the reality of the widespread damage from Helene than they do about America’s fractured politics and the fear and distrust shadowing an election year marked by assassination attempts and escalating global tension.

Debunking conspiracy theories takes time away from recovery efforts

As rescue work continues and authorities try to separate fact from fiction, the conspiracy theories are not helping. 

Elected leaders from both parties have had to set the record straight and urge people not to give into fear and rumor.

“If everyone could maybe please put aside the hate for a bit and pitch in to help, that would be great,” posted Glenn Jacobs, the retired professional wrestler known as Kane, who is now the Republican mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. Jacobs’ post was intended to rebut rumors that workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were seizing relief supplies from private citizens.

Many of the conspiracy theories focus on hard-hit North Carolina, a state key to winning the White House. Rumors circulated that FEMA was raiding storm donations and withholding body bags, forcing local hospitals to stack the bodies of victims. One claim suggested federal authorities would condemn the entire town of Chimney Rock and prohibit resettlement in order to commandeer a valuable lithium mine nearby.

False claims of blocked relief flights and aid withheld from Republicans

Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, X and SpaceX, posted that private relief flights to North Carolina were being blocked by the Federal Aviation Administration, a claim dismissed as false by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Despite the tradition of Democrats and Republicans putting aside politics for disaster response, many conspiracy theories suggest Democrats such as President Joe Biden or North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper are intentionally withholding aid from Republicans. Trump has pushed the claim, as has North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, the embattled GOP nominee for governor.

“They’re being treated very badly in the Republican areas,” Trump told Fox News, ignoring reports and photo and video evidence of recovery efforts underway throughout the region. “They’re not getting water, they’re not getting anything.”

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones endorsed Trump’s fact-free allegation. Jones, the founder of InfoWars, popularized the idea that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut that killed 20 children in 2012 was faked. “Exclusive: Victims of Hurricane Helene Confirm The Federal Government is Purposely Blocking Rescuers and Stealing Aid In an Attempt to Keep Deep Red Areas From Voting,” Jones posted Ocr. 3 on X.

Disinformation campaigns by China and Russia amplify the misleading claims

State-run media and disinformation campaigns run by China and Russia have amplified false and misleading claims about the response to the storm. Both countries have used social media and state news stories to criticize responses to past U.S. natural disasters, part of a larger effort to stoke division and distrust among Americans.

State and local officials from both parties have condemned the conspiracy theories as rumors, saying the focus should be on recovery, not political division and hearsay. 

Responding to the hoaxes is taking up time that should go toward assisting victims, said North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin, a Republican who urged his constituents not to give into hoaxes.

“Friends can I ask a small favor?” Corbin posted Oct. 3 on Facebook. “Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet… Please don’t let these crazy stories consume you.”

After Robinson, the GOP candidate for North Carolina governor, posted that state officials had not prepared for the storm, a spokesman for the governor accused Robinson of mounting “an online disinformation campaign.” North Carolina officials say the response to Helene is the largest in state history, including thousands of members of the National Guard and other recovery workers, millions of meals, dozens of aircraft and more than 1,000 chainsaws.

Trump has tried to tie the hurricane’s aftermath to immigration, a leading issue of his campaign. He falsely claimed that FEMA had run out of money because all of it had gone to programs for undocumented immigrants.

The agency’s funding for disaster aid is stretched, but that is because of the many parts of the country dealing with the effects of hurricanes, wildfires and other calamities. Disaster aid is funded separately from other Department of Homeland Security programs that support immigration-related spending.

Far-out tales of space lasers, fake snow and weather control technology

Bizarre stories proposing that the government used weather control technology to aim the hurricane at Republican voters quickly racked up millions of views on X and other platforms.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., endorsed the idea, posting Oct. 2 on X: “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

Far-out tales of space lasers, fake snow and weather control technology — sometimes tinged with antisemitism — have spread after recent natural disasters, including a snowstorm in Texas and last year’s wildfire in Maui.

Experts who study conspiracy theories say big events like disasters — or the Sept. 11 attacks or the COVID-19 pandemic — create perfect conditions for conspiracy theories to spread because large numbers of anxious people are eager to find explanations for shocking events.

Responding to the volume of false claims about Helene, the Red Cross urged people to consult trustworthy sources of information and to think twice before reposting conspiracy theories.

“Sharing rumors online without first vetting the source and verifying facts ultimately hurts people — people who have just lost their homes, neighborhoods, and, in some cases, loved ones,” the organization wrote in a public plea.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

The Maryland Democratic Party collaborated with members of the Divine Nine (D9) – Black sororities and fraternities – to host a virtual get-out-the-vote rally for Vice President Kamala Harris and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, Democratic candidates for the U.S. presidency and Senate, respectively. 

In attendance were members from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity,  Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. These organizations have played a pivotal role in politics over the years and hope to help Harris, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and Alsobrooks, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, get elected on Nov. 5.

Alsobrooks, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.-4) also made appearances during the virtual rally.

Alsobrooks told attendees that the relationship between D9 fraternities and sororities is “very important.” 

“When we fight together, we’re going to win,” she said. 

That coordinated effort would be needed in what she called “the most consequential election of our time.” 

“We have the real profound obligation to ensure that we build a future that that really befits the dignity of our children and grandchildren and so many of the struggles that we have fought for…. Ensuring that our daughters and granddaughters have the right to enjoy reproductive freedom and that we are also building communities that are safe and affordable,” said the Prince George’s County executive.

“We know we have the power to make a change and we have the power that was instilled in us and passed on to us by our ancestors, the power to make the impossible possible.”

Following Alsobrooks’ remarks, Moore took center stage and told rally attendees that he is “beyond excited” about the upcoming election, adding, “It’s our time.”

He also emphasized the role of Black Greek organizations in ensuring that success. 

“The road to Washington [D.C.], it runs through the D9. The road to the White House, the road to the Senate seat, it runs through the D9,” said Moore. “This is a crew that moves mountains.”

If elected, Harris would make history as the first Black female president of the United States and Alsobrooks would become the first Black woman elected as a U.S. senator from Maryland, however, Moore said it’s not about making history.

“We love it [but] that’s not the assignment,” said the governor. “The reason we are going to make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States is because she is brilliant and she is the best. The reason we are going to make Angela Alsobrooks the next senator for the state of Maryland is because she is brilliant and because she’s the best and we care about our future and we’re going to protect it.”

Jeremiah Pope, the chairman of the African American Leadership Council, delivered remarks and urged fraternity and sorority members to get out and vote.

“I don’t have to say much because as D9 ambassadors, this is what we do. We always get out. We register people to vote. We always stay fired up,” said Pope. “As Michelle Obama says, ‘We always do something.’”

Lamont Riley, a D9 ambassador, said fraternities and sororities are “undeniably influential” and have made history in the past by helping Moore get elected. And, he added, they hope to do it again with Harris and Alsobrooks.  

“Remember we had a Divine Nine brother who started to run for governor of Maryland with just 1 percent name recognition. But what happened? We had the Divine Nine, our network, family, friends and neighbors who became a mobilizing force,” said Riley. “We’re going to do it again…. It’s time to activate and ensure Angela’s vision becomes a reality.”

Dasia Scott, digital director of the Maryland Democratic Party, then led a discussion on ways Divine Nine members can utilize social media to mobilize voters for Harris and Alsobrooks.

“We’ve created for you all different Divine Nine themed frames for you to utilize on your social media accounts and we made them based on the colors of different organizations,” she said.

Rev. Regina Clay, a member of the Maryland Democratic Party’s outreach team, discussed the important role that faith leaders play and why they need to use their platforms to ensure community members have a plan for Nov. 5.

“We have been educating our faith leaders, who sometimes get inhibited about talking about elections. We’ve been sharing with them that they need to have an operation voter turnout, an action plan,” said Clay. “We know that death and life are in the power of the tongue. So, we speak [voter turnout] into existence.”

The Maryland Democratic Party plans to host another event titled “Black Marylanders for Kamala and Angela” on Oct. 6.

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By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO

Early voting began on Friday, Sept. 20 in Virginia – the first state in the nation to allow in-person voting in the 2024 presidential election. Voters can continue to vote through Nov. 2, the Saturday before Election Day, which will arrive on Nov. 5.

Officials advise checking your registration status online or by calling before visiting your local registrar’s office to vote. According to the Virginia Department of Elections, you do not have to have a reason or fill out an application to vote early. However, voters must provide their name, address and show an acceptable form of ID or sign an ID Confirmation Statement at the registrar’s office before voting. Virginia residents who desire to vote must register by Oct. 15, but even after that deadline they may register. According to information released by the Virginia Department of Elections, “same day registration refers to the ability to register to vote in-person and immediately vote a provisional ballot after the deadline to register and vote a non-provisional ballot has passed.” This is available due to a law passed not long ago.

“Beginning with the 2022 General Election, the General Assembly approved legislation that provides the ability to register at any time, up to and including Election Day,”  according to the Virginia Department of Elections. “Previously, registration was closed for the 21 days before an election; there was no ability to register to vote after this deadline. The new law allows registration, with limitations, during the 21-day period before an election.”

Other states where early voting has started include Minnesota and South Dakota. 

In Washington, D.C., the deadline to register to vote online or by mail is Oct. 15. Those who wish to vote early may do so between Monday, Oct. 28 and Sunday, Nov. 3. Qualified non-citizen residents of D.C. can vote in D.C. elections for local offices. However, non-citizens cannot vote for federal offices. Check the D.C. Board of Elections website for more information and details on how to register to vote.

In Maryland, early voting will be held from Thursday, Oct. 24 through Thursday, October 31, with early voting centers open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Anyone who is registered to vote or who is eligible to register to vote can vote during early voting. 

While laws differ from state to state, in Maryland, people convicted of a felony can vote if the felony convictions are not for the crime of buying or selling votes and if they have completed their imprisonment. You can vote while on probation unless you were convicted of buying or selling votes. In Virginia, those convicted of a felony permanently lose the right to vote. And in the District, as of July 2020, those who are incarcerated have the right to vote.

The post Early voting begins in Virginia appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

The new Black unemployment numbers came out today, and it’s a sign of good news for Black Americans.

Four years ago when Trump was president, the Black unemployment rate was 11.9%. Today, the Labor Department reported it’s 5.7%. That’s a 52% drop in Black unemployment in the last four years.

While Trump tries to scare voters with lies about immigrants taking “Black jobs,” the truth is that 2.5 million more Black Americans have jobs than four years ago, and last year we had the lowest Black unemployment rate in history: 4.8%. 

Even more impressive, last year was the first year on record when Black unemployment never rose above 6% at any point during the year. And despite all the talk of leaving Black men behind, the unemployment rate for Black men dropped to 5.1% in September, the first time in a long time when it’s been lower than Black women’s unemployment, which landed at 5.3%.

That’s remarkable.

Some will complain that the comparison with Trump is unfair because his numbers were skewed by the COVID-19 crisis. 

Yes, COVID did affect the economy for Trump, but it also caused supply chain shortages, labor market disruptions, and demand surges that affected inflation for Biden. You can’t blame Biden for Covid-related economic problems of inflation and not blame Trump for the COVID-related economic problems of unemployment. The president’s job is to handle crises, and Trump failed to handle the COVID-19 crisis.

Biden, on the other hand, passed the Inflation Reduction Act, and inflation dropped back down to 2.5%.

When Trump came into office, he inherited a thriving economy from President Obama and made things worse. 

When Biden and Harris came into office, they inherited a failing economy from Donald Trump and fixed it.

Contrary to Republican talking points, the economy didn’t just rebound when Biden and Harris took office because the pre-COVID-19 jobs magically came back. It grew because the federal government took active steps, like the American Rescue Plan that Joe Biden signed in March 2021. That law saved the economy from collapse and provided $1,400 stimulus checks to ordinary Americans. 

RELATED: 10 Big Lies Trump and the Republicans Tell About Kamala Harris

Every single Republican in Congress voted against those checks — and every other part of the law. But they took credit for it, anyway, after they saw its positive effects. 

That’s the way Republicans fool you. They take credit for anything good with the economy and then they blame Democrats for anything bad.

It’s even worse with Trump. He calls any information that’s not good for him “fake news.” And any information that is good for him is completely true — and it’s all because of him.

When Trump first ran for office in 2016 and Black unemployment was going down, he said the numbers were all “phony” and rigged by the government.

RELATED: If Trump Wins, Republican Judges Will Rule the Courts—and Our Lives

But as soon as he got in office, Trump turned around and took credit for Obama’s Black unemployment record and said the numbers were no longer rigged.

“They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now,” Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters.

Ha ha ha. We lied. Very funny.

Whether it’s poll numbers, election results, crowd size, or unemployment numbers, Trump just creates his own reality.

The Trump White House even created a new term to justify their gaslighting lies. They called it “alternative facts.”

It turns out that Republicans are really good at marketing. But not so good for the economy. 

Bill Clinton made this point at his Democratic Convention speech in August. “Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created about 51 million new jobs,” he said. Democrats created 50 million of those and Republicans only created one. Fact checkers verified it was true. 

Clinton inherited a recession from Bush and dug us out of it. Obama inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression from the Second Bush and dug us out of it. And Biden inherited an economic collapse from Trump, who mismanaged the COVID crisis, and the Biden-Harris administration had to dig us out of it too.

When Trump was president, we lost 2.7 million jobs in four years. Under Biden and Harris, the economy has now added 16.2 million new jobs.

In fact, the worst Black unemployment recorded was 21.2% under Republican president Ronald Reagan. And the best Black unemployment rate in history was 4.8% under Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Republicans want you to forget that history. They want to pretend that Donald Trump is a successful businessman who can make America great again. But Donald Trump is just a great salesman, who is willing to sell mugshots, Bibles, sneakers, NFTs, watches, and himself to the next sucker in line. 

Why would you trust a guy who inherited $400 million from his daddy, lost it all, and filed bankruptcy six times? 

Look at his record. Trump Casinos went bankrupt. Trump’s USFL Football Team collapsed. Trump Airlines failed. Trump Magazine failed. Trump Steaks failed. Trump Vodka failed. Trump Mortgage failed. Trump University went out of business for fraud. And the Trump Foundation went out of business for fraud. Even his new business, Trump Media, has lost two-thirds of its value in the past six months.

The bottom line is that Donald Trump is a fraud. He’s not good for America. And he’s not good for Black America.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

AFRO.com now features AFRO Votes, a one-stop shop of resources and information related to the upcoming Nov. 5 election. The new feature on the AFRO’s main web page can be found by scrolling to the bar that says “AFRO Votes” in the middle of the page.

At AFRO Votes, readers can check their registration status, learn about what elections are going on in their local area and request an absentee or mail-in ballot. It also contains a feature to help youth, between the ages of 13 and 17, register as future voters.

Included on the page are articles showcasing the AFRO’s latest election coverage, aimed at informing voters of the issues and platforms being discussed ahead of Nov. 5. 

According to the Pew Research Center, about 34.4 million Black voters will be eligible to vote in November, but not all are registered. 

Though the voter registration deadline is Oct. 15 in Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia, eligible voters can still register during the early voting period and on Election Day.

In Maryland, early voting is from Oct. 24-Oct. 31. In D.C., early voting runs from Oct. 28-Nov. 3 and in Virginia, early voting has started and will continue through Nov. 2.

The post AFRO Votes: A new go-to resource for information ahead of Election Day appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Dr. Frances ‘Toni’ Draper
Word In Black

The lyrics of an old Negro Spiritual poignantly declare, “Everybody talkin’ ’bout Heaven ain’t goin’ there.” Unfortunately, in 2024, despite all the discussion and debate about the presidential election, everybody talking about voting ain’t going there, either.  

It’s one thing to talk about the importance of this year’s presidential election, with Vice President Kamala Harris poised to become the first woman of color to hold the highest office in the land. It’s one thing to talk about the need to register and vote, but it’s another thing to actually register and then go to the polls on Nov. 5, Election Day. 

With all of the chaos, chatter, and confusion surrounding our democracy and our right as Black people to vote, it is more important than ever this election cycle that we not just talk about it but that we “be about it” — be about registering as many people as possible, be about helping people get to the polls, and be about understanding Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint that former President Donald Trump will almost certainly unroll if he wins the election.

We have to “be about” sending money not only to the Harris/Walz campaign but to down-ballot candidates running for the Senate and the House of Representatives whose policies and platforms align with your beliefs. That includes supporting Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County, Md., official who is running to become just the third Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

We must “be about” making a voting plan, and sticking to it — a plan that says, “If it rains, I vote; if it snows, I vote.” And if we don’t want to take a chance on something unforeseen happening on Nov. 5, we must “be about” requesting, filling out and submitting a mail-in ballot or voting early, if your state allows it. 

Most importantly, we must “be about” knowing our voter registration status today and making certain we are still eligible to vote.  

According to the Pew Research Center, “Black voters could play an important role in determining the outcome of key 2024 elections,” including the race between Harris and Trump. In Georgia, a closely-watched swing state, Black voters account for a third of all eligible voters in the state. 

The Black college student vote

Another group that plays a pivotal role in the voting landscape is the newly eligible young adult college student voter. 

A 2021 report from the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education said that “the voter turnout among college students jumped to a record high of 66 percent in the 2020 presidential election. And the student “yield” — the percentage at which students who are registered voters actually cast ballots — hit 80 percent. The report called it “an important milestone and signal that they are vested in their own futures and the health of democracy.”

Still, the report did not differentiate between Black and White students, so I decided to do a very informal, albeit extremely limited, poll of my own. I asked a few of our family’s college students who are first-time voters three questions: 

1. What excites you the most about voting in this upcoming presidential election?  

2. What scares you the most about voting in this upcoming election?

3. What’s your voting plan?   

Eva Lee, 19

Freshman, Georgia Southern University 

“I am excited to be a part of history and voting for the first Black woman in the election. I look forward to seeing how positive and hopeful Kamala Harris’ campaign is. I can’t wait to see new voters exercise their right to vote, especially Black teens. We all have a voice, and this is our chance to use it. 

Something that scares me is the hateful side of politics. I feel like it’s normalized to throw insults and spew misinformation and for our country, that is most bothersome. I hope the side that genuinely cares about us, the citizens, is chosen, where our rights will be respected and there’s less hate and more love for improving our livelihoods. I’m registering to vote here in Savannah!”  

Collin McLain, 18,

Freshman, Tuskegee University

“I’m most excited about finally having the chance to vote and to be able to assist towards making a change in this country. With such high stakes, the outcome of this election could significantly shape the future. 

What scares me the most about voting is feeling like my single vote is just one amongst millions and might not make much of a difference on its own. I plan to request and mail in an absentee ballot.”

Lyric Hamilton, 18

Freshman, Louisiana State University

“I am most excited for the experience to be able to vote: walking into the building, waiting in line, actually getting in the booth to vote. It’s a very surreal feeling knowing I can impact all of the U.S., from my singular vote on who helps run the government.  It is such an honor and a privilege to be a part of something that African Americans weren’t always allowed to have — especially at my age. 

What scares me the most is which candidate to choose. Each has their own flaws, and those flaws worry me sometimes. I’m not 100 percent settled on one person because neither of them lives Godly lives. I do know that whatever candidate seems closest to God is the one that I’ll be more than happy to support in this upcoming election. I hope whoever I choose doesn’t let us down, if they win, of course and strengthens America more than ever before. I plan to drive home on Election Day to vote, after my class ends at noon.” 

Blake Evans, 18

Freshman, Baylor University 

What excites me about voting in the upcoming election is voting with my family. As African Americans, it is an honor to be able to vote. Our ancestors fought for this right, and therefore, I will be going to the polls with my parents and my brother! 

I wouldn’t say I’m scared about voting in the upcoming election, but I am worried about my lack of preparation. They don’t talk much about the voting process in schools, nor do they talk about everything we’ll be voting on.  As I mentioned already, I will be going home on Election Day to vote with my family.” 

David Lee, Jr., 22

Senior, Georgia Institute of Technology

“I am excited to drive voter registration and education efforts on campus this election cycle. I am concerned about the level of misinformation that surrounds this election and worried about the long-term repercussions of this intentional falsification of reality within my community.  I go to school in my hometown, so I plan to vote in person on Nov. 5.”

Make a plan to “be about it”

Clearly, these young people have a plan to “be about it” as voters in their first presidential election. They are excited and anxious at the same time. But mostly they are full of optimism about going to the polls or mailing in their ballots.

Still, they also need to be prepared for those who don’t want them — or us — to exercise our right to vote: those who are spreading misinformation, interfering with a free and fair election, name-calling, lie-telling and plotting to overturn the election results. 

There are those who revel in what my cousin Laura Murphy calls “shenanigans.”

A seasoned civil rights and civil liberties lawyer, she reached out to her network for a toolkit of resources and election protection organizations, handy information for voters of any age:

1. Find out if you are registered, how to register and make an election-day plan by checking the Legal Defense Fund website.
2. Keep this number handy: 866-OUR-VOTE. Share it broadly. Use it If you encounter problems or interference at the polls. 
3. Join Win With Black Women to help in this election cycle

All our Word in Black publications have posted voter information on their sites; some even have links to other sites where you can check your voter registration. That includes:

• The Atlanta Voice, Voice Your Vote
• AFRO News, AFRO Votes
• The New York Amsterdam News, Election 2024
• The Seattle Medium, 2024 Elections Center
• The Washington Informer, Vote Your Future 

Let us all “be about it” during this and every election cycle. Check your voter registration status, make an Election Day plan and follow it. Encourage others to vote, utilize the suggested resources and prepare for a grand celebration in November!  

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By Keith Boykin
Word In Black

Here we go again. A handful of rappers, celebrities and instigators out here are discouraging Black people from voting or trying to convince us that our vote doesn’t matter because both candidates are the same. Don’t believe them. 

Every four years, a few vocal people — who rarely, if ever, use their voices to mobilize their followers to engage in specific political action — suddenly crawl out of the woodwork to spread misinformation about the next presidential election.

This year is no different. I thought about posting weekly rebuttals, but rather than spending the next two months debunking these voices over and over again, I want to ask two questions. 

First, what’s their strategy to achieve their goals? Assuming you agree with everything they want to do, how do they propose to get it passed through our divided Congress, signed by the President into law and upheld by a Republican-dominated Supreme Court that now considers any race-specific remedy to be illegal or unconstitutional? 

And second, if they had some genius strategy, where were they the last four years when Republican lawmakers and judges:

•Blocked the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

•Blocked the John Lewis Voting Rights Act

• Ended affirmative action

• Halted Black farmers’ relief

• Restricted a venture capital fund for Black women

• Outlawed minority business grants

• Erased Black congressional districts

• Banned Black books

• Banned Black history classes

• Closed DEI offices 

• Refused to indict the officers who killed Breonna Taylor

• Ousted Black lawmakers in Tennessee 

• Arrested Black people for voting in Florida 

• Banned civil rights groups in Georgia from providing food and water to people standing in long voting lines

Many of us have been playing defense without a full bench the last three quarters, and we could have used some help from all the new celebrity players showing up in the fourth quarter who want to change the playbook.

As Malcolm X said, “Show me in the White community where a singer is a White leader.” Yes, celebrities have a valuable supporting role to play, but they don’t get to show up two months before an election, ignore the work of Black thought leaders and demand a meeting with a presidential candidate like they’re some official spokesman for Black America.

So, instead of spending the next eight weeks responding to every lie about Kamala Harris, I propose 10 constructive things we can do to help advance our political agenda well into the future. 

Ten things we can do

1-Get informed. Follow the news. Take a class. Become a critical thinker and more sophisticated consumer of information. I read dozens of news sources every day. You don’t have to read that many, but don’t rely on one source for all your news. Review multiple, credible sources. 

2-Verify the information you share. Learn to spot misinformation. And try not to forward fake news. Fact-checkers like Daniel Dale, Snopes.com, Factcheck.org and Politifact try to debunk misinformation, but sometimes they make mistakes or can’t keep up. That’s why you need to know your sources. Media outlets like Fox News, the New York Post, Newsmax, TownHall, the National Review and the Wall Street Journal editorial page have a distinct right-wing political bias that favors Trump and the Republicans. Also, rappers, athletes and celebrities have every right to share their opinions, but they’re not always the most reliable sources for information about government and politics.

3-Vote. Election Day is November 5, but some states require you to register weeks before then. Go to Vote.org today to find the voter registration deadline in your state. If you think you’re already registered, know that Republicans are trying to challenge and purge inactive voters. So check to make sure your name has not been removed from the rolls.

4-Attend local government meetings. Many of the decisions that affect us, including where liquor stores and pollution sites are built and which books are banned in schools, are made at local public meetings that very few people bother to attend. Go there and speak up.

5-Volunteer. Campaigns are always looking for people to make phone calls and knock on doors. Drop by the local campaign office, sign up to host an event, put up yard signs, or become a poll watcher. This is especially important if you live in one of the seven battleground states that will determine the election: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.

6-Donate. If you’re not invested in the presidential election, find a candidate you do support and contribute to their campaign. This year, we have 435 House members, 34 Senators, 11 governors’ races, nine lieutenant governor seats, 10 attorneys general, seven secretaries of state and thousands of lower-level offices up for election in November. Unlike the presidential campaign, many of these candidates never get the attention and resources they need to win. Your money could make all the difference.

7-Don’t Reinvent the Wheel. Support organizations that are already doing the work. Groups like Color of Change and the NAACP are developing important policy goals and working to implement them. 

8-Lobby your elected officials. The president can make some critical unilateral decisions for the country, but most government decisions that affect your day-to-day life are made by Congress, your state legislature, your county commissioners, your city council, your zoning board and your school board. Do you know these officials? Visit their offices. Call them up. Write them letters. Let them know what issues you care about. The phone number for the U.S. Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121. 

9-Run for office. If you’re not satisfied with the people in government, show them how it’s done. Run for school board, town council, state representative or even Congress. Don’t expect somebody else to do it for you. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

10-Start a PAC. This is one of the most difficult tasks on the list, but it can be done. If none of the other steps work for you, you can start your own political action committee to fight for the causes you believe in. You can even create a legislative scorecard to give ratings to members of Congress based on the issues you care about. 

There are dozens of other constructive things you can do, so don’t be limited by this list. But remember this guiding principle. Cynicism is not a strategy, and apathy is not a solution.

This article was originally published by Word in Black.

The post Top 10 ways to be a better Black voter appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Bill Barrow, Zeke Miller and Nicholas Riccardi
The Associated Press

Vice presidential hopefuls Tim Walz and JD Vance focused their criticism on the top of the ticket on Oct 1, as they engaged in a policy-heavy discussion that may be the last debate of the 2024 presidential campaign.

It was the first encounter between Minnesota’s Democratic governor and Ohio’s Republican senator, following last month’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. It comes just five weeks before Election Day and as millions of voters are now able to cast early ballots.

The Oct. 1 confrontation played out as the stakes of the contest rose again after Iran fired missiles into Israel, while a devastating hurricane and potentially debilitating port strike roiled the country at home. Over and again, Walz and Vance outlined the policy and character differences between their running mates, while trying to introduce themselves to the country.

Here are some takeaways from the debate.

With Mideast in turmoil, Walz promises ‘steady leadership’ and Vance offers ’peace through strength’

Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel on Oct 1, elicited a contrast between the Democratic and Republican tickets on foreign policy: Walz promised “steady leadership” under Harris while Vance pledged a return to “peace through strength” if Trump is returned to the White House.

The differing visions of what American leadership should look like overshadowed the sharp policy differences between the two tickets.

The Iranian threat to the region and U.S. interests around the world opened the debate, with Walz pivoting the topic to criticism of Trump.

“What’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter,” Walz said, then referenced the “nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes” and responding to global crises by tweet.

Vance, for his part, promised a return to “effective deterrence” under Trump against Iran, brushing back on Walz’s criticism of Trump by attacking Harris and her role in the Biden administration.

“Who has been the vice president for the last three and a half years and the answer is your running mate, not mine,” he said. He pointedly noted that the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, happened “during the administration of Kamala Harris.”

Vance and Walz punch up rather than at each other

Vance and Walz trained the bulk of their attacks not on their onstage rivals, but on the running mates who weren’t in the room.

Both vice presidential nominees sought to convey a genial mien as they lobbed criticism at Harris and Trump, respectively.

It was a reflection of the fact that most voters don’t cast a ballot based on the vice president, and on a vice presidential nominee’s historic role in serving as the attack dog for their running mates.

Walz pointedly attacked Trump for failing to meet his pledge of building a physical barrier across the entire U.S.-Mexico border at the country’s southern neighbor’s expense.

“Less than 2 percent of that wall got built and Mexico didn’t pay a dime,” Walz said.

Underscoring the focus on the top of the ticket, during a back-and-forth about immigration, Vance said to his opponent, “I think that you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think that Kamala Harris does.”

It was a wonky policy debate, with talk of risk pools, housing regulations and energy policy

In an age of world-class disses optimized for social media, the debate was a detour into substance. Both candidates took a low-key approach and both enthusiastically delved into the minutiae.

Walz dug into the drafting of the Affordable Care Act when he was in the House in 2009, and pushed Vance on the senator’s claim that Trump, who tried to eliminate the law, actually helped preserve it. Vance, defending his claim that illegal immigration pushes up housing prices, cited a Federal Reserve study to back himself up. Walz talked about how Minneapolis tinkered with local regulations to boost the housing supply. Both men talked about the overlap between energy policy, trade and climate change.

It was a very different style than often seen in presidential debates over the past several election cycles.

Vance stays on the defensive on abortion

Walz pounced on Vance repeatedly over abortion access and reproductive rights as the Ohio senator tried to argue that a state-by-state matrix of abortion laws is the ideal approach for the United States. Walz countered that a “basic right” for a woman should not be determined “by geography.”

“This is a very simple proposition: These are women’s decisions,” Walz said. “We trust women. We trust doctors.”

Walz sought to personalize the issue by referencing the death of Amber Thurman, who waited more than 20 hours at the hospital for a routine medical procedure known as a D&C to clear out remaining tissue after taking abortion pills. She developed sepsis and died.

Rather than sidestep the reference, Vance at one point agreed with Walz that “Amber Thurman should still be alive.”

Vance steered the conversation to the GOP ticket’s proposals he said would help women and children economically, thus avoiding the need for terminating pregnancies. But Walz retorted that such policies — tax credits, expanded childcare aid, a more even economy — can be pursued while still allowing women to make their own decisions about abortion.

Both candidates put a domestic spin on climate change

In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Helene, Vance took a question about climate change and gave an answer about jobs and manufacturing, taking a detour around Trump’s past claims that global warming is a “hoax.”

Vance contended that the best way to fight climate change was to move more manufacturing to the United States, because the country has the world’s cleanest energy economy. It was a distinctly domestic spin on a global crisis, especially after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the international Paris climate accords during his administration.

Walz also kept the climate change focus domestic, touting the Biden administration’s renewable energy investments as well as record levels of oil and natural gas production.

It was a decidedly optimistic take on a pervasive and grim global problem.

Walz, Vance each blame opposing presidential candidate for immigration stalemate

The two running mates agreed that the number of migrants in the U.S. illegally is a problem. But each laid the blame on the opposing presidential nominee.

Vance echoed Trump by repeatedly calling Harris the “border czar” and suggested that she, as vice president, single-handedly rolled back the immigration restrictions Trump had imposed as president. The result, in Vance’s telling, is an unchecked flow of fentanyl, strain on state and local resources and increased housing prices around the country.

In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Helene, Vance took a question about climate change and gave an answer about jobs and manufacturing, taking a detour around Trump’s past claims that global warming is a “hoax.”

Harris was never asked to be the “border czar” and she was never specifically given the responsibility for security on the border. She was tasked by Biden in March 2021 with tackling the “root causes” of migration from the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and pushing leaders there and in Mexico to enforce immigration laws. Harris was not empowered to set U.S. immigration policy — only the president can sign executive orders and Harris was not empowered as Biden’s proxy in negotiations with Congress on immigration law.

Walz advanced Democrats’ arguments that Trump single-handedly killed a bipartisan Senate deal to tighten border security and boost the processing system for immigrants and asylum seekers. Republicans backed off the deal, Walz noted, only after Trump said it wasn’t good enough.

Both candidates leaned on tried-and-true debate tactics — including not answering tough questions

Asked directly whether Trump’s promise to deport millions of illegal immigrants would remove parents of U.S.-born children, Vance never answered the question. Instead, the senator tried to put his best spin on Trump’s plan to use the military to help with deportations and pivot to attacking Harris for a porous border. Asked to respond to Trump’s having called climate change a “hoax,” Vance also avoided a response.

The debate kicked off with Walz being asked if he’d support a preemptive strike by Israel against Iran. Walz praised Harris’ foreign policy leadership but never answered that question, either.

And at the end of the debate, Vance would not answer Walz’s direct question of whether Trump indeed lost the 2020 election.

Walz has stumbles and lands punches in uneven night

Walz had several verbal stumbles on a night in which he admitted to “misspeaking” often. In the debate’s opening moments, he confused Iran and Israel when discussing the Middle East.

At one point he said he had “become friends with school shooters,” and he stumbled through an explanation of inaccurate remarks about whether he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. (He was not.)

But the governor noticeably put Vance on the defensive over abortion and, near the end of the debate, with a pointed question about whether Trump won the 2020 election.

Vance stays on a limb on Jan. 6 insurrection

The candidates went out of their way to be polite to each other until the very end, when Vance refused to back down from his statements that he wouldn’t have certified Trump’s 2020 election loss.

Vance tried to turn the issue to claims that the “much bigger threat to democracy” was Democrats trying to censor people on social media. But Walz wouldn’t let go.

“This one is troubling to me,” said Walz, noting that he’d just been praising some of Vance’s answers. He rattled off the ways Trump tried to overturn his 2020 loss and noted that the candidate still insists he won that contest. Then Walz asked Vance if Trump actually lost the election.

Vance responded by asking if Harris censored people.

“That is a damning non-answer,” said Walz, noting that Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, wasn’t on the debate stage because he stood up to Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, and presided over Congress’ certification of the former president’s loss.

“America,” Walz concluded, “I think you’ve got a really clear choice on this election of who’s going to honor that democracy and who’s going to honor Donald Trump.”

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

The post Walz takes on Vance for vice presidency in live debate appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today (Sept. 27) that it has filed a lawsuit against the State of Alabama and the Alabama Secretary of State to challenge a systematic State program aimed at removing voters from its election rolls too close to the Nov. 5 general election, in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law. Officials across the country should take heed of the National Voter Registration Act’s clear and unequivocal restrictions on systematic list maintenance efforts that fall within 90 days of an election. The Quiet Period Provision of federal law exists to prevent eligible voters from being removed from the rolls as a result of last-minute, error-prone efforts. The Justice Department will continue to use all the tools it has available to ensure that the voting rights of every eligible voter are protected.”

Section 8(c)(2) of the NVRA, also known as the Quiet Period Provision, requires states to complete systematic programs aimed at removing the names of ineligible voters from voter registration lists by no later than 90 days before federal elections. The Quiet Period Provision applies to certain systematic programs carried out by states that are aimed at striking names from voter registration lists based on a perceived failure to meet initial eligibility requirements — including citizenship — at the time of registration. The Quiet Period is an important protection for voters, because systematic removal programs may be error-ridden, cause voter confusion and remove eligible voters days or weeks before Election Day who may be unable to correct the state’s errors in time to vote or may be dissuaded from voting at all. States may remove names from official lists of voters in various ways and for various reasons, but they may not carry-on this kind of systematic removal program so close to a federal election.

On Aug. 13, the Secretary of State announced the launch of a “process to remove noncitizens registered to vote in Alabama.” This was 84 days before the Nov. 5 general election. The Justice Department’s review found that both native-born and naturalized U.S. citizens have received letters stating that their voter record has been made inactive and that they have been placed on a path for removal from Alabama’s statewide voter registration list. The letter directs recipients who are in fact U.S. citizens and eligible to vote to complete and submit an attached State of Alabama Voter Registration Form. In turn, that form instructs that people may not register to vote in the 14 days before an election. This systematic voter removal program, which the State is conducting within 90 days of the upcoming federal election, violates the Quiet Period Provision. 

The Justice Department seeks injunctive relief that would restore the ability of impacted eligible voters to vote unimpeded on Election Day and would prohibit future Quiet Period violations. The department also seeks remedial mailings to educate eligible voters concerning the restoration of their rights and adequate training of local officials and poll workers to address confusion and distrust among eligible voters accused of being noncitizens.

More information about voting and elections is available at www.justice.gov/voting. More information about the NVRA and other federal voting laws is available at www.justice.gov/crt/voting-section. The department recently announced a new guidance document addressing limits on when and how jurisdictions may remove voters from their voter lists. Complaints about discriminatory voting practices may be reported to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section through the internet reporting portal at civilrights.justice.gov or by telephone at 1-800-253-3931. 

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

On Sept. 24, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.-8), Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.-5), Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.-33) and members of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee held a discussion about Project 2025 at the U.S. Capitol to warn voters of what is at stake if former President Donald Trump is reelected.

During the discussion, representatives touched on several key issues that Project 2025 proposes, which includes criminalizing abortion nationwide, increasing the cost of living and slashing Social Security and Medicare programs.

Clark told reporters that Project 2025 is “devastating.”

“Less freedom for you, more control for them. Less money in your pocket, more tax breaks for their rich friends,” said Clark.

“They have done us one favor: they’ve warned us,” added the Democratic lawmaker. “So when they tell us that Donald Trump’s second term will be even worse than his first, we need to believe them.”

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30) attended the hearing and told the AFRO that the most vulnerable will be impacted if Project 2025 is implemented.

“It’s about getting rid of the Department of Education and the Department of Justice. It’s meant to destroy us and democracy and also looks at consolidating power at the hands of the president,” said Crockett. “When we look at what the U.S. Supreme Court did when they decided they were going to crown him king Trump and give him immunity, that has never been warranted in this country.”

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.-7) told reporters that matters will worsen under a Trump presidency.

“Republicans will not stop until abortion is criminalized nationwide,” said Pressley. “After all, just six pages into the more than 900 pages of Trump’s Project 2025 it says, ‘The Dobbs decision is just the beginning,’ and we just saw how they celebrated the Dobbs decision.”

Jeffries told reporters that House Democrats have vowed to work with House Republicans on “any issue…in order to make life better for the American people.”

“At the same time, we’ve also made clear that we will push back against Republican extremism whenever necessary and we have repeatedly been called upon to do just that,” said Jeffries.

The House minority leader told the AFRO that “Project 2025 will end American life as we know it.”

The hearing also featured testimony from U.S. citizens working in health care, including Gracie Ladd, a nurse located in Milwaukee, Wisc.; Suki O., an ultrasound technician who works at an abortion clinic in Georgia and Vicki Gonzalez, a nurse stationed at a local hospital in Miami, Fla. During each testimony, the witnesses discussed how they all felt the impacts of Trump-enacted policies and urged voters to cast their ballots in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to avoid the implementation of Project 2025.

In recent months, Trump has denied that he has any ties to Project 2025 and some House Republicans have come to his defense.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.-14) told the AFRO that Project 2025 is simply a talking point for Democrats.

“I think the biggest concern if [Democrats] stay in office, they’re going to keep our borders open, inflation will continue to be high,” said Greene, “senior citizens in my district are having to choose between paying rent and being able to afford their medications.”

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.-19) told the AFRO voters should not be concerned with Project 2025.

“This is the typical political gaslighting that happens when you start getting close to the elections,” said Donalds. “The RNC released their plan, that’s the overall framework that President Trump is going to move his agenda through.”

Despite Trump and House Republicans’ efforts to distance the former president from Project 2025, Jeffries told reporters and voters that, “Republicans don’t simply have concepts, they have a plan.”

“It’s a detailed plan. It’s a 922-page plan,” said Jeffries. “It’s a dangerous, diabolical and dastardly plan that if implemented would destroy our democracy as we know it.”

The post House Democrats host Project 2025 hearing to warn voters about potential impacts appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Reginald Williams
Special to the AFRO

Barbering was one of the first professions that provided a means for Black men to purchase their freedom from slavery. Historically, the Black barber shop has served as the pillar of the community. It was one of two spaces—the church being the other—where Black men gathered to socialize and strategize for community events, including hosting voter registration drives. 

On the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, Stan Dorsey, owner of Ultimate DeZigns Barber & Beauty Salon in southeast Raleigh, N.C.., hosted “Black Men, Black Voices, Black Votes, & Black Victors.” In the way Black men gathered at the barber shop in the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, men from neighboring communities gathered to discuss the importance of having their voices and votes counted. 

“My vote makes me accountable, not just to myself, but to my family, to my community. It also allows me to hold elected officials accountable because I have that voice,” said Richard Redding, higher education coordinator of the Minority Male Program at Wake Technical Community College. 

As in days of the past, Black barber shops like Ultimate DeZigns are resurging as places that offer more than haircuts. Vibrant political conversations on topics like Project 25 often accompany the haircuts. 

“Last Saturday, I had a young lady here who has three kids. She knew nothing about Project 25,” explained Dorsey. “We (men in the shop) got to talking to her about it. I told her to read just the first paragraph. When she did, she broke out crying.”

Project 2025 is the Republican Presidential Transition Project proposed to uproot the tenets and fabric of democracy.

The ominous political chatter regarding Black men either choosing against voting in the forthcoming presidential election or deciding to vote for the Republican nominee aroused David Baker’s curiosity. Baker, a district judge for Juvenile Court in Raleigh, called his longtime friend Tim Grubbs and engaged in what he thought was a personal conversation between friends. Grubbs listened and allowed his buddy the space to air his thoughts. About two weeks later, Grubbs called Baker and inquired what he planned to do regarding his concerns. With the Republican presidential candidate campaigning on the promise to give “police immunity so that they can do their jobs,” and promising Christians, “If they vote this one last time, they’ll never have to worry about voting again,” Baker wanted to coordinate a bipartisan, multi-generational group of men to discuss today’s political landscape, and what it means for democracy.

Before starting the discussion, the men grabbed their folding chairs and connected them to four barber chairs to make a circle. “What is a vote? What is it supposed to do? What is it that we think it’s supposed to do,” was the question placed on the debate floor by the moderator to unlock the evening’s conversation. 

Antoine Marshall, a former candidate for the N.C. House of Representatives’s District 33, eloquently provided the historical content and context for the vote. 

“The government is run by a democracy. We choose our leaders to represent us on our issue. This country is a big place. It has a very complicated system. It’s a large system—$4 trillion every year. We can’t vote on all of the issues that we all individually have; we would get nothing done. So, we elect people to speak for our interests. When you go to the ballot box, you vote on the various offices and what they represent. You’re saying this is the person I want to serve in that position to represent my values,” explained Marshall.

On the heels of Marshall’s definition, the men began intimately describing what the vote meant specifically to them. 

“From my perspective, a vote is my capital. It’s my way of first acknowledging that someone did something for me to even have the right to participate in the process,” said Brandon Alexander, a real estate developer and community advocate. “If I don’t use my vote, then in my mind, I’m doing something to disgrace those people who sacrificed whatever those things were. It’s more of my way of first, acknowledging, but secondly, thanking them for the sacrifice they gave for me. So, for me, there’s no way that I’m never not going to vote.” 

Frankie McInnis, a member of Men of Southeast Raleigh, an organization that supports families and community agencies in achieving their missions, echoed Alexander’s sentiment that he would never stop voting even if his candidate fails to win.  

“There’s something that keeps you wanting to vote,” said McInnis, who believes people should not have their voices marginalized. “We tell ourselves that we have a voice. I think one of the worst things you can do to anybody is to ignore them. That’s one of the worst insults. My vote is saying to the whole world, ‘I’m not being ignored.’ Voting keeps me going to the ballot box because of the way it makes me feel. I may never get the candidate that I want, but I’m going to keep pulling the lever because of how it makes me feel.” 

Redding said his vote kept him accountable. However, he had another reason for voting, which brought laughter to the circle. 

“Another part of me is I never wanted to be that person who didn’t vote, and the candidate lost by one. In the back of my mind, I’m always thinking, ‘What if that candidate lost by one and I didn’t vote?’” said Redding. 

As Grubbs and Baker intended, the age diversity (from 18 to 70-plus) represented a bridging of generations. 

“I loved the diversity of age in the room,” said Redding, 57. “I believe everyone felt heard and affirmed. I felt connected and safe and excited that this place was created. It is needed.”

Javon Bell, 24, who arrived in tow with his dad, Jamie Bell, and cousin DeCota Butler, 22, agreed with Redding. 

Various individuals from different generations “provided critical pieces of knowledge that can help everyone grow,” Javon Bell said. “The voice of the room was very strong and powerful. It impacted me because of the variety of opinions.” 

The energy and spirit in the room were so palpable that the men decided to have a second discussion on Sept. 16. That made Dorsey happy, since he earlier expressed his hope that they could make the conversations a “big thing.”

“The evening affirmed my belief that when we come together with the intention to listen to one another, along with a willingness to share from our lived experiences, together we can solve any problem and transform our communities,” Baker said.

The post Black men, Black voices, Black votes: A barber shop conversation appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO

Despite the lofty ideas and goals that the founding fathers and their colleagues espoused after the 13 colonies declared their independence from England and created both an alternative form of government and a new country, Americans have always wrestled with the paradox of claiming to be “the land of the free” while only guaranteeing its rights and privileges to a limited few. In its early years, that meant White, property-owning men. As time evolved and perspectives changed, others would gain access to similar rights, regardless of race, religion, economic status or gender. However, while numerous ceilings have been shattered, either resolved within the U.S. judicial system or in the court of public opinion, one “ceiling” has remained intact: America has never had a woman serve as president. 

In contrast, many of the world’s leading countries, including Argentina, Iceland, the United Kingdom, India, Israel and the Philippines, have elected a woman to lead their nation in the role of president or prime minister. 

Meanwhile, America has held fast to its centuries-old tradition in which only White men have occupied the White House. That is, until voters – Blacks in particular – showed up at the polls in record numbers, securing Barack Obama’s bid to become America’s first Black president. 

Now, with fewer than 50 days remaining until the General Election, and with early voting already occurring in some states, Americans are faced with the possibility of a woman, Vice President Kamala Harris, being elected as commander in chief. 

Harris, who has rarely commented on the historic first she would achieve with a victory in November, unquestionably stands on the shoulders of women who have chipped away at America’s political glass ceilings, including Jill Stein, Carol Moseley Braun, Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin, to name a few. 

Two women, in particular, stand out as having paved the way for Harris as she continues to shock the naysayers in her bid for the White House: Shirley Chisholm, the first woman in Congress (1968) as well as the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president from one of the two major political parties, (1972) and Hillary Clinton, who in 2016, became the first woman major-party presidential nominee. 

But have Americans overcome long-standing views based on racial, ethnic and gender prejudices, biases and stereotypes to such an extent that one can realistically imagine America choosing a woman of color to ascend to the office of president? 

The AFRO asked Black voters in Washington, D.C., Maryland and two battleground states, Michigan and Georgia, what issues are among their greatest concerns and if they believe America is ready to vote for a woman of color for president. 

Cyril Mayes, 64, an information systems solutions architect who lives just outside of Atlanta in Snellville, Georgia, said he’s worried about the fragile state of the union – a fear which has solidified Harris as his choice for president.

“It seems that Trump has his Supreme Court appointees, most of the Republicans in Congress and a number of state governors who endorse his policies and views that, while often in his best interests, are not in step with those voiced by many Americans – they’re Donald Trump’s lackeys,” said Mayes, who, as a man of faith and a leader in both the AME church and his fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, said he has long been committed to political activism. 

“I’m a husband, father and grandfather and for the sake of future generations, we cannot allow a candidate who has pledged to gut the Department of Education and to overhaul the Department of Justice, presumably to his benefit. I believe Trump would destroy our country’s democratic process so that the voice and vote of everyday Americans no longer matter. If we don’t vote for Harris, that’s what the future holds with Trump.” 

Melanie L. Campbell, president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) and convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable, led a press conference on Sept. 11 to announce the release of NCBCP’s 11^th Annual Black Women’s Roundtable Report and to highlight both disparities and recommended solutions for the issues which many Black women face. She spoke to the AFRO following the press conference to further illuminate her concerns. 

“Some of the most intellectually powerful Black women in the country are represented in this year’s annual report and we all agree that our theme for the report is one which all Americans should claim: ‘Owning Our Power in 2024: Now is the Time to Participate, Protect, Preserve and Promote,’” Campbell said. 

“From a political standpoint, we are witnessing an historical moment that we cannot ignore with Black women stepping forward as nominees for U.S. Senate in three states: California (Rep. Barbara Lee), Maryland (Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks) and Delaware (Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester). We must leverage that power in this new political era as we continue to highlight the most pressing issues facing women of color: the economy and the high cost of living, the right to maintain control over our own bodies including reproduction and our freedom and right to vote. 

“As for the two presidential candidates, we find it grossly unfair that within many circles of the media, Harris is expected to almost walk on water while all Donald Trump has to do is show up. Throughout the current election cycle, we have seen women candidates facing bias at alarming rates by the press, including Harris. This is the reality they face which we must vigorously denounce,” Campbell said. 

Only 12 Blacks have served in the U.S. Senate since it was established in 1789. Three have been Black women (including Harris in 2017), none of whom served together. 

For Loretta Myers, 61, a caregiver for the sick and elderly who lives in Olney, Maryland, Harris stands as the only candidate “qualified for the job.” 

“With Harris, we will be okay,” she said, adding that her major concern is improving America’s health care system. 

“There are too many roadblocks that people must face when they’re in need of medical attention, particularly when the issues are long term. Too many Americans must choose between eating and paying their rent or getting the medical care they require. We can and must do better.” 

Husband and wife Lamar and Iris Davis, both 64, from Houston, agreed that women’s rights, including reproductive rights, top their list of concerns as they go to the polls. 

“The government needs to protect the rights of its citizens and stop trying to take away or limit those rights,” Lamar Davis said. 

“It should be a woman’s decision whether she wants to have an abortion or not. It should also be a gay couple’s right to enter into marriage, if they chose and all citizens should be able to vote without the suppressive tactics we’re seeing in many states. At first, I doubted whether America was ready for a woman to be elected president. But given the kind of support she’s received, even from some of the nation’s most influential Republicans, and with the assault on our democracy from the right, it’s clear to me. While one may differ with Harris on certain policies, there’s just no way we can allow Trump to return to office,” he continued. 

“America’s been ready for a woman president – we were ready 10 years ago,” Iris Davis said. “There’s no logical reason to justify why America lags behind other leading nations in putting their support and votes behind a woman. Just as Trump asked Blacks during his 2016 campaign, ‘What do you have to lose?’ Harris can reasonably pose the same question.

“Harris is far and away the superior candidate, the right person for right now and if people stop swallowing false narrative and conspiracy theories promoted by Trump and his cronies, they will realize that,” she concluded. 

Roy Daggs III, 64, who lives in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan, said he’s worried that with corporations providing so much money in support of candidates who favor their policies, the voices of ordinary people, and the importance of their vote, have been sidelined by corporate donors who operate more like people than businesses.  

“People feel like their vote doesn’t matter anymore, that’s why a lot of youth don’t vote. And in truth, I often cannot blame them,” Daggs said. “We’ve been asking for improvements in America’s health care system for decades but only Barack Obama put any real effort into addressing that concern. Since then, there have been nothing but efforts by Republicans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Trump says he wants to get rid of it but he still doesn’t have a plan to replace and improve it. 

“I am excited because I believe the state of America today resembles what we faced when Obama ran for president and won and when Clinton, despite a valiant effort, fell short. Given the emphasis on women’s reproductive rights and the obvious differences between Harris and Trump on abortion and in vitro fertilization, I give the edge to Harris. Yes, she could win,” Daggs said.  

The economy tops the list for Frederick Ingram, 50, who lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland and serves as secretary/treasurer for the Washington, D.C.-based American Federation of Teachers. However, he adds that there are a lot of other issues which could easily be added, most notably the need for more affordable housing, the job market and the need to provide more training for Blacks who chose to secure skills as laborers rather than to invest in college degrees. 

Like Daggs, he believes America needs a person like Obama – “the last president we’ve had who was committed to dealing with the many challenges and concerns which Americans faced in a holistic manner,” Ingram said.

“Before Obama, Blacks, especially those with pre-existing conditions, were forced to rely on emergency rooms as their primary source of healthcare,” Ingram said. “Even with the Affordable Care Act, Blacks remain far too familiar with the reality that we’re only one sickness away from financial ruin. So, the economy remains our No. 1 concern. 

“Is America ready for a woman president? I guess we’ll find out in less than two months. But for the record, over the past few decades, Black women have saved America from itself. Black women have been the foundation of America’s moral fiber. And Black women, since the days of slavery, have been on the right side of history,” he continued. 

“Blacks have always been aware that we must be 10 times better than Whites just to be considered regular or average – perhaps even competent. Harris faces enormous pressure as a woman, as a woman of color and as the first candidate to rightfully check all those boxes and be elected as president. The story of Blacks in America illustrates our ability to persevere no matter what the odds. So, I have no doubt that Kamala Harris will win.” 

The post Is America ready for a female commander in chief? Black voters weigh in on the possibility appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

Capital B will continue the success of its cross-country tour by hitting stops in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona ahead of 2024 election

Capital B, a Black-led local and national nonprofit news organization reporting for Black communities, announced the latest stops in Capital B’s Black Political Power Tour, a cross-country, live conversation series providing Black voters the information they need in the lead up to this year’s elections. The tour will stop in five key, must-win battleground states where Black voters could make the difference, including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona. 

The next phase of the tour kicks off September 26 in Philadelphia, PA in partnership with local media organizations WURD and Spotlight PA at P4 HUB. The night will include powerful conversations on election security and Gov. Shapiro’s new election hotline, local promises kept and broken, economic justice and more. The conversations will be led by reporters from Capital B, Spotlight and WURD. 

“Black voters hold so much power to change the course of our country, and we see an urgent need to separate truth from fiction for Black audiences this election as they continue to be targets of disinformation, especially since the election landscape has completely shifted over the past couple of months,” said Lauren Williams, chief executive officer and co-founder of Capital B. “Capital B’s coverage strives to provide accessible and truthful journalism and to amplify the voices of Black voters by creating space for conversations about the issues that matter most to them.” 

The tour is part of Capital B’s election editorial mission to help Black audiences navigate their choices and process, understand what’s at stake for their communities, and highlight the areas where Black people have the power to shift the future of the country. Black communities have been regularly targeted and fed disinformation, and to combat this issue this election season, Capital B has partnered with PolitiFact to collaborate on fact-checks and analysis of issues that are important to Black Americans. The partnership will focus on providing accurate information and deep analysis about the topics driving social conversations in Black communities, ensuring that Black voters have the knowledge they need to navigate the political landscape and make informed decisions.

This second phase of the Black Political Power Tour follows initial stops in Oakland and Atlanta earlier this summer. The schedule for the remaining five stops is as follows: 

September 26                                 Philadelphia, PA in partnership with Spotlight PA, WURD

October 3                                          Phoenix, AZ in partnership with the Arizona Republic

October 10                                        Charlotte, NC in partnership with WFAE

October 17                                        Milwaukee, WI in partnership with Radio Milwaukee and    Neighborhood News Service

October 24                                        Detroit, MI in partnership with Outlier Media 

Capital B’s Black Political Power Tour is made possible by generous funders including the 11th Hour Project, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation, and The Tow Foundation. 

For more information about the tour, or if you’re interested in attending any of the conversations, please visit bit.ly/CapBBPPT.            

About Capital B

Capital B is a first-of-its-kind, Black-led nonprofit local and national news organization for Black audiences and was co-founded by CEO Lauren Williams, former SVP and editor in chief of Vox, and Chief Audience Officer Akoto Ofori-Atta, former managing editor of The Trace. Capital B sets out to deliver quality news and information that fosters civic engagement while offering a bold vision of meaningful change for Black voices and experiences. 

The post PRESS ROOM: Capital B’s Black political power tour heads to 5 battleground states appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

A September poll by Emerson College Polling, DC News Now and The Hill, revealed that Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) is leading her Republican opponent, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in the race for the U.S. Senate.

About 49 percent of voters polled said they’d choose Alsobrooks if the November election was “today,” while 42 percent said they’d vote for Hogan. Alsobrooks also has a 63 percentage point lead among Black voters.

“In this poll, 9 percent of the respondents are still undecided about the Senate race. Given that the margin of difference here is 7 percentage points, the outcome of how they vote will determine the winner,” said Nina Kasniunas, associate professor of political science at Goucher College. “What’s not clear from this poll is whether those voters are undecided because they need more information about who Alsobrooks or whether these are folks who previously supported Hogan as governor but are torn about supporting him for the Senate.”

While this seat would normally be a sure thing for Democrats, the stepping down of Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in May 2023 opened up the door for Hogan, a Republican with enough popularity to potentially turn the normally blue seat to red. 

“The outcome of this race will be critical to determining which party controls the Senate,” said Kasniunas.

Democrats currently enjoy a slim majority in the Senate, which means the Maryland contest could tip the balance of power to either side of the aisle in the Congress’ upper chamber.

“Today’s poll demonstrates what we’ve known for a while: Marylanders understand we must defend our Democratic Senate majority to protect our freedoms, fight for safer communities, and lower costs so hardworking families can not just get by, but can thrive,” said Alsobrooks in a statement to the AFRO. “But we also know we still have a lot of work left to do, and this will be a tight race.”

With less than 50 days remaining in the election cycle

, Alsobrooks said she’ll continue “traveling to every corner of our state to remind Marylanders what exactly is at stake in this race – their futures.” 

In a May poll by Emerson College Polling, Alsobrooks got 48 percent in a hypothetical matchup of the November election, while Hogan got 38 percent. About 14 percent of registered voters were undecided.

Blake Kernen, campaign spokeswoman for Hogan, said “even in a poll like” this one “Hogan is gaining ground.”

“He’s working to win every vote and represent all Marylanders,” she said.

The September poll also found that the economy is a top issue for 40 percent of likely voters. Following the economy is crime (14 percent), housing affordability (14 percent), threats to democracy (8 percent), education (8 percent), immigration (5 percent), health care (5 percent) and abortion access (3 percent). 

The post Angela Alsobrooks leads Larry Hogan in September poll  appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

 ANNAPOLIS (September 20, 2024) — The Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE) is encouraging Marylanders to sign up to serve as election judges and election pages for the 2024 Presidential General Election.

There are many benefits to serving as an election judge. Eligible Marylanders aged 16 and older can earn money and help other residents cast their votes by serving as election judges. If you have previously served as an Election Judge you are eligible for a one-time $100 bonus payment. Election judges check in voters, provide guidance and answer questions, and help oversee a smooth voting experience. To apply to be an election judge, use SBE’s online form or contact your local Board of Elections. It is vital to our operations to have an adequate number of Election Judges on call, in the event that there are last minute cancellations and to help begin recruitment for the 2026 election cycle.

Additionally, eligible 14-15-year-olds can serve as Election Day Pages. Pages are student volunteers who, under the direction of Chief Election Judges, assist Election Judges and voters on Election Day. To become an Election Day Page, apply using our online form or contact your local Board of Elections. It is a great way to earn service credit hours for school.

 “Election judges and pages are the backbone of our democratic process,” said State Administrator Jared DeMarinis. “Their dedication ensures that every vote is cast and counted with fairness, accuracy, and integrity. For younger Marylanders, serving as an election page is a unique and rewarding introduction to Maryland’s election process. I encourage every eligible Marylander to help facilitate  the voting rights of their fellow citizens by serving as an election judge or election page.”

State of Maryland employees and county government employees who are scheduled to be an election judge  can earn administrative leave. Be sure to check with your employer for any added benefits of serving as an election judge.

The post PRESS ROOM: Maryland State Board of Elections reminds Marylanders of the benefits of serving as election judges and election pages appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Ariyana Griffin
AFRO Staff Writer
agriffin@afro.com

Vice President Kamala Harris joined members of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) for an interview in Philadelphia at the studios of WHYY on Sept. 17.

The convening came after Trump made an appearance at the annual NABJ convention in Chicago on July 31. Harris says she was unable to attend the July discussion due to schedule conflicts. 

Before the discussion began, Ken Lemon, president of NABJ, explained that NABJ is a nonpartisan organization that is happy to provide a platform for candidates to address various  topics. 

“Every four years, we ask the presidential nominees to meet with us and answer questions about important issues,” said Lemon. “I am proud to say that for the first time in 24 years both the Republican and Democratic nominees have accepted our invitation.” 

Dianna S. Jones, a 80-year-old New Jersey native who has relocated to Philadelphia, doted on her past opportunities to witness history makers make change in real time.

“I had the honor of seeing President Obama, Mayor Wilson Goode, the first Black mayor of Philadelphia, and our new 100th mayor, Sheree Parker, ” Jones told the AFRO, adding that she believes Harris “deserves a chance.” 

“She can’t do worse than anyone else, she has to do better – I like what she stands for,” said Jones. 

The intimate panel discussion was reserved for NABJ professional and student members and 100 students enrolled in journalism and communications classes at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

“I think that it’s very important that the vice president and NABJ have Black students from local HBCUs come to this event,” Hal Willard, a junior communications major at Pennsylvania’s Cheyney University, told the AFRO.  “Not only does it show the various opportunities for students that are preparing to graduate, but also it amplifies Black voices and Black opinions,” said Willard. 

Before starting the discussion, Vice President Harris told the NABJ members present why it was important to discuss the issues with them.

“It is very important that we ensure that this organization and your members always have the resources and the platforms to deliver the voices that must be heard,” she said. 

Economy 

Harris was asked if the economy is better now than it was four years ago. She noted that the Biden Administration inherited an unstable economy. 

“Four years ago, when we came in, we came in during the worst unemployment since the Great Depression. We came in during the worst public health epidemic in centuries – we came in after the worst attack on our democracies since the Civil War,” said Harris. “And a lot of it is due in large part to the mismanagement by the former president as it relates to COVID and obviously Jan. 6th.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the unemployment rate in April 2020 increased by 10.3 percentage points to 14.7 percent – the highest rate and the largest over-the-month increase in the history of the data (available back to January 1948).”

Harris explained that they had to “clean up a mess,” but work has been done in the past four years. She stated that the Biden-Harris administration has created “16 million new jobs, over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs” and there has been an historic decline in Black unemployment rates. 

She shared some of the plans she would like to implement under her proposed “opportunity economy,” including more assistance to first-time home buyers by providing $25,000 down payment assistance “so they can just get their foot in the door.” 

They have also been working on providing more stability in health care by capping the cost for insulin for seniors at $35 and the cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000. 

“Is the price of groceries still too high? Yes. Do we have more work to do? Yes,” Harris said. 

The Black male vote 

Harris was asked about Black men and the notion that they will not show up for her at the polls, but rather her opponent instead. 

“I think it’s very important to not operate from the assumption that Black men are in anybody’s pocket – Black men are like any other voting group,” said Harris. “You gotta earn their vote. So I’m working to earn the vote, not assuming I’m going to have it because I am Black.”

She explained that under her opportunity economy she wants to provide more economic resources for the Black male population, especially those interested in entrepreneurship.

“Small businesses only get a tax deduction of $5,000. Nobody can start a small business with $5,000, so I’m expanding that to $50,000,” Harris said.

According to Pew Research Center in a recent poll, “about three-quarters of Black voters (77 percent) say they would vote for or lean toward Harris if the 2024 presidential election were held today. Another 13 percent say they would back or lean toward Trump.”

Gun Rights 

Gun rights became a hot topic once again in the wake of the Sept. 4 school shooting at Georgia’s Apalachee High School.

While Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are gun owners and have said they are “not trying to take anybody’s guns away from them,” on Sept. 17 Harris did express the need for an assault weapons ban and universal background checks. 

Gaza 

On the topic of the Israel-Hamas War, raging since terrorists attacked and kidnapped thousands of innocent Israeli people on Oct. 7, Harris explained that she believes the war needs to end and there needs to be a ceasefire. 

 “I absolutely believe that this war has to end, and it has to end as soon as possible,” said Harris. “The way that will be achieved is by getting a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done – we are working around the clock to achieve that.”

Harris was pushed on the topic to give more details on policy regarding this issue, aside from pausing 2,000 pound bombs. She expressed that the most important thing right now is to have a successful two-state deal complete.

“I support Israel’s ability to defend itself, and I support the need for Palestinians to have dignity, self-determination and security as we move forward and get a two-state deal done,” said Harris. “But right now, the thing we need to get done is this hostage deal and the ceasefire deal.”

Haitian Immigrants

During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating  pet dogs and cats. Since that time, the community has reported harassment.

“I know that people are deeply troubled by what is happening to that community in Springfield, Ohio – and it’s got to stop,” said Harris. “We’ve got to say that you cannot be entrusted with standing behind the seal of the president of the United States of America, engaging in that hateful rhetoric that, as usual, is designed to divide us as a country.”

Weaponized Joy 

One of the last questions Harris received regarded how she is often seen smiling and laughing in campaign ads, and how the content is being weaponized.

“There are some times when your adversaries will try and turn your strength into a weakness. Don’t you let them,” Harris responded. “I think we should all find joy and have a sense of optimism about who we are as Americans and what we mean to each other and what we can do to lift each other up.”

After the debate some students said they felt more confident in their vote after hearing directly from Harris. 

“Today was definitely more affirming,” said Gelen St. Fluer Simeon, a sophomore mass communications major at Lincoln University. “I feel as though I’m definitely more comfortable with my decision and who I want to see in office.” 

“I feel a little bit safer knowing that there’s someone who’s looking out for us,” Simeon continued. “And by us, I mean Black people, queer people, Black students, Black workers [and] mothers, which is very important.”

The post Harris discusses economy, gun rights and Black vote with NABJ in Philadelphia appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

To understand what Kamala Harris said to the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday, you gotta understand the Republicans’ cynical race strategy.

Anytime Kamala Harris says something pro-Black, Trump and the Republicans will use it against her to convince white people that she can’t be trusted. And anytime she says something that isn’t pro-Black, they will still use it against her by getting Black people to criticize her for not doing enough.

A month ago, Donald Trump lied to NABJ that Kamala Harris only recently turned Black, so when she sat down with the group in Philadelphia to take questions from Black journalists, she didn’t say everything that some Black people wanted her to say — but she said almost everything she could.

RELATED: Kamala Harris, for the Black People

She forcefully condemned recent lies about Haitian immigrants promoted by Trump and JD Vance: “I know that people are deeply troubled by what is happening to that community in Springfield, Ohio. And it’s gotta stop. And we gotta say that you cannot be entrusted with standing behind the seal of the President of the United States of America, engaging in that hateful rhetoric.” She described Trump’s rhetoric as “a crying shame,” a response based more on empathy than anger.

But, she did not specifically endorse a policy of reparations for slavery. Although she supported legislation to study reparations when she was a senator in California, she spoke in broader terms today as the Democratic presidential nominee.

“We need to speak truth about the generational impact of our history,” she said, mentioning slavery, redlining, and Jim Crow laws. She spoke about student loan debt, medical debt, bias in home appraisals, and Black maternal mortality, but she put the onus to fix these issues more on Congress than executive action.

I support reparations, and I’ve written about it in my two most recent books. But believe it or not, Kamala Harris gave the right answer.

Here’s why.

Her job is to get elected in a country where most Americans oppose reparations. Although 77% of Black Americans support reparations, only 18% of white Americans do. Even in liberal California, nearly two-thirds of white voters oppose reparations. In a country that is 75% white, that’s a non-starter.

We can’t expect a Black woman running for office to explain and sell to white America the complex and unpopular idea of paying reparations to Black people in a three-month campaign while she’s still introducing herself and her policies. To do so is to make her a sacrificial lamb for a movement that we haven’t even built the momentum for on the ground.

To win the presidency, Harris needs at least 42 to 43% of the white vote, which means she has to convince a sufficient number of white Americans that she can represent them —while still holding onto Black and Brown voters. It’s a juggling act. How do you maintain your street cred with Black and Brown voters without alienating sensitive white voters?

RELATED: 10 Ways to Be a Better Black Voter

Some critics point to an out-of-context quote from an interview Harris did in 2019 when she said, “So, I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m going to do something that’s only going to benefit Black people.” What they don’t quote to you is the rest of the answer, where she explains that “any policy that will benefit Black people will benefit all of society.”

Clearly, she supports race-specific policies that benefit Black people, including HBCU funding, affirmative action, and debt relief for Black farmers. But as a Black politician in a predominantly white country, she still has to remind white Americans that those policies benefit them, too, by creating a more equitable society.

A Black Democratic candidate for president faces a frustrating double standard that does not apply to a white Republican like Trump. Trump is not expected to do anything to help Black people, so all he does is show up with a wayward rapper or pastor every four years, and people grade him on a curve because the bar is so low.

But here’s the other part of the equation. Kamala Harris also needs a Democratic Congress to enact her agenda. Republicans now control the House, and Democrats hold a narrow 51-49 seat majority in the U.S. Senate. Republicans are expected to pick up the Senate seat in West Virginia with the retirement of Joe Manchin, and they’re hoping to defeat Democrat Jon Tester in conservative North Dakota. If they win those two seats, Republicans will take control of the Senate and block any progressive legislation, and possibly Supreme Court Justices, for at least the next two years.

If you think Democratic senators are going to win North Dakota and West Virginia with a Democrat at the top of the ticket calling for reparations, you haven’t been paying attention to race issues in America.

There’s a method to the madness from Republicans. They continue to launch racist attacks against Harris because they’re desperately trying to get her to fight on controversial race and culture issues. Trump wants Kamala Harris to attack him for being racist instead of focusing on her broader agenda for America. He knows that if he can get her to engage, they can mislabel her with the “angry Black woman” trope.

That’s why he continues to lie about The Congo releasing inmates from insane asylums into the United States. That’s why Trump and Vance are promoting racist rhetoric about the White House smelling like curry and fried chicken if Kamala Harris gets elected. They’re not just motivating their base. They want Harris to say something to turn off white voters.

She was wise not to take the bait. It may not be the truth we want to hear, but she understood the assignment.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By D. Kevin McNeir

Millions of voters tuned in to the first and perhaps only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump on Sept. 10. 

ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis served as the moderators of the 90-minute debate, held at National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The two maintained moderate control of the flow of the debate, and at multiple points either refuted or clarified statements made by the candidates in real time – something that was not done in the earlier debate between President Joe Biden and Trump. 

As one would expect, the two candidates were given questions on all of the major issues facing Americans – some issues being of even greater importance to African Americans: the economy, healthcare, education, immigration, women’s reproductive rights and the separate wars raging between both Hamas and Israel, since Oct. 7 of last year, and Russia and Ukraine in 2022. 

Both candidates hoped to win over viewers with their distinct views of how the economy currently stands and what they would do to improve it.  Seven swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania) could potentially decide the 2024 election. 

The debate kicked off with a question about the economy. Harris said she would invest in small business owners, to the tune of $50,000. Trump spoke on how he would build the economy using  tariffs on foreign goods shipped into the country. At that point, Muir noted that economists say tariffs on some foreign products will undoubtedly raise costs on American consumers.

Time and time again, Trump was given a chance to explain the plans he would like to put in place, but instead chose to change the subject, spew incorrect facts or downtalk the formidable opponent before him.

“She doesn’t have a plan,” said Trump, in reference to Harris. “She has four sentences like ‘Run, Spot, run.’ She’s a Marxist like her father who was a professor who taught Marxism.” 

There were other highpoints–or low points– during the debate, depending on your perspective. 

One interesting moment was Trump’s refusal to respond if he would veto a bill to reinstate Roe v. Wade. Instead, he decided to speak about immigrants and the “millions of criminals that Biden and Harris have allowed to enter the United States.” 

He also made a statement that one moderator immediately corrected, saying that in Springfield, Ohio, immigrants were “eating their dogs for dinner.” Muir told the president that he interviewed the City Manager of Springfield, who said there were no reports of immigrants engaging in the act.

The debate was rather tame, compared to Trump’s previous debates, even though both teams haggled over rules for the meet.

In the weeks leading up to the debate, Harris and Trump went back and forth with host network ABC regarding the muting of microphones. Harris preferred to keep the mics on, a contrast to President Joe Biden’s request for mics to be muted while the other candidate spoke. Ultimately, the decision was made to move forward with muted mics for the majority of the debate,  allowing for only one candidate to speak at a time. 

For the most part, viewers saw two very different candidates. 

Harris provided the salient answers and some plans when asked to describe what she would do if she were elected to the highest office in the land. During the debate she mentioned a $6,000 stipend to help families with a new child during the baby’s first year of life, and plans to give $25,000 to new homeowners looking to make a downpayment on a property.

On the other hand, Trump appeared unable, or in some cases unwilling, to say exactly what he would do with a second term in office, but promised it would be “best for Americans.” At one point, he noted that his inability or unwillingness to share a planned course of action on some issues was due to the fact that he has not been elected to a second term in office.

The former president was backed into a corner all together when the time arrived for him to explain his plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare.” In 2024, after nine years and one term in office to develop a program to replace the Obamacare he has repeatedly claimed is awful, Trump stood on the debate stage on Sept. 10 and could only declare that “something” should replace the act that provides healthcare coverage to millions of Americans– regardless of preexisting conditions like asthma. Harris was adamant that the lifesaving act remain the law of the land. 

At one point, Trump taunted Harris for not being able to get relief for borrowers with student loan debt. He failed to mention that Republican judges and elected officials have fought the plan to help millions of Americans crushed by student loan debt at every turn. 

In their closing comments, Harris said she is focused on looking to the future while Trump is focused on looking at the past. The former prosecutor used the debate stage to remind the audience that Trump is a convicted felon, who many allege kicked off the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building in 2021.

“For everyone watching, who remembers what Jan. 6th was, I say, we don’t have to go back. Let’s not go back. We’re not going back.  It’s time to turn the page,” said Harris. “And if that was a bridge too far for you, well, there is a place in our campaign for you to stand for country, to stand for our democracy, to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos and to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy because you don’t like the outcome.”

Trump used his final moments to further attack Biden and Harris. 

“We’re a failing nation. We’re a nation that’s in serious decline. We’re being laughed at all over the world…I know the leaders very well – they’re coming to see me, they call me,” he said. “We’re laughed at all over the world, they don’t understand what happened to us as a nation.”

Trump claimed in his closing statements that he “rebuilt” the “entire military,” in America while Harris “gave a lot of it away to the Taliban” and Afghanistan.

“What these people have done to our country and maybe toughest of all is allowing millions of people to come into our country, many of them are criminals,” he continued on. “They’re destroying our country. The worst president, the worst vice president in the history of our country.”

To help make sense of the information – or in some cases the disinformation – Word In Black, a collaborative news media company developed and supported by 10 Black publishers, put on “Debate Night in Black America: A Virtual Conversation.” 

The event, designed to engage the Black American community on debate night and hosted by Word in Black Managing Director Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier and Deputy Managing Director Joseph Williams, was streamed both before and after the debate. Special guests from across the country were invited to provide commentary and perspectives that resonate with the unique experiences and concerns of the Black community.

Before the debate began, Barbara R. Arnwine, Esq., president and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition, shared her expectations and hopes for the evening with Courquet-Lesaulnier and Williams. 

“I expect a strong focus on economic justice, voting rights, the protection of our democracy and women’s issues including maternal health. We all know the third person on that debate stage will be Project 2025. But if we hear those issues, then we will have a real debate. This is Harris’ time to be heard and she needs to speak directly to the American audience.” 

Chrissy M. Thornton, president and CEO of Associated Black Charities in Baltimore, said it was important to get to the truth. 

“We have to push back against the false narratives including that Harris is an enemy of the Black community. I’m not sure what it will take to effectively counter these false narratives except to rally so that we do not vote against our best interest,” said Thornton. “Our charge is to continue to communicate and focus on what’s best for Blacks. There’s a lot at stake in this election that people are not talking about . . . We need to understand what we have to lose if Donald Trump wins.”  

AFRO Managing Editor Alexis Taylor gave her thoughts on the debate during the Word in Black post-debate show. 

“I was glad that they started off with the economy,” said Taylor. “There are so many issues at stake here in this election– climate change, healthcare and immigration being some of the big ticket items.” 

“It’s important to think about where the candidates stand on those issues- and take action with your vote,” she continued. “But it’s hard to think if you’re hungry. It’s hard to think about climate change and why storms are becoming stronger and more frequent… It’s hard to question why it’s raining when you don’t have shelter from the rain.”

After the debate, several statements were shared with the AFRO regarding the debate.

Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Ken Ulman released the following statement after tonight’s presidential debate:

“Kamala Harris offered a fresh vision for moving our country forward by protecting our fundamental freedoms, safeguarding our democracy, and creating an economy where every person has the opportunity to succeed. Now, it’s on Maryland to deliver Vice President Harris the Democratic Senate majority she needs to get the job done. That means rejecting Mitch McConnell’s handpicked U.S. Senate candidate and proud, self-described ‘lifelong Republican’ Larry Hogan and keeping the Senate in Democratic hands by electing Democrat Angela Alsobrooks.”

Angela Alsobrooks also commented on the event via statement:

“I am so proud of my friend and mentor Vice President Kamala Harris. Tonight, she spoke to us about the issues we care deeply about – fighting for our freedoms including the freedom to access reproductive health care. She talked about the Supreme Court and appointing fair justices who recognize our Constitutional freedoms. She discussed investing in our climate, and lowering costs for hard-working Americans.”

“But make no mistake: The vision Kamala Harris painted for us tonight, a vision for a future that strengthens our democracy and where our freedoms are protected and our families can thrive, is a vision that we know is only possible with a Democratic majority in the Senate.”

“A Republican Senate will stand in the way of Kamala Harris’ agenda – cutting her off with every chance they can get, just as we saw their leader do in tonight’s debate. We must do everything we can over these next 55 days to elect Kamala Harris and give her a Democratic majority in the Senate.” 

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Philadelphia — Kamala Harris was virtually flawless tonight, turning in one of the most impressive debate performances I’ve ever seen by a presidential candidate. 

From the very beginning, when she approached Donald Trump and forced him to shake her hand, she took command. Then, she stayed on offense all night long and simply gave Trump the rope to hang himself. And he did.

RELATED: 10 Ways to Be a Better Black Voter

While Harris spoke about her plans for new families, first-time homebuyers, and small businesses, the angry, petulant Trump raised his voice, yelled, and screamed, and looked unhinged as he took the bait she fed to him at every question, whining about his grievances from the past, relitigating the 2020 election, and fighting against a candidate who is no longer in the race. 

Trump made the baffling claim that “we have a president that doesn’t know he’s alive,” while Kamala Harris reminded him “You’re not running against Joe Biden, you’re running against me.”

As Harris wisely introduced herself to the audience and talked about her middle-class upbringing, Trump revealed a total lack of message discipline and a wildly inappropriate temperament, refusing even to look at her.

RELATED: How Will Project 2025 Affect Black America?

“And this…former president,” said Kamala Harris with a pregnant pause as she spoke, letting the audience know that she wanted to call him something else but had the restraint not to do so. 

Harris needled Trump about Project 2025 and kept referring to him as the former president, apparently to remind voters that he represents the past. And Trump dutifully played into the role by taking every opportunity to talk about ancient grievances, argue about his crowd sizes, and introduce every petty issue he could bring up. 

The debate covered the economy, abortion, immigration, fracking, the January 6 insurrection, Gaza, Ukraine, Afghanistan, race, health care, and climate change, and Kamala Harris came out on top of every single issue.

I still think it’s problematic that we allow a twice-impeached, quadruple-indicted, criminal, insurrectionist, and adjudicated sex predator to share the stage with the vice president of the United States, but former prosecutor Kamala Harris proved more than capable of handling the convicted felon Donald Trump.

Toni Morrison once said that the function of racism is distraction. “It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again.”

Maybe that was Trump’s debate strategy, if you can call it that, tonight as the 78-year-old former game show host spent the evening rambling on about his greatest hits. 

He blamed immigrants for taking “African American jobs,” a claim that was debunked months ago. 

He claimed not to care about Kamala Harris’s racial identity but then repeated the same false accusation moments later. “I read where she was not Black,” he said. It was a farcical assertion for an old white man to make about a self-identified Black woman with a Jamaican father, a Howard University degree, and an Alpha Kappa Alpha membership. 

And he claimed that Harris is soft on crime, but she would not let him forget that Trump, himself, is two months away from a potential ankle bracelet or a prison sentence.

Trump had a lot of nerve coming to Philadelphia, the place where he tried to throw out thousands of votes in this largely Black city after he lost the 2020 election and manufactured bogus claims of election fraud. But he repeated those claims tonight, echoing language from the past that votes in Philly, Detroit, Atlanta, and Milwaukee were “fraudulently or illegally obtained” when he accused those cities of being “politically corrupt.”  

Kamala Harris responded to Trump’s lies with a cool, calm composure. She did not take the bait to make personal attacks against Trump on race and instead used the question to bemoan the “tragedy” that a former president had “consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people.”

She cited Trump’s decades-long history of racism even before he was elected — housing discrimination in the 1970s, vilifying innocent Black teenagers in the Central Park Five Case in the 1980s, and birtherism in the 2010s. 

And Trump made it clear that if we let him back in office, things will only get worse, as he repeated a debunked racist lie that Haitian immigrants are eating people’s pets in Ohio. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats.”

How on earth can Tim Scott, Byron Donalds, or any self-respecting Black person defend this racist, old white man spewing dangerous lies about Black and brown immigrants eating white people’s pets?

So, these are the options, America. One of these two people will be the next president of the United States, and you, the voter, get to decide. 

Do you want four more years of old man Trump and his circus of chaos, crises, court cases, and corruption on your TV every night? Or do you want a president who will lead and behave with dignity, respect, and maturity?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not going back.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By Quintessa Williams
Word In Black

When Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, she became the first woman of color with a realistic shot at the presidency and an instant inspiration to Black women — some of whom raised $1.3 million on her behalf in just a few hours. 

Harris’s groundbreaking campaign has now spearheaded another phenomenon: young Black women are currently leading the recent surge in voter registrations.

According to data from TargetSmart, the voter registration rate for young Black women in 13 key battleground states has skyrocketed to 175 percent — nearly triple the rate from the last presidential election four years ago. The registration rate for Black women in general, experienced similar growth — increasing by 98 percent, while the overall Black voter rate also rose by 85 percent, according to TargetSmart data.

Since Harris’ nomination, Democrats have significantly out-registered Republicans, highlighting the effectiveness of the Democratic National Committee’s targeted efforts to engage young Black voters.

The civic origins of young Black women

Public education has long been critical to nurturing the civic identities of Black students. After the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, centered on Linda Brown, a Black girl — the ruling enabled Black students to attend better-funded, previously all-White schools. 

Black girls and young women were integral in organizing and participating in civil rights protests during the Civil Rights movement, such as the Birmingham Children’s Crusade in 1963. Black girls like Ruby Bridges, who became the first African American child to attend a formerly Whites-only school, risked physical and psychological harm to move the United States closer to its democratic principles. 

However, the quality of civic education in these integrated schools often varied, with Black students receiving less emphasis in the classroom on African American history and political engagement. 

Civic education as a pathway to national political participation

A 2022 report from Child Trends found that Black students were more likely than their peers to report an interest in civic engagement and activities. Drawing on this history and experiences with racism, Black students continue to spearhead civic efforts to promote racial and social justice in the United States. Today, Black children are more likely to use pathways such as social media to engage in activism and promote political awareness and participation among their peers. 

Programs like Black Girls Lead and Girls Who Vote have been instrumental in increasing political engagement among Black girls and fostering civic responsibility. These programs provide mentorship and civic education, which are essential in preparing Black girls to become active voters and community leaders.

In addition, Black youth activism is expressed not only at the local level, such as when a group of girls at Pretoria High School for Girls held a protest earlier in July to highlight alleged racism they experienced, — but also in national movements such as those sparked by the murder of George Floyd when 17-year-old Daniella Fraizer took out her cell phone and recorded his murder in 2020. Such incidents speak to young Black children —particularly Black girls—civically advocating for social justice in their schools and communities.

Surging ahead

Black girls, who account for 7.8 percent of the overall K-12 student population in the United States, have led a trend of civic engagement, contributing to increased voter registration among young Black women. Additionally, experts say Harris’ groundbreaking run for the White House has captured the imagination of Black women and girls who see themselves in her. 

However, the surge is not an isolated incident but rather a culmination of years of civic education and empowerment initiatives that have prepared these young women to take their place as influential voters.

Hilary Wilson, a doctoral student studying education in Louisiana, believes that the historical cultivation of civic engagement will likely have a lasting impact on Black K-12 education and voter registration turnout moving forward.

“As these young girls and women continue to assert their political power, their influence could extend into shaping educational policies, like more civic education in the classroom, that will benefit predominantly Black schools and communities.”

This article was originally published by Word In Black.

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By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO

The NAACP has sent a letter to Michael D. Amiridis, president of the University South Carolina, demanding that the school cancel an upcoming campus event, slated for Sept. 18, that will feature right-wing extremist and Proud Boys founder, Gavin McInnes, in a “roast” of Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The letter, sent Aug. 30 by NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, has since garnered more than 20,000 signatures, primarily from an online petition led by NAACP youth leaders. The petition reflects a surge in public outrage against the event and its leaders who have allegedly used racial tropes to boost attendance.

The NAACP also released a statement expressing disappointment at the university’s decision to host the event, stating that NAACP leadership remains “committed to ensuring the student and broader South Carolina community are protected from hateful rhetoric or actions.”

Johnson said he felt compelled to write the letter because of the “blatant sexist and racist nature of the event, the advertisement for it and the potential for violence on campus because of the proposed event.”

“Hate speech has long served as a weapon to undermine the progress of our nation,” Johnson said in the letter. “At a time where we are witnessing groundbreaking history, bad actors aim to cast a dark shadow on those very achievements. If South Carolina University’s leadership values their Black students, it’s only right they shut this event down. 

“Our nation’s schools must remain havens for learning, not platforms for hate. It is imperative that the university takes swift action in this matter and protects the campus community from patterns of divisiveness and degradation.”

A full copy of the letter sent to President Amiridis can be found here. 

While Amiridis did not respond to inquiries from The AFRO, a statement about campus speakers posted on the university’s website (dated Aug. 27), issued by the university president and Thad Westbrook, chair of the Board of Trustees, sheds some light on the university’s perspective. 

“We have received your messages and understand your concerns about an upcoming speakers’ event at our campus,” the statement said. “This event is organized by a registered student group and it is not endorsed by the university….

“Censoring even the most hateful individuals and groups does not solve the problems we face in our society and instead provides them with a platform to win more publicity and support because their message was silenced…,” the statement continued. “Democracy requires active engagement and participation in the face of views we oppose. Let your voices be heard through peaceful civil discourse that generates constructive debates even amid the most hateful words or images you can imagine.” 

Student group Uncensored America stands its ground 

Sponsors of the event, Uncensored America, stated on their website www.uncensoredamerica.us that “The Roast of Cumala Harris with Milo & Gavin” will go on as scheduled.

McInnes, who in addition to his connection with Proud Boys also co-founded VICE magazine in 1994, will serve as one roast master. He will be joined by Milo Yiannopoulos, former congressional aide to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and chief of staff for Ye’s (formerly Kanye West) fashion company Yeezy. 

According to its website, Uncensored America, founded in 2020, is a non-partisan, youth-driven, free speech organization dedicated to hosting honest and fun conversations with controversial figures to fight censorship and cancel culture. 

“We believe in freedom of speech as it’s defined by the First Amendment. There are the obvious exceptions such as defamation, inciting violence, child pornography, etc. But our country doesn’t abuse free speech. It’s the opposite: We don’t talk to each other enough. That’s what we’re trying to change. We want more conversations, not less,” Uncensored America spokesperson Sean Semanko told the AFRO. 

In response to objections from the NAACP and the online petition to cancel the event, Semanko said those critics lacked a sense of humor.

“The pearl clutching from the NAACP and others is beyond silly. They can’t take an obvious joke. They want to cancel comedy. 

“It’s a comedy show. We want people to have fun. We want to bring joy to campus,” he said.  “The only group people should be concerned about is Antifa (short for ‘anti-fascists’ – a term used to broadly define people whose political beliefs lean toward the left, often far left,  but do not conform with the Democratic Party platform). They are the only ones who come to our events to cause trouble. We always advocate for peace.” 

In October 2022, Fox News reported that Penn State University canceled an Uncensored America comedy show featuring comedian Alex Stein and McInnes, after a teenaged protester, during a campus wide protest, struck Stein with a projectile that was allegedly filled with bodily waste. 

NAACP says it will not back down 

Johnson, on behalf of the NAACP and those who continue to demand the cancellation of the roast, spoke with The AFRO on Sept. 4 and reiterated their concerns. 

“We welcome an open dialogue between NAACP and University of South Carolina leadership. Our position remains clear – hate speech is not free speech. The promotional materials used to advertise this event and accompanying rhetoric that has spread on campus are not protected by the university’s Freedom of Expression and Access to Campus policy or the First Amendment. It also runs counter to the university’s Policy Against Discrimination, Harassment & Sexual Misconduct,” Johnson said. 

He continued, “The NAACP does not speak for other institutions or elected officials. We advocate for Black America. Our youth leaders, who stand to be most directly impacted, have made their concerns clear in the drafted petition that has received over 20,000 signatures. We will continue to amplify their concerns and call attention to any attempts to endanger our young people and the broader South Carolina community.”

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By Kevin D. McNair
Special to the AFRO

Members of the Maryland Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus recently released a statement in response to reports about Larry Hogan allegedly dismissing the concerns of an LGBTQ+ Maryland voter who brought up his record of refusing to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights. 

“Larry Hogan is no friend to the LGBTQ+ community,” said District 3 Delegate and Chair of the Maryland Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus, Kris Fair. “As governor, he refused to take a stand on basic legislation to protect LGBTQ+ Marylanders from hate crimes, stop discrimination against LGBTQ+ students and patients, or eliminate the so-called ‘panic defense’ that allows criminals to evade culpability when they harm LGBTQ+ people.” 

District 17 State Delegate Joe Vogel said he wants more than empty promises and an illusion of support. 

“I want to know whether my next Senator will stand up for transgender Maryland and LGBTQ+ children against an onslaught of attacks from the far-right,” he said. “I want to know whether my next Senator will fight back against a Supreme Court intent on repealing the rights generations fought for — including the right to gay marriage.”  

Hogan, the former Maryland governor, who’s running for U.S. Senate as a moderate Republican, says he can work across political divides. But he seemed to evade questions on his record about LGBTQ+ rights during a recent town hall via telephone.

Hogan said he didn’t know what bills were being questioned and added that he didn’t oppose any that he could recall and that they became law anyway. Several pro-LGBTQ+ bills did become law without his signature during his two terms in office (2015 – 2023) and he did in fact oppose others. 

Hogan’s campaign website doesn’t include a section on LGBTQ+ issues. In contrast, his opponent, Angela Alsobrooks, does include on her site a section on “Equality,” which notes that as Prince George’s County executive, she appointed the county’s first LGBTQ+ liaison.

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Join Word In Black on Sept. 10 for live pre- and post-presidential debate commentary with insights on issues that matter to Black voters.

By Word In Black

Word In Black is excited to announce Debate Night in Black America: A Virtual Conversation, an event designed to engage the African American community during the Sept. 10, 2024, presidential debate. This groundbreaking livestream show offers a platform for insightful discussion and analysis centered on Black viewers.

The virtual conversation — hosted by Word In Black Managing Director Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier and Deputy Managing Director Joseph Williams — will be streamed starting at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST on Sept. 10, 2024, before and after the ABC presidential debate. The streaming show will provide commentary and perspectives that resonate with the unique experiences and concerns of the Black community, creating a space for meaningful dialogue on the critical issues at stake in this election.

“We believe it’s essential for the Black community to have a platform where our voices are centered in the national conversation, especially during such a pivotal moment in our nation’s history,” said Courquet-Lesaulnier. “With this event, we’ll do what the Black press has done for nearly 200 years: create a space where our community can come together to discuss, analyze, and engage with the issues that matter most to us.”

In addition to the virtual event, participating WIB publishers will host local debate watch parties in communities across America for in-person participation in the conversation. These watch parties will foster a sense of unity and collective engagement, ensuring that the African-American community’s voice is heard loud and clear.

Local participants in the participating cities will share their post-debate thoughts during the livestream — providing a one-of-a-kind opportunity to hear from Black Americans across the nation about their insights and perspectives about the presidential election.

Newsroom outlets participating in the post-debate livestream include the following:

Atlanta – The Atlanta Voice & The Atlanta Daily World

Baltimore – The AFRO

Chicago – The Chicago Defender

Dallas – The Dallas Weekly

Detroit – The Michigan Chronicle

Houston – The Houston Defender Network

New York – The Amsterdam News

Pittsburgh – New Pittsburgh Courier

Sacramento – The Sacramento Observer

St. Louis – The St. Louis American

Washington, D.C. – The Washington Informer
Click here to register for Debate Night in Black America.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

(NNPA Newswire) – The award for “Most Treasonous Act” goes to…. The “Most Willing to Kill Vice President Mike Pence for President Trump” award goes to…. And the moment we’ve all been waiting for—the award for “Best Insurrectionist and Most Violent Assault on a Police Officer”—goes to… .

In an event that reads like a parody but was all too real, the so-called J6 Awards Gala, meant to honor convicted criminals from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, has been postponed. Just days before the planned ceremony, organizers from the group Stand in the Gap announced that the event, originally scheduled for Sept. 5 at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, would not go ahead as planned.

The awards ceremony was set to pay tribute to 20 MAGA loyalists, many of whom are currently behind bars. These individuals were part of the violent mob that stormed the Capitol and later recorded a song from jail titled “Justice for All.” The evening was described by organizers as an “unforgettable night,” dedicated to honoring those whom they have labeled as heroes in the aftermath of the insurrection.

Though the event was advertised with Donald Trump listed as an “invited guest,” it was reported by The New York Times that the former president was not expected to attend. Instead, Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani was promoted as a featured guest, along with several right-wing influencers and the families of the imprisoned insurrectionists, referred to by their supporters as “America’s Heroes.”

The gala wasn’t cheap, either. General admission tickets cost $1,500, while VIP tickets, which offered attendees closer proximity to the stage, cost $2,500. The funds raised were intended to support the Jan. 6 defendants, who continue to face significant legal and financial challenges, according to the event’s organizers.

However, the gala’s postponement came as a surprise to many. In late August, Fox Business, part of the Fox News family that had amplified the electoral disinformation that fueled the attack, reported that the event was being delayed due to “scheduling conflicts” with invited guest speakers. Despite that report, which claimed Trump might be in attendance, the gala received little attention from major news outlets.

While the fundraiser has been postponed, Stand in the Gap expressed hope that it would occur after Nov. 5, Election Day.

Trump, the twice impeached and 34 times convicted felon and former president, who has long expressed support for the individuals convicted in connection with the insurrection, has publicly called for their release, referring to them as “hostages.” Prominent MAGA figures such as Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have even visited some of these incarcerated individuals, further cementing their status as martyrs within far-right circles.

Meanwhile, Trump’s legal troubles continue to escalate. The 78-year-old faces sentencing on Sept. 18 for 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records to conceal an alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The post And the award for most treasonous act goes to… appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Ariyana Griffin 
AFRO Staff Writer 
agriffin@afro.com

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks,  the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate for Maryland, spoke at Morgan State University on Aug. 29  imploring students, alumni, faculty and staff to exercise their right to vote. 

Alsobrooks won the Democratic party’s Maryland primary, garnering 357,052 votes – 53.37 percent of all ballots cast. The primary results led her Democratic competitor David J. Trone to drop out of the race after he spent millions to receive 42.80 percent of all votes submitted. Alsobrooks is now running against former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican candidate who pulled 183,661 votes, tallying 64.18 percent of votes in his category for the primary election. If elected, Alsobrooks would be the first Black senator– male or female – from the state. 

Morgan State University communications professor Dr. Jason Johnson expressed that this was a great opportunity for students to get involved and learn more about Alsobrooks and her platform. He shared that he did a general knowledge quiz for his media literacy course to see who knew of her, and was surprised by the numbers. 

“My class has sophomores, juniors and seniors,” Johnson told the AFRO. “Out of 25 students, only about two of them knew who Angela Alsobrooks was– only two out of about 25– which is especially amazing because four or five of those students came from the county where she was the county executive.” 

“This is a great opportunity for her to explain and introduce herself to young people who should be a part of her base,” said Dr. Johnson. 

Alsobrooks took to the historically Black institution’s campus, deemed a National Treasure in 2016 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, to highlight the importance of utilizing the right to vote–especially this election season.  

“I’m fighting for your future. It’s not one that you live on the margins. I’m fighting because I believe that our country owes it to you,” said Alsobrooks. “You should live beyond your wildest dreams. I believe that every one of you is owed by our country the real opportunity to have economic opportunity and to be able to buy homes for your families.”

“We want you all to have the technology, the jobs and innovation, all that you desire for yourself,” she said, adding that those present deserve to “ live in safe communities.” 

For the young women present, Alsobrook said she’s running for senator to ensure they are able to make their “own decisions with privacy and freedom,” especially when it comes to issues regarding their bodies.

She spoke about the fight it took for African Americans to gain the right to vote in the United States and how she plans to fight against rights being taken away.

“I want you to have at least as much freedom as your parents and grandparents. The voting rights that some of our foreparents fought for–they jumped in front of dogs and water hoses because they knew the importance of the right to vote.” Alsobrooks said. “We’re not going to let anybody take that right from us. We’re not going to have any right that belongs to us, taken from us. Be it the voting right, the right to control your body, the right to live in peace and dignity.”

Alsobrooks also said those in the LGBTQ community deserve “to live with dignity and to be treated with fairness.” 

After speaking to the audience, she took time to speak to and take photos with attendees and members of campus organizations. Some students shared that they felt motivated after hearing Alsobrooks speak. 

“I am very hopeful for the next generation and really inspired by the fact that there’s a Black woman that looks like me running for Senate,” Carlona Brevard, a senior political science major at Morgan State University, told the AFRO. 

“I am a political science major going into pre-law. Right now, I’m standing on this side of the fence, but one day I’ll be on the other.”

Tyler S. Dawkins, a freshman strategic communication major from Upper Marlboro, Md. spoke on what Alsobrooks’ senate run means to him and the Black community. 

“I believe it’s important to elect Angela Alsobrooks into the U.S. Senate,” he said. “When people see her in the Senate, they see their mom, their sister,  their aunt, they see themselves.”

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Here we go again. A handful of rappers, celebrities, and instigators out here are discouraging Black people from voting or trying to convince us that our vote doesn’t matter because both candidates are the same. Don’t believe them. 

Every four years, a few vocal people — who rarely, if ever, use their voices to mobilize their followers to engage in specific political action — suddenly crawl out of the woodwork to spread misinformation about the next presidential election.

RELATED: Kamala Harris, for the Black People

This year is no different. I thought about posting weekly rebuttals, but rather than spending the next two months debunking these voices over and over again, I want to ask two questions. 

First, what’s their strategy to achieve their goals? Assuming you agree with everything they want to do, how do they propose to get it passed through our divided Congress, signed by the President into law, and upheld by a Republican-dominated Supreme Court that now considers any race-specific remedy to be illegal or unconstitutional? 

RELATED: 10 Big Lies Trump and the Republicans Tell About Kamala Harris

And second, if they had some genius strategy, where were they the last four years when Republican lawmakers and judges:

• blocked the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

• blocked the John Lewis Voting Rights Act

• ended affirmative action

• halted Black farmers’ relief

• restricted a venture capital fund for Black women

• outlawed minority business grants

• erased Black congressional districts

• banned Black books

• banned Black history classes,

• closed DEI offices, 

• refused to indict the officers who killed Breonna Taylor,

• ousted Black lawmakers in Tennessee, 

• arrested Black people for voting in Florida, and

• banned civil rights groups in Georgia from providing food and water to people standing in long voting lines?

Many of us have been playing defense without a full bench the last three quarters, and we could have used some help from all the new celebrity players showing up in the fourth quarter who want to change the playbook.

As Malcolm X said, “Show me in the white community where a singer is a white leader.” Yes, celebrities have a valuable supporting role to play, but they don’t get to show up two months before an election, ignore the work of Black thought leaders, and demand a meeting with a presidential candidate like they’re some official spokesman for Black America.

So, instead of spending the next eight weeks responding to every lie about Kamala Harris, I propose 10 constructive things we can do to help advance our political agenda well into the future. 

Ten Things We Can Do

1. Get informed. Follow the news. Take a class. Become a critical thinker and more sophisticated consumer of information. I read dozens of news sources every day. You don’t have to read that many, but don’t rely on one source for all your news. Review multiple, credible sources. 

2. Verify the information you share. Learn to spot misinformation. And try not to forward fake news. Fact-checkers like Daniel Dale, Snopes.com, Factcheck.org, and Politifact try to debunk misinformation, but sometimes they make mistakes or can’t keep up. That’s why you need to know your sources. Media outlets like Fox News, the New York Post, Newsmax, TownHall, the National Review, and the Wall Street Journal editorial page have a distinct right-wing political bias that favors Trump and the Republicans. Also, rappers, athletes, and celebrities have every right to share their opinions, but they’re not always the most reliable sources for information about government and politics.

3. Vote. Election Day is November 5, but some states require you to register weeks before then. Go to Vote.org today to find the voter registration deadline in your state. If you think you’re already registered, know that Republicans are trying to challenge and purge inactive voters. So check to make sure your name has not been removed from the rolls.

4. Attend local government meetings. Many of the decisions that affect us, including where liquor stores and pollution sites are built and which books are banned in schools, are made at local public meetings that very few people bother to attend. Go there and speak up.

5. Volunteer. Campaigns are always looking for people to make phone calls and knock on doors. Drop by the local campaign office, sign up to host an event, put up yard signs, or become a poll watcher. This is especially important if you live in one of the seven battleground states that will determine the election: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada.

6. Donate. If you’re not invested in the presidential election, find a candidate you do support and contribute to their campaign. This year, we have 435 House members, 34 Senators, 11 governors’ races, nine lieutenant governor seats, 10 attorneys general, seven secretaries of state, and thousands of lower-level offices up for election in November. Unlike the presidential campaign, many of these candidates never get the attention and resources they need to win. Your money could make all the difference.

7. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel. Support organizations that are already doing the work. Groups like Color of Change and the NAACP are developing important policy goals and working to implement them. 

8. Lobby your elected officials. The president can make some critical unilateral decisions for the country, but most government decisions that affect your day-to-day life are made by Congress, your state legislature, your county commissioners, your city council, your zoning board, and your school board. Do you know these officials? Visit their offices. Call them up. Write them letters. Let them know what issues you care about. The phone number for the U.S. Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121. 

9. Run for office. If you’re not satisfied with the people in government, show them how it’s done. Run for school board, town council, state representative, or even Congress. Don’t expect somebody else to do it for you. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

10. Start a PAC. This is one of the most difficult tasks on the list, but it can be done. If none of the other steps work for you, you can start your own political action committee to fight for the causes you believe in. You can even create a legislative scorecard to give ratings to members of Congress based on the issues you care about. 

There are dozens of other constructive things you can do, so don’t be limited by this list. But remember this guiding principle. Cynicism is not a strategy, and apathy is not a solution.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

The post 10 Ways to Be a Better Black Voter appeared first on Word In Black.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

Maryland voters’ approval of Vice President Kamala Harris (D), Democratic presidential nominee, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) have increased since February.

According to a poll released on Sept. 3 by Gonzales Research and Media Services, Marylanders approve of Harris’ job in the White House by 55 percent and Moore’s job as governor by 64 percent. In a February poll by Gonzales, Harris had around 46 percent approval and Moore had 58 percent. 

In comparison, Harris’ Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, has a 57 percent disapproval rating for his job in the White House. About 42 percent of Marylanders approve of Trump’s work as president.

Pollster Patrick Gonzales said he believes Harris’ approval ratings are up in Maryland, because “she had an excellent convention in Chicago.”

The poll was conducted on Aug. 24-30, days after Harris and Moore’s televised speeches at the vibrant 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Gonzales continued saying “the events of the last seven to eight weeks,” including President Joe Biden (D) dropping out of the presidential race, led Maryland voters to support her.

Gonzales said he felt that Moore’s primetime speech at the convention has much to do with his approval increase as well. He also credited Moore’s success to his handling of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse on March 26.

Moore spent weeks in Baltimore working with federal, state and local officials to recover the six workers who died, reopen the Port of Baltimore and support those impacted by the tragic incident. Through that work, the port was reopened in 11 weeks.

Though Moore’s ratings have risen, recent scrutiny could have produced different results. 

Moore apologized on Aug. 29 for inaccurately stating that he received a military Bronze Star Medal on a White House application.

“I sincerely wish I had gone back to correct the note on my application,” said Moore in a statement. “It was an honest mistake, and I regret not making that correction.”

The AFRO reached out to the governor’s office for comment but did not receive a timely response.

The Gonzales poll found that if the election was held today 56 percent of Maryland voters would choose Harris, while 35 percent would vote for Trump.

Gonzales’ report acknowledges that voters’ preference for Democrat candidates makes sense for the heavily Blue state.

According to the poll, 81 percent of Democrats, 44 percent of independents and 10 percent of Republicans approve of Harris.

For Moore, 82 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of independents and 35 percent of Republicans approved of him.

Poll results show that Harris and Moore largely have the approval of Black Maryland voters.

About 88 percent of African Americans approve of Moore, while only 2 percent disapprove. About 84 percent of Black Marylanders approve of Harris, while 8 percent disapprove.

Gonzales noted that Moore’s high results can provide him with stronger “political capital,” policy-making power. Gonzales provided an example of how this influence works.

“If I was the governor of Maryland and I walked into a room trying to execute this big deal the same day a poll came out that showed my approval was at 30 percent, I would have a much more difficult time than if I walked into that room on a day when my approval came out at 65 percent,” he said. 

About 820 registered voters, who said they are likely to vote in the general election, were polled via live phone interviews for the poll.

The Gonzales poll also addresses what Marylanders find important. 

According to poll results, 58 percent of Maryland voters prefer strict laws that hold juveniles accountable for their actions, while 34 percent favor lenient laws.

Overwhelmingly, 95 percent of Marylanders surveyed believe it is important for the state to invest in transportation infrastructure. About 61 percent find it “very” important and 34 percent find it “somewhat” important.

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By Quintessa Williams

During the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama’s stunning braids and Tennessee Rep. Justin Pearson’s mighty afro were celebrated nationwide as symbols of Black pride, cultural identity and resistance. 

Given that the former First Lady once said America wasn’t ready to see a Black woman with anything but straight hair in the White House, their hairstyles symbolize a growing acceptance and recognition of natural hair in political spaces. 

However, while Black hairstyles are becoming more accepted in politics, a stark contrast exists in America’s public schools. Black hair may be embraced in some spaces, but it remains heavily policed and criminalized in classrooms. 

Hair dress code policies in schools disproportionately affect Black students, leading to higher rates of negative perceptions about their identity, severe psychological effects and students being shoved into the school-to-prison pipeline.

Just weeks before the DNC, a judge dismissed a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by Darryl George, a Black student in Texas, after it was ruled that he was lawfully punished for wearing locs, a hairstyle rooted in African culture and spirituality. The school cited ‘”its dress code”’ as the reason for the suspension.

A national issue for Black students

Savannah Walker, an Andrew Jackson High School senior in Jacksonville, Fla., tells Word In Black that when schools enforce such policies, they are “not only policing hair but identity as well.”

“They’re basically telling us that we as our natural selves are unacceptable and that we must conform to White norms to be seen as respectable and worthy. This is hurtful, especially for young people like me who are still figuring out their sense of self and identity.”

 In 2017, 17-year-old Jenesis Johnson was sent to in-school suspension for wearing her natural afro to school. The school’s dress code mandated that hair be “kept neat and out of the face,” and administrators claimed her afro was a distraction. 

A year later in 2018, Faith Fennidy, an 11-year-old from Louisiana, was sent home because her braided hairstyle allegedly violated the school’s dress code. Fennidy’s case garnered national attention and sparked outrage over discriminatory hair policies in schools.

In 2019, Tyler House, a high school wrestler in Kentucky, was forced to cut his locs on the spot or forfeit his match. The referee insisted that his locs were not compliant with the sport’s regulations despite other athletes with similar hairstyles not being asked to make changes. 

These incidents, and many others like them, highlight the ongoing struggle Black students face in schools across the country.

According to a 2020 report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Black students, who make up only 15 percent of the U.S. public school student population, account for 45 percent of all school suspensions related to hair being cited as a dress code violation. In addition, 25 percent of Black students reported being penalized for wearing their natural hair, compared to just 5 percent of White students. 

Does the CROWN Act protect Black students?

As of 2024, 25 states have passed the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair), which protects against hair-based discrimination in workplaces and schools. 

The act first became law in California in 2019 and is designed to ban discrimination based on hair texture and protective hairstyles, including locs, braids, twists, and afros. In March 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the federal version of the CROWN Act. The Biden Administration voiced its support for the legislation. However, the bill stalled in the Senate, leaving millions nationwide without protection against hair-based discrimination.

In states without the CROWN Act, 67 percent of Black students report experiencing discrimination or bias related to their natural hair in school. However, states with the CROWN Act have seen a 25 percent decrease in reported incidents of hair discrimination. 

Where do we go from here? 

In May 2024, Democrats reintroduced the CROWN Act at the federal level. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a leading voice in the fight for the CROWN Act, said, “This is not a partisan issue. The federal government would simply be following the lead of our states. This is an issue of justice. This is an issue of fairness. This isn’t just an issue of ending discrimination that has existed for too long. Enough is enough.”

Meanwhile, in Jacksonville, Savannah Walker’s father, Kadeem Walker, says he believes a potential federal ban on discrimination against Black hair will ensure all students are free to express their cultural hair identity without fear of punishment. 

“We must implement federal protections like the CROWN Act and hold schools accountable for discriminatory dress code policies,” he says. “It will be a giant step in ending these discriminatory practices on natural hair across the nation.”

This article was originally published by Word in Black.

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By Sonny Messiah Jiles

Now that the DNC Convention is over and Kamala Harris is officially the presidential nominee, the real work begins to get her elected — and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

The groundswell of support for Vice President Kamala Harris is off the charts, especially after watching the Democratic National Convention. The atmosphere in the United Center was electric, with a party atmosphere and joyful camaraderie.  

But speaker after speaker at the convention also made it clear there is much work to be done before the Nov. 5 election, and there is too much at stake for us to sit on our behinds. 

 Former First Lady Michelle Obama made it clear in an energizing speech the night of Aug. 20. 

 “It’s up to us to remember what Kamala’s mother told her: ‘Don’t just sit around and complain. Do something.’ So, if they lie about her — and they will — we’ve got to do something. If we see a bad poll — and we will — we’ve got to put down that phone and do something.” 

This is a historic occasion, with the possibility of electing the first Black and Southeast Asian woman as commander in chief of the most powerful country in the free world. But we must not lose sight of how the results of the 2024 election will affect you and your family, your work, your health, and your finances. 

Given that, let’s examine some of the contrasts between Harris and Trump.  

 Harris proposes: 

• Tax increases on corporations and the wealthy to fund programs that would help low- and middle-income families struggling to build wealth.
• A $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and $40 billion for developers to build starter homes, a way to ease the affordable-housing crisis.
• Permanently reinstating the child tax credit, a benefit that lifted millions of children out of poverty. 
• Incentives for manufacturers who create technologies to fight global warming.
• Federal ban on corporate price gouging, a way to bring grocery prices down and hold food manufacturers accountable. 

Trump proposes: 

• Initiatives to bring down the cost of car insurance in the first 100 days of his administration.
• An increase in oil drilling to lower gas prices and cut energy costs in half. 
• The deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S. 
• An as-yet unspecified plan to bring housing prices down. 
• Rolling back federal regulations on businesses. 

Plans sound nice, but what you DO speaks louder than what you SAY. 

In the words of Malcolm X, “We have been bamboozled, we have been tricked, we have been fooled.”  

 We should not be bamboozled in 2024 and assume Harris will win. Take nothing for granted.  What’s at stake makes it even more important that we vote. 

There’s the conservative Project 2025 agenda, which would eliminate the Department of Education and send school oversight to states, among other far-right proposals. When I look at my state, Texas, that is not the best idea.  

Our Republican-controlled legislature has taken control of our local school districts and banned certain books on Black subjects.  They have crushed reproductive freedom and eliminated DEI programs at state universities that opened doors to Black and Brown students. If Trump wins, we can expect more of the same, at a national scale. 

Again, the stakes are high.  

It’s clear from their track records that Harris is clearly the better choice But don’t forget: House and Senate seats are also up for grabs. Control of Congress can make the difference between a White House that gets things done for the people, and more gridlock in Washington, D.C. This year, voting must not stop at the top of the ballot.    

That is why, as Michelle Obama says, we must do something.  

Register to vote if you haven’t already. Encourage your family and friends to do the same. Volunteer to work on a campaign, if you have time. If you don’t, and can spare the money, donate to the candidate of your choice. On election day, vote early to avoid long lines. 

 “We only have two and a half months, y’all, to get this done,” Michelle Obama told a fired-up crowd at the DNC. “Only 11 weeks to make sure every single person we know is registered and has a voting plan…So, consider this to be your official ask: Michelle Obama is asking you — no, I’m telling y’all — to do something.”

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By Kirsten Grieshaber
The Associated Press

It was a balmy summer night in 2020, shortly after the lifting of Germany’s first COVID-19 lockdown, and Omar Diallo and two friends from his home country of Guinea wanted to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice.

“We were enjoying life, playing music, walking through the city at night — we just wanted to be together again and have a good time,” Diallo, 22, told The Associated Press in Erfurt, an area in the eastern state of Thuringia.

He was not prepared for how the day would end. Suddenly Diallo and his friends were confronted by three black-clad White men.

“They were shouting: ‘What do you want here, f-——- foreigners, get out’!” Diallo remembered.

“First there were three, then five, seven — they were surrounding us from all sides. We couldn’t run away, and then they started chasing us,” he said. 

At some point Diallo managed to call the police, and when the officers finally arrived, the attackers ran away. One of his friends was beaten up so badly that he had to be hospitalized.

“I simply tried to survive,” Diallo said. “I hadn’t done anything wrong. It all happened only because of my skin color.”

Being Black in Germany has always meant exposure to racism, from everyday humiliations to deadly attacks. In eastern Germany, the risk can be even greater. 

After World War II, West Germany became a democratic, diverse society but in East Germany, which was run by a communist dictatorship until the end of 1989, residents barely had any contact with people of different ethnicities and were not allowed to travel freely abroad.

Experts say that specifically in Thuringia, radical far-right forces have created an environment that’s hostile toward minorities, including Black people.

Now, with the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, Black Germans and African migrants like Diallo are growing increasingly concerned. 

Thuringia, which has a population of 2.1 million,holds state elections on Sept. 1, and the fiercely anti-immigration AfD is leading the polls, on 30 percent.

In 2023, the NGO Ezra, which helps victims of far-right, racist and antisemitic violence, documented 85 racist attacks in Thuringia, down only slightly from 88 attacks in 2022, which Ezra described as “an all-time high of right-wing and racist violence” in the state. 

“In recent years, an extreme right-wing movement has formed in Thuringia, which has contributed to a noticeable ideological radicalization of its followers. Politically, the Alternative for Germany party is the main beneficiary,” Ezra and a consortium of organizations tracking racism wrote in their annual report. 

AfD’s Thuringia branch is particularly radical and was put under official surveillance by the domestic intelligence service four years ago as a “proven right-wing extremist” group.

“Authoritarian and populist forces, which are becoming very strong here now, harbor a great danger in Thuringia,” says Doreen Denstaedt, Thuringia’s minister for migration, justice and consumer protection. 

Denstaedt, the daughter of a Black father from Tanzania and a White German mother, was born and grew up in Thuringia.

The 46-year-old member of the Green party said that growing up in Communist East Germany, she was “always the only Black child.” As a teenager, she was never allowed to go home on her own because of the risk of racist attacks, and she sometimes suffered racist slurs in her school.

“I actually experienced myself that people called me a foreigner, which really confused me at first, because I was born in Saalfeld” in Thuringia, Denstaedt said.

She fears that in the current political climate, racist narratives will become acceptable in the middle of society.

“My biggest concern is that people do not question [these prejudices], especially if they are not affected themselves,” she said.

It’s not exactly clear how many Black people live in Germany nowadays, as different ethnicities are not documented in official statistics, but estimates put the number of people of African descent at 1.27 million. More than 70 percent were born in Germany, according to Mediendienst Integration, which tracks migration issues in the country.

Germany’s history of racial discrimination begins long before the Nazis began excluding, deporting and ultimately murdering Black people in the 1930s and 1940s. 

The German Empire held numerous colonies in Africa from 1884 until the end of World War I. These included territories in present-day Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Namibia, Cameroon, Togo and Ghana.

The German government has only recently started dealing with the injustices committed during that period. In 2021, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Germans to face the country’s cruel colonial past, and in 2023, he apologized for colonial-era killings in Tanzania over a century ago. 

Daniel Egbe, a 58-year-old chemist from Cameroon who moved to Thuringia in 1994 to study, says he’s shocked how little Germans know about their colonial history. He says this ignorance may also factor into the unequal treatment of Black people. 

“I’ve been teaching classes in school,” Egbe told the AP. “I tell them a bit about myself and especially the fact that Cameroon was a German colony. Many students don’t know anything about Africa or about the German past and it must be put on the map.”

Egbe, who took German citizenship in 2003, founded AMAH, an organization that helps university students and migrants from Africa when they experience discrimination in the city of Jena, in eastern Thuringia.

He’s worried about the rise of the AfD but has no intention of leaving. 

“We won’t leave, we will do our part to change this society,” he said. “People are mostly afraid of what and who they don’t know. We have to change things through education.”

As for Diallo, the Guinean who was attacked in Erfurt four years ago, he also vowed to help improve the situation for Black people in Germany.

Even though the attack traumatized him, it also empowered him to fight for justice, he said. A year ago, he enrolled in university in Munich to study law, but he still visits Erfurt frequently, where he supports Youth without Borders, a network of young migrants.

“I don’t exactly know yet how I’m going to change Germany, but I know I will,” he said.

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) will hold its 53rd Annual Legislative Conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., from Sept. 11-15.

The convention, which is themed “From Vision to Victory: Amplifying Black Voices,” will focus on issues facing the Black community like affordable housing, voting rights and artificial intelligence.

The CBCF defines the conference as a “unique platform” that provides leaders, legislators, influencers and citizens with a stage to address issues and “promote the political, economic, and social advancement of Black communities.”

U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) told the AFRO that he is looking forward to this year’s conference.

“It’s great for CBC members to have a chance to really highlight a particular issue or issues of importance to them that might not get the spotlight that these issues deserve, especially when we’re in the minority,” said Ivey.

“It’s also great to have it happen at a time when so many people are coming together from around the country for CBC weekend. It’s a party and a celebration, but it’s kind of a party with a purpose,” added the Democratic lawmaker.

U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) told the AFRO that the CBCF conference historically propels the Black community forward.

“The CBCF legislative conference is where members of Congress, along with local public officials, community and religious leaders, creatives, influencers and the private sector intersect for the uplift and advancement of our communities and country,” said Rochester.

She added, “Our caucus has been at the forefront of some of the biggest wins of this administration. From infrastructure funding, the Safer Communities Act, supporting small businesses, the CHIPS and Science Act, to advocating for student debt relief, CBC delivers.” 

The conference will include several discussions hosted by congressional members, and it will also offer special ticketed events that give the public an opportunity to mix and mingle with lawmakers in a more intimate setting.

On Sept. 12, Reps. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Troy Carter (D-La.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) will host the “Gospel Extravaganza,” which will showcase the best of southern gospel music.

On the same day, Black women congressional lawmakers will hold “The Sojourner Truth Women’s Leadership Reception” to honor women leaders who have made a positive impact in their communities.

On Sept. 13, members will host “The Black Party” to address the need for young professionals to tackle issues impacting Black Americans.

On Sept. 14, the conference will host its “Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner,” where Black lawmakers are honored for their work in Congress. The event will also recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to society.

U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) told the AFRO that the conference is a much-needed experience that drives policy to advance political, economic and social agendas.

“The is an unrivaled forum that gathers thousands of thought leaders, legislators, influencers, and citizens together to champion causes and find solutions to issues that deeply affect the overall Black community,” said Mfume.

He added that this year is historic because “America has the opportunity to elect its first female, African-American president in Kamala Harris” and this conference will “help steer this momentum forward.”  

Rep. Rochester told the AFRO that “everything is at stake” as it pertains to the November election and that this year’s conference could impact the election results.

“As my dear friend Congressman Jim Clyburn reminds us, this election is not just the most important of our lifetime, it’s the most consequential,” said Rochester. “CBC is rising to meet this moment together.”

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By Catherine Pugh
Special to the AFRO

This past Democratic National Convention (DNC) held at the United Center in Chicago from Aug. 19-22, is my sixth.  My first was in 2000, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles; followed by 2004, Fleet Center, Boston; 2008, Pepsi Center and Invesco Field, Denver; 2012, Cable Arena, Charlotte, N.C., and  my hometown in 2016, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia.

Every convention is confronted with protestors and Chicago was no different.  On the first day of the convention buses were held up for hours by protestors. The bus I was on sat for three-and-a-half hours before we were allowed to disembark. However, the protestors were unable to disrupt the excitement that was to follow once delegates and friends entered the convention halls. Every day following, we experienced little if any delay. They were smooth rides to the convention center and the check-in and security checkpoints moved quickly.

I can’t remember feeling this much excitement at a DNC; perhaps it rivaled the nomination of President Barack Obama who had survived a tumultuous battle for the nomination against Hillary Clinton  in 2008–quite a contrast to his crowning nomination in 2012.  

This year was more like 2012. My first two conventions were California and Boston, where Al Gore followed by John Kerry, respectively, became the Democratic nominees and lost the presidential elections.  There are those who would argue the election was stolen from Gore,  and I’m certain Hillary Clinton supporters laid claim to the same kind of defeat. The 2016 DNC in Philadelphia where Clinton was nominated saw disruption by Bernie Sanders holding his delegates to nearly the end of the convention in an effort to have his agenda heard, even though Hillary had won enough delegates to be the Democratic nominee for president.  The Democrats wanted unity and for Bernie to come under the tent.  

I don’t think anyone could have predicted–I know I could not–that on July 21, 2024, President Joe Biden would step down and endorse the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris to be the next president of the United States and in just  little under a month she would galvanize the Democratic Party and wrap up enough delegate votes to claim the nomination prior to the convention.  

Each day of the convention was filled with excitement. It was difficult to watch President Biden, front and center, tell America and those of us in attendance: ”I gave my best to you.” 

“Thank you Joe,” was the chant that roared through the center during his speech and every time his name was called.  I am sure he felt the love. That would be the last time we would see Joe during the convention even though many speakers, including the nominee and every former president paid tribute to him.  President Biden and his family left the convention following his speech for a well-deserved vacation.

On day two the featured speakers were the Obamas, and everyone I asked thought the best speech given outside of the vice president’s was that of Michelle Obama.  I was mesmerized by her presentation and forceful, calm delivery that had us sitting on the edge of our seats or standing and applauding uncontrollably.  The words of Michelle will be etched in history and will include her remarks when referring to Trump. She said, “Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs.’” She was chiding remarks made by Trump during his debate with Biden when he referred to immigrants taking “Black jobs.”

To have witnessed two of the most engaging speeches, that of Michelle and Barack Obama, which were sheer joy and evoked emotions that made you wish the presidential election were happening outside the door of the convention center that day. 

During the ceremonial roll calls, every state was assigned their own song.  While almost everyone would agree that Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” is a great song, it had no connection to the state of Maryland–a state that has produced so many great artists, including Toni Braxton, Sisqo, Dru Hill, Billie Holiday and Frank Zappa. Most songs played for the states either reflected an artist born in that state, a theme song that had become a part of a top state official’s campaign or a hit song with the state’s name mentioned like Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” used by Texas.

Besides Maryland, of course, my favorite roll call presentation was that of Tennessee and the remarks given by its second speaker, state Rep. Justin Pearson who had been expelled from office in 2023 with one other Black member Justin Jones for protesting in support of gun safety and was reinstated a few days later. They are worth Googling.  I predict we will hear from this 29-year-old in the future of Democratic politics. 

Lil Jon was quite a highlight in the Georgia roll call, chanting, ”Get your hands up. We are not going back,” while New York featured director Spike Lee out front before the speech of its Gov. Kathy Hochul and played “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. North Dakota also featured an Alicia Keys song, “Girl on Fire.”

Nothing seemed more beautiful at the moment than on the third evening to hear poet Amanda Gordon recite a new poem “The Hill We Climb,” which began: ” We gather at this hallowed place because we believe in the American dream….”

My favorite two verses from her poem were: “We are one family regardless of religion, class, or color, for what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty, but our love for one another.” And her conclusion: ”Let us not just believe in the American dream. Let us be worthy of it.”

There were many surprises during the convention, from the appearance of Kerry Washington, Oprah Winfrey and the rumor that ran rapidly that Beyonce was going to perform on the last evening.  

Other than Beyonce not appearing, I thought that most of the key speakers, including the Clintons, did not disappoint. Hillary drew out the loud chant from the crowd: Lock him Up, ” referring to Republican nominee Donald Trump.  

No one from Maryland appearing on the stage at the DNC let attendees down, evident by the ringing applause.  Gov. Wes Moore, U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks, Congressman Jamie Raskin–all were well-received, left indelible impressions, and kept very busy schedules during the convention speaking at caucuses and hosting their own events.

The families of the vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who also gave a riveting speech during the convention, along with Kamala’s family, including her husband, Doug provided moments of applause, tears and joy during the convention. “Joy,” by the way when mentioned during the convention became synonymous with Kamala.

The presidential nominee was elegant and engaging.  When I left the convention center in Chicago I felt I knew her, and I am sure that most of us who heard her felt the same.  She carried us on a journey from childhood, a life of service to this moment of in-person acceptance of the Democratic nomination for president of these United States.  She was not boastful but brilliant.  She laid out a plan for America with confidence and courage.  She was forceful and fearless. The applause and standing ovations were relentless and reassuring that Democrats had made the right choice in pushing forward a woman who could become the first woman and woman of color to be elected to the presidency of the United States.

The post Reflections on the Democratic National Convention appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

LONDON — Certain Black people on the internet keep raising two questions about Kamala Harris. What is her Black agenda? And why didn’t she do it during the last four years?

First, if you want to know Kamala Harris’s Black agenda, look at what she’s already done. As vice president, Kamala Harris helped to pass the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, provided a record $16 billion in funding to HBCUs, $2.8 billion for Pell grants and need-based assistance, $2 billion to Black farmers, $2 billion to clean up pollution in communities of color, doubled the number of Black businesses in America, and brought us the lowest Black unemployment rate and the lowest Black poverty rate in history.

RELATED: Kamala Harris’s Time Has Come

The Biden-Harris administration also expanded the child tax credit, which cut the Black child poverty rate in half, capped the cost of insulin at $35 for seniors, which is especially important for Black people who are disproportionately affected by diabetes, signed up 5 million more people for Obamacare, canceled $168.5 billion in student loan debt for 4.8 million people, pardoned thousands of marijuana charges, and on top of all that, even signed a law creating the first new Black-related federal holiday in forty years — Juneteenth.

At the same time, they appointed more Black judges than any administration in history, and gave us the first Black woman on the Supreme Court and the first Black vice president. And those federal judges have lifetime tenure, so they’ll be on the bench for decades to come.

RELATED: 10 Big Lies Trump and the Republicans Tell About Kamala Harris

Trump was president for four years and he didn’t do any of those things. In fact, he was the first president since Richard Nixon 50 years ago to appoint no Black judges to the U.S. Courts of Appeals. And the judges he did appoint are the very ones striking down the laws and policies that help Black people.

Now, the second question. Why hasn’t Kamala Harris done whatever thing you think she should have done in the last four years? The answer. She’s not the president. She’s the vice president, and that person’s job is to help the president. But even if she were president, people need to have realistic expectations about what a president can and cannot do.

The president leads one of our three co-equal branches of government. For those who missed “Schoolhouse Rock,” the three branches are legislative, executive, and judicial. Congress, the legislature, makes the laws. The president, the executive, enforces the laws. And the judiciary, through the Supreme Court and lower courts, interprets the laws.

In the UK, the executive and legislature are combined in Parliament. The prime minister comes from the legislature and has the power to enact their own agenda. It makes it easier to get things done, but we don’t have that system in the U.S. 

Currently, we have a divided Congress, with a Republican House of Representatives and a Democratic Senate. The House is gerrymandered, giving members no incentive to work with a president from the other party. And the Senate is constitutionally unrepresentative of the country. 

That’s why the 1.6 million people in the mostly white and rural Dakotas get four U.S. senators, while the nearly 40 million people in the racially diverse state of California get only two U.S. senators. That means the people of South Dakota have 50 times more power than the people in California in the Senate. The legislature is rigged against us.

RELATED: If Trump Wins, Republican Judges Will Rule the Courts—and Our Lives

And, unfortunately, so are the courts. Because of the antiquated electoral college system for picking presidents, we have an unrepresentative Supreme Court with six of the nine justices appointed by Republican presidents, despite the fact that Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. 

So, even if Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, Cornel West — or any imaginary candidate you think might be more radical or more pro-Black than Kamala Harris — was elected president, there’s very little that any president can do in our system of government that won’t be blocked by Republicans in Congress or overruled by the Republican-appointed judges on the federal courts.

That’s why we can’t just vote once every four years in a presidential election and complain when things don’t work out. We have to vote in every election, every year, in primaries, runoffs, and general elections, up and down the ballot, for city council, mayor, judge, school board member, county commissioner, state representative, governor, senator, vice president, and president.

But the choice is clear. If you want a president who has spent his life attacking Black people, from the Central Park Five to Barack Obama to Colin Kaepernick, Trump is your guy. If you want a president who won’t be able to accomplish everything we want but will move us in the right direction and has a record to prove it, Kamala Harris is the one. 

And if you want a king or queen to be your leader, move to London.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

The post Kamala Harris, for the Black People appeared first on Word In Black.

The post Kamala Harris, for the Black People appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Asia Matthews
Special to the AFRO

Minnesota governor and vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a speech reflecting on his extensive background in public service and his vision for the future. His remarks emphasized his diverse experiences and the policy initiatives he has championed throughout his career.

“It’s the honor of my life to accept your nomination for vice president of the United States,” he said to a cheering crowd.

Walz, who grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town with a population of about 400, began his career in education and military service. 

His father, a Korean War veteran, died from lung cancer shortly after Walz joined the Army National Guard. Walz served in the Guard for 24 years, a period that he cites as formative in his development as a public servant.

Before entering politics, Walz taught social studies and coached a state champion football team at a Minnesota public high school. 

Reflecting on his shift to public service, Walz recounted how his experiences with students and athletes inspired him to pursue a political career. 

“They saw in me what I had hoped to instill in them—a commitment to the common good, an understanding that we’re all in this together, and the belief that a single person can make a real difference for their neighbors,” Walz said.

Walz served in Congress for 12 years, where he worked on such issues as rural economic development and veterans’ affairs. 

He credited his time in Congress with helping him learn how to work with both parties, which he believes has shaped his approach to governing.

During his speech, Walz made mention of several key policies he has sponsored during his time as governor. These initiatives reflect his administration’s focus on economic and social welfare.

“We cut taxes for the middle class. We passed paid family and medical leave. We invested in fighting crime and affordable housing, and we made sure that every kid in our state gets breakfast and lunch every day,” Walz said. 

In his speech, the governor addressed personal freedom and criticized the current Republican agenda, particularly on issues such as the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, and reproductive rights. 

“It’s an agenda that serves nobody but the rich and most extreme amongst us, and it’s an agenda that does nothing for our neighbors in need,” he said.

Walz also spoke positively about Vice President Kamala Harris, noting her work in various roles, including prosecutor, attorney general and U.S. senator. 

“She has never hesitated to reach across the aisle if it meant improving your lives, and she’s always done it with energy, with passion, and with joy,” Walz remarked.

He concluded his speech with a quote from Vice President Harris: “When we fight, we win.”

The post Tim Walz highlights service and policy goals at Democratic National Convention appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

While joy was a buzzword at the convention to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris, plenty of speakers brought the Black church to the party.

By Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware

Word in Black

For generations, the Black church has been a cornerstone of Democratic Party politics, from “souls to the polls” voting drives to hosting candidates who want to reach Black audiences. 

So it was no surprise when Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia lawmaker and ordained minister, took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19 he also took his audience to church. After referencing his mother — who, after years of picking cotton picked her son at the ballot box in 2020 — he compared voting to an act of faith.

“Voting is a prayer we pray collectively for the kind of world we desire for ourselves and our children,” said Warnock, senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, which was once pastored by Martin Luther King Jr. “And our prayers are stronger when we pray together.”

Warnock was among several voices that intertwined faith, Black church traditions and politics before a national audience at the DNC. The speakers offered faith as a rationale to make Vice President Kamala Harris the next president — itself a mission to save the soul of the country. 

Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, D-S.C., one of the party’s elder statesmen, referenced scripture in his presentation for Harris: “As 2 Corinthians informs, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.

“Our great democracy has been tested, and so has the basic goodness of the American people,” Clyburn said. “But our resolve to remain a great country with freedom and justice for all will not falter.”

Rev. Cindy Rudolph, of Oak Grove AME Church in Detroit, was one of several clergy who spoke at the DNC. She praised the leadership of Harris and Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and Harris’ running mate, saying it dovetails with Jesus’ teachings. 

“As we look upon our leadership, we see what You require of us: To do justice, like the justice Vice President Harris has championed her entire career,” Rudolph said in her benediction. “To love mercy, like the mercy Governor Walz has modeled as a lifelong public servant and educator. And to walk humbly, like the humility President Biden has embodied with decades of outstanding servant leadership.”

The faith factor seemed widely felt. 

“The inclusion of more deeper faith-based references during night one at the Democratic National Convention was a subtle nod, I believe, to President Biden’s own walk of faith,” says digital creator Linnyette Richardson-Hall, #PoliticalDIVAsez. “He is a deeply religious man for whom his faith is everything and he’s not been shy about telling the world how it’s shaped and sustained him. He’s not ostentatious nor zealous in his profession – he’s as humble as the beatitudes suggest.” 

She called the insertion of faith at the DNC “an excellent way to showcase the stark differences” between Biden and

Trump. One, she says, is “a man who believes versus someone who wants you to think he knows something about faith.” 

Ray Winbush, a professor, researcher and activist at Morgan State University, agreed.

“I think we’ve gotten so used to negative political discussions, it was refreshing to hear and see love expressed publicly,” he said. 

It was a challenge, however, for any other speaker to come close to Warnock. Given the rapturous response to his speech, delivered in the cadence of a skilled Baptist minister, one wondered if Warnock would extend the opportunity to save a few individual souls in the process.

Along with comparing voting to prayer, the reverend went on to express good wishes for his neighbor’s children, the poor children of Israel and Gaza, those in the Congo, in Haiti and the Ukraine, “because we’re all God’s children.”

“And so, let’s stand together. Let’s work together. Let’s organize together. Let’s pray together. Let’s stand together. Let’s heal the land,” he said, to rousing applause. “God bless you. Keep the faith.”  

Commentators instantly lit up social media. On the Facebook page of Win With Black Women, members went wild for Warnock: the tone of his presentation, the possibility it might involve an altar call, wondering why an organ wasn’t playing. They were impressed that he strayed considerably from the teleprompter.

The Black faith traditions Warnock invoked resonated, “but in an actual real way, actual real faith, honest and true,” says Jacqueline Malonson, owner of Jax Photography. “I was struck and heartened. I know it when I see it and feel it, and it gives me hope.”

This article was originally published kn WordinBlack.com.

The post Say Amen: How Black faith traditions showed up at the DNC appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

Kamala Harris busted the ghosts of failed Democratic candidates of the past in one of the most successful conventions in history.

By Keith Boykin
Word in Black

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black,
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

CHICAGO — A few weeks ago, Democrats were a divided party headed toward a potentially explosive convention in Chicago. Today, those fears are gone, as Kamala Harris has united the party and concluded one of the most successful conventions in American political history.

Democrats came into Chicago haunted by three ghosts: 1968, 2000, and 2016, and Kamala Harris banished all of them.

The ghost of 1968 was the haunting reminder of Chicago, where antiwar demonstrators took over the streets to protest the war in Vietnam.

The ghost of 2000 was when the last incumbent Democratic vice president, Al Gore, tried and failed to follow a president into the White House.

And the ghost of 2016 was when the last woman, Hillary Clinton, tried to break the glass ceiling to the presidency.

Kamala Harris looked all three of those ghosts in the face and busted them. 

This was not 1968. Harris addressed the war in Gaza head-on in her convention speech, refusing to run away from the most divisive internal issue in the party today.

This was not 2000. Harris acknowledged and thanked President Biden but laid out her own hopeful, optimistic vision for America based on freedom.

And this was not 2016. Harris did not dwell on her history-making campaign as a woman. She introduced herself to America in a relatable convention speech, but then told the country how she plans to focus on us and not on her.

It was not only a contrast to the self-centered Trump campaign but a refreshing reminder that Democrats can win if they stay on offense instead of defense. Harris refused to be defensive on Gaza or the border, as she laid out a strong vision of American power as a force for good in the world that can positively reflect our values.

The former district attorney prosecuted the case against convicted felon Donald Trump and forced Americans to use their common sense. 

As she shared the story of how she had to introduce herself in the courtroom, “Kamala Harris, for the people,” she told America that she had spent her career with only one client: the people. While Trump, on the other hand, had spent his life focused only on himself.

In a night that also featured the Exonerated Central Park Five, no serious African American could watch Harris compared to Trump’s long-winded, rambling Milwaukee speech and conclude that he was the better candidate.

She even brought out her adorable grand-nieces to teach Americans how to say her name: Comma – LA.

By nominating Kamala Harris, Democrats have busted the ghosts of the past and embraced a new future that recognizes their strength. 

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and this week Kamala Harris proved that her time had come. As she always says, when we fight, we win.

This article was originally published on WordinBlack.com.

The post Black Vote, Black Power: Kamala Harris’ time has come appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

Vice President Kamala Harris stood on the stage of the Democratic National Convention and formally accepted the nomination for president on Aug. 22. If elected into the role of president with her running mate, current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris would be the first woman and the first person of Jamaican and Indian descent to lead the United States of America.

Walking out to thunderous applause and the sound of Beyonce Knowles’ 2016 hit song, “Freedom,” Harris thanked President Joe Biden, spoke to her humble beginnings and the future she sees for America under her leadership.

“America, the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected. But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys,” said Harris, invoking the story of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris “My mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone, traveling from India to California with an unshakeable dream to be the scientist that would cure breast cancer.” 

The story of Harris’ mother was a recurring theme throughout the speech. 

“She taught us to never complain about injustice, but to do something about it. That was my mother– and she taught us to never do anything ‘half-assed–’ and that is a direct quote.”

Harris said that her father implored her to never be afraid or let anything stop her, teaching her to be fearless.

At a young age, Harris was exposed to the fight for equality through the work of her mother. And the abuse of a high school friend that influenced her decision to go into the criminal justice field. 

“I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity and to justice. As a prosecutor, when I had a case, I charged it not in the name of the victim, but in the name of the people for a simple reason: in our system of justice, a harm against any one of us, is a harm against all of us,” said Harris. “No one should be made to fight alone- we are all in this together.” 

Though Harris received the Democratic nomination during a virtual roll call on Aug. 6, she accepted on Aug. 20 via video from a rally in Milwaukee. She reiterated her commitment to the country and formally accepted the nomination on the DNC stage Aug. 22.

“On behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey, on behalf of the people who I grew up with– people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another– on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.” 

“This election is not only the most important of our lives, it is one of the most important in the life of our nation,” she said.

Harris spoke on the Republican nominee for president and the implications if he is elected to a second term. 

“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. Consider the chaos and calamity when he was in office but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the election,” said Harris, calling up images from Jan. 6, 2021.

Many of those responsible for the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building as lawmakers tried to certify election results in favor of Joe Biden– not Trump– are still free or have received light sentences, given the fact that lives were lost as a result of the insurrection.

Harris repeatedly told the crowd that it was time to move forward, together. 

“America, we are not going back,” she said, as the audience began to chant the phrase.

“We are charting a new ‘forward’…forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know that a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success. Building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.” 

For the entire length of Harris’ speech, Harris’ Republican opponent hit back via Truth Social, the platform he created when he was ousted from Twitter, now known as “X.”

“She’s talking about the Middle Class, but she’s the one who broke the Middle Class, and made it UNSAFE AND UNAFFORDABLE!,” said Trump, to his Truth Social followers. 

Harris promised to create an “opportunity economy” that featured the ability for all to succeed, regardless if the person lives “in a rural area, small town or big city.” 

“We will pass a middle class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans,” she promised. 

Still, the former hit back, by saying Harris’ platform included “No specific programs, ALL TALK, NO ACTION — Why didn’t she do it three and a half years ago?” 

Aside from the economy, Harris promised to address affordable housing and a woman’s right to choose when it comes to abortion. She also spoke on the war currently raging between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza. 

“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to stand up for itself,” said Harris. “…At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost, desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.” 

Harris said that she believes she will be successful in getting a ceasefire agreement signed for the conflict that has continued non-stop since Hamas attacked innocent Israeli citizens in the early morning hours of Oct. 7, 2023.

The vice president said she “will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-Un, who are rooting for Trump because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself.”

“In the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and I know where the United States belongs,” said Harris, before imploring voters to the polls. 

“Let’s get out there- let’s vote for it and together let’s write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.”

The final night of the DNC included a variety of speakers from Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey to D.L. Hughley and Eva Longoria. But day four concluded with more than just Democratic party members touting their nominee. An appearance by the former Republican U.S. Rep Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois, was an interesting addition to the list of speakers.

“I am proud to be in the trenches with you as part of this sometimes awkward alliance that we have to defend truth, defend democracy and decency,” said Kinzinger, from the DNC stage. “I was just a kid when I was drawn to the party of Ronald Raagen, to his vision of a strong America, the shining ‘City on the Hill.’ I was a Republican for 12 years in Congress and I still hold on to the label.”

“I never thought I’d be here- but listen- you never thought you’d see me here, did you?” asked Kinzinger, getting a laugh from the crowd. 

Kinzinger spoke to his fellow Republicans in saying that Democratic Party members are just as patriotic and invested in protecting the country’s values as Republicans are. 

“I’ve learned something about my party too,’ he said. “The republican party is no longer conservative. It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is himself. Donald Trump is a weak man, pretending to be strong,” said Kinzinger. “He’s a small man, pretending to be big. He’s a faithless man, pretending to be righteous. He’s a perpetrator who can’t stop playing the victim.”

Kinzinger openly called out Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol Building in 2021, and told the audience that “Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.”

“How can a party claim to be patriotic if it idolizes a man who tried to overthrow a free and fair election?”

Aside from elected officials and celebrities, members of Harris’ family came forward in support of her run for president. She was introduced by younger sister Maya Harris, who highlighted the crucial time ahead of the Nov. 5 election. 

“We are living in a time when some are trying to divide us, to separate us in ways that make it difficult for us to come together. My sister rejects that view. Where others push darkness Kamala sees promise.” 

“Kamala understands we have so much more in common than what separates us,” said the younger Harris sister. 

“She knows the measure of our success isn’t just about winning an election, it’s about who we bring along and lift up in the process,” said Maya Harris. 

She ended her speech on the verge of tears, as she imagined what her mother would have said if she were alive to see her eldest daughter run for president.

“She would tell all of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work; to elect a leader who sees the potential in each of us; a leader who cares for all of us; a leader who fights for every one of us- our Democratic nominee, my big sister, the next president of the United States– Kamala Harris.” 

For information on voting registration deadlines and other voter information, please visit the U.S. Vote Foundation’s page for election dates and guidelines, organized by state.

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By Joseph Williams

In Georgia four years ago, Stacey Abrams was well positioned to make history as the first Black woman in the U.S. to ever occupy a governor’s mansion. Running neck-and-neck with Gov. Brian Kemp, a White Republican, heading into election day, Abrams had the Black vote largely behind her, and many believed it would power her to victory.  

Political analysts and pundits, however, detected an Achilles’ heel: polls repeatedly showed her struggling to fully win over Black men, a constituency that most believed were politically aligned with her. Her outreach, though, came too late in her campaign and she lost to Kemp by 8 percentage points. 

Now comes Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman of color to hold the office, and the parallels between her and Abrams are hard to miss. Like Abrams, Harris is a Democrat and well-positioned to win a tight, highly consequential election. Like Abrams, Harris has generated excitement and enthusiasm, particularly among Black women voters, who see themselves in her. 

And, like Abrams, it’s unclear whether Black men — feeling politically frustrated, unempowered, and disillusioned to the point of skipping elections — will fully support a Black and South Asian woman presidential candidate, even if her run for the White House makes history.

Considering the question, Mondale Robinson, founder of the Black Male Voting Project, told ABC News that Black men feel abandoned and ignored by both political parties, until the next election comes around. They vote, he says, but feel politicians have given them little in return.

“There’s no apathy in Black men. There’s a level of antipathy,” he said. “Antipathy is a whole different emotion. You hate what politics is and does because you’ve not seen the growth, or benefit of it. Black men are not better off because of politics.” 

But data also suggests a strain of lingering sexism could have been a factor in Abrams’ struggles with Black men — and a potential pothole for Harris’s groundbreaking run. 

A 2023 survey on gender attitudes by PerryUndem, a public attitudes research firm, found that 4 in 10 Black men don’t agree that the country would be better off with more women of color in elected office, 48 percent believe women are easily offended, and nearly half think society punishes men “for acting like men.” 

Dr. Moya Bailey, a Northwestern University professor, told The New York Times that patriarchy is not unique to the Black population, but “the consequences are much higher” in what’s seen as a do-or-die race against Trump.  

There are other troubling signs for Harris, including disparities when Black men do show up at the ballot box. According to the Pew Research Center, Black women vote at higher rates than Black men, and are overwhelmingly more likely to choose the Democratic Party. In the 2020 presidential election, for example, 95 percent of Black women voted for Biden, while 13 percent of Black men voted for Donald Trump, Harris’s opponent. 

To be clear: Black men still vote in large numbers, and, like most Black women, tend to vote for Democrats. While the differential between Black men and Black women may seem small, it could make a big difference in Harris’ race against Trump, an election most experts believe will be won or lost at the margins.

“As Kamala Harris inherits the presidential campaign of Joe Biden, she also inherits his sagging poll numbers with working-class Black men,” Roger House, an American studies professor at Emerson College, wrote in an essay for The Hill. “The historic nature of Harris’s candidacy will be viewed by many Black male voters as cold comfort unless she finds a way to address their material and cultural concerns.”

Then there’s Harris’s past career as a prosecutor in California, a background that has Black men wary of her. Disinformation and misinformation have spread on social media that Harris contributed to the over-incarceration of Black men, locking up tens of thousands of them. It’s an incorrect notion her campaign has tried to dispel.

An analysis by The Marshall Project found Harris’s record is more nuanced: on the job, she advocated for progressive criminal-justice policies, including re-entry programs for the formerly incarcerated. Politically, however, she adopted a tough-on-crime stance when critics accused her of coddling criminals. 

Of course, not every Black man will vote for Harris but there are positive signs a majority know what’s at stake in November and plan to cast a ballot for her.

Not long after Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, a virtual fundraiser called specifically for Black men drew 40,000 participants who poured more than $1 million into her campaign coffers. 

“Sometimes as Black men we get confused as to what strength is, and sometimes we think that standing behind a Black woman as a leader does not display strength as Black men,” said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who spoke on the call. “I’m here to tell you all tonight that it does the opposite of that: it displays strength.”

Mr. Raoul then cut to the point. “I’m standing behind a Black woman to be president of theUnited States, and it doesn’t make me any less of a Black man,” he said. “I’m asking all of you all to do the same.

For her part, Harris has personally reached out to groups and organizations that speak to Black men, held White House listening sessions with influential Black business leaders and pledged to earn their vote — not take it for granted. 

“There is a trope in this election which I take issue with, because the underlying premise suggests that Black men should be in the back pocket of Democrats,” Harris told The Nation magazine in an interview last month. “And that is absolutely unacceptable. Here’s why: Why would any one demographic of people be different from any other demographic? They all expect you to earn their vote! You’ve got to make your case.”

This article was originally published by Word in Black.

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By Christopher Rugaber
The Associated Press

With inflation and high grocery prices still frustrating many voters, Vice President Kamala Harris on Aug. 16 proposed a ban on “price gouging” by food suppliers and grocery stores, as part of a broader agenda aimed at lowering the cost of housing, medicine, and food. 

It’s an attempt to tackle a clear vulnerability of Harris’ head-on: Under the Biden-Harris administration, grocery prices have shot up 21 percent, part of an inflation surge that has raised overall costs by about 19 percent and soured many Americans on the economy, even as unemployment fell to historic lows. Wages have also risen sharply since the pandemic, and have outpaced prices for more than a year. Still, surveys find Americans continue to struggle with higher costs. 

“We all know that prices went up during the pandemic when the supply chains shut down and failed,” Harris said Aug. 16 in Raleigh, North Carolina. “But our supply chains have now improved and prices are still too high.”

Will her proposals do much to lower prices? And what even is “price gouging”? The answers to those and other questions are below: 

What is price gouging?

There is no strict definition that economists would agree on, but it generally refers to spikes in prices that typically follow a disruption in supply, such as after a hurricane or other natural disaster. Consumer advocates charge that gouging occurs when retailers sharply increase prices, particularly for necessities, under such circumstances.

Is it already illegal? 

Several states already restrict price gouging, but there is no federal-level ban. 

There are federal restrictions on related but different practices, such as price-fixing laws that bar companies from agreeing to not compete against each other and set higher prices. 

Will Harris’ proposal lower grocery prices? 

Most economists would say no, though her plan could have an impact on future crises. For one thing, it’s unclear how much price gouging is going on right now. 

Grocery prices are still painfully high compared to four years ago, but they increased just 1.1 percent in July compared with a year earlier, according to the most recent inflation report. That is in line with pre-pandemic increases.

President Joe Biden said Aug. 14 that inflation has been defeated after Wednesday’s inflation report showed that it fell to 2.9 percent in July, the smallest increase in three years. 

“There’s some dissonance between claiming victory on the inflation front in one breath and then arguing that there’s all this price gouging happening that is leading consumers to face really high prices in another breath,” said Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute. 

In general, after an inflationary spike, it’s very hard to return prices to where they were. Sustained price declines typically only happen in steep, protracted recessions. Instead, economists generally argue that the better approach is for wages to keep rising enough so that Americans can handle the higher costs. 

So why is Harris talking about this now? 

Probably because inflation remains a highly salient issue politically. And plenty of voters do blame grocery stores, fast food chains, and food and packaged goods makers for the surge of inflation in the past three years. Corporate profits soared in 2021 and 2022.

“It could be that they’re looking at opinion polls that show that the number one concern facing voters is inflation and that a large number of voters blame corporations for inflation,” Strain said.

At the same time, even if prices aren’t going up as much, as Harris noted, they remain high, even as supply chain kinks have been resolved. 

Elizabeth Pancotti, a policy analyst at Roosevelt Forward, a progressive advocacy group, points to the wood pulp used in diapers. The price of wood pulp has fallen by half from its post-pandemic peak, yet diaper prices haven’t. 

“So that just increases the [profit] margins for both the manufacturers and the retailers,” she said. 

Did price gouging cause inflation? 

Most economists would say no, that it was a more straightforward case of supply and demand. When the pandemic hit, meat processing plants were occasionally closed after COVID-19 outbreaks, among other disruptions to supply. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine lifted the cost of wheat and other grains on global markets. Auto prices rose as carmakers were unable to get all the semiconductors they needed from Taiwan to manufacture cars, and many car plants shut down temporarily.

At the same time, several rounds of stimulus checks fattened Americans’ bank accounts, and after hunkering down during the early phase of the pandemic, so-called “revenge spending” took over. The combination of stronger demand and reduced supply was a recipe for rising prices.

Still, some economists have argued that large food and consumer goods companies took advantage of pandemic-era disruptions. Consumers saw empty store shelves and heard numerous stories about disrupted supply chains, and at least temporarily felt they had little choice but to accept the higher prices. 

Economist Isabella Weber at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, called it “seller’s inflation.” Others referred to it as “greedflation.”

“What a lot of corporations did was exploit consumers’ willingness” to accept the disruptions from the pandemic, Pancotti said. 

Is banning price gouging like instituting price controls? 

During the last spike of inflation in the 1970s, both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations at times imposed price controls, which specifically limited what companies could charge for goods and services. They were widely blamed for creating shortages and long lines for gas. 

Some economists say Harris’ proposal would have a similar impact.

“It’s a heavy-handed socialist policy that I don’t think any economist would support,” said Kevin Hassett, a former top economic adviser in the Trump White House. 

But Pancotti disagreed. She argued that it was closer to a consumer protection measure. Under Harris’ proposal, the government wouldn’t specify prices, but the Federal Trade Commission could investigate price spikes. 

“The proposal is really about protecting consumers from unscrupulous corporate actors that are trying to just rip the consumer off because they know they can,” she said. 

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire

On the second day of the Democratic National Convention, the Obamas took center stage and delivered electrifying speeches that reverberated through the United Center in Chicago. The convention, already energized by a capacity crowd in Milwaukee where Vice President Kamala Harris spoke during a rally, reached new heights as the former First Lady and former President rallied Democrats with their powerful words.

Harris, who spoke to a packed arena in Milwaukee, had her speech live streamed into the United Center, effectively connecting the two cities in a show of Democratic unity and strength. Her presence set the tone for the evening, with her words filling both venues.

Michelle Obama took the stage before her husband in Chicago, immediately captivating the audience. “Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it? I’m talking about the contagious power of hope,” she declared as the United Center enthusiastically rocked. “America, hope is making a comeback. Kamala Harris is one of the most qualified people to ever seek the office of president. And she is dignified.”

Obama didn’t shy away from addressing the twice-impeached and 34-times convicted felon and former President Donald Trump directly. “For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us,” she remarked. “His limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking and highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black. Who wants to tell him that job he’s seeking just might be one of those Black jobs?” she asked, eliciting raucous applause from the crowd.

She continued to dismantle Trump’s rhetoric, particularly his attempts to question the blackness of Harris and other Democrats. “No one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American, no one,” Obama declared, her words striking a chord with the audience.

Barack Obama then took the stage and immediately lifted the energy in the arena to a fever pitch. “I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling fired up,” he began, his voice booming across the United Center. “Even if I’m the only person stupid enough to speak right after Michelle Obama.”

Obama then turned his focus to Harris, praising her as a leader who embodies the best of what America stands for. “This country has a chance to elect someone who’s spent her whole life trying to give people the same chances America gave her,” Obama said. “Someone who sees you and hears you and will get up every single day and fight for you: the next president of the United States of America, Kamala Harris.”

He also drew a sharp contrast between Harris’s vision for the country and the policies of Trump and his allies. “For them, one group’s gain is another group’s loss. For them, freedom means that the powerful can do what they please, whether its firing workers trying to organize a union, poisoning our rivers, or avoiding paying taxes like everyone else has to do,” he said, highlighting the fundamental differences in their approaches to leadership.

Throughout the night, other prominent Democrats joined the Obamas in rallying the crowd. Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth delivered a searing critique of Trump’s attacks on reproductive rights. “I take it personally when a five-time draft-dodging coward like Donald Trump tries to take away my rights and freedoms in return—especially when it concerns my daughters,” Duckworth said.

Maryland Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks reflected on her close relationship with Harris, emphasizing the vice president’s dedication to justice and public safety. “Kamala Harris knows how to keep criminals off the streets,” Alsobrooks said. “And come November, with our help, she’ll keep one out of the Oval Office,” a line that drew loud cheers from the Chicago crowd.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham contrasted Harris’s healthcare policies with Trump’s, criticizing the former president’s attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. “Donald Trump and JD Vance want to dismantle our healthcare system, repeal the Affordable Care Act, and eliminate protections for preexisting conditions. Either these guys don’t get it, or they don’t care,” Grisham said.

Barack Obama left the crowd with a final, resonant message: “If we work like we’ve never worked before, we will elect Kamala Harris as the next president and Tim Walz as the next vice president. And together, we too will build a country that is more secure, more just, more equal, and free.”

This article was originally published by NNPA Newswire.

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By Joseph Williams
Word In Black

Project 2025, the far-reaching Republican Party plan to demolish and radically remake the federal government under a Trump presidency, has gotten a lot of attention lately, and not necessarily in a good way. 

President Joe Biden warns it’s a threat to democracy. Former President Donald Trump says he had nothing to do with it, even though members of his administration helped write it. Actress Taraji P. Henson sounded the alarm while hosting the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards last month, urging viewers to “look it up! Project 2025 is not a game!”

What’s been missing in the conversation so far about Project 2025 — which calls for eliminating the Department of Education, replacing career civil servants with political appointees, ending affirmative action in government hiring and virtually eliminating access to abortion, among other sweeping changes — is what it would mean for Black America. 

To answer that question, Word In Black took a look at Project 2025’s potential effect on five issues important to Black communities: education, healthcare, the environment, criminal justice and faith. 

While some proposals are explicit, others are unclear and likely would face significant, insurmountable barriers. But it’s likely that Trump would use much of it as a roadmap for his second term. 

Education

While the document contains dozens of controversial proposals, arguably the biggest one is to shut down the Department of Education (ED), an institution created in 1867, not long after the end of the Civil War. The theory, according to the blueprint, is to eliminate red tape so that families will be “free to choose from a diverse set of school options and learning environments.” 

But the plan also would wipe out the ED’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), a sub-agency that enforces civil rights laws and investigates schools accused of engaging in discrimination. Although it’s been 70 years since the Supreme Court outlawed separate-but-equal education in public schools, OCR is not lacking for work: in 2023, it handled more than 19,000 complaints, roughly 1,000 more cases than in 2022. 

“The total number of complaints has almost tripled since fiscal year 2009, and during this same period OCR’s number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff has decreased from 629 to 556,” according to the ED’s annual report.  

Dismantling a cabinet-level agency that’s been around for 157 years and has more than 4,000 employees would probably be a very heavy lift for any administration. But other proposals in Project 2025 would be far easier to initiate: replacing Title I funds to struggling schools with block grants, allowing states to decide how to spend their share of federal tax dollars, expanding school-choice programs, using federal dollars to fund private schools, cutting “wasteful” school meal programs, swapping Pell grants for private loans while eliminating Biden’s student loan forgiveness program and curbing the teaching of race in schools. 

Ultimately, the plan essentially cripples the struggling public education system, which educates the bulk of Black students. It would make it harder to file a discrimination lawsuit. And fewer college-bound Black students — most of whom depend on the federal government to help pay tuition — would be able to pay for higher education. 

Health

One of the project’s core objectives is to reduce the federal government’s involvement in healthcare. This means the incoming president could take a battleax to the agencies that run Medicare and Medicaid as well as affiliated offices that research treatments for insidious diseases and approve prescriptions, medical devices and personal products like cosmetics. 

The main goal: fewer Black or low-income people will have healthcare. Black women, especially expectant mothers, will continue having the worst health outcomes, and the practice of medicine will become more politicized than ever.

Although the plan doesn’t explicitly call for a federal ban on abortion, it does list “abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights” as terms the incoming president must delete from every federal government document to make “institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors.” And it removes federal protections for members of the military and their families if they choose to terminate a pregnancy.

The guidebook argues that “the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) also pushes abortion as a form of ‘health care,’” and that the “US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) should…reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs because the politicized approval process was illegal from the start.”

The plan also proposes restrictions that effectively criminalize abortion: besides increasing the prospect that abortion providers would face criminal penalties, it calls for the government to track miscarriages, stillbirths and abortions. It would also restrict access to Plan B contraceptives — even if insurance covers the drugs.

The standard GOP goal of reducing regulations is frequently mentioned and would decrease oversight of healthcare providers and insurers, pharmaceutical companies and major wrongdoers like the tobacco industry. 

Project 2025 also proposes significant changes to Medicaid, including a work requirement, and making Medicare Advantage, currently the paid supplement to Medicare, the default option. 

Criminal justice

Since it began garnering attention, the criminal justice-related headlines from Project 2025 have focused on its proposed politicization of the Justice Department, allowing Trump to salt the department with political appointees and order investigations of his political enemies. But the blueprint also proposes a range of low-key reforms that would have a significant impact on Black communities.

It argues for the undoing of police reforms enacted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, absolves police departments under federal oversight because of racial discrimination, calls for more draconian sentencing guidelines and puts federal district court prosecutors on very short leashes.

The justification, according to the report, is that a left-wing approach to law enforcement — including progressive prosecutors, lenient judges and hamstrung police — has led to a “catastrophic” rise in violent crime. 

“In recent years, federal and state officials have succumbed to calls from anti-law enforcement advocates for so-called criminal justice reform,” according to Project 2025. “This campaign is not just ill-advised; it has had real-world consequences.”

In reality, crime has decreased substantially, nationwide, over the last four years. Police departments under federal supervision usually end up that way because an investigation has revealed long-standing patterns of misconduct. Unleashing those departments increases the likelihood that more Black people will end up like Floyd — dead at the hands of aggressive law enforcement with no federal consequences.

And harsher prison sentences for federal offenders are likely to increase the over-incarceration of Black men, a trend that not only harms Black families but also disrupts Black communities.

Faith

Like the priests who blew their horns in the Biblical battle of Jericho, Project 2025 is a clarion call for demolishing the Constitutional wall separating church and state. And it’s not good news for Black Americans. 

The plan integrates “Judeo-Christian tradition, stretching back to Genesis,” directly and indirectly, into official government policies, from using taxpayer money to fund parochial schools — which would further undermine public schools — to pushing businesses to close on Sunday, a move experts say would damage the economy. 

The project calls for dismantling same-sex marriage, erasing specialized lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) healthcare programs, sharply curbing the sale of abortion pills by mail or in person and criminalizing pornography. While it doesn’t explicitly ban abortion — the top goal of far-right conservatives — it outlines policies to make the procedure as difficult as possible.

It allows churches to retain tax-exempt status, even if they engage in racial discrimination or partisan political activity. And it reinstates the ban on Muslims immigrating to the U.S. 

In short, Project 2025 reads like the fantasy wish list of Christian conservatives while dropping a nuclear bomb in the decades-long, left-vs-right culture wars. Critics say it eliminates individual rights and all but establishes Christianity as a state religion, but supporters say it simply restores traditional values to a nation founded on them. 

Leslie Tune-Copeland, senior associate general secretary of the National Council of Churches, says the faith-based portion of Project 2025 does “the absolute opposite” of Christ’s teachings about tolerance and love.

“It’s the absolute opposite in the Bible. Jesus doesn’t force his will on anybody, right?” Tune-Copeland says. “If we’re disciples of Christ, we can encourage people, we can support people, we can minister to people, but we don’t force people to do what we do or to think what we think. But there are people out there who are telling you that that’s exactly what you should be doing.”

Those people, she says, “unfortunately, have manipulated our faith in such a way that people have bought into it. They have bought into some of the lies that White Christian nationalism has told us.”

Climate justice

When it comes to the American government, there are few things conservatives fantasize about more than cutting programs related to climate change. So, it’s no real surprise that Project 2025  is full of ideas for slashing regulations, weakening government enforcement mechanisms and cutting federal investment in programs related to the environment. 

At this point in history, however, when the window for saving the climate is rapidly closing, those plans would be disastrous — and, like most extreme weather events, the consequences for Black and Brown Americans would surely be even worse.

Project 2025 proposes slicing up the Department of Energy (DOE), the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), to name a few. All have a role in either addressing or monitoring climate change. The plan also calls for using the Department of the Interior to expand oil and gas exploration on all public lands. The federal government would eliminate funding and programs for renewable energy, like wind and solar, and would fast-track fossil fuel production. 

At the same time, Project 2025 recommends moving climate-related decisions from the hands of actual climate scientists to political officials. 

Considering that Paul Dans, the architect of Project 2025, believes “the science is still out” on human-caused climate change, you can only guess what kind of political decisions would be made if this plan is put into action.

Heritage’s Paul Dans, director of Project 2025, told The New York Times that one of its aims is to “investigate whether the dimensions of climate change exist.” In terms of the role of fossil fuels in driving climate breakdown, he told the Times: “I think the science is still out on that, quite frankly.”

The plan also proposes eliminating multiple clean energy programs and offices within the Department of Energy — such as the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, the DOE Loan Program, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and DOE’s Clean Energy Corps.

The agenda further says that NOAA should be “broken up and downsized,” claiming it has become “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

This article was originally published by Word In Black.

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

CHICAGO — From the moment it started, the happy, hopeful Democratic Convention provided a stark contrast to the dark, divisive message of the Republican Party last month.

While the Republican convention featured a sea of white people sprinkled with a few unrepresentative Black people on the stage, Democratic delegates reflected the rich diversity of America in the audience.

Convention co-chair Minyon Moore, a Black woman from Chicago, and Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, a Black man from South Carolina, gaveled the convention to order. Harrison’s two young Black sons led the pledge of allegiance, Soul Children of Chicago sang a beautifully Black rendition of the national anthem, and NAACP president Derrick Johnson told the convention, “I’m here to do my Black job.”

But the most touching moment of the early evening came when Chicago’s own Rev. Jesse Jackson made a surprise appearance in a wheelchair to a standing ovation. Forty years after he electrified Democrats at the 1984 San Francisco convention with his Rainbow Coalition speech, Jackson is still beloved by the party.

Compare that to the MAGA Republicans who kicked out former president George W. Bush, former presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and former vice president Mike Pence in Milwaukee. They’re so hateful that they even turned on the people they claimed to love just a few years ago.

Democrats are showing us the opposite. This week’s list of speakers proudly featured Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton. 

“Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up” he became the first president to run for president with 34 felony convictions, Hillary Clinton told the convention. Then in an unscripted moment of poetic justice, the audience mockingly chanted, “Lock him up,” the same chant Trump led against Hillary eight years ago when she had committed no crime.

Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett compared résumés between Kamala Harris, who worked at McDonald’s while she was a student at a historically Black college, and Donald Trump, who “was born with a silver spoon in his mouth” and entered his daddy’s business: housing discrimination. “Kamala Harris became a career prosecutor while Trump became a career criminal,” Crockett said.

RELATED: 10 Big Lies Trump and the Republicans Tell About Kamala Harris

And Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democratic senator from Georgia who pastors at Dr. King’s church in Atlanta, gave a sermon for the ages. I saw Trump holding the Bible and endorsing the Bible, as if the Bible needed his endorsement, said Rev. Warnock. “He should try reading it. It says do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.” The Bible “says love your neighbor as yourself.”

Democratic speakers did not run away from the party’s most challenging internal conflict: the war in Gaza. “I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza” to be OK, Rev. Warnock told the audience. “I need Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. Even President Joe Biden, who has been the main target of the criticism, acknowledged he had work to do. “Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed,” he said. 

RELATED: Vice President Harris Is Carrying the Torch Into Our Future 

Unlike the GOP Convention, there was no 71-year-old former professional wrestler ripping his shirt open in an outdated symbol of party masculinity, no clout-chasing reality TV star embracing a group that attacks people like her, and no party-produced signs threatening “mass deportations” of immigrants. There were real people, like Hadley Duvall, a rape and incest survivor speaking about the impact of Trump’s abortion bans. “What is so beautiful about a child having to carry their parent’s child?”

Kamala Harris surprised the audience with a cameo appearance and a final touching moment where she embraced President Biden as he said goodbye. It reminded me once again that Trump cannot embrace his own vice president because he tried to have him killed at the January 6 insurrection.

And that’s the fundamental difference between the two visions presented by the parties. Trump’s Milwaukee Republicans outlined a negative worldview based on fear. Democrats in Chicago offered a positive vision based on love. Fear teaches us scarcity. Love teaches us abundance. Fear encourages selfishness. Love encourages community. Fear is negative and backward-looking. Love is positive and forward-looking.

Those are the choices, America. Choose wisely.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@.com

With 78 days left before Election Day 2024, President Joe Biden (D) officially handed the reins to Vice President Kamala Harris (D) in his Aug. 19 speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Biden served as keynote speaker on day one of the conference, where Harris is expected to accept the party’s nomination on Aug. 22.

“Are you ready to vote for freedom? Are you ready to vote for Democracy and America? Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?” asked Biden at the top of his speech in Chicago. “Our best days are not behind us, they’re before us.”

Harris became the official Democratic Party nominee for president on Aug. 6 via a virtual roll call. Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate, will officially accept their nominations during the DNC.

As he took the stage, Biden fondly paused for lengthy applause from the DNC crowd. Those in attendance shouted “Thank you Joe,”as Biden reflected on his presidency and what’s at stake in November.

“America, I gave my best to you,” said Biden, quoting lyrics from “American Anthem” by Norah Jones.

Biden spoke on his economic successes during the address, touting “record small business growth.” He also noted that his administration has worked to ensure that “total prescription cost can be capped at $2,000 no matter how expensive the drug.”

The $2,000 out-of-pocket cap is for anyone with Medicare Part D. The cap will fully go into effect in 2025 through the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in 2022. 

Biden also acknowledged the results of his executive action earlier this year to tighten security at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Border encounters have dropped over 50 percent,” said Biden.

The standing ovation Biden received at the convention was a stark contrast to how the Democratic Party treated him after a poor June 27 debate performance. In the days and weeks after, top Democrats called for Biden to step down. 

Biden officially withdrew from the 2024 presidential election on July 21, puting his support behind Harris.

Much of night one of the DNC was about pushing excitement for and confidence in a Harris-Walz ticket.

Hillary Clinton (D), a former presidential candidate, spoke during opening night about progress and highlighted Harris’ past as a lawyer.

Clinton pushed the need to fight to get Harris in office this November in hopes of accomplishing what Clinton was not able to in 2016.

“No matter what the polls say, we can’t let up. We have to fight for Kamala as she will fight for us,” said Clinton. “We’re opening the promise of America wide enough for everyone. Together, we put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling.”

Clinton highlighted several women who have run for president or were nominated for the vice presidential role in the U.S. including Shirley Chisholm and Geraldine Ferraro.

“We both got our start as young lawyers helping children who were abused or neglected,” said Clinton about Harris. “Kamala carries with her the hopes of every child she protected, every family she helped (and) every community she served. As president, she will always have our backs.”

DNC Chair Jaime Harrison shared what Americans can look forward to at this year’s DNC.

“In the coming days, the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November,” he said. “As we move forward to formally select our party’s nominee, our values as Democrats remain the same – lowering costs, restoring freedom, protecting the rights of all people and saving our democracy.”

U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07) acknowledged the historical aspect of this year’s convention.

“I am honored to support the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz team,” said Mfume, in a statement sent to the AFRO. “I have attended every Democratic convention since 1980, where I was a delegate for the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Without a doubt, this will be among one of the more historic ones.”

Democrats paid homage to Biden for his dedication to the party throughout the first night of the DNC.

“The American people owe President Biden an enormous debt of gratitude for the unparalleled progress he has delivered over the last four years,” said Harrison. “We will honor that legacy and the decision that he has made today, through a firm commitment to nominating and electing a Democratic president this November who will carry that torch into the next four years.”

Harris made a sudden and brief appearance on stage hours ahead of Biden, recognizing his leadership.

“This is going to be a great week,” said Harris, to much applause and cheers. “I want to kick us off by supporting our incredible President Joe Biden. Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime service to our nation and for all you will continue to do.”

Day one of the convention featured delegation breakfasts and caucus meetings.

It also included DemPalooza, a series of trainings and panels to ensure Democrats win up and down the ballot in November. Sessions included talks about the future of immigration reform, protecting the vote and talking to friends and family about Project 2025.

There’s much more to come at the DNC including a speech from former President Barack Obama. 

On day two, a youth council meeting will be held, along with a session to address Black voters. The rural council and disability caucus meeting will also be held in the afternoon. 

Day three of the conference, a variety of different caucuses will meet. The Black, Hispanic, AAPI Caucus and Native American Caucuses will each hold their sessions on the morning of Aug. 21. 

On the final day of the convention, there will be a session to address how women in politics can combat misinformation created via artificial intelligence and another on how to gain political ground in places that are considered “factory towns.” The day will also include a session titled “Crisis in the Court: It’s Time for Reforms to Restore Legitimacy and to Protect Our Constitution.”  The Women’s Caucus will also meet, along with the poverty and interfaith councils. 

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By Stacy Brown
NNPA Newswire

Chicago has transformed into one of the most fortified locations in the world this summer as the Windy City plays host to the Democratic National Convention (DNC). With the influx of thousands of delegates, media personnel and political dignitaries, the city has seen unprecedented security measures involving the Secret Service and state and local police, turning downtown Chicago into a near-impenetrable fortress.

Security preparations have been visible across the city, particularly in the downtown area. To stop any attempts to vandalize the courthouse, towering security gates with concrete pillars appeared overnight at the Dirksen Federal Building in the Loop. Similarly, residents and visitors along the Magnificent Mile and Gold Coast were met with unexpected road closures and additional security barriers, even miles away from the primary DNC venues. Roads near Chicago Avenue have been blocked, with police officers stationed on standby and large security gates restricting sidewalk access.

In the South Loop, manhole covers have been sealed with tamper-evident markers, a precautionary measure to detect any unauthorized access. The DNC Public Safety Joint Information Center, which includes local and federal law enforcement agencies, has warned of additional road closures throughout the convention. Some closures will last the entire duration of the DNC, while others will be more temporary.

The security measures extend to the city’s hotels, where 15,000 media members, thousands of delegates, and volunteers are staying. These hotels have become largely inaccessible by vehicle due to barriers that include city trucks and steel walls, forcing guests to walk several blocks with their luggage. In response to security concerns, congressional officials have advised House Democrats to exercise extra caution when planning their travel, including booking lodging under different names to avoid detection. Officials have also cautioned against visiting certain areas where violent encounters may be more likely to occur.

“The protesters aren’t staying in a designated protest site… and there are people who are going to go and really try to cause trouble,” one lawmaker warned, echoing concerns about potential disruptions.

While demonstrations from Trump supporters are anticipated, the primary concern for law enforcement is the potential for violence from tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators expected to protest U.S. funding for Israel’s war in Gaza. In a welcome packet sent to Democratic attendees, convention officials emphasized that the Secret Service has been working closely with various law enforcement agencies, including the Capitol Police and the Chicago Police Department, to ensure the safety of the event.

High-profile speakers like Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz are set to deliver speeches at the convention, and numerous dignitaries, including President Joe Biden, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and former First Ladies Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, are expected to attend. The rumor mill is abuzz with speculation that celebrities like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift might make surprise appearances.

Monday marked the first of a week-long briefing at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, where the Secret Service coordinates the efforts of federal, state and local agencies. The office is also responsible for disseminating information if any unplanned situations arise.

As the first wave of protests swept through downtown, Chicago Police responded with a robust presence, including shoulder-to-shoulder patrol officers and bike units along the protest routes. Federal dog teams screened vehicles at the United Center, and U.S. Coast Guard teams patrolled the lakefront. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling assured the public that the city is prepared to handle any situation.

“We want people to exercise their First Amendment rights,” Snelling stated. “We will protect them while they’re doing it, but we will not guarantee that we’re not going to make arrests if they start to act violently or commit crimes.”

This article was originally published by NNPA Newswire.

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By Black PR Wire

(Black PR Wire) Washington, D.C. — Climate Power is announcing the launch of its Black Engagement Program, dedicated to advancing conversations about the disproportionate impacts of climate change on Black communities nationwide. A key part of the campaign will be educating Black voters about the stark contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic climate record that holds Big Oil accountable and Trump’s dangerous pro-polluter Big Oil agenda.

For the past four years, Climate Power has worked to lead the climate narrative, protect climate progress, and build the political will for more climate action. This work has meant reaching key groups most impacted by the climate crisis, like Black and Latino voters. Through timely research, polling, earned and paid media campaigns, Climate Power has paved the way to make the connection between climate change and its impact on communities of color. 

With an investment of over $10 million, Climate Power’s Black Engagement Program is running a culturally competent and impactful earned and paid media political communications campaign that seeks to ensure climate change and clean energy issues become a key driver for Black voter mobilization in the upcoming 2024 election. 

“Climate change extends beyond the environment and touches nearly every part of Black life in America,” said Markeya Thomas, Climate Power’s Senior Advisor for Black Engagement. “Black communities have long been the bearers of environmental degradation and climate impacts, and we know that Vice President Kamala Harris has a history of delivering on climate progress, from creating environmental justice taskforces to taking on Big Oil for polluting our communities, and casting the deciding vote for the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy plan. 

“We want to set the record straight. The only way we can protect the climate progress that’s cleaning our air and water and fighting the climate crisis is by stepping up. Another four years of Trump would be a disaster for our climate, especially for communities like ours.”

According to recent data, 62% of Black voters across battleground states consider climate change and clean energy to be important factors when voting for the next president. Recognizing the urgency of addressing these concerns, Climate Power is committed to amplifying the voices of Black communities and ensuring their priorities are at the forefront of the national conversation.

In addition to the Black Engagement Program, Climate Power launched Climate Power En Acción in 2023, an expansion of its political communications operation tailored specifically to Latinos. These initiatives reflect Climate Power’s unwavering dedication to building public support for strong climate policies and holding climate deniers and their oil and gas lobby allies accountable.

Please visit this link to learn more about Vice President Harris’ climate record.

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By Aria Brent 
AFRO Staff Writer 
abrent@afro.com  

As Vice President Harris continues her campaign for president, the support is rolling in at rapid speeds. Many calls and campaigns have been organized to help the presidential candidate receive the financial, communal and political aid she needs to successfully compete to be the next commander-in-chief. 

With a great amount of endorsements and backings from celebrities, political figures and elected officials, Harris seems to be moving full steam ahead with her campaign. The excitement surrounding this historic candidacy is shared by many. The AFRO reached out to D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George to get her input on watching a fellow Black woman run for president.

AFRO:  What do you think will be VP Kamala Harris’ greatest challenge during this campaign for president?

Janeese Lewis George: From a practical standpoint, I think Harris’ biggest challenge will be the short amount of time she has to build a strong campaign, but the momentum we’ve seen in just the last week has made it abundantly clear she’ll have no problem overcoming it. 

Dealing with the racism and sexism that will undoubtedly shape conversations in this race is not something you get used to even though you expect it. Navigating those conversations and overcoming those who think that way will be a challenge. 

AFRO: As a fellow Black woman in politics, how do you feel about her stepping into this role as a presidential candidate? 

JLG: Our country is stronger when leaders reflect the full diversity of the people in our communities. That’s true at the local level and at the national level. My experiences as a woman of color who grew up in a union household shapes my policymaking in ways that are very needed in our country. I’m confident that will be true for Harris’s leadership as well. Harris and I both attended Howard University, we both are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and we both served as assistant district attorney and assistant attorney general in a state office.I am incredibly proud of her for multiple reasons and of how far she has come and I know that she has the experience and qualifications to step into this role. 

AFRO: If elected, how do you hope to see Harris impact the nation?

JLG: We’re already seeing it. There is Obama 2008 energy happening right now and we’re seeing it at her rallies, in her fundraising and in the people signing up to volunteer. That’s the energy it will take to defeat Donald Trump in November and that’s the energy it will take to advance progressive wins in 2025. 

AFRO:  Where do you think her influence is needed most right now? 

JLG: We need national action on gun control. Every community in this country has been affected by Congress’s failure to act on guns and I hope VP Harris can make progress on it with urgency.

This moment is also making it clear that we need D.C. statehood. To have a major party candidate promising to overturn D.C. home rule is incredibly dangerous. The people who live in D.C. deserve to elect their own leaders, just like everyone else in this country and the only way to ensure that is by making D.C. the 51st State.

AFRO:  How do you think having a Black woman as president will affect the climate of Black women in politics?

JLG: Black women are already doing incredible work in local government, in Congress, in state governments, federal agencies, in the courts and more. I’ll celebrate the nation’s first Black and Indian woman president, but at the end of the day I’ll get back to doing the work. 

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Donald Trump is losing it. 

Today in New Jersey, Trump tricked reporters into covering a “press conference” that turned out to be a lengthy speech to his supporters at his golf course. Low-energy Trump read from a thick binder that included a string of outrageous lies, including the ridiculous claim that more than 100% of new jobs created in the U.S. are going to migrants. 

More than 100%! 

After telling 162 lies at his disastrous press conference last week at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s advisers decided to keep him carefully scripted this time, but eventually Trump got bored with his own speech and started going off script to appease his fans. It went on for nearly an hour before he finally took a few softball questions. Will he stop the personal insults against Harris? No. “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks,” Trump said.

RELATED: 10 Big Lies Trump and the Republicans Tell About Kamala Harris

There is no reboot with Trump. It didn’t happen after the assassination attempt. It didn’t happen after the convention. And it’s not going to happen now. How many times is the media going to fall for this? It’s like Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown again and again and again.

Trump hasn’t changed his tone, adjusted his campaign strategy, or figured out what to do to beat Kamala Harris. He’s tried attacking Harris on her race, her laugh, and even mispronouncing her name, but nothing seems to stick. 

That’s because the Trump campaign spent a year planning to run against Joe Biden on crime, immigration, and inflation. But now violent crime is down, border crossings are lower than when Trump left office, inflation just hit a 3-year low, and Biden is no longer his opponent. Oops.

Trump loves to hear himself talk but somehow manages not to say anything substantive or truthful when he speaks to the press. All he’s got is personality and BS. But what do you do when your opponent has more personality than you do and calls you on your BS? That’s why Kamala Harris has got him shook.

RELATED: Vice President Harris Is Carrying the Torch Into Our Future 

The 78-year-old Trump thought he could coast to victory against a slightly older 81-year-old white male opponent only to find himself in the battle of his life against a much younger and more energetic Black woman. Suddenly, the tables have turned, and now 58% of voters say Trump is the one who is too old to be president.

By every metric — voter registration, national polls, swing state polls, fundraising, enthusiasm, media coverage, and even crowd size — Kamala Harris has the momentum and Trump is losing steam. Democrats are even beating Republicans in new voter registrations in North Carolina for the first time all year. 

“She’s bringing out people who are not interested in voting for either Trump or Biden,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz told CNBC. It’s barely been a month, but “I haven’t seen anything like this happen in 30 days in my lifetime,” he said. And that’s all before Democrats hold their convention in Chicago next week, where candidates usually get a bounce in their poll numbers.

It’s been a rough four weeks for Trump and his running mate. He’s spent the month lying about Kamala Harris’s crowd sizes, attacking her with personal insults, and now finds himself forced to pay in advance for his campaign rallies after leaving a trail of unpaid bills across the country. Even his interview with Elon Musk was delayed by glitches and marred by Trump’s suspiciously slurred speech, but this time he didn’t berate the host for the technical issues the way he did with the National Association of Black Journalists. I wonder why?

Just today, new video emerged showing Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought explaining that Trump is claiming to distance himself from the group, but the group is “not worried about that” because “he’s been at our organization, he’s raised money for our organization. He’s very supportive of what we do.”

READ MORE: How Will Project 2025 Affect Black America?

And earlier this week, Trump admitted that he wants to abolish the Department of Education, the same proposal included in the Project 2025 plan that Trump claims to know nothing about.

Meanwhile, after losing the childless cat lady vote, JD Vance is back in hot water for newly revealed comments suggesting that he thinks that women have no purpose in life after menopause except to take care of grandchildren.

These guys are not ready for prime time.

While Kamala Harris is outlining her plans to stop corporate price gouging, build new housing, and cutting prices for seniors on prescription drugs, Republicans are complaining that Trump is losing it. “He lacks self-control. He lacks discipline,” Republican donor Eric Levine told the New York Times. He’s focused on a “very strange victimhood and grievance,” said Republican strategist Liam Donovan. 

Trump’s self-inflicted implosion is good news for Democratic candidates from the presidency on down, but don’t be lulled into complacency by the polls. The race is far from over, and who knows what dirty tricks Republicans have up their sleeves? The electoral college is still stacked against Democrats, and Kamala Harris will need a big voter turnout to win the presidency.

But be ready. If she pulls it off, Trump’s gonna lose it even more.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By Dana Peck
Special to the AFRO

In a spiritually charged gathering at The Carter Center, Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant, the visionary senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, spearheaded an empowering event on Aug. 5 aimed at mobilizing voter turnout and educating the community about Project 2025. 

Bryant, former senior pastor of Baltimore’s Empowerment Temple, has a history of galvanizing communities towards non-violent action, having previously served as the national youth and college director of the NAACP, where he guided 70,000 young people globally. 

Bryant’s newest 5-5-5 plan is a direct response to Project 2025. The campaign features four major events held on the fifth of each month leading up to Election Day in November. 

Bryant provided a historical context of democracy, emphasizing the challenges faced by Black communities. He critiqued Project 2025, underscoring its potential negative implications for Black communities. He called for a concrete plan and youth engagement, stressing the importance of voter registration, education, and turnout efforts. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is incumbent upon us not to just talk amongst ourselves, but to go to the barbershops, and to the basketball courts,” Bryant told the gathering. “I want to challenge those of you who are part of the D9 (Divine Nine, Black fraternities and sororities), those of you who are part of civic organizations, those of you who are part of grassroots organizations, and those of you who are connected to faith organizations. 

“I want to encourage you on Oct. 5 and Sept. 5 that this is an all-out [voter registration effort]. I want you to leave no door left unlocked. Let no phone number be left untexted.”

The event began with an opening prayer by Bishop William Murphy, bishop of worship at Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, who invoked the scripture from Nehemiah 4. His message resonated deeply with the attendees, reminding them not to be distracted by external conflicts while working towards their goals. This spiritual grounding set the tone for an evening dedicated to unity, purpose and action.

Bryant invited nine leaders to share his vision with attendees.

Rashad Richey, a strategist representing The Carter Center’s Georgia Democracy Resilience Network, delivered a powerful address on the significance of democracy and the critical role of informed voting. He highlighted the spiritual battle behind physical challenges, urging attendees to manifest change. He called for a coalition of responsibility among community members to safeguard democratic principles.  His emphasis on coalition-building underscored the necessity of collective action in the face of political challenges.

Virginia Harris, president of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, stressed the importance of electing leaders who genuinely care about the people. She introduced initiatives such as Mobilize Monday and public policy engagement kits, designed to keep the community informed and engaged. Harris’ call to action was clear: informed voting is essential for true representation and effective governance.

Attorney Mo Ivory, commissioner- elect for Fulton County Commission’s District 4, offered a detailed analysis of the legal implications of Project 2025. She emphasized the importance of local involvement and strategic planning beyond emotional victories. Ivory’s insights into the legal landscape provided attendees with a comprehensive understanding of the stakes involved in the upcoming elections.

Yatonya Oliver, president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Dekalb Alumni Chapter, focused on the critical role of youth engagement in the voting process. She stressed the importance of mobilizing apathetic voters through community engagement and innovative outreach strategies. Oliver’s passion for youth involvement was evident, inspiring many to take active steps toward fostering a culture of informed and enthusiastic voters.

Darrel Taylor, president of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity’s Decatur Alumni Chapter, emphasized the necessity of voter education, registration, and civic engagement. He highlighted unique opportunities for voter registration, particularly in high schools, aiming to instill the values of civic duty and participation in the next generation of voters.

Dr. Johni Cruse Craig, social action chair for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s Stone Mountain – Lithonia Alumni Chapter,  discussed imperative strategies for Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts. She outlined a multifaceted approach: educate, register, mobilize and protect. Her comprehensive strategy underscored the importance of a holistic approach to voter mobilization, ensuring every eligible voter is informed, registered and motivated to cast their ballot.

Bernard Levett, president of the 100 Black Men of Dekalb, highlighted the chapter’s extensive involvement in civic engagement and the critical importance of youth education on voting. His message reinforced the idea that educating young people about their voting rights and responsibilities is fundamental to sustaining a vibrant democracy.

Mayor of Stonecrest Jazzmin Cobble shared her success in mobilizing voters through effective public policy. She stressed the importance of evaluating policies over emotional attachment to candidates, advocating for a more rational and informed approach to voting. Cobble’s practical perspective resonated with attendees, many of whom seemed to leave with a renewed sense of purpose.

Congressman Hank Johnson, U.S. representative for Georgia’s 4th congressional district, praised Pastor Bryant and the collective efforts of the community. He critiqued the previous Trump administration while celebrating the Biden-Harris administration, highlighting the urgency of protecting democracy. Johnson’s passionate speech served as a rallying cry for attendees to remain vigilant and proactive in their civic duties.

Bryant expressed a heartfelt thanks to the various contributors and organizations. He shared that launching at The Carter Center was a full circle moment for him.

“I went with my parents to play with Amy Carter at the White House at 7 years of age,” he recalled. “I was on the cover of newspapers all over the country because they hadn’t seen a Black kid playing with a White kid on the White House lawn. This was 1977 and so for me to be back in this place is overwhelmingly gratifying.”

Maisha Land, creator of the Stroll to the Polls Movement, said, “It was refreshing to finally hear a discussion with tangible outcomes in mind for civic engagement and accountability for before and after elections. Learning about Project 5-5-5 tonight really focused me.  I realize more than ever that fighting the plans put in for the demise of our communities is not enough, that ‘I have a dream’ is not enough…. We must have a plan. I am looking forward to Project 5-5-5 and helping with the lift.”

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

I’m in Philadelphia for Kamala Harris’s campaign rally, and the energy here is electric.

Harris just picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate, and I couldn’t be more excited.

Who is Tim Walz? He’s a small-town boy who grew up working on a farm. A patriot who joined the National Guard and served for 20 years. A high school social studies teacher. A high school football coach. A veteran. A hunter, a gun owner, and a skilled marksman. A midwesterner who knows rural America. He’s the type of man Republicans claim to love, but unlike the men who lead today’s Republican Party, Walz has a heart.

Walz is pro-union, supports a strong minimum wage, and voted for President Obama’s Affordable Care Act when he served in Congress. And unlike the coach stereotype, he had the courage to serve as the faculty adviser for the student LGBTQ group on campus. He’s funny on the stump, but he’s a great attack dog. And he means business. Walz appointed Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to prosecute Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who murdered George Floyd. But even though progressives love him, he doesn’t come across as threatening to middle America. 

“And in 91 days,” as Harris said today, “the nation will know Coach Walz by another name: Vice President of the United States.”

As soon as Walz was announced, independent progressive Bernie Sanders endorsed him on the left, and conservative Joe Manchin endorsed him on the right. Do you know how hard that is to get those two to agree on anything? That’s like a Nobel Peace Prize in Democratic politics. Heck, even AOC endorsed him.

Walz helps heal the party and avoids a big conflict at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago over Gaza. He keeps the momentum going for Harris, and he matches her joyful energy.

RELATED: 10 Big Lies Trump and the Republicans Tell About Kamala Harris

But isn’t he another old white guy? Um, hello. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris, and I are all about the same age. We were born 16 months apart. And all of us are younger than Barack Obama. So, in my biased opinion, he’s still a young guy. Yes, he looks a lot older than Kamala and me, but we all know black don’t crack. 

And actually, his avuncular appearance and relatable life story make him much more appealing to the voters Harris needs to win the battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Comparing JD Vance to Walz is like a “matchup between the varsity team and the JV squad,” Harris said today.

I know some people wanted other candidates, and they all had different assets. Mark Kelly is an astronaut. Pete Buttigieg is a great communicator. Josh Shapiro is hugely popular in the critical state of Pennsylvania. And originally, I wanted Andy Beshear, the youthful governor of Kentucky.

But in the past few weeks of watching him campaign for Harris, Walz won me over. “You’ve legalized recreational marijuana, passed universal background checks for guns, expanded LGBTQ protections, implemented tuition-free college for low-income residents, and given out free breakfast and lunch for school kids, Jake Tapper said to him in a recent CNN interview.

RELATED: If Trump Wins, Republican Judges Will Rule the Courts—and Our Lives

Walz didn’t skip a beat. “What a monster,” he said. Kids have full bellies so they can learn. He didn’t shy away from his record. He firmly defended it.

Republicans are already trying to sow division in the party by claiming that Harris didn’t pick Shapiro because he’s Jewish and claiming, “No Jews allowed at the top of the Democratic Party.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer quickly put that argument to rest, but the nerve of the straight, Christian, white male-dominated Republican Party to complain about diversity in the Democratic Party. Give me a break.

Democrats nominated the first woman for vice president in 1984 (Geraldine Ferraro, the first Jewish candidate for vice president in 2000 (Joe Lieberman), the first Black president in 2008 (Barack Obama), the first woman candidate for president in 2016 (Hillary Clinton), and now the first Black woman and first South Asian woman for president in 2024 (Kamala Harris). Meanwhile, Republicans have given us nothing but white men on the ticket for the past four elections.

That’s why I like Walz. He balances the ticket, and his energy matches Kamala’s. Other candidates are good on the attack, but Walz does the same with a smile. And when they join forces, they make a great team. As Walz said in Philadelphia today, “Thank you for bringing back the joy.”

Harris and Walz are happy warriors fighting for a hopeful future, while Trump and Vance are mean-spirited men stoking fear with a backward-focused campaign of doom and gloom.

Many of you don’t know who Tim Walz is, but trust me, when you see him in the next few weeks, you will not be disappointed. Kamala Harris made a bold choice in picking Walz. Now let’s go win.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate ahead of the Democratic National Convention from Aug. 19-22. 

“I am proud to announce that I’ve asked Tim Walz to be my running mate. As a governor, a coach, a teacher and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his,” said Harris via X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s great to have him on the team. Now let’s get to work.”

Walz is hitting the ground running alongside Harris, rallying in seven states through the end of this week. The first rally is set for later this evening in Philadelphia.

First elected in 2018, Walz is the 41st governor of Minnesota. While in office, he’s worked on reproductive freedoms, lowering prescription drug costs and expanding voting rights to include 55,000 formerly incarcerated Minnesotans. Walz also established reproductive freedom as a fundamental right in Minnesota in 2023, protecting fertility services, abortion care and more.

Walz also previously served as a congressman for 12 years representing Minnesota’s First District and in the U.S. Army National Guard for 24 years.

“The selection of Gov. Tim Walz as our nominee is a momentous occasion for our party and a pivotal moment for our country,” said Maryland Democratic Party Chair Ken Ulman, in a statement shortly after the announcement. “I am confident that with Gov. Tim Walz on the ticket, Democrats can be confident that our ticket is well-positioned to inspire voters, build on our grassroots momentum and realize a future that reflects our shared values.”

Ulman commended Harris for her choice and threw full support behind her and Walz.

“VP Kamala Harris has once again demonstrated that she is the leader our party needs in this moment with her bold, exciting choice for vice president,” he said. “The Maryland Democratic Party is proud to stand behind VP Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, and we are ready to work tirelessly to ensure their victory.”

The Trump campaign released a statement on Harris’ choice, calling Walz a “radical leftist.”

“From proposing his own carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission standards for gas-powered cars and embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign press secretary. 

Harris made her announcement on the heels of growing major endorsements from former officials under Trump, youth voter groups and environmental organizations.

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By Willy Blackmore
Word in Black

There has been a wave of endorsements big and small for Vice President Kamala Harris since President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for reelection this year. 

Some were very quick in coming, like Biden’s own endorsement, while others that took a matter of days were still slow enough to create some degree of controversy, namely that of Barack and Michelle Obama. 

But on July 31, Harris got an endorsement that stands out because it’s one President Biden did not receive: The Green New Deal Coalition, which includes more left-leaning and youth-oriented environmental groups like the Sunrise Movement, is backing the vice president in the 2024 race against Donald Trump.

Harris — who served both in the Senate and as the state attorney general in California before becoming the first woman to serve as vice president — mostly shares President Biden’s climate record. But while the administration passed the largest climate bill ever, the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden has still been criticized by groups in the Green New Deal Coalition for not doing enough in the face of the climate crisis. The more left-leaning groups have also been highly critical of his approach to the war on Gaza. So any change at the top of the Democratic ticket is welcomed by the coalition.

“This has really lit a candle of hope for a lot of us that have been in the doldrums for the past year or so,” Kaniela Ing, the coalition’s national director, told Inside Climate News.

The one big material point of difference between Harris and Biden happened during the Obama administration. After plans were finalized to allow oil exploration off the California coast near Santa Barbara for new hydraulic-fracturing wells, then-attorney general Harris sued the federal government. Climate groups have not forgotten that she was willing to challenge Big Oil in such a manner (not to mention her own party), and they want to see more of that from the White House.

Harris was also a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal legislation in the Senate. In the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, she ran on increasing federal spending on climate issues by $10 trillion over a decade, and also advocated for a carbon tax.

There’s a bit of identity politics at play in the endorsement, too, as there likely will be throughout Harris’s historic campaign: The Green New Deal Coalition believes that, as a Black woman, Harris will be an effective advocate.

Willy Blackmore is a freelance writer and editor covering food, culture, and the environment. He lives in Brooklyn.

This article was originally published on WordinBlack.com.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

(NNPA Newswire) – Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is gaining unstoppable momentum as it barrels toward the Democratic National Convention. The presumptive nominee has secured significant endorsements and amassed unprecedented financial support, solidifying her position as the leading Democratic contender.

This week, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the largest professional union of social workers worldwide, has endorsed Harris’s bid for the presidency. NASW CEO Dr. Anthony Estreet highlighted Harris’s unwavering leadership on mental health and her commitment to expanding access to care. 

“Vice President Harris has consistently championed issues vital to our members and the communities they serve,” Dr. Estreet said, urging every union member to mobilize for Harris’s victory.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) have also thrown their weight behind Harris. In an interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, UAW President Shawn Fain drew a stark contrast between the candidates: 

“You have one candidate in Trump who represents the billionaire class—I call him the lap dog for the billionaires. And you have a candidate in Kamala Harris, who stands for working-class people and has proven it through her actions.”

Fueling Harris’s campaign is a historic fundraising effort. Team Harris announced a staggering $310 million raised in July, marking the largest single-month haul of the 2024 cycle. The Trump campaign and RNC combined contributions for the same period pale in comparison to this record-breaking amount, resulting from an unprecedented grassroots fundraising surge. Notably, over $200 million was raised in the week following President Biden’s endorsement of Harris.

With this latest milestone, Team Harris has surpassed the $1 billion mark this cycle, achieving this historic fundraising threshold faster than any previous presidential campaign. The campaign also reports an impressive $377 million in cash on hand, the largest ever at this point in a presidential cycle, outpacing the Trump team by $50 million.

Two-thirds of the contributions from first-time donors drove July’s fundraising success. More than 3 million donors made over 4.2 million contributions, with over 2 million making their first donation this cycle. Grassroots support was solid, with 94 percent of donations under $200 and significant increases in donations from Gen Z, Millennials, and women.

Officials said the Harris campaign’s grassroots machine is a testament to its broad and energized coalition, which included:

• July marked the highest grassroots fundraising month in presidential history.
• Team Harris raised more from grassroots donors in the four days following Biden’s endorsement than Trump’s entire monthly total.
• Teachers and nurses are among the most common donor occupations, reflecting Harris’s appeal across diverse sectors.

Coalition groups like Black Women for Harris, Latinas for Harris, and White Dudes for Harris collectively raised over $20 million, underscoring the widespread enthusiasm for Harris’s candidacy.

“This historic fundraising haul is a powerful indicator of the momentum and energy behind Vice President Harris. Our coalition is mobilized and ready to work tirelessly to ensure victory in November,” Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said.

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison echoed Rodriguez’s thoughts. “From unprecedented grassroots fundraising to a surge in new volunteers, it’s clear that voters are fired up to elect Kamala Harris and defeat Donald Trump,” Harrison stated. “This overwhelming support is a testament to the belief in Harris’s vision for America.”

As the campaign progresses, officials say the funds are being strategically deployed to reach critical voters. They noted:

• Over 260 coordinated campaign offices and more than 1,400 staff are now operational across battleground states.
• A $50 million paid media campaign is targeting key demographics ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
• Team Harris recently welcomed 170,000 new volunteers and organized 2,300 mobilizing events across key states.

In stark contrast, the twice-impeached and 34 times convicted felon and former president’s campaign continues to cater to the ultra-wealthy and corporate interests, making promises to billionaire oil and gas executives while lagging in campaign infrastructure in crucial battleground states.

“This historic 2024 fundraising operation is the product of a dedicated coalition ready to fight and win,” Rodriguez asserted. “We know the hard work required to secure a victory in November, and we are committed to seeing it through. When we fight together, we win.”

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By Steve Peoples and Matt Brown
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has found tremendous success from the very first moment he stepped onto the presidential stage by stoking racial animus.

Democrats expressed new outrage this week at the former president’s derisive and false charge that Vice President Kamala Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian heritage, only recently “turned Black” for political gain. Some Republicans — even from within Trump’s own campaign — seemed to distance themselves from the comment.

But Trump’s rhetoric this week, and his record on race since he entered politics nearly a decade ago, indicate that divisive attacks on race may emerge as a core GOP argument in the three-month sprint to Election Day — whether his allies want them to or not.

A Trump adviser, granted anonymity Aug. 1 to discuss internal strategy, said the campaign doesn’t need to focus on “identity politics” because the case against Harris is that she is “so liberal it’s dangerous.” The adviser pointed to Harris’ record on the Southern border, crime, the economy and foreign policy.

In a sign that Trump may not be coordinating his message with his own team, the Republican presidential nominee doubled down on the same day with a new attack on Harris’ racial identity. He posted on his social media site a picture of Harris donning traditional Indian attire in a family photo.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican who has endorsed Trump, was among a number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill who said Aug. 1 that the rhetoric around race and identity is not “helpful to anyone” this election cycle.

“People’s skin color doesn’t matter one iota,” Lummis said in an interview.

Trump turned to an old tactic against Harris

It’s been less than two weeks after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed Harris. Trump has had to pivot from campaigning against an 81-year-old White man showing signs of decline to facing a 59-year-old Black woman who is drawing much larger crowds and new enthusiasm from Democratic donors.

Trump went to the National Association of Black Journalists convention on July 31. In an appearance carried live on cable news and shared widely online, he falsely suggested Harris misled voters about her race.

“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said.

At a Pennsylvania rally hours later, Trump’s team displayed years-old news headlines describing Harris as the “first Indian-American senator” on the big screen in the arena. And Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, told reporters traveling with him that Harris was a “chameleon” who changed her identity when convenient.

Harris attended Howard University, the historically Black institution where she pledged the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and has often talked throughout her career about being both about being Black and Indian American.

Trump’s team argued that his message on race is part of a broader pitch that may appeal to some Black voters, although very few allies defended his specific rhetoric this week.

“What impacts our historic gains with Black voters is President Trump’s record when compared to Kamala’s,” said Trump campaign senior adviser Lynne Patton, pointing to the “cost of living, securing the border, deporting Kamala’s illegal aliens, making neighborhoods safe again and keeping men out of women’s sports.”

Veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz said he explored racial politics during a July 31 focus group with swing voters almost immediately after Trump’s interview. He found that Harris may be vulnerable to criticism based on her gender, but race-based attacks could hurt Trump among the voters that matter most this fall.

Much has changed, Luntz said, since Trump rose to prominence by questioning the citizenship of Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president.

“Trump seems to think that he can criticize her for how she’s dealt with her race. Well, no one’s listening to that criticism. It simply doesn’t matter,” Luntz said. “If it’s racially driven, it will backfire.”

Eugene Craig, the former vice chair of the Maryland Republican Party, said that Trump “got what he wanted” at the NABJ convention but that the substance of his argument risked being more offensive than appealing.

“The one thing that Black folks will never tolerate is disrespecting Blackness, and that goes for Black Republicans too,” said Craig, who is Black and worked as a staffer for conservative pundit Dan Bongino’s 2012 Senate campaign. He is now supporting Harris.

Trump has a long history of racist attacks

Trump has frequently used race to go after his opponents since he stepped into presidential politics nearly a decade ago.

Trump was perhaps the most famous member of the so-called “birther” movement questioning where Obama was born. He kicked off his first campaign by casting Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and drug traffickers and later questioned whether a U.S. federal judge of Mexican heritage could be fair to him.

While in the White House, Trump defended a White supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and suggested that the U.S. stop accepting immigrants from “shithole” countries including Haiti and parts of Africa. In August 2020, he suggested Harris, who was born in California, might not meet the Constitution’s eligibility requirements to be vice president.

And just two weeks after formally entering the 2024 campaign, he dined with notorious White supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Trump won in 2016 but lost reelection in 2020 to Biden by close margins in several swing states. He swept the 2024 Republican primary even while facing a raft of criminal charges.

Some Trump critics worried that his racial strategy might resonate with a significant portion of the electorate anyway. Voters will decide in November whether to send a Black woman to the Oval Office for the first time in the nation’s nearly 250-year history.

“I hope Trump’s attacks on Harris are just him flailing about ineffectively. But put together Trump’s shamelessness, his willingness to lie, his demagogic talent, and the issue of race — and a certain amount of liberal complacency that Trump is just foolish — and I’m concerned,” Bill Kristol, a leading conservative anti-Trump voice, posted on social media Aug. 1.

The Harris campaign thinks there’s little upside for Trump

A Harris adviser described the moment as an opportunity to remind voters of the chaos and division that Trump breeds. But the adviser, granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said it would be a mistake for Democrats to engage with Trump’s attacks on race at the expense of the campaign’s broader focus on key policies.

So long as the campaign does not get distracted, the adviser said, Harris’ team believes there is little political upside for Trump to continue attacking Harris’ racial identity.

Harris told a gathering of a historically Black sorority on July 31 that Trump’s attack was “the same old show: the divisiveness and the disrespect.”

On the ground in at least one swing state, however, there were signs that Trump’s approach may be resonating — at least among the former president’s White male base.

Jim Abel, a 65-year-old retiree who attended a rally for Vance in Arizona on July 31, said he agreed with Trump’s focus on Harris’ racial identity.

“She’s not Black,” Abel said. “I’ve seen her parents. I’ve pictures of her and her family and she’s not Black. She’s looking for the Black vote.”

But several high-profile Republican voices disagreed.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro posted on X a picture of a road sign with two directions. One led to, “Attack Kamala’s record, lies and radicalism,” while the other, “Is she really Black?”

“I dunno guys, I just think that maybe winning the 2024 election might be more important than having this silly and meaningless conversation,” Shapiro wrote.

___

Brown reported from Chicago. AP writers Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick and Farnoush Amiri in Washington; and Gabriel Sandoval in Glendale, Arizona, contributed to this report.

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Donald Trump just finished speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists, and it went exactly as you might expect — a hot mess. After attacking ABC reporter Rachel Scott as “rude,” Trump threw out a flurry of lies and misinformation about Vice President Kamala Harris.

So, allow me to debunk some of his lies, and a few others, about Kamala Harris. 

1. She’s not really Black. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black,” Trump told NABJ, “and now she wants to be known as Black.”

   Not true. “I’m Black, and I’m proud of being Black. I was born Black. I will die Black,” Harris told the Breakfast Club in 2019. She didn’t change her identity. Her father was always Jamaican. And she’s always been connected to the Black community, which is why she graduated from Howard University and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. 

RELATED: If Trump Wins, Republican Judges Will Rule the Courts—and Our Lives

2. She’s a failed border czar. “She’s the worst border czar in the history of the world,” Trump told NABJ today.

   First, she was never a border czar. Her job was to focus on the root causes of immigration. Second, if she was the border czar, she could take credit that border crossings are lower now than they were when Trump left office. Third, if you want a more secure border, then blame Trump, who killed the bipartisan immigration deal because he didn’t want to give President Biden a win before the election. And by the way, whatever happened to Trump’s wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for? 

3. She’s a “DEI hire.” Trump told NABJ that Harris “could be” a DEI hire, echoing racist remarks from Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett, who said, “100 percent, she was a DEI hire.”

   DEI hire has become the new GOP slur, replacing “affirmative action candidate,” which replaced the N-word, but they all mean the same thing. Harris has been a district attorney, an attorney general, a United States senator, and a vice president. Trump was a game show host when he ran for president. Yet Republicans don’t question his credentials or those of his running mate, J.D. Vance, a 39-year-old freshman senator who just got to Congress last year.

4. She’s not eligible to run. Republicans claim Harris is ineligible to be president because her parents were not born in America.

   First of all, she was born in Oakland, California, and the Constitution doesn’t require that your parents be born in the U.S. Second, Trump’s own mother was born in Scotland, but I guess those made-up rules only apply to Black candidates.

5. She’s a “San Francisco liberal.” Republicans have released a new ad attacking Kamala Harris as a “San Francisco liberal.”

   They’re so stuck in the past that they’re resurrecting an attack line from 1984 when Jeane Kirkpatrick coined the term “San Francisco Democrats” as a not-so-subtle homophobic slur. But that was 40 years ago; it’s time for new material, guys. If Harris was such a San Francisco liberal, why did Donald Trump donate $6,000 to her past campaigns? 

6. She’s soft on crime. Republicans claim that Harris is not tough enough on crime, but she’s a prosecutor, but they’re literally supporting a convicted criminal as their presidential nominee. Case closed.

7. She’s a cop who locked up thousands of innocent Black men. Now, come on, folks, she can’t be “too tough on crime” and “too soft on crime” at the same time.

   But here’s the truth. As a district attorney, Harris implemented a “Back on Track” program to help young, nonviolent offenders with education and job training. When she was attorney general, California became the first statewide law enforcement agency in the country to mandate officers wear body cameras. And she’s a longtime opponent of the death penalty, even when it wasn’t easy. True, prosecutors make tough decisions that piss people off on both sides, but to caricature her as “too tough” or “too soft” on crime is just too simplistic. 

8. She slept her way to the top. Donald Trump was a failed businessman with six bankruptcies, five draft deferments, three baby mamas, and two divorces when he ran for president. And after paying $130,000 in hush money to a porn star and $150,000 to a Playboy Playmate that he slept with while his wife was pregnant, twice-divorced, convicted felon, and adjudicated rapist, Donald Trump is the last person to be talking about anyone’s sexual history.

9. She never accomplished anything. As a prosecutor, Kamala Harris put murderers and abusers behind bars. As attorney general, she went after the big banks and won $20 billion for homeowners. As vice president, she took on the big drug companies to cap the cost of insulin for seniors. And we’ve now seen 15.7 million new jobs and the lowest Black unemployment and poverty rates in history since she took office.

10. She can’t win. Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. They won with Obama, a Black guy with a Muslim name, and Hillary Clinton, a white woman who had been vilified for decades. Unfortunately, the skewed electoral college system gave Republicans the victory in two of those eight contests, but the results still prove that the country is on our side. It just means we have to turn out in record numbers to overcome the electoral college bias. 

That’s it for now. Many more lies to debunk in the coming months. But if Trump has something to say about Kamala Harris, as she said in Atlanta this week, say it to her face.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

Former President Donald J. Trump, Republican presidential nominee, fueled controversy during a question and answer session at the 2024 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Annual Convention and Career Fair on July 31. 

Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, opened the conversation by asking Trump to explain why Black voters should vote for him, considering previous insulting comments he has made about Black elected officials and other people of color.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” said Trump, in response to the first question.

“Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network. I think it’s a very rude introduction,” he continued.

Trump evaded a response to the first question, instead taking several digs at Scott, the company she works for and NABJ itself for a late start due to technical difficulties. 

The conversation with the former president caused a stir once it was disclosed to the Black journalists that make up NABJ and the general public. NABJ leadership addressed the controversy around the invitation, emphasizing that they spent months in communication with both political parties about participating in the convention.

Trump said NABJ invited him “under false pretense,” claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris (D) would be in attendance for the session as well. Ultimately, she was not on the stage for the conversation at the convention.

“NABJ has been in talks with both the Democratic and Republican parties since January. NABJ was in contact with Vice President Kamala Harris’ team for an in-person panel before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July,” said NABJ President Ken Lemon in a statement. “We were advised by her campaign at the time that her schedule could not accommodate this request.”

Lemon said the last word they received from her campaign, earlier this week, was that Harris would not be available in person or virtually during the convention. Less than an hour before the conversation, NABJ announced that they were in conversation with Harris’ campaign for a live or virtual Q and A in September.

“We are in talks about virtual options in the future and are still working to reach an agreement,” continued Lemon. 

Throughout the session with Trump, moderators tried to move forward with the Q and A by asking questions on some of the most pressing issues for Black Americans, such as the economy and abortion.

On the topic of abortion, Trump said he is proud of the Supreme Court’s move to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving the decision to each individual state.

“Right now, it’s an amazing thing. It’s out of the federal government, it’s [up to the] states and people are voting,” he said.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, at least 14 states have criminalized abortions.

During the session, Trump doubled down on criticism of Harris’ actions around the border and expressed concern about “Black jobs” being taken by people who enter the U.S. illegally.

“Coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs,” said Trump. 

When asked to finally answer the question of “What is a ‘Black job?’” Trump stated that “a Black job is anybody that has a job.”

Trump claimed Harris has allowed millions to flock to the border, referring to her as the “border czar” due to Biden assigning her to address the root causes of Central American migration as vice president.

“She’s done a horrible job,” criticized Trump.

Before the Q and A, NABJ convention co-chair Karen Attiah announced her resignation via X, formerly known as Twitter.

“I have decided to step down as co-chair from this year’s #NABJ24 convention in Chicago,” she said. “While my decision was influenced by a variety of factors, I was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format.”

Lemon backed NABJ’s decision to move forward with Trump’s invitation stating that it was in line with their usual practices concerning political candidates

“It has always been our policy to ensure that candidates know that an invitation is not an endorsement,” said Lemon. “While we acknowledge the concerns expressed by our members, we believe it is important for us to provide our members with the opportunity to hear directly from candidates and hold them accountable.”

The convention included a live fact-checking option on the NABJ website, which attendees applauded at the event.

Ahead of the session, the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) issued a strong statement against the invitation, demanding that it be rescinded. 

“I strongly oppose Trump’s participation in the NABJ annual convention and career fair,” declared NNPA National Chair Bobby Henry, via the NNPA Newswire. “The NNPA represents over 250 African American-owned newspapers and media companies and has been a pillar of the Black Press of America for 197 years.”

Henry said Trump’s “divisive rhetoric and actions have harmed marginalized communities, particularly the Black community.” 

“Allowing him a platform at this event undermines the NABJ’s values of inclusion and solidarity and risks normalizing his damaging behavior.”

NABJ was founded on Dec. 12, 1975 by a group of 44 individuals with a focus on providing “quality programs and services to and advocacy for Black journalists worldwide.”

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republican leaders have asked members of their caucus to stop launching racist and misogynistic attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris.

On July 23, Johnson met with Republicans and said that neither Harris’ race nor her gender has anything to do with her running for president.

“This election will be about policies and not personalities,” Johnson told reporters..  

This comes after Harris accepted President Biden’s nomination to replace him in the 2024 presidential race after he announced that he would withdraw from the race.

Since then, GOP Congress members have lobbed attacks against Harris in an effort to undermine her run for the Oval Office. 

On July 23, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, (R-Tenn.) introduced articles of impeachment against Harris over the border crisis and accused her of breaching the public’s trust regarding President Joe Biden’s mental and physical health.

Ogles contended that Harris failed to evoke the 25th amendment to have Biden removed from the White House “when it became apparent that he was…incapable” of fulfilling his presidential duties.

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, (D-Texas) condemned Ogles for the filing.

“Andy Ogles needs to focus on making sure that he can be an honorable member that people can trust and believe absolutely deserves his spot here in and stop trying to do the bidding of Trump going after the vice president,” Crockett told the AFRO.

The Texas lawmaker added that Ogles does not have a good reason to file articles of impeachment against the vice president.

“These people clearly don’t understand what the requirements for an impeachment are in the first place,” said Crockett. “But, that’s their game because they don’t have anything of substance. We have wasted so many tax dollars because they decided that they wanted to go after the president consistently on a bogus impeachment.”

This is Ogles’ second time filing articles of impeachment against Harris. He did the same last year, however, he did not garner enough support from House Republicans to bring it to the floor for a vote. House Democrats believe history will repeat itself.

After Ogles filed articles of impeachment against Harris, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, (R-Tenn.) called Harris a “DEI hire” in a tweet.

“The incompetency level is at an all-time high in Washington,” said Burchett. “The media propped up , lied to the American people for three years and then dumped him for our DEI vice president.”

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-N.Y.) told the AFRO Republicans are threatened by the vice president and will call anyone who has “rightfully earned their place” a DEI hire.

She said this rhetoric comes from a “party of largely one gender and one identity.”

In recent days, House Democrats have reminded Republicans that Harris served as the first Black attorney general in California; she represented California in the U.S. Senate, becoming the second Black woman to serve in the upper chamber after Carol Moseley Braun; and she made history again to become the very first Black vice president.

Harris is expected to be named the Democratic presidential nominee during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

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By Dr. John E. Warren
Special to the AFRO

The decision of President Biden to step down and pass the torch to Vice President Harris, and the outpouring of support in the form of over $2 million in donations in 48 hours, along with more than 2,500 pledged delegates, commitments from members of the Congress as well as governors of several states and the support of grassroots people from all walks of life, gives new meaning to the statement: There is nothing like an idea whose time has come. 

America has an opportunity for a truly historic period. Now that Vice President Harris is making good on her promise “to earn the nomination,” it’s up to the rest of us to carry out the agenda that will go with that presidency.

The agenda includes getting Vice President Harris elected, not because she is a woman or because she is Black, but because she is qualified and equipped to do the job. Our “Project 2025” is to give her a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate so that she will have in place lawmakers that can pass the needed legislation to overcome the agendas of the MAGA Republicans committed to blocking her efforts. 

We can make a difference by voting into office Democrats in every state that has a congressional race. We must be in control of the House of Representatives when the Electoral College votes are counted in January. A failure to regain the House of Representatives will allow the Republican control under Mike Johnson to block or delay the certification necessary for the transition of power to Harris as president.

Every opportunity to elect a Democrat in all 50 states is crucial. Only “we the people” getting out the vote can overcome the planned destruction of democracy as we know it. 

We must monitor the selection of Electoral College delegates. We must monitor state efforts to reduce voting opportunities by changing polling sites and removing or reducing ballot boxes. We must ensure we have voter registration officials to carry out the elections. 

If for some reason we can’t vote, then we must work to register those who can. We must encourage the use of absentee ballots, and contact friends and relatives in other states and ensure that they both register and vote. We must make it unacceptable for those around us to tell us they are not going to vote or that their vote won’t count when we know people died to ensure that we have the right to vote. 

In conclusion, our agenda is to not only support the election of Kamala Harris as president of the United States, but to prepare the way for her to have a successful presidency, and to remove those in office who have already demonstrated a commitment to trampling on the oath of office they took “to Defend the Constitution of the United States, so Help Them God.” 

The rest of the agenda is up to us both now, and all campaign challenges that stand to block our president-to-be.

Dr. John E. Warren is publisher of The San Diego Voice and Viewpoint.

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Word In Black’s owners and publishers tell why Harris has the leadership experience we need for a free, prosperous, and more just future. 

By Word In Black Owners

As the next presidential election rapidly approaches, our nation is, without question, at a crossroads. To the left is continued racial, economic and social progress; to the right is regression, division and the ongoing resurrection of overt, violent White supremacy. 

Therefore, the result of November’s vote will not only define the trajectory of America in general but also determine the fate of Black America in particular, with far-reaching consequences that could last for generations. 

With such historically high stakes on the table — and an election in which the Black vote could be a decisive factor — we at Word In Black wholeheartedly, and without question endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the next president of the United States. It is our first-ever political endorsement, and we make it without reservation.

At this pivotal moment in American history, Harris represents the change we want to see now. She is a transformational figure, poised to make history not only as the first woman to serve the nation as commander-in-chief but also as the first Black woman, first HBCU graduate and first member of a Black Greek letter organization to hold the most powerful job on earth.

Our endorsement, however, begins with President Joe Biden, who is among the most effective champions for Black America in history and who chose her as his running mate. The Biden-Harris administration created 2.6 million jobs for Black workers, cut child poverty in half, grew Black household wealth, and slashed insulin and asthma inhaler prices. They forgave $168.5 billion in student loan debt, pushed to close the Black-White digital divide, made meaningful investments in policies to fight climate change, and appointed a record number of Black judges to the federal bench. 

The president also demonstrated unparalleled leadership, selflessness and patriotism by withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race and endorsing Harris to replace him on the Democratic Party ticket. She will almost assuredly continue his agenda, but with the added perspective of her lived experience in Black spaces.

Harris has impressive credentials: former San Francisco district attorney, former California attorney general, former U.S. senator, current vice president. Her personal story — child of immigrant activist parents, Howard University graduate, member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., the first Black woman to hold statewide elected office in California — is compelling. She is a fearless champion of civil rights and has advocated for criminal legal system reform, access to health care and investment in underserved communities.  

Furthermore, Harris’s intelligence, tenacity, charisma and joy on the campaign trail sets her apart from her Republican opponents. Her elevation as the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee has electrified the campaign, generating excitement not seen since Barack Obama’s historic 2008 run to become America’s first Black president.

Consider: within the first 24 hours of Harris’ candidacy, her campaign took in a stunning $81 million — the largest single-day fundraising effort in American political history. The total included some $3 million in small-dollar, grassroots donations from an impromptu fundraising drive led solely by Black men and women. 

It is clear evidence that Harris’ presence in the nation’s highest office will be an unprecedented step toward greater representation and inclusion of diverse voices at the highest levels of government.

For nearly 200 years, we in the Black press have stood for freedom, justice, equality, and democracy. We have spoken truth to power, especially when others in the mainstream, White-owned media have avoided it, or have actively spread falsehoods about our leaders and our communities. 

Hear us, then, when we say Harris represents the best hope of defeating two existential threats to Black America: the return of the former president, a bigoted, twice-impeached convicted felon and purported rapist who is attempting to divide America; and Project 2025 — a radical, far-right political, economic and social agenda he will almost certainly implement if he wins the White House. 

For us at Word in Black, the choice for president is as obvious as it is historic. The Republican nominee represents an America that will return to its ugly, violent, racist past, a time when we were treated like second-class citizens and our communities were under constant threat. Harris represents a new generation of leadership, a future built on optimism, inclusion and continued progress toward a more perfect union. 

On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, Black Americans have an opportunity to determine which version of the nation we want for ourselves and our children. We, the owners and publishers of Word In Black, encourage our readers and supporters to join us in supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in her extraordinary presidential campaign.

Together, we can make a difference and ensure that our voices are heard in shaping the future of our country.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

Early July 26, Vice President Kamala Harris (D) gained the key endorsements of Barack and Michelle Obama in her bid to be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.

They made the announcement through a video where Harris can be seen walking and talking on the phone with the Obamas about their endorsement.

“We called to say, Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” said the former president to Harris.

Harris thanked them for their friendship and support.

“Oh, my goodness. Michelle, Barack, this means so much to me,” said Harris. “I am looking forward to doing this with the two of you—Doug and I both—and getting out there, being on the road.”

President Joe Biden (D) stepped down via social media on July 21, putting his support behind Harris shortly after his announcement. This action by the president started a huge wave of funding and endorsements for Harris.

Harris still has to be officially nominated at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) next month. This year’s DNC will be held in Chicago from Aug. 19-22.

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By Ben Jealous

What if there was a blueprint for a future presidential administration to unilaterally lay waste to our constitutional order and turn America from a democracy into an autocracy in one fell swoop?

That is what one far-right think tank and its contributors created. And more than a hundred other far-right organizations have now signed on to support that blueprint. What could possibly go wrong?

Maybe you have heard about Project 2025. It was cooked up by the far-right Heritage Foundation. That organization’s leader says we are in a “second American Revolution” that he suggests could turn violent if those who oppose their disastrous plan to kill our democracy do not get in line behind it. 

For its 51-year history, the Heritage Foundation has always been an instrument of the Far Right. Around 2016, it started to become dangerously extreme. Project 2025, and its 900-page guidebook for ending the American experiment, is perhaps its most extreme – and dangerous – initiative yet.

The premise behind Project 2025 is that our constitutional system of checks and balances somehow is skewed against the American people based on their politics. It is an argument that itself exposes the extremity of those making it. 

Our Constitution provides a framework, as do our democratic institutions, for political debate and disagreement within the natural parameters of our system of government. Although our country has too often bucked the very principles of our founding, we used to be able to agree that, generally, America is a Republic that elects its leaders through representative democracy. And that for our government to serve the best interests of all its people, we must protect debate and a free exchange of ideas, as well as the mechanisms of democracy itself and the separation of powers among the three branches of government. 

Project 2025 wants to throw all that out the window. It attacks democratic institutions that separate nonpolitical civil service from loyalty to any particular party or leader. It prescribes purging the federal government of anyone who might be considered disloyal to the ruling party. It allows the president to usurp power from other branches of government, like Congress’s power of the purse. Project 2025 endorses presidential powers that include ignoring how Congress appropriates spending, where the president has the unquestioned authority to redirect congressionally passed spending at will.

Democracy Forward, a pro-democracy legal organization, refers to Project 2025 as “among the most profound threats to the American people.” That is due to the plan’s clear harm to the lives, livelihoods and wellbeing of countless millions of Americans – “from attacking overtime pay, student loans and reproductive rights, to allowing more discrimination, pollution and price gouging,” according to Democracy Forward.

It is no wonder that when Americans learn about the Project 2025 roadmap, they reject its policy prescriptions overwhelmingly. 

A recent survey by Navigator Polling found strong opposition to Project 2025’s possible impacts on healthcare: “83 percent oppose removing protections for people with pre-existing conditions, 81 percent oppose putting a new tax on health insurance for people who get coverage through their employer and 80 percent oppose banning Medicare from negotiating lower prices and eliminating the $35 monthly insulin cap.” 

Project 2025 also calls for defunding public education and eliminating Head Start, the early education program that serves a million primarily low-income children. It lights the path for actions that could reduce food assistance for 40 million people and cost hundreds of thousands of people their jobs. 

Project 2025 also supports the defunding or dismantling of key federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is vital in tracking hurricanes and the impacts of climate change. Rather than acknowledging the urgent need for climate action, Project 2025 accuses NOAA of being “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.” That is a level of climate denialism not even seen among fossil fuel companies and petrostate governments these days. 

How could anyone in their right mind think eliminating agencies on the frontlines of climate science is a good idea at a time like this?? Our cities are cooking under extreme heat. Forests are burning. And experts say Hurricane Beryl, which just slammed Texas – the strongest tropical storm ever recorded this early in the season – indicates we could be facing one of the most devastating hurricane seasons ever. In Texas alone, Beryl killed at least eight people and caused power outages for more than 2.5 million in this summer’s extreme heat. And, again, the season is just getting started.

We have big problems to solve. An authoritarian power grab that guts checks and balances is no way to solve them. A strong democracy that is responsive to its people is the only way we will create a rising tide of opportunity that lifts all boats. It is the only way we will protect people’s fundamental rights and survive the climate crisis. We have seen enough examples of dictatorships around the world to know it is a road to failure and misery. Project 2025 emphasizes consolidating power, punishing political opponents, and making the government work for the powerful few over the many. That is not the country Americans want or deserve.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

President Joe Biden addressed the nation for the first time following his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

On July 24 Biden explained to voters that he decided to abandon his run for reelection to save democracy.

“I revere this office, but I love this country more. It has been the honor of my life to serve as your president,” said Biden. “It’s about we the people…we are a great nation because we are good people.”

During the president’s 11-minute speech, he laid out his accomplishments over the last four years.

“Today we have the strongest economy in the world creating nearly 16 million new jobs, wages are up, inflation continues to come down, the racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years,” said Biden. “I’ve kept my commitment to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court…I also kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like America.”

The Democratic leader also outlined some issues he wants to tackle before leaving office such as reforming the U.S. Supreme Court, ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and cracking down on gun violence in the U.S.

Biden’s speech comes just days after the Democratic president took to social media to announce that he would end his presidential campaign.

Biden stated that although he wanted to run for reelection, it is time to “pass the torch to the next generation.”

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president,” said Biden. “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country to stand down and to focus on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Biden made his decision after having private conversations with top Democratic leaders who informed him that their odds of winning the U.S. House of Representatives and maintaining control over the U.S. Senate were slim if he stayed in the presidential race.

Following the president’s speech, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, (D-N.Y.-8) stated that Biden had a successful term as president and has made the U.S. “a better place.”

“He passed the torch to all of us. It is now our responsibility to save American democracy,” said Jeffries. “We will.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.) thanked the president for his speech.

“Your decision is a great act of patriotism for this country you love so much,” said Schumer. “We have so much more work to do to keep America moving forward with hope and opportunity for all.”

U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, (D-Ohio-11) stated that Biden’s decision to step down shows that he is a “true” leader.

“True leadership is realizing that public office is not about you, it’s about those you serve and represent,” said Brown. “It has been a profound honor to partner with the Biden-Harris Administration on so many issues and I know that will continue.”

The Ohio lawmaker added that after former President Donald Trump left the Oval Office, Biden “restored decency and democracy to the White House.”

Maryland Governor Wes Moore expressed gratitude for Biden’s leadership over the last four years.  

“Thank you for your unwavering commitment to our nation, our democracy, and the American people,” said Moore, to Biden. “I will be forever grateful for your legacy of leadership, from working to secure our rights and strengthen our economy to inspiring new leaders and fighting to unite us all.”

Malcolm Kenyatta, Pennsylvania state representative of 181 district, stated that Biden’s speech was “one of the most important” addresses delivered by a U.S. president.

“Like our first president, George Washington, he freely gives up power for an idea bigger than any one person,” said Kenyatta. “President Biden is patriotism personified and I thank God for him.”

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire

In an unprecedented display of unity and determination, over 50,000 Black men gathered on a July 22 Zoom call hosted by Roland Martin’s Black Star Network, raising over $1.3 million for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. This powerful show of support came just a day after 40,000 Black women joined in a similar Zoom call, generating about $2 million for Harris and sending a resounding message of solidarity and resolve.

The men’s call, led by Martin and co-hosted by Bakari Sellers and others, was a powerful statement against former President Donald Trump, who has been twice impeached and convicted of 34 felonies. Martin, visibly moved, tweeted, “I have no words. And not just because I’m tired. My @BlkStarNetwork just told me that 53,862 people registered for our #WinWithBlackMen video call. We raised $1.3 million and counting from 17,000 donors.”

Bakari Sellers shared a poignant story that underscored Harris’s compassion and unwavering support. He recounted a harrowing time in 2019 when one of his twin daughters was born with a rare liver condition. 

“The first person to call me was Kamala Harris. I am not sure people understand the pain and suffering that goes along with being a Black man in this country,” Sellers said. “I am not sure people understand what it means to stand strong in this country. To have your back against the wall. But I am going to stand with her because she stood with me during my darkest moment when I almost lost my daughter. When I had to protect my wife.”

The Zoom call resonated with the slogan, “We Rocking with Kamala Harris,” reflecting the participants’ unyielding support. This extraordinary event followed President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek the Democratic nomination, prompting the Win with Black Women network to organize a Zoom call showcasing their preparedness to back Harris.

The women’s call drew an astonishing 40,000 attendees and featured influential speakers such as Reps. Joyce Beatty, Maxine Waters, and Jasmine Crockett. These leaders passionately emphasized the vital role of Black women in the upcoming election and shared compelling stories about Harris that highlighted her qualifications and leadership qualities. Distinguished attendees included D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Maryland Senate hopeful Angela Alsobrooks, civil rights leader Bernice King, and Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown. “We have a plan. This is not arbitrary. We are ready,” asserted Holli Holiday, one of the call’s moderators.

The energy was electric, with attendees voicing their readiness to work tirelessly to elect Harris. “This is work. Roll up your sleeves; we got work to do,” one attendee urged. Another declared, “Fired up and ready for this moment led by an intergenerational legion of Black women. Let’s get to work. Let’s gather our sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews. Let’s do what Black women do!”

In a less-publicized yet equally significant gathering, a large group of Black men and boys convened in Atlanta to discuss the state of America and the importance of Harris’s candidacy against Trump in the 2024 election. These weekly discussions are critical for spreading accurate information and countering misinformation.

“The reason that we’ve gathered tonight is that there is so much misinformation, disinformation, that is being put out. So, we wanted thought leaders from across the political spectrum to come in tonight and talk directly to Black men about what they know, what they experience, and what some of the real statistics and facts are,” said Attorney Mawuli Mel Davis, co-founder of the non-profit hosting these discussions. “That’s critically important because the sources of our information are important for us to make sure that we’re basing our decisions on good quality information.”

This article was originally published by NNPA Newswire.

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By AFRO Staff

Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) announced his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris on July 22 after President Joe Biden stepped down the day before and put his full support behind Harris. 

“The American people deserve a champion who will continue the progress of the Biden-Harris Administration, and that’s why I am proud to voice my full support and offer my full endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee for president,” said Moore. “I had lengthy conversations with both the president and the vice president yesterday, and I offered my full support for Kamala Harris’ candidacy to both of them directly.”

“Vice President Harris has the experience, record, vision and wisdom to unify the country. She will have the unique ability to energize the Democratic Party base and mobilize a unique coalition, and we must rally around her and elect her to serve as the next president of the United States,” continued Moore.

Harris has already filed with the Federal Election Committee (FEC) as a presidential candidate and changed the “Biden for President” campaign slogan to “Harris for President.” 

Many Democrats were quick to put their support behind Harris, including former President Bill Clinton and former candidate for president Hillary Clinton also put their full support behind Harris.

“We are honored to join the president in endorsing Vice President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her,” they said. “We’ve lived through many ups and downs, but nothing has made us more worried for our country than the threat posed by a second Trump term. Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we’ve got to elect her. America’s future depends on it.”

Maryland Democratic Party Chair Ken Ulman released a statement announcing that Maryland Democratic National Convention Delegates met virtually on July 22 and unanimously voted to endorse Harris.

“Vice President Kamala Harris possesses experience that uniquely qualifies her to serve as President of the United States, a strong track record of delivering for the American people on the heels of the Biden-Harris Administration and the leadership to unite the party through this unprecedented time,” said Ulman. “The Maryland Democratic Delegation stands unanimously behind her candidacy, eager to cast our votes for her and campaign vigorously for a historic victory this November.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen also weighed in on the announcement with a statement sent to members of the press.

“Kamala Harris has fought tirelessly to advance the aspirations of every American and build an inclusive economy that supports working Americans, families and seniors,” said Van Hollen. “Having served with her in the senate, and worked closely together during her time as vice president, I’ve seen firsthand that she has what it takes to defeat Trump this November and to continue moving our nation forward. The stakes for our democracy could not be higher – and I’m committed to working alongside Vice President Harris to get the job done.”

Delegates will cast their votes for Harris during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from August 19-22.

Word that Moore planned to endorse Harris came through Maryland First Lady Dawn Moore, who joined a late-night July 21 Zoom call hosted by Win With Black Women, a national network of Black women leaders. The meeting was closed to the press and off the record for those present. 

More than 40,000 Black women joined the call that concluded after midnight on July 22. While Zoom usually caps audience size at 1,000, a participant on the call reached out to leaders of the company and had the restriction lifted. Attendees described the occasion as “electrifying” and “encouraging.” As a result of the call, more than 1.5 million dollars were raised during the meeting. 

Dozens of prominent Black women, including elected officials and leaders of national organizations including the Divine Nine, spoke in support of Harris for president.  Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks gave comments, as well as CEO and President of the National Council of Negro Women President Shavon Arline-Bradley; Dr. Johnnetta Cole; Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif- 43); U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30); Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio-3); Bernice King, who said this is the first time she’s ever publicly endorsed a presidential candidate, and Bishop Vashti McKenzie.  

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The AFRO has learned that Maryland Governor Wes Moore will endorse Kamala Harris today. 

According to sources, his intention to unequivocally endorse Harris was announced by Maryland First Lady Dawn Moore late last night on a Zoom call hosted by Win With Black Women. The meeting was closed to press and off the record for those present. 

More than 40,000 Black women were on the call, which began around 10 p.m. on June 21 and concluded after midnight on July 22. Attendees described the occasion as “electrifying” and “encouraging.” As a result, more than 1.5 million dollars were raised during the meeting. 

Dozens of prominent Black women, including elected officials and leaders of national organizations including the Divine Nine, spoke in support of Harris for president.  Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks gave comments, as well as CEO and President of the National Council of Negro Women President Shavon Arline-Bradley; Dr. Johnnetta Cole; Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif- 43); U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30); Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio-3); Bernice King, who said this is the first time she’s ever publicly endorsed a presidential candidate, and Bishop Vashti McKenzie.  

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The Democratic Party says it’s an inclusive of women and people of color. It’s time to prove it and get behind Kamala Harris.

By Keith Boykin
Word in Black

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black,
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

“There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.”  

That’s what it felt like this week when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for re-election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s new nominee.

Now the party must unite behind Kamala Harris, allow her to pick a new running mate, and move on to defeat Donald Trump.

After weeks of Democratic in-fighting, Biden’s historic withdrawal shifts the momentum away from the Republican Party and back toward the Democrats heading into their convention in Chicago next month.

The great stunt queen, Donald Trump, thought he won the publicity wars last week when he dramatically announced his new running mate, the inexperienced freshman Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, and told the world the story of surviving an assassination attempt in his rambling 90-minute convention speech.

Now that’s old news, and we have a fundamentally different race. Instead of a contest between two unpopular, old White guys, the new race pits a 59-year-old Black woman against a 78-year-old convicted felon. 

It’s the past versus the future. An all-White-male Republican ticket or a Democratic ticket led by an accomplished Black woman. A party that carries the heavy baggage of scandals, impeachments, indictments, and 34 felony convictions from Donald Trump or a party that has an opportunity to reinvent itself with Kamala Harris.

I’ve said all along that I will support the Democratic nominee for president, but I’ve publicly worried about the donor class and wondered if they would accept Harris as the new nominee. 

Some floated ideas of an open primary or a “blitz primary” with candidate forums moderated by Republicans like Condoleezza Rice. And TV producer Aaron Sorkin even suggested the ridiculous idea that Democrats should nominate Republican Mitt Romney for president.

No, no, and no.

Now is the time for the Democratic Party to step up. 

All those Democratic donors and party insiders who spent the past few weeks pushing Biden out of the race better pony up their money, time, and energy and start contributing to Kamala Harris’ campaign and the Democratic Party. This is the new Plan B.

We’ve heard a lot of Democratic names floated for president in the past few weeks: Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Pete Buttigieg, Wes Moore, Andy Beshear, and Mark Kelly. But now that President Biden has endorsed Vice President Harris, I hope and expect those leaders will stand down and support her, if for no other reason than loyalty to President Biden. 

But also because there are financial obstacles if Democrats nominate someone other than Harris. Harris was Biden’s running mate, so she can tap into the $96 million Biden has in the  bank. Any new candidate may have to start from scratch. Let’s not make this any more complicated than it needs to be.

Now is the time for the Democratic Party to step up. You say you are an inclusive party of women and people of color. It’s time to prove it and get behind Kamala Harris. The Congressional Black Caucus quickly announced its support for Harris.

Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. He must be defeated. We have the power to stop Project 2025 and Agenda 47. 

The wind is finally at our backs. Let’s get to work.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

This article was originally published on WordinBlack.com.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

Just months before the 2024 presidential election, President Joe Biden (D) announced that he is stepping down from being the Democratic nominee for president and putting his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden faced many calls for him to step down after a rough televised presidential debate in June. Despite the damage done, he remained persistent in going forward with his campaign–that is until July 21.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. While it has been my intention to seek reelection. I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” said Biden in a statement via X, formerly known as Twitter, on July 21. “I will speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision. For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected. I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work.”

Biden also sent out a separate message on X saying he’s putting his support behind Harris.

“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President and it’s been the best decision I’ve made,” said Biden. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

The reactions he’s received thus far for his decision have been commending.

“This is such a courageous and historic move on the part of President Biden. His full endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris is a directive to all the pledged delegates and superdelegates of the Democratic Party to back her as the nominee of the party at their convention in three weeks,” said Nina Kasniunas, an associate professor of political science at Goucher College in Maryland. 

“Trump is a deeply flawed candidate and Kamala Harris is a fresh face, a real choice for so many swing voters who indicated they wouldn’t vote for Trump or Biden,” she added.  “There will be a lot of work ahead and the Democratic Party and its allies will have to be ready with strong mobilization efforts, but Kamala Harris is ready to take on Trump.” 

Will Hanna, a longtime Biden supporter based in Baltimore, said this news was tough but provides new opportunities.

“I just believe that the president made the best decision for him, his family and for the country. He’s had a stellar career, and he’s done nothing but support this country all of his life,” said Hanna. “We now have the opportunity to have the first African-American woman president.”

Angela Alsobrooks, Democratic nominee for a Maryland seat in the U.S. Senate, released a statement shortly after the news emphasizing her support of Harris, who endorsed her campaign over a month ago.

“It is paramount that Democrats come together quickly and unite behind a qualified leader. Kamala Harris is that leader. She will provide a clear and stark contrast to the regressive vision Donald Trump has for this country,” said Alsobrooks. “I am proud to be behind her 100 percent and know that she will defeat Donald Trump and continue the great legacy of accomplishments that President Joe Biden and she spearheaded. Kamala, my friend, let’s go!”

Baltimore City Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D) was also quick to back Harris after Biden’s announcement.

“President Biden has been one of the best, most accomplished presidents of my lifetime. He’s been a true partner to Baltimore and a champion in the fight to end gun violence everywhere. We’ll continue that fight together for the remainder of his tenure,” said Scott via X. “Now’s the time for us to rally around Vice President Kamala Harris and defeat Donald Trump. Black women have saved this country time and time again. For that reason and a hundred others, there is no other — or better — option than the Vice President to unite our party and win in November.”

Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) released a statement on Biden’s decision to step down.

“It has been a tremendous honor to serve alongside President Biden in the Congress, and his tenure as the leader of our great nation will be revered forever. At this moment, we all would be better off if we allow him to have the dignity that he deserves and has earned in this moment,” said Mfume. “He has been and remains a great president who through the simple eloquence of his example has led our nation and the world through tough and difficult times.”

Ken Ulman, chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, released a statement lifting up Biden’s legacy.

“In three and half years, President Biden navigated the country through COVID-19 and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, passed historic investments in infrastructure and climate, lowered prescription drug prices for seniors, passed landmark gun safety legislation and so much more,” said Ulman. “Our country and party owe Joe Biden a debt of gratitude. As president, he is a remarkable leader that has always put his country first.”

—-

Original announcement: President Biden on drops out of presidential race, endorses VP Harris

The post Maryland Dems react to Biden’s suspension of campaign, Harris endorsement appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

In an unexpected turn of events, President Joe Biden has withdrawn from the 2024 presidential race.

On July 21, Biden took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a message with the nation.

“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” said Biden. “Let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected.”

Following the president’s announcement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) praised Biden for his achievements over the last four years.

“President Joe Biden is one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history,” said Jeffries. “America is a better place today because President Joe Biden has led us with intellect, grace and dignity.”

U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.) said Biden is the epitome of a good leader who has “achieved historic progress for the American people.”

“ selflessly defended democracy and fought for the soul of our nation,” said Amo. “I will always be proud to have worked in President Biden’s White House.”

Shortly after Biden made his decision to leave the presidential race, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made,” wrote Biden. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.”

If Harris does become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, this will put her on track to become the nation’s first Black-South Asian female president.

Biden’s withdrawal comes weeks after more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers have asked the president to step aside following his shaky debate performance on June 27 against former President Donald Trump.

Last week, top Congressional Democratic leaders, including Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) each had private meetings with Biden and encouraged him to step aside.

Trump, who has expressed a preference for running against Biden, nonetheless reacted to the news with seeming relish, saying in a post on his Truth Social site that Biden “was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve.”

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30) blamed her colleagues for pushing Biden out of the race.

“Well, I hope the geniuses that pushed the most consequential President of our lifetime out, have a plan,” said Crockett. “Joe wasn’t the problem…dems were.”

The Texas lawmaker stated that she will “only work for” Harris if she becomes the Democratic presidential nominee.

“If it’s anyone OTHER than her, enjoy campaign season…I hope all of my disenchanted colleagues are able to find some walking shoes and get to work because I WILL NOT,” added Crockett.

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) stated that he fully supports the vice president.

“Kamala Harris is the most qualified and best choice to lead us forward,” said Bowman

Biden announced that he will address the nation later this week to discuss his decision to withdraw from the presidential race.

Biden plans to serve out the remainder of his term in office, which ends at noon ET on Jan. 20, 2025.

—–

Reactions from Maryland Democrats on Biden’s decision

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

In Michigan, Aug. 6 will mark a battle for the U.S. Senate seat. With the political world currently in upheaval and slim majorities in the House and Senate, who takes the seat is more important than ever.

Hill Harper, an actor and union organizer, is running to be the first Black U.S. senator of Michigan. There have only been 12 Black senators in the history of the U.S. and four are currently in office. Harper has made it a focus of his campaign to get more Black people and other groups that don’t typically vote to turn out.

“I’m really focused on educating those that don’t typically vote in the primary about its importance,” Harper told the AFRO. “I get so many people that come up to me and say, ‘Hey man, I’m voting for you in November.’ And I say, ‘Well, if you don’t vote for me on Aug. 6 you’re not voting for me in November because I won’t be on that November ballot.”

The actor plans to push for women’s reproductive rights, establishing universal health care and ensuring a $15 minimum federal wage for all Americans if elected to the Senate.

“Showing up continuously in the community is the best way,” said Harper about his tactic to reach voters. “There is no meeting too small.”

The seat was made available in January 2023 after Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)  announced her retirement at the end of her term. Stabenow has been in the U.S. Senate representing Michigan since 2001. She also served in the House for four years.

Harper is running against Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who has represented the state’s seventh district since 2019, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) and several others. There are in total six candidates running for the seat, two Democrats and four Republicans.

Slotkin has had nearly two decades of experience working for the federal government in the CIA, Department of State, Department of Defense and the Office of the National Security Council.

Harper responded to the political experience of his opponents and why he is the person Michiganders should choose in August.

“It’s very clear: You look at the makeup of the U.S. Senate and we don’t need more career politicians in that body,” said Harper. “We need people with diverse lived experience and folks who aren’t beholden to special interests and corporate interests.”

Nina Kasniunas, an associate professor of political science at Goucher College, said she believes he has an uphill battle before him, but nothing is impossible.

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” said Kasniunas. “(His celebrity status and support) kind of elevates him into what we would consider possibly a quality challenger, because of the fundraising ability based off of the notoriety or celebrity, but he will have a hard time.”

“Slotkin has run for office before and has won. She knows how to run a campaign,” said Kasniunas. “Of people who vote, they’re probably going to be quite familiar with Slotkin.”

Harper emphasized the importance of voter turnout for his success in August.

“Now that we’re down towards the end, everything’s about getting people to vote,” he said. “This whole thing is about voter turnout. I win with a high voter turnout.”

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

Congressional Democrats warn that if former President Donald Trump is reelected, he will enact the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, also known as Project 2025.

The Heritage Foundation created a multi-million-dollar initiative that aims to promote right-wing and conservative policy to reshape the U.S. federal government. It operates as a blueprint to help Trump ease back into the White House. The roadmap would ensure that within the first 180 days that Trump is in office, he will reorganize government agencies to fit his conservative vision, for example, eliminating both the Department of Education and the Department of Justice. Project 2025 would also replace current federal employees with Trump loyalists to ensure Trump-led policies are enacted into law.

In recent months U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) has been vocal about the risks of this initiative.

“Project 2025 is nothing but a White supremacist manifesto to how they can delete anybody that ain’t old, White and male,” said the Texas lawmaker. “It’s about attacking diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s about attacking those that don’t want to bow down to the orange Jesus and decide that they’re going to be his loyalists and do whatever they want him to do.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said that Project 2025 is “dangerous.”

“ dastardly and diabolical,” said Jeffries. “It will end American life as we know it, period, full stop.”

However, House Republicans believe that congressional Democrats are engaging in political theater by speaking out against the Heritage Foundation’s initiative.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that Biden is a bigger “threat” to the U.S. than Project 2025.

“I think the biggest concern if President Biden stays in office is that he’s going to continue to keep our borders ripped wide open,” said Greene. “Inflation is going to continue to be high where people can can hardly afford to even have hope of buying a home. Senior citizens in my district are having to choose between paying rent and being able to afford their medications.”

The conservative lawmaker added, “I think the true threat to democracy is President Biden.”

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said voters should not be concerned with Project 2025.

“This is the typical gaslighting that happens when you start getting close to campaigns,” said Donalds. “Every think tank organization has a plan or writes out policy sets for a myriad of things to happen here on Capitol Hill or throughout the executive branch. Heritage Foundation is no different than that. But, that doesn’t mean that’s what the Trump administration is going to do.”

He added that Trump will follow the political plan set forth by the Republican National Convention, not the Heritage Foundation.

“ talks about what he’s gonna do, and what the American people should take stock in is that when President Trump says he’s going to do something he does it,” added Donalds.

In recent weeks, Trump has made efforts to distance himself from Project 2025, despite Democratic efforts to link him to the conservative initiative.

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by Aswad Walker

What in the “Idiocracy” is going on? The most trending topic from the day one kickoff of the Republican National Convention was not the appearance of their fearless Führer or their party platform to make America America again. No, it was the speech given by Amber Rose, a Z-lister “celebrity” and “influencer” best known for her relationships with various brothers in the hip-hop game and rise to “notoriety” within Black circles.

In other words, she’s “Black famous.”

But that was before she dropped some bars in Milwaukee at the GOP confab.

Rose’s RNC Comments

Most notably, Rose, again, is someone whose entire “celebrity” was/is tied to her penchant for and proximity to Black culture – though in recent years, and only in recent years, has she made crystal clear that though appearing racially ambiguous, she is anything but Black – said this:

“I realized Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, white, straight or gay, it’s all love. And that’s when it hit me: these are my people. This is where I belong,” said Rose, during her recent RNC speech.

Wait. What?

“These (MAGA) are my people? This is where I belong?”

Maybe Rose garnered cheers and applause from conservatives at the RNC because her words gave off “Prodigal son/daughter” returning home vibes. Here’s this person maybe three people in the entire RNC knew before her speech, someone introduced to the audience as famous and as an influencer, coming out and saying to the world, “I’m home in whiteness. I’ve been living sinfully in a far-off land (Black culture) for too long, squandering my father’s money (white privilege) and lying with animals. But I’m home now. These are my people. This is where I belong.”

Giving the GOP a Pass

Or maybe those Republican attendees offered up shouts of joy at Rose’s words because she gave them the same thing poster-boy Black Republicans (Byron, Tim, Wesley, Clarence, etc.) give them – freedom from white guilt and a total pass on their overt support of racist laws, policies and actions.

I mean, how can racists be racist if Amber Rose, a celebrity influencer no less, just said, “Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, white, straight or gay; it’s all love”?

What Rose May Have Missed During MAGA Orientation

How? Either Black people and Black history in this Babylon, and our lived realities and evidential research numbers and mother wit and ancestral whispers and Emmit Till mutilations and Devil’s Punchbowl atrocities and Ida B. Wells’ documented lynching horror stories are all wrong, fake, and non-existent, or Rose missed a thing or three.

Like Republican Rep. Tim Burchett, who immediately after the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally, blamed a woman on Trump’s Secret Service duty for the shooting, and more specifically, blamed DEI (as in her employment was a DEI hire) for the shooting.

But to be fair, Rose didn’t say the GOP had any love or respect for women… just those who are “Black, white, straight or gay.”

So, she must not have known that last year, seven Republican attorneys general wrote to Target saying their Pride Month campaigns could violate state laws. Or that Republican former Trump administration official Seb Gorka described Vice President Kamala Harris as a DEI hire while saying, “She’s a woman, she’s colored,” as a vehicle to demean the VP.

Maybe Rose gave Gorka and the GOP a pass because they don’t recognize Harris as a sister. But what about the fact that since 2018, Republican lawmakers across the country exponentially ramped up their voter suppression efforts by closing polling places in Black communities by the thousands and purging hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of registered Black voters from voter rolls? They’ve also outlawed efforts proven to increase voter participation, especially Black and Brown voter turnout, via hundreds of state laws under the guise of “voter protection” and “election integrity.”

Maybe Rose had a hectic influencer schedule during the first month of 2021, when Republicans responded to Donald Trump’s call for an entire treasonous insurrection (Jan. 6, 2021) that had at its core the belief that registered Black voters who cast their ballots during the 2020 Presidential Election (specifically in Detroit, Atlanta, Milwaukee and Philly… all with super Black populations) were illegitimate and illegal, and thus, their votes should be thrown out because they weren’t/aren’t real Americans.

That doesn’t seem all that accepting of Blackfolk. I fail to see the love.

And while president, Trump attacked peaceful protesters seeking criminal justice and voting rights reforms, calling them “thugs,” “criminals” and “vermin” who he asked advisors if he could simply order police to go in and shoot them down. Again, not much love. But Trump time and again showed an over-abundance of love for violent white nationalists, heralding them as heroes and “very good people.”

He did so with the white domestic terrorists who killed a woman in Charlottesville, NC, and injured countless others; and with then 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who traveled across state lines illegally wielding a weapon of mass destruction (AR-15-style rifle) and shot three men, killing two of them and wounding the third, during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin; and most recently claiming that convicted killer Daniel Perry was a patriot who was wrongly persecuted by a “woke” DA… the same Perry, who in his own words, drove to a police brutality protest in Austin to do harm (which he did; killing a U.S. military vet).

There’s the GOP-led countrywide assault on and banning of Black history, Black books, Black thought, DEI and CRT, which isn’t even taught in K-college classrooms, beyond the handful of law schools that wrestle with the important topic.

And let’s not forget the current North Carolina GOP candidate for governor, Mark Robinson, who said during a church service that “Some folk need killing.”

That’s not giving off “It’s all love” vibes.

To be fair, Robinson said it was only the “evil” people who threaten American Christianity who need to be forcefully un-alived. But if you’ve heard any speech made by Bruh Robinson, he’s mentioned more times than Trump has felony convictions that Blacks, LGBTQ-plus folk, and anyone who doesn’t worship white nationalist Jesus are those “evil” people.

Wait, There’s More?

There is no shortage of additional GOP examples of things Rose apparently missed while she was pledging Mu Alpha Gamma Alpha (MAGA). Former Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron refusing to hold Breonna Taylor’s killer accountable. The whole-ass Muslim ban. Locking up children of asylum seekers in cages (most of whom have never been reunited with their families). Calls for religious freedoms, but only for Christians. And so much more.

It’s almost as if there’s no way Rose could have overlooked all these things. Could it be possible she’s pimping the MAGA culture for fame and fortune?

But that can’t be. Can it? She would need some history, some experience fleecing an entire people for personal gain.

Joy-Ann Reid, what are your thoughts?

“It’s ironic that were able to recruit this young woman. She’s racially ambiguous. I don’t wanna say she’s Black because she has said she’s not, so I don’t wanna say this ‘Black woman,’” Reid said, referring to Rose calling herself as mixed race over the years. “This woman who is of whatever race that she has claimed, she’s said she’s not Black. But brought somebody whose whole career is based in Black culture. She used to be on a show on BET. That’s the reason most people know who she is. She dated one of the most prominent African American rappers in the business, in the history of hip-hop. So, her whole culture came from Black culture, even though she says she’s not a Black person herself.”

This article originally posted by the Houston Defender

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Whoot, there it is. Convicted criminal Donald Trump has picked Ohio Senator J.D. Vance to be his running mate.

After all that talk about former prosecutor, senator, and current Vice President Kamala Harris being a “DEI hire,” 78-year-old Trump picked a 39-year-old opportunistic, freshman senator with only one year of experience to be his running mate.

And after all the clowning and capitulation by Tim Scott, Byron Donalds, Vivek Ramaswamy, Marco Rubio, and Nikki Haley, Trump skipped over all of them and picked yet another white man.

Did you really think he was going to pick a Black guy? Or an Indian. Or a woman? 

Donald Trump? The man who spent five and a half years lying about the first Black president’s birth certificate? The guy who was the first president since Richard Nixon to appoint no Black judges to the federal courts of appeals? The guy who tried to throw out millions of Black votes in Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee after he lost the 2020 election? The guy who targeted Black election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss?

As Denzel Washington said in the film “Malcolm X,” “You’ve been had. You’ve been took. You’ve been hoodwinked. Bamboozled.”

They all knew he was a racist. And they all fell in line with it. 

RELATED: Time for Democrats to Get Off Defense

J.D. Vance called Trump “America’s Hitler” and a “cynical a–hole,” and said that any American would have to be an “idiot” to vote for him. But now that Vance has hypocritically blamed the assassination attempt on Biden, he’s Trump’s running mate.

Tim Scott said that Trump’s moral authority was “compromised” after he announced there were “very fine people on both sides” of the racist Charlottesville march in 2017. But with the prospect of a new job dangling in front of him, this year Scott got engaged and sang a different tune. “I just love you,” he told the twice-impeached former president.

Marco Rubio called Trump a “con artist.” But this year he was willing to be considered as Trump’s running mate.

Nikki Haley said, “A man that chooses not to disavow the KKK, that is not a part of our party. That’s not who we want as president.” But now she’s moved on and released her delegates.

And let’s not forget why Trump had to pick a new running mate in the first place — because he tried to kill the last one. After inciting a deadly insurrection on January 6, 2021, when Trump learned that his supporters planned to “hang Mike Pence,” Trump said that Pence probably deserved it.

Assassination attempt or not, Donald Trump remains a threat to democracy. He is the same lying, racist, demagogue he was all along. And no matter how many $400 gold sneakers or $60 Bibles he tries to sell, Black people still aren’t buying it.

Don’t be fooled by the handpicked rappers and staged appearances of Black people at this week’s Republican Convention. It’s not just Trump “The Apprentice” celebrity we would be electing.

Electing Trump would embolden all the white supremacists, white nationalists, and Nazi sympathizers. It would usher in an army of right-wing judges, White House staff members, and other political appointees hellbent on dismantling 50 years of reproductive rights law, 70 years of civil rights law, and 100 years of the federal administrative state so they can implement the radical agenda of Project 2025.

A white male Republican trying to shoot another white male Republican doesn’t make Donald Trump any less dangerous as a political figure in America. He has yet to take responsibility for the violent and toxic rhetoric he contributed to make America as divided as it is today. 

And now that he has picked his running mate, I’m more determined than ever to stop him — at the ballot box.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

Former President Donald Trump (R) returns to the campaign trail on July 9 with a televised rally in Florida. The gathering took place at one of his golf clubs, the Trump National Doral Miami. 

At the rally, Trump challenged Biden, offering an additional debate this week after a subpar one for the Democratic president on June 27. Trump also challenged Biden to a game of golf, something they argued about during the CNN debate.

“If he wins, I will give the charity of his choice, any charity that he wants, $1 million,” said Trump at the rally.

During the event Trump teased a potential vice president pick, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), but did not officially confirm who his running mate will be. 

James Singer, a Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson, released a statement during the rally rejecting Trump’s challenges.

“Joe Biden doesn’t have time for Donald Trump’s weird antics – he’s busy leading America and defending the free world,” said Singer.

Throughout the rally, Trump reveled in the Democratic party being at odds concerning whether or not to keep Biden as the party’s presidential nominee. He also discussed increasing border control and improving the economy. 

During a Zoom press call ahead of the rally, the Biden-Harris campaign and supporters hammered Trump’s responsibility for the undoing of Roe v. Wade via several Supreme Court appointments during his presidency. They also pushed that voting for Trump is voting for Project 2025, despite Trump’s recent attempts to distance himself from it.

Project 2025 is a massive presidential transition plan for the next conservative administration to carry out. It was created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The plan includes eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and removing the terms “diversity, equity and inclusion,” “abortion” and “reproductive health” from all federal documents and agencies. 

Project 2025 assumes that a conservative president will enter office in January 2025, ready to implement these wide-ranging, upending policies.

“Unfortunately for team Trump, no matter what they say, we know exactly what Trump is planning to do and he cannot run from what he has already done,” said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX-16) during the call. 

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By Michael Biesecker and Alanna Durkin Richer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement officials were working July 14 to learn more about the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who they say tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally and to determine what drove him to open fire, killing one spectator.

Authorities identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the shooter who fired from a rooftop outside the rally venue in nearby Butler before he was killed by the Secret Service.

An FBI official said late July 13 that a motive had not yet been determined. Public court records in Pennsylvania show no past criminal cases against Crooks, who graduated from high school two years ago.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said on social media the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting. Two spectators were critically injured, authorities said. The man killed was Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief from the area who Pennsylvania’s governor says died a “hero” by diving onto his family to protect them.

Relatives of Crooks didn’t immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN late July 13 that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but wouldn’t speak about his son until after he talked to law enforcement.

Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. In a video of the school’s graduation ceremony posted online, Crooks can be seen crossing the stage to receive his diploma, appearing slight of build and wearing glasses. The school district said it will cooperate fully with investigators. His senior year, Crooks was among several students given an award for math and science, according to a Tribune-Review story at the time.

Jason Kohler, who said he attended the same high school but did not share any classes with Crooks, said Crooks was bullied at school and sat alone at lunch time. Other students mocked him for the way he dressed, such as hunting outfits, Kohler said.

“He was bullied almost every day,” Kohler told reporters. “He was just an outcast, and you know how kids are nowadays.”

Crooks’ political leanings were not immediately clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn into office.

Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger told AP on July 14 that Crooks had been previously unknown to investigators in his county and had not been on their radar. He said the investigation had so far not turned up any evidence that he had coordinated with anyone else in the region.

A blockade had been set up July 14 preventing traffic near Crooks’ house, which is in an enclave of modest brick houses in the hills outside blue-collar Pittsburgh and about an hour’s drive from the site of the Trump rally. Police cars were stationed at an intersection near the house and officers were seen walking through the neighborhood.

Bomb-making materials were found inside Crooks’ vehicle near the Trump rally and at his home, according to two officials who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A white Allegheny County Police truck identified as bomb squad pulled up to the home late Sunday morning.

Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene of the shooting, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Investigators believe the weapon was bought by the father at least six months ago, two law enforcement officials told AP.

The officials said federal agents were still working to understand when and how Thomas Crooks obtained the gun. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

An AP analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the scene of the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get close to the stage where the former president was speaking.

A video posted to social media and geolocated by AP shows Crooks wearing a gray t-shirt with a black American flag on the right arm lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump’s rally was held.

The roof where Crooks lay was less than 150 meters (164 yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle.

Images of Crooks’ body reviewed by AP shows that at the time of the shooting he appears to have been wearing a T-shirt from Demolition Ranch, a popular YouTube channel with more than 11.6 million subscribers that regularly posts videos that show creator Matt Carriker firing off handguns and assault rifles at targets that include human mannequins and vehicles.

Carriker, who lives in Texas, did not respond to a phone message or email on July 14, but posted a photo of Crooks’ bloody corpse wearing his brand’s T-shirts on social media with the comment, “What the hell.”

_____

Associated Press journalists Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Julie Smyth and Joshua Bickel in Bethel Park, Michael R. Sisak in New York, Michael Kunzelman in Silver Spring Maryland, Mike Balsamo in Chicago and Colleen Long in Washington contributed.

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By Mary Clare Jalonick
The Associated Press

Former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell is mostly recovered from the brutal assaults he endured from Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. But not completely. His shoulder still has limited endurance and there are screws and a metal plate holding his right foot together after bone fusion surgery.

Emotional recovery has been more difficult. Gonell struggled when he heard that former Trump visited Capitol Hill last month and received what he called a “hero’s welcome” from the Republican lawmakers Gonell had protected that day, and when Trump falsely told millions of viewers in last week’s debate that many of the violent rioters, his supporters, “were ushered in by the police.”

Trump’s Capitol Hill visit was a “triggering mechanism for my PTSD,” says Gonell, who retired from the force in 2022 due to his injuries and has recently participated in several campaign events for President Joe Biden. “We did what we had to do to keep those elected officials safe, and instead of siding with us, the officers, they have sided with a person who put their lives at risk.”

Three and a half years after the Capitol attack, Trump still falsely claims the 2020 election was stolen. He has promised that if he wins the presidency again he will pardon his supporters who violently beat police and broke into the Capitol to try and overturn the legitimate results. To counter the misinformation, Gonell and two of his fellow officers who were there that day are working with Biden’s campaign, attending events in swing states to try and make sure that voters don’t forget.

“I’m a living primary source about an important day in American history,” says Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, who became a recognizable face shortly after the attack when a video of him being crushed between two doors went viral. “So I try to make that count, and make it so that people hear the truth from someone who was there.”

Along with former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Hodges and Gonell are telling audiences about what they went through that day and trying to lay out the contrast between Biden and Trump. It’s an unusual transition for law enforcement officers who once protected members of Congress and are used to keeping their political views to themselves.

“I’m really an introvert, and I’m not someone to seek a microphone or an audience,” says Hodges, who testified along with Gonell and Dunn at the House Jan. 6 panel’s first hearing in 2021. “But I’m in this unique position where people will listen to what I say about an important issue. So I feel a moral obligation to do so.”

At recent events in Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona, they stood with local officials and said that Trump is a danger to the country after trying to overturn Biden’s legitimate election.

“Three and a half years later, the fight for democracy still continues,” Dunn recently told a group of voters in Arizona, flanked by a handful of politically active Democratic veterans in Phoenix. “It still goes on. Donald Trump is still that threat. His deranged, self-centered, obsessive quest for power is the reason violent insurrectionists assaulted my coworkers and I.”

The officers have also aggressively pushed back on Trump’s comments at the debate, where he falsely said that there were a “relatively small” group of protesters and that the police let them enter the Capitol. More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot, and police were bloodied and injured — some seriously — as they struggled to prevent more from getting in.

Dunn, who recently lost his own bid for a congressional seat in Maryland, said after the debate that Trump’s comments were “a slap in the face, but it’s what we have come to expect from Donald Trump.”

And the officers said they are still supporting Biden, even after he failed to push back on many of Trump’s false claims about Jan. 6 and received widespread criticism for his weak showing at the debate.

“He could have been a little more forceful, but I’ll take the person who doesn’t send a mob to kill me and my colleagues over the other person,” said Gonell, who published a book last year about his experience. “Every single day I’m reminded of that horrible day. Every time I put my shoes on, I see my scar.”

Gonell was caught in the worst of the fighting on the Capitol’s west front as Trump’s supporters protesting his defeat violently tried to push past him and his fellow officers. At one point he was pulled under the crowd and lost oxygen to the point that he thought he would die.

Hodges was nearby, trapped in the heavy golden doors in the center of the Capitol’s west front as rioters beat him bloody. A video of his guttural scream as he tried to escape went viral and was played at Democrats’ impeachment trial in the weeks after the attack.

Dunn, who has said he was targeted with racial slurs by Trump’s supporters during the fighting, says it has been good to travel out of the Washington area, his hometown, and talk to people who may not be watching cable news every day as he campaigns for Biden. There’s a lot they don’t know about what happened on Jan. 6, he says.

“Being able to have somebody who was there bring firsthand experience and facts retelling the story, it’s very beneficial,” Dunn said,

The officers were widely praised after Jan. 6, but their criticism of Trump in recent years has made them less popular with some Republicans. When Gonell and Dunn visited the Pennsylvania legislature this spring, some Republicans booed them.

But they are unbowed by the criticism, and have continued to try and bring more attention to their stories. Gonell was outside the Supreme Court on Monday July 1, as the justices ruled on whether Trump has immunity for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election and criticized the justices for sending the federal case back to a lower court. The decision effectively ends any prospects that Trump could be tried before the November election.

On Friday, July 5, the court limited a federal obstruction law that has been used to charge some Capitol riot defendants.

“Every single time that the Supreme Court or any other court says that some of these people shouldn’t be held accountable, it’s a disgrace,” Gonell said.

This article was originally published by the Associated Press.

The post Officers who defended the Capitol fight falsehoods about Jan. 6 and campaign for Joe Biden appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

Former President Donald Trump was injured in what law enforcement is treating as an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

The presumed Republican presidential nominee was rushed offstage shortly after loud popping noises were heard. He was seen exiting the stage with several Secret Service members with a bloody right ear and a pumped fist, signaling to his supporters that he was okay.

Trump’s campaign says the former president is “fine,” however, the extent of his injuries remains unknown.

According to authorities, one rally attendee and the suspected shooter are both confirmed dead following the event.

President Joe Biden issued a statement shortly after the news broke saying he is “grateful” that the former president is safe.

“I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information,” said Biden. “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America.”

Several political officials took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts about the incident.  

“My thoughts and prayers are with former President Trump. I am thankful for the decisive law enforcement response,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). “America is a democracy. Political violence of any kind is never acceptable.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, (D-Vt.) condemned the alleged attack against Trump.

“Political violence is absolutely unacceptable,” said Sanders. “I wish Donald Trump, and anyone else who may have been hurt, a speedy recovery.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore stated that “political violence” is unacceptable.

“This kind of cowardice must be roundly condemned by all Americans. We have to be a country that can learn to disagree without turning to political violence,” said Moore. “I am praying for President Trump’s safety and recovery.”

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) blamed House Democrats and members of the media for the tragedy.

“The Democrats and the media are to blame for every drop of blood spilled today. For years and years, they’ve demonized him and his supporters,” said Greene. “Today, someone finally tried to take out the leader of our America First and the greatest President of all time.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence stated that he and his wife are “praying for President Trump and ask “every American to join” them.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a 2024 presidential candidate, stated that this is a time for Americans to come together.

“Now is the time for every American who loves our country to step back from the division,” said Kennedy. “Renounce all violence and unite in prayer for President Trump and his family.”

At this time, there is no word on whether this incident will impact Trump’s appearance at the Republican National Convention slated for July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The post Trump survives alleged assassination attempt at rally appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Marco Cerino
The Philadelphia Tribune

As former president and presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump attempts to court Black voters who feel disillusioned by President Joe Biden’s administration, it should be noted that Trump’s idea of “Black jobs” does not include high-ranking positions in his administration.

An analysis of the two main presidential candidates on the 2024 ballot shows a stark contrast in the makeup of their administrations.

The appointment of Gen. Charles Q. Brown to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff made him the ninth Black person in a high-ranking position under Biden, including Cabinet secretaries and those in Cabinet-level roles like United Nations ambassador, director of national intelligence and trade adviser.

Despite having 62 different names in appointed or acting roles, Trump only included one Black person in his administration at that level — Dr. Ben Carson served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.

“The characterization of Black jobs by Donald Trump, who only had one Black person in his Cabinet, is not only demeaning to the African-American community but a concerning issue from the perspective of the NAACP,” said NAACP Philadelphia Branch President Cathy Hicks in a statement Friday. “It is important to recognize that African Americans hold positions in every job industry and contribute significantly to the American workforce. Stereotyping and generalizing job roles based on race is not only inaccurate but also perpetuates harmful biases towards the African-American community. It is essential to promote equality and fair treatment in the workplace, ensuring that all individuals have equal opportunities to succeed and thrive in their chosen careers. Trump cannot say he is the best for the Black community and Black vote, if he can only see us in marginalized positions.”

Biden appointed the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year when Brown assumed the role for a four-year term. The decision seems to reflect the prioritizing of diversity in the Biden administration among Cabinet members and senior staff, one of his many significant departures from his predecessor.

Nyron Crawford, an assistant professor of political science at Temple University, believes the “Black jobs” comments were mainly a political maneuver, aimed to create a wedge issue around immigrants.

The lone Black appointee, he said, does serve as a reminder of Trump’s combative history with the Black community, including his demands that the Central Park Five be sentenced harshly, concerns over a Black contestant winning season one of “The Apprentice,” and other callous comments and stances.

“Donald Trump has no real regard for African Americans,” Crawford told The Tribune in an interview Monday about Trump’s record. “It doesn’t really serve a purpose. It’s not backed by any policy. Biden has done well on , compared to predecessors.”

Historically, it has been a challenge to get Black faces and voices into Cabinet roles.

President Lyndon Johnson was the first to appoint a Black person to his Cabinet, naming Robert Weaver to lead HUD in 1966. Of the 25 total appointed in history, 18 have been under Democratic presidents, while seven have been selected by Republicans, including four under President George W. Bush.

The Clinton administration had the most African-American Cabinet secretaries with seven overall, including four appointed when taking office in January 1993. The Obama administration had four Black Cabinet members at once, the most in history. Vice President Kamala Harris is the highest ranking Black Cabinet member ever.

Historical firsts for Blacks in high-profile government roles usually come during Democratic administrations. Biden broke through another glass ceiling with his nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson, who joined the Supreme Court in September 2022 as the first Black female justice. Trump added three White justices to the bench, who have voted to support conservative decisions like the weakening of affirmative action, the overturning of Roe v. Wade and, most recently, granting immunity for “official acts” of a president.

“The temperament and tone of a presidential administration is set by its people,” political commentator Jay McCalla said in an interview Monday. “Trump’s Cabinet members were largely sycophants. Trump has been conspicuously against Black folks. Trump’s coalition wanted a certified mouthpiece for their right-wing blather, so they chose Ben Carson.”

Multiple calls for comments were made to Philadelphia Republican leaders and have gone unreturned at time of print.

This article was originally published by the Philadelphia Tribune.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

President Joe Biden is facing criticism for mistakes he made during his “big boy” press conference on July 11.

During the conference, Biden accidentally referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as former President Donald Trump. That came just hours after Biden erroneously called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by the name of his rival Russian President Vladimir Putin while attending a NATO summit event.

The Democratic president has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, following a shaky debate performance against Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, on June 27.

Following the debate, the 81-year-old’s health was called into question and has resulted in several House Democrats, celebrities, party donors and political analysts asking him to withdraw his re-election bid.

However, Biden has repeatedly stated that he will not step aside and plans to win in November.

Although Biden has lost the support of some congressional members within the Democratic Party, the majority of Democrats on Capitol Hill continue to rally behind him.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) engaged in a private conversation with the president following the press conference and remains committed to supporting the Democratic leader.

“In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together,” said Jeffries.

The New York lawmaker also thanked Biden for his “continued leadership in service of the communities privileged to represent.”

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said that Biden will win his bid for re-election.

“Biden is a decent and honorable human being. A man of great character running against a lying, deceptive, cheating deplorable human being,” said Waters. “ is going to beat him.”

U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) expressed that he is “sticking” with the president.

“I’m sticking with Joe Biden as long as I can stick with him, which I hope is until after the election to celebrate with him and the Democratic Party,” said Mfume. “I think you have to ride the horse that brought you across the river.”

The Maryland lawmaker added that Biden “saved Democracy” and is a better fit to lead the nation than his Republican challenger.

Although some House Democrats have touted the idea of replacing Biden with Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, many Democrats say that is unlikely given that the Democratic National Convention is just weeks away.

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) said that despite the president’s mishaps, Democrats have to continue mobilizing to defeat Trump in November.

“I’ve been very critical of President Biden, particularly around foreign policy, but he has a good team around him and he’s done some good things,” said Bowman. “We can’t let Trump win.”

The post Democratic lawmakers back President Biden after press conference appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By AFRO Interns

In the wake of the recent presidential debate, President Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s ability or inability to lead the country effectively has become a popular topic of public discussion. This week, the AFRO interns conducted interviews with Black people on the street and members of the AFRO team about the election. The question at hand: Should President Joe Biden step aside as a presidential candidate? And if so – who should take his place on the campaign trail? The interns also inquired about support for Donald Trump in the Black community. Interviewees provided a variety of answers, representing the diversity of Black thought on full display this election year.

“President Biden should stay. He’s been here all of this time, where is he going to go? I’m not voting for anybody. Donald Trump is about to get locked up. Biden can’t hold a conversation without him blacking out. I’m not voting for any of them. 

Trump isn’t doing anything for us. We have to stick together and do stuff for each other– it’s about us. We have to come together. Once we do, there’s no dividing us. Let’s come together.”

Derrick Johnson, 24
East Baltimore native
Contract worker

“Biden’s like a dinosaur. I don’t think he’s mentally fit to be president. I’m not a Trump supporter, but I keep hearing from people that he has been great for business. I don’t like to vote because it’s like a choice between a viper and a cobra. They’re puppets. I don’t trust the government in general to do what’s best for us. I don’t know if it would make a difference if someone else stepped in.

I can’t give Trump my vote: I’m not a Trump supporter. Some people say he’s racist and some say he’s not. He says some things that I don’t agree with. People make fun of me, because I’m not political… ‘You got to vote, your ancestors died for the right for you to vote!’ I’m not voting for a snake.”

Keikola Valentine, 50
New York
Administrative Assistant 

“You see, a lot of people don’t look at what Biden has done. They are looking at age, but age is not what you need to rule a country. You need experience. If you look at Biden, he started from scratch. He’s doing things for people in school.

There is no reason to support Trump. Even though I’m not an American, if I were, I would not vote for him. I can’t allow a gangster to rule me. I can’t allow a fraudulent person to be in that place. If you bring him back, it will be worse than his first tenure. A lot of other countries don’t want him back.”

Adewale Adebambo, 68
Nigeria
Retired

“Biden doesn’t seem very coherent. I don’t have faith in him. He doesn’t seem like a man I would follow. When Trump was in office, gas was less than two dollars. Everything cost less. Money was flowing. People were prospering.”

Jimmie Joyner, 35
East Baltimore native
State Employee

“Based on him winning the delegates, Biden should stay in the election. I like his character and experience, and he has great empathy for Americans, generally speaking. People still have concerns about issues in the Black community– but we have to look at who is showing up, who’s asking questions, who’s taking things seriously. I think he clearly does show up and is empathetic to people in this country, notably African Americans. Is he old? Absolutely. At that level of leadership, those things matter. The president sets the tone, the pace and the agenda. I’m fine with his age.

I do not think Trump is fit for office. He has selfish ambitions, his policies are misguided and the Republican party isn’t putting their constituents first. So I wouldn’t vote for him under any circumstance.”

George Barnes, 41
Baltimore native
Executive

“I feel like Biden is getting older now, so his mind is slower. Donald Trump isn’t far behind, but he’s a little more in his head– at the same time, he’s more reckless. So I’d rather put the vice president in that chair. I don’t want to put Trump in that office because he was starting wars, he was starting everything. I wouldn’t vote for either.”

Manni Smith, 20
West Baltimore native
Restaurant worker

“I think Biden should step aside. It’s time for fresh, younger leadership with fresh perspectives. I think it’s important to include more perspectives in our government. I’d like to see that. I am not pleased with some of the choices that our former leader has made. I think they’re opportunities for new leadership and we need to give someone else a chance. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I think we’ve already given him a chance. I’d like to see something new.”

Alanah Davis, 32
New York City
Chief Storyteller for the City of Baltimore

The following AFRO interns contributed to this report: Lizzie Suber, Denim Fisher and Saniyah Larkins.

The post Black voices weigh in on Biden, Trump and Election Day 2024 appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

(NNPA Newswire) – As mainstream media and some Democrats zero in on President Joe Biden’s recent debate missteps, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is drawing attention to Donald Trump, the 34-times convicted felon and twice-impeached former president. The ACLU released its memo, “Trump on Surveillance, Protest, and Free Speech” as part of its 2024 election policy series. The analysis, written by ACLU experts on topics like the First Amendment, surveillance and privacy, details the dangers posed by a potential second Trump administration and provides a road map to combat them.

The memo highlights what it calls an unprecedented threat to democracy, pointing to Trump’s promises to criminalize dissent, suppress free speech, expand government surveillance and target political opponents. 

“The Trump presidency, with its false declarations of national emergencies in service of discrimination and total disregard for the rule of law, demonstrated what we’ve always known—that relying on unwritten norms for presidential behavior is grossly insufficient. Trump is now threatening to be even less constrained if given a second chance,” said Cecillia Wang, deputy legal director of the ACLU.

According to the memo, a second Trump administration would likely:

• Leverage federal law enforcement to attack journalists and protesters, violating First Amendment rights and possibly deploying the military in urban areas to suppress protests.
• Exploit executive powers to spy on Americans using authorities like Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Executive Order 12333, leading to the mass collection of private data.
• Target political opponents through investigations and prosecutions, replacing civil servants with loyalists, and demanding employee loyalty pledges.

The ACLU’s roadmap for protecting civil liberties includes litigation to defend those wrongfully prosecuted, mobilizing public support to limit executive power, and state and local advocacy to enact strong data protection laws. 

“Donald Trump has made no secret of his disregard for the rule of law and his intent to corrupt the immense powers of the federal government to target his opponents and break the institutions that could pose checks and balances to presidential power,” said Mike Zamore, national director of policy and government affairs for the ACLU. “In a second term, unleashed and feeling invulnerable from legal and political repercussions, he would pose an unprecedented challenge to our constitutional values. But the ACLU is ready. If Trump is elected and comes for our First Amendment rights, we’ll stand with the people of this country to defend our freedom.”

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By Dr. Ron Daniels
National News Release

I sincerely believe Joe Biden is a decent, caring human being who has been an outstanding President. However, I am also convinced that it is time to express our gratitude to Biden for his exemplary service and respectfully ask him to step aside. It’s time to rally around Vice-President Kamala Harris to lead the Democratic Party and this nation to victory over Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement.

With the race between Biden and Trump essentially deadlocked for months (which is scary) with large numbers of American voters expressing consistent concern over the age of both candidates, Biden’s political advisors and strategists made a bold decision to “shake-up” the race by calling for the earliest presidential debate in the history of presidential debates. Their gambit was that Biden would put the “age” issue to rest by winning the debate as he did against Trump in the first debate in the 2020 campaign.

It was a bold move that backfired badly. Within the first few minutes of the debate the optics of Biden’s appearance and slurred, mumbling speech confirmed the worst fears of vast numbers of voters that he was too old to serve another term as President. Though an “old” candidate himself, whose incoherent utterings at rally’s have not been sufficiently highlighted in the media, Trump proceeded to vigorously pummel Biden with a line of outrageous lies that were not challenged by the Moderators or more importantly, not countered consistently and effectively by a tired, weary looking and all too often incoherent President: a disturbing scene that led political commentator Dr. Julianne Malveaux to describe as a debate between the “Mumbler-in Chief and Liar-in-Chief.”

Trump was pathetic, but Biden was a disaster, not only because he looked old, but his performance also revealed some serious slippage in his cognitive capacities which solidified the perception in the minds of large numbers of voters that he should not be re-elected President. No matter what Biden’s supporters may think, “perception is reality.” Therefore, the path forward out of this painful predicament must be based on that reality!

Democrats are not only in danger of losing the White House, but there is also a legitimate concern that if Biden hangs on, the negative impact on down ballot races for the Senate and House of Representatives could be devastating. Under these dire circumstances, it’s time for bold, decisive action. I believe Biden must be persuaded to graciously and enthusiastically step aside and pass the torch to the person he selected to be the first Black Woman Vice-President of the United States, Kamala Harris.

Biden deserves praise for the extraordinary accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration in the face of one of the most severe crises in the history of the nation, the global COVID-19 Pandemic which precipitated an economic collapse with “Great Depression” levels of unemployment, business and home foreclosures, homelessness, hunger and poverty. Lest we forget, it was Joe Biden who outlined a bold agenda to “Build Back Better” and skillfully navigated a rigid, seemingly unshakable partisan divide to successfully pass the most impressive and impactful series of social and economic legislation bills since Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ).

And, because of an inexplicable reluctance to tell the story or ineffective messaging, it is easy to forget the fact that Joe Biden not only selected a Black woman to be his running mate, he selected the first Black woman to the Supreme Court and proceeded to advance a “Lift Every Voice” Black Agenda which translated into issuing an Executive Order on Equity; vigorously supported the George Floyd criminal justice reform act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act; massive increases in funding for Pell Grants and Historically Black Colleges and Universities; billions of dollars in the Department of Transportation to rebuild Black communities decimated by urban renewal and more recently by gentrification; and 5 billion to address gun violence in Black communities based on the Live-Free Model that only failed to be enacted due to reductions in the size of the bill demanded by conservative Democrats as a concession for their vote to ensure passage. Biden has yet to enact the HR-40 Commission by Executive Order but has signaled support for a “study bill.”

You can make the case that Joe Biden has the most significant civil rights record since John F. Kennedy (JFK) and LBJ. Plaudits are in order for Biden’s extraordinary record of accomplishments, but all that he has achieved is definitively endangered by the prospect of victory by Trump and MAGAISM. Democracy is in danger and Black America is in danger if the Democrats fail to win the White House. And, that prospect looms large in face of the troubling revelations about a decent human being and exemplary public servant that the nation and the world witnessed during the debacle of July 27th and its aftermath.

We respect, appreciate and admire you President Biden, but the perilous historical moment we face demands that we rally around Vice-President Kamala Harris to lead the Democratic Party joined by independents, disaffected Republicans and people of conscience and good will to a resounding victory over Trump and MAGAISM!

President Biden, I predict that an enthusiastic statement from you announcing that you are passing the baton to Vice-President Kamala Harris will be an electrifying moment; a historical moment that will break the current stalemate in the campaign for president. Kamala Harris is an extraordinary leader who will brilliantly present and defend the milestone legislative record of the Biden-Harris administration and articulate the urgency and vision for “finishing the job” in this moment of grave threat to democracy.

As a Black woman with Caribbean and Asian South Pacific Island roots, I predict that Black women, women of color and women of all backgrounds will rise-up and rally around Kamala Harris as she leads the charge to protect women’s reproductive rights and fulfills Biden’s pledge to pass federal legislation restoring the rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade.

Polls have consistently indicated “lukewarm” support among Black voters as the most reliable base of the Democratic Party. Well, that’s about to change. The Black base will be fired-up as Kamala Harris clearly and articulately shares the substantial record of accomplishments on racial justice issues by the Biden-Harris administration, and continues to fight for the Floyd and Lewis Acts and openly embraces HR-40 (polls commissioned by the organization Reparations United indicate that pledging to enact the HR-40 Commission by Executive Order will motivate unlikely voters, especially younger Black voters, to come off the sidelines and engage).

As the esteemed, legendary, elder statesman Rev. Jesse L. Jackson might say, rallying around Kamala Harris will “Keep Hope Alive,” that victory over the retrograde, reactionary forces of Trump and MAGAISM is not only possible but certain. So let us not equivocate or hesitate; we need an urgent and immediate groundswell, positively urging and encouraging President Joe Biden to endorse his loyal, dedicated running mate, Vice-President Kamala Harris as his replacement as the Democratic Party’s candidate for President of the United States. That historic announcement will mark the beginning not of a Blue Wave, but a tsunami, a massive wave of Rainbow voters marching on ballot boxes to defeat Trump and MAGAISM and rescue democracy; a momentous victory that will pave the way to resume the essential complex task of creating a “more perfect union.” 

This article was originally published by National News Release.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

Several Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives are demanding that President Joe Biden withdraw from the presidential race over health concerns.

U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett, (D-Tx.), Raúl Grijalva, (D-Ariz.), Seth Moulton,(D-Mass.), Mike Quigley, (D-Ill.), Angie Craig, (D-Minn.) Mike Sherrill, (D-N.J.) and Adam Smith, (D-Wash.) are doubtful that Biden has what it takes to carry out another presidential term.

They have suggested replacements for Biden which include, Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.

However, Biden has repeatedly stated that he will not step aside.

While on the campaign trail in Wisconsin on July 5, Biden stated that he confirmed he is still running for re-election and will “win again” against former President Donald Trump.

U.S. Hank Johnson, (D-Ga.) said that the backlash Biden is facing stems from a “bad debate performance,” however it will “blow over.” 

Congressional members who believe Biden is no longer fit to serve as president encourage voters to look to alternative candidates following Biden’s debate performance.

On June 27, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderated a debate between Biden and Trump. During the debate, Biden was spotted wearing a blank stare repeatedly throughout the 90-minute segment, leaving some to question whether the president is struggling with Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

Following the debate, Biden met with Democratic governors and blamed his performance on his travel schedule and a lack of sleep.

He also told them that he would no longer schedule events after 8 p.m. to ensure that he gets rest.

Despite some members calling into question whether Biden has the ability to serve, the majority of House Democrats have thrown their support behind the president.

U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, (D-N.Y.) believes that Biden should remain on the Democratic ticket.

“Joe Biden has been an outstanding president who has preserved and protected our democracy at home and abroad,” said Goldman. “The candidate who should be dropping out of this race is the twice impeached convicted felon who has vowed to destroy our democracy.”

Rep. Johnson stated that he supports the president, however if Biden were to step down and Vice President Harris were to run for office, he would support her as well. 

“I think that she would make an excellent president,” said Johnson.  

However, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, (R-Fla.) said he does not think that Harris would fare well if she became the Democratic Party’s nominee.

“The problem is the voters have spoken,” said Donalds. “Democratic voters chose Joe Biden.”

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-N.Y.) stated that she has been in talks with Biden and believes Democrats need to shift their attention to matters impacting Americans across the nation such as social security benefits and the cost of living to defeat Trump.

“If we can do that and continue our work on student loans, secure a ceasefire and brings those dollars back into investing in public policy then that’s how we win in November,” said Ocasio-Cortez.

The post House Dems continue to support President Joe Biden despite calls for him to step aside appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members met with President Joe Biden virtually on the evening of July 8.

The meeting came after a number of House Democrats asked the president to end his reelection campaign following a shaky performance during a presidential debate moderated by CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper on June 27. 

As Biden fights to save his bid for reelection, he has decided to partner with Black lawmakers who could be the answer to defeating former President Donald Trump.

Black voters were key to Biden’s election in 2020 and could remain the key to his success in the 2024 election.

During the private discussion Biden thanked the Democratic lawmakers for their support, talked about what is at risk during this election cycle and the role he would like the CBC to play in his campaign.

The president and CBC members also talked about how they should coordinate messaging and engagement with voters to increase voter turnout on November 5.

Following the meeting CBC Chairman Steven Horsford, (D-Nev.) publicly showed his support for the president.

“President Joe Biden is the nominee and has been selected by millions of voters across this country,” said Horsford. “They know President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting for them…they don’t want to see Donald Trump back in the White House.”

U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo, (D-R.I.) also attended the meeting and said the Biden-Harris administration has “delivered” legislation on behalf of all Americans and that he is in the president’s “corner.”

“I’m talking record job creation, lower costs for seniors and families, overdue gun violence prevention laws and historic action to address the climate crisis. These aren’t just my opinions, these are cold hard facts,” said Amo.

The Rhode Island lawmaker added that the consequence of not voting for Biden would result in the reelection of Trump.

“Trump offers the dark and dangerous vision outlined in Project 2025. It’s an agenda chock full of retribution, lies and grievance politics,” stated Amo. “That is what we must constantly hammer home because it’s what is at stake in this election.”

U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, (D-Ill.) said that before he went into the meeting, he was a Biden supporter and after leaving the meeting that remained unchanged.

“I didn’t change my mind. I was always with him, never wavered and I want to do more for the campaign,” said Jackson.

On July 9, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre held a briefing and told reporters that Biden received positive feedback from other CBC members.

U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, (D-Ohio-3) told Jean-Pierre that, “The call went extremely well and the president was very responsive.”

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, (D-La.-2) said that he was excited “to hear directly from the president that he is all in.”

Jean-Pierre told reporters that the president may host another meeting with Black lawmakers as the election draws nearer.

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By Jill Colvin
The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — For years it’s been a Republican scare tactic.

A vote to reelect President Joe Biden, the GOP often charges, is really a vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s an attack line sometimes tinged with racist and misogynist undertones and often macabre imagery.

But after Biden’s dismal performance at last week’s presidential debate, which has sparked Democratic calls for him to step aside, what was once dismissed as a far-right conspiracy — Harris replacing Biden — could now have a chance of coming to pass. And Republicans, including Donald Trump, are ramping up their attacks.

Trump and his allies have been rolling out new attack lines against Harris, insulting her abilities, painting her as Biden’s chief enabler and accusing her of being part of a coverup of his health. It’s an effort, campaign officials insist, that is not a reflection of their concerns about a potential change at the top of the ticket, given Biden’s insistence he is not leaving the race.

But in a post marking Independence Day on his Truth Social site July 4, Trump singled out Harris, calling her his “potentially new Democrat Challenger” and giving her a new derisive nickname: “Laffin’ Kamala Harris.”

“She did poorly in the Democrat Nominating process, starting out at Number Two, and ending up defeated and dropping out, even before getting to Iowa, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a ‘highly talented’ politician! Just ask her Mentor, the Great Willie Brown of San Francisco,” he wrote. ( Harris dated Brown in the mid-1990s.)

The post came after Trump campaign senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles released a statement earlier this week that offered a different, but similar, moniker, calling her Biden’s “Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris.”

Trump also posted an expletive-laced video, which was first reported by the Daily Beast, in which he was captured on the golf course calling Biden an “old broken down pile of crap” and declaring that he’d driven the president from the race. (Trump, in interviews, has repeatedly said he did not expect Biden to be pushed aside.)

“He’s quitting the race,” Trump said. “And that means we have Kamala. I think she’s going to be better. She’s so bad. She’s so pathetic,” he said.

Allies have also joined the attacks, painting Harris as a chief defender of Biden’s faculties and accusing her of lying to the American public.

Biden, the White House and his campaign insist he has no plans to drop out of the race. During an interview with ABC News that aired July 5 he said that only “the Lord Almighty” would drive him from the race.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against the tenor of attacks against Harris, particularly Trump’s decision to invoke a decades-old relationship and other sexist rhetoric.

“I think it’s gross, I think it’s disturbing,” Jean-Pierre told reporters July 5 aboard Air Force One. “She should be respected in the role that she has as vice president. She should be respected like any other vice president before her who was in that room. It is appalling that, I’m going to be careful here, that a former president is saying that about a current vice president. And we should call that out — it is not OK.”

It remains unclear how Harris would fare against Trump, compared to Biden. Replacing a candidate this late in a presidential cycle — much less an incumbent president who has already sailed through the Democratic Party’s primaries — would be unprecedented in modern history, and the mechanics are complicated and potentially messy.

Polling shows that Harris’ favorability ratings are similar to Biden’s and Trump’s. A June AP-NORC poll found about 4 in 10 Americans have a favorable opinion of her. But the share of those who have an unfavorable opinion is slightly lower than for Trump and Biden, and about 1 in 10 have no opinion of her yet.

Harris, at 59 years old, would be a marked generational contrast to Trump, who is 78 years old and has also shown signs of aging. As the first woman, the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president, she would also chart a potentially barrier-breaking candidacy that could draw the support of women, minority voters and younger people — groups with whom Trump has been working to make significant inroads.

Harris has also been the Biden administration’s leading voice on abortion rights, an animating issue for Democrats since the overturning of Roe v. Wade that could again motivate turnout this fall.

Trump’s campaign, however, said it was confident in Trump’s chances regardless of his opponent and dismissed the idea that Harris might pose a greater challenge to Trump, seeing her as a more polarizing figure than the president.

“President Trump will beat any Democrat on November 5th because he has a proven record and a agenda to Make America Great Again,” LaCivita and Wiles said in their statement.

One campaign official suggested the focus on Harris was more of a reflection of the current media focus on the Democratic ticket than a belief that she will ultimately replace Biden.

While the party has plenty of opposition research on Harris at the ready thanks to her 2020 campaign and her years as vice president, at the end of the day, they argue, the Biden record is the Harris record, and if she were to replace Biden, Trump aides wouldn’t face a totally different race.

Harris, for instance, was tapped by Biden to lead the administration’s response to drivers of the border crisis, tying her to one of his weakest issues. And if he does drop out, they argue, voters will have issues trusting the administration, Harris and the press for not shedding light on Biden’s weaknesses sooner.

“The economy’s still the economy, the border’s still the border, there’s still global conflicts,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez. “And changing the person at the top of the ticket doesn’t change those realities for American voters.”

___ Associated Press writers Linley Sanders and Josh Boak contributed to this report from Washington.

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The National Council of Churches is spearheading a new wave of social justice activism, to motivate folks to take action and head to the polls.

By Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware
Word in Black

As technology continues to reshape every aspect of life, churches face the challenge of evolving their practices to remain relevant and effective. Just as communion and worship have evolved from traditional in-person gatherings to those that are hybrid or totally virtual, evangelism has morphed into likes, shares and online engagement. To thrive, churches must continuously adapt and find never-before-imagined ways to expand their ministries.

In this landscape, the National Council of Churches is equipping its members and partners for the journey at hand and ahead. By embracing modern tools and revisiting the lessons of the past, the NCC aims to foster a new wave of social justice activism, reminiscent of the pivotal Freedom Summer of 1964.

“In 1964, NCC, with a deep sense of urgency, immersed itself into the troubled waters of racial injustice in Mississippi to engage in direct action in the struggle of African Americans for racial justice,” NCC President and General Secretary Bishop Vashti McKenzie said in a statement.

“There was a belief that it was going to be a decisive moment in American history. As it was then, so it is now. We are at a pivotal point in a polarized country. We must retrace our steps to build upon the foundations of justice left by previous generations.”

The NCC’s Freedom Academy is a key part of this effort, designed to train and mobilize faith leaders to inspire and guide their communities to also become people of faith.

Through a Sunday school-style Bible study curriculum, the academy will provide theological grounding from the biblical teachings of Luke 4. The first session in a six-part series of classes, “The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me – Sacred Spirituality of Freedom/Theology of Freedom,” will be taught by Rev. Stephen A. Green, pastor of the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York, on July 7.

“On the 60th Anniversary of Freedom Summer, I am honored to lead the Freedom Academy for the National Council of Churches. This milestone reminds us of the enduring legacy of those who fought tirelessly for civil rights and social justice. As we reflect on their sacrifices and achievements, we are inspired to continue their work with renewed vigor and dedication,” Rev. Green says. 

“Our mission is to educate and empower leaders who are committed to advancing social change and justice in our communities. Through comprehensive training and collaborative efforts, we aim to equip a new generation of advocates with the knowledge and tools necessary to drive meaningful progress. Together, we can build a more equitable and just society for all.”

The Freedom Academy is merely one part of the broader Freedom Summer Agenda. Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, chair of NCC’s Governing Board, emphasized the urgent need for action in light of recent setbacks to voting rights.

“The Freedom Summer of 1964 led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 making it possible for thousands of disenfranchised to vote. In 2013 the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act enabling new restrictions to the constitutional right to vote. The Freedom Summer of 1964 turned deadly. The Freedom Summer of 2024 is still a matter of life and death. We dare not stand idle — too much is at stake,” Eaton said in a statement.

“We call upon all people of faith, our member communions, and partner organizations to mobilize for this movement. As we follow in the footsteps of Freedom Summer 1964, let us educate, engage, and empower voters around the country to take part in the democratic process this upcoming election season. ‘For freedom Christ has set us free’ (Galatians 5:1 NRSV).”

Continuing the legacy of the original Freedom Summer, where nearly 1,500 volunteers, including 254 NCC-sponsored clergy, worked in project offices across Mississippi, this year’s Freedom Fellows will help organize congregations to engage in voter registration, community canvassing, and phone and text banking.

The Freedom Summer Agenda also includes the Freedom Riders initiative, which will empower and engage communities through faith, food, and fellowship with stops in Jacksonville, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Durham, North Carolina; Detroit, Michigan; and Jackson, Mississippi.

So as the church adapts to new technological realities, its commitment to justice and equity remains steadfast. And through this initiative, the NCC will, no doubt, mobilize a new generation.

This article was originally published on WordinBlack.com.

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By Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.

NNPA NEWSWIRE — There are moments in life when the convictions of the spirit and personal consciousness collide in opposition to the mainstream, popular outcries for the blood, life, and the end of the future existence of another human being.  I refuse to be a silent witness to another lynching in America. Thus, the following is what I have observed and witnessed firsthand over the past days to the lynch mob-like escalation of calls for President Joe Biden to step down from campaigning for reelection in 2024.  I am not representing any organization or political party.  On July 4, 2024, while sitting quietly in Raleigh, North Carolina, I jotted down my personal views.

Although I am a proud Democrat, I am so saddened by the backstabbing cowardice of those who dare to publicly call for President Biden to step down while having an utter contradictory refusal to utter publicly any call for former President Donald Trump to step down and to end his fascist-engaging campaign to retake The White House. The question is why?  The attempted political lynching of President Joe Biden has more to do with disingenuous political infighting than difficulties at a nationally televised political debate.  What are the real motives from all of those who are calling for President Biden to step down?

Some will say that my words and expressions here are too strong and controversial.  That may be true because there should be strong words and expressions that always should call out and condemn any form of lynching.  A political lynching is also a crime against the oneness of our humanity. Such is the situation today in America. It is the politics of division versus the politics of unifying all Americans for the best interests and future of the nation that is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot.  Justice is on the ballot. Equality is on the ballot. Equity is on the ballot.  Freedom is on the ballot.

The antidote to the current resurgence of ignorance, racism, cowardice, fascism, and retrenchment from freedom, justice, equality, and equity is to work hard daily and diligently to ensure the largest voter turnout this year in American history. Why do I claim responsibility for urgently making this statement on July 4, 2024?  African Americans, like others who fought and died in the fields and streets in the 13 American colonies during the Revolutionary War against the British Empire 248 years ago, have a birthright to the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776, and later to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Although thousands of people of African descent, who were not enslaved, enlisted and fought for freedom and independence against the British, no people of African descent were invited or permitted to attend the formative meetings of the newly emerging nation’s democracy and Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1787. My great, great, great, great-grandfather, the Rev. John Chavis (1763-1838), fought as a young, enlisted soldier in the Revolutionary War against the British in our home state of North Carolina and in the state of Virginia. The Chavis family has lived in Granville County, North Carolina, for over 285 years. My father, Benjamin F. Chavis Sr. (1898-1965) enlisted and fought as a young sergeant major soldier in the United States Army in World War I.

The point here is that generations of African and African-American soldiers have enlisted and fought and died to defend and protect the nation and democracy for the past 248 years. And we are not going to permit anyone or anything to deny our birthright to freedom and democracy.  For us, the right to vote in America is blood-stained and sacred. We know from our lived experience the horror, pain and suffering from centuries of physical lynchings in America to satisfy the sheer fear, hatred, White supremacy and ignorance of racism. Today, we also know when mobs cry out for the downfall and political lynching of those who have been our allies in our long struggle for freedom, justice, voting rights and equity, we cannot be silent.

It is ironic that also here in Raleigh, fewer than 24 hours after the questionable so-called debate in Atlanta, Georgia, President Biden spoke eloquently and forcibly at the NC State Fairgrounds about a couple of miles away from the John Chavis Memorial Park in downtown Raleigh. President Biden said, “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious. I don’t walk as easy (sic) as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know — I know how to tell the truth.”  

The truth is therapeutic.  Our nation needs more truth over the lies and prevalent fake news.

At the same time, as the calls for President Biden to step down, the United States Supreme Court has now ruled that future and past presidential “official acts” of violence, crime, repression, voter suppression, and insurrection are all immune from prosecution as long those acts are official acts within the core responsibilities of a President of the United States. This is dangerous and fundamentally against the meaning and principles of democracy. That is why now, more than ever before, we must raise our voices and mobilize our families and communities to go out and vote in record numbers in the swing states and in every other state across the nation.  We all have work to do.  We said back in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, “When things get tough in our struggle for freedom, we have to become tougher.”

Join me and raise your voice with me. Let’s vote in record numbers throughout America.  Stop the lynching of President Joe Biden.

The Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).

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By D. Kevin McNeir 
Special to the AFRO

Quincy Wilson, 16, becomes youngest male U.S. track Olympian after relay pool selection  

A Bowie, Md., native recently learned he’s going to Paris for the Summer Olympics. 

The 16-year-old track phenom, Quincy Wilson, has been chosen by the U.S. selection committee to be part of the men’s 4×400 relay pool for Team USA’s track and field squad. 

Quincy, who will enter his sophomore year at Bullis High School in Montgomery County this fall, is now a member of the pool and does not have a guaranteed position at a starting line, but his achievement should be celebrated as he becomes the youngest male U.S. track and field Olympian in history following his superb performance at the trials last month in Eugene, Ore. The men’s team will formally be announced on July 8. 

For now, the AFRO only has this to say: “Run, Quincy, run!” 

WMATA increases fare rates systemwide for first time since 2017

In efforts to reduce a $750 million budget gap, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) recently increased fare rates systemwide by 12.5 percent. The increase, which went into effect on June 30 and serves as the first Metro fare hike since 2017, will make fare rates vary from $2.25 to $6.75. Metro said the increases will allow them to maintain services without making any cuts and help them keep up with inflation. 

The new fares include: 

-Base fare for the Metrobus and Metrorail: Increases from $2 to $2.25.

-The maximum fare on weekdays: Increases from $6 to $6.75.

-Weekends and late nights: Ranges from $2.25 to $2.50 depending on the trip.

-Mileage Express bus fares: Increases from $4.25 to $4.80.

-MetroAccess: Increases from $4 to $4.50.

-Parking fees will not change but for those who want to lock up their bike, it will cost customers 5 cents an hour to rent a bike locker. 

Poll shows Alsobrooks leading Hogan by double digits in race for U.S. Senate

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) has a double digit lead over former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in their race for U.S. Senate, according to a poll released on June 24 by Public Policy Polling (PPP). The firm, affiliated with the Democratic Party, independently conducted the poll. The poll has Alsobrooks with an 11-point lead over Hogan in a showdown that also included third-party and independent candidates. In a head-to-head match, Alsobrooks had an 8-point margin over Hogan. 

And in a PPP survey, Alsobrooks garnered a higher percentage of Marylanders’ support than Hogan, 45 percent to 34 percent, respectively, with 5 percent supporting another candidate. When Alsobrooks and Hogan were the only choice, she held a slightly smaller lead of 8 points, 48 percent to 40 percent. 

The race for the Maryland Senate seat opened up in early May when Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) announced that he would not seek reelection. It secured nationwide attention after Hogan threw his hat into the ring. Many Republicans, including former president Donald Trump who has formally endorsed Hogan, believe the former governor can flip the seat. 

Alsobrooks, who would be only the fourth Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, has shown she can win after defeating Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) in the primaries. Meanwhile, Hogan changed his focus from potentially running for president to making a bid for the Senate. 

Among independents, Hogan has a higher percentage of support than his opponent with 42 percent of the vote. He also has a 15 percent share of Democrats. Voter registration information for the state shows that those with no party affiliation make up nearly 21 percent of the eligible electorate. 

Following the release of the PPP poll, an Alsobrooks spokesperson said the campaign is confident about their chances of winning.

“This race will determine who will have the 51st vote in the U.S. Senate. We are confident that Marylanders want Angela Alsobrooks to be that 51st vote because she shares their vision for the future – one where our freedoms are intact and every Marylander has a true shot at the American dream,” said Gina Ford, spokesperson for Alsobrooks for U.S. Senate.  

Hogan’s camp also responded to the AFRO and indicated that he questions the validity of the poll. 

“This is not a credible poll. It’s from a firm openly and directly affiliated with the Democratic Party. Outlets should not actively mislead their audiences by presenting it as anything but just another partisan messaging tool,” said Blake Kernen, campaign spokesperson for Hogan.

Stay tuned.

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

I’m not doing this again with y’all.

While Democrats debate how to respond to Joe Biden’s debate performance, Trump and the Republicans are plotting to erase the entire twentieth century.

That’s not an exaggeration. Donald Trump has publicly threatened to be a dictator on “day one” if he wins in November, and the Supreme Court justices he appointed have just immunized him from accountability and vested him with the unchecked powers of a monarch. 

If Trump wins, he would empower an army of radical right-wing activists who plan to implement Project 2025, dismantle civil rights, women’s rights, and LGBTQ rights, rescind long-established progressive laws and policies, and swing a wrecking ball against the fragile institutions of government and democracy.

Yes, Joe Biden is a flawed candidate, but Donald Trump is a threat to America. If anyone should withdraw from the race, it’s the twice-impeached convicted criminal.

RELATED:  With a Trump Win, Republican Judges Will Rule the Courts—and Our Lives

But some critics are making the same miscalculation they made with Hillary Clinton. A Trump victory will not bring on a progressive people’s revolution, strengthen third-party candidates, or buy us time to elect a better Democrat in the next election. It will set us so far back that it will take decades to unravel, no matter who wins in 2028. America cannot afford to make that mistake again.

Back in 2016, I was teaching at Columbia University when college students were complaining about Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee for president. Many raised legitimate concerns, including her support for the unpopular war in Iraq. But others raised less substantive issues. She’s not likable. She panders. And the most memorable critique: they didn’t believe her when she appeared on “The Breakfast Club” and announced that she carried hot sauce in her purse.

I, too, opposed the war in Iraq, and that was one reason why I voted for Barack Obama instead of Clinton in the 2008 presidential primary. But now it was 2016, and Clinton was the Democratic nominee facing a Republican opponent, Donald Trump, who posed a clear and present danger to democracy.

“If Hillary Clinton wins, we may have a liberal majority on the Supreme Court for the first time in nearly 50 years,” I posted on Twitter a few weeks before the election. 

That was eight years ago. 

Now, as Trump cements his legacy on the right-wing court, that opportunity could be lost for a generation, as Republicans have appointed six of the nine Supreme Court Justices.

Joe Biden is not the ideal candidate to represent the Democratic Party. He’s an 81-year-old white man leading a party that is increasingly represented by young people, women, and people of color.

I worked for Biden’s opponent when he ran for president in 1988. I did not vote for Biden when he ran the second time in 2008. And I did not support him in the Democratic primary in 2020. I even wrote articles criticizing him after he was elected president. But I did vote for him in 2020 because I knew he was the best available option. 

I am not invested in the question of replacing Biden on the ticket. I would vote for Biden, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Wes Moore, Pete Buttigieg, or any other credible candidate that Democrats nominate. This election is not about them. It’s about protecting our rights.

For five years, I covered Trump as a political commentator for CNN, following his racist speeches, midnight tweets, and unhinged press conferences. Some Americans may not remember the constant chaos and crises from Charlottesville to Covid that defined the Trump years, but I do, and I refuse to go back.

I know that Democrats prefer young, articulate, charismatic presidential candidates in the tradition of John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. I do too, but the young guys don’t always deliver. It was not JFK, but an older, less attractive Lyndon Johnson who signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, 60 years ago today. As Jesse Jackson said at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, “I would rather have Roosevelt in a wheelchair than Reagan on a horse.”

Trump is far more entertaining than Joe Biden, but a presidential election is not a popularity contest. It’s a job interview. Unfortunately, the majority of white voters plan to install a twice-impeached, quadruple-indicted, convicted criminal with a 50-year history of racism in the most powerful position in America. 

My Black job, if there is such a thing, is to stop them.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

(NNPA Newswire) – Forget alternative facts and political spin: the first presidential debate of 2024 was an overwhelming flood of falsehoods. The twice-impeached and 34-times convicted felon and former President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of misinformation on topics ranging from terrorism to taxes during the first debate of the 2024 general election. Poorly moderated to the point of farce by two CNN anchors, the debate will likely go down in history for the sheer volume of lies broadcast to the American people.

Trump, who boasted that he could grab women by their private parts and later was found responsible for sexually assaulting a woman, lied about everything from the economy to racism and having sex with an adult film star.

“I spent 90 minutes debating on a stage with a guy who has all the morals of an alley cat. I mean, did you see Donald Trump last night? He must have set a new record for the number of lies ever told in a single debate,” President Joe Biden said after the June 27 debate.

“He lied about what a great economy he created when we all remember the pandemic. He lied about how great he was for veterans when we can recall how he called veterans who had given their lives for this country ‘suckers’ and ‘losers.’ And he even lied about how he had nothing to do with January 6,” Biden asserted.

The president reminded debate viewers that they had all witnessed a Trump-supporting mob attack the U.S. Capitol, including assaults on police officers. “The Capitol was ransacked,” Biden asserted. “Folks, for all of Trump’s lies, we did learn some important truths. We learned he is still proud of being the person who killed Roe v. Wade. Donald Trump showed us who he is last night. We have to believe him.”

Although Biden received poor marks and criticism for his performance, backlash against Trump also proved swift and severe. Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Susan Swecker; Chair of the DNC Veterans and Military Families Council Terron Sims II, an Army veteran; and Chair of the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Sean Monteiro, an Air Force veteran, called out Trump for his long record of disrespecting Americans in uniform. They highlighted his past comments, referring to those killed in service as “suckers” and “losers.” They criticized his efforts with MAGA GOP extremists to cut veterans’ benefits, which would have a significant impact on the Hampton Roads area — home to nearly 120,000 active-duty military members and 220,000 veterans.

“Donald Trump’s record, rhetoric, and actions have all proved that he is against everything that our military stands for and works to protect,” Swecker stated. “There is only one man on the ballot in November who has stood up for veterans time and again. That man is Joe Biden, a father who knows what it feels like to have a son fighting for his country, and a president who has delivered the most significant expansion of benefits and services for veterans.

“President Biden and Democrats are working to protect freedom and defend democracy, standing up against aggression abroad and hate at home,” said Sean Monteiro. “Donald Trump only cares about himself – and, with the backing of his MAGA Republican allies, he’s willing to insult service members and destroy the very ideals of democracy in his own pursuit of personal power, revenge, and retribution. We have to defeat Trump and MAGA Republicans once and for all — so he doesn’t have a chance to do any more damage to our democracy and our values as a country.”

The litany of key questions Trump refused to answer on the debate stage further highlighted his evasion and dishonesty. Instead, Trump deflected, blamed others and continued his pattern of misinformation. 

He also made racially charged claims about immigrants taking jobs from Black and Hispanic Americans. 

“They’re taking Black jobs now, and it could be 18, it could be 19, and even 20 million people,” Trump said, showing just how racist he can be. “They’re taking Black jobs, and they’re taking Hispanic jobs, and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.”

Derrick Johnson, CEO of the NAACP, responded succinctly, “There’s no such thing as a Black job or a White job.”

The debate has revealed the stark choice facing American voters. On one side is Biden, 81, who has spent four years cleaning up his predecessor’s misdeeds. Biden has worked tirelessly to rebuild the economy, navigate the country through a devastating pandemic, and restore America’s global reputation. He has fought for healthcare, veterans’ rights, and the middle class, as well as relieving tens of millions of dollars of student debt.

On the other side stands Trump, 78, whose presidency nearly decimated the economy, whose inaction during the pandemic allowed countless people to die, who spews hate, racism and violent rhetoric, and who all but ruined America’s standing in the world.

“For over a century, the NAACP has worked tirelessly to ensure Black voices are heard in every election,” Johnson stated. “This year is no different. We need candidates who are going to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion, not attempt to mischaracterize Black workers as anything but American workers.”

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The rejection has ignited a firestorm of criticism, highlighting the broader issue of racial inequity in media representation. Atlanta, a city with a rich history of Black culture and leadership, finds its Black-owned media sidelined at a critical political event.

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent

(NNPA Newswire) – CNN has come under fire for denying media credentials to every Black-owned media entity, including those based in Atlanta, for the presidential debate on June 27. Despite granting over 600 media credentials, not even one was extended to Black-owned outlets, sparking outrage and accusations of systemic exclusion in a predominantly Black city.

The rejection has ignited a firestorm of criticism, highlighting the broader issue of racial inequity in media representation. Atlanta, a city with a rich history of Black culture and leadership, finds its Black-owned media sidelined at a critical political event.

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a leading voice for Black-owned media, revealed a letter from CNN rejecting their request for credentials. In an email, CNN’s Dylan Rose said the network could provide the Black Press transcripts and photos from the debate.

The NNPA represents the 197-year-old Black Press of America, which counts The Atlanta Voice, Atlanta Daily World and the Atlanta Inquirer among its more than 230 newspapers and media companies.  The popular Rolling Out magazine also counts among the Black Press’ members frozen out by CNN.

Media personality and Black Star Network owner Roland Martin tweeted that his phone had been “buzzing from Black-owned media outlets in Atlanta who say they are being denied media credentials to the debate.”

The prolific news leader further noted, “They don’t care about us.  This is despicable. The treatment of Black-owned media is pathetic.”

Added NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., “CNN’s decision is an affront to the very essence of press freedom and diversity. In a city where Black voices and perspectives are essential, this exclusion is both a slap in the face and a stark reminder of the ongoing struggles for equitable media representation.”

The timing and nature of the rejection letter have only fueled the outrage. Despite having ample time and resources to accommodate a diverse range of media outlets, CNN’s refusal to include Black-owned entities suggests a troubling oversight or, worse, a deliberate and overtly racially-motivated dismissal.

Local Black-owned media outlets, many of which have served the Atlanta community for decades, expressed their frustration and disappointment with collective assertions that CNN has intentionally overlooked the heartbeat of the city’s news and culture.

The exclusion comes at a time when media diversity and representation are under intense scrutiny. 

Advocacy groups and community leaders have also called for immediate corrective actions from CNN and other major networks to ensure that Black-owned media entities are not just included but are given the respect and opportunities they deserve.

In the wake of the debate, the spotlight remains not just on the candidates but also on the institutions that shape public discourse. CNN’s decision cast a long shadow over the debate, raising critical questions about who gets to tell the story and who gets left out.

“Our exclusion from this pivotal event is not just an insult to our organizations but to our readers and viewers who rely on us for their news,” Chavis argued.

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CNN, which declined to provide Black-owned media with any of the more than 800 credentials it passed out, enabled a boatload of misinformation and flat-out lies to pass through their airwaves like bad wind.

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA Newswire) — The first presidential debate of 2024 between President Joe Biden and criminally convicted former President Donald Trump was nothing short of a shameful display of unhinged and unchecked behavior. CNN, which declined to provide Black-owned media with any of the more than 800 credentials it passed out, enabled a boatload of misinformation and flat-out lies to pass through their airwaves like bad wind.

“Absolutely disgraceful that the CNN moderators refuse to fact-check Trump on anything,” said human rights activist and attorney Qasim Rashid. “This is journalistic malpractice, and it is decimating our democracy.”

Writer and attorney Olayemi Olurin tweeted, “It is a failure on CNN not to fact-check Trump’s lies, but the thing is… if Joe Biden were performing the way he’s supposed to in a debate, his answers would be the fact check. So, three things are true: Trump is lying his off, the mediator isn’t doing their job, and neither is Biden.”

Biden, whose campaign said he suffered from a cold during the debate, took some of his biggest shots at Trump after the former president refused to accept the results this fall regardless of who won. Trump said he would only accept the results “if it’s fair, legal, and good.”

“You’re a whiner,” Biden said. “When you lost the first time… you appealed and appealed to courts all across the country. Not one single court in America said any of your claims had any merit, state or local, none. But you continue to promote this lie about somehow, there’s all this misrepresentation, all this stealing. There’s no evidence of that at all. And I tell you what, I doubt whether you’ll accept it, because you’re such a whiner. The idea if you lose again, you accepting anything? You can’t stand the loss. Something snapped in you when you lost last time.”

Without any rebuttal, Trump also incredulously asserted that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was primarily to blame for the violent uprising on Jan. 6, 2021.

The moderators then cut to a commercial. And that was just a tiny part of CNN’s massive failure. Meanwhile, at the People for American Way reception and debate watch party at the Wharf in Washington, D.C., attendees sighed and expressed anger at their television sets as Trump told lie after lie. Despite having two anchors and a mute button, the host network failed to challenge him. 

“The debate turned into a 90-minute Trump rally,” said Alice Wilkes of Northeast. “I waited and waited for the moderators to say something, or, at least, cut him off.”

At Busboys & Poets on K Street in Northwest, where former lawmaker Nina Turner hosted a watch party, a packed house cheered as Biden called Trump “a sucker” and noted that he had “sex with a porn star” behind his wife’s back.

During the debate, Biden addressed questions about his age and stumbled when he tried to mock Trump’s fitness. “You can see he is 6-foot-5 and only 223 pounds or 235 pounds… well, anyway,” Biden said. 

Later, he agreed to Trump’s challenge of a golf match on one condition: “If you carry your own bag.”

Several Black voters expressed disappointment in the way both candidates talked about Black people. 

“It’s like they forgot about Black people,” Byron Cooper of Southeast said.

“Trump commuted some sentences and pardoned some drug dealers. That’s supposedly what he did for the Black community,” Cooper remarked. “Unfortunately, to some Black people, that’s enough, which is ridiculous because the guy is a stark raving racist.”

During the debate, Trump revived attacks on Biden and Democrats over the 1994 crime bill that disproportionately harmed African Americans. Neither Biden nor CNN failed to mention Trump calling for the execution of five Black and Brown teenagers who were innocent of sexually assaulting a White woman in Central Park.

Biden did mention how Trump has called skinheads and White nationalists “good people.”

In his two-minute closing argument, Trump personally attacked Biden’s record abroad. “They don’t respect you throughout the world,” he said. 

Trump claimed he had the largest tax cut and the largest regulation cuts in history, but the country is now “exploding.” 

“We’re a failing nation, but it’s not going to be failing anymore,” he said. We’re going to make it great again.”

For his close, Biden noted, “We have made significant progress from the debacle President Trump left in his last term.”

Biden then summarized some of his signature policies. In terms of the economy, he vowed not to raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year and to continue his work to reduce health care and childcare costs and give families financial breathing room. 

“We’re going to continue to fight to bring down inflation and give people a break,” Biden said in closing.

The post CNN’s shameful spectacle: The 1st presidential debate of 2024 a complete disaster appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By D. Kevin McNeir and Madeline Seck
Special to the AFRO 

Just under 100 people gathered in Northwest Washington, D.C., on June 27 to attend a presidential debate watch party at the HQ DC House – the first debate between the candidates since their last showdown on Oct. 22, 2020. 

But with former president Trump rolling off more than 36 statements that have since been verified as false, and with President Joe Biden’s often shaky and undisputedly lackluster performance, neither of the two candidates was at their best. 

As for those who attended the watch party, their numerous facial and verbal expressions, which ranged from exasperation to utter dismay, suggested that they may have had a better time walking just a few blocks away to take in a Washington Wizards basketball game at Capital One Arena or to enjoy a play at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. 

The watch party, sponsored by the Kairos Democracy Project and People For the American Way, attracted a diverse group of voters, with those under 30 and African Americans representing the majority. 

As was expected, economic issues dominated the discussion, including the Trump-era 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which will expire in 2026 if it is not extended, and the impact that inflation and the cost of living – which have increased since the latter days of the pandemic – continue to have on more and more American households.  

However, the two moderators, CNN anchors and correspondents Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, also pressed Biden and Trump on a host of other topics that remain at the top of many Americans’ concerns: the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, immigration, abortion and health care, particularly for veterans of the armed forces. 

The AFRO spoke to attendees at the watch party to learn more about issues they are passionate about and their reactions to the debate. 

Seth Washington, 25, a graduate of North Carolina A&T who lives in Waldorf, Maryland, and works on Capitol Hill, said he attended the watch party because he wanted to be around people who, like him, were interested in the discourse between the candidates. 

“The key issues for me are the four H’s: homelessness, hunger, higher education and healthcare,” said Washington, a Black man who added that he has voted in every election since he became legally of age. 

“The age of both Trump and Biden also concerns me because neither of them is connected to the younger generation,” he said. “Being seasoned and having experience are both commendable qualities but the next president must have his ear to the ground. As for my contemporaries, yes, we’re voting. However, not in the numbers that we should.”

Washington also noted that many of his friends have mixed views about the relevance of their vote given the results of the 2016 presidential election in which Hillary Clinton, despite receiving nearly 2.9 million more popular votes than Donald Trump, lost the race after Trump garnered 304 electoral votes to Clinton’s 227. It marked the fifth time in U.S. history and the second time this century that a presidential candidate has won the White House after losing the popular vote.  

Jessica Davis, a city commissioner in DeLand, Florida, brought her 12-year-old daughter with her to the watch party so she could observe the debate and hear the candidates weigh in on the major policies. 

“Although she may not be able to vote, I think a lot of the things that relate to education matter to our family,” Davis said. “I’m here to see who will best represent us because the decisions the next president makes will impact all Americans, particularly those who live in the community in which I serve.” 

Dawne Trope, an employee with the national nonprofit Community Opportunity Alliance, said after watching the debates at home in 2020, she wanted to be around others who had ideas similar to her own. 

“Things that need to happen for Americans are the creation of more affordable housing and more stable jobs and making sure people have adequate income so they can afford the cost of housing and other living expenses,” Trope said. “We also need a health care system that’s accessible to everyone.” 

Like Trope, Maite McPherson, 22, a recent graduate of Duke University and a fellow for the House of Representatives, said she wanted to watch the debate in the company of like-minded people so that it would “be fun rather than depressing.” 

“I think most Americans have already made up their minds at this point. I don’t believe anyone’s going to be persuaded to vote one way or the other by tonight’s debate,” McPherson said. “I will always vote, and while I think everyone should vote in federal elections, I find it difficult to get people to become more involved in local elections which I think are even more important. As for the presidential election, I can understand why citizens are frustrated and why they don’t believe that either candidate represents their needs or concerns.”

The post Lies and lackluster performance dominate the first presidential debate  appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Well, that was awkward.

The first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign has just ended in Atlanta, and it felt like a disservice to the public. Donald Trump lied and rambled nonstop without correction. And President Joe Biden was simply not able to keep up with Trump’s torrent of falsehoods. 

It was the first time in history a convicted criminal took part in a presidential debate, but it was 40 minutes into the discussion before the subject came up. It was as if it were completely normal for a twice-impeached, quadruple-indicted, convicted felon awaiting sentencing, who also incited a deadly insurrection, to be considered a serious candidate for the most powerful job in the world. 

But the spectacle likely did nothing to move the needle: Biden’s shaky performance did not allay concerns about his age, and Trump’s nonsensical tirades did not allay concerns about his mental or moral fitness to hold office.

After the first half hour, Biden finally had a few good moments, attacking Trump as a criminal, condemning him for “having sex with a porn star while your wife was pregnant,” and accusing him of having “the morals of an alley cat.”

But Trump is a master at denying the truth, dodging questions, inflating his own record, and lying about other people as he pivoted to his favorite talking points. 

Asked about Black voters, Trump blamed immigrants for taking what he called “Black jobs.” First of all, that’s not true, but second: what, exactly, are Black jobs?

In the same round, Biden missed a golden opportunity to sell his own record on Black issues: lower Black unemployment, lower Black poverty, more Black businesses, more HBCU funding, more Black judges, less student loan debt, and historic appointments to his cabinet.

Trump blithely walked past his own history of housing discrimination in the 1970s, the lynch mob he led against the now-exonerated “Central Park Five” in the 1980s, and the birtherism lie he peddled about President Barack Obama for nearly six years. Biden did cite a few examples of what he’s done for Black voters, but he let Trump put him on the defensive on an issue where Trump’s own record is abysmal. 

This is especially true in Atlanta, the predominantly-Black city that Donald Trump attacked before and after he lost the 2020 election, and tried to invalidate the votes of Black residents. Trump even targeted Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, both Black women.

But there was no mention of that in the debate — in Atlanta. Trump was not forced to answer for his bigoted attacks on the late Rep. John Lewis — a civil rights icon — and current Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. 

It didn’t stop there. 

Asked about childcare, Trump avoided the question, rambled off into immigration lies, and spoke about how he fires people. Not one word about child care. And no one held him accountable.

Asked about the opioid crisis, Trump went on and on about irrelevant issues and again failed to provide a single substantive idea, much less give a coherent answer. Asked a second time about the opioid crisis, Trump brought up Vladimir Putin releasing hostages. 

Asked about a Palestinian state, Trump did not even pretend to answer the question. He just launched into a rant about NATO.  

And after all that, Trump still refused to say he would accept the election results this November. 

President Biden should have mopped the floor with Trump tonight, but he did not. Then, after the debate, Biden showed up at a rally and looked like a different person — refreshed and energized in a way that he was not during the debate. 

I don’t know what just happened, but it’s going to be a long four months, and an even longer four years if things keep going in this direction.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

The post In First Debate, Trump Overwhelms Biden With Bluster and Lies appeared first on Word In Black.

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“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Republican Governor Jeff Landry has signed a blatantly unconstitutional law requiring “the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom in public, elementary, secondary, and post-education schools in the state of Louisiana.”

RELATED: Why Black Republicans Aren’t Persuading Black Voters

The announcement didn’t go over well with the 10-year-old girl who fainted as the governor was speaking. Maybe she knew the Republicans were full of something other than the holy spirit.

But convicted criminal and serial adulterer Donald Trump quickly chimed in. “Who likes the Ten Commandments?” Trump asked a crowd at a Saturday rally. The crowd roared. “Has anybody read this?” he asked.

So, let’s look at how Republicans stack up on those commandments.

Number 1. You shall have no other gods before me. But Republicans have developed a bizarre cult-like worship of Donald Trump as a messianic figure in American politics. “I am the chosen one,” says the man facing three additional criminal trials in the coming months.

Number 2. You shall not make any graven image. But Republicans are making golden statues to idolize Donald Trump. 

Number 3. You shall not use the Lord’s name in vain. Somebody forgot to tell Donald Trump. “If you don’t support me,” Trump said at a campaign rally, “you’re going to be so goddamn poor you’re not going to believe it.”

Number 4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. But when Trump was in office, it seems he never attended church — except for holidays, funerals, and photo ops. He was too busy golfing, tweeting, and attending parties instead.

Number 5. Honor your father and your mother. In 1927, Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump, was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in New York City. I’ll give him a pass on that commandment. Like father, like son. 

Number 6. You shall not murder. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody,” Trump once said, “and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” I don’t know if he’s done it, but he’s certainly thought about it. And Trump has no problem celebrating killers like Kyle Rittenhouse, the man who gunned down two Black Lives Matter protesters.

Number 7. You shall not commit adultery. Is there anybody in politics today who’s committed more adultery than Donald Trump? The man had an affair with a Playboy Playmate while his wife was pregnant. He was just ordered to pay $83 million for defaming a woman he sexually abused. And he was just convicted of 34 felonies after paying hush money to a porn star.

Number 8. You shall not steal. The guy stole money from the students of his fake university, ripped off his fake charity, and was just fined nearly half a billion dollars for business fraud. 

Number 9. You shall not lie. In four years as president, Trump told 30,000 lies in office. Do you know how efficient you have to be to tell that many lies in public in one term? That’s 21 lies a day. Trump is like the Tom Brady of lying. Even if he only slept three hours a night, that’s a lie every hour. And who knows how many lies he told in private?

Number 10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s property or your neighbor’s wife. In the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, Trump told Billy Bush that he once met a married woman and “moved on her like a bitch.”

By my count, Trump and the Republicans don’t follow nine of the Ten Commandments. I think they skipped most of those rules in Trump’s new $59.99 Bible. But to quote Trump, “How stupid are the people of the country” to buy a Bible from a guy who doesn’t go to church, never asked God for forgiveness, and can’t quote a Bible verse? 

But their hypocrisy serves a purpose. Many white evangelicals weaponize religious dogma to protect white supremacy, while Black evangelicals tend to use religion to protect the oppressed. For many Black Christians, spirituality is not just a rulebook to impose on other people but a manual for liberation that grows out of the Black prophetic tradition — a tool for love, not a weapon of hate.

So, why are Republicans doing this? 

The Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that Ten Commandments displays in public schools violate the Constitution, which says the government “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Republicans know this, but they need an election-year diversion. They’re fighting against universal pre-K, free school lunches, a permanent child care tax credit, and protecting kids from school shootings, so they want to distract you with hot-button social issues like the Ten Commandments and transgender students instead of doing their jobs.

Louisiana ranks 48th out of 50 states in child well-being, and instead of fixing the schools, they’re banning books and requiring parental consent for students to have access to knowledge. But when it comes to having somebody else’s religion shoved down your throat, there is no parental consent for parents who are Muslim, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, or even Christians who believe in the old-fashioned separation of church and state.

So when that schoolgirl fainted during Jeff Landry’s self-congratulatory speech, that should have been a sign. Maybe God is trying to tell you something.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

The post The Ten Commandments of Republican Hypocrisy appeared first on Word In Black.

The post The Ten Commandments of Republican Hypocrisy appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

If you’re thinking of not voting in the November presidential election, let me give you one important reason why you should vote — the courts.

Let’s say you’re a progressive who wants Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and reparations for Black people. Trump opposes all these things, but Biden is too much of an incrementalist for you. So you decide not to vote. What’s the worst that could happen, right? 

Well, if Trump is elected, he could appoint up to three new right-wing Supreme Court justices and hundreds of lower court federal judges. Why is that important? Because federal judges have lifetime tenure. Many join the bench when they’re in their 40s or 50s and stay in position for decades until they die or retire.

That means that when the next president comes along in 2028, it will be virtually impossible to implement a progressive agenda. Any policies you support will be struck down by Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices and federal judges for the next two to three decades. 

We’re seeing it already. In just four years in office, Trump appointed one-third of the U.S. Supreme Court and 242 federal judges. That’s why so many of Joe Biden’s policies have been struck down.

RELATED: Why I Want Cardi B to Vote

Trying to go to college? The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 last year that colleges and universities can no longer use race in admissions to create a more diverse student body. All six justices who killed affirmative action were appointed by Republican presidents. The three Democratic-appointed justices dissented.

Struggling to pay your student loans? The Supreme Court killed student loan debt relief that would have helped 40 million Americans. Once again, all six justices were Republican appointees.

Need to have an abortion? The Supreme Court ruled two years ago that women no longer have reproductive rights to control their own bodies. All six justices who overturned Roe v. Wade were Republican appointees. 

Did you fall behind on your rent during the pandemic? The Supreme Court ended the nationwide eviction moratorium that protected millions of American renters from being kicked out of their apartments. Once again, a 6-3 Republican decision.   

Want to vote for a Black member of Congress? The Supreme Court ruled that Republicans can use a racially gerrymandered voting map that disenfranchised Black voters in South Carolina. But all six Republican-appointed justices allowed the map. 

And it’s not just the Supreme Court.

Looking to launch a Black business? A federal judge in Texas ruled that the Minority Business Development Agency, a 55-year-old agency, is now illegal because it discriminates against white people. Once again, the judge was appointed by Donald Trump.

Need startup money for a new firm? A federal appeals court in Georgia ruled that a venture capital fund for Black women called the Fearless Fund can no longer focus on helping Black women. Both judges who voted against Black women in the 2-1 decision were appointed by Donald Trump.

RELATED: Byron Donalds and the Myth of the Broken Black Family 

Need help on the farm? A federal judge in Florida stopped President Biden’s debt relief program that helped Black farmers because it was unfair to white farmers. The judge was appointed by Republican President George Bush, exposing the influence of conservative jurists appointed years ago.

Then, just a few days ago, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas wouldn’t even allow emergency disaster assistance for Black farmers because it was unfair to white men.

Republican-appointed judges in the state courts are just as dangerous for Black people.

Want to wear your natural hair? A Texas judge ruled that a school district could force high school student Darryl George to cut his locs, despite the state’s CROWN Act that prohibits hairstyle discrimination. The judge ran as a Republican.

Want to protest racism? A Missouri judge just expunged the records of the infamous St. Louis couple who previously pleaded guilty to assaulting Black Lives Matter protesters with guns. The judge was appointed by Missouri’s Republican governor.

RELATED: As Black Gun Deaths Rise, Biden Says Congress Must Act

Elections have consequences. President Biden appointed the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court and appointed more Black judges in his first 1,000 days than any president in history. In fact, he appointed more Black judges than the last four Republican presidents combined. Trump, on the other hand, was the first president since Richard Nixon 50 years ago to appoint no Black judges to the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Give him another four years, and it’s all over for us.

While we’re busy scrolling through social media every day, hundreds of decisions are happening in courtrooms all around the country that affect our lives.

By not voting, you’re not helping Black people or promoting the progressive cause. You’re consigning your children to live under a legal regime governed by anti-Black Republican judges for years to come.

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

The post With a Trump Win, Republican Judges Will Rule the Courts—and Our Lives appeared first on Word In Black.

The post With a Trump Win, Republican Judges Will Rule the Courts—and Our Lives appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

After weeks of counting ballots, the Maryland State Board of Elections has finalized the state primary results.

The primary featured shocking wins throughout the local level, including Councilman Zeke Cohen’s (D-District 1) 50.92 percent win for Baltimore City Council President and Mayor Brandon M. Scott’s 52.78 percent victory. Political spectators believed it would be a close race between Scott and former Mayor Sheila Dixon, who received 38.88 percent of the vote in the end. 

“The Democratic primary highlighted what citizens want from their public servants. They want better city services, they want transparency and they want us focused on issues that matter for quality of life, like education, opportunities for youth and public safety,” said Cohen. “For me, the focus is always around building a diverse, robust coalition, delivering world-class city services and making government more accessible, proximate and transparent.”

Cohen unseated Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby by a large margin. Mosby received 23.26 percent of the votes and candidate Shannon Sneed got 25.83 percent.

“Baltimore, you’ve been with me through every win and every loss, so I simply want to say thank you,” said Mosby via X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter. “Thank you for believing in me and allowing me the privilege of serving you.”

Though most of the 14 city council members have secured their spots on the November ballot, Eric Costello (D-District 11) and Robert Stokes Sr. (D-District 12) did not.

Candidate Jermaine Jones unseated Stokes by 369 votes and political contender Zac Blanchard unseated Costello by a mere 48 votes. 

With Councilman Kristerfer Burnett (D-District 8) stepping down from the council this year, the seat opened up for others to run, including former State Delegate Bilal Ali and Paris Gray, a community outreach coordinator for Baltimore City Council District 8. Gray won with 41.41 percent of the vote, and Ali received 37.71 percent.

Blanchard, Gray and Jones are the Democratic nominees for their respective races and are in line to be the newcomers to the council. Baltimore City is a primarily Democratic region, meaning whoever wins the Democratic nomination is likely to take the seat in November.

The council could soon shrink from 14 to eight if Baltimore residents vote in favor of the referendum on the ballot this November. PEACE Baltimore, a civic engagement organization that is leading the initiative via a petition, argues that some other counties in the state have about eight or fewer districts and have about the same population as Baltimore. They also argue that taking away six of the districts would help the city save millions.

The Baltimore County Circuit Court judge slate, Judges Michael S. Barranco; Patricia DeMaio; Marc A. DeSimone; and James Rhodes also secured their spots in the November election. The group of sitting judges fought to keep their seats after the usually uncontested race became a challenge with the entrance of Robert N. Daniels, an assistant attorney general, whose name placed him second on the ballot. 

Sitting Judges Christine Marie Celeste, with 34.64 percent of the votes, and Ginina A. Jackson-Stevenson, with 30.72 percent of the vote, secured their spots in the November election for the Anne Arundel Circuit Court.

In Cecil County, Md., County Executive Danielle M. Hornberger was unseated for the Republican nomination by Adam Streight, a sergeant with the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office. Streight received 53.24 percent of the votes and Hornberger got 46.76 percent.

The general election is Nov. 5. Early voting will take place from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31.

The post Local primary results finalized, solidifying returns and reveals newcomers appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

“Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, 
examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Black Republican Byron Donalds has come under fire for saying that “during Jim Crow, the Black family was together.”

The Florida congressman made the remarks at a “Black Americans for Trump” event in “one of the whitest and most conservative parts” of Philadelphia on Tuesday that featured cigars, cognac, and out-of-towners, but no Black speakers from Pennsylvania.

RELATED: Lock Him Up: Trump Is Now a Convicted Felon

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries responded by suggesting that Donalds was making a “factually inaccurate statement that Black folks were better off during Jim Crow” and cited a number of historical examples to disprove that claim.

Donalds replied by accusing Jeffries of lying about his remarks. “What I said was you had more Black families under Jim Crow,” Donalds argued.

So, who’s telling the truth here?

First, Jim Crow was the era between 1877 and 1964 when Black people were racially segregated by law in America. The total Black population was only 18.9 million in 1960 compared to 47 million today, so it’s technically impossible that there were “more Black families under Jim Crow.”

Second, Donalds actually seems to be making the conservative paternalistic argument that non-marital Black families aren’t really families. But who gave him the authority to decide what constitutes a Black family?

Third, Donalds’s claim that the Black family was “together” during this period repeats a popular myth of conservative nostalgia. I wrote about this myth in my latest book, “Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race?” I tell the story of 14-year-old George Stinney, Jr., who was raised in a working, church-going Black family in 1940s South Carolina. Stinney was wrongly accused of murdering a white girl but was convicted by an all-white male jury that took just 10 minutes to decide his fate.

The 14-year-old Black boy was sentenced to death and executed just weeks after he was arrested. Although Stinney’s parents did everything this country expects of Black families, they could not protect their child from white supremacy and state-sanctioned racial terrorism.

That’s what makes the contemporary romanticization of Black family history so disturbing. Were Black families “together” when the Scottsboro Boys were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in 1931? Or when 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in 1955? Or when four Black girls were murdered in a church bombing in Alabama in 1963?

The conservative argument echoes a common refrain from Black Republicans who want to “make America great again.” “Fatherless families are one of the primary root causes of Black Americans’ current socioeconomic challenges,” according to former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill. If that were true, then what was the cause of rampant Black poverty and unemployment before these so-called “fatherless families”?

Contrary to stereotype, research has shown that Black fathers are actually more engaged with their children than we’re led to believe. A CDC report found that Black men were more likely than white men to bathe, dress, diaper, or eat meals with their children. And a Pew Research Center study found that Black fathers who don’t live with their children were more likely than white fathers to visit their children on a regular basis.

Donalds, who has been desperately campaigning to be Trump’s running mate, claims that “Democrat policies under HEW, under the welfare state” helped to “destroy the Black family.” First, let’s be clear. HEW, the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, was started in 1953 under Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. And history indicates that white Americans had much less of a problem with government programs — from Social Security to the GI Bill to Medicare — when white people were the designated beneficiaries.

Second, the policies that Donalds attacks are the very policies that have helped Black families since the 1960s. As author Clay Cane noted in response to Donalds, the Black poverty rate in America fell from 55% during the Jim Crow year of 1959 to a record low of 17% in 2022. And even more recently, President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, another Democratic policy, reduced the rate of Black people without health insurance from 20% to 10% in just over 10 years.

Donalds follows the predictable Republican logic used from Ronald Reagan to the present that has tried to shift the burden of America’s problems from government and society to individuals and families. To do this, they deny or diminish the significance of structural racism, sexism, and economic inequality, and perpetuate outdated myths of Black inferiority.

From slavery to segregation to the present, Black families have been under social, political, and economic assault. The last thing our families need is Republicans blaming us for the problems that society helped to create.

The post Byron Donalds and the Myth of the Broken Black Family  appeared first on Word In Black.

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By Angelina Hicks and Vani Sanganeria
New York Amsterdam News